:: Sunday, November 21, 2004 ::

How we talked about the Prophets...

So far this year, in our Wednesday night alt.worship (I use that term very loosely) service, we've been going through the Bible one character at a time. We've had a night on Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Esther, Samson, Elijah, Jeremiah, and two nights on David. Today, I'll share with you a neat way we set up our upcoming weeks on the prophets.

We opened the night by doing a little bit of teaching about what the role of the prophets were in scripture. You could do this however you want. After a couple of minutes, we said "We'd like to give you a visual image of the prophets." At that point, we played the video clip from the movie "Say Anything" where John Cusack is outside the window, holding up the boombox playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." Classic Scene. It illustrates very well the idea of the prophets calling the Israelites back to God. The girl in the movie's response is also striking in that she just lies there... she doesn't get up, she doesn't go to the window, she just stays in the bed, listening but not responding.

As the video played, we had a guy come out with a boombox, holding it over his head. He stood on stage but said nothing. I pretended to ignore him. I taught a few more minutes on the prophets (again, you could do this however you want). As I finished, I walked off stage. Then the guy with the boombox reached up and pressed play on his CD which then played the song "Will You Not Listen" by Michael Card. You can download an MP3 of that song right here.

That was our transition into worship. After worship and a message, we ended the service by having the boombox guy come back out, this time playing Michael Card's "Barocha" which you can download here.

Obviously, you would need to fill in some of the blanks here, but this metaphor worked well to set up the prophets for us. We had a girl create a piece of mixed-media art in the room using the picture of Cusack and the radio as well. I'll try and post a picture of that tomorrow... it turned out pretty cool.

:: greg 7:29 PM [+] ::
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Be the Body

Here's a few ideas for a great service you could put together called "Be the Body" or "If we are the Body". In our service, we talked a lot about what it means to be the body of Christ and used the symbol of bread very prominently. This was the kind of service anyone could do anywhere so here's a detailed rundown of what we did.

As people were coming into the room, they smelled bread... this is because we had a breadmaker running in the room and rolls going in the oven out front. Aroma was key in setting the theme.

On stage was a table with a tablecloth over it. A video camera was setup above the table and run into the projector so people could see what was going on on the table's surface. The song "If we are the Body" by Casting Crowns begins to play and the lights dim. A person stands behind the table as if preparing to create something.

As the song gets going, people from all over the room (planted ahead of time) begin bringing different kinds of bread up to the table. Each piece is received by the leader as a gift and delicately placed onto the table. After about 13 pieces, it is finally revealed to be a body. The leader then takes out a heart shaped bowl and lays it in the center and pours it full of wine/juice.

See a VIDEO of what this looked like here: MPEG (65MB) | Real (1 MB)

When the song is over and the breadman is created, we went into a reading of scriptures dealing with the five senses. We had 2 scriptures from psalms for sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.

From there, we went right into a few worship songs, inviting people to focus on worshipping with all of their senses.

Our speaker for the night had an inspiring message on being the body of Christ. He talked about how the reason there are so many lost is because we don't look like, smell like, taste like, feel like, or sound like Christ. That is a VERY simplistic summary of what was a wonderful and nuanced message... let me know if you want more info.

After that we sang one more song and then invited people to come and take communion from the body on the table. A slide was projected that simply said "This is my body, broken for you". As communion was taken, the band sang an original song written by four of us called "Be the Body" (which will turn up soon on my 52 songs project).

If you have any questions about how to do this, let me know... the imagery of the body made of bread and then seeing it broken at the end was powerful. I should also note that the idea for the breadman was adapted from something Thom Schultz did at a conference somewhere that one of our planning team members attended.

:: greg 10:25 AM [+] ::
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Baby it's hard to believe... we're in heaven

So here is a pretty fun service idea that we are going to try in two weeks.

We are calling the night "Heaven". We have gone to hotels and collected donated linens (bag after bag after bag full... they'll just give them to you when they get old). We are going to turn the entire room white... clouds hanging from the ceiling... every chair, all of the floor... everything solid white.

