Skeptics Wanted: Week 1 (April 23, 2017)

Easter was huge for us this year! Almost 10k people and over 185 baptisms! See our recap video here:

As we hit our first Sunday after Easter, we entered into a new series for Skeptics – we wanted to have a strong service for any returning from Easter eager to dive in. But how do non-skeptics reach out to those that are genuinely skeptical? We felt that the best way would be to hear the story from someone that was once a skeptic, someone that struggled big time with the idea of a all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God of the universe. This search for someone laded us with Dan Ward. Dan currently serves with us on staff, but there was a time where the thought of attending church, let alone working in a church would have broke Dan out in hives. He was not just a skeptic, but one that actively and somewhat agressively attempted to discourage faith in others.

Then we wrestled with a song choice… was there a song that spoke about skepticism that would fit Dan’s story? After a lot of searching, we landed on John Mayer’s “Something’s Missing” off of his Heavier Things album.

Here’s the lyrics:

I’m not alone
I wish I was
‘Cause then I’d know I was down because
I couldn’t find a friend around
To love me like they do right now
They do right now

I’m dizzy from the shopping mall
I searched for joy, but I bought it all
It doesn’t help the hunger pains
And a thirst I’d have to drown first to ever satiate

Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
Something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is
No I don’t know what it is
At all

When autumn comes
It doesn’t ask
It just walks in where it left you last
You never know when it starts
Until there’s fog inside the glass around
Your summer heart

Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
Something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is
No I don’t know what it is
At all

I can’t be sure that this state of mind
Is not of my own design
I wish there was an over-the-counter test
For loneliness
For loneliness like this

Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
Something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is
No I don’t know what it is

Something’s different
And I don’t know what it is
No I don’t know what it is

Friends
(Check)
Money
(Check)
A well slept
(Check)
Opposite sex
(Check)
Guitar
(Check)
Microphone
(Check)
Messages waiting on me when
I come home
(Check)

How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries?
What do you think it means

How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries?

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The theme of something missing gave one of us the idea of a large puzzle with someone trying to find that missing piece. What if we had a puzzle made with images of daily life on it (family, work, etc) and had someone trying to fit these pieces together? This idea was then combined with the Dan Ward story. What if why he’s telling his story, he does the puzzle pieces? We created a 50 piece large puzzle(through Portrait Puzzles, available on line) from an image we created, set up a time to shoot, and started production.

————

Here’s a time-lapse of our video shoot:

https://youtu.be/riH60KeIR60

Here’s the final product:

https://youtu.be/j4su4IgP-HA

We played Dan’s story in the room and then went straight into the song “Something’s Missing” as a set up for the message.