ECHO10 // High Hopes

I’m really stoked about Echo 2010 this year! I really am! ‘Oh-nine was my first year to go and I learned so much there. Primarily, my twittering went to a whole new level! Right between Level “Insane” and the mushroom kingdom level. But Echo showed me that I wasn’t in it alone. I wasn’t the only video guy who struggled to communicate with his pastoral staff. I saw that the level of talent within church media is seriously ReDonk (I’d argue it parallels professional sports multi-media departments)! And I learned a great deal about managing artists (coffee is a plus).
That said, while there God really spoke into a growing passion of mine: art in the church, or church-art. Now, I’m not talking about the end product, which is better termed “media”, I’m talking “Art”. The kind made by Shakespeare, Bach, Monet …Michelangelo. I’m talking art produced by the church that is at it’s core still PURPOSEFULLY & PRIMARILY experiential. And God just nudged me, and showed me that while most everyone at the conference was there to learn & talk about the “How” (HOW to make sweet jumpbacks, HOW to use Twitter to create online community, HOW low-budget churches can make high-budget effect). Nobody was addressing the “Why”.

Why did Jesus tell parables?
Why was this art-form of storytelling the most effective way of reaching his audiences?
Why would Jesus want us to keep doing art (again, not media, Art).

See, I think we (as humans) can get a little cart-before-the-horse. But when we satisfy the WHY questions (horse) we can then be sure we’re following up with the appropriate HOWs (cart).
(I’ll leave off that I believe, in my job, my use of and the Church’s production of art are no where even close to God’s intentions for it .)
And honestly, this is where ECHO really came up short for me last year. When I asked break-out leaders and key-noters, about this the response was more than a few glazed-over “Yeah, that’s a hard one, …the church has really got to figure that one out…” Blabbity-blah. And yes it did feel a bit patronizing. (You can ask @locustfist how long I vented on the return home.)
Aaaaaaaall THAT said, I have high hopes for ECHO this year and it’s years to come! Mostly because this conference is attracting the eyes & ears of artists around the world, artists whose passion is first to glorify the creator, and create in the fashion he created! And we have friggin’ Don Miller this year! Mr. Professional Story-Teller himself (after Jesus of course). But ECHO is where this dialogue & many more like it can take place as creatives & artists gather for fellowship, accountability & (I hope) beer.
That’s it for now! See you at #ECHO10.

Tagged as: "C"hurch, ART, conference, creatives, echo, ideas, video