We have a girl who plays harp who will be playing as everyone comes in. Then, a choir in robes and with wings will come and sing the Hallelujah Chorus to open the service.

Then, different leaders will come up for various announcements, etc saying things like "man, isn't this awesome!" "This is going to be so great! I wish we could go there now!".

Then, our speaker for the night will come and ruin it all by saying "wait a minute... guys... this sucks! This is crap! This is totally boring... choirs? Wings? Hallelujah chorus?"

His message is based heavily on John Eldredge's writing on heaven in the book "Journey of Desire"... we so often have this view of heaven as some place where we stand around and sing and then we try to act spiritual and act excited about that when we know that it doesn't really sound all that great. Eldredge's ideas about what heaven will be like are worth the price of the book... excellent stuff.

We'll follow the discussion up with some worship without wings or choirs. Should be a fun night... I should note that I had nothing to do with this idea... some other folks in the church came up with it and they've already tested the idea one night with the youth group... said it went well.

:: greg 7:53 PM [+] ::
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100 year old Jesus movie

Are you looking for footage of Jesus to use in your video editing / loops? Are you sick of using "Jesus of Nazareth" and that Billy Graham movie? Well, how about some ANCIENT footage by today's standards. I recently discovered the following DVD:

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ / From the Manger to the Cross.

The first film was made from 1902 - 1905 and the second was filmed in 1912. Both are silent and both are extremely cool. There is even some color (painted frame by frame... imagine everything black and white but an angel with golden wings... kind of cool). It can be had for about $20 on DVD. A must have!

:: greg 12:56 PM [+] ::
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3 Movies to Make into Video Loops

If you are looking for some amazing nature / time lapse photography backgrounds for your worship services, here is a really cheap way you can create your own. You'll need a DVD player and some video editing software.

Go buy the following three movies on DVD: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Baraka. The first two are available in a bundle on amazon.com. There are many many scenes in these films that can be pulled out that work amazingly well as backgrounds or loops for worship settings. We got over 15 one minute loops out of Baraka alone! You'll spend about $40 to get all of these on DVD but you can't even buy one set of Highway Video's products for that. A great deal!

:: greg 12:28 PM [+] ::
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Mosaic Stepping Stones

Here is a neat idea you can use in your worship services.

The first service of each year, our theme and emphasis is always on community. This year, to make this point, we are going to create mosaic stepping stones. If you go to a craft store like AC Moore or Michaels, you can get plastic molds for these. Do NOT buy the mosaic glass pieces there... you will pay a fortune. If you go to Walmart, for $.96 a bag, you can get small glass stones in various colors... you'll find them in the fake flower / craft section. You will also need cement.

Each worshipper will be asked to write on a piece of paper all of the gifts they think they can offer to the community of believers. Someone might write "encouragement... financial support... drama... prayer... I can fix cars... mentoring..." or something like that.

When each person has written their list, they will take one glass jewel for each thing on their list. We will have 6 stations for making stones in the back of the room with wet concrete sitting in the molds. People will then create designs in the concrete using their glass jewels.

Next week, we will have our giant cross set up with these jeweled stepping stones forming a path to the cross. The idea is that through our collective gifts... through the community of believers, we can create a way to the cross for those around us.

Family Worship Night

We had a cool service last Wednesday night I thought I would share. We started by dividing everyone into 10 groups... we have an all ages congregation so this was old folks and toddlers all together. Next, each group was given 15 minutes to create something to present as an act of worship. The 10 we had were (and be creative here... a lot of these we chose because we were short on time and the prep was easy.. with more prep, you could be more clever) puppet show, drama, poetry, songwriting, sculpture, finger painting, felt board (yes, felt board), breadmaking (for communion), pen and ink sketch, and responsive reading. Then, we had about a 45 minute worship time planned with music and in between songs, we had each group come forward and present their worship.

