Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

ashes on your forehead : a little diddy for those with dirty foreheads today

this was just too cute. my buddy eric coomer sent it to me. i haven't checked out jonathan rundmans's other works, but eric says they are really good as well.

return to church : a few chuckles at ourselves

i had some great giggles today watching these videos on 'return to church' (tip from ian at youthblog). it had me thinking of some of the tricks that we are used to get people 'in the door' and that when presented with a disingenuous invitation people run quickly. reminded me of a nice quotable, "what you win them with is what you win them to." i will give this vicar some props, he's not just letting his church become a museum.

holy week worship video : worship tricks

next week we are doing our midday holy week services in our youth space (cause its' the coolest) and most artistically driven area and the pastors want to do some more experiential worship stuff. we'll do some prayer stations stuff for sure & some various smells. but what about our visuals?

i've pretty much sold myself on parsing this video stopping it through good friday & then showing the full thing on easter. i love simple & creative stuff. this is right up my alley

look back into the past : the things that were about this time years ago

in my on going toss out of lifting up some of the archives of this blog from similar time period over the years.

• i jumped in on some oovoo conversations with marketing & tech type people (pretty sure i was the only youth minister participating in the event). that was fun, but oovoo hasn't taken off. tokbox seems to be the next multi person video conference center.
• some ponderings from the desert fathers & mothers on parenting & youth ministry
• everyone can use some new 'faith filled' pick up lines
• an early morning reflection on the homeless in my city
• remember when the nfl was going to sue churches if you had a super bowl party.. seems they have learned from that pr nightmare
• i was again likened to a celebrity.. well, he wasn't so much celebrity then, he's more now
• church shopping & the devices of the entertaining church
• i took the strengths profile test that our church is big proponent of. can you guess what i came out as?
• my abbey journal kept while on retreat at gethsemani. good times, need to get back soon.
• in what is the only time you see capital letters use consistently, my pastor michael williams guest blogged on the theological conversation with miroslav volf
• this is what happens when you are friends with jonathon norman
• thoughts on how justice issues can become an idol unto themselves
• some ponderings on contemporary worship in my church context & how our greater church sold their soul to contemporary worship
• starbucks goes down!

caption contest & freebie : in recognition of inauguration day

inauguration day is always an great day. i know people have their reasons for this year being more special than others, but to know that we have a complete change of government leadership without violence or war is something to behold. so, in recognition of inauguration i've got this caption contest. cool thing, my completely subjectively chosen winner (and you can vote for who you think is best) will be sent a copy of my worship feast prayer stations cdrom project & maybe some more stuff, but i promise that one.

let the captioning begin!

congress on evangelism : mike slaughter on worship

i was not there for all the mike slaughter speak at last week's congress on evangelism. but i made his session on 'passionate worship' and took a few notes.

creating a passionate worship environment comes from asking

• what is the theme
• what is the felt need
• desired outcome

5 dimensions of worship in creative process

1. the message: preaching, teaching, & healing
2. the medium: environments are an important 'theology of space'
3. the mystery: how do we experience the presence of God
4. the music: (nuff said, i didn't take any added note)
5. the mission: clarify what matters for God

i don't usually comment on my notes. usually there are completely exhaustive. these are not for some reason. i liked mike's presentation, but i found little transferable to my own context that i don't already have my own framework for implementing. that's not a bash of ginghamsburg or mike, i really like what they do, but nothing resonated.. except maybe that they use a lot of video to connect their community to ministry narratives.

congress on evangelism : tyrone gordon on Acts 4

one of those new voices to my life came in quickly at the congress on evangelism last week. rev. tyrone gordon of saint luke's community united methodist church gave the opening worship sermon. some little quot-ables that i jotted down. he was preaching a sermon called "who said you could do that?" based on acts 4.

• most of our christianity is nothing but talk
• as long as we preach a comfy Jesus we will get along just fine
• it got them IN trouble, before it got them out of trouble
• (holding up the bible) this tells me i don't need permission, i already have the authority

vision for the umc : virtual church plant experiences

i have pondered this, but i actually said it yesterday to blake huggins while we were watching clif guy talk about the church of the resurrection new internet campus. i have not participated in the cor's internet campus but essentially it is a live streaming of the church's services. this isn't new, but it is a significant cost to enable the bandwidth, not to mention all the hardware (if you didn't already have that). for cor, they already had the cameras and projection stuff, they just needed to project out to the net.

another internet campus that i know if is lifechurch.tv internet campus. again, i've just visited, but not during worship times. so i can't say what all happens there, but it too is essentially a live stream as well. they do compliment it with a internet campus blog. one internet experience i have participated with lifechurch folks is their second life campus. i got to make one of their services which again, was a piped in live stream. the difference with that environment was that i could chit chat with people and see others worshipping. (that is kinda funny to think of but, suspend your disbelief, and go with me)

the thing with these two campuses is that they emminate from the same place. not a bad thing at all, its who they are.. but it had me thinking

what if the united methodist church, in order to build more actual connections across the global church, by setting up some internet campuses around the world? there would be something beautiful for me to tune into a church in kenya, russia, latin america, etc..

