I can’t wait until I can use a few of these.

Next week I get the honor and pleasure of being a part of Seminars4Worship held at the MET in Houston, TX, put on by Integrity.  

Stephen Proctor asked me help teach the “Worship Space” breakout lab, as well as VJ during the worship.  Very cool!  Sharing and teaching this stuff is one of my favorite things to do.  It’s just such a blessing to be able to talk with church leaders that are looking to do this kind of ‘visual worship’.  I’ll also get to use the new Mac for VJ-ing and environmental projection.  It’s going to be a great time of connecting, worshiping, and learning.

If you are going to be there, please stop by and say hi!  If not, go register!  Hope to see you there…

Oh, and my new toy came in today…the one on the right:

I got bored again…

I need to find a flatter house though; anyone want to volunteer?

I have some more thoughts and questions regarding tech during worship/in the Church:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the main reason for choosing to do IMAG (live video of people on large screens) is the room size…if you have a large room, you want IMAG to bring the congregation closer to the people on stage.   So it’s a mostly a logistical element, just as lyrics to songs on a screen are.  They both help people connect and follow along.

But, you also see IMAG being used as an artistic element during worship.  (Maybe a silhouette of a band member).  You could say that’s similar to a motion loop background.  Nothing really thematic, just a pretty backdrop for words.  That’s fine; but, I would say that’s one expensive background.  But, I would say the MAIN reason for IMAG is logistical.

Does the size of our worship spaces dictate what we do during corporate worship?  Why?

What if we didn’t build worship spaces so big?

Also…just like doing all the same lyrics to every song all the time can become routine and, I think, cause people to simply just FOLLOW the words on the screen instead really KNOW them in their heart, (I’ve caught myself doing that) can IMAG become something we just DO because we have forgotten the WHY?

Is a congregant’s (whose seat is furthest away from stage) worship to the Lord HARDER and LESS meaningful/impactful/real…if they were in, for example, an arena where the worship ‘band’ ISN’T on screen via IMAG?  That takes us to the question; does seeing the worship pastor’s face help connect us with God…?

But what does “connecting with the worship leader” on stage even mean?  Are they talking about connecting with the person themselves? Or the story the worship leader is telling through song?

What effect does it have whether or not each person in the congregation has had positive personal interaction with the speaker/worship leader?

Does someone “connect” differently than the person next to them based on their learning style– visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic?

My home church community is using 25 year old video gear (*Gasp*) to put the senior pastor on the screens during the message.    It’s served us in what we do for 5+ years.   (We distribute the message in-house to people who want it; as well as upload to the web and mail out to people who request it.)  In fact; I think it’s over-kill.  We could use gear from Fry’s to accomplish our purpose.  A lot of churches do.  I applaud them.  As long as what they do with it doesn’t take away.  That’s the key here, remember?

Ok so, what about being “impactful” and “relevant to culture“ in regards to technology?

Is going full HD really what that means?  Is having 4-point lighting on the guitar solo and putting it on IMAG really what that means?  Is having a huge line-array really what that means? Or is it something completely non-technological. 

Maybe all the technology we use is just a mask to LOOK like the culture on the outside, and so we attract people into our church, but then don’t know how to disciple them, or worship without that mask.

The mask never really comes off because we are constantly trying to attract more people in with our sound, lights, and video.

We (churches) say we want to be modern and “not your traditional church“, and so we use technology to do that.  Which is fine; but do we step back enough to see if it’s too much?  Do we forget there is a balance? 

And what does “traditional church” even mean anymore anyway?  Maybe a traditional church is now one that uses sound, lights and video just because everyone else does.  They never ask themselves WHY they do it…

We are all telling the story and giving love.  We are all using mediums to tell the story and to give that love.  When we are more concerned about “doing” the MEDIUMS perfect/with excellence/AT ALL, we have missed the point.

Instead of trying to spend more and match culture, why can’t the Church show the world how to be resourceful and innovative by using LESS to tell MORE? 

Oh…right…because we would all be out of a job. 

I also got to travel to Missouri this weekend and to spend time with some GREAT people at Living Word Church.  Here’s a rough panorama of how their environmental projection will look.  Very cool!  We also found a place in the tech booth where all three projectors could hang, secure and easy to get to.  I’m excited to see how this church uses it!

I finally got a chance to meet up with Stephen Proctor of gi*inc in Nashville this weekend; and also got to meet a couple of other talented VJ/Media guys; Luke McElroy  (who owns Orange Thread Media) and Brandon Horner, motion graphic creator & VJ.

We headed out to the famous Pancake Pantry, where the line to get in wrapped around the building.  Great stuff!

It was an encouraging and insipiring time to discuss ideas and share thoughts on what’s going on in the Church in regards to visual worship.  Exciting things are happening!

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about image magnification (IMAG) during worship, and why some church communities do it and others don’t.  I want to ask some questions to the church communities that do put the worship leader/band on large screens during worship.  My home church does not do IMAG during worship, and so I know why church communities don’t do it.

When I’m out with a church, I always ask if they do IMAG during worship.  Most don’t, but when the occasional church says “YES“, I ask why…

Usually the response is “So the congregation can connect with the worship leader.”  I leave it at that. 

Now, I know there are gigantic rooms that “need IMAG”, so they say.  But, during worship, aren’t we supposed to be connecting with God and not necessarily the worship pastor?  Yes, he/she is there to guide us (through song/scripture/liturgy) to the Lord, but do I really need to see their face 12 feet tall in order to do that? 

I’ve visited a particular church in the area several times, where they have gorgeous, bright HD projectors and an entire HD system to back it up.  Looks fantastic…almost too fantastic.  It was hard for me to look away from the screens.  I wondered what the service would have been like to not have the band on screen the entire time.  Sometimes the most powerful moments have been when things are turned off.

What, people weren’t able to worship and connect with others in a room before 1987?  Is putting the guitar solo on screen REALLY that more effective?  Or is it cheesy…

Sure, some churches broadcast and pipe the video to other rooms and locations; that’s cool.  But I’m talking about the churches that don’t do any of that, and seem to do IMAG just to do IMAG.  That’s just weird to me.  Whatever you do, I think there is a balance that needs to be obtained between when to do IMAG, and when not.  Hopefully, it’s more often not.

Talk to me.  I’m not saying one is right and one is wrong; diversity is great, but I’m curious here…

Why do people feel like they have to have IMAG during all of worship? 

Another great weekend for Planet Wisdom; more pics here!