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Top 12 Secrets to Making Great Song Presentations

Posted by jason on
Aug 19 2011
media, Video, Worship
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Okay, so I’ve been thinking about what makes a great song presentation for the services I plan and these are some tips I came up with when creating song presentations for your service using your favorite presentation software:

Background Choices:

Shift Worship

One of my Favorite Backgrounds from Shift Worship

You want to choose carefully the backgrounds you use for a song. Although it’s tempting to put flowing water behind the song “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” resist with all your heart. Continue reading →

Diary of a Faith Connector User, Part 3

Posted by jason on
Jun 13 2011
Communication, Faith Connector, Marketing, Technology
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Diary of a Faith Connector User, Part 3

Faith ConnectorStill working on the content for the Heartlands Church Site.  However, it’s looking great and it’s coming along well.  We’re really excited about some of the functionality that the FaithConnector Platform provides.  We are hoping to launch this coming Saturday, June, 18th.

As always, we are so thankful for the helpful staff at FaithConnector.  They are always ready with an email response or even taking our phone calls, if need be.  It’s been a great experience, so far.  I’m looking forward to our launch and getting the site in the hands of our members and seeking people in Lincoln, Ne.

ManChurch Promo #2 – Heartlands Church

Posted by jason on
Apr 25 2011
Examples, Marketing, media, Video
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A man and his daughter’s boyfriend out for some obligatory “quality time.”  Watch as they discover together the joy of creative play.  This promo is for ManChurch, a ministry of Heartlands Church, in Lincoln, Nebraska.  The kickoff event for Manchurch will be held May 1st at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Christian School Gym.  Check it out!

ManChurch Promo #1 – Heartlands Church

Posted by jason on
Apr 22 2011
Examples, Marketing, media, Video
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Okay, so Heartlands is putting on this thing called ManChurch.  It’s at 6 p.m. at the Lincoln Christian Auditorium on 84th & Old Cheney.

They wanted 3 promos that expressed the masculinity that will be on display at this event.  We didn’t have a lot of time or money, so we came up with a few concepts that were easy to shoot and pretty easy to edit and didn’t take a lot of money.  Here’s the first one, there’ll be more to follow!

Diary of a Faith Connector User, Part 2

Posted by jason on
Apr 02 2011
Faith Connector, Technology
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Faith ConnectorSo, we picked a theme (design 103) and once you do that, you’re emailed a “design worksheet.”  It’s actually a great way to flesh out how you want your site to look.  While you’re doing that they install the site in a subdomain on their host and provide you with login credentials so you can start adding content.

Trent, Jim and I sat down in my studio and began to fill out the sheet.  It asks questions about color choices and button titles, mainly.  If you don’t know your RGBs from your hexadecimals (color codes) then you might want to invite someone who’s savvy in the area of graphic design or website development to help you out.  Look to your logo (if you have one) for color scheme ideas.  Think this through some.  Do you want a masculine looking site?  Do you want to feel urban…or country?  What type of people are you hoping to attract?  I know, you’re probably saying “Well, Jason, everyone needs the Lord!”  I know, but, remember, God has placed your church in a very specific place with a very specific group of people to reach out to another very specific group of people.  Embrace it.  It’s your mission.

You also have to choose whether you want to provide photos for the static imagery on the site (i.e. rollover buttons, visitor buttons, etc.) or if you want them to use stock photos.  We opted for the stock photos for now.  However, later we’re going to want to replace these photos with our own, but that will come at a slight expense for their programming time.  These images do not include what they call the “Flashbox” or any images you would like to place in the body of your content or photo galleries.

I made a phone call to the head office of Faith Connector and asked them a few questions.  They were, again, more than helpful, courteous and ready to offer suggestions.  They gave me image dimensions should we decide to provide images and had as much time as I wanted to take to feel confident in our decisions.

We are working through some logo designs right now, so we have tabled the design worksheet.  We’ll be turning it in soon and I can’t wait to see this site take shape.  So far, so good!

Leading Worship – A talk with Shane Coffman and Gary Bruce

Posted by jason on
Mar 24 2011
Worship
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I’m at the Tulsa Workshops and attending “For Worship Leaders Only – More than a Song.”  Shane has been leading worship at Memorial Drive church for the last 5 years.  Gary is at Quail Church.  Today, we’re talking about leading worship.

What are the qualities you feel are important for a worship leader?

Some to consider would be relational qualities might be:

  • Spiritual Maturity
  • Patience
  • Humility
  • Conflict Resolution Skills
  • Don’t Take Things Too Personally

To be a good leader you have to be in relationship with the people you are leading.  You have to be in clear conscience and live in peace.  It doesn’t mean you have to agree, but you have to have relationship.  God tends to work in 40 year increments.  Do you have that kind of patience?  As worship leaders, it is vital to be patient and humble.  It is easy to get boastful or to have your ego inflated in this position.  Conflict resolution is important because people will disagree with what you do at some point.  Your ability to manage that and maintain the relationship will make you an effective leader.  If you’re up there leading and all a person can see is the words that you have spoken to them in haste, they will not see or worship God.  It hurts when someone complains or expresses something that cuts you it will discourage you over the long haul.  You have to be able to not take things too personally.

Work to have a heart of confession and humility.  Trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross.  Throw out guilt and anxiety and remember that Christ has done it all.  Put the people you are leading first.  Put yourself on the edge of heaven.  Picture the beauty and the glory and the worship, the scenes of bliss.  Have a constant sense of God’s abiding presence.  Confess and do not keep secret sins in your life.

Gary walked us through several hymn titles and used them to illustrate the qualities of a worship leader.

The character and the heart of the leader is so important.  The relationship is critical to leading a group in worship.  Guard your relationship with God and seek relationship with those whom you lead.

I apologize for the fragmented nature of this post, I’m just taking notes on the meeting, thought you all would like to see them.