2010 believe Messiah Tour

If you are a youth leader who likes to pour into the details way ahead of time then you have come to the right place! We want to surprise your kids, not you, so everything that will happen in every session is not only displayed here but our rational for doing so is discussed here as well. This is a session by session guide to what content we will cover and our methods for doing so. Another great resource to check out as you plan in collaboration with this page is our new weekend schedule.

With a theme like "Messiah", you have to be very careful. It's one thing to have a character embody Jeremiah on stage in a fable narrative like last year. The rules are completely different when you're talking about Jesus. These rules are not written down anywhere that I'm aware of. We have seen it go poorly when the feel isn't thought out and respected. You have to be much more careful when dealing with the person of Jesus. It can quickly become hokey or downright heretical. With that in mind we wish to show the determination, creativity and resolution that God has as he sets His plan in motion to reconcile man to Himself through the work of Christ.

Last year on tour, Eric played the part of God reaching out to a young Jeremiah played by Brent the stunt guy. If you came last year then we will pick up right where we left off with Eric playing the part of God. If you are new to tour your kids won't miss a beat as we clearly define his role from the beginning.

One protective filter we have given ourselves as we tell 'the greatest story ever told' is to use LOTS of Scripture to define the pictures we are applying to theological concepts. In fact, every video will start with a foundational premise from scripture. This will also help simplify every main session for kids to track with.

To personify the Messiah we will be building a mosaic statue depicting physical elements of Christ's body while attaching characteristics of Christ to those attributes (hands, eyes, heart, crown first of thorns and then a King's crown)

By starting in the concrete thinking realm and moving abstract we will gently guide kids to process what kind of a Messiah Jesus is. Another point of clarification will be to intentionally use scripture to define what kids are seeing Eric do with paint - both live on stage and pre-recorded for the video screens.

The learning atmosphere we are creating this year for your students blends youth subcultures of skateboarding, Japanese Manga art with a far east (Oriental) theme. No, there will be no geisha dancing :) Actually, Eric might. Don't encourage him. So the mosaic picture of Christ we build on in every session, and unveil in session 5, will be communicated in a manga form. Don't be surprised when you don't get the classic long haired North American Jesus, Thomas Kincaid didn't consult.

Although Eric has been consulting and performing on the Believe Tour for 4 years we have never used all our resources at CIY in preproduction with his art form. So this year we're going to kick it up. Every session that Eric paints live, a video will play that perfectly complements, in sync, the live performance. There will be many other elements in every session utilizing our other artists. Following Eric's story line is the easiest way to give you a feel for the event. If you don't want to read it then check out our podcasts.

Weekend Session Outline

Download our weekend seesion outline to get the full main session walk through guide.