pushing pause, con't...

Being creative requires constant evaluation.

That is where the creative team is at this moment...

What is really in our toolbox at this point in time? We have been in a place where the gifts and talents of the people on the team are shifting.

Stage design, drama, dance, vids, experiential elements are all tools we have had for several years. We are going through an actually time of mourning (what has been) and need to start focusing on what we currently have. Tough place to be.

We are still able to focus on the 5S (5 senses). Which are taste, smell, hearing, sight and kinesthetic (touch). We are in a place of being un(limited). Recognizing that we still can be unlimited in our creation; yet understanding we ARE limited in our actually production.

While we still have tools like dance/movement, interactive/experiential elements, spoken words and much more. We have to face the reality that at this moment in time we do not have the bandwidth to do true dramas and major in-house videos.

Several team members are in a different season of their lives, which doesn't give the time they were able to give before; for writing, direction, production and such.

But this is not a bad thing. This is just the reality of where we are.

So, this is a time of experimentation. What new things are we able to do? Who wants to learn more about owning elements? Who is willing to try to learn new skills? Who have skills that are being used currently? Or are we even supposed to being doing this at all?
I believe we are supposed to continue...but doing what? I am not sure at this point.
One other point...while I personally still finding it easy to create the stage designs each and every week; I have intentionally pushed pause on that also.
This is truly a time to reflect and pray about where we are heading as a team.

quail coming out of your nose...

Normally we have a fine breakfast bar. Coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin' Doughnuts, bagels (from Panera's), other homemade goodies, nifty snacks on the kiddie table.

Well, this week...we had frosted flakes & water, frosted flakes & water and some more frosted flakes. That's grrrreat!

My favorite kind of experience to design is one that starts before you walk in the door or just as you enter. This was one of those weeks. With the message focusing on the book of Numbers and how the Israelites grumbled & complained about the fact all they had to eat was "manna", all we had on the breakfast bar was Frosted Flakes and water. It certainly got people's attention.

FUN FACT: manna actually means "what is it?"

Then we had a complaint box in the center of the table-with a fake hole, so you really couldn't put a complaint in the box. LOL!
This element really hit the mark of interaction with the people and was tied in perfectly by our teaching pastor; up to and including a point where he was eating the Frosted Flakes off of the floor. LOL!



We also had a visitor. A puppet named Mr. Curmudgeon. Who helped emphasize complaining. He was funny. My favorite part was when he talked about the fact we have a 'biker gang". Very witty. His video will be posted soon on XC website.

The stage was simple, created to invoke the tower of smoke (and fire) that hung over the tabernacle. If you will notice there are also white petals on the stage (again representing the manna). Really fun to put together. It was fun having Allison back with the team this week.

If you'd like to see all the pictures visit me at the "designing for Philistines" blog.
Now going to get ready for the children's lesson for Thursday....

what is ENHANCE...

Up until now, the team that implements the creative element staging and experiential designs has been called pPod. It just sort of named itself in the beginning. But, I’ve been trying to think of a more descriptive term, that people would better understand. Trust me, it is hard to explain the whole idea behind how we got the name pPod.

So the name has changed. But, the concept of what we do hasn’t changed.

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

ENHANCE gathers together to express a common desire to create 5S (5 senses) experiential worship design. To ENGAGE 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...then we want you to come check out ENHANCE.

picture is from sparky

This week I am going into some details how I got from starting a simply blog to what God has exploded into something beyond my comprehension...

Does your team have a name?

more scent ideas…

Been thinking this week, after the incredibly positive responses to the bread machines, I’ve been trying to think of more ways to implement natural scents. We do have several very scent sensitive people on our weekend team. We did cinnamon incense last week and it did bother at least one person with asthma.

1. when we do the tabernacle set-up again, maybe we could do the incense stand outside of the building…

2. with the bread machines:
I want to try adding cinnamon and/or other spices to bread and bake it during service.

3. bring a microwave in and cook popcorn just before service.

Ha, ha! I like to make people hungry!

Still thinking, still want a scent machine…

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"?

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…

learning pyramid...

If this isn't a case for experiential worship design, I don't know what is...

This just gives teeth to why I am constantly pushing to add experiential elements into our worship design. I am not a numbers person, but these numbers are hard to deny.

In practice: I think we do well at XC with the first three levels of this pyramid. Lecture, reading and audiovisual. Though we still don't do near enough.

It's once we hit the last four levels of learning on this chart that we don't seem to hit the mark.
Some of it deals with doing design "from memory", instead of "imagination". Which seems to be constant battle.

Other thoughts are that our team doesn't have enough experience with these type of (experiential) elements and don't seem to understand the implications and increase of retention that occurs.
I am constantly aware that I speak a completely different language of ideas.
Think about the exponential implications of incorporating 5S (all 5 Senses) when reading the following comments from Steve Fridsma at archiNEXTure:

"Lets go back to the learning chart. According to the National Training Laboratory:

-People retain only 5% of what they experience in a lecture setting. What is a sermon?
-Add the reading of words on a screen - perhaps song lyrics and scripture. Maybe some sermon bullet points. That doubles retention, to 10%. Plus, the singing is at least participatory and aimed at God and gives us opportunity to reflect and listen.
-Add images, pictures, video, props, illustrations, a theme, a metaphor. We're now at 20% retention. Not too great, but still 4 times the talking head.
-Add interactive discussion and Q&A. We're now at 50% retained. Ten times the talking head.
-Add service projects - either internal or external - hands-on, interactive ministry with concrete results. 75% - 90% retained."

So, I will just keep pushing the envelope trying to add interactive/experiential elements each week...