stage set design using EPS foam...

We are totally mobile. Load everything in and out each week.

Working on creating general stage designs to be used

Sort of like this…

But, looking to use Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)

We’ve been investigating (researching) using EPS foam (expanded polystyrene) for stage set designs. We found a company called Universal Foam Products. It requires a minimum $250 order.

Since we are loading and unloading every week, it’s been recommended that we use a minimum of 1 inch thickness, 1 ½ pound (density) foam for our 48” x 96” sheets. She said it would be about
$20.00 a sheet - around 12 sheets for our $250.

About the paint, this is very important - NO OIL BASED PAINT TOUCHING THE FOAM!!! It disintegrates the foam. Water based or latex paint ONLY directly on the foam. If you want to use spray paint you MUST put a coat of latex underneath.

I'm trying to gather a group of people that are interested in set designing and 5S (using all the senses) experiential worship elements. If you are looking for this kind creative exchange of information feel free to contact me.

Question: Have you worked with foam before in set design?

5S...

What is 5S? designing 5S (using all 5 senses) experiential worship elements...

I am obsessed with this concept. I spend hours and hours research, searching youtube and such.
Striving to break through the fourth wall. I like to think of it as taking the design further up (designing above the audience and stage), further out (into the venue, aisle, etc.) and further in (interactive, and things that evoke emotions)…

From Wikipedia:

"The fourth wall is the imaginary wall at the front of the stage in a proscenium theater, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play. Although the concept has been around since before the ancient Greeks and is used by Shakespeare, it was made explicit by Denis Diderot and spread in nineteenth century theatre with the advent of theatrical realism. Critic Vincent Canby described it in 1987 as "that invisible screen that forever separates the audience from the stage."

visual - not just on the stage, changing it up, stations, holographic images dripping down and interacting with the people, dancers in the aisles.

sound - beyond the music, sound of the ocean, bringing sound out into the congregation (i.e. djembe drums spaced though-out the venue.

sense of smell –is the closest, most powerful sense linked to our memory. This is so under utilized in our design.

"Dr. Luca Turin a biophysicist at the University College London explains: “We don’t smell with our noses, we smell with our brains so we shouldn’t be surprised that fragrance has a direct effect on our moods"

Great research information at Scentair…

taste - well, of course there is the obvious; communion, more recently we were discussing the taste of vinegar (Mark 15: 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.) and actually having people taste it.


touch/kinesthetic - something to touch, clay, a box to open, different textures to explore. interactive - moving around, dancing, get off your duff

5S: This is a more centralized remix of research I’ve been compiling for months.

How do you break the "fourth wall"?

heaven & why I do, what I do...

Tylor @ man.of.depravity causes me to write and think...
Thank you Tylor!
While the thought of heaven is great, I can not in any way, imagine my life HERE without Christ. I spent way too long not being with Him here.

My deepest desire is to have others know that peace here on earth. I literally cry when I think about all the wonderful people I have come to know that don't know Him. I name them all in my prayers.

Please don’t misunderstand, while I am thankful I am going to heaven, I don’t care much about it. I try to remain focused just on what He is calling me to do here and now.

I recently made the decision to step down from management at Starbucks. Things had gotten way too stressful and my husband wasn’t happy with how exhausted I was. I started working a lot less hours and have contemplated getting another job for more money. I was even asked to put in my application at our church for an admin position. That would have solved the money issue and the health insurance issue. But, the more I pray about it, I realize that I have to keep working at Starbucks. Because that is where God has called me to work. I knew that when I applied at Starbucks.
Why?
I have met so many wonderful people who are far from God and had real God conversations with them. They drop in to see me, ask if I will take my break and talk with them, ask me to hang out after work. These are mostly young, tattooed, pierced, lost, disenfranchised people who seem drawn to me (lol), a fluffy grandmother.
For me, this is way more important that having God conversations with Christians.

At church, I am called to the creative design team. Very specifically to keep us culturally relevant for our community and I design to entice the skeptic.

I work on other things (like our website design). 1. Because it really stinks and I would never intentionally send any of my skeptic friends there and 2. it is something I like to do. But, I would drop that in a heartbeat, if I felt that it was interfering in what God has called me to do.

And if I had to give it all up except one thing, I’m sure that God would want me to be in the world. Taylor, I hear you when you feel you are called to be a pastor. That is awesome. We need bright men like you. But, what specifically as a pastor, is God calling you to do? Is it leading a church? Preaching? Leading worship? Yes, there is a lot of administrative work involved in being a pastor. But, one of the most important jobs I feel for a pastor, is empowering others to works in their gifts. Take this vacation and really take the time off. Don’t answer phone calls, even stop blogging unless it’s what you really want to do (though I will miss you :^). Take the time to be with God and your family. Btw, I don’t feel that stress and anxiety are sins, I think that they are indicators we are focusing on the wrong things. Darn it, I just smacked myself between the eyes (over a whole different subject entirely)…

faux mirror...

