Most Memorable Moments In Church

During my session at the WCA Arise arts conference, I asked the attendees to write down the most amazing, memorable arts experience in church they ever had. Here's what people submitted in the 4 minutes I gave them to write ... (BTW there were a few we couldn't quiet decipher ... so we had to omit those ... sorry about that!)

I hope these ideas will give you the same inspiration as they have given me! Simply amazing. Feel free to add more ideas or elaborate on ones in the comments section:

Most Memorable Moments in Church . . .

A dessert theatre in the round, Christmas musical with an intentional life message to pursue those seekers to Christ-centered individuals. (CAV-Church at the View)


Images on the screen of a Beluga whale swimming in a slow motion as the music just crested and hit a climax . .. when the moments are extended with a song that just keeps moving and we journey under the sea through amazing jungles of seaweed only to surface at the crest of the song.

Ephesians series- six rock panels each representing a chapter of the book with a “living stones” video (zoom into rock images and see images of people then zooming out to reveal the wall)-Kathy Schnorr


During a song, 20 people came forward with large white cards. One at a time, they showed one side of the card- a short description of their life “before” Christ. Then they turned it over to reveal a short phrase for their life “After”. It was a powerful reminder of what God does in people’s lives.

Dance team with one member as the main character telling the story of Christmas while the others responded.


Placard family of dialog on cards.

Screen surveys


Guitarist used the riff from “Thunderstruck”(ACDC) in a worship song.

Polled our children about ways they can honor their parents and how parents frustrate them and then used the answers in a family feud drama with game board and all.


Our “Run to Me” drama, luggage drama, letters from home, “Man in the Mirror”, Imagine Christmas, Mother’s Day Video, Father’s Day video

The drama in session one at the conference


An ice sculpture that melted while the pastor discussed the melting of a hardened heart in the warmth of God’s love, The pastor chipped away at the ice and at the end of the service lifted it over his head and smashed is open symbolizing our broken hearts

“Popstar” Mosaic’s short film from last year


Willow Creek’s Christmas Service 2005

Going to lifechurch.tv main campus and seeing technology in action from lights to sound. The cultural relevance of it all was amazing. Very strong connection to God for me as it brought creativity to a level I’ve never seen.


Our three week series on the Prodigal Son. Each week we told the story from one of the different characters. The script was composed with music and lyrics from Peter Gabriel Songs.

A father’s day drama where I played the father of the bride. The script was very touching to the point where people were sobbing including the preacher who got so choked up he had trouble starting the sermon.


“Everything You Need to Learn About Faith You Can Learn in a Restaurant” Series of the basics of faith set in a restaurant. Video intro’s following a person who tries to order breakfast, ushers dressed as servers, bulletin looked like a menu

Worship painting with 9 other artist- we painted “canvases” from behind- the paintings “appeared” to the congregation- 40 feet across, 6 feet high, WAY AWESOME! I prepared the canvases beforehand with scripture that walked across each piece tying them all together.
When we were finished we lit them up from behind to glow and dancers danced in the shadows behind them- Lori

Girl’s Only Concert-Bethany Dillon’s song “Beautiful” at the opening of the last night, glow stick moment where six colors represented different statistics about women (i.e. AIDS/HIV, displaced, abuse victims, etc) ended with all glow sticks up for who God gave his son for, each valuable and precious

Created a video of people holding up cards with before Christ and after Christ experiences, then during the service people were invited to come to the stage on cue with their “before Christ” cards, lay them at the cross and pick up their “after Christ” card

Used the video “ Be Still” to lead into prayer and when we featured a dancer while we sang a song called “Creation Calls”

I was part of a message about Lazarus. In the conclusion a video played shot in a cemetery about a woman addicted to drugs and going down the wrong path. The story ended with her death. The pastor then walked out with her and introduced her as a new life.

A drama/dance that told the story of Solomon and the two women claiming the same child. No words were necessary to show the love of a mother that would give up all for the salvation of the child (Jackie Bremer “Jesus 4 Me”)

“Bohemian Rhapsody” and Talladega Nights baby Jesus prayer clip (Joe from Renaissance Church, NJ)

Two cars on stage, an old one we hit with a sledge hammer and a new one

Mark Batterson was talking about sex. He talked about the dangers of trying to walk the fine line as he inched a vase toward the end of the table and then finally pushed it off the edge and it shattered on stage. (P. Rogers)

“The Fine Art of Procrastination” service. Nuff said.

Palm Sunday- passed a real-sized cross throughout the congregation allowing them to support the weight themselves, another time there were stations of crosses where people nailed a nail into the cross-powerful

30 people telling their stories as to what God has done in their lives since attending our church
During a summer series our youth threw out beach balls and Frisbees, what we didn’t expect was for two toupee’s to get knocked off, a lady in a wheel chair get almost knocked out and bust two sanctuary lights, but everyone was awake and energized for the sermon

When we finally became one as church (bride) and raised hands in worship and sang, including my husband a non-artist!

