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There are no words I can add to this.

Lord, teach us what true worship really looks like.

I saw this on Collide’s Videos of the Week and just had to post it here.

You’re welcome.

What started as just another social media outlet has turned into a rapidly growing resource of VJ content…and the best part is, it’s FREE!

Various group members (such as SECCWorshipTech, Thr-ve & Everett Bowes) have started submitting their own visual media to the group and allowing it to be downloaded freely for others to use. And these are quality loops…I’m approving each one individually. No cheap crosses drawn in Microsoft Paint here. :) Thr-ve has even submitted Triple-Wide versions of their loops available on WorshipHouseMedia.com)…these loops are great for multi-screen VJ-ing as well as Environmental Projection.

Head on over to the worshipVJ Vimeo Group, and if you don’t know how to download the videos, just read “How to Download Videos on Vimeo” in the Forum.

ENJOY!

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• If you’d like to support us and keep things like the Vimeo Group and worshipVJ blog going, then you can support us a few ways:
  1) Buy our content that’s for sale at WorshipHouseMedia.com

  as well as playlist.worshipVJ.com.

• 
  2) If you are looking to purchase ProPresenter, ProVideoPlayer or upgrade to ProPresenter 4, then please go through us to get it. By doing so, we will be able to hook you up with more FREE VJ content! Go to gi-inc.org/store to find out more.
  

• 3) Spread the word!
  

• Thanks!

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’. :)

If you are in the Nashville, TN area and are a ProPresenter user, you might want to check out what’s going down next week. On March 3rd (Wednesday) I will be teaching a worskhop on ProPresenter 4 at the Apple Store. We will be covering everything from the basic purpose and functionality of ProPresenter, examples of how it can be used in a live environment, and the new, powerful features of version 4. Even if you aren’t a ProPresenter user, this workshop will be beneficial because you will see some real-life examples of how to creatively use video technology in a live event.

My friend Nick Rivero (former Student Life video director & wizard at motion graphics/Quartz VJ-ing) will be driving up from Birmingham to help with the session; both of us will be available at the end to answer any questions.

Here are some details:

Introduction to ProPresenter: Discover ProPresenter, the presentation system for lyric and media playback. In this workshop, explore the unique, dual-screen song display system of ProPresenter and learn about its multiresolution video mixing and multiscreen capabilities.

When? March 3rd, 9:00am – 11:00am

Where? Apple Store Green Hills (Nashville, TN)

To find out more, visit the Green Hills Apple Store’s website; if you look at next week in their “schedule of workshops & events”, you will see this event and can reserve a spot. If you are coming, I recommend reserving a spot, though it’s not required in order to attend…you just may have to sit in the back.

If you are interested in purchasing Pro4 or upgrading from Pro3, then visit our store site, make a request for purchase, and I can get you squared away. If you purchase through grateful inconvenience (my company), I can get you hooked up with a collection of free media.

- There is something powerful when people come together to create.

- Both of those guys (Camron & Nate) rank at the top of my list of creative people I know. … But as we focused on communication and our friendship, we all learned to die to our preferences and serve a greater cause.

- What happened in Thailand was probably one of the most creative worship experiences I have ever had.

- They wanted each of these nights to be set apart…very unique and special. So Saturday & Tuesday nights were our two main opportunities to bring all we had.

- Both nights incorporated Nate painting live during a segment of the worship while Camron and I took turns VJ-ing & running lyrics. As we dreamed together, we stumbled onto a few simple and innovative things that none of us had tried before. But what sent this experience over the edge was the participation of everyone else in the room…all contributing and leading through their own acts of visual worship. It was “co-creation” like I had never seen before.

- It’s all about relationships.

The Setup:

Saturday Night: Entering into Sabbath rest.

We wanted the worship space to be a sanctuary when people walked in. Lights dimmed, quiet & reflective music playing, and images/text on the screens that focused their hearts on God. People entered quietly and reverently.

The worship songs that night were played in a softer manner, and during a few of the songs, we didn’t even project lyrics. Instead, we projected various scriptures that focused on the Cross. The songs were well-known, so the need for lyrics wasn’t even there to begin with.

