I've already gathered a bunch of data through observation, but I've found it hard to record a lot of what I am observing as far as what the members are doing/ saying. Still I'll have my interviews. Like I say in my last post, I am really looking forward to interviewing my asistant pastors wife because she grew up in another denomination.

What I really need to do is find a system in which I can accurately quantify how many times members 'participate in a sermon' and what they say. Also, if possible, I would love to try and see if a certain sound register is appropiate and what is not. I know from experience that too loud is bad, but so many factors go into it that I'll have to be careful to observe. Perhaps this Sunday I'll just come with the mindset of straight research. heretofor, I've been trying to be a member and a researcher at the same time. I'll help solidify this mindset, maybe coming in dressed down or something.

I have identified a gap in the research, and it is this: much of the research takes for granted that the black church is indeed a discouse community.