smell scent here...

Gotcha...
How I wish...
I would have clicked too...
Sorry, that technology doesn't exist yet. I imagine maybe someday that application will be viable...
But here is shout out again for wordle...
and my scent research wordle...

ending religion series: banners rock!

...adding visual impact

This sermon series was entitled: Ending Religion

We were incorporating our new tag line for XC:

imperfect church: be safe, be real, be changed...

021708 “No Fakes Allowed: Are You For Real?”

022408 “Your Sins Are Welcome; Leave the Idiocy at Home”

030208 “Reality Meets Life On the Margins”

Banner backdrop: 3 sets of curtains (from ikeas), dyed pearl grey. Various tempra paint colors. Wanted it to feel grungy/sprayed painted effect.

Center panel with the large word “religion, w/ a red “no” symbol over it. Other words on the panels

Week 1: imperfect, be real, freedom, truth.

Week 2: Added the word church to imperfect. Added; be safe; breath; love; peace; Week 3 Words: Added be changed; spirit; integrity; life

Final banner pictures and picture of prop set-up for “homeless guy” vignette.

holograms...

I have also been researching a thought I’ve had (for a many years now) on how to create holographic images that could be displayed mid-air, 3D, viewed from 360 degrees in the auditorium venue. Up until recently, the closest I have some up with is "pepper's ghost".

Technically way beyond my skills. but visually so intriguing. Then I saw this Kate Moss clip.

It is so tight.

Oh my gosh...all this and more is on you tube. Gotta love the internet. And actually after more research, I believe this Kate Moss effect was done with Cheoptics.

I just knew that someone should be to create this via computer technology. Can you imagine the possibilities? Just need to figure out how to have this work in worship NOW.

just for fun...

Just for Fun: Bill Nye I just knew that someone should be to create this via computer technology. Can you imagine the possibilities? Just need to figure out how to have this work in worship NOW.
With over 1 million hits on youtube.com I think it is culturally relevant.
Say house on sand parable?

scent machine...

scent machine and pump in the smell of the ocean into the auditorium.
3. Fans going; to create the wind effect (thanks to Cheyenne for that idea!).

too freaky...

Brain candy for design planning...
The End is Near (and other freaky stuff)

Dragon Illusion
I want to do this dragon illusion approximately 4 foot high and set it in the middle of the stage for a discussion The End is Near (Revelation)(and other freaky stuff)
The (stand alone) message was postponed in May and now we are going to do a series in July, and I'm thinking it was a little too freaky for them...

extrapolating...

I am so blessed to be able to serve on our Fuzion team for XC. I get to play with experiential worship design elements. One of the ways I know that I am in God's will for my life is that God explodes in my brain.
The ideas just popcorn up all the time, I dream of them, I hear them when I drive (which is hysterical because I have to find a way to transcribe them at the moment or I will forget them). One time I had to ‘write down’ 30+ ideas while driving for 45 minutes.
I spend hours searching - I see a snippet of something like Mia Michaels or Cheoptics and then God blows it up and extrapolates it into a worship concept. It is so fun and powerful. This is such an exciting journey. I LOVE IT! I AM ON FIRE!
I dream of a place online where extrapolators would come gather, play with me, and share…
I wish I could implement more of these cool ideas…

envelope...

Recently we were planning worship elements for “Jesus, lunatic or Lord”. Focusing on the miracles of Jesus. Someone suggested using a video of Criss Angel, the illusionist. I thought it was a great idea; juxtaposing Angel’s youtube video of “Criss Angel walks on water’ illusion with Jesus walking on water.



I pushed for it and it was shot down. In a world where personal perception is reality, we need to face the hard questions. Criss Angel is a freaky illusionist. Jesus did it for real. We can’t be afraid of using great real time, relatable, culturally relevant elements. I respect our design teams process, but I will continue to push the envelope. We did a Mother’s day video instead.

highpoint and pinkinc...

Sometimes I stumble across others that are also designing worship stage sets for mobile churches. And I get so excited. I have been researching a company called pinkinc. (creative fabric solutions). They have some fantastic designs. I have been trying to figure out how to create something similar. Still working on it and getting closer everyday. Then I ran across this picture from HighPoint. A big shout out to Courtney@ flicker church marketing lab (beta); for letting me share.

