I hope you had a Merry Christmas and would like to wish you a Happy New Year. We left 12/26 to go to visit family in South Carolina. I went to NewSpring Greenville on Sunday (more about that later). We travel today to Asheville, NC to visit more family. I hope we see some snow!
Also, today is my 13th wedding anniversary. WOW – time flies!
I want to remind you that tomorrow is the deadline to get that special discount for Q. Remember to use the promo code (Church20) to save over $150. Also, you can connect via the Facebook Church 2.0 Q event page HERE.
Also, be aware of where you can catch me early in ’09. I’ll be speaking in January and February here:
January 8: ChurchTechCamp Dallas – get connected HERE
January 27-28: Leadership Network’s Innovation3 – register HERE
Feb. 17: Church 2.0 Local Forum – Phoenix (register HERE on Facebook and HERE if not on Facebook)
Feb. 17-19: Church Solutions Conference – register HERE
So, early in ’09, I’ll be speaking twice in Dallas, twice in Phoenix and once in Irvine, CA. I hope you can make it to one of those. NOTE: The ChurchTechCamp Dallas, Church 2.0 Phoenix and The Idea Camp are all FREE! More dates and cites to come soon.
I’ve blogged about this before, but the time-sensitive huge discount for Q runs out Dec. 31st!!!! You have 1 week to act on this opportunity. You can register later, but it will cost over $150 more.
I’ll be hosting a Church 2.0 Tribe this year at Q. Q was held in New York last year and I couldn’t make it – I really wanted to . This April 27-29 it will be in Austin, TX. I and many other friends will be there. I’d love for you to join us.
Q is a unique conference for leaders that “get it” and are interested in highly relevant and missional things. Q does cost more than a lot of conferences, but if you register with my coupon code (Church20) – you can register for $525 until 12/31.
More about Q: Q is a gathering where church leaders and cultural influencers from the fields of business, politics, media, education, entertainment and the arts are exposed to the future of culture and the church’s responsibility to advance the common good in society.
Q TALKS are 18 minute presentations given annually at the Q gathering by thought leaders and practitioners on the topics of the future, the church, the culture and the gospel. Be inspired by their big ideas and find ways to discuss and process them with your closest friends and inner circle (the Church 2.0 tribe).
I hope to see some of you in the wonderful city of Austin!
This journey of traveling the country and meeting with Church and ministry leaders in a given city/region began in May of 2008. Since May, I’ve been to 9 cities and had unbelievable experiences at each.
These Church 2.0 Local Forums have been informal/casual, kind of unconferences where I come with no set agenda or presentation and simply listen and guide conversation. Each city has a different pulse and heart for something they’re passionate about in their region. We talked about innovation, technology and the Church (capital “C”). Here’s where I went this year:
Los Angeles – Host Church: Hollywoood UMC
Chicago – Host Church: Park Community Church
Orange County – Host Church: NewSong Church
Santa Cruz - Host Church: Santa Cruz Bible Church
Upstate South Carolina – Host Church: SpringWell Church
I’m taking a look back at my experiences for 2008. Tomorrow I’ll blog about the 2008 Church 2.0 Local Forums. Today, here’s a look at the conferences I spoke at in 2008:
Jan. and Feb. I was focused on the move-in to my church’s new worship center
Mar. – NRB in Nashville
Apr. – NAB in Las Vegas
May – Moody Bible Pastors’ Conf. in Chicago
June – Saddleback’s Worship Conf. & Festival
July – Christian Supply Worship Conf. in South Carolina
August – ECHO Church Media Conference in Dallas
Sept. – ChurchTechCamp in Pasadena
The rest of the year and in-between the above were Church 2.0 Local Forums, which I’ll review tomorrow. Some of you I met for the first time this year while on the road speaking. I look forward to meeting more of you in 2009!
After 13 years of ministry on a church staff I’ve learned one simple, but very true law of ministry: Sunday comes every week. It doesn’t matter how big the event, conference, concert, production, musical… you name it – doesn’t matter what you just did, Sunday’s coming.
It is relentless. I know this. I’ve known this for many years, but it struck me yesterday when we were in our production meeting for this Sunday and we were all tired and mentally exhausted from the previous week’s Christmas production.
