a view from our porch where we shot a ton of timelapse footage!

—————————–

hey guys-

well, our 11 days in the Moi Tribe of Indonesia is coming to an end. It’s hard to believe i’ve been here, literally in the middle of nowhere, and it’s over!

the experiences I’ve had here are…truly indescribable. It’s truly too much to blog about. i wouldn’t even know where to start.

thank goodness we had tons of cameras! when i get back next week, i’ll be posting a few videos online that will give you a glimpse of the journey we’ve been on. and in a few months, we’ll have a really cool short film to show the world…telling the story of God’s saving grace in the Moi Tribe & the incredible work that New Tribes Mission does here and all over the world!

it’s incredible that the missionaries got their satellite internet working JUST BEFORE we arrived. So this is the first time anyone has been able to get online consistently. That’s allowed Macon Hare (NTM Exec Producer) and me to Twitter, and for all of us to check and update Facebook. We’ve also been able to update our NTMfilms blog, which has a lot of pictures and stories from the past few days.

one thing that’s been really exciting is sharing some of my experiences with a few friends. Via the power of iChat & Skype, I’ve allowed a few friends to talk to my new Moi friends LIVE! the Moi people really get a kick out of it, and enjoy singing for my friends. One friend, Biscuet, was inspired to blog about his experience. Then Vicky Beeching was so moved by his story, that she wrote on her blog about it!

i can’t wait to post the “behind the scenes” videos. but until then, here are some pictures!

flying into Daboto, our small hamlet in “Moi Land”.

reflection of Ben Smallbone in the cockpit.

my first interaction with the Moi…handing them my camera and letting them experience film-making!

sitting on the porch with some Moi guys, iChatting with Biscuet.

Ben Smallbone: cinematographer extraordinaire. We don’t go anywhere without him!

prepping the HeliMission chopper pilot what shots we want to get.

Nate & i getting ready for our chopper shoot. both doors were taken off, and we hung halfway out during flight to get the shots we needed. it was a rush!

Things we have done in Indonesia so far: hiking (and I’m not talking a walk in the State Park), flying in bush planes, eating amazing foods, hanging out w/ tribal believers, filming scenes for our film, hanging outside of a helicopter while filming a waterfall (just like in "Planet Earth"), and keeping the camera from being knocked by the men’s gordes.

Things we have yet to do: kill off all the chickens and sacrifice a pig (that’s in the morning), tribal feast and dance, filming from a bush plane, reinacting the crucifixion of Jesus (for filming purposes), and much much more!

We’ve been posting various stories on the NTMfilms blog @ ntmfilms.wordpress.com  -  Here’s a story I just posted:

_________________________________________

"Streams In the Valley"

Saturday was the most physically challenging day since we’ve arrived, for me at least. We hiked a grueling hour down steep, muddy slopes to arrive at a beautiful waterfall and a turbulent river. It was definitely worth the pain my right thigh endured as i slipped and fell multiple times, catching myself with my right leg and grabbing at the roots sticking out of the ground. The reward i had hoped for was there; a few hours of filming the shots we needed, then jumping in the river and swimming with the local tribesman. It was a blast.
But God had another surprise for me. You see, I had befriended one of the young believers, named "Tipaye" (pronounced "Se-pah-yay"), and when I was sharing my powerbar with the others, he didn’t seem interested. He was off by himself, completely lost in what he was doing: listening to an MP3 player with white headphones!! (congrats, Steve Jobs, you’ve managed to extend the digital music culture you created to the ends of the earth!) I took an interest in what he was doing, as he seems to do things differently than the others. His mind seemed elsewhere.
Tipaye pulled the earbuds off and put them up to my ears. I had no idea what he might be listening to. Indonesian hip-hop? Island reggae beats? PNG’s pidgin rap artist "O-Shen"??? No. It was Robin Mark singing "Lion of Judah". Celtic worship music filled with rich doctrine! I was floored.Now I know he probably doesn’t really understand what all is being sung…but he sure seemed into it!
It brought me back to a service i’ll never forget. Back in july, nate & I were with Beth Moore in Minneapolis for Living Proof Live. We stayed an extra day so that we could visit John Piper’s church. "Lion of Judah" was the main song that ushered in our corporate time of worship, and the whole service seemed to bleed with a missional heartbeat. For some reason, it was a really powerful Sunday that I will never forget. It made me think of New Tribes Mission and the work being done in some of the remote places in the world where there are no churches and other believers to reach the unreached.
As I look back, it’s encouraging to see that when God leads me on crazy journey down a deep valley, there He is. With a refreshing stream to relax and play in, and with a brother who’s got more in common with me than I ever expected.