I'd love to design some pieces to wrap around our band. Hmmmm thinking....

God Almighy's facebook script...

God’s Facebook

[Video begins with two guys snooping in another persons cubicle in a workplace].

Pete: Jimmy! Jimmy! Get over here!

Jimmy: What is it Pete?

Pete: You know that new guy that just started working here?

Jimmy: What guy?

Pete: The guy that’s sort of mysterious and a little weird and doesn’t talk a lot.

Jimmy: Oh that guy! Yeah, what about him?

Pete: Well, that’s his stuff over there and he’s away from his desk!

Jimmy: So?

Pete: So??

Let’s go through his stuff!

Jimmy: OK!

Pete: Hey look! He’s got his Facebook page up. You wanna check it out?

Jimmy: Sure!

Pete: Updated his page 1 minute ago. [reads recent activity] “Leaving my desk for a LOOOOOOONG break…” Look at that, we’ve got some time. [sits in the chair] So who is friends with this guy?

Jimmy: Does that say, “The Almighty God and Sovereign Lord.” Weird… You don’t think that’s actually God’s Facebook page do you?

Pete: I don’t know. Let’s check it out. [clicks to God’s Facebook page] Well there’s no picture. Who are his friends?

Jimmy: [Looking at God’s friends] I don’t know any of these people? Where is the pope?

Pete: The Pope?

Jimmy: If this is really God’s Facebook page, then the pope would be here. They’re like, best friends.

Pete: Jimmy, did you ever stop to think that maybe the Pope doesn’t have time to be on Facebook.

Jimmy: That’s a good point.

Pete: That’s the problem with you Jimmy. You never think! [Jimmy appears momentarily despondent]

Pete: It looks like all of God’s friends are just random people.

Jimmy: It looks like He’s been playing word cube. 87th percent tile. That’s a pretty decent ranking.

Pete: But he’s the God of the Universe. Why not 100. Why isn’t He the best?? This is tripping me out.

Jimmy: Hey.

Pete: Yeah?

Jimmy: Should we poke him?

Pete: What?

Jimmy: You know, just a little shout out. A little wuzzup…

Pete: I don’t know if I like that idea.

Jimmy: What’s the matter. Chicken?

Pete: What?

Jimmy: You’re chicken Pete! That’s the problem with you. You’re a big ol’ CHICKEN!!

Pete: [not backing from the challenge] Ok, I’ll poke him. [Send’s God a poke] [A few seconds pass while Jimmy and Pete are waiting for something to happen but nothing is happening]

Jimmy: Nothing happened.

Pete: Yeah, this whole thing is probably a fake. Look at His wall. [Pete reads] 7 minutes ago - Focusing on mercy. 15 minutes ago - Feeling angry. 27 minutes ago - Seeing into the near future where Pete and Jimmy will blasphemously poke the Almighty God. 33 minutes ago - Just kidding guys, it’s all good.

frames and floating plexiglass...

shout out: @ quicksilver8563 over at Flicker Church Marketing lab (beta)

Here is our stage for (his) new church plant Fellowship of the Hills in Tallahassee, FL. We worked hard to jump in and help them come up with something to turn this ugly middle school cafeteria into something cool.
HIS ELEMENTS:-4 spandex screens stapled around a wood frame hit with just a few par cans from the sides of the stage. -lanterns that we hung from spliced electrical wire...-the screens on the side have since been replaced with widescreen spandex frames as used on the set. They help tie everything together.

MY THOUGHTS:
I’d love to take something like this and stagger the frames, so that some are overlapping others.

Or more…I’ve been playing with this idea:
Since we are meeting in an auditorium of a junior high school complete with standards black stage curtains:

We were designing for a message called “Marked by Christ” on tattooes…
Here’s the thought; hanging plexiglass rectangles and squares (in the 3’ x 5’ or 4’ x 6’ range) with various hand painted inkings on them. Hung vertically and horizontally. So it seems like they are floating in space.

Sadly the message got dropped.

HIS QUESTION: We have to setup and take down each week, sucky, but we make do. Does anyone have any cool stage elements that could be used with a setup tear down type stage? We are about to start a new series and need some new designs. Curious to see what kinds of stuff you all do!

snippets...