easter services could all be celebrated with a church in australia or korea as they are the first to welcome the sun of easter day.. and you & i could be there. how cool is that!

we would see & participate in some of the familiars that come with a traditional liturgical background and a common hymnal. but to familiarize and come to know the differences of our family church would just be incredible.. this could be even be enhance by offering in virtual environments where i can meet up with others, much like we did for general conference this past year.

consider this a charge united methodist church entities, help coordinate a global campus to bring together a fully connectional church.

monday music : zehnder music review

a first for the monday music is to review some new music. this stuff came to me via the ooze. i've often wondered what would emergent music sound like? after brian mclaren wrote his manifesto to worship songwriters some years back i have been looking out for those who might fit into taking that seriously.

the zehnder guys give their angle on it. here is a video of them doing the song of peace hymn.

So Who's Zehnder? (found at their website)

Twins Tom and Tim Gibbs Zehnder compose, arrange, perform and record as an indie worship band based in Los Angeles. Tim plays bass and doumbek, Tom plays guitar and djembe, and the two raise their voices together in elaborate duets. They serve a local church with their music, L.A.'s Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

A few accolades: "Zehnder communes with those who hear their music." -Ched Meyers | Author/Speaker/Theologian | Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries "Take a unique harmonized vocal sound and a punchy groove and combine that with provocative lyrics and you start to get a sense of Zehnder." -Rev. Dan Hoffman | Co-Executive Director | Hollywood Urban Project

For more about Zehnder

i am not the aficionado of music, but what i liked about these guys is that they take some chance with their lyric. its not repetitive chorus which gets taken into a quick circulation of the worship spectrum, but there is rounded thought mixed in with their lyric. i would liken their songwriting to more a folk songwriter. the sound of the group i might describe as an experimental acoustic. even their rap song "justice jam" (which is probably my favorite) is bass lined with a chello (or what sounds like chello).

family heirloom : prayer station video

this is a prayer station idea that didn't make the cut onto my worship feast prayer stations cdrom. this features my bud jonathon with a few kids talking about 'family heirlooms.' i think it didn't make the cut cause jonathon's voice got lost in the space, so volume might have to be turned up. you can still hear clearly enough, promise.

Family Heirlooms : Prayer Station from Gavin Richardson.

you can purchase the worship feast prayer stations cdrom amazon : cokesbury

how to grow a media ministry : gospel and web

the folks at worship connection have put together a series of articles on developing a thriving web ministry.

• starting from scratch
• coordinate your people
• make your own stuff
• don't forget the output

national youth worker convention : day one, set up day

today was set up day for much of the national youth workers convention. i was part of the labyrinth team, which is a first for me. i'm pretty excited to be a part of what folks experience within the lines of the labyrinth. this particular one is called the 'prayer path' which has guided audio. i don't particularly care for that part of it, i'm a classical labyrinth guy. this one is considered a contemporary labyrinth as well. i went though this labyrinth for the first time some 6 years ago & it was a powerful experience.

after finishing up with most of the labyrinth we got our lunch on, nothing major there. we did a major exploration of the various sauces available to you at chick-fil-a.

once we were back it was sanctuary set up time with lilly lewin. this proved more difficult than imagined. the room was sorta ordinary but with a bunch of doors and angles it was hard to make some focal points that didn't look out of place. some rigged up drapes & a few moves of our main altar we think we found a spot that evokes a little bit of the spirit for the many contemplative practices and hours of prayer.

ran into some great folks today, which is the highlight from getting to set up & prepare sacred spaces. eli roogles & i got reacquainted. we first met last year after being like the only two peeps who twittered the convention at that time (there are a lot more now). i got to meet jenn roogles too who mistakenly thought i was the drummer for the david crowder band last year (he must get mistaken for jack black too). finally, after i don't know how many years, i got to meet andy thompson when he & adam mclane stopped by the labyrinth to say hi. ran into old tennessee pal john stephens on the street, then in front of the ys store. on the way out i got a quick chat & hug with mike king as he was doing his traditional 'walk the crowd.' lastly, but who i didn't get to spend time with was chad crawford who is from the baptist church in my church's town. the neat story with chad, is that he & his family were displaced from hurricane katrina & he was the youth leader that was brought to nywc and given the royal treatment by the ys folks last time the convention was in nashville. he's a cool guy, but i needed to meet with some other folks to get my car out of a parking garage. there are other fine folks i ran into and met,

home now

check out my flickr set from the nywc '09 nashville for some more images of the convention

taize : compilation

caught this little taize video via bosco's liturgy site. notice the diversity, imagine the languages,.. wonder how youth react to a worship in the spirit of taize? here is some of our experiences from last summer.

gimmick worship : one should have listened to the other

i am not sure why people insist on gimmick in worship services. i get illustrations, but just because you think its a good idea, does not mean that it is. obviously this is someone elses bike, and if i were the owner, i'd be really pissed at my pastor right now. pastor needed to heed the advice of a woman, like this guy should have as well. honestly, motorcycles are not cute toys pastors..

reimagine : mark scandrette

mark scandrette doing his slam poetry from 'the church basement roadshow' tip from bob, my pics from the roadshow

mass of links : something i really should organize

in my ever growing list of links. i realize i should probably at some point organize them, or offer commentary of my own.. naaah...