Our stage design team (called pPod) has only been working together for 5 months and we are working on creating a mobile modular system for staging elements and stage sets. We are a totally mobile church whose venue is a junior high school auditorium. Here are a couple pics of making the base for a walk through - faux mirror (total cost $28) for the dance team to use onstage.
For a little more on the construction…

And this is the final result along with the dancers…

I have a goal of using this team to draw in unchurched skeptics. It’s starting to work. One husband and one father (both unchurched skeptics) have helped us on this project. A couple more gals who I work with are interested in coming and helping us out on our next project (stage set).

“God gifts the called…”

Submitted to Creative Chaos, July 31, 2008 Thursdays at Ragamuffin Soul…

from the mad mind of bill....

bill's mind is ridiculous...

I love serving with him on fuZe...
Shadrac, Meshac and Abednigo: The Movie OUT TAKES


The Walls Within...(the poetry is his also)


Barbie's House (fast becoming a cult classic)


for more from the mind of bill...

pPod in action…

shout out to some of the p’s on the pPod team.
We have been working together since February this year (2008)
We’ve done some fun stuff in our short five months together…
imperfect church banner
life sized flannel graph for Easter
10 Commandments prop
paper shredders

Leigh Anne, Dorothy, Genny and Beth 071808

This is a “mystery” element we are working on currently. What I will share at the moment, is we are working to create modular component system that we can utilize for ongoing design elements.

Since we are a totally mobile church we are working on a rolling platform systems and investigating working with expanded polystyrene for set design and it has to fit in our truck. if you have worked with expanded polystyrene in your stage designing, I'd LOVE to hear from you.

Since one of my goals is to invite unchurched and dechurched skeptics into a relationship with God through serving on pPod, I’m always looking for other people to “help” us out.

So, these are the hands of my dechurched husband Brian, helping us out by building the rolling platform.

sshhh! Don't tell him he is working for God. lol. Actually I praise God for my husband. He has the love langauge of service. He helps me pay for, design, build and transport elements. He is amazing!

Sometime soon I'll add a picture of "Mitch" who also helps us soooo much!

Thanks to everyone for giving so much from your heart...

on a visual roll...

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 a couple months 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 video. 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...
remix:

worshipping with live art…

I find it so amazing when I see a thought I have been envisioning being utilized in worship already…
This entails having an artist paint live during worship (pause it at 2:02)…
btw, nice song…


We are already talking about live graffiti art during worship one Sunday…
I thank God for ideas and for bringing the talent…

fishbowls vs. ocean…

**stepping onto soapbox**

My stated goal is to find the fishies in the ocean without a fishbowl
That is who I AM says i am to be…a fisherwoman
I am called to design new fish food.

This is going to sound harsh.
If you are a fishy from another fishbowl, I don’t care…
See, fishies from other fishbowls come in and say “back at my old fishbowl we”…
When I hear that I just shut down. I try NOT to say with all the love my little heart can muster “Go back to your old fishbowl”. (edited)

I’m not concerned with the type of fish food you like; there are lots of places to get fish food.
So what if the coral was brown I your last fishbowl, if the fishies in the ocean like fuchsia coral, then I’ll be adding a little fuchsia coral…
I don’t even care if I like fuchsia coral…

One of the fishies at my fishbowls felt drawn to our fishbowl because we are real, not afraid to get dirty. We also have rock worship music in our fishbowl. This fishy feels compelled to add lots of tradition hymns, because it is what she likes.
(Disclaimer: there is nothing wrong with hymns, it’s all about the heart.)

There are a lot of fishbowls out there, go find one that is already designed for you. I promise you it is out there…
It’s almost like I want to say IF you want to join us in this fishbowl…recognize it isn’t about you (or me).
Be prepared to fish!

**stepping off soapbox**

The Great Fishing Expedition (Commission) Matthew: 16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and fish in the ocean and make disciples of all those fishies, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Just to clarify: there are lovely people in our fishbowl that play with the fishies and feed them once they make that leap into the fishbowl.

cheoptics...

When I first saw this concept (not this specific clip) I was amazed. trying to figure it out in my brain and the only thing I could come up with at that point was that it was some form of pepper's ghost. (on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper, this link was giving me problems) It is so tight.


After more research and base on this specific view, I've determined that it is probably cheoptics.



Again, I am trying to envision this as part of worship design.

How about in a message focusing on when Jesus appeared to the crowd after His death...having this type of cheoptic projection with Christ. Or is this is too ghostly and He wasn't. He really was there.

I just know that there is so much potential utilizing elements based on these types of things...These ideas are still gelling in my mind...

(disclamier: I'm not saying that we need to add a cheoptic of Kate Moss into our worship design: when I last posted about holograms I think someone thought I wanted to project the squid like creatures (from the clip I shared) these are just cool ideas to extrapolate from. I think most of you get it. Sometimes some one doesn't)

design process...