During this time of projecting scriptures, I felt the need (in the moment) to VJ scenes from “The Passion of the Christ”…slowed down to half-speed, saturation very low, and barely blended in with the scriptures. Then two people from the congregation got up and started reading scriptures while the worship leader lightly played his guitar. (For us, the scripture reading was a last minute add-on and someone else’s idea… a “curve ball” for us production guys…but we went with it.) It was POWERFUL. And the “Passion” scenes mysteriously lined up with what they were reading aloud. I love it when that happens.

Nate stepped on stage and started painting. No one could really tell what he was painting though…but we all sensed it was something profound. We continued to sing and hear scriptures. After a while, Nate turns the painting upside down and walks away. We were stunned as we made out the image…and overwhelmed given the powerful, scripture-filled worship moment we were in the midst of having.

Nate had also written out a beautiful treatment that I took and made into a video (all this was written and edited on the afternoon of). We also wanted to bring the experience back home for ELIC, and so Camron took his “Names of God” template and created a video of all the city names that ELIC is currently working in.

As you saw in the “setup” video, Camron had figured out in PVP (ProVideoPlayer) how to pixel-map the double-wide projection to fit exactly where the painting was hanging. This is an advanced setting in PVP and fairly easy to setup if you know what you’re doing.

And all at once, the elements came together. We captured this experience so that we could bring it back home and remember it, and we wanted to share it with you. (on the left, you’ll see the painting and what happened live, and on the right you’ll see what we projected on the side screens.)

And then we partook in communion.

Tuesday Night: The Sending Out.

This night was similar to Saturday night in that we had people enter quietly and reverently. However, this night was focused on the “sending out” of ELIC back to their cities.  This time, I VJ’d scenes of creation and people groups from all over the world. The music was less contemplative and more “other worldly” and “epic”…lots of movie soundtracks with a haunting yet inspirational rhythm.

Nate had painted a map of Asia earlier in the week and hung it on display in the back of the room. On Saturday night, people were invited to take sharpies and write prayers for their cities and friends over the regions where they were teaching. Some of the things that were written would break your heart.

We rearranged the chairs into a “U” shape, creating more of an “in the round” effect. I love doing this because it reinforces the community aspect of worship. (Nothing screams “community” like seeing the backs of people’s heads…just sayin’.) The band and speaker never stepped foot on the stage, but led from the floor down front. Many people could not see the worship leader, but this was kind of the whole point.

At the end of the night, after communion, Nate stepped back on stage and completed the painting of Asia. The first painting (from “Agnus Dei”) was hanging next to it. Nate finished painting, and what we were left seeing was the Hand of God holding Asia…prayers and all.

Then the worship leader led us in “God of This City”. In between the two paintings we projected faces of Asian people and then brought back the “Names of Asian Cities” that Camron had created for Saturday night.

Next came the last song of the night: “Mighty to Save”. Earlier in the day, Camron had taken his Canon 5D Mark II and took pictures of all the prayers that had been written throughout the week. After a little Photoshop magic, he opened up his editing program and created a double-wide video of all the actual handwritten prayers.

The people’s visual worship became our motion background! And it was the most powerful visual I could ever imagine while singing “Savior, He can move the mountains!” Spiritual mountains, one right after another, filled the wall. It was too much to handle. People were crying, raising their hands, and yelling “Yes, Lord! Do it!”

The last prayer came across the screen as we ended the song. In one person’s own handwriting, it read…

The president of ELIC got up, spoke a blessing over us, and prayed a benediction. The room continued to be a sanctuary. Most people just sat there in silence. Filled to the brim and ready to get back to the Work.

We had dreamed of merging live art and media all at the same time, but this was the first time we all worked together to make it happen. Even though the content was unique & creative, what made this experience so special was the context we were working with… 500 amazing individuals that make up ELIC. There’s no way we could replicate what happened that night…nor should we try…it was special for that time and for those amazing people. Again, it was co-creation like I had never seen before. What’s even better is that it took zero dollars to pull this off. Just a little time, creativity, a few of our own resources, unity and love for each other is all that we needed. I will never forget it.

It wasn’t the cool experience or our creativity that made the “worship” happen…it was the offering and surrender of people’s hearts…all of our hearts. That is what was pleasing and acceptable to God. It’s amazing when He chooses to use our talents in the midst of worship. He can do great things through us when we get out of the way, die to our preferences, and make ourselves available to Him.

