All posts tagged youth

Join Me At The Echo Conference (+Promo Code)

by Kendall Conner on May 10, 2013 in Articles with 3 Comments
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This July, I’ll be headed to Dallas for my first time attending the Echo Conference—a church conference for artists, geeks, and storytellers. For several years, I have admired this conference from afar and really appreciated what these guys are doing for the Church. (And let’s be honest…I kind of fit all three criteria for their target audience.) Since I live in Baltimore, it’s not exactly an easy or inexpensive trip for me, but I made up my mind that I would raise the money this year for my wife and I to attend. We’re really expecting to learn a lot and we are super-stoked about the keynote and breakout speakers. My inner geek is also really giddy about getting some inspiration for media, lighting, stage design, and every other tiny detail in each session. But more than anything else, I’m looking forward to meeting people. My biggest hope is to finally connect with all of the people that I recognize best by a Twitter handle. I can only imagine how awesome it’s going to be to gather in one place with so many people with the same heart and drive as us.

I would love to have the opportunity to meet you there! I’m confident that it’s totally going to be worth the investment, but here’s a little something to help lighten the load a bit. Be sure to use the code “CR8IVEPR” to save 15% off of your registration price!

Find out more on the official Echo Conference page.

Free Motion of the Month – May ’13

by Kendall Conner on May 6, 2013 in Freebies with No comments
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This month, we’ve teamed up with Centerline New Media  and they’re hooking you up with an awesome motion that will work perfect in your services this Spring/Summer. It comes from their nature-meets-geometry service pack called “Creation’s Wonder” that’s been a favorite around our church.

This download includes HD and SD versions for PC & Mac, as well as JPEG stills.
This motion is free to download, but please do not redistribute. (Please link back to this page.)

To get this free motion, simply subscribe to receive our blog posts via email. You’ll receive your download link via email within the hour.

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I Just Bought A New Computer

by Kendall Conner on April 22, 2013 in Articles with 5 Comments
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It had been a long time coming. My early 2008, 15-inch Macbook Pro had definitely seen better days when I finally decided to make a move to a new machine. Through my own experiences and those of colleagues, I’ve learned that with most technology, it’s best to go ahead and spend the big bucks upfront. This has proved true for me in several areas. For one, while my 2008 MBP might not have been as “production worthy” as I needed it to be for Sunday morning media or able to keep up with my rendering needs, it’s still a pretty kickin’ computer. Since its replacement, we’ve still been able to use it for all of the design work for my wife’s invitation business. I credit that to purchasing it with excellent specs upfront. On the other hand, I cannot tell you how many cheap laptops that I’ve burnt through that only lasted a year because I went for the “good enough” option. 5 years vs. 1 year….you do the math.

The only problem with “spending the big bucks upfront” is that it requires those big bucks. And my wife and I are Ramsey-er’s, so financing isn’t really an option for us. However, after some hard saving and a generous tax return, I was ready to make the investment! And it sure paid off! I’m now the proud owner of a new 15-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display! (Specs below) Before buying, I had read several discussions online where people had expressed issues they were having with this machine, but I can tell you that it’s worked fantastically for me. I’ve been running ProPresenter 4 and all of the CS4 Production Suite almost everyday with no trouble at all. It was a big relief for me that it could handle my current software without having to spend more money right out of the gate on the latest software.

Complete Specs:
Macbook Pro
Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013
Processor: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5
Storage: 512 GB flash storage
Connections: MagSafe 2 power port, Two Thunderbolt ports (up to 10 Gbps), Two USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps), HDMI port, Headphone port, SDXC card slot

I was asked by a friend if I would recommend this computer to a church looking to purchase a new video setup. While this new machine has worked wonderfully for our church (I’ve used it for the past three Sundays at our theater campus), it’s not necessary for every church. I purchased this computer to be able to handle heavy graphic and video design for years to come while also remaining portable. It’s not likely that most churches would need this much horsepower in a mobile form. However, if your budget permits and mobility is a necessity, this may be your best bet.

My ultimate recommendation for churches who are looking to get started with media in their services or overhaul their current video setup is Apple’s iMac. Five years ago, our church made the purchase of an iMac that was only slightly upgraded beyond the base model. (A total of a $1,500 investment) At that time, we were an inner-city church of only about 250 attenders, so it was a pretty hefty purchase for us. However, it has provided us with five years (and counting) of top quality media on Sunday mornings and never had to be repaired. In the very beginning, we determined that this computer would only be used for media during services. This was not a machine to be used for random browsing or daily projects. Five years later, we’re still using that same iMac at our city campus. To be honest, it still runs like it did on day one. I would recommend this method to any church. You may not have any experience with an Apple computer, but I can testify that I have been through over a dozen PC’s and all the headache that came with them. You won’t regret buying a Mac. I’ve included the specs below of the iMac that I’d recommend. By no means are they concrete, but with these specs you’ll go far.

