unMediocre

Carlos over at ragamuffinsoul.com has asked his readers to chime in each Thursday with random examples of creativity in action. We call it “Creative Chaos.”

Carlos over at ragamuffinsoul.com has asked his readers to chime in each Thursday with random examples of creativity in action. We call it “Creative Chaos.”

I’m a little late in the game this week, but I still want to share something that to me represents the highest possible form of creativity…

With the news of the tragedy that struck the Chapmans yesterday, I was blindsided by the eerily similar story of my friends Julie and Smith Peck. They lost their 4 year old son, Jackson, on December 23, 2004. While leaving to go caroling with family and friends, Smith’s mom Roz accidentally backed her SUV into her grandson. Jackson lost his life, but his family took the horror of it all and did something very much after God’s own heart… They turned their tragedy into a message of hope and forgiveness.

I first struck up my friendship with the Pecks while on a mission trip with a team from our church. I’ve wept as I edited home videos of Jackson to be shown on television shows. We’ve taken our family to Jackson’s birthday parties that his parents and sisters have thrown every year since they lost him… What I’ve seen is a family who has a deep understanding of the sovereignty of God and a rich knowledge that He doesn’t always rely on sunny days to brighten the world.

The fruit of their courage has been federal legislation that has helped prevent similar accidents from happening to other families. Locally, they lead a ministry called “Grief Share” that gives families dealing with loss a network of support. They have also been given opportunities to share the story of their faith with a national audience. In fact, the story that The Oprah Show ran to tell their story is being re-aired this Friday (May 23), and will feature a letter sent by an Oprah watcher who credits the Peck’s story for saving her own daughter’s life.

Tragedy is often a catalyst for new life. Anything that lives is given the opportunity for life by something else that gives its own life away. I pray for the Chapmans’ son to run full speed into this chapter with courage and hope. It will always hurt, but there IS a redemption. Redemption is simply in God’s nature.

The Jackson Smith Peck Foundation – jspfoundation.com

Carlos over at ragamuffinsoul.com has asked his readers to chime in each Thursday with random examples of creativity in action. We call it “Creative Chaos.”

Carlos over at ragamuffinsoul.com has asked his readers to chime in each Thursday with random examples of creativity in action. We call it “Creative Chaos.”

This is a video we put together to highlight Journey Groups (small groups) here at West Ridge Church in good ole Dallas, Georgia (not Texas).

The idea is pretty simple, but creates a deep impact. We didn’t even need a video camera.

How we did it:
We invited several folks from the same Journey Group into our studio and recorded them reading a short written ‘testimony’ (about 2 minutes each). Using Logic Pro, we then took a good listen to each of the recordings and edited down to key thoughts. Taking those thoughts, we arranged them in an order that would help us form one ‘complete thought.’ (You’ll see what I mean when you watch). With simple white text on a bg, we slowly displayed those thoughts as they were spoken.

The Result:
As the text builds, a paragraph is formed on screen that describes the essence of community in a small group.

PS: The intro is a little long because of where we placed it in the service, so be patient.

Carlos over at ragamuffinsoul.com has asked his readers to chime in each Thursday with random examples of creativity in action. We call it “Creative Chaos.”

NOTE! This is an addendum to my Creative Chaos post from earlier today… I meant to add a quick video we did that went over like gangbusters. Huge laughs in all three services.

This was also for our Deadly Viper series [by the way...thanks for the mention, guys!]… We took a clip from Kung Pow! Enter the Fist and overdubbed our greeting and the week’s announcements using iMovie and a M-Audio USB mic interface. [This is the premaster edit, so the audio may be tough at places...sorry.]

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So God has wrapped up phase 1 of the creation gig, and…

Genesis 2:18 ADONAI, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.” 19 So from the ground ADONAI, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. 20 So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. [CJB]

My daughter McKenna is absolutely in love with any kind of animal. Even the ones that freak her out (>5 legs) seem to share a certain bond with her just like any human. At 3 years old, she has an understanding of how she fits in God’s creation, and how we all have something in common in being made by the same One.

So any time she meets a new critter (even in inanimate form), she can come up with a new name in a split second that just seems to be ‘the right name.’

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I haven’t jumped on the Creative Chaos train yet… Here’s my first ride! Several weeks ago, we put a call out to all people at West Ridge who [1] owned an acoustic guitar, and [2] knew how to play it…at least a little. With some a little preparation, we invited them to show up at rehearsal having practiced two songs that we made available on our website. About 60 folks showed up (we were hoping for 40). They ranged in age from 4 to 70-something. We miked a few, ran a few direct, and then had them lead worship with our band. It certainly created chaos…we called it “Acoustic Crash.”

[There are more photos at the bottom of the post]
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