There is something powerful when people come together to create. You see, when it comes to playing videos, I’m pretty much by myself, choosing the videos I want and doing it my way. Sure, there’s community with the band, leader and production guys, and a hope for some sense of “community” with the people in the pews…but let’s face it, when I sit down at my laptop, it’s pretty much whatever I decide. And very quickly, it can become all about me and my own artistic preferences.

In Thailand, I ran smack dab into a wall of frustration, tension and confusion over what needed to happen visually. Nate & I experience this tension frequently in our projects, and we’ve learned over the years to embrace and wield this tension to our benefit. Add the fact that Camron and I teach together a lot but rarely VJ together. Now put all three of us in a room together; it was the making of something very interesting.

Both of those guys rank at the top of my list of creative people I know. But working together in a close environment brought out some crazy things. I realized very quickly that we have different creative/artistic preferences. We each gravitate to different types of images & styles of VJ-ing; there were even moments when I thought, “I would never use that picture!” But as we focused on communication and our friendship, we all learned to die to our preferences and serve a greater cause.

You see, it’s all about relationships! This applies to all of us. I don’t care how big or little your budget is, how cool that video effect is, how many projectors and screens you have, or what version of ProPresenter you’re running…if you don’t have love, game over. It’s probably the single most important & foundational element for an effective ministry. I cannot stress this enough!

What happened in Thailand was probably one of the most creative worship experiences I have ever had. It involved all of us working together…as a team…loving each other and encouraging each other along the way. I failed many times at this during the process, but God trumped all that in the end and decided to accept our offering and do something great with it.

The conference went from a Wednesday thru Tuesday. For ELIC, Sabbath rest was ushered in Saturday night and ended Tuesday night with a sending out. They wanted each of these nights to be set apart…very unique and special. So Saturday & Tuesday nights were our two main opportunities to bring all we had. We still VJ’d the rest of the time, but it was much more simplified & stripped down.

Both nights incorporated Nate painting live during a segment of the worship while Camron and I took turns VJ-ing & running lyrics. As we dreamed together, we stumbled onto a few simple and innovative things that none of us had tried before. But what sent this experience over the edge was the participation of everyone else in the room…all contributing and leading the rest of us through their own acts of visual worship. It was “co-creation” like I had never seen before.

To be continued…

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:35 (NIV)

Later, Biscuet told me that he was leaving his “dream job” of producing events and VJ-ing for worship to go live in China and teach English. WHAT?!

You see, for Biscuet, worship is so much more than what our little subculture cracks it up to be. He isn’t easily impressed by all the latest, greatest hype on the who’s who of the current creative church culture. He has an opinion or two on what real worship looks like, but he won’t tell you about it unless you ask him over and over again. He will also tell you that no city in America has anything on Beijing…and I’d probably have to agree with him. To follow his story, go to biscuet.com – he’d be more than happy to be your friend and tell you what’s up.

Biscuet doesn’t claim to have any answers, except that life is all about relationships. And his love for the Chinese people overtakes him whenever he gets to share with others about the amazing things happening in China. For me, I had to go to Asia to see for myself what all this craziness was about. And man, was I blown away!

Imagine 500 Biscuets filling a room for a week…getting to worship together, pray for each other’s cities, and share the indescribable things that are taking place throughout Asia. Our main purpose for going to Thailand was to serve these 500 by doing what we love…projecting on walls, VJ-ing media, painting, and encouraging those we meet along the way. And I cannot even begin to tell you the stories we heard.

These 500 new heroes of mine make up an organization called ELIC (English Language Institute/China). Their purpose is to place passionate people in contact with students across Asia through teaching English. Their story is continuing to be written, and as some of it unfolded before our eyes during their conference in Thailand, our hearts were overrun with wonder and awe at what is happening in Asia.

So what? How does this apply to us? Well, I’m glad you asked. There are three things we all can do:

• GO – ELIC offers long-term and short-term opportunities to engage Asia. If you don’t have any plans this summer, you might want to think about going.

• GIVE – some of you are not in a position to drop everything and go (at least not yet), but you can actively play a role in their story NOW by supporting them financially. You can give to either individuals like Biscuet, or you can give to their overall budget which will help them build a new website, new graphics/marketing, and promo videos they hope to produce soon (which will help them to be more effective in telling their story).
• LEARN MORE – a little overwhelmed and needing to get back to work? Hey, it’s cool…we’re all there with you. But if you think about this post and your role in Asia’s story later down the road and want to learn more about what ELIC is all about, then come back and click here.

