My mind is very focussed right now. In fact it can only really fit a couple of things in it and I have reached capacity.

There are two main projects which are at their almost final end.

1. Our fourth Hillsong Kids Big curriculum – I am excited about this and we have a final video shoot next week, but I really want it to be done. (It also differs slightly from our first three so stay tuned for details!)

2. The DVD of Crazy Noise. Our first ever preschool album CD was released in Aus. last November and will be launching worldwide early this year with a DVD as well… so it’s kinda all happening right now, and because its a studio alum not a live one there is a lot more content that needs filming and a bunch of creative ideas that need to be idea-ed-afied.

So this blog takes a back seat, but I look forward to writing some posts about the creative, songwriting and filming processes that will hopefully be helpful!

Talk soon!

It’s time for a random yet related fact.

So think about how many individual images go to make up a Pixar movie… the average frame (a movie has 24 frames per second) takes about seven hours to render, although some can take nearly 39 hours of computing time. (Source: Wired Mag)

P.S. Rendering definition here.

Finish of random but related fact.

We are creating our latest Hillsong Kids Big curriculum of which the media we produce is a very important part…

Why… In our culture because of the proliferation of media it is used to segregate and divide (you are defined by the music you like and the TV you watch – Hip Hop, Emo, Country, Pop, Beiber have their ‘tribes’). Having all your kids watch the same media at church is a small step in the effort to unite and build community.

So that’s why I’m wearing gold tights, drinking Pepsi Max and spending untold hours filming a ‘Christmas Story’.

It’s worth it.

For approx 35 minutes of video:

• Pre production: (Writing scripts/Recording songs): about 100 Hours
• Filming: 31 Hours

So it’s clear from being at the brilliant Activate Conference with Tammy Tolman that there a lot of people in Kidmin that have a story about the infamous flash paper.

Flash Paper to Coin from Nathan LeGros on Vimeo.

So if you have ever used flash paper and lived to tell the tale, please share below…

I will share a fellow kids pastor experience of using a candle to light the flash paper and getting a small amount of wax on the paper which ended up on the youth pastors face after being thrown into the audience.

Share away! (Especially you gospel type illusionists/magicians)

Rob Bradbury asked me to speak in the Kidshaper electives this year about a topic near and dear to my heart. I firmly believe that everyone has a creative spark in them, especially when it has to do with your calling in life!  And I’m not just just talking about creativity that immediately springs to mind like songwriting or script writing, but everything from problem solving to preaching to leading volunteers.

This is a brief few thoughts from what I presented at the conference.

Learning how to use your imagination

 1. We have an imperative to create
God tells us to sing a new song. God is the only one who can create from nothing. We simply re-imagine.  BUT stronger can be our desire to hold on to our previous creations – don’t ride any dead horses… dismount.

2. Unblock the Hose
I wrote about this a while ago here. But sometimes you need to figure out HOW before you figure out WHAT. Perhaps you want to create a video for your weekend services but your grand ideas supersede your technical ability. Find someone with the know-how!

3. Give Yourself Space
In my role at Church I have to create a space so I can devote my entire brain area cavity to an idea or issue – and I am confident that I have God given ability to come up with solutions not because I am especially gifted but simply because I am called!

4. Don’t Accept the First Draft
Do not expect platinum without a rewrite. Sit with your ideas for a while before acting on them.

5. Don’t Mix Meetings and Ideas
NEVER. If you are brainstorming with team, stay away from agenda and ‘to do lists’. Focus on the dreams not the doing!

6. Be Mr/Mrs Implementation
Don’t just be known as Mr. Idea.

The bottom line is all this: Effort places value on our children… so take the time and develop your imagination!

This year was the 25th Anniversary of Hillsong Conference! It all started in 1986 in a school in Baulkham Hills, and this week we were at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in the Heart of Sydney!

I haven’t blogged much in the last week, but to make up for it here is a Happy Birthday video from Kidsong to Hillsong Conference! Blog posts maybe take an hour to write but this video took days, so show the love and retweet/share do your thing!

