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Traveling Teenagers Are Subject of Reality-Based Video at CHIC2K3
KNOXVILLE, TN (July 30, 2003) - What do you get when you put seven high-school
students together for eight days in a cross country journey?
The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) tried this experiment as a precursor
to this week's triennial high-school conference, CHIC2K3: Reaction. The
result is 24/7, a reality video production that will be seen throughout the
event by participants at various worship services, particularly during the
morning Kickstart meetings.
A total of 13 people traveled from June 22 to 29, beginning on the East
Coast and ending in California. They met in New York City and continued on
to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Phoenix, and Los Angeles via
plane, train, and van, meeting a host of community and ministry leaders
along the way.
Student representatives from Covenant churches included Don Pittman of
Fremont, California; Dave Kryso of Denver, Colorado; Sten Carlson of
Geneva, Illinois; Kendra Stelzer of Phoenix, Arizona; Sarah Contreras of
Los Angeles, California; Ashley Usher of Atlanta, Georgia and Emma Welch of
Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Paul Johnson, director of campus ministries at
North Park University in Chicago, and Mindi McCreless, who serves with the
CHIC2K3 production team, served as chaperones for the students.
Doug Scott served as on-air host for the videos and produced and directed
the shooting, which was assisted by three others. The production crew
edited 36 hours of video into seven episodes of 22 minutes apiece. The
initial episode will be shown at Thursday night's opening worship service
at the Thompson-Boling Arena at the University of Tennessee.
Johnson stated that 24/7 was loosely based on MTV television shows "Real
World" and "Road Rules," which document the lives of young adults in
various settings and scenarios. The lives of students were captured on
video not to pick apart each detail of their journey but to show how a
group of Christian high-school students processed a variety of experiences.
Johnson believes 24/7 will serve as a valuable teaching tool for CHIC2K3:
Reaction attendees and a life-changing journey for the seven students who
traveled together.
"We wanted to give kids stage time and feature them a little bit," Johnson
said. "And we wanted to use technology and reality TV as the initial
building blocks. The thing that was most surprising was how smoothly
everything went. We didn't miss a train, we didn't miss any flights, we
never had any van problems and no one got sick. Logistically, with as much
of a mess as all of this could've been, it all went pretty smoothly."
McCreless said that the process for picking the 24/7 student participants
began with a promotional video shown to youth pastors attending the
Youthworkers Connection in February. Youth pastors were asked to nominate a
boy and a girl from their youth group for 24/7 and McCreless received 92
nominations from the youth pastors and got 47 official applications back to
participate in 24/7.
A 24/7 Team narrowed the list down to 13 and McCreless asked each member of
that group to make a video called "A Day in the Life" and send it back
within one week. The final seven were picked after the 24/7 Team viewed the
individual videos. The group - all incoming high-school juniors or seniors
- included three Anglos, two African Americans, one Asian, and one of
Hispanic descent.
Unlike the MTV reality shows, the cameras weren't on every moment of the
eight days. The lulls between on-camera times gave Johnson and McCreless a
chance to learn more about the students and for students to reflect without
unnecessary distractions. "We're about showing Jesus, we're not about
creaming people," said McCreless as she explained why the team had time
outside of the camera spotlight. Still, the range of experiences in such a
short time made for a truly unique adventure.
"It was so surreal - it was hard to believe we were on this amazing
adventure - but I was shocked at how quickly the group bonded," said
McCreless. "Within an hour they were all hanging out in the same room. It
was great to see. Paul (Johnson) and I talked before we left and he said
that by Monday night we'd be called Mom and Dad. It actually happened on
Sunday night; they called us Momma Mindi and Papa Paul."
"I don't think at the beginning that the kids realized what an opportunity
they were getting," Johnson said. "But I think at the end they realized
that this is something that they're never going to see in this kind of way
again. I think some of my best times were the van rides with the kids. It
gave them a chance to tell their story.
Johnson continued, "We wanted to create something different for Kickstart
(morning worship services) instead of just having another speaker stand up
there. We wanted something that could tie together each morning. There had
to be a teaching element to this, so we decided we weren't going to focus
on the conflict between the kids or all of the junk in their lives.
Instead, we focused on watching high school students process how people are
following Christ in their world and how that could apply to their lives. I
think that's where the real power of the event comes in...and I think we hit
a home run with this."
Editor's note: More information about 24/7, including more about the
itinerary and student reactions, will be available in later articles on
both news headlines and on the CHIC2K3 link at www.covchurch.org.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
