God Almighty's facebook page...

Yup! God Almighty has a facebook page...

click on the image to be able to read. Please note: this is the first draft.

This piece was created by a couple of our amazing multi-media team people David Spicer and Bill Hombach.

Must admit that we got a litte goofy, when we we talking about "poking God". Of course then it had to be worked into the script.

This is a video piece still in the works for 08/03/08 Revelation Pt. 2 “God Beyond Time”.

This "still" is going to be interacted with on the video. Clicking, scrolling down etc.

"God Almighty's facebook" script by Greg Genter

note: we also discussed doing MySpace, but felt that facebook is more culturally relevant in the younger age demographics.

This has been submitted to this weeks Creative Chaos at Ragamuffin Soul...

never liked jazz music...

Los at Ragamuffin does it again with His “Dear Worship Dude”…

This “person” is exactly who is in my head and heart when creating worship elements. I keep trying to get others on our team to “see” this person.

It’s all I think about, all I talk about…

When I ask “what about the “skeptic” I get the same old response. But, what “I hear” in that response is “if we design for things we like (cause we are 80’s cool and hip) then God’s mighty power will transcend and touch the hearts of those skeptics that happen to be there…”

It so reminds me of the mentality of “we want new young people to come to our church, BUT we are not willing to change. They should learn to worship our way.”

I’m going to be really blunt here, When I hear someone say “at my old church”, I cringe. I know that whatever comes out next will be something antiquated like “we did James Taylor’s “Shower the People You Love”-esque…

I agree God is that great; but I contend that it’s doesn’t hurt to design elements that give Him and the Holy Spirit a fighting chance.

And I have to say (because someone always brings it up), it’s not about doing Christianity lite…Please, I am a Christ follower just like you. It’s still about worshipping and glorifying God, telling the greatest story ever told and preaching the Word.

It is such a fine line…

I say, as long as our first goal is to design everything to worship and glorify God; why not design for the skeptic and dechurched frame of mind.

For God’s power is mighty and He is able to transcend into the heart of the “lukewarm believer”.

If we design something that is cutting edge, culturally relevant it gives “that person” something that is familiar to connect to. Do that and then genuine hearts of worship will touch “that person”.

One of my very favorite quotes “I never liked jazz music, because jazz music doesn't resolve. But sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself...I used to not like God, because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."-Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz)

So, as always I go back to: entice the skeptic, challenge the lukewarm, and thrill the believer to new levels of passion…

bloggie, bloggie...

Shower the bloggers you love with link love...

This weeks lineup: found these guys through Creative Chaos, both share honestly about a multitude of topics.

without wax (Pete) - creating firestorms by being transparent and honest ...
man.of.depravity (Tyler) - not afraid to discuss the hard issues...

taglines and tricks...

This is a second post which all has been sparked in the comments thread @ man.of.depravity, breaking down barriers… 'how does your church break down the barriers between the stage and congregation'?
This will send you over to taglines and tricks... at smashing paradigms blog, where I focus on smashing church marketing paradigms boxes with a two ton sledge hammer...

starbucks evangelism update...

btw..."triple grande breve latte" is coming to visit at Cross Current tomorrow with her husband.
I may need to start yet ANOTHER blog for my Starbucks worship design and Starbucks evangelism thoughts...

paper shredders...

Heading out to XC for our set-up, to strategically place the paper shredders stations through out the auditorium.
This is the interactive piece for our "Forgiv3ne3ss" stand alone tomorrow.

More later...

starbucks evangelism...

Why I do what I do… I work at Starbucks.

Believe it or not, I feel that God called me to this job. I love working with my partners, I love most of my customers. Just don’t ask me about “grande, 2 raw sugars cappuccino”. Ugh!

I have found that I have had far more conversations about faith (God, JC the whole thing and everything else in between) than I have ever had anywhere else. Including church.

I love talking about peoples faith journeys. People are so hungry for spiritual discussions. As long as they are not feeling judged. I am just really curious and sincerely want to know why people are where they are in life.

Let’s see there is "venti, 7 pump melon, passion tea lemonade": who grew up LDS and is really trying to find what is real and not real.

And what about "venti coffee with hazelnut syrup": grew up Catholic but is feeling very far away from all things God. Drinking, drugging, lots of meaningless sex.

Then there is "double tall vanilla latte": grew up without any faith journey at home at all. She has been investigating pagan (ism?).