• myyearbook.com continues to grow. will it be the next myspace / facebook?
• the new romantic engagement process.. not so much
• andy is moving to nashville.. yeah! more music city bloggers
• jim palmer on the church basement roadshow.. i think he nibbed one of my pics. good thing we are friends &:~D
• top twittering church leaders... why am i not on this list?
• andrew wrapping up business of the church series: strategic planning
• allen on how the church is very political
• bw3 breaks down 'the shack' in the way only he can do.. really loong, but great, thoughts
• josh on scriptures that you can laugh at
• simple youth ministry is into the txt game. bit more expensive than my plan
• i have the blogger part taken care of, so if i were a woman, i'd go to this..
• so what your telling me is these sexy teen dramas are bad?
• teens and their tattoos. just don't get the tramp stamp kids
• start of a new job position, teenage green marketing manager. watch for it
• what if rock horror picture show was remade with teen cast? imagine
• i still like the children's book. but for my lazy day, this will do
• most modern libraries in the world.. the one down street from my house is not on the list, though they just got some renovations. i was really hoping
• i'm a new contributor to the technopastor. look for me to.. well give much of the same babble
• go ahead and get started on next years vbs. i enjoyed it!
• i don't know if they set the pace or just take the lead in adopting technology
• wisdom of crowds, customer evangelism.. your consumer is important, you should listen
• to be a rigid parent or not to be & have some rebellious child. that is the question
• is today's generation more or less colorblind (cough.. racist)
• my wrestling will be more family friendly now.. now erin might actually like it (she is my family and it will be her friend)
• sync any desktop cal with google cal.. nice!
• brains (featured above) courtesy of asbo jesus
• rowan williams address to the lambuth conference. brian mclaren got a chance to talk as well
• 10 secrets to better blogging.. dang, are they secrets now?
• the difficulty of singing contemporary
• wasting your money on short term missions..
• print made us more individualistic. great book that i loved
• worshiping the messenger, missing the message (possibly the best title ever jim)
• sam is noticing that people are interested in gen y.. y?
• say it aint so thunder! say it aint so!
• what makes a congregation distinctly methodist? hmm... exactly
• how your church can break into social media and get free pub!
• "typical baptist" (okay, shaun gets the best title award)
• best hardware & software.. stuff you should have or strive to have.
• chris on 50 steps to establishing a social media practice

emergent revival : the church basement road show

so monday night i convinced wifey to join me at the church basement roadshow as it pulled through town. i had agreed to help with set up and whatever else being a part of the cohort. got to catch up with some fun peeps i don't hang with enough, lilly & sally come to mind. jay gave a quick run down. reba was there, though i didn't get to say hi to her in the chaotic fun. there were other friends that actually don't have a blog to link to, so just know they were there. since it was saint b's dixon was obviously there, but too busy to have good times chat. apparently holly, whom i've never met before and only read her blog occasionally, is now in town which was a new surprise.

this was by far the most creative book tour i've been an attendee of. the mix of old school 1908 revival, the fun play with personality and cultural norms, the impassioned storytelling, singing the revival song (especially after lilly, wifey, and myself had a conversation on singing not being the only worship way), the overlaying theological questions to faith and practice explored, and fellowship. i even got to toot on the trombone.. too bad i played sax in junior high, the woodwinds are significantly different than the brass instrument in playing, so it sounded more like fart sounds to me.. which, i guess is amusing in itself.

we bought the balm of gilead, hook line and sinker. way to go tony, mark, & doug. brilliant!

more fun photos from the church basement roadshow

more brain trust : revisiting the festival of homiletics

last spring jay & and a crew of us teamed up to lead worship with brian mclaren at the festival of homiletics in an 'emergent' service. coming up with 'emergent' at 8:30 am  with 1400 people was interesting to imagine. the tenets we thought up were images, participatory, and community.. the community part was manifested in our singing as our music had three musicians (jay being one of them) and each led a song. none of the songs were mainstream, but jays was one of his home brews and he's now sharing that sound and music for the song.

more on the links : and it's not golf

time just seems to be going everywhere but into blog posting. no biggie, just means i'm working with the youth who i am sorta paid to minister with. so for the time you can see some of the fruits of work & readings. this is my latest collection of stuff.

