Giving Birth to a New Idea

We're in the early stages of a big project here at eleven72. It's called Come and See TV. And it promises to be a place that invites people from all walks of life to Come and See what Jesus is up to in the world, where He's living, how He's moving, and how He's using those willing in His church body to communicate His love. The idea comes from the Gospel of John, Chapter One, verses 35-46. Read it and you'll find two instances where the phrase is used. In the first instance, Jesus invites his first disciples to join Him on his journey, to come and see for themselves where He's living and what He's up to. In the second instance, it's used in response to the question of a skeptic, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" The answer, "Come and see."

A big element of the vision for Come and See is a series of videos about people from all walks of life who are passionately seeking after Christ. We've recently wrapped what we hope will become the first video of thousands in this series. Episode 1 is about a band called Rumor of Glory. It's about how their band and first album, "The Story" came to be. Here's a sneak peak of Come and See TV:

eleven72 World Headquarters - 4:30 PM CST

Thought you all might like to take a look around. You know, see where all the magic happens.

(Above) Lee kickin' it in Edit Suite #1, as in we have one Edit Suite


(Above) My workspace, etc. Featuring a drafting desk my dad made for my
sister in 1983. I rescued The Virgin from the dumpster outside our office.

(Above) Check out the killer big screen where we watch movies
on Monday mornings.

(Above) What's in the fridge? Nothing good, that's for sure.

New Easter Video In the House

We just finished and posted our latest Easter video, "The Cross: A Curse For Us?" We also posted some new Cross Stills that make great backgrounds for songs, Scripture slides and other text. Check out the video and let us know what you think:

New Easter Video Coming Soon...

We're working on an Easter video that I'm really excited about. It's a poem, read by this really great slam poet spoken word dude, set to some fantastic piano music, and backed up by high end HD footage of a cross. Did you get all that? Anyway, I know we're a little late to the Easter party with this one, but I'm really pleased with it nonetheless. Here's a still I took while shooting footage for the video (keep an eye out for some of these stills going up on the website):

Three Reasons Church Videos Help to Deliver a Powerful Easter Message

Easter is a big deal. Palm Sunday. Good Friday. Resurrection Sunday. These are seismic events in God's redemptive storyline. Add to that the fact that tons of people who aren't regularly in church are in church on Easter and you have a situation where, as a pastor or worship leader, you feel a great deal of pressure to deliver great services that powerfully reflect the Gospel of Christ. So what do you do?

Using video in your Easter services certainly won't solve all your problems, but church videos are what I know, and so I would like to give you a few reasons why I think using video can help to alleviate some of the pressure you feel to deliver powerfully at Easter.

Video...

1. Meets people where they are. You've heard it before but it’s worth repeating: We live in a visual culture. Incorporating video and other forms of visual media into your service will put people at ease, so they can settle in and prepare to hear the message. For example, starting the service with a funny clip is a great way to put the congregation at ease.

2. Connects emotionally. Video operates on an emotional level and provides you with a great tool for getting the congregation emotionally prepared to hear your message. Using a Sermon Illustration video is an excellent way to set up your message. The video you choose can illustrate one of your points, demonstrate a situation where people need to hear your message or raise questions that you can then deal with in your message.

3. Gives people space to reflect. Using video is also a great way to guide the congregation into a time of reflection and also helps focus them on the things you want them to reflect on. Use it to start the service to prepare their hearts for what they will hear. Use it during a special time in the service such as Communion to guide them through what you would have them reflecting on. Use it at the end of your message to give them space to think about and respond to what they've heard.

In all these ways and more, video provides you with a powerful tool to help do the most important thing at Easter" connect people to the life-changing message of Christ.

For God So Loved...
We just put up a new Easter video. Check it out:
You can find it on our website HERE

Have you surfed the new site?

I haven't been blogging very regularly for a number of reasons. A big one is that we were having a lot of trouble integrating the blog into our new website. I'm still not 100% happy with how the blog looks on the site, but we'll figure it out. I am, however, really happy with the new site (www.eleven72.com). I love the new design. More than that, I love that we finally have a solid shopping cart and customers are able to reliably get their downloads. I'd love to hear any impressions from you guys on the site, what are your impressions, how does it function, what are your likes or dislikes? We're getting ready to roll it out to our email list. We wanted to make sure it was working properly before we formally introducted it.

So I'm hoping to get back on the blogging train. Find some useful stuff to talk about. Etc.