CJ Casciotta

Jon Acuff: The Vietnam Project (Podcast)

CJ Casciotta — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:06:20 -0800

Jon Acuff on The Vietnam Project from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

Storytelling vs. Promotion

CJ Casciotta — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:57:26 -0700

I’d rather tell a good story than sell someone on an idea. But can I accomplish one without the other? I toggle this line of being part-marketing guy, part-artist. It’s not easy - especially because creativity and promotion are so intrinsically linked. I’ve worked for companies that kept me awake at night thinking “all they care about is promoting their product without any regard for its integrity.” And I’ve thought, “I don’t want to tell that story.” I’ve also seen organizations become so scared to do anything that might remotely look or feel like promotion, that they sacrifice communicating a great story to an audience who could really benefit from it

sto⋅ry
1 [stawr-ee, stohr-ee] noun, plural -ries,verb, -ried, -ry⋅ing.
–noun
1.a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader; tale.2.a fictitious tale, shorter and less elaborate than a novel.3.such narratives or tales as a branch of literature: song and story.4.the plot or succession of incidents of a novel, poem, drama, etc.: The characterizations were good, but the story was weak.5.a narration of an incident or a series of events or an example of these that is or may be narrated, as an anecdote, joke, etc.6.a narration of the events in the life of a person or the existence of a thing, or such events as a subject for narration: the story of medicine; the story of his life.7.a report or account of a matter; statement or allegation: The story goes that he rejected the offer.

pro⋅mote
[pruh-moht]
–verb (used with object), -mot⋅ed, -mot⋅ing.
1.to help or encourage to exist or flourish; further: to promote world peace.2.to advance in rank, dignity, position, etc. (opposed to demote).3.Education. to put ahead to the next higher stage or grade of a course or series of classes.4.to aid in organizing (business undertakings).5.to encourage the sales, acceptance, etc., of (a product), esp. through advertising or other publicity.6.Informal. to obtain (something) by cunning or trickery; wangle.

So my question to you is simply this: What’s the difference, in your mind, between storytelling and promotion?

At what point does a tweet, a blog, a film, an ad, etc, cease to be a story and become a billboard? At what point to you tune out or tune in to a great story? At what point are you sold on an idea?

There's Always Someone Cooler Than You

CJ Casciotta — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:45:10 -0700

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life…

—

- Galatians 6:4-5 (The Message)

I don’t do this well at all. Sometimes I think I’m way more awesome than I really am. Often times I compare myself to others, their accomplishments, and what makes them better than me.

It’s easier for me to stamp my identity as a worship leader, a filmmaker, a marketing consultant, a writer, a (insert meaningless title here). It’s much harder for me to see myself (and other people) as “loved child of God regardless of past, present, or future titles, achievements, screw-ups, and events.” That title is both a grammatical nightmare and, at most times, a completely alien concept to everything present culture and past history pushes my way at lightspeed.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I’m writing while in process with no brilliant wisdom or advice, but I’m interested in your stories. Who or what do you compare yourself to? When was the last time you were reminded that you were loved by God and that was enough? Ready? Go…

Heaven & Earth & Flannelgraph

CJ Casciotta — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:59:07 -0700

I’ve never been much of a sentimental guy. But I also haven’t had much to miss until recently. A year out of college and into the work force will make you think about everything that’s worked to define you over the past 23 years.

It still catches me off guard when I think how I spent those first 23 years impatiently anticipating their demise so that they might make room for the rest of my life with all its freedoms, responsibilities, titles, and significance. Now that those years are finally here, I find my mind retreating every so often to places, memories, and people from the past that can never be replicated.

As another summer slips into oblivion and a new season rushes in, I take stock of all the “misses” I’ve experienced this year. I’ve missed a woman. I’ve missed the clutter of a crowded dorm room. I’ve missed Innocence, which seems to smell faintly like burnt charcoal and occasionally takes on the color of grass stains.

I think these notions are directly related to our quest to know God and be known by Him. To get glory, to see heaven, to inhale eternity. For so long my idea of heaven seemed, frankly, boring – a selfless, sexless, worship service that lasted for eternity with the occasional weird looking winged creature flying around to keep my mind occupied. It wasn’t until reading the words of C.S. Lewis in his book, The Weight of Glory, that I began to think differently:

We usually notice it just as the moment of vision dies away, as the music ends or as the landscape loses the celestial light. What we feel then has been well described by Keats as “the journey homeward to habitual self.” You know what I mean. For a few minutes we have had the illusion of belonging to that world. Now we wake to find that it is no such thing. We have been mere spectators. Beauty has smiled, but not to welcome us; her face was turned in our direction, but not to see us. We have not been accepted, welcomed, or taken into the dance. We may go when we please, we may stay if we can: “Nobody marks us.” A scientist may reply that since most of the things we call beautiful are inanimate, it is not very surprising that they take no notice of us. That, of course, is true. It is not the physical objects that I am speaking of, but that indescribable something of which they become for a moment the messengers. And part of the bitterness which mixes with the sweetness of that message is due to the fact that it so seldom seems to be a message intended for us but rather something we have overheard. By bitterness I mean pain, not resentment. We should hardly dare to ask that any notice be taken of ourselves. But we pine. The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory meant good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.

Could it be the things that mark us as humans – nostalgia, desire, significance, the stuff that people deal with in reality, have been instilled in us by the Creator FOR The Creator? Could it be that heaven is less like the Magic Kingdom and more like the satisfaction of what we just can’t seem to stop longing for here on earth? Too often I settle for flannelgraph depictions and forget that redemption is for real life. That the God who created space, stars, and seraphim also cares about what’s going on here on earth down to the microscopic soul. When thinking about your own life and the lives of people around you let the truth that God’s redemption is for today not just for eternity change everything about the way you live. Just some thoughts from a guy waking up to this stuff.

