The Walk - Part 2

We’ve wrapped up production on our Student Ministry Fall Retreat promo video “The Walk”. If you’re a Monty Python fan, you’re gonna love it. CLICK HERE to see the final version. Let me know what you think.

Artist vs. Artistry

Have you ever admired a painting or seen a movie or heard a song that you absolutely loved and then, when you later found out the artist/director/actor/singer had a moral flaw, your opinion of their art was somehow changed. I must admit, I have done this. But why?

Art is art. It’s a beautiful thing. God Himself is an artist. Look around you…art is everywhere. It’s in the flowers on a hillside that no human will ever explore, it’s in the colors of the sea life deep in the ocean, it’s in the galaxies that no human eye will ever see. Why did He create these things? Because they bring Him pleasure. That’s the purpose of art…to bring us pleasure.

People are people. We are all flawed. If you’re basing your approval of art on the artist’s degree of moral excellence, then please don’t ever watch any of the videos I’ve directed or produced. I am a flawed man. I have to bow before the Creator of the universe each day and thank Him that He is so merciful. If moral excellence is your guideline for appreciating art, you’ll never be able to watch any movies, listen to any music or admire any paintings…we are ALL flawed.

You should be able to separate the art from the artist. I’m just going to be honest here…many Christians have a real problem with this. We wind up living our lives in vacuums. We don’t watch the movies that non-believers watch or listen to the same music or go to the same plays. In John 17 Jesus prays, “The world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world. I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one…As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

That’s right, you’ve heard it before - we are not of the world, but we are in the world. And music, TV and movies are the language of our world today. If we don’t know how to speak their language, how are we expecting to reach those we are sent to reach?

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not advocating that this is a free pass for you to go and watch any movie you want or listen to any music regardless of its content. You have to be on guard about what you allow into your heart. After all…garbage in garbage out!

But instead of being so negatively focused on the art of flawed people, perhaps we should be praying for the artists who need to find Christ. And then, just maybe, once these artists realize their need for a Savior, they’ll offer up their talents as gifts for His glory and not their own.

The Walk

I’m working on a promo video for our upcoming middle school retreat “The Walk”.

Chris Forte, Keith Holloway, David Hobbs and I filmed on location last week in Coopertown, TN with our Student Ministry staff - Dave Paxton, Chad Crawford, Brandon James and Jeff Henry.

I’ve been editing this week and I’ll be shooting a few 2nd unit scenes this afternoon. The final video should be ready early next week, but you can get a sneak peek by clicking HERE.

Enjoy!

Read this later

I’ve been wanting to blog about this for a while, but I’ve kept putting it off until later. I guess later is here.

Procrastination. Now I’m not gonna preach at you because I’m just as guilty as you are. But I do want to talk about procrastinating in the production process.

“Pre-production, pre-production, pre-production” was the motto that James Ruddy drilled into our heads in a video production course at The Maine Media Workshops several years ago. I’ve shot and edited countless videos since then and his motto still holds true. The videos that I’ve taken the time to do the pre-production work for almost always turn out better.

You see, video production is typically deadline driven. The video needs to be done for a worship service or a banquet or as promo for an event..there’s always a deadline. When we put off the pre-production work, it usually ends up getting cut out of the process and we jump right into filming. When we do that, we miss the opportunity to think through the hundreds of details that we’ll need while we’re filming...and our filming suffers because of it.

So do yourself a favor...don’t procrastinate on your productions...the results will be worth the extra time and effort.

By the way, just in case you’re wondering - I’m gonna add a blog picture later.

Rocket science?

OK guys, let’s talk about how to use Twitter...and how NOT to use it. Twitter is all about creating a conversation. It can be a conversation about ministry, business, music or cupcakes. It really doesn’t matter what it’s about, it’s simply a way to share ideas. It is not a Magic 8 Ball. You cannot wave your magic Twitter wand and make it rain money from the sky.

