When I was in seminary I had a professor who said that the problem with teenagers today is that we don’t have hymns in the church. I adamantly disagree. The problem with teenagers today is that we don’t have human videos in the church. What? You don’t remember human videos?
Human videos came on the scene with Carman’s story songs. You don’t remember Carman? Watch this…
Okay, so now that we are all on the same page let’s get back to human videos. Carman wrote songs that were stories. He would talk through most of it and then end up singing for the finale. His greatest one was the Champion which featured Jesus vs. Satan in a boxing match. Youth groups across America saw this as an opportunity to change lives. I can hear them now, “what if we acted out a Carman song?” This genius idea led to teenagers over acting out every word of said Carman song. It was dramatic. It was powerful. It was the Human Video.
It worked so good that soon youth groups were over acting out other Christian songs. It was the ultimate grand finale for every good youth group rally. Soon though Human videos ran their course. They needed something new to take it to the next level. What could possibly help? Enter the secular song. Thanks to bands like Creed and Lifehouse the human video now had a fresh take. Enjoy…
So what happened to the human video? It gave youth groups something to do. It took songs to a whole notha level. It was amazing. If you are a church member then I say we rally together to bring back the human video. They were awesome!
I’ve said it before but I’m not really sure what satire is. I think this is an attempt at it. I haven’t seen a human video in years. I did really enjoy them when I was in the youth group. Do churches still do Human Videos? Did you experience Human Videos when you were a teen?
You do have a unique way of looking at things. Yes, very unique. Human videos indeed.
Thanks Daniel. I wish that you could have experienced them. They would have made this post more enjoyable for you.
That reply was from me. It was logged in as Monica and I didn’t catch it.
I have never heard of Human Videos ever. Interesting. Carman’s video (especially the part where he is speaking) reminds me of Spoken Word. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoken_word But I love the Lifehouse Everything skit at the end. That is one of my favorites. You can check out “Def Poetry” videos on YouTube for more examples of spoken word. One of my favorite artists Jimmy Needham has a spoken word song called “Not Without Love” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lULt8UFMxYo
Now spoken word is amazing. Have you seen Amena Brown? Amazing!
When I was the Youth Group co-leader at PUMC, we totally did Champion, along with a few other “Human Videos”. We, however, called them Liturgical Dance or Drama. Our Champion one was sweet, and we also did one to the Superchick song “We Live.” I literally dreamt this Human Drama, then a very talented group of adults/kids made it come to life!
PS. This, I believe, does currently still continue in many churches today. It is very “contemporary,” after all 😉
Wow. I didn’t know. I’ve been to a few youth conferences and nobody did one. Maybe it’s just my circle.
Oh, and we did a SWEET dance thing to Switchfoot involving GLOW STICKS. very cool. and VERY contemporary.
Do you have video of this? I’d like to see it.
I’m sure there is a video somewhere. I’ll ask around 🙂 We learned it from a conference at Eagle Eyrie!
Oh! AND we did the lifehouse one!!!
When we did the Lifehouse one, I was supposed to just watch/direct, but ended up being Satan. YIKES! Our youth did an AMAZING job at it and actually went to different churches and performed it!
I have seen some human videos, but they were awful. I say, do it right or don’t do it at all.
Agreed!
Agree with Moe that they can be pretty bad too. But Everything by Lifehouse is really powerful.
Clay, I agree. This was supposed to be funny. Most of the time they were awful.
Haven’t seen a human video in years either – what DID happen to them? They were great! Do you remember when they used to have the production of “Heaven’s Flames and Hell’s Fire”? We were in one and my husband played “Satan” – Early 90’s. Memories. I was a demon and had to go screaming down the aisle with other demons while Sandi Patty sang “The Via Dolorosa” Yup. I’m not making it up. Hymns? My parents in their 80’s swear by them. No kidding. They are the only “real” spiritual songs with the only truth in them. (According to them)
I don’t know. Someone left a comment and said that churches still do them. That was news to me.
I involuntarily recoiled when you mentioned Carman. He was cheesy enough to make entire churches lactose intolerant.
Burrill, that’s funny. Back in the day I was really into Carmen. He would put on free concerts and they were amazing! I was in elementary school and middle school so he was awesome. He then started rapping a lot and I hit high school. I stopped being a fan.
Burrill for President!
My first concert was a Carman concert. It was free. I wanted my money back.
Man, I had to shut the door in the office after this one. I had no clue what you were talkng about in regards to Human videos. Talk about turning on the waterworks. You are right! THE CHURCH MUST HAVE THESE! I mean how creative in getting the message across. I would love to see something like this live!
Joseph, thanks. The one I showed was well done. A lot of them were not done nearly as well. They were pretty cheesy.
Well brother I believe even the chessy ones would say it all..lol.
The real problem with kids these days, they’re soft, always coddled with food, toys, pets, and music. I say, two meals a day, and if you get hungry, chew on a rock. Toys, bah, we had rocks and we were happy. Pets, phooey, pet rock I say. Softball, come-on, play catch with rocks, if you miss it hurts, that’s motivation to excel. Songs, of any kind, with instruments, preposterous, knock a couple rocks together. Worst of all, communicate with that fancy internet, blog-shmog, you want to get someone’s attention, hit ’em with a rock.
Now that’s funny stuff. Have you thought about blogging yourself?
No longer an option, Sirvhim. We the People demand it!
I like puppet ministries much better 🙂
I am SO not sad human videos are gone. 🙂
Dude, Carman rocks. I went to 3-4 of his stadium tours (including Radically Saved, The Standard, RIOT). “Who’s in the house?” still has to be an all time favorite of mine. 🙂