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December 31st, 2009, posted in Christ, art, creativity, culture, me

In the new year I’m rethinking what to do with avclub. Don’t fret, I’ll keep it running. But over the past several years it’s evolved. Doesn’t every blog? Maybe that’s because blogs are personal and driven by the whims of their author. And authors change over time. Regardless, I’ve noticed over the past several months (or even the past full year) a lot of what the avclub has become is a regurgitation of information I find notable or inspirational. Some of that will continue. But I may begin to trade recycled content (and the frequency) for some more thought through ideas. This may mean I post less, but with more planning.

I’ve never been a big fan of blogs with lots and lots of words. Maybe it’s my short attention span, or the fact that I peruse around 150 sites a day (and in those volumes you have to become a scanner). Regardless, I’d like to tell more of a story; and utilize video, image, and hand-drawn scribble. Let me show you what’s inspiring me, or maybe (and more interestingly) show you the results of my inspiration. So let’s see where this goes.

Christmas media

December 24th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, video

Here are a few things the team assembled for the Christmas Eve services. Adam (and crew, be sure to check out the liner notes on our Vimeo page) made this delightful opener in conjunction with Jesse Fisher of Kadence.tv.

And I put together this little promo for our upcoming 10th anniversary services.

noise.

December 9th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, video

This past Sunday Perry had a point he wanted to make concerning the noise we have in our life. Sometimes you can’t hear God for all of the noise. So he had us compose this little piece. The way it worked: when Perry began his point we fired the video. We keyed out the green, so where you see the green you saw live video. As the piece builds we pull down his volume.

Point made. I thought it was pretty effective.

Home for Christmas (series video elements)

December 7th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, video

It’s the holiday season, and that means a new freshly minted Christmas series for us at NewSpring. After several brainstorms with many heads coming together we collectively landed on the idea of a shot piece for the series packaging.

The aim was for a series that was a little warmer and human, something that really touched on the concept of the invitation. Home is warm, home is inviting, you can always go home. And then to carry the story a little further we opted to build first half of the story into the 5:00 counter that begins the services. (so hey, if you missed it this week get there early next Sunday to watch the entire piece).

This is a first for us, composing a shot story into the series open, then extending the story earlier into the service. My favorite part of the process was watching every person on the production team contribute a hand. That may be one of my greatest joys of the holiday season, media-wise.

SERIES COUNTER

SERIES OPEN

Outdoor projections

November 21st, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, tech

I really dug the outdoor projections at Dirt provided by Visual Worshiper. Take a look here.

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End Times Promo

September 21st, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, video

I should also direct you to Adam’s post, etc. He did a beautiful job on this piece.

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Dirt Conference remix contest

September 15th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture

The following is an official posting. The Dirt Conference is holding a video remix contest with some pretty sweet prizes. Read the official post here.

– OFFICIAL COPY BELOW –
Just to refresh your memory, the contest will be run as follows:

1. We will give away a pair of tickets to whoever makes the best dirt mashup video of their own.
2. They can download raw video footage of each person we interviewed.
3. That includes Dino Rizzo, Greg Surratt, John Seibling, Kellen Coldiron, Daniel Gonzales, Kristen Becnel, Randy Bezet, Joe Champion, Stovall Weems and a whole lot more.
4. Post their own video on vimeo and their blog…and also give us a link and we’ll judge all the videos and give away tickets the last week of September.
5. They can use whatever effects or music they want.

The contest starts today and will end on October 1.

The files for the contest can be found here:

(Sample footage (4.7 MB))

Remix Kit (140.9 MB)

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5 lies of the devil – series package

August 31st, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, design

For our current series, 5 lies of the devil, we decided to try a little something new. The idea behind the package was “devil vs. TRUTH,” similar to Spy-vs-Spy of yesteryear. The series package ended up quite suitable to DSKs and logo graphics due to the textured environments built within After Effects.

Joshua provided a great assortment of “devil parts” for me to animate, including the “devil jet” featured in the open and the yet-to-be-seen “devil crane,” which unfortunately had to be cut due to time limitations.

[SERIES OPEN]

[SERIES PROMO]

[SERIES COUNTER]

[LOGO, TREATED]
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[MESSAGE TITLE SLIDE]
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[TEXTURE BACKDROP]
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Portable NewSpring

August 19th, 2009, posted in Christ, culture

“But wait, I thought you were in a building, now?” That may be true for our Anderson campus, but we spent six years doing setup/teardown and we’re quite familiar with the portable church method. In fact, our Greenville and Florence campuses perform this setup nearly every week. Would you like a sneak peek into what it takes to make it happen? Kevin, our video producer over at the Greenville campus, shot this timelapse the other day. Praise God for this swarm of volunteers who make this happen.

