It is an extremely large undertaking and responsibility toward making the right decisions in creating an incredible Christ transformational, life changing moment for anyone who attends weekend services, outreaches and events. This requires an enormous amount of coordination from our production and programing departments with lots of orchestrating behind the scenes toward preparation and planning. Supporting the message the primary focus, there is prayer, research, decisions on music, calendar scheduling, meetings, organizing, lighting design, stage layouts, scenic design, engineering, purchasing materials and construction all have to be discussed and coordinated. This can all be extremely nerve-wracking, feeling trapped in circumstances beyond our control. As with any compelling story that sparks our interest, it is how the individual faces challenges and ultimately succeeds that keeps us coming back for more. The adventure of complexity, simplicity and originality, is overwhelming defeat for some and for others, a self-satisfying adventure that screams “I can do this for Christ!”

In order for production and programing to create an incredible project at its highest level, it reflects that it has met all of its challenges with collaboration from all of its members of the team. Now, this is not to say we do not have our disagreements and conflicts. Anytime we create something that has not been done before, there are critical challenges we face. Anytime you bring together fired up individuals who are incredibly gifted toward creativity, the energy that is brought to the table occasionally clashes. We have to approach a project with clarity and have the ability to problem solve even if under time constraints or pressure.

One of the biggest challenges we constantly face on most projects is the increasingly shorter deadlines and tighter budgets. When compressing that much energy into a limited amount of time, it means a rigorous collaboration effort for all of us. When there is not enough time for a project to be well thought out, that has a way of altering perspective, concentrated thought and revving up creativity. There is a balance of imagination, inspiration, and time that employs serious creativity toward producing an innovative three-dimensional reality that captivates and motivates the audience. Anytime there are compressed schedules becoming the norm, this can lead to unrealistic expectations. Wouldn’t be terrific if we could use a GPS in our meetings to map out the project and show us the fastest route to the desired goal in a certain length of time? Wowsers!

To conquer our challenges, we have to remix our reality. We have to think differently and adapt. This is the reality for all of us. Where do we begin? With ourselves! We value and add value to each other. We communicate; we listen. We work together as a team. We understand there is not just one perfect option but are many creative options that accomplish the same goal. We have the mindset we are leaders, proactive toward accomplishing the tasks. We communicate our boundaries and seek solutions. Most importantly, we create an open and honest environment for feedback and follow through toward changes. We should not cease asking ourselves the successes and failures, constantly learning always keeping a clear eye out for the next discovery.

2 Tim 2:15 Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you will not be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.

                          

Hey Willow Production. It was great seeing so many volunteers, from so many parts of the Willow Creek Production family in one place tonight. As promised, here are the full comments from the different ministry leaders and campus pastors, honoring all the work that you do.

Let’s start with the most amazing first…an original song and a music video from the Promiseland Creative Team:

Thank_You_2012 (1)

Here are some great words from other key people:

From Marcus Bieschke – Willow Crystal Lake:

Hello, amazing P&P Volunteers of Willow!
It’s fitting that you should be celebrated and celebrating tonight.  I’m sure I’m not alone as one of Willow’s pastors when I say that I’m sure God has a special place in His heart for all of you as artists.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, we remember how God called together only the finest and most skilled builders, craftsmen, masons and artists to set their heads, hearts & hands to bring beauty and shape to the place where He would be worshipped. He cared about exact measurements, symmetry, beauty and precision in their work.

At Willow, we also care about creating beautiful environments for people to experience life-changing encounters with God and His people. We deeply care about stellar vocals, outstanding instrumentation, captivating stage design, just the right lighting & shading, flawless video, clear sound & audio, fabulous camera angles, and much more. We care about those things because we care about our God getting every ounce of glory and worship due Him. Each of you are artists; and you create transformational beauty every single week.

So as you gather this evening for celebration of what God has done through you in this past year, let me encourage you to realize the high calling that is truly yours. May your service be more than work, but an art; less of a job, and more a labor of love. And may you feel the smile of God warm you as you do all that you do as unto Him.

Thank you, Willow P&P Volunteers! You ARE absolutely and undeniably the best. God bless you!

From Craig Springer - Willow Huntley:

John the Baptist had a vital role in Jesus’ incredible ministry on this earth. He quoted the prophet Isaiah saying
“Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.” (Luke 3:4-6)

In many ways, the production team is just like John the Baptist (except for eating locusts and wearing small garments of animal skin). You prepare the way for the Lord. You smooth out the sound levels, even out the lighting, make sure the paths are clear of electrical cords, and the environment is distraction free…you make the service experience excellent and distraction free SO THAT verse 6 can become a reality “all people will see God’s salvation.” You sacrifice time, volunteer crazy amounts of hours, at ridiculous times of the day and not, all to “prepare the way for the Lord” and for the message of Christ to impact the hearts and lives of people. Way to go! Willow Huntley and all of the Willow campuses need the production team… Thanks for preparing the way for the Lord.