Oh and "triple grande breve latte": married, lapsed Lutheran, who needs to talk about having an affair with her co-worker.

Well then, I also have to mention "doppio espresso": who states proudly that they don’t believe in God, but in pirates. Seriously.

The stories go on and on… It’s not my place to judge, but to just honestly love people where they are at. And that is why I do what I do.

starbucks & the third place...

As you know, I work on developing interactive/experiential worship elements and I work at Starbucks. I didn’t event think about it until someone asked the question 'how does your church break down the barriers between the stage and congregation'?

I work to design worship experiences that connect people (to God). Therefore I focus on 5S (five senses) experiential (let them get involved) elements. What I design and how I work at Starbucks are interconnected.

Breaking through the barrier is sort of like working at Starbucks. When Howard Shultz started Starbucks, one of the things they couldn’t quite understand in the beginning is why people felt so connected when they went to Starbucks.

Think about it, even people who don’t drink coffee will usually find something they like (and there is plenty of other drinks there), so they can meet and hang out with their friends at Starbucks.

Here are a couple ways that we could apply Starbucks techniques to church:

Chatter: We chatter with each other a lot (calling drinks out is an intentional tool). The chattering creates an atmosphere of inclusiveness. Before and after worship…chatter (from stage), let people hear your chatter, call out to people (before and after worship). Reach out and meet a new friend each week. Invite people to join you on stage.

Get To Know Their Stories: At Starbucks we really work at getting to know people. Not only their drinks, but as we have time, really connecting with our customers. I could tell you story after story after story about the guests at my Starbucks. We strive to create legendary customer service “one cup at a time”.

For church try to create a connection “one Sunday at a time”. At church I try to meet at least one new person each week, and really take time to get to know them. Even if it is only 5 minutes. And I make it all about them, I only chime in when there is something we “connect” over, like living in New Mexico, love Brazilian food, love Starbucks…

Third Place: We work very hard at creating what we call “the third place” environment. The basic theory behind it is that people need to connect in three places in their lives. Decades ago, those three places were home, work and church. When people started leaving church in droves, they looked for a “third place” to connect. People try bars, clubs, the internet…

I have always been intentional about designing worship elements to “include” the people off stage. I have just never written it all down before. I’m going to have to think more about this, this is a really great train of thought to explore. I need to write a book called “Starbucks Evangelism”.

Books to read: Howard Schulz’s book, “Pour Your Heart Into It” and subsequently “The Great Good Place” and “Celebrating the Third Place (inspiring communities)” by Ray Oldenburg.

forgiv3n3ss…

07/13/08 FORGIV3N3SS
(submitted to Creative Chaos @ Ragmuffin Soul 07/10/08)

(Screenshot from video created by David Spicer)

Our parameters:
We have a guest speaker whose message is on forgiveness. He is going to bring a larger accounting ledger as a stage prop. He wanted to do a reflections piece at the end of his message, where he guides people to write down who they need to forgive.

Melding the accounting ledger (numbers) thought and the topic of forgiveness; We decided to use the tv show Numb3rs as the concept theme.

Elements:
Logo: Forgiv3n3ss Screenshot from the video created to brand across service elements.

Video: (Multi-media team)- Scripture on Forgiveness reflection time combined with Numb3rs (Martha gets the bible verses/ Bill and David work on the video montage

Bulletin:- Have it formatted to be like a ledger (printed already)- Who do I need to forgive- Who do I need to seek forgiveness from

Interactive: (pPod) - Shredder stations for people to shred ledgers
A milestone for us:
While I have only been attending Cross Current for a about a year, this is the first “branded” service since I have been on the team. I have only been on our creative design team for 8 months. While they may have branded services before, I haven’t seen any.
This is the first piece of this weeks coming element.

More later: Including a created “forgiv3n3ss video with related scriptures”.

hynotoad...

Just a few of our freaky worship designers watching "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad"...

Must stay culturally relevant...

allowing God…

Had one of those mountain top experiences Sunday evening in group. It was one of those rare worship times with like minded individuals...so freeing.

My personal worship is great; but I feel constrained by worship in the corporate environment.
I feel that God is ready to explode in our church, we are right at the precipice, we are holding ourselves back. Been involved in a lot of intercessory prayer during worship for this reason.

