“Two critical things will significantly impact something special like a Christmas service, a clear service flow and mapping out your transitions. Everything you will do creatively with lights, video, and audio will flow out of your understanding of the service flow,” notes Jordan Holder of The Church of Rocky Peak, Los Angeles, Calif.
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year. For church techs, it can also be the most stressful time of the year.
Thankfully for many congregations, it can also be the most impactful time of the year.
Christmas is a perfect season to reach people who may otherwise have limited interest in attending a church service, and it’s a great way to help people move into a new year with a renewed desire to attend church regularly.
Creating an attractive Christmas service doesn’t have to be dependent upon budget size or production value. But whatever is done does need to be done well. For many congregations that means crafting a visual experience that is effective at drawing people in without distractions.
Cherish Rush has been the Communications Director at Charlotte, North Carolina-based multisite megachurch Elevation Church for the last seven years and has already begun the planning process for this year’s Christmas services.
“The Christmas story is a familiar story,” she explains “It’s a simple story really, but oftentimes we can get in our own way creatively trying to tell it.”
“If you can’t verbalize to your teams what the experience is trying to say and how it is trying to make people feel then you haven’t done enough pre-production."
—Cherish Rush, Communications Director, Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC
“This year specifically we really are trying to be intentional about where we put our creative energy and budget. Can interesting lighting help create a moment more than a video that might cost more time, money and energy? Are we trying to be flashy versus create a moment for people to engage in worship or to hear the meaning behind the story of Jesus’ birth?” she asks.
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Photos courtesy of Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC.
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Photos courtesy of Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC.
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These types of questions are critical to ask during the planning stages while vision is being formed. Creative ideas shouldn’t necessarily be pursued because they’re inherently “cool” or different, or even because it’s what another ministry has done before. A church’s identity and vision should have an intentional representation throughout service elements, even ones as simple as transitions.
This clarifying process should begin during pre-production when creative ideas and brainstorming are being bandied about.
“If you can’t verbalize to your teams what the experience is trying to say and how it is trying to make people feel then you haven’t done enough pre-production,” Rush notes. Beyond just the big moments, she adds it’s also crucial to dissect “how can we go from one element or song to another.”
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“For any element where mood and tone are a big part of what's happening onstage, we make sure we intentionally match camera shots, cuts, and lighting choices to ensure that the tone translates for people watching online,” shares Jordan Holder, The Church at Rocky Peak, Los Angeles, Calif.
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Jordan Holder has been on staff at The Church at Rocky Peak, just north of Los Angeles, for the last 15 years, and has been the Assistant Technical Director since 2019. He concurs with Rush’s assessment of the importance of the planning process.
“Two critical things will significantly impact something special like a Christmas service,” he notes: “a clear service flow and mapping out your transitions. Everything you will do creatively with lights, video, and audio will flow out of your understanding of the service flow.”
“What do they want people to feel during this moment? Having an in-depth understanding of these things helps you align your lighting and video to the message and tone of an element.”
—Jordan Holder, Assistant Technical Director, The Church at Rocky Peak, Los Angeles, CA
It doesn’t stop with just understanding the details, however. Ultimately, each piece of the service should be an intentional moment designed to create a certain level of impact.
“What do they want people to feel during this moment?” he asks. “Having an in-depth understanding of these things helps you align your lighting and video to the message and tone of an element.”
Additionally, there’s added emphasis on creating an experience at Christmas that feels different from a typical weekend service.
“I'll find some unique graphical, worship background content and then build some lighting designs around that -- ideally with some color schemes we won't typically use,” Holder says. “I'll sometimes use different fonts and colors for worship lyrics for any special music/elements. When you apply all these things together, it can make the whole look feel different and unique.”
For Rocky Peak, creating a different feel means focusing not just on what’s happening in the room, but also in how those expressions are translating to their online audience, which is a sizable and intentional population with whom the church chooses to engage.
“Significant areas of intentionality for our online stream will be any live music, especially something like an acoustic special where the band may be significantly stripped down is but big on mood and feeling,” Holder notes. “These are things that may not translate through the camera unless you purposely help partner with the worship team.”
He continues, “For any element where mood and tone are a big part of what's happening onstage, we make sure we intentionally match camera shots, cuts, and lighting choices to ensure that the tone translates for people watching online.”
Holder and the Rocky Peak team do this by not just focusing on upcoming services in a vacuum. Instead, they look back at past events and find ways to learn and improve from those.
“Being intentional about what you communicate through cameras and lighting makes a significant distinction for online viewers. You are their eyes and ears for those moments, so matching tone and feeling, especially with cameras and cutting, can make or break them,” he says.
“A practical way to test this out is to watch back part of your livestream, a song, or a special element and mute the audio. Are the lighting and cameras on their own communicating tone and mood effectively? If not, what can change? Would a different color scheme fit the mood better? What could cameras do (or not do) differently to match the tone of the moment?”
