Tag Archives: video

To Magnify

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photo credit: Emmanuel Dyan

This week I was asked a question that has caused me to reflect.

I was prepping for Easter, doing some budget planning, and making sure we had everything lined up for our Easter Celebration service plans.  We try to communicate to our congregation that Easter is a big deal.  We want them to understand that this celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is foundational to our faith and worth having a party for and we want to invite them into that celebration.  This means we usually do a little more in the way of lighting, and “production” if you’d like to call it that.

So I was asked, “why”?

and I’ve reflected on that a bit this week

As I mentioned we think Easter Sunday is a big deal, but this person already knew that.  But how does lighting, or projection, or video communicate that Easter is a big deal?  Because it’s certainly not about throwing an elaborate, expensive looking party.  I like to honour our congregation’s stewardship by being careful with how we spend money for the weekend services.

And it’s not about matching what the bigger church down the street can do so people decide to come to your church on Easter Sunday instead of theirs.  Oh please agree with me that it’s not about THAT!

It’s about worship.  Ascribing worth to our God, our Saviour, and our King.

Our desire is to Magnify the name of Jesus.

I grew up in Europe where I developed a love for medieval cathedrals and churches.  I loved staring at the stained glass images of bible stories and climbing the steps to the top of the spire to find myself at the highest point of the city.  Those buildings were built to magnify our God and to direct our gaze heavenward.

I’m inspired by those buildings to use more than just words on Easter Sunday, and every Sunday for that matter to magnify my God, the one and only true God who I hope and pray everyone will come to know personally.  We live in a world where so much attention is focused inward.  As worship leaders we choose songs that express our worship to God and teach truth about who He is and what He’s done for us.  Our worship spaces can also be set up in a way that reflects the beauty, creativity, and majesty of the creator.

So as a worship leader I encourage you to look beyond just the words.  Direct hearts to God, in any way you can, with all the creativity the Holy Spirit has given you.

 

for more resources on worship spaces and art used in worship check out…

http://www.visualworshiper.com/

http://www.davidsantistevan.com/2012/03/art-and-the-church/

Art and Emotion

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As a relief from Tuesday’s post I thought I would share something on the lighter side today.

ART

Anytime I see art this good I get excited!

We all see and experience art differently.  It can take on one meaning for someone and a completely different meaning for the next.  The meaning of this piece is fairly clear but it might speak to you in a different way than it spoke to me and I love that.

Watch the video

I felt a bunch of things…

  • anger
  • judgement
  • horror
  • amazement
  • gratitude
  • guilt
  • love

Yup, Art can cause a strange mix of emotions.

What did you feel?

you can check out more of Jeremy Cowart’s art here and Jonsi’s music here

Ignite:

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For you creatives out there I thought I would share with you a video piece that we used this past Sunday.  The video supports our “Ignite” series on Acts and illustrates the passage in Acts 2:42-44.

The idea for the video came out of one of our creative team meetings.  This team meets monthly to discuss upcoming sermon series and brainstorms ideas that will help creatively tell the story or support the theme of the message.  We narrow our focus down to what we call “Know, Feel, Do”.  This is basically our desired response for people that attend the service that day.  Here’s what our notes said.

We will look at the five key activities of keeping the fire of God burning in our lives and churches – community, teaching, communion, prayer and generosity.

  • Know:  There are activities that we can participate in that will open ourselves up to God using us in mighty ways.
  • Feel:    A desire to be involved in these activities.
  • Do:       Make these activities part of our regular routine.

The video served as a bridge from the sermon to a time of reflection during which the congregation was encouraged to contemplate a step they could take to grow in these areas.

This is a pretty good example of something we would use from time to time to support the message.  Nick Johnson of Hey You Media is the extremely talented man behind the making of this video.  We’re fortunate at Saanich Baptist Church to have him on staff as our part time media and graphics designer.  You can check out his work HERE.