For a congregation that isn't very progressive, this was a simple and inclusive way to open some folks eyes to the idea that "worship" is more than 4 songs and a sermon. Good stuff.

:: greg 6:03 AM [+] ::
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Trash and a Smoothie

This outstanding idea comes directly from Jared Williams of The Searching. He writes:

"One station in the labyrinth I recently built was a pile of trash and manure and old tires. participants would grab a straw out of a box on the pile and place it in a very small hole at th top of the trash pile. they would then bend down and suck what ever came out of that hole. we used a strawberry smootie, to really contrast the sweetness with the smell and look of the trash. Concept behind it was the opening for the "good thief" at the cross. give God an opening, any opening....that day on the cross the thief's opening took place on the killing field of jerusalem's trash dump. the imagery was huge as people reduced themselves to interacting with trash and "tasted and saw".

:: greg 11:01 AM [+] ::
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Cornflakes=Manna

My friend Mark did this in his congregation...

If by chance you're ever doing a service or study on the Israelites wandering in the desert, go buy all the cornflakes you can afford. Before the service starts, cover the floor with them. Then, when people arrive, keep them outside... don't let them see the room. Give them small sacks and let them in and instruct them to fill their bags with manna. What a memorable experience if you don't mind the clean up.

:: greg 9:25 PM [+] ::
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The Faces of Jesus

If you're looking for a great art book that doubles as a coffee table book with a practical use, find a copy of Frederick Buechner's out of print book "The Faces of Jesus". It was also published under the name "The life of Jesus". You can find a copy on Bookfinder.com. The book features the writing of Buechner along with pictures of art and sculpture from around the world, focusing on people's impressions of what Christ might have looked like. I have scanned several images from this book to use in services, all to great effect. It might be pricey (I paid $35 for mine) but it can be found for less if you get lucky.

:: greg 6:30 AM [+] ::
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Decoration

If you're looking for some cheap ways to decorate and change the look of things a bit, consider the wonders of cheap fabric. We always go to Wal-mart to their fabric section. they always have a bargain section with fabric for $1.00 a yard which is very cheap. For 10 bucks, you can get enough to make a curtain, a table covering, a backdrop, whatever. Great deal!

:: greg 2:24 PM [+] ::
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More stations of the cross

Thanks to Jonny Baker for sharing this awesome link. Click the logo to see an awesome shockwave file on the stations of the cross. Great stuff. Thanks Jonny! I don't make it a standard practice to steal Jonny's "worship tricks" (they are awesome), but this one is so good and timely for Easter, I had to share it.

:: greg 2:23 PM [+] ::
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Video Clips

There are literally too many video clip ideas to even begin to talk about. I recommend the books "Videos that Teach" volumes 1 and 2 by Doug Fields which are available on Amazon.com and also from Youth Specialties. (links to the left). However, there's always room for more so I'll list some that we've used.

"Oh God, Book Two" - This film from the 80s starring George Burns is stupid but has a good clip to use in a service on suffering. About halfway through, a little girl and God (Burns) are walking through a church. She asks him why there is so much pain in the world and he explains that "I was never good at making things with just one side... Everything has two sides." He then goes on to explain that you can't have happy without sad... if sad went away, happy would have to go too. Day wouldn't be day without also having night. He uses several examples to explain it to the child. Great clip and under 2 minutes long.

"The War" - This Kevin Costner film has an amazing clip (i'm not sure where it comes in the film) where he and his son are at the fair together. His son gets accosted by some bullies who hit him and knock him down. Costner finds his son and then buys some cotton candy but instead of giving it to his boy, he goes over and gives it to the bullies. His son is infuriated and demands to know why he just did that and Costner says something to the effect of "they are the way they are because nobody ever gives them anything". It's not exactly that... I think the actual line is more profound. Anyway, this is a REALLY great clip on grace.

