Stories Review

The words may change but the story remains the same. On Sunday evening a standing-room only audience packed St Paul’s in Auckland to hear twelve life experiences from Christian creatives. The common thread in the stories from the dozen members of the St Paul’s Arts and Media collective (SPAM) was of relationship with God and how that made life different for each individual.

From dramatic tales of out-of-body experiences to gentler tales of long term relationships with God throughout the generations, one thing was certain; the creatives all shared not only their spirituality but a desire to share their passion. From a variety of careers including photography, graphic design, multimedia and fashion, the speakers shared deeply personal, touching and often humorous insights into their lives.

Due to the large numbers, Production Manager Michelle Jensen decided to move Stories upstairs into the main church rather than in the crypt, originally expecting around 180 to show and not wanting to turn anyone away when the entrance numbers on the night finally hit 425.

Creative Director James Bowman created a billboard outside St Paul’s and distributed postcards around inner city cafes depicting the twelve images of ‘Stories’ contributed by a number of artists from SPAM. The strong emphasis on contemporary design and publicity clearly worked, with non-church goers feeling comfortable attending the event. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive; with first time attendees saying they were so pleased they came and that it opened up discussion with their friends on the topics raised.

As Le Corbusier said, God is in the details and at Stories He clearly was. The details such as Nic Skinner’s striking native flowers standing three metres high framing the black, fairy-light lined entrance passage created a special atmosphere. Lighting by Liv Harper added to the intimate mood created by the spatial design team of Melissa Bulkeley and Rachel Vernall which really defined the lines of the church giving it an ethereal look. On the technical front, two overhead screens projecting multi-media presentations gave a smooth and professional finish, with Al, Lyric/AV Projection & Sound Desk manned by Campbell Jensen. A number of people contributed talents in other valuable areas such as technical compiling and supporting the space crew, and the muzzos.

Director and MC Kevin Denholm opened the evening with a natural, easy charm, introducing the twelve speakers to the crowded house of God after guests were warmly welcomed by the gorgeous Summer Cameron and Alex at the door. In fact, there were so many people trying to get in, at one stage there were 42 cars queuing at Wilson’s Parking. The Police showed up and asked, “What’s going on here, then?” and when told “Church” they replied incredulously, “Really!?”

The story tellers, were unified in their diversity. Actress Alison Titulaer spoke of her realisation that her talent was from God and not to be denied. Advertising Art Director James Bowman got laughs from the audience with a wittily-told story using Latin-labelled cartoons of the stages of his life in the context of evolution. Kurt Bradley shared that his faith is a result of the faithfulness of generations before him, as did Liv Harper with her Poppa up on stage alongside her. Rachel Vernall sang the story of her lost and found laptop on her guitar.

Sam Stradwick’s slide show “I am Sam” of photographs overlaid with text describing what his faith meant to him was a real highlight for many people. Caren Hastings was also found by God, after seeking in lots of places. Communicator/Trainer Patrick Dodson spoke on commitment, and graphic designer Emma Hepburn about being a Material Girl, and student Claire Annan on “Pieces of Me”.

Perhaps the most emotional was Jo Harwood’s story of God’s love while her mother died of cancer. “A lot of people cried during mine!” she admits. The evening finished with an invitation to attend the Life Course run by St Paul’s to answer questions about Jesus, with a vox pop advertorial by Tim Parsons that had the audience in stitches, especially with dry comments from the dead pan Mike “Church. It’s what we do” Norris and a cameo by the hilarious “Look into my eyes” Tristan.

Above all, the evening was about relationship; the love and the grace they’ve known from God. Stories from ordinary and extraordinary people using their God-given talents to give glory to Him.

Gaye and I want to say a heart felt thanks to everyone involved for the outstanding success of Sunday night's "Stories".

We laughed, we shed a tear or two, it was moving, thought provoking, thoroughly professional and very honest. Our guests loved it and over supper at our place afterwards we talked about it for an hour or so. It will stay with us both for some time.

The sacrifice you each made to make that happen was worth every minute and we so much appreciate it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Best regards
Murray and Gaye Cruickshank

SPAM crew!

Last night was fantastic! And can I just say -what a night for the Advertising Industry – woo hoo… I work at Generator/Y+R Advertising and it wasn’t just other Auckland church goers that came- amazingly two of my work mates and a friend turned up and.. they loved it! Two of them said quote un-quote “we are so glad we came!”

How many people turned up!!!- How many people in that bracket are looking for something….Professional non- cringe factor communication.... may there be many many more..

Congratulations guys!

Cheers

Naomi Dixon

Mike asked me to write this for St P's Street Talk mag. Thought someone out there might be interested.

Stories: the making of.

The thing with doing something like Stories is all the hard work doesn’t end on the night. There’s getting everything online, there are debriefs and requests for encores, there’s reflecting on the good and the difficult bits. And then you’re asked to write an article on how it was done. Soon there’ll be Stories: the movie; Stories: the action figures; Stories: did it ever happen? – a Michael Moore documentary.

We’ve wanted to do a SPAM service since we began. On the strength of projects like Tshirts, our website, the Christmas clips and the Light exhibition; we felt so confident, we asked to do a guest service before a Life Course. Mike set the project brief, which had two distinct objectives: to get non-Christians along to the service; and to create a service that would get non-Christians along to the Life Course. The SPAMmers at the briefing brainstormed ideas.

Just as I was dropping off to sleep that night, the Big Idea came. I didn’t get much sleep after that.

The things we liked most about the Stories idea was it involved a lot of different people contributing at lots of levels to both the promotions and the service; and it would be very difficult for non-Christians to dismiss what they were presented with as not true. We liked that Jesus told stories. The concept was fleshed out by Kev, Michelle, Paul and I; OK’d by Mike; and presented to the SPAMmers via email.

We needed twelve good images of the word ‘story’ created, and twelve good stories to tell – fast. Plus we had about another twenty roles to fill before the big night. Some people were quick to say “yes”. We are hugely grateful to them. Some took various degrees of prompting but came through in the end.

We got our twelve promo images (you creators rock), and turned them into postcards, a billboard and a promo clip. In addition to St P’s channels, the postcards were distributed through a hundred CBD pubs and cafes.

We got our twelve storytellers. Some teamed up with fantastic creative volunteers. We’re most grateful to the storytellers who wrote their stories on time, honed their stories with Kev promptly, got their visuals done pronto, and their stories online fast. We love all our storytellers; and we loved hearing and seeing their stories. Thanks for your honesty, your time and your creativity guys: and for being so brave.

Lots of creative and productive people then did lots of other brilliant stuff leading up to, and on, the night. I won’t list them all (they are listed at www.spam.org.nz), but we loved the inspired creators, the determined technicians and administrators, the clear communicators, the self-starters, the initiative takers, the pray-ers, and the clear-up-ers. Thanks for the clips, the interviews, the images, the music, the space, the flowers, the lights, the hospitality, the mixing, the editing, the compiling and the posting.

Many people spent more time than you’d imagine pulling Stories together. We think it was worth it. Thanks to everyone involved; especially those of you who invited guests.

James Bowman