innovate09

Often we think we can't recycle thoughts and ideas for worship, everything must be brand new... listen to these songs using the very same four chords


What used to be true...

and clap hands...

for just a couple...

creative fuZion lab //32// flying windows…

Who knew that flying things in the air could be so much fun? Think about it; you start with a completely empty stage, two hours later you have a slamming stage design. One day it goes up in about 2 hours, the next day it all comes down...six days later you do it all over again.

flying the windows: second week, same as the first with tweeking.

As mentioned before we used a heavy duty gauged wire with hooks and couplers to fly the windows. This week we needed to fly the windows higher. And we also noted that we needed to mark which window went on which side of the stage. LOL. We simply marked them with a sharpie on the bottom.

learning curve on flying the photos:

The pictures were printed on 3’ x 5’ foam core. Learning from previous experience; we added a piece of gaffers tape on the back of all the corners and then we gorilla glued the protective plastic corners (that came with the photos) onto the corners.

Then we drilled small holes on the top two corners to thread the fishing line through.

We threw the fishing line over the ceiling light trusses, threaded the fishing line through the photo itself, made loops then fastened the loops together with a safety pin on the back side.

This way we were able to adjust the photo’s angle by simply moving it back and forth on the fishing line, sort of like a clothesline.

See the last picture. This worked infinitely better.

Again, it all comes down on Sunday. Then six days later, we will do it again.

We also had a drama this week. That’s why there are trees and chairs on stage. Very funny. Written in house. You are able to view the drama here.

testosterone...

Sex is really big deal, especially for men...watch as Mark Gungor charts a man's testosterone levels through out life.

Very, very funny...
But, like with most things it makes me think about God. That may sound a bit sacrilegious to some but; hear me out.
Men are passionate about sex (a lot of women too)
People are passionate about sports, hobbies, t.v. shows, you name it...

I often wonder why aren't people as passionate about God?
Do you wake up, not thinking about anything but God?
Do you whisper those words God loves to hear "Hey God, are you awake?"
If you were to chart your passion level with God, what would it look like?
video HL: Prophets and Popstars

xtranormal is fun...

xtranormal.com is a text to video application. I thought I'd post one to invite people to come try out the ENHANCE team on my facebook page. I also made one for the lighting team...

creative fuZion lab //31// imperfect church...

Wow! flying decrepit windows, awesome flying pics that tell a story, all to illustrate the imperfect church- a story of hurt, pain and hope!
Here we go...a new series.
The series is imperfect church... hopeful story of redemption!
-We did our promos, marketing and creative element (still waiting for the video to be posted) based on a run down decrepit church. It is really cool looking. I was very excited because it was so well branded across the board. That has been one of my goals.
-Someone donated old windows (thanks Bill and fam). We drilled two sets of the windows together, broke out some of the glass and used heavy duty wire and couplers to fly the window sets from the trusses above the stage.
-We didn't used the colorful plexiglass that is pictured here. It didn't really fit in with the rest of the design. After spending several hours going to the storage locker, having to cut off the old lock, rumbling around in the messiness and going to go get my husband to bring his truck because it wouldn't fit in my Escape...ah, the things we do.
-The photos were printed at Kinkos, on 3' x 5' foam core. Very expensive.
-The last pic are some notes for next weeks set-up.
Notes:
-It's interesting to have the pastor sitting in on our brainstorming and selection process; we get to actually spend church money. Most of the time I am limited in stage designing to what my personal pocket can afford. Currently that is what I am able to gift above my tithe. I am not complaining, I choose to do this freely, but I find it interesting that people are all like Oooohhh! This is so great! (We need to do more like this.) Maybe I should start asking for donations... Of all the arts at our church; this is one (of a few) that changes almost every week.
-Interestingly enough we had lots of help (extra hands) last week with this intense stage design; now this week we are going to have to duplicate the same design with me (the fluffy grandmothers whose fam won't let me climb ladders anymore) and a really tiny gal. Maybe others will pitch in and help.
-I also got to produce this weekend. It was one of those days-every single element just flowed together in perfect harmony.
-There are more details in my last two blog posts on the worship sets, order of service and the really exciting news!!!

Great weekend!

the best thing...

Everything I do is geared to my life's mission

love God, love others, it's simple...

Why I do what I do (styling the stage, production, etc) is to

entice the skeptic, challenge the lukewarm and ignite passion in the
believer (to go into the world)

This young lady (in the picture above) is a friend I met four years ago while working at Starbucks. We became friends. She had walked away from the church of her youth and God. Completely dechurched. We lost everyday contact, but every now and again, we would touch base, have a cup of coffee and catch up.

She hit me up on fb about 2 months ago and said she wanted to talked about God. We met for lunch and chatted. I invited her to come play with me on Saturday doing a stage set and then come visit CrossCurrent. She has been running back to God ever since.

She loved stage designing (in fact this weeks design was hers); and over the course of two months she has become active and we've had many heart to heart conversations. It has been such a exciting adventure.

After a Core Community meeting last night (kind of like a congregation meeting), we sat in my car and talk for about two hours. The conversation turned to a point where she shared that she was unsure if she was a Christian, and what that really meant. Last Tuesday in her car, after her first creative team brainstorming she gave up her life to God. I simply confirmed what she now believed. In all of her years going to church, she had never been given the opportunity to confess her faith.

People have so many misconceptions about what is needed to become a follower of Christ. We forget to tell them how easy it is to step into salvation. We forget to offer them the opportunity to cross the line of faith.

THIS is why we all do what we do...we may never be able to see the fruit of what we do. But, this is why. I would do this with all of my heart even if I never saw a life changed personally. But God gave me a giant gift last night. He allowed me the honor and privilege of walking with a person into new life.

Sweetheart, welcome into the Kingdom of God. I love you so much, but God loves you even more...

Thank you God for allowing me to be Your instrument of love!

Now it's time to don my green apron and off to Starbucks again, maybe I'll make a new friend today...

imperfect church (part 1)

Did you ever have one of those really, really great Sundays?

This was one of those days from start to finish - every single element flowed together in perfect harmony.
People came ready to worship today.
And the worship team, knocked it out of the house!!!!

We are started a new series, and the creative element was one of the best I've seen us do in-house. I hope to have it posted a little later this week. But you can get an idea from the promo video here.

But, the very best thing that happened is a wonderful friend has became a new believer! This is why we do what we do...nothing else matters in the scheme of things.


Worship Set 1

Our Love is Loud

Not to Us

Welcome & Greet

Video (creative element)

imperfect church

Special Song

Bring On the Wonder - Susan Enon

Message

Testimony

Worship Set 2

Better is One Day (On Fire chorus- Switchfoot)

Holy, Holy, Holy

Join in and check what other wl's are doing across the world at Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set List blog carnival.

10 thousand doors…

One of my favorite things to do is think creatively, bounce ideas around with my brother who is in advertising. He is a professional; I am simply passionate about it.
So, my awesome brother sent me this link to 10 THOUSANDDOORS… on fb.
It’s a must go to…

The concept RETHINK CHURCH What if church wasn’t a building, but a thousand doors? In one word brilliant.

The site is easy to navigate. Using a twitter feed is culturally relevant, though I was thrown a bit when I clicked, because I wasn’t expecting a twitter feed.

I physically felt drawn to enter into the doors. I wanted to find out more about the random doors placed in the middle of a park across from the Capital, overseas, at a building site…

I particularly am fascinated with the concept of keeping the UMC logo small. It bothers me when anyone gets all “splashy”, including churches. It reminds me of “Make My Logo Bigger Cream”

“Splashy” no – branded yes. I saw it almost immediately.

IMHO the UMC denom is one of the very few denoms that has actually successfully re-branded themselves well in recent years. This website is proof.

In short, well thought out and skillfully executed.

The best part for me is this website gave me fodder to extrapolate a thought for our current series at XC. Don’t ask how this works, it’s just the way my mind works. The series is based on one of our taglines that has become central to our DNA.