From Jake Smith – Axis South Barrington:

There are three emotions that rise up in me when I think about you who are gifted to create a meaningful environment to worship God:
1. Jealousy, because I do not have those skills – and let’s face it…they’re cool skills
2. Gratitude, because you make guys like me look & sound about as good as we possibly can – and let’s face it…sometimes there’s not a lot to work with
3. Pride, because of the level of excellence you bring.

Thank you for giving yourselves to others, thank you for sharing in the mission, thank you for creating moments to help us all celebrate and respond to the spiritual blessings God generously provides. You reflect him.

From Bryan Jones – Student Impact South Barrington:

impact vounteers,
Every week, countless hours, thoughts, and energy go into an Impact service, many of which are given by volunteers such as yourself.  I’m truly grateful for your heart to honor God and serve Impact by giving the best of your time weekly. You enable hundreds of students to crisply hear the truth of God’s word, thoroughly and diligently mixing sound and volume levels.  You create and ambient and moving experiences through lighting and stage design. You capture and record video the services so hundreds of people can listen to the message via podcast.  For all the things that are seen, and for all the things that aren’t seen, I want to personally thank you for all you do.  It’s a privilege to serve alongside such humble and talented volunteers!  Here’s to a great 2012.

From Scott Rubin – Elevate South Barrington:

I’m pretty sure that this reception is to honor ALL the production volunteers — but I want to ESPECIALLY thank the fabulous people who stand behind-the-scenes & give heart & soul to make ELEVATE happen.  Led by the mysteriously awesome Arnez, our Elevate production crews work to support an audience that lots of the world unintentionally overlooks… Middle Schoolers.  They’re not so much cute little kids anymore, and they’re certainly not-yet adults. They often don’t offer much feedback — BUT … they’re SO impressionable, and God does some of his best work in young teenagers.  Middle school students can forget to express appreciation MOST of the time … and even more so when they’re being served by people behind the scenes.  But I have NO DOUBT that Jesus himself has noticed every hour that these fine people have invested in trying to help HIS name be known among this next generation. As as for ME?   I’m absolutely, positively, completely grateful to you ALL!!

From Hector Hermosillo - Casa De Luz:

Dear team of heroes,
Casa De Luz would not be the same without you and your contribution Even when we are not the sexiest ministry in the family, you make that Casa look like a princes!  Thanks for the unconditional love and hard work that you have shown to our people; we are unable to pay it back, but I’m sure that one day it’s going to be highly rewarded, because you have serve The Lord.
On behalf of Casa family, thank you very much

From Shane Farmer – Midweek Experience:

To the Midweek Volunteers thank you so much for giving up your Wednesday nights to help us put on classes and services to help people grow. It’s really fun getting to do this together, and can’t wait to see how God will work through our efforts in 2012!

From Kerri Mahla and the PL team – Promiseland South Barrington:

To our Promiseland Tech-
The words, “Thank You” just don’t seem to cover the countless ways you serve.  From being the first to arrive, to hauling sets from all over the church to our rooms to dragging stage blocks from room 360 to Blue Sky rooms, and other places, to setting up monitors, to marking scripts, to doing a mic EQ, to aiming lights, and then you’re the last leave as you tear every stage down. You are an amazing team!

But let’s be realistic. You do an fantastic job at prepping, setting-up, and executing your role, getting through the service with out any mistakes, and then…we change.

Yes, that’s a key word in Promiseland. Change. BUT, because you are such an amazing and talented team, you roll with each challenge we bring to you, even the change. Do you know how great you, are? We sure do. You make our programs even better. You give your best every week. You get better at your role, every time you come to serve.

There are not too many people in the world that would do what you do. But know this for sure.
1) We think you are amazing!
2) We wouldn’t want anyone else in our tech booths but YOU.
3) God, using your serving every single week, to teach kids about His great love! There is no greater gift in the whole world you could give to someone! Your gifts are helping 1,000s of kids each week love God and discover His love for them.
4) You may behind the scenes now, but someday….God is going to throw a HUGE party for you in heaven for the way you served Him and His kids.

WAY TO GO!!!

From Matt Lundgren – Main Stage South Barrington:

Dear Production Volunteers,
Week after week, while walking around this campus, I hear compliments all the time. “The service was great!”, “I love how the music sounded this weekend!”, “That video looked so cool!”. My usual response is “Thanks so much, it’s definitely a team effort.”   Almost all of the positive feedback I hear is quite honestly more directed to the production volunteers than it is to me.   Without the tireless effort of the stage team to make sure that our worship experiences flow without distractions we’d be lost; without the lighting volunteers the experience would fall flat visually; without the video team spending the time to make the live experience look the best it could possibly be we couldn’t engage people in worship how we do (…and it’s really hard work making me look good).   And to the numbers of audio/lighting/video volunteers throughout the church we are so thankful for your efforts to turn simple ideas into powerful spiritual experiences.   I don’t have the chance to pass along every compliment we receive about the services, but I hope tonight can serve as a small portion of the gratitude that you deserve.   Thank you, thank you, thank you for your tireless efforts week after week.

