I’m Scott and I’m a filmmaker and media guy from Arizona working with the team at DarkWood Brew and OnFaithOnline.tv to bring you a new way of experiencing our emerging Christian faith. This is amazingly freaky stuff we’re doing…and the power of the spirit of what we are about – maybe even the spirit with a big “S” – is flowing through the group. And believe me, for a pretty down-to-Earth practical skeptic of all things freaky, that’s saying a lot.

The first thing that occurs to me is how we’re assembling this amazing crew of volunteers…and that just seems to be falling into place. Not that there isn’t work involved in putting the teams together, but whenever we need someone with a certain skill set they sort of walk through a wall and present themselves to us.

Keep in mind we actually had to design a coffee house to double as a TV studio and then work that into an existing space. Add some world-class jazz musicians to the mix and we needed so many people with so many different abilities and specialties to come forward…and they did. I think that is testament to the positive flow of this project and the intense interest that people from all walks of life have for building a new kind of Christian spirituality on the field where we have left so much of our old ways of thinking behind. It is the 21st Century, after all.

So we’re getting ready for our first tech rehearsal tonight. Really not a rehearsal at all…but at least a chance for people to be in the space all together as they will be when we shoot each Sunday. Plus we’ll be handling the cameras, switching the switcher, turning things on and turning things off. Just generally poking and prodding the whole thing to find the weak points and the strong points and work with both.

I’m hoping for the maximum number of mistakes possible. That’s right…I absolutely want to see things fail tonight. That’s how we”l learn what works and what we need to work on. It’s great to work with a team that gets that. I’ve spent 25 years working in the media on just about every sort of production you can imagine. Typically they range from about 7 to 11.5 on the stress-o-meter. This is a different animal entirely. Since we’re embracing our mistakes…bringing them into the fold and making that part of the joy of what we’re creating…what can go wrong? It’s an amazing way of thinking that frees us to be playful and have some fun with this.

I’m pretty sure Darkwood Brew is going to be an amazing experience. It already is for me. It’s our job now to turn that around and make it something we’re excited to share.

The first few weeks of DWB are what we consider a “soft launch.” We’re going to be adding elements as we go and getting our act together through the end of the year…so we can be on top of things for the live streaming roll out the beginning of next year.

So, yes, we’re sloshing. How fun is that? Way fun.