Collide Magazine

Church Spotlight: Elevation Church

COLLIDE Staff - Originally posted Monday, September 8, 2008

It seems fitting that Charlotte, NC, the birthplace of Billy Graham, also happens to be the birthplace of one of the nation’s fastest growing and most dynamic churches. Elevation Church, which exists "so that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ," launched in early 2006 with Pastor Steven Furtick at the reins. In two years, Elevation has grown to three campuses and more than 4,000 people in weekly attendance. The church’s multi-portable campus approach, creative website, and use of innovative and artistic media piqued our interest.

Larry Hubatka – creative director

COLLIDE: What is your role at Elevation Church?

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HUBATKA: I primarily have only one role at Elevation and that is to see that that Creative department brings to life the vision that God gave to Pastor Furtick. This is done through production, design, communications, and worship.
My role is to see that all of these areas are being driven toward our one purpose of "seeing those far from God be filled with life in Christ." This often takes a variety of different shapes, but that is really what it boils down to.

COLLIDE: What types of media do you use and why do you use them?

HUBATKA: There are no limits to the media we use... whatever is the most effective type of media is what we will implement. We are so mission minded and driven by our vision that if overhead transparencies are the most effective than that is what we will be using, but if High Definition Video is the most effective than that will be our choice.
Right now the most effective use of media for us is a High Definition video system. We create a lot of video elements in house and are sure to produce the highest quality we can, we insure that every video is synced up and the audio is sweetened, that every musician is rehearsed and every element on Sunday morning is fully prepared so that nothing will stand in the way of seeing those far from God being filled with life in Christ.

COLLIDE: As the creative director, how do you work with your team to cast the vision?

HUBATKA: We are so heavy on vision that is easy to cast the vision to my team. It happens in a variety of ways, it may be verbal, or through experience, it may happen by talking to people who have experienced the vision, or it may happen by just seeing it come to life. It is so important to keep the vision in front of our team that we are willing to communicate it by any means possible.

Wes Watson – producer

COLLIDE: Why does Elevation create a lot of its own media?

WATSON: We create our content with a specific agenda. It is not our habit to just fill space with worship elements. If an element makes it “on stage,” then it has an intentional purpose for being there. Having said that, we create most of our content in-house. Some obvious reasons are copyright and royalty fees, but even more than that, we have some very talented and creative artists who come up with great ideas. We also have amazing musicians who write and record our video soundtracks and loops. We’re very blessed to have as many creative people as we do helping drive our creative process. We want to capitalize on what God has blessed us with, so that he can trust us with more.

COLLIDE: How has your use of video impacted your church?

WATSON: We use video all the time. When thinking about video, you have to think about it in two different ways. Content creation is the first way of using video and consist of anything that we create during the week as support elements in our worship experience. Those elements include announcement videos, series bumpers, countdown timers, series teasers and story telling. Using video, that we have the ability to control, allows us to truly capitalize on every second that we have in our worship experiences. What I mean is, we can capture an interview that lasts an hour and only use the part that communicates the best in 2-3mins.

Second, Live Video has truly impacted our church. By using video teaching, we are able to have two and three services at a time instead of just one. With the rapid pace that technology is growing, watching something on a high resolution video screen isn’t a let down.

Ryan Hollingsworth – graphic designer

COLLIDE: Why should churches emphasize the role of the graphic designer?

HOLLINGSWORTH: Because whether or not it's right, with many of the people our church is trying to reach, their very first impression of the church isn't going to come from a Sunday morning experience, but maybe a mailer, an invite, a website, or a T-shirt. And if our church can earn people's respect and attention for our look and feel, it provides Pastor Steven with an easier platform to preach his message of God's purpose and love into their lives. It's also important because of what we're competing against—and it's not other churches. It's television, movies, pop culture, sports, the golf course, etc. If we can't provide people with an opportunity that looks equal or greater than what they could be doing, then it'll be an uphill battle to get them in the doors for the first time.

COLLIDE: What kind of media do you create for Elevation and why is it important?

HOLLINGSWORTH: Pretty much everything except for video and motion graphics. I design all sermon identities, print pieces, websites, T-shirts, many of our children's ministry graphics, etc. It's been important for me to have a hand in this because the church needs to have a unified look and feel to help establish credibility, and because we're so young as a church (and staff), we have to give the appearance like we know what we're doing or people won't take us seriously. Churches without unity in their media can have a harder time getting their message across. So while some tasks may seem mundane, in order to stay true to our "brand," everything from a newsletter for volunteers to parking signage to a stage prop comes through our creative department and we have to ask ourselves, "Does this represent Elevation Church well?"

COLLIDE: Your website looks outstanding, yet is very clean and simple. Why did you decide to go that direction?

HOLLINGSWORTH: We decided early on that our website would be one of the primary mouthpieces of the church because it can say so much more than a brochure or invite. We also wanted a website that people would be able to return to often and not get worn out by the design. That's why we stayed away from trendier design elements and went with a cleaner look. We also wanted return visitors to not have to click very far to find updated information, so we made all time sensitive materials available on the home page: the most recent sermons, announcements, service times, blogs—anything that we can update, we made visible there.

COLLIDE: How much influence does pop culture have on your design and where do you look for inspiration?

HOLLINGSWORTH: I'm not sure how much pop culture directly influences a design piece of mine, unless Pastor Steven specifically ask for it. Not to say that I don't look to it for inspiration at times. Much of the inspiration for my work comes from design magazines like Print, Communication Arts, the student magazine CMYK, and a few others. I also have some books on non-traditional medias - tattoo art, street graffiti, T-shirt design - to help give me a different perspective. And I learned graphic design by creating artwork for bands like show flyers, T-shirts, CD artwork - so I still look to designers in that field for some inspiration - artists like the Clark brothers at Invisible Creature, the guys at Aesthetic Apparatus, the Small Stakes, and websites like gigposters.com.

Steven Furtick – lead pastor

COLLIDE: You are not only known as an amazing preacher and speaker, but also as a pastor who is heavily active in the blogosphere. Why have you invested in your blog (www.stevenfurtick.com)?

FURTICK: I have a love/hate relationship with my blog. I’m pretty committed to posting no less than four times a week, usually five. And I try to post stuff of substance, the best I can. Sometimes it’s a very energizing outlet for me. It gives me a platform to flesh out ideas in a different way than my journal does because I’m forced to refine my thoughts until they’re coherent enough for the general public. I’m also able to broadcast concepts that may not get airtime in a sermon. My blog also opens a window into my life for the people who are a part of Elevation. It provides them with access that would just be impossible otherwise.

COLLIDE: What value does your church place on multimedia and the web? How do you utilize these resources?

FURTICK: This is truly the best time in history to lead a church. Because of modern technology, we are able to have a much farther reach at a much faster pace. Because of the web presence, people all across the country can listen to sermons and keep up with what is going on at Elevation. Getting the sermon up on the web and the podcast is just as important to us as our Sunday morning worship experience. We have the potential to reach just as many, if not more people just by making resources available online.

We'll always incorporate any aspect of modern technology and creativity we possibly can. We put a lot of time, thought, and effort into planning the look and feel of each sermon series. And each element is so important—the series graphics, the marketing strategy, the video elements in the service. The list could go on and on. Each element could make or break a person's decision to visit Elevation. And our ultimate goal is to reach people far from God. We'll do whatever it takes to see the vision as reality.

For more information about Elevation Church, visit www.elevationchurch.org.