Fall Series, 2010

Thanks to those who participated in last night's meeting. I felt it was an extremely productive time.

We mainly addressed two issues: the fabric wall and the title of the series. First, during a meeting I had Tuesday with the pastors, the idea was brought up that the proposed title (Raising Your Relational IQ: Applying Romans 12 to Everyday Life) had a very intellectual feel, whereas the proposed stage design had a very flowy, organic feel. The two "styles" didn't mesh all that well.

At our meeting last night, we used a thesaurus and started with words from the original title. We then used words from the scriptures that Pastor Jonathan is going to focus on (Romans 12:9-21), such as "Relational", "Link", "Elevate", "Capacity", "Whole", and "Relationship".

We came up with this:

RELATIONAL FOUNDATIONS 101:

Learning to Elevate One Another

We felt this had a much more organic feel to it. It's still "learning", as we all have to continue to do, and it also includes the application of the lessons learned.

Any other ideas, feel free to post them.

Also, it appears as though we'll have the pit filler IN for the series. With this in mind, we talked about different places to hang the fabric wall, different shapes and applications, the meaning behind the wall itself, etc. I know that Willard and Pastor Jonathan had mentioned this before, so we talked about putting words directly into the fabric wall. One idea we liked is to have fabric "banners" with words painted/stenciled on them. Words like "Honor", "Love", etc. We could select words directly from Romans 12, but they wouldn't have to apply directly to specific weeks (like the speech bubbles from a few months ago). They'd be more general character words. We would then have the fabric running between the banners. (I'll try and get a sketch up asap). We also talked about the fabric colors getting lighter the higher you go, representing the "elevation".

The placement of the wall was a subject we talked about in length. With the pit filler in, we talked about having the fabric hanging near the DOWNSTAGE side of the pit (that's towards the congregation). This would put MOST of the stage BEHIND the fabric wall. We talked about having the spaces in between the strips of fabric big enough that people would pass through some of them. This also would allow for people to see the video screen through the fabric wall. This accomplishes 2 things: 1.)The wall is virtually transparent, as we should be. Our relationship with other people should be one of transparency, allowing them to see the Love and Power of Christ in our actions and in the way we treat others, and 2.)In order to become who Christ calls us to be, we must separate ourselves from our own sinful tendencies. We must "tear down the wall", as Pink Floyd would say. If we are able to pass through the wall physically, then it no longer represents a barrier.

As far as timing goes, we have 2 weeks until we have to have the title and concept set. At that point, graphics come into play. I'd like to have the entire set totally planned in 4 weeks, as this will give me ample time to get "builders" together and put together this massive fabric wall.

Understand, of course, that all of this has to be ran by the pastors. I do think, however, that we have an excellent idea. I think we can very effectively communicate the idea of Romans 12.