Something I’ve noticed lately, but don’t quite understand, is when a pastor of a church (or anyone who has some say in a worship gathering) says to the tech team: “I don’t want the house lights down at all.”   or “This is the lowest I want to go” (House lights being at 100%)  Now, there are MANY reasons for someone saying this.  There could be a point they are trying to make during the message, it’s too dark in the room for safety reasons…etc. Not talking about that.  I’m talking about when the pastor basically says for the house/room/stage lights to never change.

I’m wrestling with a couple of things:

1) Should the pastor not be trusting of him team to make the appropriate choice on where the lighting levels should be according to the worship element?  (Of course this assumes the right people are at the helm)

2) Does dark not point out the light?

Just like in Environmental Projection usage, you have to have balance in your lighting choices as well.  The sunshine is glorious, but if it were sunshine 100% of the time, we would probably forget about it.  Sometimes it takes a cloudy day to remind us how inviting the sunshine is.

I think most of you know my passion for lighting and how I believe color can be the most simple and foundational lighting element.  I’m adding intensity alongside of color, and for this example I’m going to refer to house lighting levels.

I had a worship pastor say to me “Well I don’t want to walk into a dark room.”  I replied “Well I agree, it can be scary and uninviting; but sometimes the worship calls for that.”  There might be times when you WANT the congregation to be in a dark room; it can communicate reverence and time alone with God. Again, I’m not talking about the house lights being at 0% where people are falling and tripping.  A “dark room” is very relative, so be safe.  (And some rooms can’t go darker than what is outside due to windows! Which is cool; but not what I’m talking about either)

Another pastor told me once “I want them to be able to see each other.”  I understand that personality, and agree that some people want and need that, but that’s not fitting towards mine – I really would rather other people NOT see me.  It’s not about them, or me, anyway.   I think we all agree that we can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time in a gathering, but couldn’t we at least try to allow for different environments for different types of people?

Most churches I’ve seen start off their service with louder faster songs of celebration and then transition to quieter slower songs right before the message, probably followed by even deeper worship songs after the message for a time of reflection.  (While there are many ways to order a corporate gathering, this is the most common I’ve seen)  I see a lot of churches do visual media well in this example: the motion backgrounds stop, the colors get more subtle, and the lights get turned down.  To me, this works, but I just had a thought!

If we are to look at the Gospel in the most basic form, it shows darkness to light.  We were in darkness, with sin, broken and alone.  Then Christ came and brought us hope, light, and salvation.  What a powerfully simple image!  What if we started our corporate worship gatherings in darkness and silence, then over the course of the time, we transitioned to bright light and joyful songs and we departed with the reminder that we always have hope no matter how dark it might seem.  I’ve been a part of a couple of service where this has happened – and it’s powerful…

So if you’re stuck with that fader at 100%, try turning on the darkness.

Here are some recent churches around the country that we have helped with Environmental Projection – it’s such a blessing to be able to share this with local churches, and encourage them in new ways to express worship visually.

Summer camps are always fun to do lighting and projection for – they are always a little more free on what I do and I can get a little crazy. Just wanted to highlight this year’s journey!

Check out what Vicky Beeching wrote on her blog.  I’ve been thinking a lot about this too, but saw this and thought it was a great opening topic of discussion.  This is literally copied and pasted; but check out all the comments HERE.

“Worship” is such a time-worn and easy term to describing the act of singing to God. But it’s also quite misleading, and maybe not the best choice.

Among the community I live in, both at home and on the road, we often use “worship” to refer to the time we spend singing songs corporately to God in church. But many of us are realizing the dangers of calling it this, as it implies that the other things we do when we gather corporately are not “worship” in the same way that singing is. Worse still, it implies that when we are not singing, we are not worshiping. This is clearly not in line with Scriptures like Romans 12:1 which states that our whole lives are to be offerings of worship!

We also use the phrase “worship leader” a lot. This title is useful as it’s been used so much that we instantly know what is being refered to. But it is also misleading and theologically unhelpful.

It implies that the only person leading any form of “worship” is one person standing up the front. Some church traditions use this term to refer to the lead/senior pastor or preacher, as they are presiding over the “worship” of the corporate gathering. This seems unhelpful as again it pigeon-holes “worship” as something that is led by a certain person, and thus cannot happen unless we are in a room with that person; nullifying our ability to worship alone outside of that context.

Other church traditions – mine included- use “worship leader” to refer to the person who leads the musical and sung portion of the gathering. This also seems unhelpful, as it implies again that singing is the main or only form of “worship” in our spirituality, and also that we need someone at the front to enable this “worship” to take place.

The problem is, if we don’t use these time-worn titles (which are useful because they are widely understood), what do we use? I’m doing some study at the moment on possible alternatives, as I believe that as well as us using words, words use us. So words can actually colour our view of things. So it’s crucial that we choose the right words, to correctly represent our spirituality and theology.

