Friday Night: And He said to me, it was worth it

While our other intrepid blogger remained backstage surveying the drama on the monitors and keeping our brave and dauntless production assistants' heads on straight searching the PO, I was out on the arena floor snapping pictures of our film crew in action, and I have to tell you, seeing this whole thing live is pretty flippin' powerful.


Caleb watching the camera as the jib rises over the crowd

Having been involved in the creation of these pieces from the very beginning (down to the Unhindered "We Will" worship-lyrics screens we did with GFX guru Joe way back in January!), there's a part of me that feels a little like this whole enormous event is my baby (and I know every other CCMer feels like they've birthed something amazing, too).

I'm every bit as proud of our team as my fellow blogger mentioned before. At least twice in the hours leading up to the event and once during, we went into a mini-crisis-mode, only to see it handled swiftly and confidently as the right people found the right equipment and did what professionals do-- GET STUFF DONE as if there were no problem at all.


Alex monitors the event opener from "Video World"

Audience reaction changes everything. That's all I can say. You can watch these videos for quality control 18,002 times, but when you actually get a room full of hundreds of people laughing, applauding or cheering wildly, the entire experience is different. The cheer you hear go up can make you love something you thought cheesy, can make you want to sing along to a song you didn't really even like, and, for those things you already loved, can actually make you cry.

That's right. I'm man enough to admit that at the John 8 music video, I teared up. Right there in a crowd of people who were just watching and listening for the love of God, that piece went from being amazing to being PHENOMENAL.


The control desk for lights and video, from behind our cameramen

Props go out to every person who stayed up late at night--night after night after night--to get those components finished and ready for broadcast.

Thanks to our live TV crew for enabling us to have a part in sending this out worldwide.

And many, many kudos to the ministry team for performing the drama better than this writer ever thought it could be done.

As we wrap up on tonight, we're looking forward to tomorrow, when we'll be live on the air an astounding 15 hours. At least, I'm certainly looking forward to it. Once more unto the breach, CCMers!


Ben mans a camera for live international television(!!)

(By the way, how amazing is it to hear someone say "15 hours of live TV… are you ready for that?" and be able to respond "I've done it!"?)