“imperfect church. be safe, be real, be changed…”

Here is one of the pics we are using for print media…
We are also printing this (sans series title) and two more onto 4’ x 6’ foam core and going to fly them on stage along with old windows and a door.
So my initial thought was I need to buy a “No Trespassing” sign to hang on the door. Duh, not sure why I didn’t think about it before. What I’d love to see is during one of the messages, that the teaching pastor actually take the sign off the door and rip it apart.

Do you feel it?

imperfect church...

We are starting a new series this coming Sunday and this is the promo video for the series.

creative fuZion lab //30// simplest...

I have been on a "secret mission" for a couple of months.

I tried implementing scent before and got major push back.

I have been testing this concept out slowly in a section at a time in the auditorium over the last few months. What a difference a year makes...

I actually had to laugh, one of the major things previously brought up was scent sensitivity (duh!). I explained I really know what I was doing, I've researched a lot and just happen to be highly scent sensitive myself...

So this week our experiential element was some Hazelnut aroma plug-ins through out the venue. Gentle, unobtrusive...nice.
This time...no reactions, no complaints...
Secret mission accomplished!!!
What a cool experience this weekend. I was producing, so I asked the newest person on the ENHANCE team what she thought we should do with the stage. I really had no set ideas except for simplest...
Since this is the end of a year long series...
This is what she came up with...lots of candles (I went and bought some more flameless candles at Walmart)and (LED) tealights. We simply safety pinned the tealights into the curtains. We've done this a couple times, it particularly looks cool when the stage and house lights are off.
It looks like stars...
Great job Allison. She really has "it" I think.

Coming up...we are starting a new series emitled the "imperfect church". I don't thnk I have ever been this excited about a new series. From the creative element vid, the logo and stage design...I'm just flat out excited!!!! Stay tuned...

That's a wrap for this week...

change...

Intro:
Change -Taylor Swift

Worship Set 1
Let the Praises Ring

Welcome & Greet
Announcements & promo for "imperfect church" series

The Imperfect Church from CrossCurrent Ministries on Vimeo.

Message: was on freedom from fear through the gospel.

Worship Set 2
Only You
I Surrender
Be Thou My Vision
Overcome

Join other worship leaders who share worship sets on Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set List.

creative fuZion lab //29// simple, simpler

The set this week was very simple. For a lot of reasons but mostly because I got the weekend off...
We are excited:
A new church wide process...
We are gearing up for a new series...
And a new creative team process...
stay tuned....

creative fuZion lab //28// parting shots...

It's hard to believe, but we are winding down with "parting shots" to our year long series "the Jesus Experiment".

short and sweet...

Worship Set 1
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

Welcome & Greet

Worship Set 2
Beautiful One
Only You

Message: was WoW!

Worship Set 3
I Surrender All
Blessed Be Your Name

I must say I am ever so grateful for the gift of faith.

I appreciate all of you who serve week, after week, after week. may your passion be magnified a hundred fold. See other worship recaps at Sunday Set list...

entice the skeptic, challenge the lukewarm and ignite passion in the believer (to go into the world)...

creative fuZion lab //27// learning curve...

The stage design this week was fairly simple for us; again simply using gaffer clips and safety pins. We've got this down.

The newest challenge has been playing with ways to implement additional projections during worship. This definitely doesn't fall within my skill sets. I see it visually, but I have a ton to learn about technical implementation - I am in a steep learning curve right now.

This week we projected crashing waves during one song, and a video of our baptisms during the closing song "Jesus Paid It All". These were last minute additions. The baptism images were really powerful...

Details: We are trying to figure out what to project the images on; since we aren't at a point of buying a second projection screen. One week we tried just projecting straight onto the black curtain, looked nice but not enough contrast. We also tried projecting onto a white (curtain) hung on the back curtain. I'm really not happy with the effect yet. Still thinking and I am open to suggestions.

volunteers rock!!!!

TONS of tech issues and last minutes additions by the pastoral staff this week. I stepped into the producer role late this week and let me tell you, I simply can not say enough about the awesome weekend experience volunteers at our church. A lot of these people log in 15-25 hours a week, every single week. They stepped up and made everything happen.
School is about to start here so we had to do a complete load out this weekend. Afterwards several people jumped in to help.
OMGoodness, huge hugs to everyone!

