Wednesday, September 16, 2009

WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE.... THE CHURCH HISTORY VERSION

Sometimes you get a idea that's sort of amusing. "Wouldn't that be fun?" you muse. "Wouldn't that be cute" And usually the idea goes away.

But sometimes it doesn't.

Many, many months ago, our senior pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian, Mark Brewer, started a series on church history and what we can learn from it. "The More Things Change," he called it. He'd do a few weeks, break to talk about something out, then come back to it. One week per century.

And around the 4th or 5th century, I found myself musing... Wouldn't it be fun to put this whole series to music? Wouldn't it be fun to make a video set to, say, Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."

Cute idea. And surprisingly, one that didn't go away.

By the 11th century, I'd started taking notes. I went back to listen to the first 10 centuries online. I started looking for rhymes...

And finally, I sat down and made this video. With help from the rest of the fam. I wrote the lyrics and gathered the photos. Cory did the rough cut. I did the final cut and the effects. Lee mixed the music, and Lee and Sabrina did the singing.

It was a blast. 20 centuries of church history in 4 minutes and 17 seconds. Enjoy!

17 comments:

Eeyore said...

Janet, I can't play the video. It says it's set to private.

Janet said...

Try it now -- Had to change YouTube settings.

Gaffney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gaffney said...

Great vid! Nicely captured -- Mark has to go to you before doing another 20 part series; it would save him serious time.

Scott Herr said...

Jan,

That was so much fun! I loved it. I so wish I lived closer to you, so I could share in more your wonderful creativity.

-Scott

Anonymous said...

This is awesome! Great job, gang! I'm definitely passing this on to my family and friends. I wonder what other rock song could be used to illustrate God's history?

Susanne Barrett said...

Too cool!!!! I'm posting this to Facebook if Emily hasn't already. Clever and educational.

Beth said...

Bravo! As a church history teacher, I salute you. As a would-be poet, I giggle in awe.

Loved how you all made this family project too. It looks and sounds great!

I may show this to my students during the course of the semester, probably sometime between mid-term and finals when everybody starts bogging down in the nitty-gritty details (and wishing for Christmas break!).

Erin said...

Awesome video! Love the lyrics and the presentation - and as a die-hard LOST fan, I got a giggle out of seeing Terry O'Quinn's face when John Locke was mentioned. Terrific job!

Carrie K. said...

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing it with us.

regina doman said...

Janet, I love it! Emailing it to my homeschool group...! (Our kids are memorizing a timeline of world events, including lots you mentioned in the vid!)

Anonymous said...

Janet--
That was great! You hit most of the highlights that I remember from my semesters of Church History. I loved the various icons -- as well as some of the pop-culture images you mixed in at times. (Just on one viewing, I'm pretty sure I saw some still from Monty Python & the Holy Grail.)
Thanks!
--Trudy

liturgy said...

Awesome! Would you place the lyrics online, or on the Youtube info section, or email them to me?

Janet said...

@Liturgy -- I'm working on a captioned version, per my pastor's request, and will post it soon! Thanks!

liturgy said...

I've embedded it at
http://www.liturgy.co.nz/blog/church-history-in-4-minutes/1701
with a link crediting back to you.
I look forward to the captioned version. Will you place a comment here please so that I can locate where it is & commend it to my readers?
Blessings

Anonymous said...

Janet, you are so talented (as is the rest of your family)! It's so awesome that the four of you can work together to create. Great job!

When you say Lee mixed the music, what exactly does that mean? Did he perform the instruments???

--Kelly Pinkham

Teacher said...

Are the lyrics available?