If any week could be described as the “perfect storm,” this past week was it.  Between video projects, 3 different events, and rolling DST updates out to all of our PCs and Macs, this past week was absolutely nuts.  When you see the end result though, and when you see the stuff that took all week to do affect other people and cause change in their lives, that makes up for all all the time that had to be spent on it.

This week we had First Wednesday, which is always amazing.  The theme of this month was ‘Deal or No Deal.’  You can read John’s scoop on FW here. 

On Friday we had a night set up especially for our volunteers.  Tim Hawkins was on the scene and had everyone there in absolute stitches.  I must admit, it’s been a long long time since I’ve laughed that hard.  The BEST thing about this evening though?  EVERY volunteer was able to enjoy the evening with no obligations whatsoever.  We trained a few staff on using cameras and some of the control room equipment so that we didn’t even need to use our volunteers for IMAG.  All the food was cooked and served by staff.  All-in-all, a great night.

On to Sunday!  The Elements series has been amazing so far.  This weekend was no different.  Danny gives an excellent account of what went down, and he’s much more eloquent than me anyway. :)  Our live production teams did an AWESOME job, both in the control room and on the floor.

Was this week crazy?  You bet.  But the end result was life change for everyone involved.  That makes up for it, ten-fold.

This past weekend we kicked off our new message series - Elements.  The tagline of the series is “6 elements that move your faith beyond periodic.”  Naturally, the phrasing calls for a science-like decor on the stage, no?

Here are some pics from the weekend. (Click to enlarge)

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Grant and Vince working on the giant test tubes.  Plexiglass with light gels set behind them.  Add light and stare at for awhile.

Yep, that’s a DMC on the grill, as in ”DeLorean Motor Company.”  Where there’s science, there’s Doc Brown, and where there’s Doc Brown, there has to be a DeLorean!

Mike (the owner of the DeLorean) finishes up the detail work.  Those cars are PRETTY! (at least I think so)  This is my first time seeing one up close.

Dwight’s “podium.”  Very colorful. 

 

Super Volunteer Dave B. works on getting the giant test tubes mounted.

Guissepi the dog guards his master’s car ferociously.

The Elements stage from the control room.  I’m diggin’ the colors, man!

Doc Brown makes his entrance on the DeLorean (we actually had Mike drive it in from backstage.)  GREAT SCOTT!

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The DeLorean is actually a story in itself.  We had been wanting to move forward with this idea for weeks, and we just kept running into one dead end after another.  The creative team was about ready to give up and just send Doc Brown in on an explosion, or at least a lot of smoke.

On Friday night, our control room manager, who is also a teacher at Kent State, was in the building helping the visual arts crew prep the stage.  He got into a conversation with one of the crew about the DeLorean, and said “well hey, I’ve got a student that owns a DeLorean, let me call him.”  Within one hour, we had the DeLorean sitting on our stage.

It’s amazing how God works stuff out sometimes.  I mean yeah, we could’ve gone forward without the car, but it was a good fit and it added a good bit of excitement to the morning.  I mean seriously, how often do you get Doc Brown rolling in on a DeLorean…on the stage of a CHURCH!

But then again, that’s exactly how it should be on a Sunday morning…always exciting, always intriguing (what’s gonna happen today?), and NEVER boring.