:: greg 8:14 AM [+] ::
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The Remember table

Similar to the prayer journal, at a table in the back we set up a table called the "remember" table. At it is a laptop computer and some candles. Each service, a different person volunteers to participate in worship by sitting at the table and writing their thoughts, prayers, observations, etc about the service. Everyone who does it, loves it and wants to do it again.

You can read some of the writings here on the Wed. @ the Well Homepage.

:: greg 3:26 PM [+] ::
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Prayer book

Keep a prayer journal. In Wed. @ the Well, we have a book at a table in the back (the book is just a blankbook we bought at Barnes and Nobles) that people can write prayer requests down in. We ask them to leave space in between each request so that they can go back later and write down the ways God answered the prayers. After the service, we type up the requests from the book and email them to everyone who came so that we can be praying for each other.

This is a simple idea but a good one for building a community that prays for one another.

:: greg 10:54 PM [+] ::
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The Wall of Televisions

We asked around in our church for old TVs and got about 10 of them donated. In our pomo service Wednesday @ the Well, we now hook up all 10 TVs together by using a simple cable splitter you can get at Radio shack. You may also need a converter if some TVs are coaxial and others are composite. Email me if you have questions about this setup.

Anyway, after the TVs are hooked up, we send a VCR signal into the splitter that then goes into all 10 TVs. Depending on the theme of the week, we try and find a looping background (like something from Digital Juice or Highway Video) and play it on the screens throughout the service. We also have filmed our own loops. Or, instead of using a loop, run a video camera instead of a VCR and you can put the camera on a cross, candles, worshippers, whatever. The "wall of tv" effect creates a neat feel to the room and can be really cool. Remember though, the point is NOT to be cool, but to help create a space that people feel comfortable worshipping in. Try not to make your loops too flashy or distracting.

:: greg 10:50 PM [+] ::
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nap time

Last week we were trying to think of a way to have an extended period of meditation and prayer. We talked about pre-school and kindergarten and asked people to share memories of what that time brought back to them. Then, we had a "nap time" where we asked people to spread out all around the sanctuary and actually lay down on the pews or in the floor, close their eyes, and rest. As they rested, we asked them to focus on God and prepare for a worship time that would follow. As they rested, we played piano music (Linford Detweiler's "I don't think there's no reason to bring Nothin" which is a WONDERFUL album.).

This worked well. A couple of students mentioned this was the first time they had actually "rested" before a worship service in a long long time. The time of worship itself was one of the best of the year, mainly due to the focus of the students on the importance of what they were doing.

:: greg 8:29 PM [+] ::
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Two hands, One pen

This is a wonderful creative exercise from Marcia McFee's book "The worship workshop" that I am planning on using sometime in the well.

1. Everyone needs to partner up. Each pair has a blank paper and a marker.
2. Both partners place a hand on the marker (yes, 2 hands on 1 pen).
3. Ask the partners to draw "the church" without speaking or giving any verbal clues to each other. Affirm that the church may be interpreted in different ways.
4. When they are done drawing, have each group come hang their picture in the front on a clothesline you have hung in advance.
5. Reflect on the experience of drawing together. How is the experience like the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit within the church?

taken from "The Worship Workshop" by Marcia McFee - page 13"

:: greg 1:56 PM [+] ::
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book of uncommon prayer

A really wonderful resource I picked up recently is a book called "The book of uncommon Prayer" by Steven Case.



This book says it is designed for youth groups but it works great in adult settings too. It features some wonderful responsive readings, prayers on many subjects, service ideas (I love the idea for a Christmas service circled up around a hotel dumpster. Very cool), and also comes with the CD "Eucharist", a great techno flavored CD from the UK Alt-worship movement. Lots of useful stuff in this inexpensive little book. You can buy it on amazon.