I can tell you this: I meet a lot of people and organizations in my profession. I’ve just about seen it all, and sadly, very few impress me. But what ELIC is all about…wow…this blog post barely scratches the surface. I’m not trying to hype up something that’s not…I’ve seen it with my own eyes, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. This isn’t about praising man or anything some organization has done…they are human and flawed just like all of us. And I’m not implying that anyone is less of a worshiper if you don’t go to Asia. But I highly recommend going and seeing for yourself sometime…trust me, it will blow your mind and remind you of what’s truly important. It will lead you to worship in ways you’ve never imagined!

Thanks for letting me share a little about Biscuet and his organization.
I count it a huge privilege to be able to go to Thailand for a week to serve these people. For most of them, this is the one time a year they can come together as a true community of faith with more than five peers in the room. For Nate, Camron & I, it was about humbling ourselves, not making their event about us, and serving them by creating a sacred space for them to gather and guiding them through a visual worship experience.

It’s only by God’s grace and mercy that He has allowed any of us to live these stories thus far.

Today, I want to begin taking you on a journey. In the next few blog posts, I am going to share a few of the places, people and stories I experienced on our recent trip to Thailand and Hong Kong. My desire is that you catch a glimpse of the amazing things happening in Asia in hopes that it will inspire you to worship and pray about what God has next for you.

The beginning of every journey, for me at least, is usually filled with excitement, expectancy, fear, curiosity, unknowns & hope all wrapped up into one. No matter the situation, experiencing a different culture brings on an adrenaline rush. And seeing what the Church is like outside of my own culture usually brings on everything from inspiration to tension; this usually results in asking more questions and priorities shifting in my life…both personally and in how I do my job.

Each of these journeys provide me with an opportunity to have a visual worship experience by choosing to see Jesus in all that I see. In these beautiful places, I stand in awe of the story of God unfolding, both in His creation and in the lives of others. If you have any questions along the way, don’t hesitate to ask!

Our journey begins in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A land filled with religion, tourism, history, and zero traffic laws.

(watch full-screen to get the best visual experience.)

Today is also Nate & Shelly Griffin’s 1st Wedding Anniversary! This time last year, we were in one of the most beautiful chapels ever on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, experiencing one of the most sacred days of my best friend & business partner’s life. Shelly is truly one of a kind…and she knows more Bible than Nate & I combined times a hundred.

And four years ago to the day, I walked up to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office and filed that fateful S-Corp form. Grateful Inconvenience, Inc. (gi, inc., as we called it) officially became a company!

Through the years, February 14th has been an epic day in the life of “GI”. In 2007, just a year after starting the new company, I stepped off a plane after having spent five weeks in Papua New Guinea…a trip that would be the start of many journeys into strange new lands. Nate had lived there for two years before moving to Nashville. And that following summer, we both returned to produce our first short film “Changed”.

In 2008, February 14th lasted two days for Nate & me…for we were flying back across the Int’l Date Line after having gone on our first trip to Thailand. Pretty cool to have just gotten off a plane from the same place just two years later.

And I feel like there’s something else going on today….. hmmmm…. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just my imagination.

What a journey it’s been… and in more ways than one. For the past few weeks, I’ve been bouncing around like a pinball between airports & MTR stations throughout Southeast Asia, getting to experience things & meet people I never would have dreamed of. There’s so much to unpack, and I don’t just mean my smelly socks & the souvenirs I bought for my nieces & nephews. Between spending a week in Thailand with some new missionary heroes of mine and meeting with church leaders (both visual worshipers & pastors) in Hong Kong, we’ve packed in a lot. I’m still processing it all…wondering what just happened…and thinking about what’s next.

I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog-front while I’ve been away, and for many reasons. Mainly, I knew that I needed to be 100% present with all that was going on. And what free time I had needed to be spent sleeping, hearing people’s stories, eating crazy spicy food, and getting $6 massages. :) It was also a great opportunity for me to relax and be removed from everything back home. But in the next few weeks, I hope to unpack some of these stories and share with you what God is up to in the Asian Church! It’s bigger than any of us could imagine…so get ready!

