Category Archives: The Church

Bringing the Church into the 21st Century

August 7, 2007 – 11:30 pm

I’ve been busy the last few weeks attempting to get my church to tread into this century. There’s more we could be doing via the Internet, but it’s difficult to steer a large group of people to adopt new technologies for communication. So here’s a list of a few things I’ve incorporated over the last few weeks:

1. A blog specifically tailored to a new Bible study class covering the book The Worshiping Artist. Why we hadn’t tried this before, I don’t know. Discussion seems to be going well thus far. Also, the leader of the study (also the Worship Pastor of the church) is updating it himself. If you’re interested, check out www.fbcgt.org/dale . I’m also working on getting staff members to blog about their points of interest.

2. A forum for all church members. It has yet to be published, but if you’re reading this then you’ll be treated to a sneak peek at www.fbcgt.org/thehub . Forums may be a little foreign to some people, but they’re highly useful once understood. They will, hopefully, be used for the multiple ministries at the church, events around our city, for each individual Life Group, and also for leaders and other groups that might require a certain level of privacy for their discussions. I may be most excited about the prospects of this forum, but I’ve also been in this position before of starting a forum for a church, only to have it’s popularity wane in relation to the amount of time it’s "new."

An aside about the forum – it’s called theHub because I’d actually already created a forum called "the forum" using different software than what I’m currently now using. I had been using bbpress, as it syncs with wordpress, our publishing platform, somewhat easily. Unfortunately, it’s not as mature as some other options out there. One of the main problems for me in regards to that is the inability to restrict certain discussions to certain people or groups. So I turned to the big daddy of forums, phpbb. While I’ve never used it before, I’m learning it and liking it. And I like the sound of "theHub." It is a central meeting place, after all.

3. Video Podcasts. We’re not doing this yet, but we’re very close to it.

Slowly, surely, and with many a technical glitch to go, the church creeps ever onward into the vast, uncharted waters of the Internet.

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Why don’t you take a Kissimmee vacation? The irony in that is that it’s close to Disneyland and I just posted about a Baptist church.

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Technology The Church

Video Killed the Radio Star

July 25, 2007 – 9:02 pm

I attended just a bit of the National Worship Leader Conference held this week at Riverbend Church in Austin yesterday due to the generosity of a fellow church member who happens to work for Church Multimedia, a company that specializes in A/V installations for church. He had a sweet rig of four remote cameras controllable by a joystick and hooked to a switcher, the kind of rig, or something close to it, that we’d like to eventually get for our worship services.

The conference is a week long, but as I had just taken a week of vacation, I limited myself to attending just one day, and I picked the right day, that’s for sure. For one, Fernando Ortega led worship with a four piece string section. I’ve always loved his music, and I’ve never seen him live. It was very, very good.

Secondly, the two main breakouts I wanted to attend were held that day, one right after the other. The first was put on by the guys at WorshipHouse Media, a distributor of mini-movies, motions, stills, countdowns, and other fun and meaningful visual media for use by churches. They showed many clips, and even some non-released ones. That’s My Money was really funny. They also have a very good video podcast showcasing the newest releases. I met Rob Thomas with Igniter Media as well (and they’re doing some cool stuff). Be sure to check out the hot dog eating contest.

After that, two guys I met a few weeks go led the next workshop: Stop Substance Abuse: Make Your Media Matter. Storme and Lee of Eleven72 live and work in Austin, and they led a mock creative session, showing how easy it is to be wholly intentional about the use and placement of visual media in a worship service. It was certainly encouraging. They’re smart and creative guys and I can’t wait to see what they’re going to produce.

Their presentation was slated to use the internet, as they wanted to do real searches for a crowd-proposed topic, but Riverbend’s wifi didn’t reach the room we were in (maybe they needed a wireless router or two). But, being the pros they are, they retooled the presentation and used example Pastor Evan Gelist of 360 Church delivering a message about Evangelism, then went on to show how much can be found online to help undergird that message.

They also showed me a Sony Xacti handheld, waterproof videocamera that I just might have to get for some interesting uses at the church. Check Eleven72′s blog for an example. Their video of "Who’s Eleven72" is pretty funny.

I’m very excited about the possibilities of incorporating more visual elements into our worship services, and creating our own content as well. I finally have all of the tools necessary to do so. Now I just need to learn this MacBook Pro (being a lifelong Windows user, more out of necessity than desire) and also Final Cut Express HD. Yeehaw!

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The Church

Small Town Goes Uptown

July 1, 2007 – 3:48 pm

Georgetown was once a small town, and they’re trying to keep it that way. But progress progresses progressively. To wit, we now have the very large Wolf Ranch shopping center, with Best Buy, Petsmart, and Target, to name a few of the places I visit. We seldom travel outside of Georgetown anymore because we can finally get most of what we need in town. (Now if we could just get a Barnes & Noble).

Now there’s news of a new conference center/hotel near the same area. I think it’s great, and a necessity, as there’s no large meeting place in Georgetown. Not that I throw that many parties. Or any. Or that I have that many friends. Or any. But I’m sure there’s a need, so it’ll be met. And, judging by the pictures, it looks like it will be a nice place. Georgetown does do very well in its facades and keeping green space a priority.

All of this growth is occurring very close to the church I attend and work at. We’ve been experiencing good growth lately, even despite the lack of a Senior Pastor. But with all the surrounding growth, it makes me think I need to “up my game.” But I need to figure out what game is.

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Movies The Church

Churches in Theaters

June 28, 2007 – 10:37 pm

Mark Batterson at Evotional.com and Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., a church that meets in a theater, says its

Pretty exciting to see the way the theater church movement has taken off in the past few years. I’m still believing for a church in every theater in America!

That’s an ambitious thought, but a worthwhile pursuit. What would it mean if something like that happened? No more building campaigns for one. No more struggling for the best A/V equipment, or even usable equipment. No more pews, just nice, comfortable theater seating. Of course, these are just behind-the-scenes concerns (which are my main concern, given my job).

But what would it mean for the world’s perception of the church? Does it become cooler? More hip? Attractive? Does it lose its otherness, its spirituality, its awe and reverence inducing factors? Or does the environment matter less than the content – the people, the relationships, the stories told and presented?

I was blessed to be involved with terranova from its early stages, but, unfortunately, could not be a part of its shift to becoming a theater church (now meeting on Sunday mornings at City Lights Theatres in Georgetown). I hear its going well, but I wonder what trade-offs they’ve seen, if any, or what feels different. I guess I just miss being "in the know" about the life of that church.

In reference to yesterday’s post about wanting to be a filmmaker of sorts, I just now remembered that my "work" has already appeared on at least 12 screens. I helped to create and edit the promos terranova gets to run before every movie appearing at City Lights. So I am famous, but only in my own eyes. Alas, Pride goes before a fall…

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The Church

Windy City and the Willow Creek Arts Conference

May 26, 2007 – 11:53 am

I’ve been given the opportunity to attend the Willow Creek Arts Conference in Chicago in a few weeks. I’m excited about the trip for more than a few reasons. I’ve never been to Chicago, and, although there won’t be much time to explore the city, I always enjoy seeing new places. I’ve never been to Willow Creek, so I’ll be anxious to see that church. The David Crowder Band will be leading worship, which, after their last album, I can’t wait for. To think that they started and are still from Waco cracks me up. Featured speakers include Nancy Beach, Erwin McManus, Dewitt Jones, Donald Miller, and Dan Kimball. I’ll be doing breakout sessions on video editing, as I’m trying to get something along those lines implemented at my church, be it ever so slowly. It’ll be a quick trip, but I’m very glad for the opportunity.

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