Worship Set 1
Our Love Is Loud
Unchanging

Worship Set 2
I Will Exalt You (see below)
We Are Hungry

The newest Hillsong cd Faith + Hope + Love was released on August 4th and I got to hear Brooke sing "I Will Exalt You" live August 5th. Amazing! Also got to hear her at a couple of breakout sessions; she is so humble.

I Will Exalt You - Hillsong from Carlos Whittaker on Vimeo.

Worship Set 3
Jesus Paid it All (with a back ground video of the baptisms from last Sunday)

Have you heard Faith + Hope + Love? Tell me what you think of "I Will Exalt You"...

This is part of Sunday Set List blog carnival at Fred McKinnon's blog.

between a rock and a hard place...

I am producing this weekend. One of the responsibilities of the producer is to sit down at 10:00 with the people serving on the weekend and do a devotion.
I've been thinking and praying for two days (when I found out I was going to produce) about what to share this morning...
I woke up this morning thinking about the parable of the sower.
see, hear, smell, touch, tasting...
take away...


parable of the sower
Matthew 13
The Parable of the Sower
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear."
10 The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"

11 He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'[a] 16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

18 "Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

creative fuZion lab //26// designing with a basketball hoop...

Seriously. I never in a million years would have though that I would be doing a stage design on a basketball hoop. Well, this week that is exactly what I did.
This was a baptism Sunday and since we are a mobile church we rented space from a retreat facility nearby. The venue was an outdoor pavilion/basketball court. The baptisms were done in the pool.
I hadn't seen the venue until I arrived Sunday morning. When we arrived for set-up, people were pitching in getting everything ready. I kept seeing the basketball hoop and thinking "ugh!".
Luckily, thankfully, sadly...I had several bolts of cloth in my vehicle. So we just started throwing the cloth on the basketball hoop and moving it around with the percussionist's rain stick until it looked decent. For a basketball hoop... Didn't use one safety pin. LOL!
We worshiped, did the baptism and had a super great cook-out wih games and activities for everyone. Over a dozen people of all ages were baptised this week. What a great week!

creative fuZion lab //25// the art of using a safety pin to implement stage design...

I use a tag line all the time that the only thing you need to be able to do to serve on the ENHANCE team, is to be able to operate a safety pin. And I am serious.
Most everything I do is created with the use of safety pins and gaffer clips. I realized that it may not make sense, so I thought I'd try to visually explain how I think in designing a set.
First I see I design. Then I figure out where to place safety pins to create the desired effect.
Here is
Restart the slide show below. You will first see the stage design that was created, then you will see closer shots of where the safety pins were placed.
I've added notes to the slides how. Hopefully it will make sense.
It really is very easy to do. You may need to link to Picassa to see it.



Now, I'm off to the WAVE worship leader conference in Virginia Beach, Virgina today...
Mr. Linky isn't linking again...ugh!!!

retro Sunday...

Kind of a retro Sunday today. This month we are concluding a year long series the “Jesus Experiment”. So I was going retro to the stage set we did when we started the series. Here...

But the stage design kind of exploded when we were doing set up yesterday. Cool. Which is also what sort of happened in worship today.

Particularly "Hungry" was off the charts. It was done with a Fleetwood Mac feel.

Worship Set 1
Fields of Grace
Happy Day

Welcome & Greet / Announcements
Highlight - Baby Dedications (Yippee!)

Worship Set 2
Hungry
Message: David Nicotra (our summer youth pastor intern gave the message today) He spoke about the responsibility of the body.

Special Song
Can Anybody Hear Her? (WoW!)

Worship Set 3
The Wonderful Cross
Happy Day

Loads of technical issues this weekend. We are seriously thinking about our worship presentation software. So many issues since we downloaded the newest version.

I also thought I’d include a vid that we did a few weeks ago, since they are never posted on Sunday. We have an awesome media and drama team.

This is church? You bet it is…

And since it is summer we get a little bit of a break and don't have to completely break down everything each week. Here is what the stage looked like when we left.

Yep, I love what I do... How about you?

Join other worship leaders (and others) at the Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival on Fred McKinnon's blog. See what happened in worship today in His church!