One: I’m pleased to announce I have an article over at CollideMagazine.com today.
The post is about Storytelling. In that vein-
One of the many posters available in my shop.- One of the many ways I spread beautiful ideas.
God’s Part, Our Part, Their Part
One of the best things happening right now at Harpeth is Relational Discipleship, which is a particular way of leading and developing each other through small groups. The ideas in it come from a church in Idaho led by a guy named Jim Putnam, and Jim has a saying which I’m about to reference: “God’s Part, Our Part, Their Part.”
Jim means “You need to do what you know God’s asking of you- how they respond is their decision.” Sometimes in life God leads, we respond, and nothing seems to happen. From the outside, it can look strange- if God tells you something shouldn’t it be 100% accurate? Yes it would be, if it weren’t for all those darn humans (and their free will) in the way.
This is very true right now in two households we know very well. The first is our house: We are not moving to Atlanta. We announced an upcoming move in April, and now it looks like it will not be happening. At the time, the courtship and phone calls with the institution in question were strangely wonderful, and it was clear to both of us that God was asking us to step out of our roles in Nashville and prepare to move. God called me to Harpeth, and God called me out of Harpeth. But, we’re not moving.
The second household’s story needs a bit of setup: Last winter, a lady came to the front of the church and told the preacher that God was telling her to share something- The something was “There’s a baby that needs to be adopted, and its parents are in this room.” She was convinced it was God, the Preacher was too, and our friends the Honetts were convinced that they were the couple she meant. So they began the adoption procedures, and announced to their friends and families that they’d be bringing Lincoln home around February. Home visits, lawyers, and time with the birthmom, Sunshine. Our friends AND the liason lost contact with Sunshine during her third trimester, and as far as I know still haven’t heard from her. BUT, it seemed God had a plan B: in January, a nashville friend was in a rough spot, and wanted to know if the Honetts would adopt her unborn baby. Plans continued: sold the treadmill, bought a crib, stocked up with diapers, paid for dr’s appointments and yet… she kept the baby.
Where’s God in all of this? God’s part, our part, their part.
I think it’s important to share this stuff publicly, because it’s more common than we realize. Not every call from God comes to fruition the way we expect. That doesn’t mean we misheard him, or should doubt him in the future. Our role is still to act on the whisper: be open to what He’s asking of us and follow it through. Other people make their own choices.
The inverse is also true: I’ve been across the table from people who were very likely following a whisper on their side: Would you join us in what God’s doing here? And I made a decision to decline.
Filed under church, God, Uncategorized
Monday Predictions: Food Industry
It’s hard to say why I care, but I’ve worked in hospitality for while, and I pay attention to trends, let’s call this 3 to 5 years for the restaurant/food industry:
- Someone will build a national brand of Latino Supermarkets. Either Kroger or Whole Foods will buy them.
- Someone will build a national brand of Indian food (a la Pei Wei or similar)
- Panda Express will become the national brand for budget chinese.
- A quick-service restaurant will use Apples mobile checkout’s to take orders. A competitor (possibly Panera) will put touchscreen order-kiosks at the tables.
Filed under Monday Predictions
Monday Predictions: 5 year (2016-2017)
- Suburban Megachurches will find a new model. (Right now we’re aware of the weaknesses of the model, but a successful alternative hasn’t really found widespread acceptance. Furthermore, many of these congregations are facing pastoral transitions as the founding baby boomer ministers retire.)
- Brooklyn’s prominence in indie music will fade. Nashville might take it’s place. (Or either Asheville NC, or Chicago, IL)
- David Crowder will continue his worship conference full time. Michael Gungor will contribute.
- DCI will add visual projections. The Cadets will use a hologram.
Filed under Blog Series, Monday Predictions
Poster Series: Storytelling
I’m a fan, curator, and promoter of Beautiful Ideas. I’ve begun to encapsulate many of them in posters that I envision hanging in the offices and “war rooms” of the people and organizations that share my convictions.
