As we continued our Encounters series we integrated two elements into our weekend experience.  The theme of the weekend centered around the obstacles that those who are believers or “connected” to Christ often put in place that leave the disconnected, well…disconnected. As we have been working through the gospel of Mark, this weekend landed on the narrative where Jesus enters the outer court of the temple and starts tossing over tables of those who were “benefiting” from those wanting to enter the temple area.

This became the setting for two elements:

1. We combined a video we called “Christian Girl” video inspired by a true You Tube video of the same genre. We skewed the video a bit too match the unique topics of the morning and shot in a local coffee shop. The young lady in  the video we “borrowed” from another local church because we specifically wanted someone who was unrecognizable to those in our church.  It was an easy shoot.
   1. We ran the video as a full-screen loop alongside the live performance of “More Heart, Less Attack” by NeedtoBreathe. Our band executed the song with a banjo included. Because of the featured video loop, we lighted accordingly and focused individuals on the words written on the cards.
   2. Note: Because we were timing the video to the song, our video team made the decision to shoot the card video at a solid pace and then speed it up or down at rehearsal to match song as performed live. This worked perfectly.

1. As a prop, we integrated an actual road barricade into our message. This served as a visual reminder and also as a placeholder for visuals used during the message.

One final key note.  To draw it all together we had our communicator transition into his message by using the “card effect” as a start. It created a moment of TENSION that blended all of our elements together and kicked off the message with a pop.  This is a strong bonus to our normal message start.  Though not always a reality, it worked in this situation.

Learnings:

• Sometimes our speakers transition lines can actually be more intentional if we pay attention to the set up and plan accordingly.
• When creating tension, be very aware of the needed resolve. Tension is powerful unless it is left to detached from the message presented. Treat tension with care.