One of the things that really concerns me is the level of dissatisfaction with our worship event. We recentl participated in the Reveal Survey (Willow Creek) and our dissatisfaction with worship percentage was 53%. That’s right 53% were dissatisfied with our worship experience at Cross Current. That is scary to me…

It's tells me that people are hungry, but something is inhibiting them from breaking free in worship…
Now don't get me wrong, this isn’t about God being able to move through mountains- He is mighty... He can do all things. God is able to move through anything…but, darn it we are really making things tough for Him.

I feel it is imperative to cast off all the earthly inhibitions that we are able to. And this isn't a problem just at our church, I'm reading about this problem across the blogshere. There is a spiritual tsunami moving across the nation and the world...

Prime example in a recent blog @ Ragamuffin Soul…, asked people if they could drop one things at church what would it be...

1) was bulletins (who reads white paper bulletins anymore, at least in a contemporary designed worship).
2) was, drop the confining order of worship

For example our OOS (order of service)

2 songs

meet and greet

2 songs

(insert drama or video)

message

2 songs

We should take more time to really focus in on designing the worship flow and space. Something that is more conducive for people to break free like…
Give more time (in a clump of worship songs sets) for people break away from the world outside. Time to transition into being with God.
Design stations where people could go to dance, kneel, lay down…

God is moving! Worship is breaking out all over, just not in church…

tearing the veil...

For several years now, I have been fascinated with the concept of the veil tearing in the tabernacle when Christ died, allowing us all free access to God in the Holiest of Holies through Christ’s ultimate sacrifice...

It's a mind blower for me.

I actually designed a very simple “tearing of the veil” element for junior high camp one year. Trying to explain how important this one moment in time was…

Now it just exploded in my brain!

See why, here…

With Jim Drake at the National Worship Leader Conference

What I experienced was incredible! I already knew about Prayer stations and such, but this one was so invigorating for me. To actually walk through the steps of the tabernacle and the things that the priest would do when he would enter into the most holy place were very moving for me.

Some highlights:

1. Offering a burnt offering (a piece of wood) into the fire of the Burnt Offering--wow!

2. Washing my hands in the laver in front of the temple

3. Lighting the lamp stand (which reminded me of the scripture in Rev. where it says that heaven needs no light--because Jesus is the light!)

4. Taking communion at the Table of Bread

5. The Altar of incense---I once thought this was an irritating smell--not so anymore.

6. The Holy of Holies---to actually see the smoke and the incense surrounding the throne was very moving.

Then I headed into worship and Don Moen led us in a sweet time of worship where we sand " I Just Want to Be Where You Are" and "Thank You" and "I Offer My Life To You" (as a pleasing sacrifice. You know that I was undone at that point--tears were really flowing but my mind was still going through the experience of the tabernacle. So much more to think about--but I thought I'd share this experience with you today.

Learn more about The Tabernacle Experience…

The marketplace

Going to work with it…

Basic thoughts currently: recreate this experience, but follow through all the way to the tearing of the veil concept…

Let people experience the tabernacle…

And then experience rip the veil…

It will be awhile before this extrapolation comes to fruition.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Jim Drake….for being my eyes and ears at the conference…

bulletin bored…

Thought you might be interested and read this poll at Ragamuffin Soul (I believe his readership is about 4,000, worldwide and cross denominational) and maybe share with others…

We need to study current trends and listen…
These are voices that need to be heard. They mirror what I hear at our church.

Short question: If there is one program/event that your organization could kill in order to place those resources to better use…What would it be?

Very revealing answers… Ragamuffin Soul…

The two top answers were:
1) kill the paper bulletin and
2) drop the confining order of worship

So kill the white paper bulletin! Hardly anyone reads it past the first time anyway…
save trees…
save time…
save office personnel hours…
save money…

All those resources could then be used for better things…

This is what I do with my bulletin....















Here's a great idea how to transition out of paper bulletins:
AFTER; we have our new website site up and running...



From Los at Ragamuffin Soul



We are trying something new.For this new series that we are in called “Identity” we decided to create a “secret website” which is nothing more than our current blog with a forwarded domain name and a new template.Instead of handing out a bulletin with lots of information, we handed out secret identity cards with a web address on it.Our people had to go to that website and we now are catering the information we want to give them online.














