There are a LOT of misconceptions why we as Christ followers give.  This video was created for one reason: to paint a portrait of the REAL reasons for giving.  It's a mission statement about the values of the Church and the reasons why we give.

If you asked a group of 5 year olds who among them can sing chances are all of their hands will go up.  If you ask them how many of them can dance most of their hands will go up.  And if you ask them how many of them think they can live big extraordinary lives most of their hands would probably go up.
 

However, at some point we stop believing that.  Little by little our dreams get chipped away and we settle for a tame, comfortable, and ultimately meaningless lives.
 

But as followers of Jesus we are called to a much bigger cause.  God has invited all of us to get directly involved in His plan to redeem our broken world.  There are no spectators in God’s kingdom.  We were made to change the world.

I'm thrilled to let you all know that I'm now a married man. My fiancée and I took our families over to Italy and had an incredible trip that culminated in a wedding in Tuscany. She may not have her name in the credits but my wife has had such a pivotal role in my work. She's given me tons of ideas for videos (i.e. Out of Control) and she's got a great eye for what works.  I'm so blessed to call her my wife.

My favorite quote of hers came after watching "Mystery" for the first time when she noted: 

"It looks like a reproduction ballet".

Priceless.

Here's a fun little bumper I just finished for my church's Summer series.   The video serves no purpose other than to pass time while the stage crew strikes the stage.  I think it captures the feeling of summer in a quirky way.   The characters in my video were influenced by this great video.

I'm not ashamed to admit it; I love campy action movies with their ridiculous plots, overly choreographed fight scenes, and snappy one-liners.  So when I needed to make a promo for the 7th installment of my church's movie series I thought I'd make an homage to every over the top action movie that I've ever loved.

Make sure to check out the "FX Breakdown" to see how the project came together.

Credits:  Distressed Damsel - Janie Russell,  Cop - Jon Lorenz,  Sister - Renee Rebold,  Mysterious Man - Cris O'bryon,  Pilot - Matt Bradford,  Audio Engineer - Brian Ciganero

Most people spell success: M-O-N-E-Y.  Jesus, however, had a radically different view of success that had nothing to do with wealth or power.  Forget economics, this is God-o-nomics.

Like a meteor, he flashed across the inky blackness of Israel's spiritual night.
-J. Oswald Sanders

Elijah the Tishbite stepped out of nowhere to become a prophet of God. The rugged, gaunt prophet from the obscure town of Tishbeh became God's powerful instrument of confrontation. Alone, Elijah faced off with over four hundred prophets of the false god Baal and won. He was a man who God loved so much that He prepared a special chariot and horses of fire to transport him from earth to heaven. He was Elijah - the man in a whirlwind, the humble hero. -Charles Swindoll

This project required massive amounts of post-production work because all of the shots were done entirely on greenscreen. Every environment had to be pieced together from individual elements because I wanted each shot to be a work of art. The composition of each shot needed to enhance the emotional temperature of the shot. Lots of hours went in to this project and I'm very proud of the end product.

Check out this visual FX breakdown for a couple of the shots from "Elijah."



Credits:
Ari Sorrentino - Elijah
Shelly Smith - Jezebel
Brian Ciganero - Audio Engineer

The goal for this project was to create a series of portraits on prayer some joyful, some sorrowful, and some introspective. The concept was that we need to repaint our picture of prayer. Using a hand drawn technique, the picture emerges from the canvas while the text guides the viewer to confront their misguided ideas about prayer. This was a very meticulous video to put together because every on-screen element needed to animate in somehow. The end product, however, was well worth the effort.


Credit: Janet Hirata - Logo