Thanks!

In much the same way as ten years ago I wouldn’t consider a kids program complete without a puppet show, today I would never consider running a service without some sort of creative video media.

What would you never consider going without?

I wonder what it will be in ten years?

I have talked long about the Church and Christians creating culture. We have lost our cultural impact because we have resorted to parody and imitation. Our kids need to grow up with an understanding that as they serve a creative God they can also create/inspire and lead the way as a creative force in the world.

So long story short… I read, along with millions of others Don Millers book ‘Blue Like Jazz‘. Well it’s going to be made into a movie because I and thousands of others have invested in it’s production!

Who knows what the movie is going to be like, but the important thing is action. I am supporting the creation of art that will have cultural impact.

flomax .4 mg target=”_blank”>Click here to find out more!

Alfred Hitchcock was quoted as saying the following:

“Once the screenplay is finished, I’d just as soon not make the film at all. I have a strongly visual mind. I visualize a picture right down to the final cuts. I write all this out in the greatest detail in the script and then I don’t look at the script while I’m shooting. I know it all by heart, just as an orchestra conductor needs not look at the score. When you finish the script, the film is perfect. But find cialis cheap in shooting it you lose perhaps forty percent of your original conception.”

(HT: Owl City Blog)

…

…

That’s exactly it.

Everything creative I attempt is perfect in my head.

Its the execution that ‘muddies the water’ so to speak and what comes out is… mostly silver/gold with a hint of platinum in a few places. Those ideas that actually make it through unsullied by the 37 steps it took to get to the final result.

I really love those moments!

(Funny Man Dan would agree I think)

FACT: You need to know what matters now in your ministry.

Here’s how you could be inspired to find out. Click here: http://bit.ly/wmnkidmin

It’s a brand spankin’ new FREE! new ebook from 33 different contributors from all over the globe and spectrum of God’s mighty big kingdom.

There is an upcoming print version that will be available for purchase from June 14.

There is a way to connect with Twitter and Facebook.

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/cmwhatmatters
• Facebook: http://bit.ly/90LI4p

Also, I believe that discount prescriptions imitrex I am the only contributor with his name spelt incorrectly Although that seems to be a theme as of late.

I am slammed at the moment which means the blog is last on the list for any meaningful content.

One of the reason’s I write this blog is because I see it as a barometer for my own development/creativity/learning. If I am not writing the blog it’s either one of two reasons:

1. I’m not growing/learning/thinking

2. I’m slammed

In this case… it is a season of the full calendar. My iPhone has never had more appointments to keep me on time with and we are filming/writing like crazy for Hillsong Kids Big Curriculum.

But even in this season I am still learning/growing… coreg 80 mg so instead of create content, I am just gonna steal and link to it

So for today’s inspiration check out this episode of TheOoze.tv

Andy Crouch talks about one of my favourite metaphors for faith… music, specifically Jazz and Classical…

(You should check out some of the other episodes, it’s turning into a great series!)

Dave Out

Following up on my last post about the ‘So You Think You Can… Lead Kids’ promo here at Church.

The website (hillsongkids.com/leadkids) is actually just a small part of the whole deal. More of a way to get more information and to put out some vision.

The big part of this is leaders simply inviting friends to be a part of the ministry.

Anyway, here’s how I put together the page.

[IMAGE] Kathryn Macdowall worked her photoshop magic on an image for the promo.

[MUSIC] Got a great member of our team Paul Stokes to put together the jingle and add in ‘Lead Kids’ in his home studio (You’re the man Paul!)

[VIDEO] Simply recorded the video on my own really cheap video camera at home and edited in iMovie (comes with every Mac). I turned it black and white because it looked classier/artier keeping it colour which looked like a cheap video recorder. Popped in the image and jingle at the beginning. Maybe about an hour from start to finish for editing. Uploaded to Vimeo with a free account… looks classier than Youtube.