Big Fish series on Jonah. We have 2 screens up front. The pastor did really catch a big fish and have it mounted. I shot the front half and back half of the fish then put each on one screen to create a 70 foot fish for the video.

Sermon on Seasons of Faith with the altar decorated with trees representing the seasons and the song “Turn, Turn, Turn and videos of changing seasons in the background. Minister asked us to stand for which season we felt we were in. Winter (Down), Fall (Change), Spring or Summer

A performance art piece/drama where the actors “froze” into scenes from the passion- behind a scrim. The congregation thought it was a projected image or mannequin, not real people.

Worship in the round. Centered platform 7-8 feet across with patterned cloth coming out of the top, acoustic musicians and vocalist in the inner circle- seats arranged in circles, no screens, focused totally on the cross.

Everyone got a piece of flash paper and wrote their sins on the paper. The pastor collected all the papers in a bowl. Threw in a piece of paper in the bow and all the others disappeared. The topic was forgiveness.

A drama called “to walk in my shoes”, focused on a homelessness and interspersed it with a video. We followed it with a special of an “Amazing Grace” Medley and then called people to action by inviting them to leave their shoes at the front of the church, later that night we took the shoes to the homeless in our community. (200 volunteers)

We nailed black pieces of paper on a cross with our most life-dominating sin written on them with black pen. Then we sang “At the Foot of the Cross” and “The Wonderful Cross”. This was on Palm Sunday (our Good Friday)

Cyber prayer Station. During one of our worship nights, people wrote prayers on 3 X 5 cards and brought then up to the prayer station so they could come up on the side screens. The communion was led entirely by video.

Baptism service on the stage, 2 portable tubs, on video screens, background music, took spontaneous people from the congregation, 143 baptized in one morning.

99 balloons video by Ignite Media followed with an accapella vocal of the “Solid Rock” interspersed with scripture reading of the house built on sand vs. rock.

Christmas season message where we had a cradle in the center of the platform, near the end of the message we ended up throwing a shadow of a cross on the cradle to show how the baby in the manger came to die on the cross

LSUMC- Easter ’06 John Knox village, banners, choir, praise team, dancers, “not like you” April 08 use of choir, flow, June 8th, fire, songs

Pastor broke glass, threw food, dressed up (sorry, Garth Parsons, we couldn’t read the rest on the card) J

Percussion marching band

Sand art

Spandex shapes for stage designs

STOMP prelude- music with tires, wrenches, ramps, etc

During a sermon on the potter’s clay, the pastor had a gal turning a huge vase on a potter’s wheel. He stuck his pencil in at one point and totally destroyed it, she had to start over. He relayed how we mess up God’s workmanship of our lives when we want to try to do it our way.

We had a message about surrendering. On sticky notes, people were to write the things they wanted to surrender and walk up and place them on the windows on the side. After three, services it was great to see the windows full of sticky notes of people surrendering and needing prayer.

Pentecost Sunday- the youth created kites that were hung throughout the sanctuary. The worship team sang “Light the fire within Me” and dancers performed a liturgical dance with the worship team sang. The sermon was tied to being a kite riding on the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Pail Baloche led us in an impromptu song prayer, with the entire crowd singing freely, yet it all fit together.

We sat in the dark for five minutes.

New and Old Testament rewind dramas. (three actors went through the entire bible)

Clogging, harmonica, painting on the stage, acting

A series on “I Love My Neighbor” with a “Wilson” character as a neighbor in a drama who gives wise advice to one of our staff members, the challenge is for our neighbors to host backyard barbecues in their homes and invite their neighbors

“Experience” video concept

The preacher spoke about the grace and forgiveness of the cross, we placed the communion table perpendicular to the stage and placed a small wooden cross on the table. We lines the cross with votive candles and the set the juice and bread trays on the table under and around the cross. We invited people to come forward, filing on both sides of the cross to receive the Lord’s supper. (Scott Logan)

Reality TV series. Took a group of 15 people and put them through “Spiritual Boot Camp” and then taped them for a 6 week reality series, what they learned, their frustrations, their successes, their shortcomings, showed the films at church on Sunday. Powerful! (Terri Armand)

Using a clear vase filled with Pepsi to represent all the sin we’re filled with by our own acts or the acts of others, then pouring clean water in until the vase is only lightly tinted brown to show that sin always affects us but pouring God’s work into others redeems

Glow sticks at Christmas during silent night.

“You have been so good to me” Shared worship with people’s testimonies in the service and asked congregation to share God’s goodness with each other

Kicked off the Mission Impossible series by the pastor parachuting onto the church roof, then repelling from the ceiling, then listening to a tape of the great commission that self-destructed by blowing up.

