glow sticks…

LIGHT

Sometime in 2008 I ran across this video from GCC wired. And while I have shared these vid’s before, I haven’t traced how my mind has been working to use these ideas.

(http://vimeo.com/1300196 - If you link over you won’t be disappointed)


Very cool experiential element to emphasize viral communication.
It was interactive and fun!
While we have discussed it a few times at our creative meetings, we never have used the idea. I love the idea of the interactivity of the element.
While I would love to use glow sticks in a similar way as GCC did:

One possibility I thought of was using glow sticks in a dance piece. Where the dancer is covered with glow sticks and dances in the dark. This was before I realized that this was very popular at raves. Still like the idea. (smiles)

Or something as simple as hanging glow sticks all around the stage. Using various sizes and shapes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Maybe creating a video of the traces made from glow sticks.

There are so many innovative concepts that could be utilized with glow sticks. One recent concepts is team iLuminate which garnered a lot of attention fro America’s Got Talent. (link: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=XRwX9oCaE9Q&feature=player_embedded )

I have taken the idea as far a purchasing several types of glow sticks and even trying them out.
So now it is a matter of simple finding the appropriate message to link them with. That hasn’t happened yet. But it will…

thankful…

I am grateful for being who I am…
Through out my life I have often faced the fact that most people don’t understand me or how I think; which is fine with me.
The older I get the more I am thankful for how God created me. Completely unique.
One of those things is the creativity that lives in me.
I see things like these…

(http://youtu.be/Ov_iJQGq6DI)
…and my mind simply explodes with ideas. My mind extrapolates and blows the original idea up into something entirely different. It’s fun and exciting…
I have been dreaming about utilizing holograms for several years now.

(http://youtu.be/JMSBihWsuBc)
I don’t see the world the way most people see it. It is more alive and vibrant.

(http://youtu.be/XRwX9oCaE9Q)
I wonder how to translate things like these, into an experiential experience...
What I do know; is that I am doing what I am supposed to do, at this point in my life.
I have people who appreciate what I do; and for that I am extremely grateful.

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.

what you are able to do with a very small budget...

With a little imagination & work; believe it or not, you can create impactful stage design elements on a very limited budget.
Here is an overview of some of the stages that we have created. Drama sets, Starbucks old promo's,  interactive elements - most between $20-$50  to create.

We are a completely mobile church and though we do use some of the same ideas over series, we mostly create a new stage design each and every week. We have built up a nice colection of cloth to use on our stage. Simply by watching for sales, and hunting at Walmart.

So, I want to encourage people that are out there designing on a very small budget.

You can do it!

EZEKIEL: “If You Don’t Get It-You Don’t Get It “

Fire up your QR app or download a QR reader app and get ready to interact with technology and learn more about Ezekiel’s prophecies.

It all started with a simple convo with my brother Brice Holland, an ad exec, asking me what I thought about QR codes.
Basically a QR (Quick Response) code is a matrix bar coded with information stated by a "link" that can be snapped and captured by a reader (eg. cell phone) to receive information.
How did we transform that into an interact/experiential element for our Sunday morning experience?

EZEKIEL: “If You Don’t Get It-You Don’t Get It “

First, the tagline is based on a Washington Post marketing campaign (for the white paper) from 2007. I always felt it was an interesting juxtaposition between trying to increase “white paper” (dead tree types) readership in a internet media obsessed world. They of course, were referring to peoples knowledge, based on the premise that those who ‘got it”-got it because they were reading the Post.

Since Ezekiel is full of prophetic imagery. It is often difficult to “get” what is being said, unless “you get it”. The main thought/bridge for this element is to utilize self-generated Quick Response Codes (QR codes) to convey the thought of “If you don’t get it- you don’t get it”. A QR code is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, picture or other data.

QR codes are currently being used as a marketing technique to engage technology savvy consumers, to interact to a concept through their QR apps and smart phones. People that “get it - get it”.

While brainstorming for creative elements for the Ezekiel messages it was decided that we would: Self-generate and post QR codes through out the lobby before service and possibly during the message.
Using a QR Code Generator: enables you to create and post: URL, text, phone number & SMS. We decided it would probably would be safest to post info on our website and self-generate the QR codes to lead people there.