I am so stealing this idea...

fuZe wordle...

my first blog round up…

Since designing for Philistines…was specifically started to allow my brain to download worship design elements that explode in my brain and share ideas when they are implemented…I will limit my blog roll and round-ups on this site to people who do the same.
And this week I have made some new friends who sort of think like I do (that may or may not be a compliment) LOL.
Take a chance and read their stuff…very interesting. These are people who are actually doing things and writing about them regularly…
Jim Drake – who introduced me to wordle…
Chris Harrison at prophets and popstars…
And since this is my first blog round up…I’ll include Creative Chaos (on Thursdays) at Ragamuffin Soul by Los Whittaker
I am thankful for meeting you guys out here in the blogsphere. I don’t feel so alone anymore…
Since I blog x4, I am only linking blogs here that relate to worship design elements. And trust me they are few and far between…

It hard to believe that I have only been blogging since March (2008). I never would have guessed that five months later I would have diversified into four blogs. This one for designing experiential worship elements, smashing paradigms… for church marketing thoughts and nuggets and CruX-the heart of the matter… just about my ramblings, the last one is simply working of our website redesign.
My dream from the beginning has been to find other like minded bloggers out there. I'll keep searching..

implementing scent into worship design...

I strive to incorporate more 5S (5 senses) into experiential worship design…

Background:
For me, it started with a simple idea of being able to infuse the worship venue with scent. I had been looking for an opportunity to include scent as a design element in worship. The opportunity arose when the creative design team agreed to letting us create an ocean ambiance set.

This is a short synopsis of about 40 hours or research conducted over a two week period.
(A lot of the material presented here is from one commercial website. But it simply provides a cross section of realistic information what was confirmed by our study of multiple sites)

Scent research:
Shows that one of the most powerful senses that we have is the sense of smell.
Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory…
It sparks emotions...
It enhances experiences…

Proustian Effect:
Basically it is what happens in your brain when a smell unleashes a flood of memories, taking you back to a particular time and place…

Scent sensitivity:
Going into this design element I was very aware of the issue of scent sensitivity. Since I am highly sensitive to smells. I can’t walk down the laundry soap aisle in a store without my throat starting to close up, my eyes watering and itching and my skin starts to itch.
Also consider the fact that scent marketing is currently being used in many commercial applications from the Indianapolis Children’s Museums to major retail establishments (Nordstrom, Saks) and high end hotels and entertainment venues (Disney). This wouldn’t be utilized so widely if extensive research hadn’t been conducted.
There is also a lot of difference in pure essential vs. chemically enhanced scents and the impact on sensitive individuals.

Scent dissipation:
(and half-life of scent removal from the air in the venue)
Since our venue is a junior high school auditorium we also spent about a week testing the time it took to disperse the scent, the average area of coverage and timing how long it took to have the scent completely eliminated from the space…

Frustrations:
Our first attempt to introduce scent as a worship element was arbitrarily shot down. After finally talking to the “power rep.” I feel like it was shot down because the powers that be assumed we didn’t understand the scent sensitivity issue and dissipation factors.
I feel the rejection of this element is indicative of communication issues. We live in a bureaucratic world, even in church. I suppose I have to create a proposal, which outlines all the research we did and prove that we can be trusted to research an element thoroughly.

Baby steps:
The next proposal of implementing scent in the worship (bread being baked in bread machines inside the venue). I got specific permission from the “power rep” on June 28 (I have learned from the business world to always document).
Edit: Found out we had to get yet a second approval, from the same person.

Smell sample here…

"handlebar" lyrics...

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars
No handlebars
Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedyI
can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:
I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome
I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone
Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say
that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers
survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule
Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
 Handlebars Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

handlebars..

Sometimes worship elements just appear in my brain full-blown. That is what happened with this.
I saw the entire thing in my head (hadn't seen the video until today). Except for the last past w/Jesus, which I am editing in at 12:52 in the morning...

Abstract dramatic/choreographed interpretation of “handlebars” by Flobots…

(sorry widget not availible) For a series on “How are you Impacting the World for Christ” What I see is the video playing on the big screen…

1. Christ figure wandering around watching all this action..

2. (Child) riding bike back & forth cross the stage

(Cue music)

..........................................................................................

then individual people enter with (appropriate props) enter as per music and dramatically moving and interacting with their prop...

3. Hands in the air, twirling

4. Cherry (large interpretation)

5. American flag

6. Metronome

7. Cell phone - ipod

8. Book

9. Laptop

10. Ads (full color blown up)

11. Microphone

12. Trumpet (or sax)

13 & 14.Two fighters (at war)

15. Video camera

16. Satellite (prop)

Everyone file off…

leaving the bike rider...

