The assignment was bigger than the room
I had produced conferences before. Most had gathered around a thousand people. Virada Orlando 2022–2023, the New Year’s gathering of Lagoinha Orlando Church at Addition Financial Arena, asked something different of me. It was my first major event in the United States at that scale. I was responsible for communications, marketing and content creation. That included helping bring people into the room through ticket promotion and shaping how the event’s story would be experienced before, during and after the gathering.
The practical assignment was demanding. The purpose was clear: create room for people to encounter Jesus, and communicate that invitation with care.
The good news comes first
Our first purpose was to share the good news of Jesus Christ and help carry the Gospel to every person. That vision gave our communication its direction. Ticket promotion, the opening experience and the content we created all needed to serve the reason we were gathering.
We wanted to tell a story that people could enter, remember and carry into their own lives. The stories of Scripture remind us that what we pass on can shape generations. In our generation, we wanted to document what God was doing and share those stories with care, so that people could hear the Gospel, encounter Jesus and find freedom in Him.
An impressive production was never the destination. Our hope was that the story would continue in people’s lives long after the lights went down. That is the vision I bring to communication: creativity in service of the Gospel, with people at the center of the work.
An established event. A new communication challenge.
Pastor André Valadão led the vision for Virada, with Leo Neves coordinating the event. They had already built a gathering with a history. My responsibility was to help take its communication further.
The question I carried was this: how could someone following on a phone experience the story of the gathering while it was still unfolding? A livestream had its own role. Social media needed an editorial approach designed for the way people actually watch, read and move through a feed.
We treated social media as a live editorial experience
We built Instagram carousels that worked like a timeline of the event. Interviews, recap footage, selected photographs and designed layouts became parts of one connected story. The audience could follow the atmosphere and key moments through a sequence created for social media.
That meant thinking beyond a folder of photographs posted after the event. We wanted the coverage to have a point of view, a clear sequence and a reason for someone to keep watching. The work had to feel considered even when the turnaround was fast.
A production line built around people
Designers, filmmakers, video editors, copywriters, social media professionals and motion designers worked in a coordinated production flow. Alongside them, the coverage team captured the footage that kept the story moving.
For each artist, we aimed to develop three pieces of coverage, with content moving through the team and out to social media as close to real time as possible. Capture, selection, writing, editing, design and publishing had to stay connected. A strong image was only useful if the right person could find it, shape it and release it while the moment still mattered.
This is where creative leadership becomes practical. The team needs to understand what it is making, who owns the next step and how the work will be reviewed. When those decisions are left until the event is underway, speed becomes much harder to sustain.
“How could someone following on a phone experience the story of the gathering while it was still unfolding?”
Six months before the opening moment
I spent roughly six months preparing for the event’s opening. The audience would experience that work in a brief moment. Behind it were months of thought and preparation.
That contrast stays with me. People see the opening, the stage and the finished content. The team lives through the decisions that make those moments possible. Preparation gives the creative work a direction. It also gives the people doing it a better chance to serve well when the pressure arrives.
The moments I still carry
The worship moments, including Taya’s participation, remain part of how I remember that season. So do the people responding to the invitation to follow Jesus. Those moments gave the work its meaning.
I am proud of what our creative team produced. What matters most to me is that we were serving a gathering centered on the Gospel. Design, film and social media had a place in carrying that story beyond the arena. They were part of a larger ministry effort, made possible by many people serving together.
What I would tell a church team today
Start by understanding the ministry purpose. Then decide how the communication can serve it before, during and after the gathering. Give your social coverage its own plan, with clear formats, responsibilities and a realistic approval process.
My experience at Virada changed the way I think about event communication. It showed me what a coordinated creative team can do when strategy, production and purpose work together. I still see value in that approach: tell the story while it is happening, with enough preparation to tell it well.
A question for your team
When your next gathering begins, will your communication team have a shared story to tell, or only a list of things to capture? I would love to hear what your team has learned about planning and producing live coverage. Share a practical lesson in the conversation below.