There is an inherent tension to manage for Christmas services when it comes to the balancing act between the in-room and online audiences. A big, “wow” service may be great for people in person but may alienate those watching through the lens of a camera due to their inability to be enveloped by the scale of what’s happening. Conversely, a simple, intimate service may not be vibrant enough to allow its energy to translate through that camera lens and keep distant viewers engaged.
Rob Shawver is a lighting industry vet who has been both a church staffer and freelancer since 2006. In that time, he’s seen just about every style of event or service in the church and secular world and understand that “big” and “intimate” services each have their own unique challenges.
“In-person and online are two totally different experiences and the expectations should be too. With that said, there are some great tools that can help online feel more like they are in the room like a jib, dolly cams and roaming cameras.”
—Rob Shawver, lighting industry veteran
“I am a strong believer that we should never shy away from doing something or creating an awesome experience in the room even if it means online will not really get the same experience,” he says. “In person and online are two totally different experiences and the expectations should be too. With that said, there are some great tools that can help online feel more like they are in the room like a jib, dolly cams and roaming cameras.”
Special events that are treated like a larger-scale production may include special effects like lasers, snow machines, cold spark, scent machines and dramatic, sweeping lighting effects and haze. It can create an immersive and multi-sensory engagement for a live audience, only portions of which can be effectively communicated online.
This is where additional cameras can be a win, to Shawver’s point. Jib cameras can sweep the room to capture the scale of the experience. Dolly cameras can use movement to create energy and enthusiasm. Hand-held cameras can mimic a sense of immersion and perspective.
In this case, the challenge is to help online viewers feel like they’re still part of something bigger. But what if a ministry has the opposite goal, to help those online feel like they’re part of something smaller and more intimate?
Indeed, while planning for this type of service may lean toward focusing just on simpler production elements like dimmer house lighting, more traditional music, or spot-lit vocalists or speakers, it should not be neglected how to attempt to create a level of personal touch online that an attendee could get in person.
Chicago-area Mission Church doesn't livestream its weekend (or Christmas) services, which affords a certain level of flexibility. The live audience can become the priority for the technical teams, knowing that video is constantly being captured for social media content and a post-produced service that will be posted as on-demand content later.
“In traditional settings, there is often a strong sense of community and personal connection,” Shawver says. “Recreating this feeling in a virtual environment can be difficult, as viewers may feel isolated. Maintaining audience engagement during a simpler, more traditional online service may require creative solutions, such as incorporating interactive elements, chat features or virtual gatherings.”
Ultimately, it’s up to each ministry to determine its vision and priorities and attack those with clarity of purpose.
Chicago-area Mission Church is a perfect example. The church does not livestream its weekend (or Christmas) services, which affords a certain level of flexibility. The live audience can become the priority for the technical teams, knowing that video is constantly being captured for social media content and a post-produced service that will be posted as on-demand content later.
“We are intentional about how our camera framing will translate to the social media audience for display on a personal device such as a phone or tablet.”
—Nate Parker, Production Director, Mission Church, Bloomingdale, IL
“Our Christmas services tend to be similar to most of our weekend gatherings,” explains Mission Production Director Nate Parker, “with the exception of adding a creative opener element.”
The church’s simpler approach ties in with their broader strategy of how scenic and design elements are managed throughout the year.
“We have set a rhythm for significantly changing the lighting and scenic elements a few times a year,” Parker says. “We will then add small elements based on the needs of the current teaching series or event.”
“An example of this was the purchase of a HolidayCoro Brilliant Bulb pixel node system for adding pixel mapping elements to our scenic looks. This system was purchased several years ago and has been re-deployed in different configurations throughout the needs of the series. It allows for a fresh look by sending a unique motion graphic, video source, or still image for different service elements,” he explains.
Armed with a clear understanding of his church’s vision and priorities, Parker and the Mission Production team invest in the live experience as a priority and from there, they adapt based on how elements may need to translate online.
“We are intentional about how our camera framing will translate to the social media audience for display on a personal device such as a phone or tablet,” he says. “The worship and message portions of our service will be published in both long form playback as well as trimmed into smaller sections for highlight posts.”
Any church with a similar vision now has the freedom to introduce unique camera angles and styles to capture post-production content without having to worry about integrating that gear into an existing video workflow or intercom system as part of a live production chain. It also can allow for more flexible creativity knowing that there may be time after the event to create that custom content for social platforms or an on-demand audience.
Regardless of its production style or the specific audience it’s targeting, at the end of the day, it’s about a ministry having a clear vision and purpose for each element of its services and knowing how they will create an impact.
“People attending our services are looking for authentic experiences where God is moving,” reminds Rocky Peak’s Holder. “Bigger and more money don't equal impact and authenticity. No matter what, we can create intentional environments and experiences where God moves in His church by being purposeful with what we have.”
