Worship Media Arts

Like so many others, I was shocked at the news of Steve Job’s passing. He’s kind of a hero of ours here at Midnight Oil. All throughout our history, we’ve looked at how Apple has done things and we’ve attempted in our own feeble ways to be our own mini Apple. We even spoke in black mock turtlenecks for a few years.

While it might be an exaggeration to say that our ministry wouldn’t have existed without Steve Jobs, it certainly would have been much harder, and a lot less fun to do what we’ve done without Apple’s hardware and software. We’re forever grateful for Steve’s commitment to creativity, team and excellence. We’ve been and continue to be completely inspired by his accomplishments.

A while back, I collected some of Steve’s quotes about the process of team collaboration. I think the church can learn a ton from his philosophy. Here are two quotes that I really resonated with when thinking about the church:

“You know how many committee’s we have at Apple? Zero. We’re organized like a startup.” [Each person is in charge of their piece] “We all meet 3 hours a week and we talk about everything we’re doing; the whole business. And there’s tremendous teamwork at the top of the company which filters down to tremendous teamwork throughout the company”. -Steve Jobs

and…

“Teamwork is dependent on trusting the other folks to come through with their part without watching them all the time.” -Steve Jobs

Those quotes were going to be a jumping off point for me for another post, but now that Steve has passed away, I’m thinking more about his overall life philosophies and the impact they could have on our ministries if we care to enact them. Here’s something I read last night that I thought was powerful:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and has made all the difference in my life.” -Steve Jobs

Steve wouldn’t have named that “something” the Holy Spirit, but I believe his quote is a very accurate description of what I’ve seen the Spirit has do in my life over 10 years at Midnight Oil. It goes back further than that to when I was began ministry as a part-time intern at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church.

If you connect the dots that the Spirit has laid out in your life, can you see God’s preferred and blessed future out ahead of you? I hope so.

The last 12 months have been some of the most challenging times I’ve lived. I lost sight of the dots a few times. The last 6 months or more I’m seeing those dots pretty clearly and while I love Steve’s thoughts on the matter, I believe with the Spirit’s presence in your life, you can see a few of the dots out ahead of you. If you’re in tune with the Spirit, you don’t have to wait until the thing has passed to figure it all out.

Steve, your passing has so many of us reflecting, me included. Thank you for always living your dream. It allowed so many of us to live our own.

Eternally gratful,

Jason Moore

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Does your worship begin with “popcorn time”?

What is “popcorn time” you ask? Good question.

Before 1955, there was a reoccurring problem at the beginning of feature films. Much like today, films began with credits introducing the cast and eventually the title of each film. The problem was that opening titles were basically devoid of creativity. In fact, audiences and projectionists resented them.

Film producers went so far as to imprint a note on film reels requesting that the projectionist “pull curtains before title”, as they’d often wait until the main title came up to open the curtains to reveal the screen.

As you can imagine, audiences would typically wait until the opening titles were over to pay attention to what was happening on the screen. It created an environment where moviegoers would spend the first several minutes of a film buying and munching away on popcorn, until a film’s title was revealed and the narrative began.

This all changed when “The Man With the Golden Arm” came out in 1955. It began in what was then an unconventional/paradigm-shifting way, where the titles were done not just with text, but with moving graphic elements. Graphic artist Saul Bass created for that film what is now know as “the title sequence”.  You can see it here:

Simple by today’s standards, this title sequence ushered in a whole new method of storytelling that has continued on into today’s summer blockbusters.

Saul believed that the opening titles could be used to set a mood that would invite viewers in to the underlying core of a film’s story.  He saw opening titles as a metaphorical extension of a film’s narrative.

Bass described title sequences like this: “I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it.”

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Introducing our newest thematic Easter media set: Stained

This inspiring media collection tells the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross and ultimate resurrection through images of stained glass.

For centuries, broken pieces of colorful glass have been used to portray the stories of Jesus.
Yet for all of its familiarity, stained glass has much to teach us.

The beauty of stained glass is not in the individual pieces. When seen by themselves, these segments do nothing. But when seen as a complete image, with light shining through, they transform into something beautiful.

Check out the full resource here.

Read on for additional creative elements used in the service.
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Everyone who operates audio-video-sound-lighting equipment during a live worship setting, whether staff or volunteer, has experienced the thrill of a live event, where long periods of waiting are punctuated by intense moments of active precision and focus. Whether it is moving a fader on the sound board, clicking a mouse button, or calling a cue on the light board, what may seem like a simple task requires skill, a bit of panache, and our full attention.

Nothing can ruin the moment more than an unannounced visit or a spilled drink in the heat of the moment. One way to help remove distractions is to create and live by a set of rules for the control room, to which everyone can agree.

For a conversation starter, here is the beginnings of a list of rules we will call “Control Room Etiquette”. What other items are on your essential list of Dos and Don’ts?

1. No unnecessary conversations during worship. All non-essential talking should occur in the media room.
2. The control room door will remain closed during worship.
3. Please keep drinks in closed containers in the control room. No open cups.
4. Non-essential personnel are not permitted in the control room during worship except in the case of emergency.
5. Please refrain from using personal cell phones and other electronic devices while operating audio-visual equipment.

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Someone described to me the other day their disappointment with ‘Christian’ movies. They said, “I know it’s a Christian movie when I can see the end coming 5 minutes into the film.” Story isn’t nearly as important as Message. If worship were a movie, the church would feel the need to come down to the front of the theater while the end credits roll and explain what just happened. We just don’t trust story and image. Why is it that so many in the church are uncomfortable with the power of narrative?

Believe it or not, it may have something to do with our theology of the Bible. A good theology of the Bible can help inform one’s approach to worship, media, creativity, and communicating visually, as it is itself a form of communication. What does a theology of Bible have to do with story?

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