Maybe Jesus will them reach over and help the bike rider for the last portion (like a dad teaching a child to ride a bike) so the rider is able to ride around completely with his/her hands in the air...

verstubes on vimeo...

check these out...

Versatubes from Carlos Whittaker on Vimeo.
Buckhead in Atlanta...

cre8tIVe chaos...

My submission for this week's creative chaos over at ragamuffin's soul... go to --> not your parent's flannel graph from Easter at XC...
that's it...

wordle...

just discovered this web 2.0 application called wordle and I'd loved it the moment I saw it...

You imput a bunch words and then "wordle it". This is my first wordle :^)
It is the words to "Fire Fall Down" one of my fav worship songs...
My mind is going a thousand miles a second right now, trying to noodle how to use wordle in worship...

huge shout out to Jim Drake's blog via his CreatIVe Chaos submission this week at Los's Ragamuffin Soul for this new tool.

Los and Jim, I have searched for a long time to find a gathering of designers of mad insane worship elements! I thank God I have found you...

fuZed ignited, needs you now...

Adding people to the logistics team...
Idea...time to add to the team NOW, before we get slammed...
Need to start recruiting, training now.
My thoughts: I am willing to coordinate the roll out, if all the other teams (impacted by this element) are on board...
-----
Logistics…Promo Video: Setting the stage on Saturday morning. I know that we already have some footage that David taped a couple months back…
Hope this makes some sense, as I try to explain it with out my hands…
VIDEO
Fast forward through set up…
STOP/Frame photo at end of set-up
(mouse) Click on Each team
Add tag box, i.e. sound tech, movers and shakers
mouse over to show name
then…mouse click and eliminate that element.
drama, graphics, Stage set, Sound, band, pPod
going though until it is an empty stage, last click (tagged box lighting).
Black screen, logo information (say something like “fuZed ignited”- needs you now)

Run this two weeks in a row…

Have a cool take away in the bulletin (at least the same two weeks) with short blubs about teams and contact info.

Brand it across the XC website (including the video after it is released)

Cross brand/market this into an interest meeting two weeks out (from release date)…

This isn’t everything, just a brief outline at the moment…

Thoughts?

djembes, waterdrums, drumlines and STOMP...

“Mercy in the Middle” – accapella w/ djembes, it is an awesome accapella song-

I see as many djembes and percussion players as we are able to get. Have the djembes, space through out the auditorium. All playing together.

waterdrums..not the best I've heard but you will get the idea (only the beginning).

Then there are drums,
drumline at Willow Creek Arise Conference

and last, but definitely not least STOMP...

and...

Would love to do an enitre service with only percussion instruments.
But, hey thats me...

while I am talking about graffiti artists….

If it is possible…
I’d love to have a "live" graffiti painting session going on while pastor is preaching…
that's if we could do it with our 90 minute (oos) time constraint and handle the "smellement" issue...
graffiti gospel

Got it: shout out to Bill's brain...
Got some of the technicalities of the smellement worked out. We are having an outside service in August...

imperfect church…

ongoing staging for series idea…
(see marked by Christ…)

Same concept of painting on floating plexiglass…
But using the tagline for XC…

imperfect church…
be safe, be real, be changed…

Either paint (guel being the artist again!) these taglines on plexiglass and/or paint them on a cloth banner. Even using mixed media…
I see a thin, long vertical (say 4’ x 25’) cloth banner, with the letters scrolling down vertically…

i
m
p
e
r
f
e
c
t

c
h
u
r
c
h

with the excess cloth pooling or red carpeting out across the stage perpendicularly...
then each of the “be safe”, be real”, “be changed” tags being done separately on 3’ x 5’ plexigalass, so that they could be used independently for various series.

This will also help “brand” our tagline…

marked by Christ…

this idea originated by thinking up ideas for a message called “Marked by Christ” stories of transformation found in the tattoos of believers…

Think LAInked live:

stage design:
Would love to have a mad skilz artist (like Guel) paint mad tight tats on thin gauged 3’ x 5’ rectangles of plexiglas…
-these would be hung at different depths and heights on the stage.
-maybe even one in washable paint on the drum cage…
-how cool would it be to actually have a live tattoo artist set up on stage…

Interactive stations/take away:
-tat stations: either/or people could go to stations and get the little cheesy rub tats
- tattoo themselves (or artist do it) with sharpies)
- or henna tattoo stations.

entice the skeptics, challenge the lukewarm and thrill the believers...

