Thank You Mike Kelly, You Are a Blessing to Our Church

Rev. Sammie Maxwell
Jul 4
3 min read

Every Sunday morning, Mike Kelly enters the church sanctuary by 8 am and begins setting up the video and sound controls for the Sunday Worship Service broadcast at our Church. He has been doing this reliably, with only a few instances where he was unable to be present since COVID-19 began in the Spring of 2020.

At the outset, when COVID-19 was first identified, Mike, sensing the reluctance of members to gather in crowds and the potential for church closure, immediately saw the need for a workaround solution to ensure our Sunday Worship Service could still reach members. The solution was a portable camera and audio equipment, which Mike had up and running for the very next, or first, Covid Sunday. Consequently, worship services at Church on the Cape continued uninterrupted, except that they were now held online.

You might wonder how he could do this on such short notice. Part of the answer is that Mike, for many years, ran a company that built top-of-the-line speakers, requiring extensive knowledge of building and operating broadcasting systems.

As you might expect, the initial makeshift solution had its flaws. Still, Mike addressed them until the broadcasts ran as smoothly as they do now, with good picture clarity, sound, and camera motion, except for occasional technical issues.

Pastor Ho-Soon, our pastor during Covid, notes: "A tremendous amount of work exploring the options, researching the equipment, practice runs, modifying and remodifying the process was done. We have extremely talented people who are willing to help and be flexible, all with the same goal and purpose of serving the congregation. They understand worship is one of the major connections holding us together as a church family and try to make the worship experience as meaningful as possible."

By my count, Mike has been seated at his control station for 246 consecutive Sundays, except for very few breaks that I recall. This stretch includes a winter Worship Sunday when our church furnace took a rest, and Mike was back with his portable camera and sound equipment in a warmer Bartlett Hall.

Mike notes that his equipment typically shows online viewership running from 50 to 125, and last Easter, it reached 139. It is wonderful that our church shares God's Word with so many beyond our in-person members.

When you think about it, Mike has had to make the Worship Service Broadcast the anchor of his week, month after month, and year after year, which requires extreme dedication. We need, therefore, to be especially grateful to Mike and his wife, Donna, for their lifestyle adjustments and Mike's dedication to those of us who are physically unable to attend Church and to our online audience. Mike's sacrifice undoubtedly reflects his abundant love for his church family and others, as well as his dedication to serving God.

Also noteworthy, Mike was a volunteer member of the Kennebunkport Fire Department and currently serves as a Trustee of the Goose Rocks Beach Fire Company. He's the producer of the "What's Your Story" program at the Graves Memorial Library and the founder and President of Aerial Acoustics.