December 28, 2007
Going Bowling…
Are you ready for a Festive Fiesta Bowl. My Wife’s Sooners take on My Mountaineers, as they meet this coming Wednesday. The marketing of this bowl is crazy. You can count 28 places in the Stadium the word “Tostitos” is printed. They should call it the Chip bowl. I’m heading over for the game, should be a good contest. It’s kind of a shame Coach Rod had to leave like he did. The University is now suing him for $4 mil. That’s alot of cash. So, let me know how your team is looking this bowl season? SEC (Speed Equals Championships). The Big Ten (The Big Slow) will get pounded again. The Vols will blow UWisc out of the water. UF will pound Tebow down Michigan’s throat. And The Bayou Bengals run over Ohio State. (OSU is 0-8 vs the SEC in bowl games). Let me hear your picks…..What do you “Crave” for the New Year?
Crave: Destiny, Meaning, Intimacy. These are the titles of each video in a new short film series that corresponds to themes in Erwin Raphael McManus‘ best-selling new book, Soul Cravings, uses the visual storytelling medium of film to reveal the hidden mysteries that permeate the soul. Each film features an intro from McManus and a short message on the theme of the film. Check it out today, I’m using this for a Small Group Bible Study. December 27, 2007
Pushing the line in Visual presentations….
What a thankless job sometimes. When you do a great job in the media booth, nobody notices you, but when you make a mistake, everyone notices. Isn’t this kind of counter-culture. We are a people trying to stand out, trying to push the envelope. But what a rewarding ministry. I have no doubt in my mind that media can help win people to Christ. So how do you gauge success? The word I stress when presenting, is Seamless. How seamless can we make each and every service from our aspect. I don’t know about you, but i’m always looking for things online, through Youtube, etc, to bring into my presentations. I use a free program called VIXY to convert my FLV files to AVI to show within Mediashout. Some are funny like this one, some are awe inspiring like this one, and some tend to push the line like this one. Its this last one that I struggle with. I call these 60-40 decisions. Should I, or shouldn’t I. When was the last time you presented something you weren’t sure would “go over”? Is it ok to push the line here? December 26, 2007
Halftime: Titans v. Jets.. overlooking downtown
Not a creature was stirring, downtown that is, as the Titans slugged it out with Chad Pennington and the Jets. You got to love it when it all comes down to the final game of the season. I got to witness Vanden Bosch and Haynesworth as they came through Big Time. Only one more win, and we are in the playoffs….. I hope Mr. Manning and the Colts decide to mail this one in…put the women and children to bed, because this could be a barn-burner… How is your team looking, going into the last game of the season?
Christmas Services…a media person’s time to shine
Feeling the Holy Hangover yet? The “coming down” from the spiritual high of Seasonal Church Production takes it’s toll. The blown fuses, the burned out lights, the protools glitch, the hanging live satellite feeds, the audio crisis’…. all in a days work in the AV booth right? And it’s always amazing to me to see the spirit in the air around Christmas. This video pretty much nutshell’s this past weekend for me. I can’t seem to get it out of my head, which is a good thing, I guess. This week, at our church campus, we saw 15 accept Christ for the first time, and we reached our “high water mark”, for attendance. Read more about it HERE. My senior pastor, Craig Groeschel started off by saying Merry Christmas and Happy Easter. Referring to CEO Christians as those that come to church only on Christmas and Easter. This made me laugh, and think at the same time. How many people only come to church during these two Sundays, and why? It also made me think of the intentionality we need to have in service planning and execution for these events. We should put our best foot forward, with excellence. How does this translate? We plan for months on end for 2 Holidays, but what about the other 50 weeks in the year? As we reflect on the year that is coming to an end, and vision the future year ahead of us, what do you want to see God do in your life, and in your church for 2008? May this be the best year yet…. December 20, 2007
Tis the season..to buy Christmas Themed Media..
This is the time of year when it seems that pastors and AV Teams are looking extra hard to find just the right images to display for their Christmas Services. Not too flashy, not to dull, not to overt, not completely blah. Where is the balance? Here are some of my favorite producers and each seem to have something to bring to the table, at least at my church this time of the year. Let me know what your favorite producer is for Christmas Media….
Talk about a modern day version of David versus Goliath. UT’s 6foot10inch Brian Williams defends against UNC-Ashville’s 7foot7inch giant last night…. thankfully, UT won the game….What struck me is how his presence, even when he wasn’t involved direcly, affected the game. So it is in life. What giants are you facing in your life, that need to be defeated? (Debts, broken relationships, etc) Get to work. December 19, 2007
The latest from Igniter Media…
Be sure and check out Igniter Tracks.
If you haven’t heard of Igniter Tracks, you will.. It’s conceptually similar to Iworship, but way more advanced. Check ‘em out…….
Micro-Mission: Operation Lifepacks
This past Saturday, with my church, Lifechurch.tv Hendersonville Campus, I got to help distribute LifePacks to single moms. We gave out almost 2000 packs impacting over 4000 moms and kids in the surrounding area. Crisis Pregnancy Center, The Bridge Ministry, Gallatin Cares, wives of soldiers at Ft. Campbell, Section 8 housing moms and several more groups. What an awesome day, and a great way to keep the focus of the season on Christ, and giving ourselves away for HIS service.
Mediashout 3.5 is here. Check out the new features…
This is, IMO, the best, most reliable, cutting edge presentation software for PC on the market. You can buy mediashout at www.shoutable.com or from www.mediashout.com Newest Features include:
- Page text dissolves (Text, Bible and Lyric cues)
- Stanza-specific BGs (Lyric cues) This means each verse can have a different background.. WOW
- New stanza types (Lyric cues)
- in-text verse numbers (Bible cues)
- Enhanced songselect downloading (ShoutSinger; in Express now)
- Select and fire cues by number (Script window)
- Get Shoutable Media link (Help menu and main toolbar; in Express now)
- Song Group assignment in Import Songs wizards (ShoutSinger)
- “One verse per paragraph” pagination option (Bible cues)
- Bible selection controls in CPB (Bible cues)
- insert Bible passage into text from CPB FG tab, Insert button menu (Text, Bible and Lyric cues)