There is an ongoing battle of how we design worship elements and who our target is I hear it being played out all over the blogsphere and at my church...

It's an ongoing battle between what I call the "holy" line of thought process vs. and designing for Philistines (skeptics)...

From the "holy" camp...

Interestingly, our church doesn't do the seeker thing. I sort of worried about it at first, but our leadership explained that "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself..." and they don't worry about the seeker thing. They got that philosophy from a reliable source, by the way...

If we design from our hearts (read what we like) then God changes those who come..

from the "designing for Philistines" point of view...

I personally strive to: design to glorify God, design to entice the skeptics, challenge the lukewarm and thrill the believers... in that order.

My question for every camp, is it working for you...
Whatever pov camp you come from...are people becoming followers of Christ or are you just attracting other Christians from other churches...

I'll say it, because I know some of you are thinking...

No, this isn't about designing Christian "lite" worship elements...you still have to be uncompromising in sharing God's word and truth!

To all I say, design to glorify God, design to entice the skeptics, challenge the lukewarm and thrill the believers...

Yes, it's true, BUT...Jesus hung out at the wells. If Jesus was walking around metro DC these days I know I would hear him say...the other day I was hanging out at ______ (a gay bar)

As one person said: "As a pastor it is sometimes all too easy to think that I am actually important to God’s church when the reality is God could quite easily get the job done without my help. In fact,God may be a lot more effective with me out the way which is humbling to say the least. "

why designing for Philistines...

why designing for Philistines?

I thought I had explained my thought process behind designing for Philistines and I didn't. Doh!
What happened I started blogging when it occured to me couple major running themes going on in my blog…

1. The biggest one being that:
I am a freaky designer of cutting edge and relevant (read something relevant to people after Jimmy Hendrix, Prince, the Spice Girls and after 9/11)
5S (using all 5 senses)
experiential worship elements...
I am obsessed with this concept. I spend hours and hours research, searching youtube and such.

2. AND I REALLY dislike terms like “seeker” and “lost”, unless you are referring to the t.v. show. I find them extremely condescending and churchy sounding and actually so do they.
Why Philistines? It’s all Jon - of scl fame’s fault…he’s one of my fav (and prolific) bloggers. In his post "Calling People Seekers" – he discusses what “we” Christians call “people who do not go to church”. It really resonated with what I have been feeling for a long time AND from what I hear from those wonderful “people who do not go to church”.

3. I spend a lot of time with those who hang out at the well (read: people who do not go to church), and I love them to pieces. Those are the people who I feel compelled to design for. I want them to get a chance to know this guy named Jesus.

I have tried to find an online community that is like minded and have not been able to find one, so I decided to start one.
This blog is geared to researching, designing and implementing culturally relevant elements for worship. I may be blogging for myself, then again there may be 17 more people like me out there in the blogsphere who are “seeking” this type of information.

We will see. So welcome...
this is designing for Philistines...

fuZe…

Had such a blast last night (and today) at our fuze team major blow out planning session.
We are starting to plan out a major 58 week series on the life of Jesus. Sweet. All the major teams were represented. Drama, dance, multi-media, creative writing, pPod (experiential worship and stage design), teachers, worship team, producers, pastor, past and present and even a visitor from another church.
It was mad wicked fun planning with all sorts of various elements.

We started out last night by spending about three hours interspersing worship, prayer and taking turns reading through the gospel of Mark aloud. It was so much fun, and very interesting to hear different versions of the Word being spoken aloud, by a wide variety of personalities. We even had a major crack up session over the passages Mark 8:13-22. Viqui read her passage from the Good New Bible. (Sorry, the closest I could find was the Living Bible)…

The disciples had forgotten to stock up on food before they left,

and had only one loaf of bread in the boat.
As they were crossing, Jesus said to them very solemnly,

“Beware of the yeast of King Herod and of the Pharisees.”
“What does He mean?” the disciples asked each other.

They finally decided He must be talking about their forgetting to bring bread.

Jesus realized what they were discussing and said

“No, that isn’t it at all. Can’t you understand?”…

Jesus goes on to remind them of the two miracles

He had recently performed with loves and fishes…

Now, I realize this is probably one of those “you had to have been there” moments, but the way it was read, you could just hear Jesus trying really hard to not say “duh!” We started cracking up. Literally lol!

