Advent Series Scripts

Below are the scripts we used for shooting our Advent series. I will try to post the videos later one but enjoy.

Advent - Christ Candle

On the Eve of our Christmas Celebration, the birth of our Savior, we light all of the candles in our Advent wreath. Each week another candle glowed, and our wreath shone more brightly.

First we light the candle for HOPE because Jesus is our hope.

Second, we light the candle for PEACE because Jesus is our hope and peace.

Third, we light the candle for JOY because Jesus brings joy.

Fourth, we light the candle for LOVE because Jesus is love.

Finally we light the center candle. This is the CHRIST candle. Jesus is born. Salvation is here. The time of waiting is over; our Savior is born.

Isaiah spoke of this hope when he wrote: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. And He will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!' He will bring justice for the poor, and defend the rights of the helpless.

Now we light the Christ candle to remind us that all of God's gifts - Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love - are to be found in God's greatest gift, His Son, Jesus Christ.

Advent - Candle of Love

Today we relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath -- the candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY. Now we light the fourth candle of Advent. This is the candle of LOVE.

Advent is a time for kindness, thinking of others, and sharing with others. It is a time to love as God loved us. The bible says that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

Jesus shows us God's perfect love. As God is love, let us also be love. Love is like a light shining in a dark place. As we look at this candle we celebrate the love we find in Jesus Christ.

From the Gospel of John we hear: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Love never ends.

We light the candle of love to remind us that Jesus brings us God's love and shows us how to love others.

Advent - Candle of Joy

We have lit the first two candles, one for hope and one for peace. Today we light the third candle, the candle of joy. As the coming of Jesus, our Savior, draws nearer, our joy builds with our anticipation of his birth and His future return. 

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angels brought good news of a great joy, which shall be to all people.The good news of Jesus' birth is still tidings of great joy for us today.

The Christmas season is one of Joy. But in the midst of gifts, lights, and celebration we can easily forget the source of our Joy, the Joy that Isaiah prophesied when he said:

But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

And because God revealed His salvation through Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, we look forward with joy to that day when our faith shall be sight, that time when we will gaze upon His face, the One who saved us by His grace.

We light this candle to remind us of the Joy we have in our Savior.

Advent - Candle of Peace

Last Sunday, we lit the first candle in our Advent wreath, the candle of hope. Let us light it again, remembering that the light of hope shines for us in the darkness.

Peace. It is a word we hear a lot right now. Peace is one of God's gifts to us. John the Baptist was a prophet calling the people of Israel to repent, to find peace with God. John also declared that it is in our actions of love and justice that God's peace is shown.

May we by our actions help to prepare the way for the coming of Peace that Isaiah talked about: "For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

We light the candle of peace to remind us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and that through him peace is found.

Advent - Candle of Hope

Advent marks the start of the Christmas season, a season that celebrates the birth of our Savior. The word advent is derived from the Latin word meaning “the coming.” It is in the coming of the child Christ and the returning of our risen King that gives us hope for a brighter tomorrow. The Prophet Isaiah reminds us of this when he writes:

The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, But God rises on you, and His sunrise glory breaks over you. Nations will come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness.

We live in a dark time, a tough economic situation where people are losing hope and losing faith. But it is God’s radiant light that shines in these dark places and gives us hope where there once was no hope.

We light this candle as a reminder of the hope we have in the coming King.

Unconventional Dinner Theater

This November the Creative Arts Department at Grace Church is putting on a dinner theater. But here is the catch - the dinner is not for you. You will be fed but it will be more of a coffee house setting in order to put all our efforts into providing dinner for 200 families in out community. So here is how it is going to work. When you purchase a ticket for $5 you will be given a reusable shopping bag and a shopping list of non-perishable items. The night of the performance you bring your ticket and your bag of groceries to gain admission to the event. The whole of the $5 will go to providing the meat of the dinner for these families. There will also be a wonderful visual of hundreds of reusable shopping bags filled with food to feed needy families. We have had generous donations from Publix, Wal-Mart, JJ's Barbecue and more to come to help make this evening and goal possible. Let's face it there are needy and hungry people that need to be shown the love of God. I mean a lot of us are blessed and have more than we really need. It seems that during this time of family and thanksgiving we should use our resources to share with those in need (personally I believe it needs to be more than just at a certain time of year or when the end of the taxable season is ending and we need those write-offs - we are called to feed the hungry and give drink to those who thirst - lets pull together and help). Of Course there are many other ways to help if you can't make the either of the performances - donate money, food from the shopping list, desserts for the events, and many other ways; have your small group also gather a bag or two and donate it or bake desserts to share. We had no idea when we first planned this event that it would end up looking anything like this but we are so excited to see how God can move through a little event like a dinner theater. The biggest thing you can do is to pray for the evening and everything leading up to it - we still are unsure of how some details will work out but God does.