Example: This self generated QR code:

When snapped and read by a QR code reader application would lead to this picture - posted on a dedicated blogspot:

Stage concept: populate and hang QR codes at the front door, through out the lobby at the breakfast bar, on the stage.

Pictures of the various locations and stage where we posted QR codes to follow.

seek justice…

Heading back in time again to the week of March 13th week was a whirlwind of last minute changes. I even forget where we were originally were going with our creative element. But it all changed in the blink of an eye.

It started when some of us went to interview (on Friday) with a representative from the International Justice Mission (IJM), which btw, isn’t just international!

We came back to the offices energized and just “happened” (yea, right) to run into the pastor who was teaching that coming Sunday. He was really feeling called to hit hard on the issue of seeking justice. So were we.
We decided to show a video from IJM, which raised awareness on the issue of human trafficking. Then we simply created a call to action table.

 

People signed cards of petition to be hand carried to our Senators office petitioning to support changes to our state’s laws to criminalize trafficking. To give more teeth to our currents laws.

Also we had people who are interested in eliminating the human trafficking issue in our area sign up for further training. We had over 40% of our people sign up.

This was in March. I tell you exciting things are happening. Keep reading to see how all this continues to play out.

return to ancient days...

The last three weeks, we have engaged in ancient/modern worship practices. It was actually pretty interesting.
Synopsis: Serious Christians talk often about following Jesus the way that the Early Church did. We seem to think that the earliest followers of Jesus were more pure, more centered, more authentic in their understanding of Jesus, and living out His plan for life. But most Christians and skeptics have only a slight understanding of what actually took place in the Early Church. There is a mountain of historical evidence—even beyond the few references in the Bible to early Christian life—that can tell us what actually happened, how early followers of Jesus lived, and how they understood what life in Jesus was all about. What could we learn about our modern life with Jesus if we looked into these ancient ways? What might we expose about the shallow and easy life of today if we looked through the eyes of these bold Christians? Join us for an intense and provocative comparison of our ways and their ways as we discover the real truth about following Jesus!

For the stage design we tried to recreate the feel of ancient catacombs, like where the early church would have met in secret.

We sang the "Phos Hilaron" (Hail Gladdening Light) which is the earliest known Christian hymn recorded outside of the Bible that is still being used today.

Creative readings from some of the earliest surviving texts like the "The Way of Life" section from the Didache.

The second week we celebrated Communion per Hippolytus (circa 200 AD) – which is a 3-cup communion (wine, milk/honey, water) These cups represent Christ's death and resurrection, the promised land and baptism.
It was actually pretty funny. We had set up three different stations in the auditorium and instructed people to walk around the auditorium and pick up each element, partake and move on. Within a few minutes there was a traffic jam! LOL. People had just stopped were they were. But, it was kind of cool. They were chatting quietly amongst each other or worshiping. We did manage to get the flow going again. All in all, the element itself took a lot longer than planned, but no one seemed to be upset. From the comments afterwards people young and old really enjoyed the experience.

while I am talking about graffiti artists….

If it is possible…
I’d love to have a "live" graffiti painting session going on while pastor is preaching…
that's if we could do it with our 90 minute (oos) time constraint and handle the "smellement" issue...
graffiti gospel

Got it: shout out to Bill's brain...
Got some of the technicalities of the smellement worked out. We are having an outside service in August...

marked by Christ…

this idea originated by thinking up ideas for a message called “Marked by Christ” stories of transformation found in the tattoos of believers…

Think LAInked live:

stage design:
Would love to have a mad skilz artist (like Guel) paint mad tight tats on thin gauged 3’ x 5’ rectangles of plexiglas…
-these would be hung at different depths and heights on the stage.
-maybe even one in washable paint on the drum cage…
-how cool would it be to actually have a live tattoo artist set up on stage…

Interactive stations/take away:
-tat stations: either/or people could go to stations and get the little cheesy rub tats
- tattoo themselves (or artist do it) with sharpies)
- or henna tattoo stations.