The methodist church has an agency called the General Board of Global Ministries, which part of their purpose is to assist with the expansion of the methodist church across the globe. Russia happens to be one of the places which is experiencing a great deal of growth and expansion which has been assisted by the GBGM's Russia Initiative Conferences held annually throughout the US which attempts to partner local churches in the US with churches in Eurasia in order to grow & learn from each other.
We've had the opportunity to host this years Russia Initiative, which is number 13, and has been an incredible experience. A delegation of 110 pastors and lay leaders from Eurasia along with 227 pastors and laity from the US have gathered to be in dialogue and communication on how to best continue supporting the church in Russia and Ukraine and I must say it has been great meeting folks from halfway across the world that share in the same mission and vision.
I'll try to post some pics soon.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
When belief systems fail
Kem Meyer has a great post on belief systems and what happens when they fail. Makes me think about what my assumed belief systems are, how I define myself, and whether or not my actions show that I believe what I say I believe.
Monday, October 22, 2007
a ghost, a witch, and a pirate ship
that is what we made tonight. You know, there's nothing like cutting open a pumpkin, reaching in and pulling out all the slimy grossness one finds inside pumpkins. I actually find it interesting that pumpkins are hollow. Why is that? I suppose if I really wanted to know, I could find out, but i'm feeling quite lazy at the moment.
Anyway - I've always carved pumpkins with kitchen knives and have found it to be a rather good way to end up with several band-aids on my hands, thus have had a reluctance to carving pumpkins...especially around small children. For the past few years, we've drawn on them with markers, but by doing that you really miss out on the backlighting effect when you place the candle inside...which I must admit is really pretty cool.
So we bought a carving kit which contained 2 small saw-like utensils, a small drill (plastic & non-motorized), and for lack of a better term - a little pokey-wheel, which helped you transfer your design from paper to the pumpkin (I think I've seen one of these used for sewing once before).
This was amazing. No more trying to saw through the pumpkin thinking that at any moment the knife may slip and cut off a finger (i wonder if others have similar thoughts). The saws give you great control and allow for a great amount of detail. So, here's our creations from tonight.
Happy Halloween!
Anyway - I've always carved pumpkins with kitchen knives and have found it to be a rather good way to end up with several band-aids on my hands, thus have had a reluctance to carving pumpkins...especially around small children. For the past few years, we've drawn on them with markers, but by doing that you really miss out on the backlighting effect when you place the candle inside...which I must admit is really pretty cool.
So we bought a carving kit which contained 2 small saw-like utensils, a small drill (plastic & non-motorized), and for lack of a better term - a little pokey-wheel, which helped you transfer your design from paper to the pumpkin (I think I've seen one of these used for sewing once before).
This was amazing. No more trying to saw through the pumpkin thinking that at any moment the knife may slip and cut off a finger (i wonder if others have similar thoughts). The saws give you great control and allow for a great amount of detail. So, here's our creations from tonight.
Happy Halloween!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
are you Innovative?
check out these videos of all the main sessions from Granger's Innovate '07 conference. They have some pretty sweet stuff going on.
Everything is spiritual
Rob Bell, creator of the popular nooma series, went on a tour last year entitled 'Everything is Spiritual'. It was just him, a white board, and 2 hours of incredible teaching. After he finished, a man in his mid-forties who was sitting in front of me stood up and said to his wife, "that was the most amazing presentation I have ever seen". Anyway - if you know nooma, you know the quality, and they have just released the DVD of the everything is spiritual tour. I highly recommend it. There are some video clips available on their site.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
5 Conferences in 5 days!
The church I serve has one week in October that is quite literally insane. This is that week. we have almost 2,000 people coming from all over the country (as well as several other countries) to gather, worship, learn, reconnect, network, and learn about communicating the message of Christ in today's world. We have compiled several different conferences together so the energy is contagious and they seem to feed off of each other. There is an IT roundtable, a Contemporary Worship Institute, some Pre-Institute intensive sessions, an all-day conference hosted by Group Publishing on the 'Me to We' phenomenon, and then finally the actual Leadership Institute.
Things are going great, on the line-up is Greg Scheer, Doug Flather, Len Wilson & Jason Moore (Midnight Oil guys), Sally Morgenthaler, Adam Hamilton, Emanuel Cleaver, and several other great presenters. I'm totally stoaked about the night of worship that our contemporary music ministry is hosting tomorrow night...should be pretty tight! Hope to see you there.