:: greg 8:14 AM [+] ::
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Finding God where you least expect it - Oz style

We did a night on learning to see God in the everyday. For many of us involved in worship planning, this is a discipline that we develop... we are always looking for the spiritual in everything (often so we can use it in a service... not so it can change us). We wanted to have a night to encourage our attenders to do the same. We decided to use a movie to practice so we took "The Wizard Of Oz" and edited it down to about 30 minutes. You'll need a computer with video editing capabilities to do this. It was tough to get it that short but all of the good stuff was left in.
After watching the film, we broke attenders into groups and asked them to discuss spiritual elements of the film, knowing that the film was not intended as any kind of Christian allegory (like Chronicles of Narnia or anything like that). Here are some of the things they came up with:

"When we are baptized, all history of evil is washed away... when the witch was hit with the water, the evil disappeared."

"Love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind." -- This verse is represented in the scarecrow (mind), the tinman (heart) and lion (courage/soul). The wizard giving them their gifts at the end brought that scripture to mind.

"Crimson blood... crimson shoes."

"Dorothy was immediately amazed by the land of Oz... Oz welcomed her with fanfare and song... however, the longer Dorothy stayed, the more she realized that Oz was not her home and she was a stranger in a strange land. Dorothy's eventual longing for home is the same as what ours should be for heaven."

So, as you can see, it was pretty interesting. Maybe your group could try a different film. Oh yeah, it helps to really play up on whatever you choose to set the mood. We made a yellow brick road out of butcher paper leading into the sanctuary and at the start of the film had 4 guys come out on their knees with giant suckers and after sucking helium from a balloon sing the "Lollypop Guild" song. It was pretty funny.

:: greg 5:54 AM [+] ::
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crackpots

One idea for worship that worked well for us was we bought several red clay planters at wal-mart for cheap and smashed them to bits. We gave people a piece of the broken pots as they came into worship and asked them to write something on it after meditating on the concept of Christ as healer. We created a small wooden cross and superglued the pieces of the pots to the cross to create a kind of mosaic effect. We kept the cross and use it permanently for decoration. I feared it might be kind of a "cheesy" thing to do but if the leaders treat it seriously the participants will to. It worked well.

:: greg 5:34 AM [+] ::
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Hymns with updated music - Awesome resource

check out Indelible Grace Music. This is music put out by the college ministry of Christ Community Church in Nashville, TN. We use several songs from their 2 CDs and also the RUF Hymnal which is just an awesome book of 150 songs and 3 CDs with samples of all the songs.

The idea here is that they take ancient hymn texts and put new, updated music to the words. We have been using some of these in our worship times and they have become among the most popular songs that we do. Again, I firmly believe that emerging generations love the words to hymns... it's the musical style (organ, cheese) they don't care for. Most of the words are beautiful and deep and with this updated music, they connect extraordinarily well.

We did a service where we did several of these songs and introduced them by telling everyone how many years ago the song was written and who it was by. Then, we shared a little about the author if we could find any information. Here are the songs we did and the years

Come Ye Sinners (1759) (C) (243 years ago)
Oh Love that Will not Let me Go (1882) (B) (120 years ago)
Arise my Soul Arise (1742) (G) (260 years ago)
Thy Mercy (1776) (G) (226 years ago)
Come Thou Fount (1758) (D) (244 years ago)
The Wonderful Cross (1707 / 2001) (D) (295 /1 years ago)

:: greg 5:34 AM [+] ::
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Worship idea #1

For all kinds of funky and cool postmodern (arrrgh, that word!) worship ideas, you have got to check out the JonnyBaker Blog. You will enjoy his whole site but in the left-hand column on down the page you will find his archive of "worship tricks". I've got to give props to my man Jonny for having all those great ideas available for all to use.

:: greg 5:26 AM [+] ::
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Creative Ideas for Worship

Welcome to my page of worship ideas. Hopefully, this will be a useable archive of things I have seen used effectively in worship that can help you in service planning. You will see all kinds of ideas here from the traditional to the postmodern. Feel free to use these freely in your worship times. We only ask that if you use something you find here, that you leave us a comment and let us know how it went! Also, feel free to email me if you have any questions about anything you find on this page. Have fun!

:: greg 5:21 AM [+] ::
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