Contact
Congregational Vitality Office
The WV Annual Conference of the UMC
Ken Willard, director
kwillard@wvumc.org
304-344-8331, ext. 31
Chris Ridwgay, registrar/assistant
cridwgay@wvumc.org
304-344-8331, ext. 30
304-552-8469
Date and Location
January 16, 2021
10:00am - noon
ZOOM Webinar
Before the global pandemic, the majority of congregations who were streaming worship online were (more or less) creating an experience for the people gathered in-person in their buildings. Leaders would often (at some point) look into the camera and say, "And if you're worshiping with us online, we're glad you've joined us." They'd then look back at the people gathered in-person and continue on with a worship experience designed as a physical gathering.
This meant that the home audience were observers of what was happening in real time on-site. They could watch, but not truly participate. This model (arguably) worked because - at the time - we knew nothing different.
In March 2020, when congregations started moving from in-person worship to online (many for the first time) the methodology for streaming worship completely shifted paradigms. Everything was about the home audience. There was no one in the room, and the people at home could feel that shift. They knew they were being talked to directly.
Now we face one of the most critical moves in the next iteration of the online worship experience. As we begin to dream and plan for a time where we will once again worship in-person, we mustn't return to making people at home observers after talking directly to them for so long. They'll feel that too.
We also can't take an approach where we treat the in-person crowd as the studio audience, providing the laugh or clap track, for the people watching at home. Neither of these audiences should feel secondary.
If we fail to think about how to create a BOTH/AND scenario as we go back to in-person worship, we will lose so much of what we've gained in these last seven plus months.
Join us for Both/And: Maximizing Hybrid Worship Experiences For Online and In-Person Audiences
This 2 hour workshop will delve into strategies for how to create powerful transformative worship where no one feels like they’re an afterthought.
It will explore:
- Re-imagining worship for both/and
- How to create interactive both/and experiences
- Bringing at home and in-person audiences together in real time
- Alternative opportunities for online audiences watching in-person livestreams
- Repurposing in-person worship for online audiences
- Strategies for adapting practices for both/and
- Avoiding letting your groove becoming a rut
- And more
The Presenter
An award winning digital artist, Jason continues to establish new styles for visual imagery in worship that he hopes will help the church reach the culture we live in. Known for his pioneering work in digital images for worship, he has devoted the last fourteen years to developing professional, highly emotive graphics, animation and vi deo that are being emulated in churches throughout the country.
Jason’s passions include designing worship, production, acting and teaching. He leads seminars across North America on creating cutting edge worship, with an emphasis on demystifying the productions process. Believing in the power of the story, he likes to pepper his projects and teaching with humor.
His books, co-authored with Len Wilson, are Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship (Abingdon Press, 2002), Design Matters: Creating Powerful Imagery for Worship (Abingdon Press 2006), Taking Fight With Creativity: Worship Design Teams that Work (Abingdon Press, 2009) . Jason was also the lead designer for the CD-ROM of the best selling book The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry and has completed projects for such organizations as The Fuller Institute, Easum Bandy and Associates and Abingdon Press. In addition, he has designed worship alongside such leaders as Adam Hamilton, Michael Slaughter, Tony Campolo and Len Sweet. As animator/illustrator and member of the worship design team at Ginghamsburg Church from 1997-2000, Jason brought a fresh approach to the use of digital media that raised the bar for artistic standards in worship. In 2009 Jason returned to the team as an unpaid servant.
In 2000, Jason co-founded Lumicon Digital Productions, a non-profit arm of UMR Communications whose purpose is to be a comprehensive teaching center for assisting churches in the ministry of digital culture. After 2 years of casting vision and producing high quality worship resources for churches through Lumicon, Jason established Midnight Oil Productions along with Len Wilson.
Jason began work as a Media Specialist for the Ohio River Valley District of the United Methodist Church in Cincinnati Ohio in mid 2011. His work there entails coaching, personal one-on-one training, vision casting and a variety of other work related to worship and creativity.
In addition, Jason has been featured in several articles for publications including The Ooze, Homiletics, Next Wave, Rev., Technologies for Worship, Wired, Worship Matters, Your Church, Church and Worship Technology, Worship Leader Magazine and various newspapers around North America. His books are required reading at nearly a dozen seminaries.
Jason is an adjunct professor for Northwest Nazarene University, teaching a course on visual communication for graduate level students.
Jason graduated from the School of Advertising Art. He has been awarded Hermes, UMAC, and Telly Awards for his innovations in animation, design and illustration.