i thought i’d let you meet our staff…

no, you are not imagining it.  i have named our equipment.  it wasn’t intentional… i noticed when george arrived that i have actually named every piece of equipment that has been installed since i have been media director at rock church.  they all just have personality. i know… weird.  anyway, this is the team.

george:  is a panasonic dvh100 and he makes beautiful pictures.  he’s gently used but we don’t hold that against him at all…  we adopted him with open arms and will love him and squeeze him and pet him and hold him and we will call him – well… you know. 

mackenzie:  is a imac 20-inch 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo.  evidently she was born with some sort of birth defect.  but the fine people at apple refurbished and made her good as new.  she’s absolutely beautiful.  we love her.

kyle: kyle is a red blooded, all american, male homo sapian who has been on our tech team for rock church since last december.  he is a college student at cape fear community college.  recently he went to china with ywam… so, yes – - actually, that is the great wall of china in the picture.  kyle has such a heart to serve the his god that when he heard of the dream for video production at rock church he caught the vision and quit his job so that he could come volunteer (as in, we aren’t paying him) to build the team.  wow! we are so excited.

today kyle came in to meet mackenzie and talk strategy with me.  here is the outline for our first steps…

1. establish a video calendar
   no matter who is working on what or how many fabulous ideas we come up with we need a tool to help us stay on track.  so, kyle is setting up a master google calendar to provide us a central hub for managing our our time line and help us prioritize jobs coming down the pipe.
2. create a volunteer packets
   something that outlines positions, terminology and standard operating procedures for new volunteers to help them get up and running quickly.  the goal here is communication, consistency and excellence.
3. establish a master file structure
   gearing for growth.  a year from now i don’t want to us to be pulling our hair out trying to find a file that volunteer #2,3 & 4 all worked during the previous week.  i want to know right where to look.  this took me no time at all.  i could have done this myself.  but i didn’t want the file structure i would come up with now – i wanted the one i would come up with 2 years from now.  i knew just who to ask and i got what i expected.  i don’t know what half of the folders in brad‘s master file structure are even for.  it’s amazing how something so simple can zero in and provide crucial clues as to what you need to learn next. thanks, brad.
4. recruit volunteers
   kyle is going to spend a lot of time looking in flipside and 2xtreme.  the talent in our young people is amazing and it is so important to the vision of rock church to equip our young people at a young age. he is under strict instructions to not try to do all of this himself.  it is way bigger than he is.  he is looking for team members of all ages and people who can lead.  if you attend rock church and are looking for a way to get plugged in… call us at rock church, email us or come see us sunday morning after service.
5. cross train current media team members
   this has been my top mission lately.  rock church is growing very rapidly.  my current tech team is the seed of something HUGE — i mean, REALLY HUGE.  i believe that with all my heart.  and i believe time is truly of the essence.  i have been stretching my guys big time lately.  and each time i have challenged them they have blown my socks off.  i have sound guys running lights, computer people producing, light guys running video.   why?  because of kid’s rock, and 2xtreme are busting at the seems and chomping at the bit to progress with technology.  and i fully expect we will open our overflow area in the fellowship hall sometime next year.  you see, my team doesn’t have a choice – they are the beginning.  they are the leaders that will raise up more teams in these vital areas.  and what a fabulous team of leaders they are.  i’m so blessed.
6. kyle and i have to learn final cut express
   yes, you read right.  neither myself nor my video team leader know final cut express yet.
   so?  what’s your point?
7. come up with creative ways to make the tools we don’t have
   as of this point… we are spent.  our budget is zip – zero – zilch.  it’s ok.  we have gaffer’s tape and binder clips.  you would be amazed how close that gets you to successful a green screen set up. 

so, there you have it.  week one.  ok – so, HEY! …

all my video geniouses & tech leaders out there!
what do you wish someone would have
told you when you were where we are right now?
what did you learn the hard way so we don’t have to?

ooooh, this is so fun.

