You’ve heard me focus heavily on the “why”. This is an effort to help all of us re-prioritize the questions we have when leading worship…whether through technology, music, creativity, speaking, etc. Well, there’s one question that I believe is as important (if not more) than “why”…and that’s “who”.

The person(s) leading has a much greater impact on the direction of your organization/church than any gear you may own, your worship style, or any well-thought-out strategies your leadership can dream up. Yet so many churches struggle with finding the right person to lead. And sadly, there are many out there who have the talent & passion but don’t have a place to lead.

Slingshot Group exists to help churches find the right staff to lead their worship ministries, and throughout the process, speak into their strategy and structure. I’m excited to announce today that in addition to my current job, I have joined the Slingshot Group and will be developing their visual media/tech area. Simply put, I will be spending a significant chunk of time helping churches find & hire media directors/visual worship leaders!

Here’s how it works: a church is in need of a worship leader (or in this case, a media director). They then hire Slingshot for a moderate fee to go out and find the right leader. This involves visiting the church & getting schooled in who they are. Through Slingshot’s vast network, we present candidates for the job and help walk both church & selected candidate through the hiring process.There is no cost involved for the candidates.

What does this mean for you?

- you might be a church in need of hiring a media director/VJ/visual worship leader/etc. I can help you find the right person. There’s a journey involved though…it’s not just a simple hand out of my Rolodex.

- you might be a candidate…. a visual media/tech guru in need of a job at a church that can be a good home for you…a place where you can thrive in community & explore the gifts & talents you have in the context of ministry.

- neither of those? well, if you are a worship leader in search of a position, or a church in need of a new worship leader, then I can still help you out. The Slingshot Group’s main focus is on worship leading…so I can get you in contact with the right people there to hook you up.

If you’re interest is peaked, then here’s the 1st step: check out Slingshot Group’s website & read up…especially “How It Works”.

Want to go a little deeper down the rabbit hole? Email me – proctor@slingshotgroup.net – and let’s talk!

Aside from staffing, I will also be offering my consulting services through Slingshot Group. Kind of like a management/booking agency! Those services range from VJ-ing worship services, training teams on visual worship leading (everything from heart/philosophy, to software, to application), speaking into strategy & structure, & casting vision for leadership. If you are interested in bringing me to your local church, then please email Lesli Goetze – lesli@slingshotgroup.net.

I never could have come up with this kind of job description! I’m pretty stoked as I love focusing on relationships and the people-aspect of visual worship. Talk to me about projector models & firmware updates, and I just get lost. There are people out there way better at that stuff than me. ;)

—————————–

Follow us on Twitter – @slingshotgroup

Slingshot on Facebook

Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin with this post. I feel like I’ve only climbed the foothills of a giant mountain. Some of you have never even heard of this mountain or at least didn’t know it was a mountain to begin with. Some of you have been on similar trails and paths as me, and I just want to sit down and share stories. And for some of you, you’ve climbed the mountain…and the rest of us just need to sit as your feet and listen for days.

I have to get over the fact that I cannot even begin to express what’s on my heart in this single blog post. This thing with China is going to take a lifetime of exploring, discovery and processing. I’ve only been to mainland China twice and to Hong Kong twice. They are separate places…kind of. Maybe this will be best described in bullets points…because I can tend to ramble.

- I wish I had a video to show you that explains the history of China over the past 100 years. That would really help. Hong Kong was owned/run by the British up until 1997, when it was handed back over to Communist China (“The Handover”). But because it was already Westernized with capitalism…well, a square peg doesn’t fit into a round hole. However, China is becoming more like Hong Kong each day…not the other way around.

- Hong Kong is treated like a separate country. Separate Visa, flag, etc. However, it’s still owned by China…so it’s fully China…and yet it’s not. Hong Kong is very free. It’s very busy…like New York City crammed into a very small place. It’s very dense.  And it’s also the most friendly place I’ve been to. The main language of Hong Kong is Cantonese, and most everyone speaks English; they write using “Traditional” Chinese characters. The language of Mainland China is Mandarin; they write using “Simplified” Chinese characters.

- Wake-up call: While in Thailand, I had dinner with some of Hong Kong’s finest (leaders in financial, government & ministry sectors)…we were discussing religious freedom in China and how things are changing. We were discussing one of my past trips to China where Nate & I helped visually document the building of a Biblically-themed amusement park (in mainland China, mind you).  Then the conversation switched to America, and they asked me, “Are there Biblically-themed parks in America? Can you even get away with that? We wouldn’t think so; America isn’t very free. You can’t pray in schools anymore, you can speak freely, you can’t….”