Twitter is a networking tool. Here’s how you use it:

Connect to others - You do this by “following” people and by being “followed” by people. As you build your followership, you will build your circle of influence. You’ll be able to connect with more people through Twitter than you would in everyday life.
Share - “Tweet” (or post) your ideas, thoughts and messages. Remember to always be real and be honest. People can smell a phony a mile away. If you’re in ministry, tweet about ministry successes and failures. Others in ministry will begin to converse with you and share their successes and failures. If you’re in business, tweet about what your company’s doing or about a new product or service. Regardless of what you’re tweeting about, use it to build a buzz about your cause or product or service.
Get a response - Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, you may ask for a response. That response could be in the form of a reply, a visit to your blog or website, a sale or even a donation.

Once people are following and conversing with you, you have a platform. What you choose to do with that platform is up to you.

Now that you know a little about how to use Twitter, here are my suggestions on how NOT to use Twitter:

Don’t overpost - Nobody is interested in knowing every time you take a sip of coffee or every song you’re listening to on iTunes. Overposting will cause people to unfollow you.
Don’t be so negative - Nobody wants to read about how much you hate your boss or traffic or your computer. If you continually post negative comments, people will unfollow you.
Don’t be phony - I already said this, but it’s worth mentioning twice. If you’re posting JUST to get people to do something for you, they will unfollow you. Be genuine. People want to know who you are and what you’re all about. Once they feel like they have a connection with you, they will be much more willing to respond to you.

Here’s a good example of using Twitter effectively:
I know a couple who were in the process of adopting two sisters from Ethiopia earlier this year. They had been blogging about their journey for some time. They even had a PayPal link set up on their blog to accept donations. In April, they found out that their court date was being moved up by several months...they were going to get custody of their adopted children in a few weeks instead of a few months. They needed to raise a large amount of money for their final adoption and travel expenses.

We leveraged the networking power of Twitter by posting something like this: “Help give two orphans a forever family. Visit (their blog). Please retweet & update your Facebook status.” And that’s exactly what people did. They visited their blog, retweeted, updated their Facebook status and many of them donated. Because of the retweeting and Facebook status updating, their request spread to a huge number of people very quickly. Within 3 days, they had raised most of the money they needed for their expenses.

REMEMBER - I said earlier that Twitter is not a Magic 8 Ball...and I stand by that!

This would not have worked if they had not already been blogging and tweeting. Did you catch that...they were genuine. People already knew who they were and what they were about because they had been blogging and tweeting. People felt a connection to them, read their story and gave them donations.

Now, I’m not advocating that Twitter become a fund-raising platform...that’s just what worked in this situation. What I am saying is that Twitter is a powerful tool. But just like any other tool, you need to know how to use it for it to be effective.

Passionate people

This weekend, my wife and I visited with some of her family in Louisville, KY. It was a great weekend! The highlight of the weekend was attending the St. James Court Art Show where hundreds of artists displayed and sold their creative works. These were all people who are passionate about using their gifts and talents...and their passion shows.

Not all of us can paint a portrait or create a sculpture, but all of us are given gifts and talents by our Creator. Whether you’re an artist, a video editor, an accountant or a landscaper, God wants you to use the gifts He gave you to glorify Him.

I don’t know about you, but I want my passion to show.

Is print dead?

Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) released his new book The Lost Symbol on September 17. And for the first time ever, the e-book version of a new release title is outselling the hardcover edition (people.com).

This shift in print media is indicative of what’s happening across the board in media...C-H-A-N-G-E. The way people consume their media is evolving at a rapid pace. We’re no longer tied to the tube, waiting for the networks to broadcast our favorite shows. Now we DVR or download WHAT we want to watch and watch it WHEN we want to. Phil Cooke said in a recent blog post that “Bob Garfield, author of The Chaos Scenario predicts that within 5 years, one of the major 4 TV networks will drop out, maybe two”. That’s not surprising considering that the usage of the internet for broadcast purposes (YouTube, Tangle, blogs, etc.) is growing exponentially.

So what does that mean for those of us in media ministry? It means we either need to get on the bus or get left behind. If we keep the status quo, there will be nobody left to see or hear our message...they will have gotten on the bus themselves.

Tape ministry is dead. DVD/CD ministry is dying. Podcasting and internet broadcasting is where we need to be now, so that we’ll be ready for the next thing when it comes along...and trust me...IT IS COMING!