@bartondamer is a household name in Graphics and motion art. I have had the pleasure to work with Barton on a couple of occassion as well as using alot of his work in his previous gig at RT Creative. In March 2010 Barton made the leap into full-time freelance work. You should use him (so says @shawnwood). Here is some #planningeaster advice from my friend Barton.

I really like the idea of taking your audience through the entire
Easter experience – Good Friday through resurrection. After all, the
celebration will mean a lot more if you’ve reflected on the sacrifice.
Not everyone is going to have a Good Friday service so here’s my
suggestion. Start out the worship service in a darker more
contemplative mood (choosing songs to match that mood). Focus on the
blood of Christ and his sacrifice. Here are the visuals I suggest for
that portion of the service:
Crimson Stains 1
Crimson Stains 2

Then, transition your service from dark and contemplative into
celebration using the click track visuals to the worship song, Jesus
Paid It All. The song transitions into an amazing moment of
celebration at the end:
Jesus Paid it all

At this point, your service is brighter and more vibrant. Use songs
that are more celebratory and here are some more visuals to help
communicate the mood:
Back Packs Easter

All this media will help you take your audience on a journey to the
cross and through the resurrection. The look of everything matches as
well so it will feel as if you have an enormous media team working for
you.
To top off the service. Celebrate with That’s My King Remix:
That’s My King

I keep trying to do this whole planning easter thing – and it’s getting interrupted by the actual easter.  :)

We’re doing a major production for Easter called “The Chase”.  It’s all based on what we feel is most needed today in people’s lives – and that’s a message that they can apply today.  The tag line of “We’re all chasing something.  God never stops pursuing us.”  The Chase is a story of a man (through live acting, music, video) who is struggling with regrets and an overall feeling of unrest.  It’s not cliche – but very practical.  The whole thing opens on video and you see him running – but you don’t know if it’s from something or toward something.  Which is where we’re all at.  We’re going to show his life of good moments, bad ones, critical decisions, etc. and then go into a bunch of live music which flows into the worship sets.

If I’ve got one thing to add to the planning Easter – it would be this:  We’re advertising on Facebook instead of our normal direct mailers.  They’re the worst return on investment and you have no way of measuring their effectiveness.  The return is less than 1% and that’s only if you get someone to act on a direct request – coupon for coffee, free CD, etc.  So we’re going with Facebook – targeting people outside the church – and the beauty is – it’s about 1/3 of the cost of direct mailers.  We get instant feedback on what people are interested, track details and stats that aren’t available any other way.  It was a major shift in the thinking of some of our Exec pastors – because in their mind – “we built this church on mailers” but that was 9 years ago – and things have changed drastically in the last 9 months!  So it’s a “gamble” but it’s going to pay off.

@Jamiruth @kemmeyer (www.kemmeyer.com) and the team from Granger Community Church have graciously shared some of their upcoming Easter promo material.

You can follow Evan here on twitter: www.twitter.com/evancourtney

At The Fields Church we feel that Easter, is an opportunity for us to tell the greatest story of humanity.
I don’t think anybody would disagree. Easter is when churches have the largest crowds.

Our question each year has been, “Are we reaching new people? Or is it just a Sunday when everybody ’shows up’?”
The greatest marketing tool that the church has, it peer 2 peer.
Yet, only 2% of attenders people invite someone to church in a given year.
That means 98% of attenders never invite anyone to the greatest story of humanity. – Thom Rainer – The Unchurched Next Door

Is it because they don’t care others?
No, I genuinely believe they do, they just don’t know how to invite.
So, as a church, we looked at how we could help our attenders to invite others.
What can we do as a church to help them invite their family and friends?
82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited.

Our theme for Easter this year is “Rescue.” We’ve created “Medic Kits”.
Cute right.
Two weeks before Easter our families will receive these “Medic Kits,” which are an envelope that will include items to promote Easter, and to provide offline tools for them to invite their family and friends.

Front

Back

6 x9 Folded Envelopes (VistaPrint)
Invite Cards (GotPrint)
3 Pack Crayon Boxes Bulk (Ebay)
Bulk Lifesavers (Ebay)

I was able to purchase all of these Bing and got cashback.