Once in a while, I’d check in and see what’s going on back home, and it seems that a lot of exciting stuff has been taking place! From iPads to LOST to Sabre buying out Dunder Mifflin, I’m coming home to a very different place. (ok, so the iPad isn’t that exciting…but whatever.) But even more exciting are the advancements & developments in the visual media community. Here’s a few that stuck out to me:

First, my friend Brad Zimmerman of CMDtv has been hard at work releasing his newly designed site. From the looks of it, the new experience at ChurchMediaDesign promises to be a refreshing oasis of training, inspiration, community, and free resources for those of us in the church media revolution. I love the new layout & design; if you haven’t experienced CMDtv yet, go do it now!

Second, Echo Conference has released their new site & has officially started promoting their 2010 conference. Last year was my first time at echo, and I was truly impressed by what Scott, Kami, Trent & the RT Creative staff pulled off. I’m humbled to be invited back to join this creative community. I’ll be teaching with Camron Ware again, and our focus will be on the “service programming” aspect of visual worship…the preparation & curation process of VJ-ing & Environmental Projection. I hope to see you there!

Last and definitely not least… the exciting news many of us have been waiting for. Just recently, Renewed Vision tweeted:

“Coming this week: The official ProPresenter 4 release… Oh, and there is “one more thing”. Stay tuned.”

FINALLY!!! It’s here!

I’ve been testing the beta in live settings for the past month or so, and with each update it has gotten more stable & exciting to use. I’m confident the gold master release will not disappoint. In fact, I just used Pro4 throughout the entire conference in Thailand, and it never crashed once! (fun fact: I bought my upgrade while in sitting outside a coffee-shop in Chiang Mai with elephants walking by & street vendors & all. Great memory.)

Brad Zimmerman gave a very thorough review of ProPresenter 4 on his new site; I highly suggest checking it out. Also, I’ll be hosting a Pro4 workshop at the Apple Store in Green Hills (Nashville) on March 3rd, and there’s a Germantown (Memphis) Store workshop in the works, as well.

I’m grateful for the guys at Renewed Vision and for their dedication to the vision they have for media & worship in the Church. They have once again brought relevant, cutting-edge technology and packaged it in an easy-to-use, affordable solution for us Mac users. I wonder what that “one more thing” is…hmmm…. any guesses out there? Whatever it is, they deserve our thanks and some much needed R&R.

Speaking of R&R, I’m gonna need some after being cooped up in a plane for 20+ hours. Flying around dodging islands with imploding hatches & frozen ancient wheels is nothing to take lightly. But nothing a little Mexican food can’t take of though in the end. :)

As amazing as Asia was, it will be good to get back home. And like I said before, I will try my best to unpack as many experiences, stories & opportunities as possible. Maybe some of it will end up on this blog, but the heart of it can only be shared in person! So if you’re up for it, let me know…but be careful, the journey may end up leading you to Asia!

The last thing we want to do is badger or guilt people into giving us money. I hope you know our hearts. We want you to know what God is doing in other parts of the world…we want to tell that story well…we are still learning how to be good storytellers as well as live good stories. We want you to be a part of what God is doing in Asia…. so that when you hear about the amazing things He is doing in other parts of the world, you can say “Sweet! I got to have a hand in that!”

To be honest, financial support has been trickling in, and we are nowhere near the goal we need to meet. So I thought about making this a little more interesting. It’s time to up the ante.

The reality is…we need some dough to go. And your reality is…you need some fresh new loops for Sunday. So, here’s the deal. You give …and we’ll give back! Whether you have been inspired, challenged, encouraged, frustrated, or bored-to-tears by our blogs/tweets/sessions/content/conversations/friendship/etc, we are asking that you give at least $20 towards our trip. And if you can give more, we won’t complain! ;) If you can do this, I will send you a link to some new, free visual media!

The media bundle will include:

- three brand new loops created from our past trip to Thailand (edited by the amazing Nick Rivero) … they are part of an new media product that we’re releasing this year.

- three Names of God loops by Visual Worshiper – one is his most popular title, and the others are two triple-wide formats of his Names of God loops, which have never been released other than personally thru his consulting gigs.

- there might be a few other surprises in there, too…but you’ll have to pay up to find out. :)

*they are in a QuickTime format (no MPEGs rendered yet) but please don’t let that be a reason not to go through with this.

Here’s how to give:

1) go to ELIC’s website (elic.org/orgdonate)

2) fill out the form & put “ATC” at the bottom where it says “Any additional notes regarding the processing of this gift.” YOU HAVE TO PUT “ATC” in the additional notes…DON’T FORGET!!!

