religion sucketh

I hate to sound like a broken record, but man! When it comes to camera work, editing, etc., North Point Community Church
and her satellites just have everyone else schooled.

I know, North Point didn’t get there overnight; but I’ve seen churches with the same or more resources to pull from and they still look like something I would see on the local Christian TV station at 2am. In addition, a lot of the techniques used at North Point aren’t rocket surgery – it’s just letting talented people do their thing and use the gifts God has given them.

But the real reason I admire North Point is they put it all out there for everyone to see. Successes, failures, etc., doesn’t matter. If other churches can learn from them, then it’s available, and usually for free.

Anyways, here is the video that is the finished product; for the full story behind the production of this spot (which was used in their 10B4 video announcements), click here.

North Point LIVE Interview from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Yesterday was the official launch of Four Points Church.

Yes, this weekend was hectic. 

We paid to get into Pickett’s Mill Elementary a day early, so Saturday night we set everything up and let the band rehearse. That’s when problem numero uno presented itself: apparently one of our VGA cables decided it wanted that projector to be in sepia tone. Considering it was after 8:00 at night and no store carries 150′ VGA cables anyways (we had to special order both of ours), we were pretty much screwed. I won’t go into details, but we ran with one projector in sepia. But thanks to everyone who helped me in trying to find a solution.

So, Sunday morning came and things were going well; except of course for the projector. At 9:55 the band started into Depravity (John Mayer’s Gravity rewritten). And they sounded great – until about halfway through the song when we tripped a breaker. Luckily, the amps were still running, so the guitars could still be heard. They stalled long enough to get the breaker fixed. Then, what I consider the most awesome part of service; the band went into Jesus Paid It All and even above our volume levels I could hear the audience singing and worshipping. I’ve heard that at conferences and megachurches, but never at a church I’ve been a part of. That was awesome.

We followed up with a video history of Four Points that I shot and edited. Pretty sweet considering I was working with a handycam and iMovie. 

Brent started part one of Losing My Religion. Pretty cool message. I’m gonna post what I have on iTunes; for some reason there was interference for the first half of the message, but it’s still good.

All in all, great launch service. Last count I heard was 140 people, which is double our usual attendance. That’s awesome.

J

I’m a geek, especially when it comes to music. And while there are several companies that make some pretty good mixing consoles, I tend to lean towards a select few. So this teaser kind of intrigues me. Midas introduced their first digital console, the XL8, two years ago. To the best of my knowledge it has gotten rave reviews from all who have used it.

Act II Teaser

J

**UPDATE**

For those who wish to see this service click here and then click ALL ACCESS. You can watch the service in either Windows Media (BOO) or Flash. Also, make sure you silence or pause the site’s audio track. For some reason, it keeps playing even while service audio is playing.

Ya know, living in a major metro area, I may have to put up with things like increased traffic, but it definitely has its perks. Let’s face it, Charlie Hall and Dan Kimball ain’t gonna be in Monroe, LA ANYTIME soon (if ever). Yet both were at 7|22 tonight.

And yes, I’m still a geek. Had to get a pic of the Venue console they use at Buckhead Church.

J

Mom and I visited Buckhead Church tonight. For those that don’t know, it’s a satellite of North Point. As one person described it, “Definition of a mega-church? 3,000 people show up to a church where they watch the pastor deliver his sermon via video because the main church is 30 minutes away and full”.

Yup.

Awesome experience though. Really inspiring as a church planter to see young churches that are doing so well. North Point is less than 15 years old, and they have two (yeah, 2) sanctuaries (3 services in each) at their main campus in Alpharetta, plus Buckhead Church in Atlanta and Browns Bridge in Cumming. I could go on and on about everything there, but you really have to experience it for yourself. Even though it is huge, it feels as intimate as my church. The people are all friendly and I caught myself conversing with people without even knowing their names. So it is possible to have a mega-church where you are more than “just a number”. And I gotta give props to worship leader Carlos Whittaker (look in my blogroll for Ragamuffin Soul). First off, dude has sleeves. I love that! But, as the production guy at my church, I rarely get a chance to just stand back and worship. I mean, I love what I do, and I believe God has called me to production and music ministry, but every now and then it is nice to go to a place and not have to worry about the sound or video or whatever, and just worship. And Carlos and his band came with their A game. They were prayed up and ready to lead us in worship.

Then they had two baptisms, which was really cool. Each person gave a video testimony and they was baptised.

Finally, we got to see part three of “Letters to the Next President”.
Yup, Andy Stanley on a giant, HD screen, center stage.
Really good message too.

But there is one thing I can’t leave out: they opened service with a Beatles cover band. Full-on “mop top” costumes and wigs, even down to matching suits and the bass player even had a lefty bass shaped like a stand up bass, just like Paul McCartney! Anyways, they performed “Revolution” and nailed it. And the camera shots were projected in black and white on the screens; little things like that are what make it special.

Anyways, all-in-all, great service.

J

P.S.
Added two pics from Buckhead I found online to give you guys an idea of what it looks like. Looks huge (it is), but the seating is really intimate. You don’t realize you’re sitting amongst 3,000 people. And, as a geek, I love that the FOH booth is on the main floor, so the FOH engineer hears exactly what the majority of the congregation hears.