Tickets go on sale November 1 - 15 and are $5 in advance, $15 at the door

Performances are Friday November 20 @ 7:00PM and Saturday November 21 @ 7:00PM

My Story | Hunter

This film was born out of a conversation between Derek Hunter (the main character in the film) and myself. We wanted to start to film personal testimonies of the members of our church in order to archive them for our church’s history and to share them with our congregation and others. What we came up with was a stylized film aimed to convey the story not only through the person telling it but through the filming, framing, and music as well. As a trial we started with his testimony. I had him write it down to help him develop it and to help choose the best way to film it. After reading through it we decided that given the content we would film it in an isolated minimalistic approach. Only being able to see the main character with no background would help isolate the audience’s attention the way the main character was describing his own personal feelings. The harsh lighting was intended to give that same feeling.

As the music was being composed, we felt the same need to space it out and keep it minimal. We went through about 4 different drumbeats till we stuck with the ones we have, minimalistic yet driving toward some point. The keys and guitar were meant to do the same thing. We settled on a key and chord progression that felt melancholic yet hopeful which is what we felt when we watched the testimony. From the first take till the last edit there was this sense that every part of this film should reflect the story as best as it could.

What You See and What You Get

Have you ever ordered something off of one of those home shopping channels only to find that the product didn't live up to the hype? As a kid I remember saving box tops to send in for "great" and "wonderful" items that always showed up and deflated my excitement like a day old birthday balloon. Since the advent of advertising people have become accustom to the letdown that comes from the product that had so much promise before purchase.

Take a look at the Big Macs above. On the left is the advertised product while beside it is what you actually get. There are special food paints and products manufactured specifically to dress up the advertised product while very little time, care, and effort are put into the product that millions of people actually receive. My guess is that food ads are as doctored as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Think about that. The Big Mac is treated like a rock star at photo shoots with special lights, make-up, dressers, and more. Plus there are people dedicating time to "enhance" the photos (I can just imagine someone making sure the burger didn't look too thick or thin, enhanced the sesame seeds to sparkle and draw the eyes in). But no where close to half that much effort is put into the substance of what actually matters.

I can't help but draw a comparison to the church today. We spend so much time doctoring up what we are trying to feed people with that we forget about the actual substance behind it. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoy thoughtfully planned and executed production. I enjoy the lights, the slick designs, the professional music. And lets face it there is nothing we can do to doctor up the message that would outdo the actual message. Please don't confuse the analogy above, i am not stating that the saving grace of God is in any way inferior to anything. It is just that we put so much time and effort into preparing it in ways to be "seeker sensitive" to not offend people new in our churches that we forget how powerful the Holy Spirit actually is. The problem is we think people expect slick and professional and grand. And why wouldn't we think at that look at our culture. Look at the two Big Macs above. But didn't the Jewish people of the Old Testament expect the same thing. They were looking for this grand King to come in and lead with grandeur, gold, glitz, and authority. But what they really got was something way better than they could have ever imagined in a lowly servant.

We can dress church up all we want to make it as appealing as possible to as many people as possible but we need to remember the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. God works in spite of humanity's attempt to make God work. Amidst the lights and sound systems we need to remember to step aside and think about what we are really sharing not what we are doing to try and make it more appealing.

Creativity and Imagination

I have recently started reading The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani (so far I highly recommend this book). And that book has sparked these thoughts. I have been deeply involved in the Church and Culture discussion throughout college and my professional career inside the church. This is a discussion that needs to happen and continue. Should culture be levied in order to teach the world about God's love and Grace? Should we remain separate from culture completely? There are no easy answers to these questions and if you can simply choose one and dismiss the other then you need to re-examine yourself.