Things are going great, on the line-up is Greg Scheer, Doug Flather, Len Wilson & Jason Moore (Midnight Oil guys), Sally Morgenthaler, Adam Hamilton, Emanuel Cleaver, and several other great presenters. I'm totally stoaked about the night of worship that our contemporary music ministry is hosting tomorrow night...should be pretty tight! Hope to see you there.
Friday, August 31, 2007
What do you think of megachurches?
Rob Bell was asked about being a part of such a large congregation (the mega church question)...I dug his answer.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Church Media Mistakes
here's an article I found that does an excellent job of describing some common mistakes made in church media. you can check out the article here as well.
Simple Solutions to Church Media Mistakes
by Chuck Peters
Churches of all shapes and sizes are making media a major part if their ministries. Unfortunately, most people in ministry have never "made" media. In a church setting, excellence has to be at heart of everything you do. Anything that distracts people from the focus of the church service is a major mistake. I've visited a lot of modern multimedia churches and I've seen the good, the bad and, sadly, the ugly. Along the way, I've identified some common mistakes that are being made. Fortunately, you can learn from these miserable mistakes and avoid making them yourself. Hopefully this little list will help you keep your media ministry on the straight and narrow.
#1 - CRAZY COLORS
The Goal: Treat each service as a continuous, coordinated presentation.
The Problem: A lot of churches use different backgrounds or video clips behind the lyrics of each song. The first song's lyrics might be projected over a blue animated color wash, the second over a video of billowing clouds, the third on a red one and the sermon notes over a still background (Figure 1). When you do this, the congregation is drawn to look for the changing background instead of concentrating on the content of the slide.
The Solution: Instead of using a mishmash of backgrounds, choose a single color and style for each week, month or sermon series. This will provide continuity for all of the graphics (Figure 2).
Songs are often selected to tie into the message of the morning, so consistent backgrounds also make the entire service seem more connected. You'll find that the flow of the service is much smoother. Save your creative variations for special music numbers.
#2 - MISLEADING LYRICS
The Goal: If you project lyrics for your songs, you need to time the appearance of the text with the singing carefully. For a smooth presentation, it is essential that the slides lead, not follow, the singers. Timing is everything. The person running the slideshow has to be intimately familiar with the songs so that he or she can anticipate slide changes and lead the leaders and the congregation.
The Problem: Improper and untimely slide changes are a major distraction to people trying to sing what you show. Never attempt to follow what they do on stage. This can trip-up your song leaders and your congregation. Lagging changes are just as bad as putting slides up in the wrong sequence.
The Solution: Attend rehearsals and take good notes. Meet with the music leader in advance of the rehearsal so you have a full understanding of the order and flow of the service. The person running the slides is as much a part of the music team as an instrumentalist or vocalist. Your job is to literally lead the singing. You need to know the songs as well as anyone on the platform. When I run graphics for lyrics, I always work from a script. Before rehearsal, I note every slide in order on paper and I write production notes like "musical interlude" or "repeat 3x." A script gives you a roadmap so you never have to guess where the song leaders are going.
#3 - BAD FONT CHOICES
The Goal: When it comes to selecting fonts, the goal is always readability. And, remember, the words need be easy to read from a distance. This means making good decisions in regard to size and style. They should also be consistent from one graphic to the next. The goal: keep it clean, clear and simple.
The Problem: Narrow or swirly fonts are hard to read from a distance and should be avoided (Figure 3). Cartoonish fonts aren't appropriate for most church settings (Figure 4). Their overly silly style can make your graphics seem immature and can rob your content of the respect it is due. If your fonts change from slide to slide or song to song, you may cause your parishioners to pay more attention to your crazy presentation than the content of the message.
The Solution: Simple, bold fonts are always the easiest to read from a distance. Thick sans serif fonts are often best for on-screen readability (Figure 5).
While you may think serifs look classier, the primary goal is for the text to be legible from the back of the room. Avoid multiple fonts by finding a font family that you like and sticking with it. To keep continuity, use the same typeface for every graphic you create. Keep font variations subtle, changing only the style (regular, bold or italics) to create emphasis when necessary. Use a dark drop shadow or outline to help separate light text from light-colored backgrounds.
#4 - TMI (TOO MUCH INFORMATION)
The Goal: Don't put too much information on a single slide. Putting too much information on the screen at once can overwhelm your audience.