I’m constantly surfing the web looking for snippets to extrapolate into worship experiences.


I also search to finds locations that share ideas for experiential worship ideas. I found little pockets of ideas here and there. And then they stopped. I search and search. Maybe I am doomed to surfing the web simply looking for snippets.
Today’s snippet… multi-touch interface… I actually found this several weeks ago. It is a fascinating glimpse into the new future of what we will be able to with computer screens. I love it, particularly since more than a few times I have touched my laptop screen actually expecting it to do something. And this was before I saw the viedo. Since this technology isn’t available affordable, how about this…
A dancer playing against the big screen, her dance is choreographed to the (video light show) being projected onto the big screen.
Liquid waves of color and sound as she sweeps her arms over the surface.
Shimmering lines as she delicately etches the surface with her fingers.
Floods of waves as she leaps and twirls next to it.
Pulsating warm as she lays her check gently onto screen.
I can see it, hear it, feel it now...

not your parents flannel graph…

submitted to CreatIVe Chaos 07/03/08; go Los!
the lovely Melissa Gray-Genter w/ five foot flannel graph Jesus

Easter 2008: The idea – life sized, retro flannel graph/drama of the Resurrection story. Juxtaposed with vignette of a person’s faith journey, questioning it all.

Designed more towards the unincorporated Christian thought process. Also acknowledging that those two-times a year Christians hear the same story, over and over, and over again…

Go to CrossCurrent.org (please ignore how ancient the site looks, we are re-designing) and click to watch…03.28.2008 Easter (Note: Drama Flannel Graph Memories included) Sorry we aren't able to directly link it here...

We are a creative bunch of people in our group. We gather to craft more experiential design into our worship is hysterically fun! That Friday, we were so excited. Our small flannel graph pieces had finally arrived. We carefully cut out the various figures we would need. Five figures in all. The tomb and stone, the guard, Mary, the angel and Jesus. And laid them out lovingly on the dining room table.Then off the garage to built an 8 foot by 8 foot flannel graph board. We used two 8’ x 4’ plywood panels and stretched and stapled lengths of sky blue flannel.Evidently, according the great Wikipedia, it’s the fluffy side (on the board) placed against the fluffy side (of the characters) that provides the traction that holds the figures to the board. We were having a blast, we were slap happy as we were trying to figure out which side of the flannel was nappy (fluffy). When one gal, with her finger held in the air said,

“Wait, I’ll go get Jesus, He’ll know which side is fluffy”.

Problem solved. Jesus to the rescue.Good start, got the board done. Going to paint the green grass later that week.The following week we are blew up the flannel graph set pieces from 6 ½“ up to, oh say, about five feet (life sized, right?).Then all the sudden I realized 5’ tall angel, 8’ x 8’ background. Then we add the other life sized figures of tomb, stone, guard, Je-sus, M-a-r-y…Oh no, how in the world are we going to fit all those pieces onto the board? Literally, can we stop the presses!

Friday, we’re back at it again. We cut the blown-up/high res. figures and hot glued them to poster board, then cut all the flannel graph pieces out. In the end, we figured it all out. But, warning this is what happens when you have a bunch of creative people doing math.

It was a hysterical design element...

Always remember, God gifts the called...

Hot glue guns, cutting out rocks, creating a 5 foot flannel graph Jesus.

Now that’s what I am talking about…
(shout-out to the writers, drama team, tech team and pPod...)

motione...

The motione project of the Arts, Media and Engineering (AME) program at ASU, brings together choreographers, composers, lighting designers, and engineers for the creation of ground breaking, interactive multimedia works, new motion analysis systems and interactive technologies.

Can’t you see it, the interpretive light and laser show choreographed into and through the design of dancers.

GEN D...

It isn’t surprising, particularly to the business world, that civilization has been undergoing major changes. Particularly in the syntax of our lifestyles and communication. The current and emerging methods of the creation of thought and interpersonal relationships is having a huge impact on all levels of society. These changes are not happening linearly, but exponentially.

This is creating a divide in humankind which we haven’t been able to quantify in the general categorizations of generations which have peppered our language up until now. This is beyond boomers, busters, Gen X and Y’ers. This is beyond defining as post modern or emergent. The greatest phenomenon that is influencing today’s generation is digitally enabled/enhanced media (cell phones, computers, TV, movies).