• television and our children's children
• imvu another up and coming virtual reality world
• theology of mission
• lyfe : connecting God to us
• phyllis tickle on the new emergence
• android (which i was reading about in wired) hits snag
• reduce camera shake
• pete rollins interview on church beyond belief
• teen pregnancy pact info.. penelope's celeb parent porn
• celebs reason for teen pregnancy pact
• the pregnancy pact is called into question
• fewer peeps going towards tech degrees
• teens feeling the recession pinch?
• parents leading teenagers back to the newspaper
• pagans and patriarchs
• wordle.. just try it
• incarnation in virtual world
• interval training is the way to go.. if only i exercised
• what communication lessons i learned in marriage counseling
• a church dominated by the young and unexperienced
• build your own photo wire wall
• words for non-believers
• church practice gutenberg mindset in google world
• map-it your brainstorm session
• waking up to pluralism
• the creative worship tour
• are you young umc clergy? this is for you then
• the new classics.. and what kat thinks of some of them
• i am thinking of a bamm experience for myself
• what books have changed your life?
• pastors need to theologian in weekly columns.. they still do this?
• diary of an outreach flop
• i don't get radiohead, but this is a cool stage set!
• thomas's welcome message
• mitch on facebook past, myspace present, linked-in future.. hmm
• scot on the whole dobson obama junk
• white people like to compare folks to hitler.. and acting poor
• does the church have a responsibility to encourage carpooling?
• for teens email just doesn't cut it.. duh! i've know that for years
• ypulse on some hypothetical questions of youth, social media culture
• teens crashing pools using google earth.. hmm.. smart.. maybe use street view too
• bullying becoming a younger thing
• my faith isn't the only way.. neither is yours
• cutting understanding the self-mutilating teenager

tuesday randomness : linkage of a different kind

so some things to look at when you have free time like so many of us. i need to send out tips for some of these.. i just don't know who. so apologies for not giving appropriate props today. i still love and appreciate you for being so wonderful

• beth gives her rundown on general conference
• post general conference poem
• 10 reasons men should not be ordained
• hauerwas, moral superiority of gays
• necessity of christian culture
• the theo-celebrity deathmatch continues
• the future of emergent gathering...
• who didn't see this coming? apparently car dealers
• 21 ways to shoot better photographs
• dan kimball visits the holyland.. in orlando
• latest worship resources from jonny baker
• if i wasn't already at camp i'd imagine going
• ultimate fooseball
• what will you buy to stimulate the economy?
• the ultimate dance off
• 10 ways to work on subject matter in linkedin (big for me, i have no idea what to do with linkedin)
• blogging getting a second wind? you decide
• which comes first the gathering or the crowd?
• make some stop motion video
• can twitter be liberated? i didn't know it was captured
• a new american
• top down vs bottom up polity in the church
• is facebook now part of a murder?
• apparently you are not God's favorite

shift conference twit

this post will stick to the top of my header while i am at this shift conference. look below for some more rounded postings. also, out of ur blog will be doing some live blogging as well.
shalom, -gav

where is the twit?

follow me on Twitter

shift conference : pilgrim pictures

i wonder if i pee'v people off taking pictures the way i do. it's become part of my spiritual practice, a framework of my narrative if you will. i now have a flickr album of this pilgrim experience set up. check them out!

shift conference photo album

shameless title : save the hymnal

well, the hymnal isn't in a state of saving yet, but there is continued talk of revamping it and putting in and taking out hymns. i am far from the expert on the hymnal, but it has been an important tool in our spiritual formation as a methodist community. i remember reading some person's critique of the last update to the book of common prayer that it made the episcopal church too liberal. i know there is a lot of pull on both sides of that argument to take out hymns because they are not fitting of an ideaology. imho there is so much depth in there to get nit picky seems silly. so i am suggesting everyone revisit the newly opened survey (tip to david) to throw in your thoughts. be heard. more from the gbod.

a virtual church : an old method : same results

  my district superintendent whom i respect a lot has mentioned on more than one occasion that he wanted me to input on this 'virtual church' project. i didn't know much about it till yesterday. hap, a pastor whom i also respect greatly in our conference sent out this proposal VirtualChurchfinally. i hate to critique or question in a final draft (note, the format of the final draft is due to me importing to google docs and not tweaking when converting to pdf, my fault, i'm lazy) but if you want me in on the project and ask for my input or energy to help get going.. i am going to be honest. so i went into writing this epic response. with all the other happenings, i am betting my bishop & ds are rolling their eyes as they read another email from me.

hi all,

thanks for including me in the special project. hap, thanks for all the work that you have done. i have a couple of questions and suggestions so if you don't mind entertaining me. apologies if this changes it from a final proposal.

i saw that we are anticipating a filming of bishop wills small group facilitator presentation this coming weekend. does this mean we are having any meetings before or after to discuss success, next steps, etc.? i ask this, as i am somewhat confused with where we exactly are in this process. i know i've been around this conversation, ie. i've heard the exploration of "virtual church," but until hap's proposal document yesterday, i had little clue as to what it was all about. so i'd be interested to know when a next collaboration event is.

some thoughts, take them for what you find.

when i first heard of the "virtual church" i was expecting something like the church of fools experiment by the british methodist church some four years ago. i know there was some discussion of bringing that back with more current technology, saint pixels was the name i heard of. jay voorhees would know more about that and i believe a lay member of blakemore umc (name escapes me) as they were both part of the church of fools project. the site is still active, i happen to visit it two or three times a year just to kick around in it.

i was encouraged to know this wasn't our route. though i don't think this is a bad idea, i do not think it isn't our endeavor. i like the idea of creating resources to help plug people in and direct them into the local church, but my quick question to that is.. isn't that what umcom or the united methodist publishing house is for?