[FORM] Free webform from Google Docs… this is a BRILLIANT tool. Puts all data input into a spreadsheet in Google Docs. If you look around online, similar tools can run pretty expensive! The form mirrors the invitation we gave out to all leaders. The Google option is not ideal, but the price is!

[WEBSITE] Simply created a new page on our site and had one of our web boys create a redirect clonidine street price (ie. hillsongkids.com/leadkids points to that page… watch your browser when you click on the link… it changes). This took a little bit of technical expertise on my part but nothing too fancy.

So there you have it, hope it gave you some ideas.

Its great for your wired young people, they can email the link, twitter it and connect with their friends in the same way they always do.

This is the world i’m living in.

And I’m convinced that we very rarely realise it and the opportunity it is.

I really don’t want to settle for the status quo.

Anyway watch the vid…

So I took a day today and stayed home… wasn’t sick just had to take a day to get a bite into the new scripts for our next series of BIG. It’s now dinner time and I though I might post something up online because: 1. I haven’t done that in a while, and 2. The software I am using to write the scripts.

I am using celtx, which is free media pre-production software. It has everything you need to take your story from concept to production. claritin prescriptions Celtx replaces ‘paper, pen & binder’ pre-production with a digital approach that’s more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share (I pasted that from the website in case you think I am that articulate )

If you need to write a script for anything, especially if you are going to film it then check out Celtx!

Dave out!

Love this thought to think on and ponder while you ruminate…

From Seth Godin

Irrationally committed

If you’re looking for the sensible, predictable, long-term strategy, this probably isn’t it. Except when it is.

Entrepreneurs who are irrationally committed to their business are far more likely to get through the Dip…

Salespeople and service providers and marketers who are irrationally committed to customer service can completely transform an ordinary experience and make it remarkable.

Is cipro prescription drug being irrational irrational? Of course it is. That’s why it often works.

The most fun people I know are irrational, the most successful people I know do unrational things…

Jesus was an unrational dude.

Maybe we should lead unrationally?

I have three questions for you today.

And I’m not giving you the answers.

They relate to you as a leader and more importantly someone who is shaping the world view of a generation.

1. Why do I need to know all the answers?

Lost creator and Cloverfield producer J.J. Abrams has a “mystery box” from New York’s Tannen’s Magic store. This is what he says about it: It’s a cardboard box with a question mark printed on it. It’s one of those things you buy for $15 and they advertise that it has at least $20 worth of stuff inside.

He’s never opened it.

“I love the fact that it has this mysterious value as long as I don’t open it.” – J.J. Abrams

Our job is cialis softtabs prescription to instill into children a sense of wonder and mystery about God. (Romans 11:25; 16:25, 1 Cor 15:51, Eph 1:9) He can never be completely comprehended, but he reveals himself to us.

Knowable, yet completely unknowable.

Mystery.

2. Why is the part of church life that should be the easiest to build is the hardest?

Community should be easy. Why do we have to work so hard to be relevant?

A group of people connecting around a common goal and purpose.

I think it may be about moving people out of comfort into discomfort. During the aftermath of a tragedy no one complains about the air conditioning – you just want to stay alive and will connect with whoever you can to do so. And that is the most uncomfortable you could ever be.

Community

3. Have I ignored beauty because it was from a non-approved source?

Beautiful art can come from other religions… even Hollywood.

All beauty comes from God.

No matter the human source, they are acknowledging the creator (without even knowing it sometimes).

Beauty

A person like this is interesting.

I like helping kids become interesting.

“Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” –  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

NOTE: These are some fairly unrelated thoughts. If you find them confusing, I probably will in the morning.

Phil Vischer has just posted the “official” 28 minute JellyTelly demo video for all the world to see at www.jellytelly.tv

This is the coolest concept I have seen in a long time! And the programming is REALLY good. Great cialis overnight online animation and quality segments! The great thing is that this is just the start, and the future could be massive…

Get involved, subscribe your family and help get this thing flying!