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| Telling the Digital Gospel |
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| By Trevis Reed, HighWay Communications | ||||||||
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In
1968, a paradigm shift in American and world culture had reached
its
zenith.
The optimism and morality of postwar existence had given way to a
new
era of social and intellectual independence. No longer were the
classical
Judeo-Christian values the standard by which to live and judge.
Absolute
truth had become the license and responsibility of the individual.
The
postmodern age had begun.
From a
Christian perspective, this change has produced the most important
evangelical
problem in the 20th century. The church has scrambled to meet
the
demands of reaching the postmodern mindset with the message of
hope
through
Jesus Christ. In an age where truth is relative, story and
dialogue
is the
vehicle for change, and mankind is able to produce and digest
tremendous
amounts of information every day, that task gets tougher and
tougher.
A few
years ago, God moved in the hearts of a few people in the San
Francisco
Bay Area who decided to meet the needs of the changing culture by
producing
a worship service representative of the lives they lived and the
reality
they experienced. It was based on four core values: truth,
authenticity,
community, and hope. It was called HighWay.
The
founders of HighWay recognized and understood the advantage, and
even more
so, the outright necessity of using visual media to communicate in
the postmodern
age. They recruited a few inexperienced film buffs and novice
actors
who took to the streets armed with nothing but a handicam and a
few decades
of life experience as members of generation X. With the technical
help
of Rocky Rhodes, one of the founders of Silicon Graphics, they
began to illustrate
the experience of God through the use of video. HighWay Communications
was born.
God
was faithful. The effect of video as a medium for spiritual
illustration
worked,
and opened many doors. Through a ministry gift, HighWay was able
to rent
a tiny office and purchase a high-end video editing suite.
Eventually
God
revealed that not many other people were producing the type of
penetrating
narrative video that HighWay Communications was delivering, and
God
moved them to step out in faith to provide the videos to other
ministries
around the country.
Through
Godıs work and design, in just a couple years of official
operation,
with
limited marketing and promotion, the video products of HighWay
Productions
now reach over 1000 churches and ministries in the US and
Canada,
spanning virtually every denomination and genus of church
experience.
HighWay
Communication's Video Illustration Files are collections of ten
narrative
videos that range from documentary, man-on-the-street interviews,
to
comedies, to music or interpretive videos. (HighWay also produces
custom visitor
videos, worship videos, and video illustrations tailored to a
specific
church or community).
Kevin
Marks, of HighWay, says, "Don't worry, we're real people. Our
stuff
isn't
like most of the product in the Christian market. After growing up
on
the
cusp of the information age, we believe our church communication
tools
have
to be on par with the high-quality visual media the average person
is
assaulted
with every day."
Jesus
saved the world through storytelling. The tradition continues at
HighWay
Communications. www.highwaycommunications.com
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