The Problem: If you have a long chorus or scripture verse to put on the screen, it can be tempting to use small text to get it all on one slide (Figure 6).
But, small type can be difficult to read from the back of the auditorium, especially if there's a lot of it.
The Solution: Break long pieces of text into a series of slides so you can increase the font size and make it easier for the congregation to follow along (Figure 7).
There's no rule for setting font size. What size type you use depends completely on the size of your screen and the size of your room. The best bet is to preview your slides from the back of the auditorium to make sure the text is large enough to easily read.
#5 - CLUNKY TRANSITIONS
The Goal: The primary goal of anything that goes up on the screen during a church service is to enhance the worship experience. The images that you project onto your screens-whether edited videos or simple slides-have to be presented smoothly, and transitions to and from your segments must be quick and smooth so as to not distract those in attendance.
The Problem: If transitioning to or from a video clip or presentation involves a drawn out process of closing window blinds, dimming lights, raising and lowering screens or fumbling through startup menus or video inputs on your projector, you will surely disrupted the flow of the service. Blasts of video snow and audio feedback are simply not acceptable. Those long, painful delays and awkward lulls of silence while everyone waits for the screen to come down and the video to come up should be avoided at all costs. Ultimately, a disruptive presentation may do more to harm a service than the video does to help it.
The Solution: Take time to prepare your equipment and your people so you can transition to and from media segments quickly and smoothly. This may mean scheduling a practice time to train your team. Think of your team like a NASCAR pit crew. See how quick and clean you can make your transitions. Rather than figuring it out during the service, preparing in advance will help ensure that all goes smoothly. One of the best "covers" that I've found is to lead schedule the video after a prayer. Lower the screen and dim the lights while heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Cue the start of your clips on the "Amen." Ironically, the ultimate goal of using media in a church setting is for the media itself to be invisible: no one should realize you are there and no one should notice your work. If folks are squinting at poorly designed graphics or gaping in amazement at the stunning 3D animations you are projecting, you are not doing your job. With your life and your service, a job well done should be its own reward. In a church setting, if you can't do it with excellence, you need to decide whether you should be using multimedia at all.
Chuck Peters is Vice President of Media and Promotions at Digital Juice and is the Editor of Digital Juice Magazine.z
Simple Solutions to Church Media Mistakes
by Chuck Peters
Churches of all shapes and sizes are making media a major part if their ministries. Unfortunately, most people in ministry have never "made" media. In a church setting, excellence has to be at heart of everything you do. Anything that distracts people from the focus of the church service is a major mistake. I've visited a lot of modern multimedia churches and I've seen the good, the bad and, sadly, the ugly. Along the way, I've identified some common mistakes that are being made. Fortunately, you can learn from these miserable mistakes and avoid making them yourself. Hopefully this little list will help you keep your media ministry on the straight and narrow.
#1 - CRAZY COLORS
The Goal: Treat each service as a continuous, coordinated presentation.
The Problem: A lot of churches use different backgrounds or video clips behind the lyrics of each song. The first song's lyrics might be projected over a blue animated color wash, the second over a video of billowing clouds, the third on a red one and the sermon notes over a still background (Figure 1). When you do this, the congregation is drawn to look for the changing background instead of concentrating on the content of the slide.
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
| Figure 1 |
The Solution: Instead of using a mishmash of backgrounds, choose a single color and style for each week, month or sermon series. This will provide continuity for all of the graphics (Figure 2).
 |  | |
 |  | |
| Figure 2 |
Songs are often selected to tie into the message of the morning, so consistent backgrounds also make the entire service seem more connected. You'll find that the flow of the service is much smoother. Save your creative variations for special music numbers.
#2 - MISLEADING LYRICS
The Goal: If you project lyrics for your songs, you need to time the appearance of the text with the singing carefully. For a smooth presentation, it is essential that the slides lead, not follow, the singers. Timing is everything. The person running the slideshow has to be intimately familiar with the songs so that he or she can anticipate slide changes and lead the leaders and the congregation.
The Problem: Improper and untimely slide changes are a major distraction to people trying to sing what you show. Never attempt to follow what they do on stage. This can trip-up your song leaders and your congregation. Lagging changes are just as bad as putting slides up in the wrong sequence.