Phil Wickham: A Look into Heaven & Earth (Recap in Pictures)

CJ Casciotta — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:05:25 -0700

Here are some photos taken from our Conversant event a few Fridays ago featuring Phil Wickham and TOMS shoes. We invited 50 VIP guests to join us at the actual event and over 3,000 people tuned in to watch and listen live online.

These amazing photos were taken by Michelle Kim - a pretty epic photographer if I do say so myself. Check out her bio and contact at the end of this blog. If you need some photos, especially if you're a non-profit or social justice organization, she is your lady.

TOMS Shoes Style Your Sole Party

Stan Jantz, Conversant's CEO, workin the crowd.

Justin from TOMS Shoes explaining the "one for one" model.

A little mood lighting.

Phil WIckham takes the stage

The crowd.

Photos By Michelle Kim:
Michelle S. Kim is an independent freelance photographer and journalism student with a passion for people and their stories; her goal is to flesh out those stories through imagery, text and a whole lot of heart. You can follow her recent photo projects and experiments on her blog, www.seungmichelle.com.

Jon Acuff: Creator of StuffChristiansLike.net

CJ Casciotta — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:24:26 -0700

Jonathan Acuff from Brandon Setter on Vimeo.

Morning Prayer

CJ Casciotta — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:02:54 -0700

God, Creator and Sustainer of Life
Thank You for filling these lungs with air and this heart with blood another day.
Please provide me with the things I wearily strive toward on my own.
Stretch my heart wider than I have tried,
Expand the scope of my eyes can see with,
And give me an imagination for Your Kingdom here on earth.
Strengthen me with bravery, creativity, and passion.
Move me across the chasm of knowledge to action.
Invade my heart with grace so it has no choice but to leak onto others,
So it cannot distinguish between "loved-ones" and "strangers."
Unclench my hands from pride, fear, slavery, and self-preservation
And make real your nonsensical inherent love.

I release control to You.

An Interview with Derek Webb on Stockholm Syndrome

CJ Casciotta — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:05:37 -0700

Guest Post: Brian Wurzell on Art for Huruma

CJ Casciotta — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:03:59 -0700

The following is a guest post from my good friend, Brian Wurzell, about a unique opportunity for us to be involved in a project that combines creativity and community. Whenever I see people combine these two things together I feel it's worth giving a platform to. Not saying my blog is a huge platform, but hopefully those of you who read it will be challenged to think differently and creatively. Take a gander:

=============================

A couple years ago I had the opportunity to meet a woman named Mama Zipporah from the Hills of Nairobi, Kenya. She's a revolutionary Native Kenyan who has taken on the plight of the less fortunate. If you've seen the documentary 'Invisible Children' you will note, in the beginning of the film, that Mama Zipporah was the woman that, ultimately, led the guys to their story.

In the past couple years we've had the chance, as a church (http://cornerstonechandler.com), to partner with Mama Zipporah and her home in which she houses over 150+ orphan kids. My wife (Promise Tangeman-Wurzell) and I had the chance to take a 10 day trip to Kenya (August 2009) to visit the home, do some work projects and put on a summer camp for their High School aged kids (12-20 yrs old). It was an amazing time of watching these kids smile and enjoy a really fun time.

In July 2009, Promise Tangeman-Wurzell and Barton Damer began a collaborative art project that they named 'Art for Huruma'. The project went back and forth for the month of July in a design process called 'layered tennis'. Essentially, each artist had the design for a few days and then they'd pass it back to the other artist. After a month they had a finished product that is now going to be put on T-Shirts and Poster Prints. All of the proceeds from this project will go directly to Huruma Children's Home to help Mama Zipporah take care of needs around the home (food, clothing, medical, etc...).

Today is the last day to order the Poster Prints and Shirts. It would be amazing to see some people rally behind this cause that's connecting the dots between Art and Justice. Here are the links for more on the project and to purchase the products. Thank you in advance for supporting some great art and helping the cause of the widow and the orphan! It's ALL good.

For more on the project 'Art for Huruma': http://promisetangemanblog.com/design/art-for-huruma-july-project
TO PURCHASE T-Shirts & Prints: http://bartondamer.bigcartel.com/

Brian Wurzell
Chandler, AZ

A Dangerous Freedom

CJ Casciotta — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:46:32 -0700

I’ve wanted to be a director since I was 5. To confirm this statement please go up to my parent’s attic and take out my first grade homework assignment entitled “What I Want to Be When I Grow Up” with a very Steven Speilbergish looking picture of me brilliantly sketched in Crayola washable marker.

Since then I’ve directed projects big and small (mostly small) and have even managed to grow a beard (something the great directors always have). But the biggest project I’ve endeavored to undertake is my own life.

I’ve grown to realize, however, that my biggest undertaking is also my biggest failure.

The actors won’t do what I tell them to.

I’m either too early or too late to shoot whatever scene is supposedly going on without me.

And half the time I’m not sure if I’ve been handed a comedy, tragedy, or something in between.

It’s in my DNA…this fight to control, this drive to orchestrate…and it never quite seems to turn out the way I’ve imagined in my head. It’s just such a foreign idea to me.
Who likes the idea of surrender? Who gets excited about the word “dependence?”

But I’m reminded that Christ came with one purpose…to turn everything completely upside down! In this phenomenal mystery we call the gospel, when we release control…
Surrender ushers in victory.
Dependence breathes freedom.
Death raises up life.

So my life has become a great experiment…to release control.

To let go.

To allow the Creator to pry open my wrenched and coiled hand, petrified and locked into its rigid position To explore the most dangerous kind of freedom. One that requires bravery and nonsensical trust.

Any stories out there of people who have done this and have had success? Anybody struggling to release control too? What are your stories?