This is my “ministry law” that I offer to you, friends. What law would you add?
I’m sure most of you have heard of Ed Young’s (of Fellowship Church here in Dallas) 7-day sex challenge. My friend, Pace (worship pastor at Fellowship), blogged about it recently. I thought I’d bring it up because I never mentioned it here on my blog.
I watched the following interview on CNN and personally, was very happy to see Christians and the Church painted in a positive light. I loved the demeanor of the woman who interviewed Ed and Lisa Young. She seemed genuinely interested, sweet and read some encouraging emails. Here’s the interview:
I’ve already showed my cards. You can tell what I think. We (the Church) often get painted in such a horrible way through TV, media and movies – so I’m refreshed to see this buzz. BUT… I want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on this?
Yesterday I spoke of my love for movies. I found this article from the Wall Street Journal interesting.
Here’s a brief part of the article: “Get ready for a lot more ways to catch a movie. Hollywood studios and tech companies are rolling out a host of innovations that will change the way we experience films at home and in theaters. They’ve already begun to serve up DVDs that let you chat with other people who are watching the same movie. They’re also sprucing up theaters with crystal-clear screens and amenities like cozier seats and restaurant-quality food.
Coming soon: kiosks that can burn a copy of a movie while you wait, from a library of thousands of titles. The industry is also working on ways to easily send movies from gadget to gadget — so you might download a movie on your iPhone and stream it onto your TV.
Down the road, expect new ways to easily store digital movies online, so you can access them from any computer, anytime. We might also get theaters filled with dozens of speakers for super-sharp sound, as well as much more lifelike animated characters.”
Want to know me… or know me better? Know that I LOVE movies. I see matinee movies, midnight movies, back-to-back movies, dollar movies, IMAX movies, sneak-peak movies. I LOVE movies. God speaks to me through movies – always has. Want to reach me? Speak my language? Move me? Do it through a movie. That’s why I’m excited to be sending one of my interns to Hollywood.
Anyway, there is a movie that has got my attention and I’ve started to tell my friends about it. It features two of my favorite actors: Jamie Foxx (a gifted actor, comedian and musician) and Robert Downey, Jr. The movie is called “The Soloist” and looks like a great film. I can’t wait to see it. Spread the word!
EXTRA:
On another note, I am thrilled to have our Christmas production out of the way. It went well. We had some power outages due to wind for the 2 hours leading up to the first show, but miraculously they stopped once it was go-time. We do have Christmas Eve services, but they should be relatively light and simple. Tonight we have our Worship & Arts Christmas Party and will be watching a highlight video of the past year. Should be fun.
So yesterday I was telling one of my interns that at my home in December we listen to James Taylor’s Christmas album. My kids know his music well and it’s kind of a family tradition. I remarked how much I liked “JT’s Christmas album” and he said, “Justin Timberlake is JT”.
Hold up! Wait a minute. No disrespect to Justin Timberlake, but James Taylor is the real and original “JT”. Anyone got my back? Will the real JT please stand up?!!!
Yep – we’re in it. Hell Week… I mean: Tech Week. This is the time of year when I spend 15 hours a day at the church. I’m blogging this after getting in at 1:30am. That’s why my blogging has been light this week. We’re in it every night this week and then will do our annual Christmas production this Saturday. We’ve already sold 5100 tickets at last count, so at least we’ll have some company.
Since I’m seeing my church family more this week than my actual family, I thought I’d share a recent picture of our Worship & Arts staff. This is a picture of our paid worship staff. There are some great volunteers and interns that are a true part of our team that are missing from this picture, but if you want to see who I spend a lot of time with, here you go.
These guys know me (the good, the bad, the ugly, my struggles and crosses to bear) and still love and accept me. As my pastor, Pete Briscoe, says, “To be fully known and loved is a beautiful thing.”
Looking at the picture straight on, I’m all the way to the right. To my left is my video producer, Jonathan. All the way on the end (to the far left) is my Audio Coordinator, Tom and in front of him (on the far left floor) is my admin, Julie. That’s my team. How’s Christmas going in your neck of the woods?