12seconds of video to post on twitter. you can use your computer, your crackberry…. anything you can record video to an then email. then… ‘tweedle -eedle- ee”. your video is up on twitter.

btw – - i’m finding twitter is the nemesis to my blog posting habits… so if you miss my blogging – follow my twitter. (i will blog more again. i know i will…. some day. man, life gets busy though).

ok. so i had to work for my invitation. transition pete made me ask for an invite creatively in his comment section. so, as not to undermine his little project there… AND, to ensure twitter remains a creative place, let’s see how creative you are.

in the comment section below…. 1st 10 creative comments gets an invite.

or, you can request your own…. here.

follow me on 12seconds… here.

i just received my very first ever custom gobos. (mom – those are the things that you put in the lights to make patterns on the walls.)

they are so cool! i can’t wait to put them in. i was shocked at how tiny they were. i tried to find a quarter in my pocket book to put beside it but couldn’t find one. it’s the plight of living in a town filled with parking meters. i did however have a guitar pick in there.

do i play the guitar?

um, no.

welcome to my world.

it’s here!!!!

step 1: get ernie to understand that we NEED [a-hem] he NEEDS a mac to complete our family ['er-- i mean...] to get his school work done – COMPLETE

step 2: orchestrate adoption process and procure the new family member – COMPLETE

step 3: negotiate a joint custody agreement - IN PROGRESS ( edit: SUCCESS!!! )

it’s beautiful!!!
welcome to the family mac mejia!!!

…for my honey, the student.

[sigh]

i’m so happy for him.

so, this is my thursday creative chaos contribution.
go pay the ragamuffin a visit to see even more chaos!

for those of you who know me from a distance, my references to the work i do at glory academy of fine arts may be a little confusing. i work for the rock, right? yes. well, i also work for glory academy of fine arts. here you go – - in a nutshell…

• glory academy of fine arts (gafa) is a non-profit fine arts academy.
• gafa is an outreach of the rock. we share the same building and we share the same core vision, but we are technically separate…. it’s a fine line, really. basically, we have a fully functioning school in our church complete with it’s own staff (some of which also work for the rock).
• i work for the rock and for gafa, doing pretty much the same thing… graphic design, web, sound, lights, video – basically if it has a button or a chord i’m in charge of making sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to. i get two different paychecks… but if you look at my weekly task list it’s pretty much a mishmash of the two jobs.
• gafa’s largest division is dance, but they also provide instruction in music, creative writing and drama and have plans to expand into other divisions such as art, graphic design and so on.

so, does that make more sense?

ok – - it’s may. and every may is the glory academy of fine arts annual production. this is no dance recital. it is an original full length production complete with lights, haze, set design, costumes, make-up and bobby-pins. lots and lots of bobby-pins! it is the fruit of an entire season of praying, brainstorming, planning, rehearsing, meeting, writing, communicating with parents, coordinating volunteers, creating sets, choosing costumes, make-up and crazy eye-lashes [gasp]. our goal each year is to communicate God’s love for humanity through the arts. our goal each year is to reach the lost with God’s creative genius. it all starts in august and after the 3rd week in may, we all collapse in a heap of physically spent creative bliss. and on june 1st we all can’t resist thinking about what next year’s theme will be.

last year our theme was ‘seasons’. it was a powerful depiction of the season’s we go through in life and in our pursuit of God set against a backdrop of spring, summer, fall, winter…. and then spring again. leaving everyone expectant of another year of growth, excitement, harvest and strengthening. it was absolutely amazing.

this year our theme is ‘creation’. i have been feverishly cutting music, pulling together video elements and learning our new lighting system. the costumes have been coming in and alterations are underway. the backdrop was delivered early – so we get a little extra time to experiment.

i am excited every year but this year is different for me. i really think this one is going to be my favorite ever. i love the creativity of God. and nothing illustrates it better than this beautiful earth he fashioned out of the love of His heart in just 7 days. and this year God has blessed us with a brand new lights of our very own. no more renting!!!!

