playing...

just playing with some ideas for for this weeks service (logo, invites, etc.)...

God in a box...

The series is entitled "Intentionally Left Blank".
This first Sunday was "God in a Box".

I love making people stop and think.
The stage was "intentionally" left black, with the band set up in he auditorium this week. We actually had a visitor that said "oh, no this church doesn't have music" when she walked into the auditorium. LOL

Hanging in the middle of the stage was a cardboard box. We drilled holes in it and painted it black.
Inside was a camping lantern suspended by fishing line.
Turned on the lamp and taped up the box.



It hit the mark of "confuzzling" people. Starting with several band members on Saturday and carrying through Sunday-up until the pastor started speaking. All they had to look at was the box in the middle of the stage.
Funny, how dirty the floor looked when nothing was on stage. I brought my Swiffer and cleaned up the stage on Sunday morning. oh, the things we do...

Stay tuned, next week we start suspending a crossword puzzle on stage.
Man, I LOVE what I do...

simple inspiration...

I frequently search flickr.com for inspiration. I feel bad, the first photo in the slideshow is the inspiration for our January stage designs and now I can't find who to give credit to.
This was our stage design at XC for 01/03/10 and 01/10/10.
Really simple-the material panels were safety pinned to the top rear border curtain.
Then we cinched them. The first week we tied knots in the cloth to cinch. The second week we accordion folded the material and safety pinned.

Christmas 1965...

44 years ago, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" first aired.

Let us not forget the timeless message...

moments...

Moments...
When I listen to people stressing out about the holidays, my heart goes out to them. When did Christmas become more about shopping, gift wrapping, parties rather than about the little baby Jesus?
Have we forgotten what it is about?
Last year at XC, we did a visual movement piece entitled "Christmas Crescendo" (you can see it here). Which simply started with Mary singing to baby Jesus. Then slowly the scenes built to a crescendo of Christmas madness. Decorating a tree, shaking presents, shopping and even Santa and elves with children lining up to have their picture taken with Santa...and the baby simply seems to disappear amid the glitz.
The madness of what we now consider normal Christmas traditions.
Then all the madness stopped.
All that remained center stage was Mary and the baby.

Each year I will deligently work towards keeping that same simple message.
It's really all about the little baby Jesus.

This year we planned a Christmas drama. Then we got snowed out with almost two feet of snow on Christmas Sunday.

Every Saturday our weekend crew rolls in and converts the junior high school auditorium into our worship space. After set-up and sound checks we gather for devotions. This week we simply focused on that moment in time, just after Christ was born. It was just Mary, Joseph and the baby. The angels hadn't appeared to the shepards yet, the wisemen were still traveling towards the star. Just the family wondering what all this was about. Trusting God's word.

So this week, the Sunday after Christmas. this is what our stage looked like. The stage was bare with only a simple wooden stable with a star.
During the prayer before service an idea surfaced. During that last song, "Silent Night", all the lights would fade out and one simple spot would illuminate the star over the stable. We scrambled around to get a ladder, move the stage lights around, re-set lighting cues...

Then during worship, the last verse was sung acapella, the worship leaders stepped backed and all eyes were focused on the star.

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

Now that is what Christmas is really about...

what is success...

The average church size in the United States is 90 people.

-The Barna Group

Think about that for a minute. 90 people. The Edge is 5 times that. MBC as a whole is more than 100 times that.

I think we sometimes have a tendancy to take for granted what God is doing at The Edge and McLean Bible Church. We forget that most churches would be blown away to have 400 people come one week, let alone every week.

The temptation when you start getting big can be to measure success in terms of numbers. An event wasn’t a success because it only had 200 people instead of 400. Or it was a success because there were 1000 people there.

But success is more than numbers. Success is more personal than that. God isn’t impressed just because we had 500 people at an Edge service or 2000 people at a 9:00 Tysons campus service. He’s impressed by life change and devotion to Him. Success is about individual people. God is more impressed by a church of 90 people totally devoted to Him than He is by 10,000 who are just meeting together for fun on a Sunday morning.

(As a disclaimer, that’s not a slam on “big church”. I know there are many totally devoted people there).

So how do you measure success of The Edge? Is it measured in good music and fun lights? Or is it in the hearts of the people there?

thoughts on a Christmas sketch...

