foolishnotions.net

a few weeks ago i blogged about wordle.net.  i was certain i could find some great way to put that little piece of fun to good use.  our next sermon series was perfect…more.  i couldn’t actually use wordle to set it up since it doesn’t work so well with just one word.  but it was really easy to execute.  we ordered 4 custum gobos.  i only got 2 of them installed for the first week.  i just installed the other 2.

just when i start to think that the time i spend reading blogs is a waste… my time is redeemed back to me on projects like this.  we were really down to the wire on artwork for this series.  i got it knocked out in record time.  what inspires you when you are under the gun?

free the creative chaos…

i love tag clouds… i combines 3 of my favorite things; words, typography and story-telling.  so, i just stumbled on a new favorite web diversion. seriously if you a soft spot at all for art and typography, you’ll love playing with this.

wordle.net [you're welcome]

here’s some of my favorite sites for all you typography nuts…

ilovetypography.com
smashingmagazine.com

what does your tag cloud say about you?

well, lets see, catalyst ended last week – wow. that’s all i can say. check out what went on here, or here, here or here. typically, we have somewhere the neighborhood of 250 adults in the main auditorium. Sunday we had 428. eight filled out a connection card saying they made a decision to follow christ. i saw a few more hands than that during the service. it was a truly amazing day.

what else? oh, yeah…

• myles munroe is coming this weekend
• our new series, alpha, starts next weekend
• gafa production, creation, is in full swing – lots of music to cut
• our new lights are being installed in 2.5 weeks
• and, i dare try to go out of town next week for 5 days including a sunday.

weeeee… here we go!!!!!!

i just finished the series graphic for alpha. i am very excited about this three week series. pastor ron will be talking about our true source… the alpha. i have been a little obsessed with typography lately and was looking forward to doing a piece that lent itself to cool uses of text. i was a little sad, though, when i got done and realized that there is another expression of alpha in this graphic that most really won’t get.

so, for you rockers who read my blog, your reward for diligently stopping by is you get a little extra inside information on the word alpha. in graphic design we use special channels called “alpha channels”. ok, if that link spooked you, here’s my super simple explanation. alpha channels are grayscale and are used to define specific areas in order to make the process of image correction, enhancement and transparency adjustment much easier and more precise.  now, that would preach. … but i don’t do that – not in my skill set i’m afraid.

ok, so pastor ron’s message will include absolutely no information about alpha channels. his version will be much, much better. but, at least now you can make someone you are standing next to in church think you are super smart and spiritual with your own insight into the word alpha. you’re welcome.

the only thing i’ll miss about the cold
weather is cranking the heat up full blast
in my car and driving with the windows down.

yay! spring is almost here!!!

a few days ago carlos whittaker asked on his blog, “what is the most creative thing you have done in your church in the last 12 months”. rather than commandeer his comment section i thought i would go ahead and post it here.

so… last year – by far – our most creative effort was our easter series titled, legacy.

a member of our church, ruffin jarman, built an cross out of railroad ties. honestly, it was SO amazingly beautiful – and HEAVY. in addition, we laid 4 individual railroad ties across the front of the stage for the whole series. no one knew what they were for until week three.

week 1: the seed
the message was about god’s dream for his people to be a seed to the nations and his plan to bring it to pass. abbye sang alpha and omega accapella. it was so powerful.

week 2: the price
pastor ron talked about the price that would have to be paid for god’s dreams for us to be fulfilled through christ. we played video 1 (below). i can’t remember now where we got this video but i really love it. and it fit the service perfectly.

week3: the cross (easter)

we put out hammers and buckets of nails next to the railroad ties at the front of the stage. we gave everyone a piece of black paper and had them write on it a life struggle that they deal with in their life that christ died for. we had everyone come up and nail them to the cross. it was so awesome to hear the sounds of all those hammers. it was one of the most passionate moments i have ever witnessed in a church service.

week 4: the promise

glory academy of fine arts danced shane & shane’s, psalm 145

video 2: one of our church family, jimmy bonds, wrote and performed a slam poetry piece to the this video with images from the previous week. unfortunately, i don’t have a recording of the poetry (sigh). but the music and the images are in video 2 below.

video 3: at the end of the service we showed a video where we had gone and taken all the pieces of paper off the railroad ties, locked and them up in a chest. pastor bryan went down to the ocean and threw them in. it was set to audio adrenaline’s, ocean floor. we included images from our water baptism from a few months before which had taken place at the same location as well as images from the the previous week’s service of people nailing their struggles to the cross. not a dry eye in the place.

inspiration
the inspiration for the ocean floor video came from national community church during their buzz conference in ’06. and pastor bryan had seen the nailing of the black paper to a cross several years ago at another church (sorry – i can’t remember which one). we were able to take these ideas, build on them and apply them to this awesome series. i am so thankful for churches who make their creative resources available for other churches to build on. it makes it possible for smaller congregations with smaller staffs to make a huge impact. if you are reading this and you are one of these churches, thank you. i look forward to the day when we can do the same.