- the Church of China is divided into a few factions: The Gov’t established registered “Three-Self Church” (did you know that the Chinese Gov’t actually trains pastors?) …some of these “Three-Self Churches” are very free…a few have restrictions, but it isn’t what you’d think. Then there are the “underground” house churches…these are the churches who hide and refuse to register with the Gov’t and use their Gov’t Pastors. Some are persecuted more than others…but most are not persecuted at all; it all depends on the Province you are in. However, there are a few churches popping up (mostly in Beijing & larger cities) that are not registered but are still meeting publicly…it’s the first of it’s kind. The Gov’t is choosing to turn a “blind-eye”, and they view these “Christians” as friendly and doing good. Pretty epic, huh?

Here’s a little #VisualEaster for you…this is one of those churches in Beijing I’m referring to. This is a line of over 1,000 trying to get in this past weekend. And this is very typical each week. (HT: Biscuet)

- The Church in Hong Kong suffers from a different kind of division. First is the division between Int’l and local Chinese speaking churches. Secondly is the division between Evangelical (Conservative) and Charismatic churches (in both Int’l and local Chinese). However, this is most prevalent in the older generation of leaders…for the younger generation is praying and yearning for unity…meeting together many times a week to pray and worship together. Most of these worshipers come from different churches. For them, the denominational lines are blurring & even disappearing! And the focus of their prayers is on their own generation and the local churches of Mainland China.

- All of these churches and young leaders share a similar passion: the use of visual artistry and technology in worship. They all have a laptop, projector and images. Even the local house churches in China are incorporating technology into their gathering experiences. Many of the young worship leaders are embracing this technology and have a burden for seeing it used correctly. We’ll hear more on this later.

- Opportunities are presenting themselves left and right. Camron, Nate & I are overwhelmed with what’s going on over there, and we’re praying about what’s next. We had no plan when visiting Hong Kong. No agenda. We just wanted to see what’s up and to encourage people along the way. Out of nowhere, we ended up meeting with pastors from some of the largest and most influential churches in Hong Kong…both Int’l and local Chinese. And we were grafted into the younger generation’s community and welcomed with open arms. There are even opportunities opening up to teach visual worship at one of the universities there. The people God aligned us with would blow your mind….we’re still processing it all and wondering what to do with all this.

Camron & I got to visit a local Chinese speaking church:

This is where they meet:

And here’s their tech guy running sound & lyrics all at the same time (any of you out there relate?):

We also got the chance to visit Hong Kong City Church (one of the Int’l Churches):

Their worship style is very edgy and modern; their community is made up of local Hong Kong business people, Australians, Americans & many others:

And they meet at the top of the 2nd tallest building on Hong Kong Island. The owner of the building is a Christian and let’s them meet there for free! Talk about a powerful visual context for worship, especially when praying over the city. And some days, they’re literally caught up in the clouds!

- We have a vision for seeing the Western Church serving the Asian Church. Not Westernizing or commercializing…but truly serving and meeting their needs…training it’s leaders, encouraging them, and helping them to see what mistakes the Western Church has made so that they don’t repeat the same mishaps. But the fact is, when you go over there, you aren’t really teaching them much. You are learning more from them than you could ever imagine, and you are able to catch a clearer glimpse of how God is at work across the entire globe. You get a real sense that the awakening taking place in the Church is truly a global awakening! And visual worship is just a chapter in the story.

All that I have described to you barely scratches the surface. And I know that all that I have seen & will see in my lifetime is just a drop in the bucket.

Get ready. It’s bigger and more exciting than any of us could ever dream or imagine! As I learned when I was young, go where you see God moving. He’s moving in Asia people! He’s been there all along and I’m so grateful for getting to find Him there!

So I’m going. In fact, a bunch of us are going!

What will your response be?

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Easter’s a funny thing in churches these days. As I talk with church leaders all over the nation, there seems to be many approaches and ideas on what to do for Easter and why. Some are pulling out all the stops, using the big day to try out new things like TripleWide projection, new songs (but not too many new songs so that there’s still familiarity), introducing a new service time, opening a new building…the list goes on and on. But then the problem many face with doing something new and different for Easter is being able to replicate it each week. Some go the extreme opposite and do nothing new and different for the sake of staying authentic to who they’ve been throughout the year; this way, if newcomers come back next week, they aren’t being “let down” by getting a stripped down version of what they experienced on Easter. (side-note: I heard an interesting (and sad) fact the other day that the Sunday after Easter is the lowest attended day all year for churches.)