The Solution: Attend rehearsals and take good notes. Meet with the music leader in advance of the rehearsal so you have a full understanding of the order and flow of the service. The person running the slides is as much a part of the music team as an instrumentalist or vocalist. Your job is to literally lead the singing. You need to know the songs as well as anyone on the platform. When I run graphics for lyrics, I always work from a script. Before rehearsal, I note every slide in order on paper and I write production notes like "musical interlude" or "repeat 3x." A script gives you a roadmap so you never have to guess where the song leaders are going.
#3 - BAD FONT CHOICES
The Goal: When it comes to selecting fonts, the goal is always readability. And, remember, the words need be easy to read from a distance. This means making good decisions in regard to size and style. They should also be consistent from one graphic to the next. The goal: keep it clean, clear and simple.
The Problem: Narrow or swirly fonts are hard to read from a distance and should be avoided (Figure 3). Cartoonish fonts aren't appropriate for most church settings (Figure 4). Their overly silly style can make your graphics seem immature and can rob your content of the respect it is due. If your fonts change from slide to slide or song to song, you may cause your parishioners to pay more attention to your crazy presentation than the content of the message.
 |  | |
| Figure 3 | ||
 |  | |
| Figure 4 |
The Solution: Simple, bold fonts are always the easiest to read from a distance. Thick sans serif fonts are often best for on-screen readability (Figure 5).
 |
| Figure 5 |
While you may think serifs look classier, the primary goal is for the text to be legible from the back of the room. Avoid multiple fonts by finding a font family that you like and sticking with it. To keep continuity, use the same typeface for every graphic you create. Keep font variations subtle, changing only the style (regular, bold or italics) to create emphasis when necessary. Use a dark drop shadow or outline to help separate light text from light-colored backgrounds.
#4 - TMI (TOO MUCH INFORMATION)
The Goal: Don't put too much information on a single slide. Putting too much information on the screen at once can overwhelm your audience.
The Problem: If you have a long chorus or scripture verse to put on the screen, it can be tempting to use small text to get it all on one slide (Figure 6).
 |
| Figure 6 |
But, small type can be difficult to read from the back of the auditorium, especially if there's a lot of it.
The Solution: Break long pieces of text into a series of slides so you can increase the font size and make it easier for the congregation to follow along (Figure 7).
 |  | |
| Figure 7 |
There's no rule for setting font size. What size type you use depends completely on the size of your screen and the size of your room. The best bet is to preview your slides from the back of the auditorium to make sure the text is large enough to easily read.
#5 - CLUNKY TRANSITIONS
The Goal: The primary goal of anything that goes up on the screen during a church service is to enhance the worship experience. The images that you project onto your screens-whether edited videos or simple slides-have to be presented smoothly, and transitions to and from your segments must be quick and smooth so as to not distract those in attendance.
The Problem: If transitioning to or from a video clip or presentation involves a drawn out process of closing window blinds, dimming lights, raising and lowering screens or fumbling through startup menus or video inputs on your projector, you will surely disrupted the flow of the service. Blasts of video snow and audio feedback are simply not acceptable. Those long, painful delays and awkward lulls of silence while everyone waits for the screen to come down and the video to come up should be avoided at all costs. Ultimately, a disruptive presentation may do more to harm a service than the video does to help it.
The Solution: Take time to prepare your equipment and your people so you can transition to and from media segments quickly and smoothly. This may mean scheduling a practice time to train your team. Think of your team like a NASCAR pit crew. See how quick and clean you can make your transitions. Rather than figuring it out during the service, preparing in advance will help ensure that all goes smoothly. One of the best "covers" that I've found is to lead schedule the video after a prayer. Lower the screen and dim the lights while heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Cue the start of your clips on the "Amen." Ironically, the ultimate goal of using media in a church setting is for the media itself to be invisible: no one should realize you are there and no one should notice your work. If folks are squinting at poorly designed graphics or gaping in amazement at the stunning 3D animations you are projecting, you are not doing your job. With your life and your service, a job well done should be its own reward. In a church setting, if you can't do it with excellence, you need to decide whether you should be using multimedia at all.
Chuck Peters is Vice President of Media and Promotions at Digital Juice and is the Editor of Digital Juice Magazine.z
Saturday, August 4, 2007
POI
Last night I was introduced to the art-form called poi. a style of juggling involving the swinging of balls on chains or ropes. The interesting thing is, the balls are on fire. She also used a set of balls that glow in the dark. The art form was absolutely beautiful, and my daughter loved it too. If you ever get a chance to see it, i highly encourage it.
here's some pics:
here's some pics:
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