Tipaye in the back, leaning against the post.

Everywhere I go, people always gather to watch videos on my Mac

I can’t believe I get to do what I do…for a living. I mean, I actually get paid to do what I love!!! And I try to not take that for granted.

as soon as i think my “job” can’t get any cooler, God surprises me again. as you can imagine, i can get pretty fired up over VJ-ing and making the worship space a visually inspiring and engaging place. but honestly, i can’t let it stop there. my passion cannot exceed my purpose. worshiping God AND making His Name known throughout all the earth must be my purpose. if my life doesn’t count for that, then all i’ve done is slapped a bunch of “make-up” on “worship”.

so for the next few weeks, i will be gone. and i’ll be using my passion for engaging the Church through the visual medium to serve my purpose…THE PURPOSE. i will be traveling with an incredible team to the Moi Tribe of Indonesia. That team will consist of Nate Griffin (my business partner @ gi*inc ), Ben Smallbone (of Radiate Films ), and three other people from New Tribes Mission .

When we return, I’ll be able to share in more detail what exactly we’re doing, and know that there will be some incredible stories to share through film.

NTM has setup a blog for us to update along the journey, so please check it out , follow us into the most remote place on earth, and PRAY FOR US!

Here are some random facts about the tribe we are visiting:

- They “have absolutely no concept of a world outside the green walls of the jungle,” wrote a missionary.

- The Moi had never seen a wheel prior to missionaries coming. They only had minimal tools.

- They believed spirits lived in the ground. As the airstrip was being dug out, they thought that spirits were being released. Women were told not to walk across it b/c they would become barren.

- Almost every man has killed…either another man (for their wife), or their own wife (if she refused to obey after so many times).

- There is a thriving New Testament church now, and some pretty incredible stories that we plan to capture and share!

Almost two years ago, i went to Papua New Guinea to immerse myself in tribal missions and to learn all i could. While there, i caught a vision of using film to tell the powerful stories i kept hearing. so in the summer of July ‘07, i returned with Nate & Ben to film our first short film for NTM, featuring the INTERFACE program . And this video is what started it all!

yes…it’s true.

And with either your iPhone or iPod + this pocket-sized projector, the world can become a more beautiful place!

Check it out!

For those of you wondering, i’ll break down the technology a bit:

- MacBook Pro running ProVideoPlayer (for all image playback)…

- …which outputs into a Matrox TripleHead2Go…

- …which is tied directly into three 5K projectors set up on a ledge in the back of the room.

- MacBook Pro running ProPresenter…

- …tied directly into the house video system, where white on black lyrics were run (hitting the house screens which were splashed with the environmental projection)

- lighting by ProGear Warehouse (Elation LED fixtures), LD was Greg Moore, one of the best worship lighting guys i’ve ever worked with.

In no way do i take full credit….we had an AMAZING production team & volunteers help in the set-up. I also have to give credit where credit is due, as i learned from the master.

If you are thinking about doing this in your church, tread cautiously. B/c if you don’t have the right content & VJ it tastefully, you can create the biggest distraction ever. i’ll blog more about that later.

It’s really exciting to do something that is really so simple and relatively cheap, which can transform a stark-white, boring room into a place of inspiration and creativity that hopefully draws people in and points them to Jesus.

Before.

After.

Colt Sammons, bravig the ledge.

p.s. sorry for the bad quality photos, my iPhone is cool but not that cool. the Canon 50D is being ordered this week!

Check this video out.

Thanks, Brandon for showing me this the other day.

This is the Pancake Pantry. It’s a Nashville Tradition (as u can see).

On the left, we have Sweet Potato pancakes.

On the right, Swiss Chocolate Chip pancakes.

This is Luke McElroy. He owns Orange Thread Media.

This is Camron Ware. You might know him from VisualWorshiper.com.

And then we have Brandon Horner. Motion graphics artist & VJ extraordinaire.

And then you have me. Scary, I know. And I own a little establishment known to the locals as gi*inc.

Today was pretty cool ’cause we all met up for breakfast, had some unhealthy but really good food, & had some amazing conversations about visual worship. It was great building community with a few other like-minded friends that are passionate about the same things.

We’re dreaming big, and I can’t wait to see some of our ideas become a reality.

More to come.

New friend and fellow VJ, Camron Ware, is the owner of VisualWorshiper.com and has an incredible blog. I check it every day and am inspired by his work. What he’s accomplished with what he has termed “architectural projection” is jaw-dropping. He also just bought his first Mac (one of the new 15″ MacBook Pros)…so let’s throw a party and welcome him to the Mac community!

