Behind the Scenes-Good Friday 2008
Ever wonder what goes into planning a service like Good Friday? Here’s a little behind- the-scenes glance for you . . .
Meetings, meetings, meetings . . .
In January, planning began with a creative meeting where a small group of dreamers put their dreams on the table. First, we created a purpose statement for the service and identified people who might be impacted. Then, we started talking. The only rule was: there are no rules. “All ideas are welcome, forget logistics, and dream big!” Tons of ideas came out of this meeting. For Good Friday 2008, the paintings idea started in this meeting, as well as the overall structure: no speaker, band in the back of the stage, Scripture as the guide.
Next was an even smaller meeting where those ideas were hashed out a bit. “What is possible? What sticks? What will have lasting impact? What will make the service personal?” All of these questions were used when we whittled down the idea pool.
And finally, in yet another meeting, we began to lay out the service. Decisions were made as to what the elements should be and how things would flow. We used a series of boards so we could literally see the service take shape on cards. 
LOTS of changes happened from the initial concept. In fact, we were changing things a few days before the service. The Service Programming team grabbed onto projects and tasks like set design, song selection, videos, communion, and graphics; and we started implementing.
Holy Week
Good Friday rehearsals began at 3 p.m. The artists were ready, the stage was set, and the musicians were prepared. But even with so much preparation, there was still the feeling of “Is this going to happen?” I love that feeling. No matter how much work we put into it, dependence on God is exactly what we needed to feel at that moment. Rehearsal was bumpy. Computers crashed; technology challenged us. Change this. Shorten that. Is everyone on board? Yes. No time to pause. The doors opened . . . God showed up.
It is Finished
It’s str
ange to evaluate a service like Good Friday. As a producer I often find myself asking, “Should we have done that? Did that work? What about that song?” But this year I was challenged to instead ask myself, “Did I walk away thinking about Jesus, or did I walk away thinking about the service?” For me, even after being entrenched in planning for three months, I sat looking at the final painting with Jesus on my mind, not lighting cues. Our hope, as a Service Programming team, is that you feel closer to God because of the Good Friday service . . . that is our ultimate payoff.
Amber Blossom
Associate Service Programming Director
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Service Programmingposted
mar 28, 2008by Buckhead Church
March 28, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Amber,
Nice post. As a Worship guy in a smaller church I wear tons of hats (producer, graphic designer, writer/arranger, etc…) but this post is super helpful and gives me tons of ideas how to step my ministry up to the next level and plug more people into ministry. Thank you for posting this.
March 28, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I’ve already posted to the general blog–but the video from the service just blew me away. I knew that a lot of ARTISTIC heart went into it. Thank you
Thanks for sharing these steps to get where you ended up. It helps us all.
April 8, 2008 at 6:58 pm
The Good Friday service was incredible. As we were leaving, I asked my kids what they thought about the service and my son said the ending was ackward. We pondered that, discussed things further and knew that it was intentional. We really thought about the sacrafice that Jesus made for us. THANK YOU for all your hard work and dreaming big. It was truly inspirational and conveyed the suffering that Jesus did so we could have EASTER SUNDAY and celebrate new life with Him.