If you weren’t able to make it to ECHO last week, you missed out on a phenomenal conference. Lucky for you, Tim Stevens took good notes at the keynote sessions and posted them on his blog. As I thought about how nice it was for Tim to take and share his notes, it quickly occurred to me that I may have discovered one of the secrets to Tim’s success. (more…)
When Apple’s iPhone 3G was released July 11th, public reaction ran the proverbial gamut: pepole were excited, anxious, dubious, frustrated, angry, etc. And that got me thinking.
When people discuss LifeChurch.tv and their innovative projects (YouVersion, One Prayer, Second Life campus, etc.), I hear and read a lot of the same reactions: excitement, anxiety, doubt, frustration, anger, etc. Call me crazy, but I think that’s a good thing.
When a company like Motorola releases a generic new phone, most people don’t even notice. If they do notice, their reaction usually consists of a yawn and a shrug. I think that’s because the iPhone represents taking a giant step forward while most other new phones represent a step sideways or backwards (perhaps a tiptoe forward at best).
My question is, what about your church or ministry? When you launch a new campaign, initiative, service, or program, does anyone notice? Are people excited or nervous or frustrated? Do they feel anything at all? If so, you’re probably taking a step forward (and that’s a good thing, as long as it’s a step in the right direction and is consistent with the gospel). If not, maybe you’re just standing still, shuffling your feet, side-stepping, or even inching backward.
I think I once heard Tim Stevens ask an audience, “If your church shut its doors tomorrow, would your community notice?” Personally, I think that’s one of the most powerful questions a church can ask itself. Perhaps the underlying question of this post is, “When you open your doors, or when you do anything new at all, does anyone notice?” I hope your answer is yes.
I’ve noticed a storytelling device become more and more popular lately, and I’m not sure if I like it. I’m also not sure what it’s official name is, so I’ll refer to it as “fake realism.”
Remember The Blair Witch Project? Part of what made that movie so scary is that the marketing and presentation of the film claimed the story was true and the footage was real. They weren’t. The effective, however, was undeniable—fake realism pulled the audience into the story. (more…)
I was recently scrounging through my dad’s old seminary books and came across Francis Schaeffer’s Art and the Bible. I had never heard of this book and doubt you have either because it’s basically two essays thrown together in a 63 page booklet. Little did I know that what was in this booklet would be so insightful and relevant, even though it was published in 1973. I thought I’d share with you some excerpts that caught my attention and maybe will spark your interest. (more…)
Christian tees can be cheesy or just lame at times, but we are here to challenge the status quo. Here’s an intense print job done for the new Echo tees that will be sold at the conference next week. A normal tee shirt print job generally consist of 3 colors or less. However, for this design by Barton Damer, it required an oversized print as well as 10 spot colors! Exactly what does that mean? In order to get the colors to pop off of the tee shirt the way the original artwork was created, the t-shirt was separated into 10 solid ink colors and printed on a mammoth 12 color machine (below). (more…)