Camron just posted an article on his blog that was very intriguing…concerning the use of iMAG (image magnification/live video) during worship gatherings. This was something i thought about blogging about at some point, but he did the topic great justice. so go check it out!

i hate it when the first word of every line is capitalized, like it’s a new sentence or something. i don’t get it. i’m also never a fan of lots of punctuation. if this was a report for my english class, it would be different. i also never capitalize anything except the names of God…even the word “i”.

i’ve gotten a lot of great comments and feedback over the years on this, except for one lady at a recent conference.

The names of those involved have been changed to protect both the innocent & the guilty. “Mr. Ren” is the conference coordinator i work with. “Ms. Stimpy” is the person who wrote the complaint.

Enjoy!

———————–

Dear Mr. Ren,

I want to apprise you of a concern I have. The issue is regarding an aspect of the music during the conference.

When the words to the praise songs are displayed on the screen, someone neglected to edit them; The pronoun “I” is ALWAYS capitalized. However, the pronoun appeared in the lower case consistently throughout all the songs.

Would you please advise those who are responsible for the words that are superimposed on the screen of this grievous English error? A lot of issues in America are under attack, not the least of which is the proper King’s English!

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Ms. Stimpy

————————-

excerpt from my response:

Actually, the ‘I’ is purposefully uncapitalized throughout all the songs….the only word ever capitalized is the names of God and the pronouns referring to Him.
This is a sign of reverence and also a reminder that ‘i am small and He is the Great I AM’.

Also, the proper grammar rules are kind of thrown out the window when it comes to displaying lyrics on the screens…its just understood.

————————-

Dear Mr. Ren,
Thank you for your prompt response. Yes, you are right; it doesn’t change my feelings, and I don’t know who says grammar is “thrown out the window.” If that is so, why capitalize the beginning of a new sentence, or put any punctuation in? There were a NUMBER of people who noticed the incorrect proper pronoun; I just happen to be the one to write. However, others did put it in their comments on the evaluation form.
I thank you for responding. May I have the email of the creative folk who make such decisions? As a teacher, I have to deal with students who never capitalize the proper pronoun - even in middle school. Now, I am seeing a sub culture that is PROMOTING that! I hate to think that it is a Christian mindset that is passing on such “stinkin’ thinkin’ “! Christians are to above reporach and to not be offensive.
In every church I have ever attended (including the great mega churches), I have NEVER seen the proper pronoun put as lower case. I disagree that “grammar rules are thrown out the window and it is just understood.” Instead, it appears this is someone from your conference who has unilaterally decided to do it this way.

Somcerely,(????)

Ms. Stimpy

————————-

wow. thoughts?

The conference itself was great…featuring a short bus, live elephant , worship by the Fee band , Kristian Stanfill , and Eddie Kirkland –excellent hosts Lanny Donoho and Reggie Joiner , and great teaching from Jim Collins , Dave Ramsey , Andy Stanley , Steven Furtick , Seth Godin , and many more.

The set was in the round due to the sell out crowd of 12,400. There was a cylinder LED with MiStrip ‘icicles’ below it. Above and surrounding that were the 4 main IMAG screens. The stage resembled the Chevy logo with thrusts going off into each area of the floor–the stage was framed with 22 50" LED screens, and the drum sub was wrapped with 8 50" LED screens. The cylnder and MiStrips could raise up and go down via motor control,and the opener featured a cool reveal of the drummer who was on the drum riser inside of the cylinder and strips.

Our tech set up was pretty intense–I had 3 PVP machines in front of me at FOH, and did my best of keeping everything straight. I had a machine running to the MiStrips, a main playback for the cylider LED and screens, and a master for the 26 LCDs that surrounded the stage. With me in the pit was Brad Weston running screen control through the Big Stuf Indigo, and Sarah running lyrics on ProPresenter.

I think the thing that amazes me most about that event is the depth of talent at every position. I don’t think we could come close to pulling it off with the talented people in every department. We get to work a lot with the guys from Majestic Productions, and they always do a great job getting everything in the air on time, and keeping it up and running. Kudos to Brian Pirkle at Big Stuf who produced the event and managed to keep us on task and not melt down during some pretty stressful moments. Jeff , Brian, and Brad at Catalyst have an almost impossible task of improving this conference every year, but continue to raise the bar.

Below are some pics…the bad ones are from my cell phone, the good ones are courtesy of Michael Henson from Majestic Productions.

Any of you make it to Catalyst?