We have probably all seen the Christian knock offs of Cultural Icons - Have you driven the Lord Lately? Jesus, That's my final answer - and while these products are created with the best intentions and serve as uplifting and motivational for a % of Christians they end up presenting the Christian faith in the same light as the "Rolex" watch you haggle for on the streets of New York (which in my opinion is one of the best parts of New York - there is nothing more fun than haggling for worthless junk).

We have all also probably seen Christianity and Culture in a warm embrace and presented in a way that worked for you. I know a number of larger churches that present the relationship between Christianity and Culture in a professional and polished way that is effective to both the seeker and the seasoned at the same time. The best sound equipment, coolest graphics, hollywood quality video productions, and more all to further the kingdom of God.

Skye writes "The emergence of a Christian subculture that parallels the secular culture in every way reveals the captivity of our imagination. And George Barna writes "American Christianity has largely failed since the middle of the twentieth century because Jesus' modern-day disciples do not act like Jesus." How is this so?

As Christians, we are very creative, but not so imaginative. What does that mean? We have so much creative talent that is being wasted by recycling the cultural imagery but we can't imagine anything outside that box. We serve a creative God, we create because we were created. We have intimate access to the greatest story in Human history - Creation, Fall, Redemption, ReCreation. We are created in the image of a God with the capacity to imagine everything that exists around us and yet we neglect our imagination in order to create what people are all ready consuming. That my friend presents a problem.

There is no right or wrong answer (as far as i can see) as whether or not to levy culture in order to share God's Love. That being said, let's not neglect our imaginations. The greatest story ever told doesn't exist from storytellers who don't know it.

Concepts Concepts Concepts - 6 Week Campaign

In a few short weeks we will be starting our latest Church-wide campaign. But this time we are not calling it a campaign or treating it like the 40 day campaigns we have participated it and produced in the past. After completing last years campaign we did some internal searching and questioning of staff and volunteers. We found that our volunteers and leaders felt burnt out - enjoyed the great campaigns but burnt out. There is just a lot involved from research, design, music, graphics, sermons, small groups, and more and to make it all seamlessly work together takes a large amount of willing people.

Another thing we discovered is that we pushed small groups but yet scheduled church-wide events to take place when most small groups would meet. Impeding on a regular meeting schedule proved harmful to the success of new small groups that formed. So this time around we are going basic. The staff is still putting a ton of time and energy into planning and execution but doing our best to use a minimal amounts of volunteers and leaders.

This campaign is focusing on Spiritual Disciplines as Modeled by Christ. If we are really seeking spiritual discipline, then where better to look than the man whom led a perfect life and whom we base our entire religion around. Christ as a model for our spiritual life....hmmm sounds like a pretty solid idea.

I'll post more about this campaign at later dates but we have some amazing and creative ideas planned so far and I can't wait to see how this plays out. I know this is not a new idea but it is new to us given our space and facilities, but we are attempting physical props and stage design that reflect the series we are planning. Humans are very visual and being so we associate things better with visual stimulation. Our goal is to provide something not distracting but memorable that will help someone engage with and remember the messages from the series.

Above you see what, as of now, is a design concept for our campaign. We want to build an 8 foot replica of this directional sign where each week we put the sermon title on one of the directional arrows. Hope it works and keep tuning in for updates and pictures from this adventure. Share you ideas with us as well - the more people apart of the conversations, the more ideas that come to fruition.

Finally Started Reading Again

So its been almost 2 months since I graduated from Belmont. My time there was great and treasured but as the time passed I watched as the list of books I wanted to read grow as the list of books I had to read seem to never get smaller. And even though some of the books ended up on both lists, the must read list made it hard to want to read those particular books. It's nice to slowly work through a book on your own pace rather than reading at the same pace a Usain Bolt runs. I was so burnt out from the pace of academia that I took time off before even looking at the want to read list.

I am happy to say that I have finally started reading books that I want to read and at my own pace. I have started 3 books thus far. Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Pop Goes The Church, and Beyond Doubt: Faith Building Devotions on Questions Christians Ask. I am not very far as I am slowly reading (and it feels so good) but want to recommend these books so far.

Just a short post to keep you updated.

