Archive - October, 2009

story09

spent a few days in the land of lincoln as a participant at story09. it was an amazing couple of days…just to spend some time with our ashland campus pastor kevin rush, jimmy warner the ashland campus worship leader, and a new friend, clint beiri.  and then there were many amazing moments over the 48 hours, all of which helped to shape some new understandings of how to communicate more effectively the truths of “the Story.”  the event was directed by Ben Arment who is amazingly creative and has an amazing heart.  so grateful that he followed his passions and brought together an amazing array of thinkers, writers, artists and poets.  the venue itself was the historical paramount theater in downtown aurora, il (on the trip out and back we watched waynes world just to commemorate our travels…party on!).

story09stage3

i was able to connect  for the first time with some good “twitter” friends and reconnect with others like lv hanson from catalyst. lv posted some helpful links to the various speakers and their presentations.

the workshops that followed on day two were hosted by pastor scott hodge and his amazing team of volunteers at orchard valley community church. both days were worth the trip in themselves. i’m still processing the two days.  more information than i’ve pondered in awhile. one of the most amazing elements was the combination of so many different “artists” of sorts focusing on how to better communicate the Story.  plans are already underway for story2010 this is a conference you’ll want to definitely put on your calendar for next year.

We’re Governed by Callous Children

many conversations over the past week…one in particular with a young man, also named sam, who i visited with in prison yesterday.  he’s just 18.  his view of the world and his plight is grounded in what i think peggy noonan points out here in her op piece from the wsj.  we are living in very interesting times.   those of us in leadership within the faith community have got to start rethinking some things. here’s a couple of clips…

The biggest threat to America right now is not government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes. The biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have become disheartened, that this condition is reaching critical mass, and that it afflicts most broadly and deeply those members of the American leadership class who are not in Washington, most especially those in business….We are governed at all levels by America’s luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they’re not optimists—they’re unimaginative. They don’t have faith, they’ve just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don’t mind it when people become disheartened. They don’t even notice.

keep the party alive – family force 5

this is a little different…monday craziness on tuesday.

ht gye_nyame

for all the tech, community is personal

chris brogan tweeted about this article by jon burg on the tension between technology and behavior.   here’s a clip from the article…

Social(media) is in it’s infancy. Our forward progress will not come from technology progress alone.  We are on the cusp of gaining unparalleled insights into what makes people and communities tick.  We likely will not know what to do with some of these insights at first.  But I can tell you that the answer won’t come from an algorithm alone.  It’s time to start studying our numbers as the people they are.

its fascinating to see bobby mcferrin help us understand our commonality.  amazing video…and astute observations at the conclusion. really interesting stuff.

free ticket to connected church conference

Picture 1my friends at the Connected Church Conference have given me a free registration ($125 value) to their upcoming conference nov. 11-12 at exton, pa. to give away. you DON’T have to be a “user” of church community builder to enter and attend.

If you’re interested at all in how your local church can better connect your congregation, this conference will be useful to you. i’ve been a ccb user for almost two years. it is the cornerstone of how we’re growing our connection with our members. prior to vocational ministry i spent 15 years as a fund development specialist. one of the key elements of that was working with some very sophisticated software at many times the cost to maintain our client lists. in today’s social networking environment with a focus on church management, ccb is the best of its class. i’m delighted they’re hosting a conversation and am glad i can offer the opportunity to help someone get there. so between now and 5PM (EST) October 29th simply leave a comment about what you think the difference is between a “crowd” and a “tribe”. I’ll use random.org to select a winner out of the total comments generated.   this video from the folks at ccb seems to sum up what is at stake.

you see CCB’s Fan Page on Facebook – http://bit.ly/1Ya3UV and follow CCB on twitter @ccbchurch

you can also follow my pal steve caton their lead sales guy and budding actor at @ccbsalesguy

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