Any ideas? What do you think good alternatives to “worship” and “worship leader” might be?  Perhaps “sung worship” and “song leader”? Other suggestions?

Excited to hear your thoughts in the comment section,

Vicky

Next Monday, May 31, I will be teaching a workshop at the Apple Store on ProPresenter and ProVideoPlayer! If you’re in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and would like to learn more about Renewed Vision’s products, I encourage you to come!

We will be covering ProPresenter4’s extensive list of features; and show you how easy it is to create dynamic presentations with text and media, along with 2 and 3 screen capability. In ProVideoPlayer, we will show you how it can be used to create dynamic video staging along with its use for Environmental Projection.

Now, just a reminder – this is for those who are looking at ProPresenter or ProVideoPlayer for the first time, or just started to use it.

Monday, May 31 – 7pm to Close

Apple Store Stonebriar Center

To find out more, please visit the Stonebriar Center’s store website; under “Schedule of Workshops and Events”.

I know it’s a little off-topic (well not really…more later), but I wanted to share my heart on Compassion International; and one of the children I sponsor.  Compassion is around a lot of the events I’m involved with, so I naturally was curious about the organization a few years ago.  I can honestly tell you it’s an amazing blessing to be a part of what they are doing; and they are 100% legit.

My little guy lives in Brazil and is named Jonas, and I chose his specifically for a few reasons:

1 – he and I share the same birthday

2 – he likes cars

3 – he is visually impaired

Wow.

When I saw that he was visually impaired, he grabbed me. It reminded me realize how truly blessed I am, especially doing what I do and loving it.  I sometimes take for granted my eyesight; but what a gift it truly is. I’m so thankful for that; so I encourage you to thank God for something you might take for granted in your life, no matter how small.

And while you’re at it; go sponsor a child.   It’s fun to get letters from them about what their favorite color is.  I would tell them my favorite color; but I don’t think they would understand Rosco gel numbers.

I’ve got a few minutes downtime; and just wanted to highlight one of my favorite shows to light so far.  Faith Christian School in Grapevine, TX put on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last week, and it’s just been a non-stop ride for the last month.  (Same school that did Seussical last year.)

We did it in the 100′x100′ open room; rigged a bunch of lighting and audio – 24 VL2500, 6 Cyberlight turbos, 8 Design Washes; 80 LED fixtures; 90 or so ETC Pars.  The show was in the round with multi-level staging.  Pretty awesome for a high school!

My former youth pastor, Scott Werntz directed the show again; which wasn’t complete without a live camel.  The cast and crew of around 300 did FANTASTIC!  I’m proud to have been able to do this for them. It really IS all about relationships; and the ones I have with the people at that school make this one of my favorite events ever.

One special highlight for me was being to fabricate my LED light-up coat I’ve always wanted to build for this show.  With the help of Meg Hinkley (costume designer) and Brian Barth (Solder rock star) I was able to get it done!  Remote controlled; battery-operated; and just AWESOME.  Check out the ending sequence below for the result.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – LED Coat from Camron Ware on Vimeo.

Next Monday, April 19th, I will be teaching a workshop at the Apple Store on ProPresenter and ProVideoPlayer!  If you’re in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and would like to learn more about Renewed Vision’s products, I encourage you to come!

My friend Brian Certain / @certaintx (Creative Director of Digital Worship at First Methodist Mansfield) will be there to help with the session, and both of us will be available at the end to answer any questions and connect with you.

We will be covering ProPresenter4’s extensive list of features; and show you how easy it is to create dynamic presentations with text and media, along with 2 and 3 screen capability. In ProVideoPlayer, we will show you how it can be used to create dynamic video staging along with its use for Environmental Projection.

Monday, April 19th – 7pm to Close

Apple Store University Park Village (Fort Worth Texas)

To find out more, please visit the University Park Village Store’s website; under “Schedule of Workshops and Events”.

I wanted to announce on here something that has been a dream for a while for some of us.  A portable external hard drive that’s loaded with visual worship media content!

I could lay out all the details on here, but it makes sense for you to just go to the site.

Check it out here: The Playback Drive

This project is a collaboration between Orange Thread Media, worshipVJ and Visual Worshiper. Those are our business names and brands, but most of you know us by our real names…Luke McElroy, Camron Ware, Nicholas Rivero, Nate Griffin, Jason Norris & Stephen Proctor.

I hope this is a blessing to you and may it help get you started in the world of visual worship media.

Wow.  It’s been 3 months.  It has literally been every day, all day since then.  Visual Worshiper is going strong!

A few topics I have brewing; once the currents projects wrap up:

Hong Kong and Thailand Re-cap

Southern Baptist of Texas Convention Conference – Cool Environmental Projection setup.

More examples of Environmental Projection; including the month-long design+install at Mission Community Church in Phoenix.

Compassion International

Matrox TripleHead2Go – using TWO to create even more displays.