No approach is necessarily right or wrong…I just find it interesting & intriguing. But that’s what makes the Church the Church. Everyone has a different approach unique to it’s own community. And with each approach comes a fine balance. On one hand, there’s a ton of new “un-churched” people coming through the doors of our sanctuaries; what an opportunity we have to meet them where they are and to create an irresistible experience that shares the Good News & draws them into our community! On the other hand, our worship isn’t about pleasing man, it’s about pleasing God. For if we made our “experiences” about pleasing & impressing man, then we would not be servants of Christ.  (Galatians 1:10) It’s a balance we must all consider & walk humbly in…praying for wisdom each step of the way.

One fact remains…we are all depraved. The Church is broken and we will never get it completely right…no matter what side of the fence we fall on (and for those of us trying not to fall on either side of the fence, we will rack ourselves eventually!) But that’s what this weekend reminds us…that despite our best intentions & motives, we fall short. Even Church leaders….ESPECIALLY Church leaders! Thank You, Jesus, for the Cross!

And so we remember His death and celebrate His Resurrection! And we are expressing this is new and visual ways! I’m so thankful we live in a day where we can project the story of Jesus all around us…whether through images, color, lighting, online or off. I want to do all I can do build up our visual community and to encourage each and every one of you who poured out all that you had this weekend.

Here’s a snapshot of our community. Here’s what Easter looked like…from YOUR perspective! (if you have a picture that wasn’t posted, then leave a comment…who you are, where you serve, and a link to your picture.)

From Robert J. Crisler in Miami, FL: “Easter service at #ChristFellowshipWK this morning!! A awesome view from the sound board.”

From John David Boreing @ First Family in Columbia, TN:

From Matthew Kelling @ Argyle UMC in Argyle, TX: “My view this morning during the middle service.”

From Camron Ware: “My view this morning/afternoon.  @mission68 in Phoenix.”

From @jtmar10: “View from the sound board. #VisualEaster thanks to @churchstages for the inspiration.”

From Matt Cooper @ Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY: “@southlandcc rolling orginal scenic content by @jeff_laub.”

From Brian Van Volkinburg @ Valley Family Church in Kalamazoo, FL: “Easter service @ValleyFamily”

From Matthew March in Nashville, TN: “Media/Tech community: the view from where u r this morning? #VisualEaster!
Church plant in the boro!”

From Jonathan Norton @ Westside Church in Omaha.

From Billy Adams in Norman, OK: “My vid director view this sunday.”

From Janel Moore in Charleston, IL:

From Jude Horn @ LifeChurch in Memphis, TN:

From ChurchTechGuy in Guelph, Ontario: “Hosted both online services.#VisualEaster from Nunavut to Guatemala, British Columbia to Denmark.”

From Fraser Hess in Centennial, CO: “The Passion.”

From Justin Kirk @ Manley Baptist Church in Morristown, TN:

From yours truly @ Journey Church in Franklin, TN…our first Sunday in Liberty Hall at the Factory:

Lord, may our offerings of visual worship…from the creativity, motivation, efforts, sacrifice and relationships involved….be pleasing to You.

An original and powerful spoken word piece from Mike Perez of City Community Church in Indianapolis.

——————————————-——————————————--———--

There are no words I can add to this.

Lord, teach us what true worship really looks like.

Next Thursday (March 4th), another Visual Worship Roundtable (VWRT) will take place …this time at Journey Church in Franklin, TN. Everyone involved in the St. Louis Roundtable back in January was really pleased with how it turned out…so we have high expectations for this next one.

We’re doing things a little differently with these Roundtables, at least from our perspective. We’re not wanting to be different just for the sake of being different. These events are designed to be intimate and organic, loosely structured but full of purpose and vision. There’s no way of going in and knowing what’s going to happen. And it’s attracting everyone from club VJs to senior pastors to music gurus to tech-heads. We’ve designed it to where someone presents a topic/new idea and then everyone jumps in and take it to places no one else ever dreamed of. The collaborative dialogue is infectious.

We have decided to cut off registration for this event at 20, and it’s filling up fast. If you are wanting to be a part of next week, you might want to go register now. Just sayin’. :)

We will not live stream this next event. This is a deliberate choice to keep the dialogue as local and intimate as possible. The live stream from St. Louis was a huge success in our eyes, with 60+ viewers tuning in and dialoging via chat the entire day. It was awesome. But we want to experience what it would be like to not have any wires or microphones or anyone watching online this time. This isn’t to say future VWRTs won’t be streamed, but like I said, we’re doing things differently.