Anyway, to make a long story short(er) we already do a lot of “spoken word” at XC; but we decided that we really needed to read major chunks of the gospels through out the series. 58 weeks…that could add up to a whole lot of God’s word straight up and unadulterated. And we all are flat out fired up about it.

I’m excited to start sharing more as we process the notes from the retreat..

legend of the dancing goats...

I didn't write this. I am not sure where I found this, or I would give credit where credit is due...
Someday I will share the story I wrote entitled "Legend of the Dancing Goats"...
Anyway here goes...
I am a pretty avid coffee consumer.
I absolutely love a cup of coffee in the morning, mid day, and sometimes in the evening, too.
I’ve been kidded a great deal about my “addiction” to coffee for years now. If you are one who gets a lot of flack for the amount of coffee you consume like me there is hope!
I came across a story awhile back which describes how coffee can aid in your pursuit of God…no really! His story goes something like this:
There was once a goatherd who noticed that his goats had become increasingly jumpy and jittery. Upon further investigation, he discovered that they were consuming a shiny red berry so he took some and brought it to the monks.
The monks then examined the berry and during their investigation, they discovered that if it was roasted it gave off an invigorating aroma. In addition, when they put the hard berries in water to cool it created a very tasty warm beverage. They then discovered that if you enjoyed this new-found delight, it provided a boost to one’s alertness.
Being astute studiers of the Scriptures, they then began to enjoy this new “gift-from-God” whenever they grew sleepy from their intense studies in the Scriptures which, in turn, allowed them to study even more of God’s Holy Word!
Okay, okay…so it may not be completely true, but it does make for great conversation…over a cup of coffee.

digitally divided generations...

I read some interesting research today on defining the "age based/generational group": Millennials.

I really liked the comment on how today's youth see "being connected" is like air. Take it away from them (ipod, cell phone, web) and they can't live.

For years, I have seen this trend developing trend and I think researchers are missing it. I see this digital split occurring across every single recent "age based/generational" grouping.

See, the greatest phenomenon that is influencing today’s generations is ""digitally enabled/enhanced media". Think: cell phones, laptops/computers, iPods, facebok, youtube, blogging, twitter, digg). This "digitally enhanced/enabled media" is re-defining the boundaries on how various social groups and generations interface with each other: on some very basic levels, i.e. general preferences in lifestyle, communication (and for us worship) environments. A new syntax (language) of interconnectivity has evolved. And this is giving rise to a "digitally divided non-generational based" bracket.

What I think is missing is, researchers continually keep trying to define everything by old paradigms: "age/generational" groups. I feel there is a huge developing paradigm shift. Researchers seem to be missing that point.

I've been call this newly evolving group GEND (Digital Generation).

For example: this "digital division" recently cropped up during our creative team for worship design last week. The fuZe team designs and implements the creative/experiential elements for worship. We were looking at how people perceive God. (this is in a series on Revelation. This specific week is God revealed in Revelation).

• The idea we went with is God's facebook.
• The reactions were almost equally divided across each "age/generational" group.
• It divided out this way...
• Three 20/30 somethings, one 40 something and one 50 something: thought it was sick and culturally relevant...
• Four 20/30 somethings, one 40 something and one 50 something: hated it...

One of the 40 somethings even went as far as to state that facebook was an ego based popularity contest...Wow! I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. Can you imagine how misunderstood a "digitally enhanced/enabled media" skeptic would feel.

Personally I think a wise research company should hire me (since it seems to be my idea totally) to test out this theory. Talk about ground breaking...

Does anyone else get my thought process?

my first submission to Creative Chaos @ http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=5441

05/04/08 'Getting Eaten By Whales is Bad For Your Health"

hear it, smell it, feel it…

I have been trying to implement 5S (5 senses) experiential design into our elements.
This was an ambiance set-up for worship for May 4th. Breaking it down:

1. The tech team played a long mp3 of the ocean, waves crashing etc., in lieu of the pre-service music. (link here to hear it)…to build the feeling of being at the ocean.

2. CANCELLED: Smell of the ocean. We were going to order simmering oils andl use warming plates to heat it and oscillating fans to disperse.
We did a tremendous amount of research into this project. Ran across a lot of difficulties implementing the scent element. Going into a lot more detail in scent machines...