a response i might hear from that is, 'well they don't do things specific for our particular context' which i'd say is fair. however, they do have resources that we probably should have some access to without spending around the 11-17-20,000 dollars that is budgeted out knowing the actual cost when things break or are needing an extra piece of equipment. a response i might hear from that is, 'well they don't loan out items or will not allow to travel' which is fair. but when the scope of this operation (as i am seeing it take) with work hours and the need to spread it out due to the fact we do not have a paid staff (only bill) to make this all happen, the need to loan out and then control equipment will be so great, a natural reaction would be to buckle down on controls and then it becomes more hassle then benefit. this might not be the case, but in processing it, is my natural state to troubleshoot.

i have an ultimate question of... have we asked churches what they need in these realms of technology? when i have taught tech workshops or talked with young people. the general rule is it isn't because of anything technological savy that has gotten them back to church. it is that old school personal invitation and long term relationship. it might happen over the net, but it is within social networking.

now, resourcing the church leader and/or reaching young adults in a community is different & i have some more expanding thoughts.

in the case of phase 2. there are many programs out there that will allow people to conference live and with images & video feeds already. a few weeks ago i had a 6 person conference conversation with social media expert joseph jaffee from south africa online, with camera feeds so we could all interact and see each other and converse in real time. only trick was some folks has to put on headsets to avoid microphone feedback. that software is called oovoo and is free (though that particular one is still in beta version). skype has been used for years. i use it with my family and can connect via computer webcams with great quality and no expense, well, a 70 dollar christmas gift for my mom.. i plan on using one of these softwares to do summer intern interviews from candidates across from knoxville to arizona. &:~D

those are just two options i use that are free. no cost and highly functioning.

i'd be interested to see how the wiki will be used. i am well aware of the function and benefits of a wiki, but i've never felt it was something a church should engage in. there is just too much control need to maintain an image of the church. but that might be handled a few clicks of the administrator, but then, it ceases to be a true wiki. you can say this is just for the team, but then all ideas then only come out through the team thus limiting the depth of idea, support, and need within a parish or the conference.

phase 3. i have thought we should be doing more web-empowered church propping for quite a few years now. i think the whole tennessee conference website should shift that way and a consolidation of the conference blogs would be easier to navigate. not to mention cleaning up that busyness that the site contains. a resource site doesn't need to be super fancy only accessible. clear pages, many & clear links, a fabulous search engine for the resources. probably need to have rss feeds ability which, last time i talked to mark (he's a buddy of mine) the wec software blog component didn't function better with readers (your young adult tech person who knows this is a resource they want to plug in will have this feed in their reader) as a wordpress software. this is remedied and might already be done, i can check with mark tomorrow. i know that i have done a podcast for youthworkermovement and the folks at lake junaluska that tech support the site were able to set up the podcast with a feed that gets to itunes.

i would also suggest that you "go where the people are".. blip.tv is nice the channel idea is cool, but youtube, myspace video, facebook video, google video, even godtube, all those are where people are hanging out (google video only because of the ease of the search engine). the best part about these things.. they are free & this message gets out to more people. a few weeks back to show our staff, i set up channels for our church http://www.godtube.com/hfumc & http://www.youtube.com/hfumc . nothing major, just got a dvd of two services, ripped 'em trimmed them, converted to downsize file size and uploaded them. i also uploaded a whole service onto google video (a 1 gig file).

this takes your content and spreads it, but in doing so you/we no longer are able to be gatekeepers to know who is using or not. which is a control issue. but in the scheme of thing, i never heard Christ say, 'take control of my church so that folks get the message right.'

to embrace spreading all that stuff out there is counter to a traditional method of communicating. case in point, there was some great sat night live archive clips a few years ago on youtube that the nbc lawyers were fighting to get offline, they never knew that it was their own marketers that were uploading everything. the marketers knew the audience and how to get more brand loyalty & build back that audience. i don't like marketing talk, but to discount the communication contained in branding is silly. and it is silly to not embrace the temple where the masses gather.

this is also to say, does anyone know the time it takes to do video? putting those videos onto youtube & godtube took probably two days.. the steps were simple, but rendering takes forever. not to mention the time invested in filming & editing that was done prior to our distributed dvd. larry nelson, of umcom, heads up our film team which takes three guys, two minimum (that is larry walking from one camera to another making stops at the feed console) to do sound and operate cameras. the man hours alone will take wear.

in the proposal piece, we have an article by marty cauley and there are some things i want to highlight for pondering as i close this darn thing called letter.

"Since their birth, this generation has been told they can change the world, and they intend to do it. But many are disgusted by what they see as the incongruity of spoken values and lived values in the church and the culture." if we don't want to give up control and spread this out then we really just holding onto a traditional framework of educating and resourcing that can (and prob should) be done by umcom & umph. it would be seen skeptical by the young people it is trying to reach.