This comes for a conversation with someone who is designing a "Blue Christmas" service to honor and give voice to grief during the holiday. Just my initial thoughts...
I definitely like the votive candle idea. Linking the remembrance of the loved one-then linking it to the true Light (message of Christmas). We tend to get wrapped up in all the busy-ness of the season and forget what it is really all about.
I envision someone sitting and starting to tearfully unwrap all the Christmas ornaments, and being unable to deal with the Santa's, elves and shiny stuff for the tree. Then opening the box with the Nativity crèche and a single candle, while reflecting on the meaning of Christmas and talking about how (grandpa) loved the story of the birth of Christ and all it's true meaning, as they set up the crèche on a small table.
As they talk through their emotions, they link the remembrance of their loved one to the candle and to the meaning of Christmas. They light the candle saying something like..."this is all I really need this year. Happy birthday, Jesus. Merry Christmas grandpa."

Then close one of the other boxes and walk off stage

Then have people come and light a votive candle and leave taking the (takeaway gift).

For the remaining Sundays until Christmas, simply have a single lit votive candle on the alter or stage, along with whatever else you are decorating with. Those people will know.

coke...

8oz. of lifes lessons...

generation next...

"I see a generation, rising up to take their place, with selfless faith..."


One of the greatest things for me is seeing children exploring their gifts and talents.
I love being part of a church that truly appreciates the arts. We encourage people of all ages to share their gifts.

For example we have an adult drama team, but we also have youth join this team from time to time. Our youth group has a drama team and the elementary kids have a drama team.

We frequently rotate high schoolers into our worship team, lighting team, multi media team and stage design team.

No matter what age you are, if you come onstage when we are breaking down everything, we will find a job for you.

All the time we have children crawling all over the stage, playing the instruments.

The cool thing is, this is the next generation of creative. They are learning that there is a place for them to serve.























Here are some pictures from this weekend of young children playing "worship team".

What a great game.

LML

LMC

How do you encourage the next generation?

imperfect church, imperfect pastors...

This is the last week in our series entitled "imperfect church". This has been one of the very best series since I have been going to CrossCurrent. Really great messages and super fun stage designs.

Instrumental Opener

Worship Set 1
Our Love is Loud
How Great Thou Art

Welcome & Greet Announcements

Worship Set 2
This is Our God
All I Need is You (Hillsong)


Drama: Too Hard
Video -Pastor Journal

imperfect pastors... from dorothy (vicar of vibe) on Vimeo.

Message - imperfect church, imperfect pastors...

Worship Set 3
The Stand/Chorus of Tear Down the Walls
We wound up not doing the last song.

Come and see what other people are singing in worship across the world at Sunday Set List.

imperfect church nuances...

Welcome to the creative fuZIon lab. Where we share elements that enhance the weekend experience.

This is the last week in our series entitled the "imperfect church..."Continuing with the "progression of thought" in this multi-week series stage design. Adding, subtracting, changing the design subtly to invoke a feeling or thought. A tiny experiential element. For the last few weeks of this series we are wanting to add a few "signs of life" into our stage image of the imperfect church. We added some candles to the front stage left and a few candles by the window in the rear.

And for this last week we added ivy to one of the windows…

Again, the really cool thing about this is, there are people who actually "catch" the vision of what we are doing. People who notice the small changes each week. As soon as they walk into the auditorium. They "get it", they "feel" it. Which for me, is just an added bonus.

What do you think about experiential elements? Have you tried these types of things before?

Man, I LML and what I get to do…

So what did you do this week? It’s your turn to share…

imperfect church...

Worship was sweet this morning.
Da' band just keeps growing. We have had a mandolin playing for the last two weeks. That's right, a mandolin! Talk about rocking, especially during "How Great Thou Art". So, we have had a bit of an explosion in da' band. Amazing what prayer will do. Close to 40 people on rotation now, 6-8 worship leaders, diversity in instruments. Praying for a banjo or fiddle...
God has been adding to other weekend teams also...I just love the way God works!

Instrumental opener

Worship Set 1
Let the Praises Ring
How Great Thou Art

Welcome & Greet

Worship Set 2
From the Inside Out
Only You

Video - Alone in the Crowd
Message: imperfect relationships

Special Song- Masquerade

Time of Reflection (instrumental)
To find out more about what others are singing across the world, check out Sunday Set List at Fred McKinnon's blog.

creative fuZionlab //33// tweeking the design...

