Mobile Ministry Magazine

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend two of three concerts which are part of a show called MixxMaster's Studio Lounge. Both nights saw a ton of youth and mobile action, and the picture in this post is just one of the really neat scenes from the night.

This scene was probably the most awesome of the night as young and old, people from various races and areas of the US, all came together to just put Jesus in the front of all that was going on that night. Lecrae in particular leading this was an impressive act of humbliness and maturity. A Christian hiphop artist who has recently broken the secular Billboard Top 10 with his latest release, he pointed folks to Jesus. This moment captured in a picture, a moment of utter agreement by all in the room (400+ people), was just awesome.

At the same time, that venue also added to my fustrations with the Body and mobile technology. Let me preface in saying that I am very clear on issues of artists, images, video, and rights. What I want to point out is the missed opportunity to involve youth with a media company, and the ability to literally change how concerts are done - with just a simple mobile phone.

On the third night of Mixx Master's, it was asked of all those in the audience with cameras and camera phones to only take stills and not video of the night. Now understand, most of those with a mobile in the audience were youth. And that video was going to go right to their MySpace (or other) pages before they left the building. But due to legalities, the security in the audience constantly told people throughout the night that moving pics could not be taken.

For me, for this mobilists who started MMM with the idea that the Body should be innovators of mobile tech and its use, I was fustrated.

Its Sunday night when I am writing this, and I am still fustrated. This was an opportunity to do the best of mashups, and include mobile and youth in the telling of a story about an artist that many of them identified with. It didn't happen - again.

A ton of youth with a mobile phone, a free SMS/MMM shortcode to upload videos, utilzie the abiltiies of the audio/video team to mashup the content, publish the viewpoints of those in the audience beside the professional footage = end up with a story that cannot be repeated, but can be shared and told over and over. For all those hands that were raised, especially the one teen girl who gave her life to Christ, this was a story that was missed. An opportunity to do a concert and TV show in a way that had not been done before. It was missed.

For my part, I've got a problem in seeing these opportunities and then putting Jesus in front of them. Its really an issue of knowing that the Body has the best story to tell, but will not take advantage of it with what is available either because of ignorance or refusal. I really don't know what I'll do at this point except to point this post to a few there, and hope that people can start to use their means to see all points of our lives as vantage points where Christ's story can be told so that others come to see Him just as Lecrae presented - the man who wasn't afraid to be a rebel to show us how much the Father loved us. Because to me, people getting together to exhalt the Lord is fun, but when we keep our own slience, the fustration just weighs on me.

Labels: community, innovation, mobility, music, teens. youth