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Unleash 2010

August 11th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture

Great job, Adam, on the Unleash 2010 promo. Others are coming, won’t you come?

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Echo conference

July 30th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture

I don’t have long, got to head back to the Echo Conference. But for those of you watching at home (or via the #echo09 twitter hash tag) it’s been very informative and inspiring. By far my favorite moment so far was the keynote of Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales and Jelly Telly. I took great notes; maybe I’ll condense them for you later.

I did want to include some personal visuals, stuff you won’t see on their site, that I’ve particularly enjoyed.

It all started with this gentle reminder of technologies’ past.
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I love the warmth of Watermark Church’s beautiful facility.
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… And the fact they gave me Starbucks. And let me take it inside the auditorium.
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Here’s a little pre-show electronic doodling going on before the first keynote.
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…And the suppertime BBQ frenzy. I’ll say this, those Echo folk sure know how to feed us well.
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I’ll leave you with this thought from John Dyer’s breakout on Using Technology without letting Technology use you: The use of technology will change you, or shape you. You get to decide if that shaping is for your betterment.

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Digital Bible Journal

July 20th, 2009, posted in Christ, design, me, tech

I frequently rave about Evernote. Amidst the plethora of computer based applications out there it’s one of my favorite services that exists. It’s billed as an “anti social application,” or something like that. In a world of Google Docs and Twitter where everything is meant to be public Evernote is structured to be internal. It’s a place for all of your information, easily accessible, easily searchable.

Here’s how I use it for my quiet time journal. I use this from my iPhone, a paper Bible, from my laptop, or from another computer.

Benefits of this workflow:
- Access to your journal (both input and output) everywhere
- Search. Ever think “what was that verse I read on anger?” Now you can find it.
- Backup. Because it’s stored at Evernote, you won’t misplace your journal.

Typically I use YouVersion.com as my Bible. I occasionally use a hard copy Bible (especially if I’m journaling from my iPhone).

In Evernote, I create a notebook called “Journal.” Each month, I create a new note called “July 2009 notes,” changing according to the date. This way I have a grouping of notes by month.

For each day, I create the entry like this:
“date” – “scripture for the day” (ie. 7/17 – Psalm 73). This way I have the date referenced, and regardless which Bible I pick up I have my place marked. This gives me flexibility in my routine.

How you notate is up to you. I keep all my notes in plain text (no Bold, italics, etc.). I do this primarily because the iPhone only lets you append info to the end of a note with that has formatting (you can’t edit into the middle of the note). I typically quote scriptures, and include verses referenced like (3) or (v4-10) so I can figure out what I was referring to later on, then add the thoughts that God shows me in and around the scripture clippings.

I’ve been using this technique since fall of last year and have really stuck to it. For me I’ve always struggled with paper based journaling. Doing it this way allows me to stay with a workflow I’m already using with everything elsee. Sidenote: I also use this “Journal” notebook for any sermon notes or conference notes I take. That way this information is all in the same location and easily retrievable.

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Ordination 2009 notes

July 9th, 2009, posted in Christ

Tonight, we attended the NewSpring ordination service. It was awesome, always is. Perry brought the challege strong. Here are my notes, minimally edited, taken directly in Evernote.

–
5 questions of self examination.

2 Corinthians 4

Why do we do what we do?

1 – Am I obsessed with his mercy or my ministry?

- “it takes more than prayer to make a crop grow”
- laziness and loss of focus.
- you don’t have a job, you have a ministry.
- A job is where you seek to do the least to gain the most. Ministry is where you sacrifice yourself daily.

2 – Am I being careless or cautious?
(v2) – renounced secret, shameful ways.
- is there anything in my private life that would disqualify me from ministry?

WATCH
- your marriage, be a husband first. be planned, intentional. HOW? Ask your spouse “what about our marriage would you change?”
- Morality. Be legalistic about setting boundaries.
- Money. Guard yourself.
- Walk in a consistent attitude of confession and repentance.
- Don’t think every scripture is for someone else, realize that God is speaking to you.

3 – Am I obsessed with his word or my word?
- Our theology must drive our methodology.
- Spend time daily with God.