"...the church’s token attempts to reach young adults are actually alienating rather than attracting them. They see it as hypocritical when the church states how important their presence is but develops program for them but not with them such as “90’s style” praise services. This is a generation of “doers” and not “watchers.” " i don't know how many of this advisory group are actually young adult age. i know i am not. i am the same age as some folks on this list i know, 33, and younger than most i know. if you want the young adults, and the ones that actually are on the net (consider me an exception cause i am a geek).. the 28-35 younger adult doesn't want to get on the net at home unless it is for work. they have been on all day already. you are looking for the 18-25 year old. to capture this networks like fox has embrace this "doer" that marty highlights by signing many of these young people making videos for their own networks and putting them to work. these teams should be made up of the people you want to attract and commission them with producing the content to meet the audience they know. to give "oversight" with an advisory board is just giving a message of who is actually in charge. you can find some people who work well as a mentoring editor/producer role, but to have a large team of folks, that wouldn't fly. mtsu has a nationally known communications program. i am sure there is a methodist or two in there who would love to be a part of something that has such promise, but we have to be willing to give it away.

the problem then is.. when the young people move into the church, how are they treated and what structures are there for them to plug into? this is a greater issue than just an electronic media.

if any of you have read "the hidden power of electronic media" by shane hipps (which is mentioned in the proposal, if you haven't it is my suggested reading) he would warn against doing tech stuff for the sake of tech stuff because we have tech stuff. leo laporte (techtv & this week in tech podcast fame) warned of that when jay voorhees interviewed him on "the methocast" a methodist related podcast.

what are the benefits but more importantly why? i think this idea needs more flushing to meet that why. so i look forward to some sort of meet up in the coming weeks to talk all this face to face.

shalom
-gavin

now, maybe some of these things were talked about. i just wasn't in on the action. so i'm throwing in my thoughts at the first opportunity

it's friday, but sunday's comin'

i like this. if you want to get the dvd package or just download the video.

rain : part of our noon day service

what you focus on dictates what you miss : revisit festival of homiletics

last spring a group of us local misfits pulled together to help lead worship at the festival of homiletics that brian mcalren was leading. during the worship or his speaking session he showed a video and it was one of those moments when everyone was baffled. i was packing up brian's equipment after the session was over while he was receiving people with their questions and thanks. many of the questions were "where can i find that video" which he apparently had some kids do. thanks to jonny, here is a similar video.

the simple statement from brian was, whatever you focus on dictates what you miss (paraphrase). if you are going to focus on this person or that person then you will miss the third person. if you are going to be focused on defending the bible then you might forget the people who need a lunch.. etc.. i loved it

the last week : by TheCorner

if you are in the hendersonville area, or up for a road trip to the 'ville, next week. we will be offering our artistic meditations on "the last week" of Christ. i am pretty stoked for it. directions and such, www.hfumc.org.

if you want to download a poster flower : arrested.

worship feast prayer stations : do you have a copy

are you one of the millions, thousands, maybe hundred or so that have a copy of my "worship feast prayer stations" cdrom? if so could you email me and tell me what prayer stations are highlighted in the cdrom? i was wanting to post some of the videos & pdf's that didn't make the resource but i have given away all the copies i had of it so i don't know anymore what was on there. thanks in advance

in case: if you didn't know, i have this cdrom out there on prayer stations. Worship Feast Prayer Stations, put out by abingdon press. it was set up to be a primer to get people started on doing their own, but have no idea about them or where to start. it has some meditative background images, original music, and video and pdfs on how to do some specific prayer stations plus alternatives which make up a total of around 20 prayer stations. not bad for a $20 price.

from star wars to middle school

there seems to be some interesting things going on out there.

• barna says born again voters not going to vote republican.. really, how did that happen? (forget who to tip for that)
• yahoo is reaching out to the force to fend off microsoft.. you're our only hope!
• a late night west side story..
• tony jones has brought emergent into the methodist bbq debate.. this will make general conference very political, so much for holy conferencing
• dixon is taken back, and hilarious, by our latest McChurch plant, in nashville..
• so you're saying my creativity warrants unorganization?... awesome!!
• no need to pick on me & my personal issues!

devices of the entertaining church

Many of the mutations of, and manacles on, churches discussed below arise because pastors, congregational leaders, and denominations worry about declining membership numbers. The loss of members causes a panic, which tempts us to react with strategies conceived according to the device paradigm: What device should we institute in order to produce the commodity of higher numbers? We try various devices, including extreme changes in styles of worship, the initiation of multiple programs to attract the neighbors, marketing strategies, firing the present staff and hiring a more charismatic one, and so forth. Lametably, these devices mimc our culture's behavior and thereby change the identity of the congregation so that it becomes merely a mirror of the society instead of an icon of God.

What is especially tragic about these panicked moves is that leaders don't realize that churches' declining numbers are part of a larger societal pattern manifested by almost every major social group.

Unfettered Hope, by Marva Dawn

i got to thinking of this when reading into john's highlight of 'the entertainment driven church' which pulls from a post by michael patton & michael spencer. to speak to my quoted writing, michael patton speaks about one of his visits to another church.

