Worship Films: Easter Presentations: Mixing It Up

Easter Presentations:  Mixing It Up

Easter is probably the biggest Sunday on the church calendar, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Typically, our services on Easter Sunday are something out of the ordinary - either a live drama, a cantata, or special video presentations.

When we attempt to tell the Easter story, many churches take an either/or approach to video and live drama.  But have you ever considered combining these two effective tools?  Here's a couple possibilities to get your creative juices flowing:

• Alternate between the Biblical story of Easter and a current life story.  For example, you could do a live drama of the Easter story, and at certain points (set changes for instance) you could show pieces of a powerful testimony video.
• If you are doing a live drama version of the Easter story, you could use video to show certain events that are difficult to portray on a live stage (e.g. the tomb opening). You could also videotape certain scenes with your actors in remote locations that provide the appropriate scenery - scenery that would be difficult and/or expensive to create.
• Use video to pre-record the narrator of your drama.
• Use stock footage of areas such as the Judean hillside between set changes to provide a larger location context for your drama.

The point is to take a risk - try something different and out of the box.  God has given us our creative giftings not so we can maintain the status quo, but because He expects us to engage those giftings for the advancement of His kingdom and to His glory.                                                                                             

Are Blank Screens Ever Good?

We’ve made a big investment in projection equipment, computers, software, and media. We’ve spent a lot of time learning and tweaking the system so that everything looks the best that it can. We have to use it to its fullest potential – we have to get our money’s worth. So we should be projecting something every minute of the service, right? Well…no, not really.

Certainly, almost every church should be using imagery during the service. But remember, projection is only a tool. What is done on the screen should flow with the rest of the service. And sometimes, projecting nothing is the best we can do.

Here are some service points where you should consider projecting nothing:

• a quiet, reverent moment of worship when the congregation is completely silent.
• you are singing a slower, familiar song, you have repeated the chorus several times, and the instruments stop, so the congregation is worshipping acapella.
• the pastor has finished the main part of his message and is closing in a thoughtful, poignant tone.
• the pastor is giving a salvation invitation.
• someone is leading the congregation in prayer.

At those times, having something on the screen can potentially be more of a distraction than a help. Again, our aim is to flow with/be a part of what God is doing during the service – and sometimes, doing nothing at all is the best way to accomplish that.