Pine Hills

You Just Can't Create These Moments...

"Here we are now, entertain us..." Those words were coined in the early fall of 1991 by the late Kurt Cobain. The song, though written only in a matter of a few hours soon became the anthem to a population of young, unsatisfied and a seemingly disenfranchised generation. With an unforgettable sound combined with the rawness of its author’s voice, the song captured the hearts of youth all over the world who in loud proclamation demanded one thing...to be entertained.  

 

There is a question that weighs on the mind of every church leader. Whether conscious or subconscious, the question remains and emphatically demands an answer: How can we win more souls for Jesus? I believe in our attempt to answer this question, the church has become so fueled with creativity and being culturally relevant that we have empowered our weekend worship experience to entertain the crowd and ushered true worship out of the door.

We have become so engulfed in the idea that if people would just come to know Jesus then everything in their lives would systematically fall into place that we do everything we can to keep them engaged, and our only hope is that when they walk out of the service they ask themselves, “How did they do that?” Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that creativity is wrong and should not be used. Not at all! However, creativity is merely a tool that should be used to elevate Christ so people are drawn to Him. 

 

This past weekend I experienced a, “That’s gotta be the Holy Spirit” kind of moment. We planned our services with the same diligence as always and as the countdown hit zero the momentum was building underneath the swelling sound of the synthesizer. You want to know the truth? Well here it is: Give me the right band and the right crew around me, and I can hand deliver you a worship moment filled with praising hearts and tears. The rumbling of the drums timed with the movement in the lights will only begin to set the anticipation and as the electric guitar begins its powerful lead, the people are ready to go. Believe me, I’m not being arrogant, but if anyone knows music and understands people, then you know as well as I that it’s not that hard to entertain. The worship team is not leading to be entertaining….we have to understand this!

 

So what happened? We started the service in a creative but not so creative way. We read the Bible!!! No need to re-read that, you got it right the first time. As the music began we asked the people to get out their Bibles and stressed the importance of what we were doing.  We made it clear that reading the Bible together was important.

 

1 Peter 2:9-10

 

As we read together, the voices sounded like a well-tuned choir all reading in unison. During one of the worship songs we opened up the altar and asked people (if they felt lead) to come and pray. It was an amazing moment. The stairs coming up to the stage were full and there was an intense presence of the Holy Spirit. I walked towards the back of the stage and began to look out and it was almost overwhelming to see people kneeling before the cross pouring their heart out to their Savior. We didn’t plan for this in any of our service meetings, but something happened in that moment and the only thing I knew was that it had nothing to do with me or the music. The Holy Spirit was alive and it was evident. You just can’t create moments like this…..

 

For those of you who are leaders in your church and have the responsibility of crafting a weekend experience, I challenge you to keep in mind that the greatest moments we can share together is where people experience grace through the power of the Holy Spirit and they are moved to worship in truth and spirit. Spend some intentional time and ask yourself tough questions about whether your are entertaining or facilitating the movement of the Holy Spirit and teaching people to recognize the Holy moments where God is stirring our affection for Him!

The Grind...Live

A few weeks ago I blogged about the design we chose for our current series the Grind. In our opening week of the series we did a live drama that went along with a song to open up the series. The song we played was "Typical" by Mute Math. 

Whenever you have a live drama during a set, especially when music is involved, remember to have adequate lighting and that the lighting reflects the scene in the drama. In our case, we wanted a dark and intense feel. We didn't want people to recognize the actor but instead connect with his actions and his temperament. 

Check out the video to see what we did during the opening song!! If you have any questions email us at creativeresources@pinehillschurch.com

The Grind...Week 1

If your church has a creative team budget that is substantially bigger than most countries operating budgets it's easy to be creative! Well that might be too much of a blanket statement, so lets just say it can be easier. The challenge in being creative within the scope of a weekend service is to use the element to enhance the overall service, elevate God and worship Him. After all He is the author creativity. It should not be intended to show people how creative you or your church is. 

This past week we launched into our weekend series, "The Grind". The series is about each of lives our day to day lives finding a routine that works but in doing so we truly miss living. We wanted to go with something simple but yet emphasized the existence of day to day. We needed to do 3 things: 

Add Texture To The Stage

Create Depth On The Stage

Create A Relevant Design To Enhance The Theme

We did by doing a few things. The first thing we did was to bring out our black backdrop and cover the entire back wall. We also added our black stage extensions. In doing both of these we were able to create depth on our stage. This allowed us to have various instruments and staging elements at different places on the stage, and they would still be visible from any seat in the sanctuary.

In addition, we were able to add texture by hanging our scrims again. We have not used our scrims in over 5 months which was an indicator that it might be time to bring them out again. The scrims can be expensive depending on your budget, but we got ours from a company called Rosebrand. (www.rosebrand.com) With the scrims being the only thing white on the stage we were able to use them to project colored lights onto. For the sake of this service we went with the color purple because it matched our graphic. (Note - When color matching it is always a good thing to coordinate with any graphics you are using. This is never a standard rule but we have found that consistency across the board is very effective.) 

