A couple of days ago I received a DVD with some new Angelhouse Easter media resources. I encourage you to check them out:
Last night was a long, but productive night at the church. We had the band in the rehearsal, with our Band Director, going over the Easter music. We had our Visual Director on stage working on our top secret set with his team of volunteers. We had a friend of mine (a local Tech Director at another church) who is a lighting expert working with our top lighting volunteer on our lighting design for the Good Friday and Easter services. Then I was at our edit suite with a talented young video editor, working on the video clips that we’ll be using during our drama/production. We ordered pizza for everyone and had a great time and got a lot accomplished. I slept in a little later this morning and am headed back in. Have a great day!
I forgot to mention that Sunday night I saw Copeland (actually, I only caught their last song) and Switchfoot. Swithfoot rocked. It was the best live show I’ve seen in a while.
Yesterday’s staff fun day went great – from throwing the football to playing cards, to skeet shooting and chilling in a rocking chair. Good food and good times were had by all. Now it’s back to work and the continual preparation for Easter. I’ll be at the church until about midnight tonight. I hope your Easter planning is going well.
Remember if you are looking for Easter media resources, you can find tons at SermonSpice and WorshipHouse Media.
Today our church staff is going away for the day to play and hangout together. I’m looking forward to this for many reasons; one of which being that I’m still new and this is a great way for me to meet and get to know some of our staff. I’m thrilled to be on a church staff that works and plays together. We’re going to be fishing, riding horses and all kinds of stuff. Last week, we went to an early movie (a great new movie called “The Ultimate Gift”, which I highly recommend you go see) and then had lunch together afterwards. I got to meet a couple of new people then and know I’ll meet many more today. Though Easter is bearing down on us and there is a ton to get done, it’s good to take a little break and have some fun.
I just watched all 5 videos from the soon to be released Igniter Videos Vol. 5. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s no such thing as a bad Igniter video or Igniter volume – they’re all solid. I must say, though, I had mixed emotions after watching the first video (“99 Balloons”). I was so messed up and crying hard…like a baby (I’m not joking) – I didn’t know whether to thank Igniter for what seemed like a much needed release of tears and emotion or be upset with them for making me seem not “manly”. I can’t remember the last time I cried so hard – and that was just the first video I watched.
I’ll wait to give you the play by play when the volume goes public. I will say that all 5 videos are special and usable. My other two favorites are “Proof” and “Smart”, though the other two: one being “Boys and Grills” (which I can definitely relate to) and “Teamwork” (featuring the return of Johnny and Chachi of “Get in Here Ministries”) are very funny and helped me to stop crying. 
I encourage you to place your order as soon as they are available (which I believe is Thursday of next week). Also, if you’re in the Dallas area, Igniter is doing another release party. Volume four’s release party was a lot of fun and a good chance to hang out with Church leaders from around the metroplex. I’m going to try to go again this year, just for the food, fun and fellowship. If you’re interested, go HERE to RSVP.
It’s almost 1 AM and I’m just now getting home from church – it must be Easter season. This has been a wild week of long days and longer nights, as we prepare for our Good Friday and Easter productions. I’m grateful that I wasn’t up at the church alone. We have an amazing team of volunteers who were there along with me, working hard. It feels a little stressful and like we won’t finish everything in time, but I know it always comes together in the end. I wish I could tell you what we’re up to, but it’s top secret. I’ll post pictures and possibly some video after Easter.
I can tell you this: we’re using some Jesus stock footage from my friends at Flashlight Films. The product is perfect for our needs – ready to be put in Final Cut and edited as needed. If you’re looking for some good Christ/Passion footage to edit and use, I highly recommend this resource from Flashlight.
John Eldredge, in one of his books, wrote about how life flies by and we may have one CLEAR moment in a year. One day or one hour when we truly uncloud our minds and see life purely and clearly. These moments are brief and rare. Most of the time we go throughout our normal lives and don’t stop to see or reflect on what really matters.
Last night I had a “clear moment”. For a brief moment God cleared my mind of everything else and I truly saw the big picture and got a vision for the man He desires me to be. I felt in my heart of hearts, my spirit, and deep down in my soul that God wants me to be a man of prayer. I came to this revelation quickly and simply. I just knew deep down that I should be a man of prayer – continual and rich prayer. That’s it… I may not have another clear moment for another year, but I know that God is up to something in my heart and that’s cool with me.
EXTRA:
Check out Digital Video Camcorder maintenance tips from Jake Ludington HERE.
I’ve been meaning to write about Angelhouse Media’s Easter offering this year. I got it a month ago, but lost it in a box as I was moving into my new office. Angelhouse has produced some cool countdowns and loops for this Easter season. I’d especially encourage you to check out their resources created for Palm Sunday.
Something that I love and am very passionate about is using Scripture during our corporate worship times. I know of a couple of companies that are working on some cool Scripture media projects. I don’t want to call them by name, yet, but will let you know as soon as they go public. A company that is live now and one I highly recommend is called Visual Scripture. Jeff Horch, who used to live here in Dallas, started this company a little over a year ago. I’m crazy for not having blogged about him before now. I love his work and use it regularly.
I think Scripture video interludes are great during instrumentals in songs or between songs. This past Sunday at my church, we were singing one of my favorite songs, “Everlasting God” by Brenton Brown. We started the song with just a guitar playing softly under a video we downloaded from Visual Scripture. All I had to do was go to the site and type in “everlasting” in the search box. His video for “Isaiah 40″, which contains the same words as the song, came up and I hit “download”. I could download instantly and without wait because I have an annual subscription – which I suggest you strongly look into (if you desire to use more Scripture in worship).