the rock and glory academy have a deep desire to redeem excellence in art back to the Creator and to equip people, young and old, physically and spiritually to use the talents God has blessed them with as a tool to spread God’s love. the installation of our new lights has been a difficult transition for some in our church. there has been concern about where we are headed with all of this new technology. are we trying to put on a show each sunday? are we exalting technology over worship? no, the heart and vision of the rock is the same as it has been for years… to make a difference in wilmington. to be effective in reaching this community teaming with such rich creativity, we need first and foremost to know our Father’s heart for his people; to reach this community of artists we need to speak their language; and, to be truly effective in our efforts we must add to our genuine worship – excellence. this is why, for us, these new lights are not only important – - but absolutely essential to accomplishing what God has set us here to do in wilmington. i am so excited to be right in the middle of it.

if you live within driving distance of the rock, don’t miss ‘creation’. friday, may 16th at 7pm, or saturday, may 17th at 3pm. go get your tickets today.

this past sunday was one of the most historic days in the history or the rock. if you don’t know what i’m talking about, you can read about it here, or listen to the podcast here. we have been getting a lot of supportive feedback from our church family, and pastor ron has been diligently sharing the encouraging words and emails with the rest of the staff. one particular response he forwarded to us made me wish he had a blog so everyone could read it. so i asked him if he would allow me to post it as a guest post on foolishnotions. he said yes .

i love the heart of my pastors. they are some of the most wise, genuine, compassionate, generous people i have ever met. it is an honor to serve them and i hope i grow up to be a lot like them. you could comment here but i would rather you email your encouraging words directly to…

pastor ron – ron [at] rockwilmington.com
pastor norma – norma [at] rockwilmington.com
pastor bryan – bryan [at] rockwilmington.com
jennifer – jennifer [at] rockwilmington.com

and now… pastor ron. enjoy.

Bold faith is not often easy or peaceful because it always stretches us far beyond our comfort zones and moves us from the realm of the known into the unknown. The announcement Sunday was a bold faith move for me filled with a lot of yet unknown things. In some ways it was scarier than moving my family to Wilmington 19 ½ years ago when we knew no one here.

These are the known components of this move for me:

1. It is the right thing to do
2. This is the right time to do it
3. It is the word of the Lord to me
4. It is necessary for this church to be relevant and effective in the 21st Century

These are the unknown components of this move for me:

1. I don’t know what the final picture will look like for me, my family or this church
2. I don’t know who or how many will embrace this bold step of faith and move forward with us to impact our city, nation and the world in the 21st Century
3. I don’t know who or how many will not choose or be able to go with us
4. I don’t know how the city God has called us to make a difference in will react

As I have compared the two lists and asked the Lord to help me put all of this in proper perspective, this is what He has shown me. The unknown components are scary, but the known components are powerful, awesome and incredible! Bold faith requires me to embrace the known and release the unknown back into the hands of the God who called us here almost 20 years ago. Then, the known list was about the same as it is now, but the unknown list was long and much more intimidating.

But God was faithful, has continued to be faithful and will be faithful yet again.

I love God too much to not do this. I love my family too much not to do this. I love this church and the wonderful people who call me pastor too much not to do this. I love the lost too much not to do this

Fasten your seatbelt. It’s going to be an exciting ride!

Make Every Day a Great Day!
Pastor Ron

holy smokes! i think this thing could get up, lead us in worship and then preach our sunday message for us! it has a ton of really fun features. i know. i know. just hook the thing up and get it recording. learn the fun stuff later. but, what fun is that? i mean this thing even has p-h-a-n-t-o-m p-o-w-e-r.

oh, alright… just the basics.

you know the funny thing i have found out about myself while on this little learning binge? i have found that the rest of my brain goes into moron mode. seriously. i have asked some of the most obvious, easy questions e-ver. people have been looking at me like, did you seriously just ask that question?

lol. the path to humility is humbling.

we’re just in channel assigning mode right now so, they are all pointed at the back wall right now.  you can’t really tell how well these bad boys are covering by this shot.  they look awesome!

i need some gel advice for all of the par cans and elipsoidals.  the boring white diffusion paper definitely needs to come out immediately.  i have the lift until the end of the week.  anyone who knows their light stuff, please – i’m open to suggestions here.

installing the 3rd point…

tomorrow we hook up these….

and i have to watch this…

then the fun begins… programming!

thanks for stopping by everyone!!!