Texture on the stage can be done in various ways, and another way we did it was to add a 4x8 stage riser towards the back center of the platform. On top of this we put an 8x8 board made out of 1/4 inch plywood. This board as well as the two walls on the side of the stage were covered with newspaper. The two side ones had the series name painted in red, while the center one had a few sentences describing the theme of the series. We went with red paint and the newspaper because it not only was metaphorical and symbolic to life but it also added great texture. All of these elements put together were very inexpensive. We actually only spent money on the newspaper, as all the other things we used we re-cycled from materials we had used before. Remember, you don't have to break your back or budget by going over the top. Keep it simple and people will remember it. 

In our next blog we will show you what we did with the newspaper during our opening song. It was done pretty well and people got a lot out of it!!

Nirup

An Inside Look...

Sermon ideas come in all shapes and sizes and from all directions.  Here's an inside look how I came to our current series as well as some study sources and techniques I use on a regular basis. 

PM

Want To Know A Secret? Hey Do I Know You - Week 1

One of the greatest things a truly creative person can do is to create the illusion that their idea is completely original. If we were to be totally honest with ourselves, we know that almost nothing these days is original. Rather, we have recycled, re-used, and re-formatted our own past creations or tweaked the creations of others. Here's a little secret I am going to let you in on, and I do this with great cynical fear of being chastised by the creative community; creativity happens in times of desperation!!! A few years ago, as a college student, I had the privilege of working with a couple of my friends; we would bring in national acts who were touring to have concerts on campus. During one such event, we brought in an act who was supposed to bring in its own lighting set up. Unfortunately, they did not and although this would not have normally been an issue, this particular event was being held in a gymnasium. I don't think I have to tell you the lighting situation in most gymnasiums. In a time of complete creative desperation, I asked two people working the event to run to every dorm room they could and to borrow any lamp they could find. The result was serendipitous, to say the least. What we had effectively done was create an intense, introspective setting which completely added to the music being performed. We weren't trying to be creative. We had a problem, and we had to fix it; but our solution would resurface years later in a much more intentional design. *On a side note while watching The Fray concert a few months ago, I saw the same set up....I have no written proof that this was my idea, but I believe I can trace back their stage setup to what we did. However, that is neither here nor there, and I fear my logic behind it would take us down a road that would only lead to utter emotional, creative heartbreak and eventual tears....let us not digress. 

STAGE DESIGN

This past Sunday we launched into what will be a six-week series called "Hey Do I Know You". The character of this series is an intense look at the pursuit of God. Usually our Sunday Morning Experience is upbeat, seemingly off-the-cuff and energetic, but beginning this particular Sunday we wanted to change the feel completely. I was having some trouble thinking about what to do with our stage, and my mind was taken back to what we were able to do a few years ago. Rather than force anything, I used another secret creative people won't tell you; use what worked before! (Note: Don't overuse ideas or they lose their effectiveness. Also remember that we are using the same idea with two different audiences. People are smart...don't let your re-used idea be seen as laziness or lack of effort.)

We designed the stage by covering it with a variety of lamps. This created a very intense and dramatic look. Worship is a multi-sensory experience, and, although it is not vital to create elaborate settings, it can very much add to the feel of the room. What made this work was the fact that it was simple. Simple creativity can go a long way. The lamps on stage generate a simple yet powerful shift in the attitudes and emotions of people. We were able to allow the congregation to feel calm, yet there was a sense of anticipation as they walked in and saw the intense setup. 

One of the keys to doing this stage setup is to not overdue it with the lamps. A few can be pointless and too many becomes tacky. The lamps are just one simple aspect of the service. They add a lot, but we don't want them to become distracting and take away from the overall worship experience. Another key is also to allow the lamps to generate the light on stage. You can even use a few colored light bulbs, but only use a few. We used six, which was a good amount for the number of lights we had on stage. Keep in mind that lamps are not very powerful; do not pull the regular stage lighting too high, and keep the lighting lower over the audience. The lamps are the last thing to be set up. First decide where all the instrumentalists and vocalists will be standing, then set up the lamps. This will make sure that the worship team has enough room, and it will also help the lamps be more effective. Again, remember, the lamps are to bring out the mood and enhance the overall experience; the moment they become distracting, they are not being used for their original purpose and should be taken down. Simple creativity is the key. If you have the capability to hook up all the lights so they turn on at the same time, it is a great advantage!!! I realize that not everyone has this ability, but, as hard as you can try, plug in all the lights to turn on together. This makes the service more seamless, and if you do any drama or other creative elements during the service, the lights allow God to take center stage. 

Nirup Alphonse

Facebook

For those of you on facebook who have friends who are pastors, ministry leaders, creative designers, photographers, videographers, church leader or worship leaders who do not attend Pine Hills Church: We are creating a new blog which gives away everything we do. Share this with anyone. They can go direct to the blog also. www.imagine-revolution.typepad.com

New PHC Creative Blog

So every week I get an email, phone call or facebook question on how we do what we do in our services every week. Having spent much time answering many of the same questions, we decided it was time to share with any and everyone some of the things we do. We don't claim to be the leader or the trend setter, nor do we aspire to be. Rather we are a local church that has been blessed with talented people and resources and we want to make what we do accessible to others who can benefit.

We are starting a new series this Sunday called "Hey Do I Know You". Make sure to check the blog and share it with anyone you know who is a pastor, creative arts leader, ministry leader, worship leader or pastor or producer.

Nirup Alphonse

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! :)