Part of the Glue

For as long as I have been on staff at Sugar Creek there has been a love/hate relationship with part of my job.  That part being…. creating video announcements.  Sometimes we have made it fun and been real creative and other times it has been reduced to a series of slides with a voice over and a soundtrack.  We have always wondered how effective announcements really are and to be honest I always dread when our pastor says take a look at these video announcements.  Well recently there have been people that have left our church to attend a church that is “doing something.”   We realized this was a problem because we are doing a ton and doing a bad job at informing the church of what we are actually doing.    All that being said we decided to replace the two minutes worth of video announcements with stories.  As of right now the plan is to tell life-change stories every other week and in conjunction with that every other week we will either promote or recap an event through stories as well.  I’m really excited about this new direction and look forward to posting some of the stories on this blog.

Recently for our student ministry we decided to create a series of instructional videos using that 50′s look.  These videos are meant to help students in their approach to studying God’s Word.  Below is the first one we shot.

Recently our church partnered with area churches in Houston to participate in the listening to the New Testament in 40 days.  Faith Comes By Hearing is an organization dedicated to helping spread God’s word through audio format.  I’ll admit I was skeptical at first to this whole concept, however after loading the new testament on my iphone it has been something that has really drawn me closer to God and his Word.  I think we can get stuck in a rut when it comes to reading the bible and listening to God’s word really is refreshing.  Check out this video we made to highlight some stories from people in our church.  This was a fun project that really takes a tv-commerical approach to telling these stories.

I have long been conflicted in what I believe about Christian Films.  As a Christian and as a filmmaker and as a someone who works in the church I have long been conflicted on this subject. Now I won’t get into the sacred-secular debate for time sake, so for this instance we will label “Christian Films” as those film that have a clear message and might be sold in a Christian bookstore.  For the sake of argument I am not going to suggest that these “Christian films” are more powerful than say “subtle Christian films” like X-Men which is a film that has very powerful Christian underpinnings…..however I am going to talk specifically about “Christian Films” in this post.

Most “Christian Films” are often looked at as second-rate films.  We compare them to “The Dark Knight” or a movie up for the Oscars and so we think of them as inferior.  Over the last 5-7 years there has been a surge in the increase of “Christian Films” that have drastically improved in their quality.  Still these films are going to fall short when they are compared with movies that have multi-million dollar budgets. Recently the movie Fireproof came out and I had the chance to see it at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.  To be honest I enjoyed the movie but as a filmmaker I did not think it was incredible.  The acting was not that great and parts of the movie seemed very second-rate compared to big blockbusters out there.  While at the SAICFF I got the chance to hear Stephen Kendrick talk about how many marriages had been saved through this film and the movement they have started.   Hearing stories like these I think it is time we stop criticizing films for not being “Oscar worthy” and start seeing them as “God worthy.” I mean if a film can inspire a couple to save their marriage…that is a film worth praising and so in instances like this the message gets through the bad acting and the broken script. I am not arguing that we cease to pursue excellence I am arguing that we start praising what God might be praising and start looking through the lens of what is God honoring not so much as what is film worthy.  Yes I believe excellence matters but I also believe that God can work and move through movies that might not ever reach “excellence.”

Recently I have been doing a lot or re-thinking and reading about discipleship.  Last month I read organic disciplemaking which I thoroughly enjoyed how it spoke about discipleship as a highly creative process. Most recently I finished transforming discipleship which includes a triad model that I believe is revolutionary to say the least.  Both books I highly recommend and really got me thinking to ask some really difficult questions. When it comes to discipleship as a fundamentally relational process are some Christians exempt? I say this not to be sarcastic or point fingers but to deal with a question I have been thinking about a lot.

When I was in high school I had the opportunity to run sound and really head up all the technical needs on a volunteer basis for our youth ministry.  I felt that God was really using me to further His kingdom and I still believe He was during that time.  Looking back I knew I was hungry to disciple others but didn’t know how and so I saw myself as exempt from discipleship.   I thought I was exempt because I was doing my part by running sound and putting lots of hours in without ever getting paid.  I thought Discipleship was for the adults who were in their forties still unsure what that word really meant back then.  Later in college I discovered the power that meaningful personal relationships can play in discipling (helping others mature in Christ) others by investing not only the word of God but my life as well (1 thess 2:8). 