We were doing a sermon on anger and during the song special called “Red” by Chevelle, the sound guys kept creating feedback on purpose while the worship pastor’s anger grew throughout the song until he ended by grabbing a fake acoustic and smashing it on stage.

A sermon called “Hey God, please yell. I can’t hear you over my MP3 player” began with me singing badly with my MP3 player and my son trying to get my attention, It takes three progressively louder tries to get my attention until I come out of the fog and begin the message. (Murphy Gill)

Black light and white gloves movement to a song.

Sandi Patti singing “We Shall Behold Him”

Final session of “Acquire the Fire” youth convention when the drama that was running through the entire Friday and Saturday experience. The climactic worship resolved the story. Was about how we are unaware of the scores of souls saved throughout our lives.

Our first baptism at LU and one of our Christmas dramas

Producing an Easter musical with video

That very first time I saw the whole church (people) stand and clap their hands (participate) and sing our worship songs together. It was the beginning of what we are today and still growing together.

Motocross on stage in the auditorium

Good Friday dance with a Shane and Shane tune

Local college Gospel choir partnered with ours and brought a whole new level of energy and passion to our service that was exciting

When we talked about Jacob wrestling with God, we had a 7’2” Rams football player offer to arm wrestle a volunteer from the audience

The Road Less Traveled

Communion at Central LU with the piano playing “Above All”

REM Song “Losing my Religion” with verses and personal testimonies intermingled, began with a dark stage and only acoustic guitar

Live painting of Christ while reading crucifixion passages and singing “liquid” by Jars of Clay, you don’t see the whole image until the end of the song“I am an Artist”

Our programming director Alfred Garr took a Sunday service to focus on how each one of us is a creative, artistic person in God’s image. We had a few share their stories on stage—a NASA scientist, a nurse, a loan officer, actors, musicians, and pastoral staff

In a board meeting where we were all encouraged to brainstorm outreach ideas, we “fed” off of each other and very creative ideas were encouraged

Pastor was speaking on James and interviewed a man who was a soccer coach and all-American athlete who spoke about getting Parkinson’s disease, then the sang “Jesus Bring the Rain”

During our family series, our pastor worse and Incredibles suit to illustrate he was “Super dad.”

Valentine’s Day sweetheart Banquet with live music/drama, brought church together, invited neighbors and friends with Christian undertone, brought them back

Holy Communion Service using the song “I Came Expecting Jesus” interweaving liturgy, text and song, a great display of mercy and grace

Skyping with our missionaries in Singapore, DVD/audio of “I Can Only Imagine”, creative illustrations of roots, trunk, branches while Senior Pastor explains “Lane Cambridge”

We decorated crosses as a part of “telling stories” and when we put the display together we did not expect the amazing play of light and shadows that happened. What a God thing! (Jamie Spearitt)

Diversity of people working together for a common goal for the kingdom in their prime areas of passion and putting together an event or service for the glory of God, honoring His desire to value and encourage each other –differences needed!

A service on restoration where we played dark, minor songs in the beginning while a man busted a myriad of clay pots showing brokenness and sin, then progressed through communion and became more hopeful and celebrated at the end with “Come Awake”-sin to life.

Made a “GPS” video to go with a service called ‘the Path”. We filmed a married couple separately describing a trip they took to a known location, the man insisted on the using the GPS to go to the grocery store and got lost. Very funny!

Our Parade of salvation- a white rose for every soul reborn in the year, they paraded to the front and put in a big vase to music, every one matters, ended in a large arrangement to resemble what God had done in our community

God as the artist: use of representations of major works of art, paintings, sculpture, music etc, in lobby and around the stage as well as on the screens, multi-sensory- canvas (4X6) handed out with a crayon as people came in, use of incense in vents during service, stage look of art gallery (pillars, etc.) music about God’s creation

Four doors to illustrate God’s saving grace, forgiveness, truth, and self. At the end of the message, the congregation was invited to come up and walk through one of the doors, the image was amazing and overwhelming

We had a fish tank full of red liquid, people wrote down what they needed to be forgiven for and then placed it in the tank and pushed it under the “blood” and you could not see any paper at all

A Christmas play about the birth of Jesus and in the middle of the birth, Santa Claus walks by pulling a reindeer, also did the crucifixion and the Easter bunny was at the foot of the cross

A fear series where people came up and confessed their fears, we sang “We shall Overcome” as the church held caution tape throughout the auditorium and broke it as a symbol of releasing our fears. Many of our attendees broke down barriers of fear

A song with a drama where when the song sang “ He tore the veil” a young woman who was dressed in all black and looked very sad as she gazed at the sky with a cross behind her covered in white. Jesus appeared, tore the veil and covered her. Her black outfit turned to white as Jesus walked with her into a new life

Those moments where God’s touch is in my spirit by His Spirit is by far the most invigorating, comforting, encouraging, inspiring and life-transforming thing I have ever experienced. It’s what keeps me going when times get rough and it stirs me out of complacency and boredom and keeps me in Love.