It would be so easy to turn this thing into a system and crank out a “product”…but this is not the heart of those of us leading the Roundtables… but I know, never say never…and who knows what will happen in the future. For now, we feel led to create a unique experience for each host city. No event will be the same. This thing is ever evolving.

Speaking of future events & cities, we have a few in the works. Right now there is dialogue with leaders in Atlanta & Southern California. We don’t know when these events will take place, but we’re hoping it’s sometime in 2010. Just watch this blog or the VWRT website for those announcements.

But…in the words of Steve Jobs & Renewed Vision…

…there is just one more thing. ;)

We’ve partnered with the folks at ECHO Conference in Dallas, and we’re working on confirming a Late Night Roundtable at ECHO! We’re excited that we can create a space for further dialogue since so much of the content at ECHO will spark the kind of discussions that the VWRT events were created for. We’re still working on the date, time & location…but however it looks, it’ll be cool to have a space carved out for us to hang out. So if you are going to ECHO, we hope to connect with you & dig further into this “visual worship” thing. And if you are on the fence about going to ECHO this year, then consider this a significant push towards going. It’s pretty rockin’. :)

Face it. We all want the easy way out. Is this a good thing? And are our churches promoting it?

Preface: I want to make a few statements up front before I get into something potentially sticky. 1) I’m exploring truth & better ways of leading truth in the context of Church. I have not been professionally qualified, ordained or otherwise instructed in such a way that ends up in seminary graduation or in some fancy title after my name. 2) I have a very high respect for Andy Stanley (pastor of North Point in ATL) and have been deeply influenced by his leadership principles & teachings; his is one of only five podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. I heart Andy Stanley! 3) There’s a lot of opinions floating around out there, and I don’t believe there’s one absolute way that every single church should operate/teach/worship/etc. As long as you’re rooted and based in the Word of God (the only Absolute), then fair game. 4) this post is uber-long…i know i’m breaking the unwritten rule of “keep it short, simple and catchy”…sorry. you’re gonna have to work for this one, which is what this post is kind-of about. 5) I hate church bashing. This is not it. I love every one i mention in this blog and do not find fault with them.

Lastly, this blog is meant to serve the Church…to build Her up and not tear Her down. But it is still my blog. And I am human and flawed and trying to figure things out. worshipVJ is more than just tech-talk, tools, art, stories and mission trips. It’s a place to connect, communicate, process, wrestle & grow. So, with that said, the following is a glimpse into my journey and some raw/honest thoughts I have. here we go:

——————–

Today at church, my pastor (Jamie George) said something that struck me. (You know when you mentally check-out for a moment to process something the pastor says? yeah, it was one of those moments.) He went on to explain that some pastors promote a new way of teaching that involves boiling the sermon/message down to ONE POINT. Multi-point sermons are something, I’m sure, we are all familiar with. And this new way basically says “Get it down to one point…one phrase. One that’s memorable. And repeat that phrase multiple times throughout the sermon.” I am very familiar with this style. Jamie went on to say that he did not disagree with this nor think it was wrong, but just said that this wasn’t what he felt we needed at Journey.

Jamie described his preaching style as sticking around a common theme (based off a Biblical narrative) and then walking around firing a “shotgun” of statements, stories, ideas, etc surrounding that theme. The whole sermon is a conversation….and he is one of the best storytellers I know. He often encourages us to “check out” when we feel the need: to journal, pray, etc…. His hopes are that something he says will spark a dialogue between us and God. And he often throws things out there without closure. Why? Well, for many good reasons… one is that he wants us to wrestle with stuff and to cause us to dig deeper (aka, dialogue with God). Another reason is that he is still figuring it out himself; he often wrestles with things in his sermons. None of us have it all figured out…and he doesn’t pretend to either. But that doesn’t stop him from talking about it. His preaching is the most authentic I have ever experienced… anywhere. See for yourself.

One-point sermons are a great tool. They are much simpler and more memorable and easy to carry around throughout the week. It’s very easy. And it works for a lot of people. But, like with everything, there is a pitfall. There is a danger of never going deeper. And one can easily slip into a mindset of “give me my one thing to take away.”…week after week after week. There’s the danger of getting spiritually lazy…and not going through any tension or process of discovery on your own. I’m NOT saying this is the result of one-point preaching…i’m just saying it’s a danger for some people. And I’m not suggesting that one-point preaching shouldn’t be used.