A major disadvantage of being a mobile church it that each week on Saturday we have to load everything in and put it all up, then on Sunday, break it all down and load it out...

But this "disadvantage" often is an advantage. Because we have to reset every week, it also gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate the stage design each week and "tweek" it.

We tend to take a lot of photos. I find that it is easier for me to "see" the stage in a photograph. It gives a different perspective.

We are in week three of our series "imperfect church". So I thought I'd show you how we utilize this process to "tweek" a stage design.

This is week one...After reviewing the photos we decided that everything (the windows and photos) were flown too low on the stage. So for week two, we flew everything higher. After reviewing week two photos...

We thought we should spend more time on spacing things vertically across the stage. Not necessarily to be perfectly spaced out, but to even it out some. So, for week three...

and we did just that.

Also we like to add "progression of thought" in a multi-week series stage design. Adding, subtracting, changing the design subtly to invoke a feeling or thought. A tiny experiential element. For the last few weeks of this series we are wanting to add a few "signs of life" into our stage image of the imperfect church. We added some candles to the front stage left and a few candles by the window in the rear. We have more thoughts for the next two weeks.

The really cool thing about this is, there are people who actually "catch" the vision of what we are doing. People who notice the small changes each week. They "get it", they "feel" it. Which for me, is just an added bonus.

BIG shout out to God...

This is a BIG shout out to God!!!!
God often gives me big visions. Things that are absolutely impossible to do in my own strength. I see it, I jot it down, dream about, I talk about it and pray. I've learned not to be impatient, I continue to pray and just simply wait on God to provide.

Some of the things I have been praying for this year:

Sewing: I don't sew at all. We use a LOT of cloth and there are so many projects that needed someone with sewing skills. God sent Emily. Just one of the projects she has done was to create a skirt to go around our media cart in the lobby. We used to safety pin two table clothes and it looked pretty tacky. She has worked on several project since, including some costumes for our drama team, and some little tubes, which I will be using in stage designs later in the year. Emily is our sewing miracle.

Experiential Elements: I love what I do. I love styling the stage, but one thing that really floats my boat is experiential elements. I dream of incorporating all the senses into the worship experience. Breaking down the "fourth wall". Adding more take-aways. Things that people are able to take home with them to illustrate the sermon or worship experience. I have managed to add some of these elements over the time I have been serving, but I'm often constrained by the week in week out stage design. I have been praying for someone that truly has a heart for stage design. And God sent me Allison. She is amazing. She loves this. And the coolest thing is, Allison also like the experiential elements, breaking down the fourth wall concepts. And she really, really wants to serve. Allison is my "heart" miracle! Next...

Construction: I have had these construction project ideas for awhile now. One idea is for a portable table. Another concept is to build portable risers to create different elevations on the stage for the band members. So really recently a guy named Gordan approached our worship and creative arts staff person and said he felt God was really calling him to offer his construction skills to our team. He came to our meeting last night. Yippee! We chatted last night and I shared my ideas and he is off and running. And he fits right into our crazy cretive team.

3 visions
3 prayers
3 answers

But you know what is even cooler? I know that these people aren't here simply implement little ideas I've had. I had little visions and my job was to pray these people into our team. I see in Emily, Allison and Gordan people who will bring so many of thier own "God ideas" to the team.

How cool is that?
One other vision I have is big and hairy. Just so you know, I have been praying for several years now for somebody(s) who write grants. I fully believe that this person is out there. In fact I believe they are already in place and God is working on their hearts. They are longing to find that perfect place for them to serve.

God simply ROCKS!!!

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

pub theology...

The tap is open, and the beer flows...Sunday Night Football and "Caddyshack" alternate on more than a dozen TV screens. And a jovial crowd of mostly 20-somethings laugh and talk over bottles of Bud Light.
It's not an unusual scene in Broad Ripple, epicenter of Indy's young adult club crowd. And when the band appears -- shaggy-haired, body-pierced and colored with assorted body art -- it's a safe bet that things are going to get loud and rowdy.
But by the chorus of the first song -- "What if God was one of us?" -- it becomes clear that this isn't your usual nightclub scene. read more...

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!