We have about $1700 each to raise. The way ELIC has it set up, when you give, it goes into one bucket for the three of us going. And yes, your gift is tax-deductible!

After you have given, email me at proctor@worshipVJ.com & I will send you a link for the media loops. If you don’t have the dough personally, then technically you can make this a church/media deal since you’ll be getting content that your whole church will benefit from! :)

again, at least $20… and more if you can swing it. You guys rock!

Here are thumbnails of some of the media included:

This year, i want to make more intentional efforts in my exploration of the VJ world. A lot of the technology that would seem futuristic to us has actually been around for a while…hidden away in clubs, VJ festivals & other underground areas that might seem foreign to some of us. But i wonder if some of these cool new toys & techniques will ever go mainstream enough for the rest of us to get our hands on it. Here are just a few examples of what i’m talking about. Be prepared to be blown away. Enjoy.

*wiki-wiki*

warning: be sure & tighten the wrist strap. the last thing you need is for your sound guy to get a black-eye! (even though he may deserve it!  j/k )

More Wiimote awesomeness. This time using Modul8 VJ software.

Quartz has a significant role in the future of VJ-ing. VJ Shakinda is the leading authority on Quartz VJ-ing.

I wonder if my nephew would let me borrow his Nintendo DS…like, permanently.

i’ve wanted one of these for years.

uhhh….i don’t think this will fit as a carry-on.

Use your iPhone to VJ and map projection.

Community-driven projection mapping. Yes, please. (via CreateDigitalMotion)

Wii, before it’s time. I’m still waiting on Nick Rivero to figure this one out.

It’s so bad.

here’s another link worth checking out. Would be cool to get multiple people to connect and VJ with their iPhones during worship.

So there you have it… a glimpse into the crazy world of true VJ-ing.  i watch this stuff & realize i have barely begun to scratch the surface.  i hope some of these ideas continue to develop, as i’d love to start VJ-ing outside of a mouse, keyboard & trackpad. The KORG Nano has been a good start. But there’s so much more to explore. And i’m counting on guys like Zac Dixon, Allan White, Graham Robinson & Nick Rivero to help make this more mainstream & to produce some content that takes us deeper into worship.

Have you found any links/videos of new or non-traditional tools for VJ-ing? Don’t keep it to yourself! Spread the love and share with the rest of us!

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:

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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’.

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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.

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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.

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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.

I wish I could fast forward 2010 and see how it all turns out…I’m sure if I knew the outcomes of certain things, I might choose to live my story differently…maybe some things I wouldn’t place so much importance on, and some things & people I might pay attention to a little more. Who knows… but I DO know this: I want to live a good story this year.

Donald Miller wrote an amazing post about resolutions vs living good stories. His main points boil down to 1) wanting something, 2) envisioning a climatic scene, & 3) creating an inciting incident. I recommend reading it for yourself.

Originally, this blog post was going to be about what I plan to accomplish, the places I’m going to, the people I can’t wait to meet or reconnect with, goals I have, yada yada… instead, I want to write about a few stories I hope to live well this year:

STORY ONE: To See Visual Worship Have a More Missional/Global Perspective

I desire to produce, create & VJ more missional media that brings God’s global story into focus during times of corporate and personal worship. I hope I’m not the only one; I want to be a part of a revolution that changes the face of visual media as we know it today. And I hope this cause isn’t self-serving (or perceived as) but overflows with the spirit of giving back and serving those who suffer.

I’m sitting on a plethora of beautiful HD footage that we’ve shot around the world and it’s just waiting to be edited and mastered into a format suitable for VJ-ing and storytelling. I’m praying for the right individuals to come alongside us and help us in the production and release of that content. Like I said, I hope we’re not the only ones doing this. I want to spend 2010 encouraging other creatives to do the same. Worship is a response to the revelation of Who God is and what He’s done/doing; we’ve done a good job at projecting Who He is…but I feel that much of the available media out there lacks in the areas of Who He is & what He’s doing outside the four walls of the church building (which to me is the majority of His Kingdom…I dunno…just sayin’.) I want to see this change.