Interesting stuff at Creative Chaos this week.
Los and Josh Lazar both shared on their creative team process…
Very similar to our process, but got a lot also. Going to share with our fuZion team.
We plan on a white board.
And are working to decorate our room more. Had to laugh about the lights. Every week someone (ME) whines about the fluorescents and we drag in some torcheres for mood lighting.
We also are trying to get away at least once a quarter to just let our brainstorming to flow…
Josh shared their concept of a filtering grid. Interesting.
Really like the color coding. This is why I do creative chaos. To find people like this.

I wonder if their teams are as insane as we are.

It's like herding cats...

what is pPod?

What is pPod?

p: p(erceiver) is a personality indicator from the ‘Meyers Brigg’s Personality Indicator’ test. We tend to be VERY creative and ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ type of individual. But you don’t have to be.
Pod: where p’s gather (of course)

pPod ‘s gather together to express a common desire to create 5S (5 senses) experiential worship design. To incorporate all the senses into the worship experience. Visual, sound, touch, smell, emotions, movement, interactive. Everything is designed to glorify God and heighten the worship experience. We also just have flat out fun!

We welcome people that may be interested in helping with any type of experiential worship design. From creative design, execution and logistical set up. Can you laugh, sew, draw, do animae (yes, animae), woodwork, paint, do graphic design, hammer, operate a safety pin, stand there and cheer for others...there is always a need more p's for the Pod.

Quotes heard at pPod gatherings:

Holy flashing light, Batman.

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

You need a ‘stabler’ to put the flannel on the panel.

Don’t run with the scissors, or I’ll throw a fish at you.

We usually meet about 6:30p.m. on Friday evenings. We also work some on Saturday and Sunday mornings. But, not every week. I promise…

I must note that while we work at adding people to the team from our church community, to offer people a place to share their gifts and talents. I actually work harder at being organic and inviting skeptics and dechurched to join us. Kind of like a “gateway” group. *grins* And where do I meet these people? At Starbucks of course…

singing to You…

It’s so simple…

change the words…

Him to You…

us to me…

I know the thought process behind corporate worship paradigms. But, also I just want to flat sing to You…

lasers...

Actually the sickest thought I've found in weeks.
So glad I checked back into Creative Chaos this evening.

Jason Smithers on Worst Blogger...
Check this out...
The making of "House of Cards" video by Radiohead

I'm an extrapolator, my first thought was how could this be used in worship...This laser concept connects into several thoughts I've had but, haven't been able to gel exactly yet on using holograms, cheoptics etc in designing worship elements...The thoughts are still percolating in my brain...

Here's the end product...

she is ashlee...

A Genesis Life:
Some link love for...
a new blogger, new church start, new to Creative Choas!

I love Ash's voice, simplicity and she thinks like me. That may be a compliment. lol.

Seriously, being creative on a low budget is creative in itself. Been there, done that, oh, wait I am there...
Blog on ashlee...

Ed's facebook page...

Ed's facebook page. Click on it to make it bigger.

forgiv3n3ss video...

Superb video...

The message was based on Matthew 18:21 - 35 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.

Execution by David Spicer and relevant scripture supplied by Martha Springfield...

Forgiv3n3ss Screen shot and outline of the design for the service

Other elements:

Our guest speaker brought a large accounting ledger as a prop.

The Bulletin: Had a piece of graphed paper to represent a ledger. After the message the people were guided in a time of reflection to list people that they needed to forgive, the name, what was done...

The video was played during the time of reflection.

Then had three interactive stations with paper shredders through out the auditorium for people to shred their paper. The worship team played for a couple extra songs after the service, so that people could continue their time of reflection and forgiveness. There were multiply pockets of people remaining.

I am super excited, because this was the first intentionally branded service we've had since I have been on the team.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Confessional (evaluation):

Message:Wow, my first time hearing Chris Campbell. Have to say I was very impressed with his message. And God certainly was impacting people lives today (myself included). I had some guests that are going through some really difficult times and I know they were really impacted.

Music: Really glad to see switching the o.o.s. up some.I think today’s o.o.s. (1 song, Meet & greet, 3 songs) is a really good move to try and will open up the space during the worship set to allow people to release the world and step more into the worship. Hopefully we could do this more often and see how it works. Liked it a lot today.

Multi-media team: David, superb job on the Forigv3n3ss video. This is the first thing I’ve known you to create and it was beyond all my wildest expectations. You are very gifted and I look forward to seeing more of your work. You and Martha did a great job with relevant scriptures, timed so well. I don’t even know what to call this last part, but the way those key words from the scripture lingered was absolutely stunning.

Branding: It was terrific to see the over all branding of the worship elements. I don’t know if you used to do more of this, I haven’t noticed it too often. Bit, to be fair I have been attending less that a year. The branding was interwoven throughout the various elements, including the message.

this is this week's element for Creative Chaos at RagamuffinSoul...

priming the pump...

We are about to start a 58 week series on Jesus...
Maybe we should start it off with a pre-series and/or stand alone training on why people don't like Christ followers...
I mean if we want to invite "skeptics" to this awesome series...it might help to have some understanding how to be relevant...

They like Jesus, but not the church…

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…