From Darren Whitehead – Main stage production:

Please convey an enormous thanks from me and the executive leadership team of our church.

When I watch our production volunteers, I often think “they are worshipping God through their technical expertise”. Your contribution is often unnoticed as you are often creating environments for people to engage with God. Thank you for serving with such excellence. Thank you for serving with such passion. Thank you for serving with such humility.

Many, many moments would not have been possible in this last year without your commitment to fashioning such artistic and technically stunning environments. So for the thousands of tasks I know you do and for the thousands of tasks, I have NO Idea you do – Thank you!

Way to go Willow Production!  Our church couldn’t function with your unique gifts and your willingness to use those gifts to help spread the gospel of Christ to our community and the world.  I am honored to be counted as one of you.

                          

Discuss concept to design. From Design to construction.Willow Creek Church Christmas Scenic 2011 by Glenn Davis

                          

The design and construction of the Reflection Box by Glenn Davis, Scenic Designer, used on the weekend of 9-19-10 at Willow Creek Church. Song Beautiful Thing by Gungor. Reflection Box Construction Willow Creek

                          

What specific DMX splitter does Willow use or recommend for splitting DMX in a lighting rig?

The link below is for the industry standard of Opto-Splitter.  And when I say industry-standard, I mean every rental house in America has them.  Well worth the money.

http://www.dfd.com/123.html

<Chris Thomas>
LIGHTING DIRECTOR
Willow Creek Community Church

                          

Overview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B519WRx1Eg

Stud groove cutting explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmaOaBFApw

Demonstration of groove cutting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUlGE0VcZCc

                          

As a scenic designer, it’s always exciting to be involved in creating a beautiful set that is new and significant for a series.

Recently, I had the opportunity to design and construct a scenic set for a “three week series” called Celebration of Hope. During this series, attention was focused on the compassion and justice needs of the poverty stricken in the community and through out the third world with shelter being a key focus.

The challenge in creating this set was showing a representation toward the need for shelter but also create an environment for celebration. In the past several months, thousands of Willow families, staff and volunteers have given countless hours toward serving the needy and had given enormous amounts of financial assistance to help eradicate poverty. Designing a set that was both abstract and surrealistic helped us to achieve the proper balance.

The set materials were made from thin cedar wood siding, red corrugated vinyl, weathered wood from old storage pallets, bamboo poles, rope and 1” pink foam. The entire set was rigged from line sets and supported with 1/16” aircraft cables and gliders.

To create the “third world feel” and “representation of shelter” there were several techniques involved. The cedar siding was left unpainted, ripped apart and randomly placed in a vertical line. The corrugated red vinyl was lightly sprayed with watered down gray paint to resemble rusty tin and were randomly cut and assembled. The weather boards were randomly attached to the back side of the vinyl to protrude out. The use of two inch diameter rope was a notable addition and was placed above each element to give the impression that it was holding it up. 160 one inch bamboo poles were assembled to form three back wall layers. The foam was painted brown, cut eight inch widths and hot glued together to form the upper appearance of roof lines.

Once the scenic elements where in place it became the lighting designers project to enhance the texture and dimension of materials with help from a pallet of gobos, effects and color. The conventional rig comprised of SGM Giotto 400 washes, Martin 2k’s, Vari-Lite 3000 spots and floor support from the Robes LT Series, swaths of saturated color made the larger-than scale scenic environment exceedingly warm and significant. There were times it only took a gesture of light at a side angle or steep angle that made the difference in the world turning the stage into an art form.

The use of video was an excellent addition that helped foster more possibilities toward creativity instead of just static scenery for three weeks. Two 162”x 95” screens allowed for a 16 x 9 video format and two 12k Barco projectors showed the audience the quality and quantity of large-scale color photographs so believable that the screen seemed to disappear.

Strategically placing scenery for several different camera angles can be a challenge. Several layers of scenery were purposely place to add depth and dimension. Captured by camera for IMAG it created a realistic visual experience for 25,000 individuals that attended each weekend.
.
Scenic design is a powerful tool that can change the way we view things. It’s essential to spend valuable time on things that will have a redeeming experience. In summary, the key to any successful scenic project is to know the content, uncompromising attention to detail, careful preparation, staying within budget and keeping on schedule for execution. This project followed those guidelines and delivered an unmatched quality, consistency and value that provided a visual cohesion and framed an experience that many will remember. It’s a pretty cool moment when you create a meaningful design that comes to life for the first time knowing it will impact many individuals. A gift offered to God.

                          

A great article on the topic of Digital Asset Management written by our own Jim Sippel for a recent issue of Church Production magazine

http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/12681

                          

Click HERE for the Church Production Magazine article about the Gurus of Tech event in Chicago from March 2011.