Back in January, I highlighted a short video of the 2007 Christmas service at Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX). Today, Pace Hartfield uploaded even better videos of the Christmas service as well as a glimpse of how Fellowship Church designed the creative elements.
The Christmas Service
The Creative Video
How They Made the Creative Video
For more details about Fellowship Church’s production process, read Pace’s full explanation on his blog.
Pace Hartfield, the worship and creative pastor at Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX), posted a video of their Easter 2008 service. The projection screens display some great usage of motion graphics.
Be sure to regularly check out Pace Hartfield’s blog for the latest on Fellowship Church’s worship.
Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) wrote a two part article on Saddleback Church’s 12 convictions about worship (part 1 & part 2). Here is the list:
For more thoughts on each of the twelve be sure to read the original article (part 1 & part 2).
Some churches like to go all out on their Christmas services. Usually, the goal is to create a “Wow!” experience for the people who rarely come to church as well as those who have never been. And hopefully, this “Wow!” experience will get them to come back and start attending more regularly. Here are four churches that put on quite a show for Christmas 2007.
#1 - Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL) - “Imagine Christmas”
#2 - Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX)
>#3 - Granger Community Church (Granger, IN) - “Let It Be Christmas”
Photos courtesy of Tim Stevens
Watch the service.
#4 - Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK) - “This Christmas”
Wow!
It is a great read for making you think. It is a reminder that how you perceive your ministry may not be the same as how those you minister to perceive it. It makes you consider why you do what you do and question if there is a better way to do your ministry. In the foreword, George Barna opens the book saying,
Few religious leaders or churches have any idea what it’s like for an outsider to try to break into the holy huddle. Most churched people have been so immersed in the church world that they have completely lost touch with what it is like to come through the church door and try to fit into a place that has very distinct habits, language, goals, events, titles, architecture, traditions, expectations, and measurements.
I was particularly intrigued by Matt Casper’s perspective (that of a musician and an atheist). Here are a few highlights from his insight:
On slick worship music -
[Jim: “On a scale of 1 to 5, how do you rate the music?”]
Two stars. That’s all I can do for you here.
For presentation and professionalism, they get a 4 or a 5, but the music is too contrived, too slick, too professional, really.
[Jim: “But that’s a good thing, no? That should attract people, right?”]
Maybe people who like American Idol. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I see the entertainment value, but when it comes to music, I like it pure. Too much polish and you lose the heartfelt power, you lose the soul of the music, and you’re not going to move anyone.
On fancy staging -
These guys are actually helping people, and the diversity of the attendees seems to be representative of the urban area where they are located.
I can relate to this part of the church, but I don’t understand why they need to do the big show. Why don’t they just help people and call it good? Why the fog machine, camera crane, multiple screens, PowerPoint, and the lights, lights, lights?
I think the light show and all that, for me anyway, does less to attract and connect me than to disconnect me.
On song lyrics -
[What bothered me is] the massive disconnect between the words on the PowerPoint projection and the stuff I saw in the church.
On good deeds -
To someone like me who doesn’t believe there is a literal God that we’re going to meet someday up in the sky, a God that can’t be proven otherwise… well, to me, proof of good deeds.. count more than anything. That’s evidence that you are following what anybody can read in the Bible.
Even though I don’t believe in God, I see evidence of the idea of God being a good thing…
On the modern church -
What does the way Christianity is practiced today have anything to do with the handful of words and deeds uttered by a man who walked the earth two thousand years ago?
These are just a few of the many thoughts Casper transparently shares throughout the book as he and Jim visit churches like Saddleback Church, Mosaic Church, Willow Creek Community Church, Mars Hill Church, Lakewood Church, and The Potter’s House. So what’s the point of the book? Jim Henderson concludes with this:
Unless we’re willing to remove the handles from the front doors of our churches and publicly say to outsiders, “We don’t care what you think,” the church must become more reflective and repentant about how outsiders perceive us.
Become self-aware.
Worship House Media is giving away 6 free motion backgrounds. Originally intended for Catalyst conference attendees, the kind people at Worship House Media decided to share the wealth even further.
Perry Noble of NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC) recently shared eight things he thinks every church worship leader should know.
For additional thoughts by Perry on each tip, read the full post on his blog.
Not every church is blessed with skilled musicians for Sunday worship. In fact, if you are a church plant, you might not have any musicians yet. Fortunately, technology has made it possible so that this is no longer a problem.
Interactive Worship Live is a new resource that allows worship leaders to take loops and backing tracks and custom create the worship service they need. Consider it digital musicians. Your church worship can have:
Acoustic It looks pretty easy to use. A church in Pennsylvania describes their experience as:
We went from one guitar and one keyboard, to the sound of a full band; from the energy of a few people in the congregation singing quietly, to a room full of people singing with all their hearts.
To better understand how it all works, watch the video on Interactive Worship Live’s homepage.
Design by Bombay Creative.