3. Fans used to create the wind effect.

4. We had talked about adding some machines that cast waves like images on the walls of the auditorium. Sort of like the ones used in children’s rooms; that cast images. It didn't pan out. Went with a simple ocean wave projection on the screen. (here)


5. Since the wave images aren't going well. We decided to try to "invoke wave images" like the red material in this Paula Abdul video… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TN5umzSnFU&feature=related . First we tried taking large osilating fans and attaching blue cloth to create a flowing length of blue cloth. Need more industrial strength fans.
So we wound up standing on chairs behind the stage curtains and waving the cloths by hand. It looked way cooler than the pictures could capture.

Originally posted at CruX-the heart of the matter.

notes to self: gcc wired...

to extrapolate from in the future...
David S. could easily do this..



Mario live...

Not GCC
In the game "Halo:




GCC red letters..couple this with scrolling lettered scriptures



GCC management style w/ barbie dolls lol



If we are going to go '80's let really go all out..



on prayer...



volunteer

fuZe...

fuZe (creative team worship design) at XC is having a retreat June 27 and 28 at the Sanctuary.
.

soak logo...

vicar of vibe speaks on a spirtual tsunami...

I’m starting to feel that worship planning works like developing weather patterns & I personally feel a spiiritual/worship tsunami emerging across the nation.
For several months now, our team has been pushing design elements with that acoustic feel.
Intentionally creating a worship space that is safe, authentic and breaks down the worldly barriers we all enter with.
We have all personally expressed a desire for a more profound worship experience, where we feel we are able to drop our worldly masks and follow God’s prompting during worship.
Our “Reveal Survey" results show that a huge majority of people at XC are hungry for a deeper more intimate worship experience. People are searching for that genuine space dedicated to worship.
I probably track 50+ various blogs, websites that deal with worship design. I am seeing more and more churches pressing for a deeper worship experience, an extended time of simply worshipping.
A desire for softer, more intimate, “be still” time with our Father.

A few thoughts:

• Space: It’s harder to reach that space if all the house lights and stage lights are blaringly white
• Freedom of release: People need to know that it is o.k., to react to how they are feeling, i.e. raising hands, kneeling down, lying prostrate
• Focus: On God, not the worship team
• Continuity: Need to provide an extended worship set; that doesn’t start and stop. Imagine taking a nice hot shower, then getting hit with cold water. When you break up the music too much, that is the effect it has on worship.
• Music: Insure that all the music is about God (not about us), that the words praise Him and His attributes.

Are we feeling this tsunami as worship designers? Are we actively throwing off the shackles of “this is how we have always done worship”? Are we personally seeking a more intimate worship experience? Are we designing to allow others to spend more time simply worshipping? People are yearning, they want to be immersed in God. Their hearts are crying out for something that is authentic, deep rooted, intense.
Let’s not let them (or God) down.

God's facebook page...

for the upcoming series "Revelation Reflections" the fuzion team has decided to do an element where we are going to create God's facebook page...

As we get a little closer, I'll throw the link up.

Thoughts swirling around at the moment...

His full name (God Almighty)

He will have the default non-picture question mark...

Are you a friend of God's...

Seeing if you have friends in common...

What applications would God use?

rss feed: blog links...

What would happen if you 'poked' God?

anything short of sin...

great promo, great series title...

cardboard testimony...

cardboard testimonies...

what is your cardboard testimony?

tattooed, pierced, disenfranchised ...

God calls me...

He calls me to journey along with the skepics.

I hang out at Starbucks and become friends with the tattooed, the pierced, the disenfranchised.

The skeptic, the Muslims, the unincorporated Christians. The ones that believe there is no God, but they profess belief in pirates and flying spagetti monsters...

God has a great sense of humor..why would He call me, this little old fluffy lady to walk in this hurting world. Mine is not to ask "why?"

All I know is that He loves them and I love them and am honored to walk with them as they explore their spiritual journey.

(When I find where I first located this tat/picture, I will give credit...)

10 commandments prop/skit...

we took this image and blew it up in high res to about a 4' x4' image on multiple shhets. Cut it out. Attached it to cardboard and thin pvc sheets (for stability) and then simply stuck it on a box.

It was the main prop for the "The Ultimate 10 Commandments Cheer" which was hyterical.

To see the skit go to Cross Current messages:
scroll down to 03.30.2008 - 04.27.2008: The Best of the bible RE:Mix
click on availible messages
then 04.26.2008: Drama - The ultimate 10 Commandments Cheer
and click "watch"

I promise it is worth going through all the hassles of getting there.

disclaimer: please don't look at our website, we are in the middle of redesigning it, upto and including having our dramas and videos posted on youtube.