The Church as a whole (at least at the forefront) is definitely shifting its focus to more missional ways of worshiping. It’s happening everywhere, and it’s exciting. And our culture (including our churches) are becoming more globally aware and connected, which has never happened before (at least on this scale). I’m having more and more conversations about visual worship outside of America than inside. How is our visual storytelling & VJ-ing supporting/responding/leading these shifts?

STORY TWO: To Tell the Story of Visual Worship in New Ways

I have many dreams, ideas & goals for this year. Some, I believe will be carried out by others…and some, I believe, have been placed in my heart by God…entrusted to me to see it through. Some people would shy away from announcing things without having it “all together” and ready for “release”. To that, I say, “whatever!”. So I’m saying it now…publicly…and I’m involving other people with it. This very act forces me to move. As Donald Miller points out, saying things publicly and not following through creates a “social consequence”. I will let those I’ve involved down, and I’ll look stupid in front of everyone i’ve told (aka YOU). (maybe that’s the whole point for some of these things…but again, i can’t fast forward and find out.)

God has clearly spoken to me about a few specific things. One is software development. Another is for inspirational/educational media about visual worship. And the last is about writing a few books. I have a pretty good idea of what all these could look like, and have been carrying these ideas for some time now. But 2010, i’m hoping, is the year that I get to flesh some of these out. All, I hope, end up being for the edification of His Church.

I want so badly for everyone to experience the glory, splendor, awe, wonder, majesty, creativity & mystery of God in the midst of worship (whether corporate or personal). I believe the visual arts (media, environment, story, etc) have a huge role to play in this. And I don’t believe we are in a place where we are experiencing this as God has intended here on the earth. And I believe with all my heart that there needs to be a return to simplicity and authenticity in our worship (especially in the production of our worship experiences)…this to, we are lacking on a major scale. This is why you here me talk about “visual silence” so much…i really think there is something there, for all of us, on a corporate and personal level, from God.

I’m hoping through the small postage-stamp-sized platform that God has given me I will tell His story to the best of my abilities. Maybe through some new refreshing media, films, books, events, blog posts, conversations, worship gatherings, etc, I will be able to echo this well.

STORY THREE: Facilitating Relationships & Ways to Give Back

I desire to be a part of a nameless, faceless movement of the Church that gives back to those who are in need. More specifically, I want to be a part of a movement within the realm of “church creatives” that give back to other “creatives” who are in need. I don’t know exactly what this looks like yet, but I’m wondering if there are ways to facilitate some opportunities that we all get to play a part in.

Not all churches in the world can benefit from visual media in their services or in the daily life of their Church. Believe me, there are some indigenous churches that are doing JUST FINE without technology. In fact, it would cause more harm than good; it’s just not their culture. However, there are MANY churches around the world that could benefit from technology and visual media. But, for whatever reason, they can’t afford it or easily obtain it. What if those of us with resources stepped in and helped them?

What if the media/worship ministry of your church sponsored a church in Indonesia…giving them new computers, software, media, cameras, projectors, editing software, website, or ________??? But what’s more exciting is that this sponsorship would facilitate relationships! Imagine getting your head unburied from the laptop and going on a trip to this 3rd world church and engaging for a week or two in their creative leaders’ lives? Teaching and training them, yes…but what about praying for them and simply hearing their story? Priorities will resurface, and perspectives will change. And the way you lead worship (musically/technically/visually) will change… TRUST ME.

This is one reason I’m going back to Asia (and to other countries soon)… I want to figure this out and see what God has for us. His global story is epic… like, Lord of the Rings epic…and even more so, I’m sure. There is a place for all of us… and “visual worship” is just a small part of the bigger story taking place. How will we engage & fit our lives into His story?

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So, to heck with “resolutions” and goals. Yes, I have many of them…but when I look at them through the lens of a narrative, I’m much more motivated to go after them. And I may fail miserably at all of this. Or maybe it’s not until 2020 when some of these things I’ve mentioned finally come to fruition. And I pray that none of these are self-serving or build up any earthly empire that I might call my own. I guess we’ll both have to wait and find out.

Yes, I wish I could fast forward this year and see how everything turns out. But I can’t…for this is the essence of faith. Moving forward and believing in something I can’t see. Faith, by nature, is “visually-silent”.

So here’s to 2010. I’ve never been more excited about a new year before. Let’s journey well together.

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“I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” ~ Jeremiah 10:23

“A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?” ~ Proverbs 20:24

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prospers you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ~ Matthew 6:34