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 worship environments. A new language of interactivity has evolved. And this is giving rise to a digitally divided generation bracket. This newly evolving group is GEND (Digital Generation).

How is GEND defined? The common denominator is simply people who are digitally connected. It’s a digitally enhanced/enabled media world today. You know, blue tooth technology, life in your PDA, YouTube, viral videos, itunes in an iPod shuffle. facebook, podcasts, vlogging, wiki. It’s big and it’s loud. Extreme edge is so passé. GEND spans race, culture, age and sex. Now, when you add up the populous that is defined within the parameters of GEND there emerges a paradigm shift in how we interpret and define age/generation classifications. For the parameters of this tag is not limited to age, only mindset.

Why is this important to the church? When we then combine this GEND tag with the concept of reaching the unchurched (or dechurched) we have more comprehensive picture of this emerging culture. Where is this leading?

* Learning to use whatever it takes, as long as we are uncompromising about God’s word. Our job is to bring people into the presence of God, it’s His job to meet them. Bringing them into the presence of God requires being able to ‘speak’ the same language.

* Since most GEND have been deluged with marketing of all types, up to and including gorilla marketing they are quickly able to discern when someone is trying to sell them something. Therefore it has to be authentic.

* We need to understand that the medium affects the message. For this group, gone is the day of come, sit and listen. Use of interactive digital media is important. We need to utilize various tools such as text messaging in services. We are exploring concepts such as Motione. And dreaming about holographic imaging displays in worship.

*We are to create a community where all God’s children are welcomed at the table. Particularly the unchurched, dechurched and disenfranchised. Everything is designed to be comfortable to unchurched, to speak that language.

My words may be jumbled, by the thought isn’t. We have to make that paradigm shift and re-think how we define worship.

Or we will lose a generation of "all ages".

Are you GEND?

extrapolate...

Perfect example of extrapolation...

The creatives at Topeka Bible Church, in Kansas took the popular idea (culturally relevant) of synchronized Christmas light shows to great music and created a Christmas Light Show with live music presented in the venue of their parking lot as a way to reach out to their community.

What a great example of being culturally relevant, co-missional, and smashing paradigms...

My Music Writer in Kansas

wordle...

(wordle from a vision casting message)

going backwards...
wordle in worship...
Jim Drake wordles his sermon notes...
Carolyn Mejia worked it into set design...
both worhty of stealing!

feathers...

Feathers from trey taylor on Vimeo
I’d like to share a simple creative element that we did last year. Shannon and I got to do a series called ‘words’ while Pastor was on sabbatical. The last week I did a talk on gossip and we created this video.
Ok so its just a video, the fun part is what we did at the end. When everyone got to their car, we had put a feather on their windshields as a reminder. And I’ve been blown away by the response we’ve had from that simple thing. I still have people talking about it. What’s really great is that several people didn’t notice that every car had them and they thought someone was trying to tell them something.

dust...

I have found a couple things on Trey Taylor's blog that resonate with what we are going to be doing...

This is from a series they did entitled "dust". I really like the name. It came from the simple concept, follow Jesus so closely that your covered in the dust of His feet.

Dust_Capernaum HD from trey taylor on Vimeo

Dust_Sea of Galilee HD from trey taylor on Vimeo

details for bread scent element...

We sent out an e-mail to ask people if they had a bread machines we could borrow.

We gathered all the machines and tested them all to see how they worked (and if they worked properly). This was important, especially after discovering one of the machines (the Breadman) made a lot of noise when it was kneading. And it beeped a lot in the beginning cycles.

The timing of the entire process varied (from 80 minutes (Oster machine) to two hours (Breadman machine).

The commonality we found was: the last rising and baking for each machine was 1 hour. This meant there wasn’t any noise going on during that last hour. That is how we determined the timing.

We babysat each machine and unplugged it when it was down to one minute on the timer. That way it didn’t beep at the end.

We carried the machine with potholders out into the hallway to get the loaves out of the machines.

We used Hodgson Mills White Bread Mix (under three dollars a box). It was simple to use, it included the yeast and we only had to add warm water and oil.