Recommended Computer:
21.5-inch iMac
Processor: 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5
Memory: 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 512MB GDDR5
Storage: 1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm

Price: $1,499.00 (Always be sure to check MacMall for a lower price!)

What computer do you use for Sunday morning media?

“DIRT” Sermon Graphic + Tips For Planning

by Kendall Conner on April 11, 2013 in Freebies, How-To with 2 Comments
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I recently had the opportunity to work with a great church on a sermon graphic for a series that would immediately follow their Easter Sunday services. This pastor shared his vision with me as follows…

Title: DIRT
Date: April 7th – May 5th
Tagline: Something From Nothing
Why: God wants to take our nothing and turn it into something
How: He has a plan for all of us, but part of that plan is up to us
What: God makes beautiful things out of dust when we make Him part of our process
Graphic Ideas: Dirt, growth, and green
Outline: Week 1 – Growth Takes Time
Week 2 – Giving The Holy Spirit Permission To Work
Week 3 – Separating Relationship From Religion
Week 4 – What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger
Week 5 – He Makes Beautiful Things!

Whenever you’re given details like this, it makes designing creative elements around the message so much easier. Lead pastors, if giving your creative guys details like this in advance is a foreign thing for you, I would encourage you to simply give it a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the level of creativity that will emerge when your crew has time to truly put their heart into it. This particular pastor plans out his sermons quarterly and shares them with his team through a Google Doc. That way, they’re able to start with the God-given vision from the pastor and then build ideas to communicate it effectively to their congregation. What’s really neat about this method is that individual team members—who all have different strengths—are able to share their ideas and afternoon daydreams right within this shared “Series Outlook” document. To see the body of Christ work together like this is downright inspiring!

Creative team leaders, I’d also remind you that this applies to you, too! Are you planning ahead for the creative media you’ll be using in your upcoming services or are you simply winging it? Even if your lead pastor and worship leader are notorious for waiting to the last minute to give you their content, you can still plan ahead for your areas. (Things like announcement slides, song backgrounds, pre/post-service music, volunteers, etc. are all things that you can plan even if they haven’t given you some kind of vision.) Lacking direction? Try using seasonal themes such as Easter, Spring, Fall, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Based solely around those themes, you could gather a creative team to develop ideas to make your services awesome.

After spending some time with my creative crew in a “think tank” looking at the pastor’s vision for this series, we came up with the following graphics. Feel free to download them and use them in your church. Want to create your own? You can find this photo on Lightstock.

How do you plan for your messages at your church?

Title Graphic:
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Background Graphic 1:
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Background Graphic 2:
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Quick Tips For Better Lyric Slides – Part 2

by Kendall Conner on March 15, 2013 in How-To with 6 Comments
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A week or so ago, we started a discussion about some quick tips that make a world of difference when you’re projecting lyrics. These slides have the potential to work right alongside your music team to lead people into worship, but also have the power to distract your whole congregation if done incorrectly. Needless to say—it’s worth the time to make them right! Here’s three more simple steps that will keep your lyrics looking good!

• Ditch The Slide Labels & Instructions
As both a designer and just a person who appreciates good visuals, this is a common problem that leaves me shaking my head every time that I see it. Sure, there is a certain amount of value that comes from including instructions and labels on your slides…but they look so ugly! Leave some room for your congregation to have some common sense and, trust me, they’ll figure out what’s going on without you having to spell out every detail.

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• Consistent Font Sizes
One of the biggest questions that people ask me is what font size they should use on their slides. I typically prefer my lyrics as small as possible while not excluding those in the back of the room. This will vary from one church to the next based on screen size vs. room size, but I think it’s best to show as much background as possible. Whatever font size you choose, keep it consistent from slide-to-slide and song-to-song. Experiment and find out which size is right for your church and save it as a template that you can use each week. Jumping to different sizes can come off as messy and make you seem unprepared. (However, I do like to make a noticeable increase in font size on power slides that have a lot of emphasis in a song but not necessarily a lot of words. You’ll see this in the following tip.)

• Avoid Repeating Lines
It’s all about keeping it simple. Why have two lines if one will suffice? Why have four if two is all you need? If a song has a repeating line, cut one of them from your slide and show off that background! Not only does it look a lot cleaner, it portrays that the song is really easy to jump in to for those just coming in.

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What are some other tips for better lyric slides?

Like this background? Find it here.

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