The stage was filled with 8’ images of orphans from around the world, with personal stories including one of growing up in a foster home and how great it was to be adopted by a believer
We had a painter paint a picture while telling the story of Adam and Eve and how sin entered the world. When he was done, it was a modern interpretation of Satan. This was the first in a series designed for outreach. (Sheila Kisling)

A night of worship: we pulled together musicians from the area to play unplugged hymns in a ultr-contemporary way, set up the sanctuary in the round, encompassing the band, during the service, there was scripture telling the story from creation to new creation.

There was an artist doing an 8 foot mural that told the story as well and all of the music fit the theme in chronological order. The painting was finished by the last song and it all came together in the end.

Psalms service: drums soloed at the beginning with scripture, dance, ensemble, scripture reading by different people of different ages throughout the service to go with the message

Drama during Good Friday service, young people transported back in time to the night before the crucifixion, paralleled a main character who criticized to Peter’s actions.

During the complicated service on “Deal or No Deal”, felt we had little control but trusted and God was good.

The Banquet: elegant dressed table on the stage, invitations in bulletin, very descriptive dance, song called “the invitation”

Memorial Day Service: when we had a gravesite set up one side of the stage. On the other side we had a man dressed in army clothes sing “If You’re Reading This” that was writing a letter to his family at the gravesite on the other side of the stage. (Frank Bennett)

Taking the phrases “Which way is up?” and “Up, Up, and Away” having superman fly in every direction but up to reinforce that there is no doubt that up is up so why do we have that problem when it comes to heaven

The bridge at Easter, sticky notes on the walls of those who need to come to Jesus, “Lego Community” where everyone gave a piece to spell community, mosaic building as a church, postcards of gratitude fro honoring your parents

Biola University’s Mike Evre: Hoopa’s. Great Free Worship. Redemption was seen. Best worship experience ever. Communion on the Thursday before Easter, everyone sits around the table and east bread and drinks grape juice and shares.

Easter 07: Salvador led worship, pastor drove in on a John Deere tractor and farm clothes, ½ message was done in an orchard prior to that morning, over 5,000 people attended and it is still talked about in the community (average attendance is 2,000)

The pastor was speaking on salt and light and we were given a small packet of salt and glow stick while singing “Salt and Light”

At a youth activity, I had the kids write their names on a piece of paper and nail it to the cross, then later they wrote Jesus with red marker and nailed it to cover their own names

During our Easter service, we showed the clip from Narnia’s Lion Witch and the Wardrobe where Aslan the lion is sacrificed. Then later brought a live lion on the stage to show he’s alive today. (Josh T)

In the last evangelical meeting before I was to leave India, I was weeping and the entire group of Indians began chanting “William! William! William!” in their thick accents. It was God creating a memory. (William Tritch)

“Life Change” cards held up-sin, past present we want to share that God will remove from us. Matthew West song “There’s Only Grace”

A music series where your faith sounds like a certain style of music like blues, country, rock, hip hop, etc.

Individuals on the stage with different objects (not instruments-chains, shovel with rocks, etc.), the first person starts a beat, each one joins in to create a song, it’s astonishing!

We had a puzzle in which guests who were not Christians could go up and place the missing pieces if they wanted to accept Christ as their personal savior. Played “Gratitude” by Nicole Nordeman and it was so touching.

“No Bravery” by James Blount with a great slide show about world issues

Decorating with a special kind of tablecloths instead of paper or streamers

A drama where the scene was a chairlift, we hung a chair lift on the stage

Outreach in our community during normal service hours to get those involved who would not normally participate

“30 days to Live” a lot of personal video stories, high energy, left people asking questions, counting down death clock, pushing the envelope

Easter service with My Story cards, candles lit on stage after a production, drama “Counting Stars”

Seeing the pastor turn into characters (1st person), hammering nails into the cross with a sheet of my sins

Communion out of the “bleeding cross”, decorations at Emmaus

A service called an “Ecivres” where the whole thing was done in reverse order: response, message, worship

The Survivor Series, the video at Wild Life Prairie Park, included short live sketch every week in life of the one who was voted off

Sherry Holland painting a picture of the hands of Jesus during Easter service 06

Drama/music/video combined in telling of the Christmas story then and now

“KA” at Las Vegas/ worship experience- David Crowder band at Willow last year

Routed a pipe from the baptism to the ceiling and made it rain on stage to the song “Let it Rain” accompanied by a drama

At an axis service, the message was all about music and at the end everyone wrote lyrics to a song.

People walking over the bridge, the view from the worship team perspective