I went to a church that was just the opposite. It was a popular non-denominational Evangelical associated church. It was much more alluring in its style, having a much more amplified voice with regards to recognizing newcomers. From the moment we got in the parking lot, there were signs welcoming us along with parking lot attendants waving. These guys were so enthusiastic you would think that they had been trained at Disney World. The signs pointed to valet parking for first time guests. I would have taken them up on the offer, but pride always rules (oh . . . and then there is that awkward feeling that you are supposed to give them some money even when they say they don’t take it).

which reminds me of this gem 'king of the hill' episode where the hills go church shopping.

note: is it odd that the only site i could find this video on, due to the removal from copyright infringement at most sites, is a claimed Christian site?

the wesley project : wesley words in a new light

i picked up my copy of "the wesley project" by carl thomas gladstone. carl i got to know at the umerging back in kansas city and the emergingumc last fall down here in nashville. before that i knew of some of the work he was doing that was leading up to this project.

simply put, he was taking wesleyan hymns & themes and blending them into new music stylings. it isn't your generic praise & worship set, check it out on itunes. he doesn't have it on hard copy cd as of yet.

a public worship fast

buddy dixon asks what would happen if we fasted from public worship.. would we give up on our obsession with numbers?

“You mean you go to church every Sunday?” The assumption being that commitment to Christianity involves first, foremost and (this is my thesis) simply the attendance of a new meeting – “church” on Sunday morning.

Here, “Christianity” is reduced to yet another extra-curricular activity. It is like community league soccer, gymnastics or guitar lessons.
...
Think about the discipline of fasting. Classically, it involves giving up something, good, healthy and indispensable for life – food – for a certain amount of time in order to connect to God in a new way. A fast is about abstaining from the necessary to reconnect to the eternal. A fast shakes up the fast-er , often providing vital re-orientation and spiritual clarity.

random linkage

oh why not. some links for no apparent reason

• of course crime goes up on game day. those guys are asking for it.
• i didn't know art was in the clown ministry
• will is looking for some help with an emerging / emergent project
• is apple just ripping off the braun product design concepts?
• if you have been getting the osama obama emails that i have.. deleted
• our most wired cities.. number one kinda surprises me. tip to sam, i think
• united methodists going green
• dan's newest book, "i like Jesus, but not the church" apologizes
• coolest caption contest eva!
• jared throws a top 5 bone to the seeker sensitive church

why i don't like you leading worship

i love it when kat rants. she is generally right on. though the sandals comment hits close to home. still she is close enough to call truth. it reminds me of why my friend (whom i miss) jeff was/is such a wonderful worship leader. i like contemporary worship okay, but i have figured out this idea of why it is a powerful spiritual practice. i have sat in on some of those worship services lead by a "worship leader" who looks more like rock star than humble soul before God. i try not to think about it too much, otherwise i have to label myself as worship snob.

top 5 of 2007

i asked my fellow methoblogosphere buds to put together their top5 posts of 2007. fitting i break my own non-rules. these are the posting the reflect some great times in 2007.

• "the internet is our parish" our bloggers geek-fest/conference at the 2007 congress on evangelism. such a good time hanging with people i have such a great love and respect for. those three days or so only deepened that well. funny part, other than the youtube capture, what i remember most sharing communion the last night together at the bar. i hope we can do it again someday.
  
  • made it : day one : binary relationships : day 2 : meeting bishop, with fly down : capping it off : day 2 : caption contest : pictures
• daniel's baptism. daniel has been a friend for a few years now, connected through blogging and emerging church conversations. the first time we met up, face to face, i took him to alektor for coffee. who would have thought, a few years later he would be joining the orthodox church. i was honored to be invited. being the saturday before palm sunday it set into motion one of the more emotional holy week's i have had in recent memory.
• youth 2007. i was asked to put together a contemplative worship space for the 7,000 youth event. given a huge space and some decent money (probably nothing for people who do that kind of thing, but a lot for low-budget me). the space, the stories, the images, still impact me today. plus, leading lectio divina from the main stage was just to unreal to express.
  
  • late : day one : day two : day two #2 : day 3 & 4 : pictures : youth youtube : final thoughts
• senior high mission experience to new orleans. youth missions stuff becomes very much commonplace, but being there, in the neighborhood we were, talking with & meeting the people, seeing our kids kick butt, and our youth ministers embracing the youth brought me to tears on a few occasions.
  • day one : day two : day three : day four : day four extra : day five : day six : pictures
• close 5th & 6th. the homiletics festival or barcamp nashville. the homiletics festival was super fun geeking out with all the teachings, but the highlight was collaborating with some great people i like to call friends in pulling of an "emergent worship" with brian mclaren. barcamp was a great time for three reasons, 1. erin & i got to do it together 2. getting to meet some of the nashville blogging community 3. totally geeking out in technology talk. i have new voices and concepts to digest & erin and i reference barcamp many times in business talk.
  • homiletics day one : not enough time : emergent knitting : thomas long : barbara brown taylor : ann carter florence : jack black meets matrix : fred craddock : pictures
  • barcamp nashville live blogging : closing out

hear this all the time

i don't know about you, but i hear this all the time. courtesy of asbo jesus

check your brain before going to church

erin caught up on this moment of asbo jesus, which i somehow missed.