Super Imposing

This was last weeks installment of our morning announcements, Derek and Derek in the Morning. If you check out previous posts you will find the Derek and Derek Debate which was one of my favorite installments we have produced thus far. Well here is probably my second favorite. Our Youth Minister (Derek) was away at camp this past week. We normally just have a guest host fill in for the missing Derek when this type of thing happens. This week we had an idea that we wanted to try but weren't sure if it would work. Superimpose our Connecting Pastor (Derek) interacting with himself.

In theory this would be easy - in reality we were not set up to really make this happen. All I ended up doing was setting the camera on a tripod for a steady shot and marking lines that Derek couldn't cross. I stood on his marks and ran through lines with him so he would know where to look so it looked as natural as possible. During the takes I read the opposite lines for timing.

After importing the footage, all I did was use half of one shot and half of another and did a little color correction and touch up work to make it look smooth and natural. Honestly I think I found it funnier than most others but if we can't make ourselves laugh then what's the point.

Schools out for Summer

Well for me, school is out forever; or until i am led to go on for further education. It is safe to say however, that it won't be for a while. Four years as a full time student who decided to double major while effectively working a full time job or two to three part time jobs at one time, getting married and building a house all at the same time has left me pretty burnt out and weary (to say the least). But i graduated with honors from Belmont University and am beyond excited and thrilled with my experience. I took four years after graduating High School to decide to pursue higher education. I have always believed that education without direction is wasted just the same as direction without education. So i found my direction and had one foot in the academic world and one foot in the working world. I wouldn't trade that specific experience for anything as idealistic nathan and practical nathan often fought. Well graduation passed and now (after a few weeks of effectively doing nothing but relax) i find myself with both feet in the working world recalling the academic. It's the meshing of the two that has become the challenge now.

Musing on a Glass of Water

The optimist sees a glass half full.

The pessimist sees a glass half empty.

The cynic sees a glass with dirty water.

The realist wonders if you poured into the glass or out of the glass.

The philosopher would ponder if there really is a glass with anything in it.

The scientist sees a 500ml glass with 250ml of liquid.

The physicist would say that the volume of this cylinder is divided into two equal parts; one a colorless, odorless liquid, the other a colorless, odorless gas. Thus the cylinder is neither full nor empty. Rather, each half of the cylinder is full, one with a gas, one with a liquid.

The seasoned drinker would say that the glass doesn't have enough ice in it.

The plumber checks for a leak.

The engineer sees a glass that is twice as big as it needs to be.

The banker would say that the glass has just under 50% of its net worth in liquid assets.

The agnostic doesn’t seem to care either way.

The Christian sees a lack of joy.

People only see what they are prepared to see. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Film and Worship

There has been a lack of activity recently, i know. I have been spending much time as of late working on my thesis for school. This has led to a number of sleepless nights and piles of books strewn across my home office floor. So here is a quick look into my world as of the past few months. My thesis is exploring the idea of "Short Film as a New Medium for Worship." There has been a recent trend of short films/videos being created and produced specifically for the Church. These films act within the worship service as part of the worship in the same way that visual art has done through history. Broadly worship encompasses any number of actions, services, sacrifices, or more so i had to specifically focus on the worship/liturgy of the church. More specifically I focused on the happenings between the beginning of and end of service. This includes - but is not limited to - music, sermon, offering, greeting, prayer, and doxology.

This emerging phenomenon works in conjunction with and in place of certain elements of the worship service. Rob Bell's Nooma series acts within the Short Film as Teaching category i have devised for the purposes of my thesis. Other categories i have created to help develop a working framework are Short Film as Testimony or Story (i.e. Erwin McManus' "Crave" and "Wide Awake") and Short Film as Illustration (more colloquially sermon support - see SermonSpice.com, wiredchurches.com, and others). The other side of my thesis work will be creating three short films to help illustrate my thesis' theological critique and reflection of this emerging discipline. Those i will share later as i finish them over time.

One interesting insight that, along with my thesis committee, i have come across is this idea of Film working in a similar fashion to the storied stained glass windows. Historically, stained glass windows have been more than just decoration, telling biblical stories, carrying theological ideas through a series, and creating a sacred space. What is film other than colored frames that tell a story as light passes through them. The story and theology is dependent on the creator. And as part of the modern advent of this trend, film has helped shaped our new sacred spaces. In a sense film in the church is acting as the new stained glass windows for a new generation.

Let me know what you think.