Andy Stanley practically invented this model, and Andy blows my mind every time he speaks. He is clear and challenging and engaging. He has been & continues to be one of my heroes. And a lot of pastors want to be him and preach exactly like he does. And they want to do it just like North Point does it. (side-note: Ministry Pornography) Yet in many cases, they are lacking something very important: North Point’s context (aka, their “why”). And the result of THAT makes way for a LOT of pitfalls. One of those pitfalls is, you end up trying to make it (church, life, faith) too easy for people!

If you always make things easy for people….and hold their hand and make it feel all better…you are doing them a disservice! People need tension. They need to wrestle with things (after the sermon). They need to go through a process of discovery for themselves and with others in the Church community. It doesn’t always have to be spelled out word-for-word with the mystery stripped completely out of the equation. Leaders, don’t kid yourselves in thinking that you have life or God figured out more than your people. I don’t…and you don’t. Lead us…but don’t think you can fix us. Don’t underestimate your people…and don’t underestimate that new-comer that you always use as your excuse for not doing more challenging & different things! Quit making church safe and allow tension to enter the equation! In doing so, we will be stretched and fine-tuned (refined by fire, as the bible puts it). Hard to be refined by fire if you spend all your time putting out fires. just sayin’.

——————–

Later in the day, I was reading Twitter updates. John Saddington (aka @human3error) was apparently watching/listening to Andy Stanley preach, as I so often do. He was tweeting a few quotes, and one of them was…

“It is always a mistake to decide what you want to do before you have decided on who you want to be.” – Andy Stanley

My immediate reaction was disagreement. I processed it for a bit, then decided it was worthy of a RT (”re-tweet”, for you non-conformists) along with my statement of disagreement. Hey, I love throwing gasoline on a lit match. As you know, I’m a bit of a pyro. ;-)

Let me unpack this quote a bit. I would agree with the statement “It is better to decide who you want to be before you decide what you want to do.” But I don’t like the way it was worded…mainly the “always a mistake” part.

“who you want to be” could be taken so many ways. Who you are in Christ. Who you are as a person (or who you want people to know you as). What you want to be (occupation)…like “I want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a VJ.” (wink) … I think the principle behind Andy’s statement works in all cases. If you know where you want to go, it will help you better decide what to do and how to do it. It’s the most efficient, sure-fire way of living life (or making decisions or whatever). “Who you want to be” is our story…our narrative context … and the “what we dos” is the content. But content without context doesn’t make a good story. However, do we really know our full story? How do we discover what our story is and who we want to be?

“always a mistake”. That’s where I draw the line. It’s too absolute. It implies that it won’t work the other way around and you’re in the wrong for ever doing it that way. I think in many cases, doing something you want leads you to discover who you want to be. Maybe God gives you a desire to do something so that He can show you who He wants you to be. And even though cliche, I do believe that the journey is more important than the destination.

Like it or not, there is a discovery process involved…a journey…that leads us to knowing who we are. It’s full of mistakes, sin, desires, beliefs, values, injustices, doing things, meeting people, going places, some in obedience & some not, and moments of stepping out in faith when we have no clue what the context/story is. God is directing our path…He is making it straight, NOT US. He ordains, redeems & uses every step we make. But He calls us to the road less traveled. It is very inefficient, inconvenient, slow, and frustratingly mysterious. It is NOT the easy way!

In college, I tried to follow Jesus…I loved to worship….but I did not know who God wanted me to be or do. I did not fathom of VJ-ing or visual worship leading or producing films and events. And I definitely did NOT want to be a missionary! But I wanted to attend concerts and play a part in them. I wanted to see pretty pictures & cool videos during worship and I knew I wanted to pick them out. I wanted to move to Nashville. I did NOT want to go to China! But I did want to travel to another country and “get something cool out of it” at some point. And I did all of those things at 110%. I wasted a lot of time in the process, and wish I could go back and do some things differently…but God is bigger. And because of those experiences, God started altering the way I thought and He led me to a realization of what I wanted to do…but I still didn’t fully know who I wanted to be (beyond who I was in Him.)

My “what I want to dos” led me to the “who I want to be.” And now that i know who I want to be, that has a profound influence on what I want to do. It’s much better this way! And had I known 10 years ago what I know today…. oh man, life would be so different and probably a lot more awesome. But that wasn’t the point of the last 10 years!!

But even now, I don’t pretend to know who i want to be in the years to come. I know who I want to be TODAY (and in the near future), and I make decisions on what I should do & how I should do it accordingly. But I am NOT at my destination and have a lot more journeying and discovering to do. And my decisions of what I do will play a profound impact on who I end up being in the years to come.