the idea of people checking their brains before going to church reminded me of this derek webb song.

great 24 hours, long 24 hours

  covenant band 
  Originally uploaded by hfumcyouth

so in the past 24 hours, i left what seemed like a week long event in the nywc. it actually can be around 5 days, but i was only there two. it seemed like forever with all that would be contained in a day. i gave jason the lift home since his pickle hit a deer & getting it better has proved more time consuming than first thought. that was excellent to trade childhood stories, process some of the convention, talk about whatever stemmed from those topics.

i got home around 9:30 or 10pm, so i missed out on getting with the youth praise team's saturday run through for this mornings services. my job was the visuals & the big change for this service was to finally get a way to do two screens off one monitor. we'd tried a couple of different hookups in prior weeks. this one i was anticipating a vga splitter to come in the mail. it hadn't come by the time i left for convention, so i hoped it would come in while i was gone.. the hope after that is that i could find it somewhere in the church.

after staying up way to late working on the song set in opensong and liveworship, plus some blogging as my mind tangented. i was off to bed only to wake a few hours after to get to the church by 7am to get set up. for some reason there are around 25 people who show up and sit down in the sanctuary 30 to 40 minutes before the 8:15 morning service. not sure why... seems so odd to me. my hope was to get set up before they got there. that didn't happen, it took me a quite a bit of time to find our super important splitter cable. i wondered if it made it, worried it didn't (actually panic'). i hate for folks to complain about stuff and the usual complaint is "we couldn't see the words." to remedy that we have to do the piecemeal thing (using a projector from the youth and one from the children). got all the things in place and just minutes before worship needed to start all things clicked and we got our images.. "there was much rejoicing"

for those not familiar, opensong is an open source song show software. it is pretty basic, not as flashy as the pro products, but it is free and easy to use. i tried to use liveworship, but for some reason it wouldn't take with my macbook. i was hoping to use the split screen option and some of the perks. i like the intuitiveness of the software, really easy to use, just can't get it it to jive with my macbook. maybe one of my new buddies can impart wisdom.

once that stress was done. the rest of worship was just awesome. travis, one of our youth ministers of the church, has taken the praise team to a whole new level of musicianship and still helps them to maintain a posture of worship. it is the first time in my tenure that the youth have served in all three services in this capacity. the music was all contemporary, with one hymn exception. not all our normal stuff but due to the theme from the scripture for the day, we had to find elements that kept continuity.

our work payed off as people seemed to really get the message with the worship. many compliments from the parishioners which is always affirming. packed up and onto our newcomer luncheon where we did some introduction stuff and other odd things. jetted home to get a little of a nap, not enough of a nap. then back to church for youth gathering. we had planned for our fall bonfire, but with the massive rain over the few days this week our bonfire area washed out and we couldn't get it set up for today. so, we put on a video loop bonfire and cooked our normal food then spent an evening of sardines. sardines means our leadership gets a little break from discussion and small group responsibilities. the only requirement, walk around in the dark, scare a few kids, and act like you are trying to find the hiding kids.

nywc atlanta : pilgrimage day two

it's late. i've got some sleep to catch up on (didn't sleep much last night). here is the cliff notes from today.

• see my nywc pilgrimage photos.. i got kinda silly with some
• don't forget my twittering.. this is kinda cool for something like this
• interviews with mark yaconelli & jeannie oestreicher were a lot of fun. have more folks to meet with tomorrow. my fav parts, telling mark i wasted money on the cd's for his critical concern courses on spirituality cause they are all basically silent. asking jeannie if she is jealous of her husbands flowing blond locks of hair?.. all got good laughs
• i hooked up with jim's wife.. don't worry jim, she's an honorable woman. we talked about this emerging young adult/youth ministry that has become a homeless ministry. super cool!
• people stare at you when you have microphones on a table.. is it really that unusual to see?
• ran into more friends.. old, new, and in between. with some, had a great conversation about spreading the retreat experiment our community tried last fall. excited to imagine others doing similar
• general session 2. joe castillo (the sand artist) is truly unique and very cool. what a gift, what a vision, what an imagination what a way to share. shane really did do that! i heard the best sermon eva! with some fire breathing thrown in for kicks. shane claiborne, gets up, breathes fire, back flip.. reads the whole sermon on the mount, all of it.. (is he going to stop here? he smiled, does he like that part? is it still going? this sermon is like 15 minutes long.. uh... this seat is hard.. what is that about pagans? ).. closes with "i hope it was the best sermon you ever heard" or something similar. and walks off.. what do we do with that? i loved it.. still don't know what to do with it, but i loved it.
• vespers service.. just what i needed to end a day.

Almighty God, my heavenly Father: I have sinned against you, through my own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, in what I have done and what I have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me all my offenses; and grant that I may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your Name.

Watch, o' Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give Yourangels and saints charge over those who sleep. Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest Your weary ones. Bless Your dying ones. Soothe Your suffering ones. Shield Your joyous ones, and all for Your love's sake. Amen.