Sunday, September 7th marked The Crossing’s very first week of The Story series–a currently popular sermon series based on the book of the same title, which is essentially an abridged, novel-esque version of the Bible that is easy to understand and study.  As the creative team, our goal is always to effectively and creatively support the theme of the message, and the brainstorming around this particular weekend was no different–the main theme centered around the story of creation, and so we wanted to find an attention-grabbing way for that to be communicated! Keep reading to see if you think we were successful…

Buttermilk…a word that has rarely even come out of my mouth, let alone to be used in the context of…painting?  Fun fact:  a layer of buttermilk is great for turning a clear/see-through surface opaque, and as is often the case in our creative team meetings, a fact that was mysteriously stumbled upon in the quest for a way to make, essentially:  1) a giant, mobile projection screen on stage that could 2) be interacted with during 3) an emotionally-moving, live instrumental piece 4) while being narrated by an inspirational voice over.  Simple!  Once we had established that as “the plan” for the creative element of the service, execution began to take place.  Buttermilk was purchased and tested as “paint”; three 8’x4′ sheets of clear plexiglass were purchased and installed in a custom-built, rolling metal frame (thank You, Lord, for skilled and willing volunteers!); the back-projection of carefully selected time-lapse images of creation was tweaked and practiced to near-perfection; the musical piece (the song “We Will Run” by the band Gungor, including a three minute instrumental overture that’s on one version of the song) was adjusted and precisely timed (as well as expertly rehearsed by our amazing team of volunteer musicians); the voice over was written and recorded to match the projected images, which were brought to life live onstage by a charismatic painter who didn’t mind enduring buttermilk-splatter as we rehearsed the piece over and over.  If this sounds like it was an over-the-top undertaking, that’s because it WAS!  Below are a few links/resources to some of the specific elements of the whole piece; check back soon for links to related posts where I will further break down the process/”secrets” of some of the elements!

 

Link to a Youtube video of the piece in its entirety:

 http://youtu.be/oaaMGhHNUwQ?list=UUrz_tJvbmVPml5vgNTGiBEQ 

 

“We Will Run” by Gungor –  YouTube Video

Order of Service: