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.