(This post is part of Creative Chaos at RagamuffinSoul.com - check it out!)

I know all ten of you have been waiting for our newest stage design pictures, so here they are. It was a sad time taking down the Heroes set but we got over it. Okay, down to the details.

The theme of our series is Essentials and we are looking at the basics of the Christian faith. They are simple foundational truths that all Christ-followers should believe and agree on. So we decided to go with alphabet blocks as our imagery.

We took 8 sheets of plywood and built “steps” that we were going to put the letters on.

We then cut out foam for the blocks and spray painted them (20 letters plus 142 feet of border). This took some time and is not fun in the hot sun. Side note: regular spray paint melts foam…lesson learned.

We caulked the letters and borders onto the “steps” to give the illusion that the blocks were stacked (blocks spell out “Essentials”).
We then hung little cardboard boxes created to look like alphabet blocks from bent metal to look like a giant baby mobile.

This is the result (click to enlarge):

It looks a lot more simple than our Heroes set, but took a LOT of hard work. Especially the spray painting…not fun. I really like the look of the stage though. It turned out better than I imagined. Oh yeah, for pre-service music we played Rockabye Baby (lullaby renditions of Metallica, Coldplay and Beatles).

So there you go. That’s all you get.

Stephen

P.S. - I have to give props to JoAnna Wise. She does an awesome job at this.

Here are some photos from our set change last week (click to enlarge). I am very pleased with the results. Our team did an amazing job (there were lots, even though you only see a few in the pictures).

For those of you interested in all the technical stuff, we found the chandeliers at a yard sale and Salvation Army. Two separate chandeliers, matched perfectly. We painted them gold. Total cost? Seven dollars. The art frames were found at a second hand store and those were painted gold with brush strokes of black to antique them. The art for the frames was printed on a high gloss banner paper that we painted over with Mod Podge to look like a painting. And the fabric was a steal at five dollars a yard. The entire set was achieved for less than $500. How’s that for creativity?

We played theme music as people walked in. I heard responses such as, “Wow,” “Breathtaking,” and “Powerful.” It made my day.

Stephen

***Check out more Creative Chaos entries at www.ragamuffinsoul.com***

I’ve been really busy on all this Heroes stuff but couldn’t be more excited. For those of you who missed the trailer yesterday, here it is:

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Our first series trailer, ever! More to come in the future I am sure. Everyone loved it. We had these awesome Invite Cards that we paid rush shipping to come in on Saturday and FedEx didn’t deliver them. Frustrating! Pray I don’t lose my salvation when I give them a call later on.

Hopefully I can write a normal post soon. I’ll definitely be back for Positive Post tomorrow.

Stephen

**Note - This post has been edited to be included in Creative Chaos at RagamuffinSoul.com. Check it out.

This post is part of Creative Chaos. Get your fix over at ragamuffinsoul.com.

Every month, I look forward to creating a new series concept for our sermons. For me, it is an awesome experience to sit in a planning meeting months ago, throw out ideas, meet again to discuss details, and then see it come together before your eyes. It’s one of the reasons why I love my job. Not to say there aren’t frustrations along the way, there are. And I will share a little bit of my journey here.

The theme for May is Heroes. The creative team decided it was best to go with a medieval look because of the overuse of the popular TV show and we did superheroes last year. When it comes to graphics, it’s just me. As much as I would love a team, I work with what I have now. That’s where the Church Marketing Lab comes in handy. A bunch of designers (mostly) critique work and give suggestions. I love it. Here is an example of how good it is for me.

Here is what I started off with:

Not too shabby, but not strong either. I needed help so I went to the lab. They suggested things like metal textures, photos, etc. so this was my response.

An improvement, but still not there. Too illustrated. The lab really pushed me to go further and try some photos. I really struggled with this for hours but I finally had breakthrough. What you see next is the final result of some good collaboration.

After that, a whole bunch of juicy goodness exploded from this one image. But you’ll have to see for yourself in May.

Yes, I said juice-ay.

Stephen