Reasons people distort the Word
A – they don’t know it.
B – they don’t like it.

“If I’m not hearing the word of God, I’ll have an unfruitful ministry”

If we get away from the Word, we eventually won’t hear his voice

4 – Am I a fighter or a flake? (v3), (v4)

Spiritual Warfare
- supernatural. it’s real. But don’t glorify Satan by giving it more attention than it deserves.
- natural.

A – critics (subtle, “sounds too loud”), if you need the affirmation of your people, you lose. If you need people then you can’t lead people. Honor the one who called you.
B – conformity.
C – clock. “if I put in more time it’ll get better.”. ministry of presence, ministry of absence.
D – control.

5 – Am I making much of Him or much of me?
(v5-6)
- The temptation is for others to see how cool you are.
- Remember we have this ministry because of God’s mercy.

- our passion is to be a servant, not to be innovative.

- This church is not dependent on our creativity, but on our obedience.

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Kenya video

July 8th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture, video

The standout piece from this past Sunday in my mind is this video, built by Will Rodes, that tells the story of our most recent mission trip to Kenya. Nicely shot by Will half way around the world.

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9 years

May 20th, 2009, posted in Christ, me

Today, my beautiful Meg and I celebrate 9 years of marriage. You can read her thoughts here. They say when time flies you’re having fun; that could not be truer. It literally seems like yesterday that I was waking up for the last time at my parent’s house, going to workout with my bro (yes, I lifted the morning of my wedding. Some people play golf, some hit the iron), cruising by the reception hall with Dad to check on things, hanging out with the groom’s men, verifying the wouldn’t embarrasses me (unless you call handing me condoms as they walked down the aisle… in front of my grandparents embarrassing), and eventually watching the most beautiful sight ever to grace my field of vision join me down the aisle. That day my life changed forever for the better.

Meg, you are the one God chose for me, and for that I am eternally grateful.

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How to Stop Dealing With Someone Else’s Lateness

May 20th, 2009, posted in Christ, culture

I came across this article today on Lifehacker concerning lateness and how to deal with others who are perpetually late. I believe the first step (below), says it all. Well written. And what a personal challenge to myself as well to play out Philippians 2:3 as a real life example.

Step 1

Call it what it is – a respect issue. When it comes right down to it, that’s what it’s all about. Why is your time any less valuable than your friend’s? Why should you put up with a lack of respect for your valuable time? The answer is, you should not. Your friend saying, “I’m so sorry, I’m so busy, I had to etc.,” should not fool you. What your friend is really saying is, “What I was doing was more important to me than the fact that I knew you were waiting for me.” That’s disrespectful, rude, and wrong. There are no excuses to justify this kind of behaviour, and you need to make your friend clear on that.

*** UPDATE – this post is ultimately ironic as I was late for a meeting today. But I did call and apologize and will make it up. So there. ***

The Gospel, series open

April 13th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, video

NewSpring’s Easter series is about The Gospel. For the opener, we decided to help define the term The Gospel, which may or may not be obvious to some, and give it context from Perry’s talks over the next several weeks.

The Gospel open from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

The idea for the opener was inspired by FOX’s current network branding, living in typography and bold statements about the subject matter. We decided to add contrast to Joshua’s clean-line typography style by incorporating a local pastor, shot by Adam on green screen, and mixed some of his improv sermon lines and a script Adam wrote to fit the series topics. In the end, I love the interplay of words, imagery, and music to feel both “old” and “new” school. Thanks to Pastor James Clark from Wilson Calvary Baptist Church here in Anderson, SC, for his help on this piece.

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“but we don’t have the money” – Brad Barbour

April 6th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity

I love Brad’s ingenuity and thoughts on this post. I believe he best sums it up in this line:

So quit your complaining and get creative! Maybe if God sees he can trust you with the little, he’ll trust you with more!

Being at NewSpring since the start I remember the days of mobile, of setup and teardown each week. I remember when the dollars to purchase a new projector lamp was a stretch. New computers weren’t an option, and my Duron processor was a 600 MHz. I appreciate reading words like this because they encourage me to never lean on the crutch of “oh we’ll just buy this, or if we could only get that.”

Thanks, Brad, for a great tangible reminder.

Benefit of Springing forward

March 8th, 2009, posted in Christ

Grumble, grumble. Early, early. Today was the day we lose an hour of sleep. One great side benefit… We get to see this as we’re walking around the building. Yes, thanks God.