We don’t wake up one day and fully know who we are in Christ. That is a process…a lifetime of discovery. Yes, I know who I am in Christ today, but I will know way more about myself & Him in 20 years (hopefully)…I may not even know the majority of who I am or who I want to be at this stage in my life. And I want to live my life open-handed and willing to walk away from it all at any point. (and I WILL…if He calls me, I will shut it all down and move to another country…it crosses my mind daily.)

John & I replied each other some. He said, “It suggests a priority, not an exclusion. Also, it sat well within the context of the entire message.” Great response! Context, like we all know, is everything. In design, in worship, twitter conversations, etc…content without proper context has a low survival rate. And I agree with the “priority” thing…I think I just fleshed that out here. the only thing I disagree with in Andy’s statement is the absoluteness of it (and the fact that it was taken out of context doesn’t help either…i should probably go listen to that message). But it did lead me to process all of this, and it stirred up some thoughts & feelings. So this has been a very positive experience for me today.

———————————-

Is it just me, or do you get the feeling that our churches give us the easy way out? They want to take all the hard work out, create a risk-free environment, never confront or piss off the big-tithers, never scare off the strangers, and give you resolution to everything so that you feel satisfied in the end and want to come back next week. They want to grow in big numbers, sell their message/product to as many people as possible, have the latest and greatest around, be the best marketing/PR tool around, etc etc et-freaking-cetera! Churches are functioning and leading more like a business than a family! And the world sees this… and they are NOT impressed. They aren’t impressed with our cool strategies, our new logos, a multi-million dollar facility, those new HD screens or our ripped-off rock and roll music. If they are, it is extremely temporary and they will be bored in a few weeks. (causing us to rethink things and outdo ourselves again… #RatRace) What they want…what they NEED…is authentic relationship….to be loved….served…accepted….to experience what family was designed & meant to truly be….to know God and know what it’s like to be loved by Him.

So many churches & worshipers (myself included) do a lot of things in the name of Jesus…for Jesus…for His Kingdom…and for His people. But we don’t really know Jesus. And one day, He is going to deny some of us to the Father. Our big productions won’t mean crap on that day.

I fear this whole “visual media/VJ-ing” thing is just adding to the noise and helping us all put make-up on our worship. The thought disgusts me and I have many moments of wanting to give up and permanently turn it all off. I see the need of those around the world and wonder why the freaking heck i spend so much time on my Mac or talking about motion backgrounds, fonts & software. Somedays I care more about my iPhone than I do the orphans in Uganda that I met in October. And I hear of missionaries having to leave the tribe they’ve invested years in because their main sending-church pulled back their giving amount, only later to find out they installed a new sound system & new projectors. We have wandered into the field of dreams…I call it a field of lies. “Build it and they will come”?! what kind of theology is that?! Jesus said “GO AND TELL” not “COME AND SEE”. Then some of us finally “get it”…but next thing you know we make rock stars of ourselves and of others. We create (or let be created) an “us” vs “them” mentality and we shut out those who aren’t “important” enough. We thrive on telling stories but we are the last to live a good story by investing in someone else’s who has nothing to give back. And this happens to the best of us.

Shame on us. Damn us all. Big fat epic FAIL.

-

-

-

-

-

Then Jesus steps on the scene.

And He picks up the broken pieces.

He takes on the damnation that we deserve.

And He loves us even more.

For me, He lets me throw my “righteous tantrum” and then reminds me how much He loves me despite my sin. His strength is made perfect in my weakness. He starts whispering of His love for His broken Church, and how He wants His people to experience a taste of His glory, splendor, creativity, majesty & mystery….even through the luxury of visual media. And He reminds me that today, I have a laptop in my hands, a few projectors, and sometimes a nice canvas to project on. And He nudges me to tell His story…of Who He is, what He is doing, and how beautiful the broken Church is. He tells me who I am and He gives me the desire to be just that. Then I look back at all the things I wanted to do and did…and bad or good…He shows me how He used it to get me to today. And more pieces of the story-puzzle start fitting together and things become more clear. And I look ahead into the unknown….nervous, excited, confident, hopeful, and expectant.

He did not take the easy way out. At any point, He could have called down the angels to rescue Him. And He calls us to join Him in His sufferings. But it’s not about us…our successes or failures as the Church. None of that really matters. Because really, we are one big failure. And that’s why He didn’t take the easy way out. In the end, He is all that matters.

