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Jul 22 2010
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Church, Communications, Creative

How Outspoken are you?

Alright all of you Church Communication geeks! I’m sure most of you have heard of a new collaborative effort out there called Outspoken.

I’m a little pumped about this personally, because I get to be a part of this endeavor to help us all communicate the same incredible message of Christ to an ever changing culture.

The other exciting part about this book is it will be easy to read. With over 50 authors contributing you will get every style of writing and communications knowledge you can imagine in one handy dandy notebook (ok i stole that from blues clues, sue me). If one piece doesn’t resonate with you, skip on over to the next section and get something a little different.

I don’t want to keep you long because you’re out there trying to communicate. I hope you’ll go visit the facebook link above and “like” the book, tell your friends and follow it on twitter. As it comes closer to release more information will be available on the book, its authors and all of it’s awesome content.

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Jul 22 2010
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Church, Communications

Your local val-u-mart

The Importance of Value.

How many times in meeting with others have you walked away from the conversation thinking you had a good idea of what needed to be done or not be done, only to find out how incredibly wrong you were?

In ministry I think we forget that other people have a different view of what is important or valuable to them and their ministry. I’ve had numerous occasions where in a meeting, something was briefly brought up that would have fallen into my area of ministry but it was stated like a suggestion. So like many suggestions do for most of us, it gets filed. What I didn’t know is that suggestion was actually more of a mandate. I was not understanding what that person was valuing for ministry at that moment. Because I didn’t see it as valuable or important I didn’t act on it directly.

This isn’t something that is easy to do, but our focus needs to shift just a little bit in order to be a little more sensitive to, not only our valuable items but things others see important as well.

If we’re going to communicate more effectively we need to learn to listen more effectively too.

oh and if you’re waiting on more creative stuff from me I’ve got my magazines full and I’m ready to shoot I’ve just got to find time to unload it all on here! my guess is after camp you’re going to see quite a few blog posts on some recent creative endeavors.

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May 18 2010
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Bible, Church, Uncategorized

Bypass Surgery

Proverbs 29:18 (kjv) Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

This verse popped into my head today and unfortunately it was in relation to the state of the church today. I started reading Mad Church Disease and it has really started me thinking, analyzing and inspecting my own life and the church. There is a lot of death both inside and outside of the church.

Out side of the church people are dying without the grace of God. They’re being damned to an eternal life separated from God. There is no vision, no work of God and so they are perishing. The church is supposed to be light and life in this dying world but at second glance there is as much death and decay inside as there is out. I’m not talking about eternal separation from God, that is covered, I’m talking about confusion, lack of direction, apathy, ignorance, pain and suffering. God isn’t the author of any of that, so the enemy is at work to destroy the church from the inside out.

Proverbs 29:18(msg)
If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.

I love the way the message puts this verse. If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves. What the heck are we doing to cause people not to see what God is doing?! God doesn’t stop working so that must mean we are impeding the vision of His people. The church should get vision from the leadership, so if you do not have a clearly defined vision, or are not explaining what work is going on locally and globally how can we expect passion and vision to spread.

Maybe the church needs an emergency bypass surgery.

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Feb 15 2010
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Bible, Church, Creative, Tech

I Say Post Modern, You Say, Going to Hell!

Today’s church has gotten stuck, there is a huge battle between the modern church and the post-modern church. The modern church being the answer to the reformation and introduction of the bible to the layman. It’s been there a while, it’s dug its roots in and it’s swung hard right on conservatism. In the past few years a new guy has cropped up, the post-modern church.  His answer is to abandon the modern church, stick it to him and swing as far left as possible while loosely fitting God and all his friends into their web of beliefs.

The biggest problem with the term post modern is every one has their own definition.

post⋅mod⋅ern⋅ism

–noun (sometimes initial capital letter) any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established modernism, esp. a movement in architecture and the decorative arts running counter to the practice and influence of the International Style and encouraging the use of elements from historical vernacular styles and often playful illusion, decoration, and complexity.

Decorative arts, some people see post modernism in the church embracing media and new styles of worship experiences as post modern. Some people think this change is great some people dig their heels in and resist it as much as they can. So what should the church’s response be? Is there an answer in the bible that spells it out for us? Is one side or the other right?

I might get some hell fire and brimstone for this but I don’t think either side has it right!

The church’s goal is edification of the saints and ushering new people into HIS kingdom. It is the great commission, and the great commandment. Love God, Love others, and bring others to love God. Now where does modernity or post-modernity fit into that commission? God didn’t say go out and bring others to me but make sure they follow this one narrow path called the fundamentalist interpretation. On the flip side God didn’t tell you to go out and make sure that people should come to Christ disillusioned to the creed and call of the gospel.

Brian Holt wrote a great blog post evoking some great questions over here. Talking about McLuhan and his media theory. This is widely accepted in and outside of religious circles and there are some aspects we need to sit up and take notice of.

The modern church takes a head in the sand and feet firm on the KJV foundation approach to media and the gospel. If you try to tell them different they spout a pre-conceived canned answer at you that is full of King James prose and holier than thou speak. Music is meant for the message and the message for the music. No toe tapping here. If you talk about media and evoking emotion, the only emotion you should evoke is that of the pastor telling of how Jesus delivered the heathen on the front row from a life of rock and roll.

Those modern churches that do apply media come from the stance that the message should never change regardless of the medium that you choose to use.

The post-modern church adopts McLuhan’s full approach that your medium changes your message. This is what most staunch modernists take issue with, the hugely watered down message. Unfortunately most pastors who swing so far this way came out of the modern church and got burned BAD by it. So naturally their response is to offer an ‘experience’ that is wholly different from what they dealt with as a child.

Most post modern churches have an experiential ‘religion’ where the substance is your reaction to the experience. There is a communal approach to the teaching and Jesus goes from savior king to savior friend. I’m not saying that there is not anything wrong with this view, but I don’t think it can be your only outlook on Christ.

Andy Stanley has a message out there talking about how we put God in a box. Our preconceived notion of how God needs to act, react, be and do. I think this is how both sects of churches have responded. We’ve put God in a box and decided how he should act and react within the confines of a certain worldview.

So how should the body of Christ respond to modernity or post-modernity? That depends on if you want to stick God in a box or not. I stick him in a box every day with my own worldview. Our worldview is just the change in message that the medium has given us. (yes I think McLuhan was correct in his statements that the medium changes the message) I also think there are non-negotiable aspects to the gospel but for every non-negotiable there are 100 negotiable ones.

So who’s going to hell today?

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Sep 16 2009
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Bible, Church

Where did you come from, where will you go?

I shared this with the tech team this past Sunday and I figured I’d post this up here. I just wanted to share a bite of something that punched me in the face lately and it’s from Esther 4:14

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

In highschool we had a mission trip that centered around the theme “For Such A Time” and there was a song (I think Steve Green wrote it “For Such A Time As This”). The statement is a cliche Christian term thrown around. These things are happening, you’re stuck in the middle, “for such a time” bill “for such a time”.

Those few words really have no meaning in and of themselves until you get into the book of Esther and contextualize it. The Jews were up on the block to be slaughtered by their enemies because the King’s right hand man had a vendetta against the Jewish people. What the guy didn’t know is that Esther, the queen was a Jew. Esther’s uncle Mordecai came to her and said you need to do something about this or else God is going to find another way to get our people out of this. It’s very possible Esther that the very reason you became queen was to save the nation of Israel.

If we started living like every moment we were placed there for the purpose of God, how different would we start living? so yes, “for such a time as this” but more to it, “for such a time as this God has a purpose for our being and we can choose to live that purpose or he will raise up someone else”

Even the rocks cry out his majesty.

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Jul 30 2009
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Bible, Church

God is God and we are not?

I was approached with a couple statements/questions from a friend that I think are echoed by most people today about God. I don’t have the answers, but I do have my take on it. So in quotes are the statements or questions with a bit of context, and then my response.

- Some awful things happen in the world, some personally.

“But to simply erase all the really horrific things that happen in this world by claiming that He is looking to test us, or prove something, or use it for good… that seems awfully contrite.  I don’t ever really expect to come to understand the mind of God, but He doesn’t seem so loving/good necessarily at the moment.”

- Homosexuality is a choice.

“And so (1) if it is not a choice, and (2) homosexuality is abhorred by God, then where does that leave us in He wants to save us all?  Does He make them gay to give them additional difficulties in finding Him?  Another instance where it is impossible to understand the will of God.”

I can’t say I necessarily agree with your stances on homosexuality but at the same time I can’t say you’re wrong either. I don’t know if it’s a choice or something biological or something mental. There really isn’t a proof positive in any direction, so to say for certain would be foolish. (I’m not saying that it is right here either just that there is no context for cause other than moral depravity which I mention  later)
I don’t think that God does make people gay though. It goes back to what you were saying about there being so much bad in the world. Humanity itself has no more inherent connection with God because communication was cut off. We have that desire for him, and he desires everyone to come to him but because there is that separation there is extreme moral deprivation. I’m not saying God is not in control. Because he is, and he’s evidenced in the fact that we’re still here and breathing. He can’t just step in and say, this is the way it will be, because then we wouldn’t have a will of our own any more.

The whole spiral down ward of society was prefaced in the Bible through prophecy. People act so surprised by all of the wrong in the world, but I don’t know why. Things will never get better until God comes back to take it all back over.

I don’t think it’s impossible to understand the mind of God wholly. There are things that he has hidden from us, like when he’s coming back. There are things in the bible that do not have explicit instruction(or any instruction at all), like whether or not you should see a rated R movie. Then there are things that are black and white, things like moral law.

God himself has his attributes shown throughout the whole bible. I think that while some attributes are conflicting they are also complimentary. You can’t be the sole creator of the universe and not be jealous for your creations utmost affection and attention. You also cannot be a part of those things that are contradictory to your nature. A loose tie is; I cannot breath under water because I’m not a fish. God cannot be a part of sin because He’s Holy and Righteous. So homosexuality is a sin because it’s against the nature of God as much as a lustful thought or a lie is a sin because it’s against the nature of God. That is where Redemption comes in we all have to have it.

I think some of the things you said about “God is good all the time etc.” is true, it’s junk. I think it’s dangerous territory when Christians try to nullify any sin in the world. People don’t know how to answer tough questions and so that crap ends up spilling out of their mouths. I think if you don’t have an answer then don’t say anything. Especially in today’s world where most people are not as familiar with God, Jesus, Christ, Christianity or any other ‘pop’ word other than ‘religion’ you can’t expect those watered down “Jesus” answers to work either. People either want an honest answer or hard core proof. So you have to find a way to start outside of the Bible and work your way in.

Anyways those are just a few thoughts.

feedback? fire away.

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Jun 26 2009
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Creative

The “Keep It Simple Stupid” Rule

KEEPITSIMPLEHow many of you creatives, techies and other types of church communications people live by this rule?

Alright..all two of you.

Most of us have to throw this in the recycle bin out of necessity not out of want. Unfortunately somewhere back in the 50’s it became ingrained in all church training that the more words, information, events, hooplah we cram into whatever we do some how makes it better. Oh no there is an empty space in our bulletin. Instead of letting it breath or making font bigger lets throw in something about church member Larry having his colonoscopy done last month. Praise God he was ok afterward. Seriously? I could have lived without that information.

White space can be a friend, whether it’s on your stage, in your bulletin or in some other design or form of communication. We have to live in a world where most people don’t understand this concept so it’s our sworn duty to try and work it in where we can. It can also simplify our lives quite a bit. Yeah I could go out and purchase a couple new video cards and figure out a way to properly incorperate it so we do some cool seamless video from one computer, but why not just use separate machines to drive already existing hardware. This cut the need for any kind of production budget and while it takes a more hands on approach will give us the flexibility we need and a whole lot simpler…I don’t have to run extra video lines or work around software issues.

Not everyone needs an invitation to your sunday school (*shudders at the term*) classes BBQ next weekend so don’t put a flyer in the bulletin for it. If you can keep your sermon series name short, do it, it becomes more memorable and easier to grab onto. Does your graphic have a lot happening? don’t know where your eye should focus, make it less busy. To much distraction on stage? Cut down on some of your staging elements. Bout to bust your budget? Trim the fat…no reason, especially today, to be to spendy. That way when you need it for something that counts later, it’s not as hard to go and ask for it!

So I guess the take away is, if someone is going to stop paying attention after the first three words of whatever you’re doing, simplify.

an article on teaching simple.

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