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Matthew 28:19

This is our commission to go and make disciples…. we can’t ignore this.  What the commission does not say is go and work in a church or go and serve in some capacity in the church.  Yet this seems to be what happens from my observation.  If I work at a church or if I serve or volunteer (choir, tech ministry, usher etc…) than I have done my duty and therefore I am exempt from discipleship.  In an attempt to meet needs the church has often become an organization of specialization.  If you teach we can help you teach God’s word.  If you sing….come and sing in the choir.  Oh and if you can disciple people we can help you to do that too. Discipleship has become a specialization just like singing in the choir or working in the arts ministry.

I realize this may be offensive and yet the gospel is offensive and so is the great commission.  If we are to think that we are exempt because we just aren’t good at it or are better at something else in the church we are sorely mistaken.  I am not arguing that every person in the church lead a bible study.  Neither am I arguing that serving in the church is not important because it is very important in my opinion. What I am stressing is the need for the church to take discipleship seriously and call its people to invest in a few each year.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Over the last several months I have been trying to build our media team at my church. One area that I have encountered is the area of training.  Very few volunteers unless they do it professionally will be able to do a project start to finish without any help due to the nature of film/video and the nature of it. Because of the difficulty involved in training media volunteers I have developed several steps to train.

step 1. assess each volunteer individually
Do they have any experience or examples? Watch previous videos and offer critiques. Depending on their level of experience you might jump steps.

step 2. provide opportunities to practice
Give them a non-threatening assignment that can be just for fun.  This will help them to develop their eye and get a better grasp at how to use the camera.

step 3. accompany during shoots and assist
Schedule several shoots where you know your volunteers are available and can make the shoots. Have them help carry stuff, hold a boom or focus the camera.

step 4. determine their specific interest
Do they like motion graphics, editing, camera operating, interviewing, lighting, the whole thing???
Determining their specific need will help you to excel instead of forcing them to learn 3d animation.

step 5. help them do one project
Once your volunteers can get one project under their belt the process will be uphill from there if they feel they have the hang of it

When it comes to the world of media and the church, recruiting volunteers can be a tad tricky.  One hindrance to finding volunteers is that most people don’t see media as a typical place to serve.  Often times creative media types may already be serving in the children’s ministry or some other part of the church and simply don’t acknowldege the real validity to serving in a non-traditional role. Another hindrance is the skill sometimes required is very high.   Because motion graphics and video editing can be fairly difficult you can’t necessarily have anyone and everyone off the street helping with an after effects intro. Recently with the launch of our new website I was able to post an online group as well as a posting in the news section.   From these subtle advertisements I have already received numerous interests from people that have a desire to use their skills for the church.  Before the website we really had no great vehicle of recruitment so having an online connection point is crucial in my opinion. The truth is people love to use their skills and abilities to furthur God’s kingdom, its up to us to create a path for them to be able to.

Movies are part of our culture.  We are a culture that consumes a lot of them.  We download, rent and show up at the theaters to experience what is often times missing in our lives (adventure). As a filmmaker I love movies for lots of reasons but I especially love movies that matter.  I love movies that cause me to think, feel, cry or wonder about something that I have never thought to consider.  As a filmmaker and as a youth leader (someone who disciples teenagers) I believe that it is our duty to use the redemptive parts of culture as we go about this journey of discipleship in a creative manner. Teenagers are going to see films no matter what, why not use this as an opportunity to share with them some redemptive films that can engage their faith and cause them to think a little. Below I am going to list 4 films that I believe are worth showing to a small group or your entire youth group.   Having fruitful discussion after these films can be very beneficial and really help students to think through some of the implications in the film.

Saints and Soldiers
End of the Spear
The Passion of the Christ

The Second Chance

This past week at work it has been relatively slow.  It’s not that there isn’t anything to do because there is plenty.  In fact I have three major projects that are all on hold as I wait to hear if I can move forward.   As I wait I have decided to work ahead on projects that will be due in 5 to 6 months.  This may sound ridiculous to work on a project that far ahead of time, however I find that having projects in the bag will allow for better margin when the time comes.  Having these projects done ahead of time will asure that I am “ready for anything” as David Allen calls it.   Recently I have been listening to Allen’s new book “Making it all work.”  This book is a follow up to David’s best seller Getting Things Done and is quickly becoming a favorite.   Did I mention that they finally released Things the best GTD program out there in my opinion.

We recently finished a series for our youth ministry called “Evidence.” For the series we created 3 videos that showed students being asked difficult questions in a holding cell type atmosphere.  We wanted to cause students to think and really evaluate their ability to defend their faith.  We used a real lawyer and had fun in the process.  I hope you will enjoy this one.

Evidence | Christ in your life from LYF on Vimeo.