“Then something happened, and the visual layer of worship was stripped out of the Church.” (excerpt from the “Story” page.)

Understanding the history of visual worship is a vital piece in forming one’s philosophy. Honestly, this is an area of discussion that intimidates me, but when i dive in, i find it fascinating! The other day, i stumbled upon an interesting article on the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Ironic since it was Calvin who played a major role taking the arts out of the Church. It’s long (for an online article) but it’s worth the read.

here’s an intriguing section from the article:

“Opening yourself to new experiences of art in worship starts with questioning two assumptions.

First, many Christians value the verbal over the visual. We understand how the Holy Spirit uses the Bible, inspired preaching, and music to connect us with God. But linking art with worship stirs worries about idolatry, distraction, and poor stewardship.

Second, many of us think of art as something to look at in museums and galleries—something different than craft, which is beautiful and useful.

God’s people have not always looked on art as an inferior (or impossible) way for the Holy Spirit to mediate God’s love to us. Nor have God’s people always seen art as disconnected from real life, which includes true worship.”

I think it’s really important to know where we’ve come from and to study the decisions of the visual worshipers of old… to know WHY they made certain decisions and to see how, generations later, it has made an impact on how we worship. And if we don’t know our history, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

i’m not very far on the journey of discovering our past. i hope you’ll join me. b/c i have a lot to learn.

If you’re wanting to explore further, i recommend reading these books. If you know of any other resources, please share them in the comment section.

I’m so proud of my Worship Guide at Journey, Drew Cline, who is doing an amazing job at leading the charge on Last Letter.

some of my friends in Nashville are featured in the video called “Ryan” on the Last Letter website. it’s not on Vimeo…but you should seriously go check it out now. i’m so proud of them… i regret being on the road so much b/c i have missed out on so much back home.

Here’s one more video from Last Letter… this one absolutely wrecks me.

what legacy are you leaving behind? cool motion backgrounds & the latest greatest creativity? what will come to mind when people remember you? What will your last letter be?

—————————————-

tech: All of the Last Letter videos were shot on the new Canon 5D MKII (& 7D) cameras that can capture HD video. I’ve been seeing more and more videos shot with this amazing camera… it takes video to a place i’ve never seen before. Barton Damer recently blogged about the 7D. And Nick Rivero just got his 7D in… i’m jumping on the bandwagon soon.

Here’s some more videos shot on the same cameras. Make sure “HD” is on & watch it in fullscreen…you might have to go to the original vimeo page to do that…it’s worth it.

what i experienced last Sunday morning will stay with me forever. and i want to share with you just a glimpse of what it was like for me and the Mocha Club team i was with. so as you are getting ready for/coming home from/taking a break between/or skipping church, take a peek into the Acholi tribe of northern Uganda, and get a taste of what worship is like there.

i started praying a few years ago that God would give me a glimpse into His global Church…to let me see what corporate worship looks like all over the world. He started to answer that prayer pretty quickly.

from infant tribal churches on small remote islands in the South Pacific to the largest house church in China…I’ve gotten to not only see amazing expressions of the Church, but i’ve also gotten to meet worship leaders that lead in ways that would blow your heart away.

The Acholi have been through more than any of us reading this have been through in a lifetime COMBINED. They have hardly anything…yet they have everything. Their war-torn lives and disorienting situations have only boosted the level of joy and passion. What touched me the most was that every time a person entered into the “worship hut”, they would fall to the ground…knees bent, face to the dirt…and pray… for about 10-20 seconds…. and then they would rise to their feet…singing and dancing….like they meant it! it was truly authentic. There was no stage, no hymnals or screens…nothing. There wasn’t even a main worship leader… the whole community just led themselves… and in each moment, a different person would “lead” the song, but it flowed from one person to the next very organically.

To see this… and to know their stories and what they have put up with … this led me in worship. They have to CHOOSE to worship… and they don’t need the latest songs or the coolest video setups to do it. It was crowded…many of them carried their own chairs or benches….they walked for miles, having been very sick the night before or having a dying family member left back home (one man i prayed with lost his brother to AIDS during the church service…he found out when he got home). Like i said, they have to CHOOSE TO WORSHIP. No where in America have I seen worship like this. it was more than refreshing.

i guess the light looks different in the darker places.

Join in the conversation with us @ CWT!

3 Comments

Comment by Dan Bracken 4 hours ago

This starts a great discussion, guys.

