To Be, or not To Be.
Shakespeare penned this over a century ago and yet it holds true to everything we do, copy, instigate or imitate as a church. Are we to be like everyone else? Are we to be on the cutting edge? Are we to desire to be better? Are we to be?
IMAG is short for Image Magnification or making things larger on a projection screen so you can see what’s going on far away like in a football stadium for a game or a concert.
There are varying breeds of IMAG. You have your concert IMAG which is creative shooting to tell a beautiful visual story of what is happening on stage, for those viewers who happened to get there late, or didn’t want to pay $200 for front row seats. This type of IMAG can be quiet beautiful in and of itself. There is sports IMAG, akin to watching a game on your TV but if you can’t see the main action replays of a game, whats the point of going and sitting in the nosebleeds? To watch ants?
You see IMAG in a number of varying public venues; for lectures, meetings, conventions, keynotes, graduations etc. all of the talking head variety. Then there is IMAG in the church. I’m not talking about live streaming a video, video reproduction for campuses and that jazz. I’m talking about those little side screens that everyone gets excited about when you put their face on it in a live room environment
It’s a huge debate. Frankly most tech guys I talk to abhor it. Why? It isn’t usually necessary.
Lets talk about worship IMAG (different from presentational song imag). Why on earth do I need to stare up the nose of my worship leader trying to discern whether he trimmed his nose hair instead of worshiping? Lyrics or worshipful images would do nicely. We try to imitate a concert feel and really end up distracting our key focus, God.
Presentational Song IMAG. Well this is just gross. A lot of churches who do presentational songs have A, being singular, person being the focus and oft times to a track. So what do i do? cut to shots of this person making out with themselves? Oh you want sweeping shots of disinterested choir, orchestra or band members? yeah…
Speaking IMAG, not many people do this well…ever. It’s distracting at best, and usually one camera can cover it. People do not ever wear appropriate clothing to stand infront of a camera, so our eyes usually bug out of our heads when their tight woven plaid shirt vibrates off the screen, and God forbid your straight on shot operator falls asleep after 3 services straight.
Why is something like this not necessary, ever…well think back 15 years ago….even less than that really. When did we even start worrying about it? When one of the other big churches did it. OH IT BRINGS THE ROOM IN CLOSER, people bring it closer, groups make it closer, relationships make it closer. It does make me wish we had those in flight barf bags in the hymnal rack.
What about someone like George Whitefield? He preached to people off a hill side….and his people didn’t go set up shadow boxes with candles so they could see his silhouette…in fact he didn’t even have a microphone and the Gospel still went forth. How did we ever live in those dark ages?
Jesus didn’t say, this do in remembrance of me, and if you don’t have a cameras and projection up you’re not doing the gospel justice.
The gospel is relationships, and you can’t have a relationship with a screen. There is something a bit impersonal about it. I’m not knocking churches who are video driven, these people have relationship builders in place, campus pastors, worship pastors, and the like.
There are so many messed up technical blessings the church has claimed as necessary that I think we need to take a step back and have a discussion.
I’m only just digging into this topic so dont be afraid to start talking.
Why does your church use IMAG?
How big should you start IMAG?
If you got rid of it after a few weeks or months would any one remember or care?
Because it is a part of who we are at this point how do we do it better?
Are we using it to mimic other churches? other events we’ve seen?
Ahhh…thank you Denny. What a great piece written on the IMAG subject. Unfortunately, for a looong time, I had no idea the effect of the IMAG had on the congregation. Until…one of my kiddos got sick and I backed out of leading in the Edge that morning. Wow, I was blown away at how impersonal it felt and how distracted I was. As I’m trying to gaze upon the lyrics…in rolls an electric guitar solo…and a slow zoom-in of the whole instrumental. Plus the worshipful faces of Tony and Aaron…that doesn’t help me worship…as some say it does.
I believe this is just one of the many things we (as the church) do to continually feed the church-member consumer-mentality. Not one thing we do is necessary to worship…lights, fog, IMAG, sound system. So you could get really legalistic about it all. The main issue is that if any of those elements is distracting from the gospel and worship of our God, then it must go.
I’ve had a few people express not-so-mild dis-taste of the IMAG and the fog…everyone has their preference. It’s a blurry line sometimes with these things b/c of the “preference argument”. But if it distracts…I think it deserves more serious discussion.
amanda k.
Ageeed, the haze is a touchy subject and is not something that is distracting to the majority of people, there are definitely a vocal few, and It can definitely get distracting or out of hand if it’s not watched!
Well done post, Denny. I would agree with everything you say. Thankfully, the church I’m at currently does not want imag, and probably never will. It’s a larger room, seating 1300, but we don’t feel like the pros outweigh the cons. Even aside from the distraction element, we have a pretty big opposition to it based on cost. We would much rather see those significant funds used for true ministry, for missions, for impact in our city.
I’m a tech director, no doubt, but the idea of facilitating the Gospel being shared to many is a way bigger deciding factor than using a system that costs a lot, benefits few and frustrates most people.
Thanks for tackling the topic. I look forward to seeing the input from others.
Great post!! What about IMAG done really well/tasteful? We are debating on using IMAG in our new facility.