The morning started out a little wet as the rain from the day before was just finishing its pass through the upstate.  Our incredible volunteers didn’t seem to mind and welcomed everyone in spite of the weather.  With doors opening and registration beginning at 7:30, Awake coffee was buzzing early.

First main session!

After the first main session, attendees burst out of the auditorium to find the breakout session of their choice.  Breakouts are spread throughout the campus, each focused on a specific area of ministry.

The student facility was home to several breakout sessions – Perry’s “senior pastors only” session…

…Lee’s session for worship leaders/staff, and Trevor’s on discipleship ministry.

Back in KidSpring, our children’s building –  Suzanne, Shua, and Cristin’s session on communication, print, web, and branding.

Chick-Fil-A plays a huge part at Unleash every year by catering lunch for all 3,000ish attendees, volunteers, and staff.  Best fast food and customer service PERIOD!

Lunchtime.

After lunch, breakout set #2 began.  Lucretia, Perry’s wife, held an incredible breakout for pastor’s wives while Shane taught on creativity and service planning.

Karla and Adrienne’s session for ministry assistants was so jam packed that it turned into “teaching in the round” since the only seats left were on stage.

Ken, Will, Adam, Amanda, and Darrin’s session on video and motion graphics was just as packed.

Outside in the tents – Sherry’s session on creating and managing a great volunteer culture, Brad’s on student ministry…

…and Cherie’s on children’s ministry.

Intermission fun with a golf cart in the parking lot.  Huge thanks to my good friend Chandler (who’s driving this golf cart) for helping me out this year.  Not a word of complaint the whole conference – just a pure servant’s heart all day long.

After breakouts were over, everyone headed back to the auditorium for main session #2.  Seriously, the main sessions were incredible.

During the last portion of the second main session, Perry ended with encouragement for senior pastors and asked for their staff/volunteers to pray over them and to be “with them heart and soul”.  One of the best parts of the day.

Perry – Hold faithful to the vision and leadership that God has given you for His church.  You’re worth following, and we’re with you heart and soul.

Check out the video recap of the day…

Recap: Unleash 2011 from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

It also just so happened that Chip’s daughter was recently engaged.  See where this is going?  Now after seeing this angry, irritated man you might be thinking I’d be a little bit nervous about shooting his daughter’s wedding.  That could be true if Chip wasn’t one of the nicest, most easy-going guys you’d ever meet.  Nathan and Kelly’s wedding was a day filled with love, laughter, and celebration for what their Heavenly Father had done in their lives by bringing them together.  My clients are incredible.  Spending the day with them, their families, and their friends was such a blessing.

Kelly was stunning.  I couldn’t complain about a little breeze to toss her veil either.

Right after we finished their family photos, I looked up and realized that the sky was about to open up.  I love a nice sunny sky as much as the next person, but if I have the opportunity to shoot with a dark, moody sky, I’ll take it any day.  The naturally added drama is just incredible.

We finished their portraits just in time.  But not quite in time to make it into the reception at Larkin’s dry.

Their dances with their parents were a joy to watch.

Such cool centerpieces!  The flowers were placed on blocks covered with scripture printed on parchment paper.

I’m posting this next photo to show that photography is not always about composition or all the technical elements being perfect.  Sometimes it’s about the other elements within a frame–like the couple on the left–that just tell the story, or their own story, better.

Nathan and Kelly – Thanks for sharing your love with the rest of us. May God bless your marriage abundantly!

Perry and Steven leading the senior pastors only breakout.

Lucretia, Perry’s wife, leading a breakout for pastors’ wives.

Lee’s breakout for worship leaders.

NewSpring volunteers absolutely make this thing happen, from greeting to preparing lunch to EVERYTHING else.  If you’re a NewSpring volunteer reading this – thank you.

Sherry Moorhead, Shane Duffey, Lee McDerment, and Brad Cooper all led much smaller lunch discussion sessions.

Clayton’s breakout on protecting your pastor…

B.CooP*’s breakout on youth ministry.  I’d say it was pretty full…

…Cause it’s all for You, it’s all for You, God….

For the first set, we wanted to show someone in their office irritated because his wife is calling and therefore decides to ignore her call…

The second set shows a severe lack of generosity.  He has obviously just finished a very large, expensive meal at a nice restaurant, yet decides to tip only a single penny…

And the final set shows someone stuck in traffic in the exit lane of the church parking lot after leaving a church service.  His anger seems to have gotten the best of him…

Thanks to Andrew, Charles, and Chip for being part of the shoot with us.  We definitely had a blast working on these and I’m excited to finally be able to put these up now that the series has begun!

**Note:  For the actual series opener, Ken edited the entire piece all together in After Effects whereas the photos here on my blog include my own edits.

To Perry and Lucretia:  Keep doing what God has called you to do.  He’s using you both to change lives in incredible ways.  Thank you for being a man & woman after God’s heart.