I had a recent conversation with an up-and-coming youth pastor. It was interesting that we both noted a shift if contemporary worship for youth. It seems youth these days are so saturated with media and production that they don’t even look up from their iphones. We thought maybe the next generation of adults will therefore crave authenticity… moments of silence, reflection, and contemplation (among other things, of course… these are not the only means of authenticity). So in referencing the basics of this “1949 Visual Worship” book, I do believe that visual aide in church is important, but it must have a purpose. It’s not about bringing people into the church, but getting the church out into the world. How do we keep media missional and purposeful, especially when our ultimate goal is to mobilize our people into the world for Jesus? Jesus used plenty of visual aide, but he wasn’t an entertainer (was he?).

Comment by Josh Linman 1 hour ago

I hear that Ginghamsburg DNA in your response dude and I love it. “It’s not about bringing people into the church, but getting the church out into the world.” I know that’s not Ginghamsburg specific (kind of a Jesus thing) but still…

So what are the purposes of media/creative elements?
+ Lower Defenses – make people feel comfortable and open them up to hear the hard message of Jesus (this is the place where I think media/creative elements as entertainment is ok)
+ Bring Stories to life – stories about life change, needs of the community, etc.
+ Inspire Action – Ignite a passion in people to GO and change the world.

What do you think?

Comment by worship*VJ – stephen proctor 6 seconds ago

i love this. and i agree. i posted some “thoughts” on Camron Ware’s blog (visualworshiper.com) on his post “Not of this World” that go along with this.

Josh, i would add
+ inspire worship by presenting visual revelation – an image of creation, galaxies, aka evidence of the greatness of God and Who He is, as well as His name….Who He is, what He’s done and what He has yet to do… all of this, when represented or at least supported by creative imagery during our worship gatherings can help reveal Truth and inspire people to focus on Him, be in awe of Him, and ultimately worship Him.
after all, the best definition of worship i’ve heard is that it’s our RESPONSE to a revelation from God.
He has revealed Himself in the world around us….in creation, in the skies, in people’s hearts and stories…. i think visual media is so powerful for us b/c we live in a culture where we’ve isolated ourselves from those revelations. We go from bed, to shower, to our family (or not, if we’re single and living away from family), to car, to work, to lunch, back to work, to gym (maybe???), to dinner, to TV (or ???) back to bed, with a little twitter sprinkled in here and there.
We rarely see the beauty of His creation, and we rarely engage in the story of people’s lives around us ESPECIALLY not in those who live in other countries.
Our video screens in worship have become windows to the world around us….and if the imagery is done properly and tastefully and creatively, it can show us a true glimpse into the world around us and inspire us to worship that much more.
but again, our worship shouldn’t be the viewing of images and singing of songs, but our RESPONSE to it all….and what we do with our lives the other 6 days of the week.
which goes back to “getting the church out into the world” which i totally agree with.

Find more videos like this on Creative Worship Tour

Camron & i had a great time talking with Josh Linman via iChat where we showed this book that someone had given Camron called “Using Visual Aids in a Church” …published in 1949!

talk about going back in time to see what the Church was like….funny, they were dealing with THE SAME issues and topics that we deal with TODAY. (except it’s dealing with old film reels & slides instead of VJ-ing…haha)

this book reminds me of A.W. Tozer’s writings…which was written so long ago but is still so relevant for today.

just goes to show you that there’s nothing new under the sun.

Our creative atmospheric team created this wall of windows and doors at the entrance of our space. With haze in the room, you can make out rays of light beaming through the window panes.

This station contains a water basin made out of concrete and rusted nails. Next to it are red pieces of paper that you can write what is on your heart and then place into the water. The red ink dissolves in the water, erasing what was written, turning the water red. On the wall space next to it, i am VJ-ing scenes from “The Passion of the Christ”, blended with a red textured crown of thorns graphic.

This is the communion station. In the background are our main screens running a loop of images.

In the center of the room is a cross, surrounded with open Bibles and pillows for kneeling and praying.

On another side of the room is another cross station.

As you leave, you can see our mosaic artwork. Each mosaic piece represents one of our “partners” (we don’t have “members”). Each person’s piece was placed there by the actual person. It’s an expression each of us goes through when we make the commitment to “partner” with Journey. As you can see, it’s filled up. We’ve begun four more mosaics, each representing the four imperatives of our church….Spiritual Formation…Community….Worship….Mission. these mosaic experiences take place at our “Encounter” worship and prayer gatherings that happen every 3 months, and tonight will be our next Encounter Gathering and mosaic experience where new partners will join our church.

Projected above the original mosaic are the same scenes from “the Passion” as from the atonement station.