Storytellers have a problem. We dream too much, and seem to have a smaller box of crayolas than we need. Now, on one hand, I have my morose clinically depressed artist friends- they see the injustices, the conspiracies and the overwhelming weight of life as we know it. On the other hand, I have some happy-go-lucky sentimental church friends, you know, the ones who pass on the emails.
If either group sits to write a novel, short story or even an iPad app, they FAIL to create a compelling experience by self-indulgently ignoring the other half of our human experience. Yes humans invented ice cream, vacations, air conditioning, and city parks. We also invented prostitution, murder, torture, and fraud. At the end of the day, the “human experience” – the “human condition” is BOTH realities. Our heroes have weaknesses: wine, women, broken homes, addictions. Our villans have pet dogs and grandmothers. I read once that Che Guevara was a fanatical baseball fan. He and his men (when they weren’t waging a civil war) had a league.
Our Christian story– the story of God interacting with his people– BEGINS with our dark and evil selves. When we lessen our depravity, we reduce the beauty of His redemption. Likewise, when we lessen the darkness in our stories, our characters lose depth. With no shadows, there is no perspective, and worst of all, you cannot recognize the infinite brightness of the sun.
We weaken our ideas and God’s transcendence when we deny the existence of real evil in our creations.
Sweeten the deal: The poster itself is available for $10 + shipping via Etsy. However, If you subscribe via email in the next 7 days, I’ll email you the pdf for free.
Filed under Blog Series, creativity, God, Poster Series
Monday Predictions: 2011-2012
Hang on, this’ll be bullet points. These are my predictions for
academic year 2011-2012 :
- The Tea Party will have a major scandal
- Arminian Christianity will find its Mark Driscoll
- Letterpress Style will hit supermarket packaging (applesauce, breakfast cereal, etc)
- David Platt will leave Brook Hills for DMI
- Newsies will come back (Broadway, or similar)
Filed under Monday Predictions, Uncategorized
Poster Series: Ship
Poster series #2!
I’m a fan, curator, and promoter of Beautiful Ideas. I’ve begun to encapsulate many of them in posters that I envision hanging in the offices and “war rooms” of the people and organizations that share my convictions.
Some of you (who haven’t Linchpin) are wondering What does a boat have to do with anything?
Noted author Seth Godin coined the term- and what he means by it is: PRODUCE! As a result of his books selling millions of copies, and his successful meetups, there’s a whole generation of entrepreneurial folk out there working to ship every day. ”What do I need to do today to get my product in the hands of my customer?”- for me this means both literally printing and shipping posters, and writing when I don’t feel like writing. Not getting it mostly done, Not dreaming up a new product, but getting it out the door.
While this may sound similar to what my grandfather would have told me (“put your time in,” “work hard,” “pay your dues”); there is a significant difference between Seth Godin’s mantra and WWII era advice. That difference is in the locus of control. Just doing what you’re told, or successfully filling out your assigned job description won’t make you a linchpin. For the purposes of this poster, I suppose SHIP. could mean to produce within your assigned role in an organization, and I think most of us could use the reminder from time to time, but Seth’s point is different. Seth’s point is that you need to run your career as if you own it. That may mean contributing to your organization like you own it: with the accompanying responsibility, overachievement, floor-sweeping, late-night, do-it-again-until-its-right kind of way. This is different than how my grandfather succeeded in the upwardly mobile hierarchy he worked in.
More likely, it means you need to view your “job” as a client. Produce for them, produce for others. Blow them away with how you produce. Challenge them with new ideas for products or services- but not in a armchair-business-analyst way. In a “here’s-a-prototype-and-a-business-plan” kind of way. Keep your eyes open for new clients, do great and honorable work.
But for crying out loud: Ship.
Sweeten the deal: The poster itself is available for $10 + shipping via Etsy. However, If you subscribe via email in the next 7 days, I’ll email you the pdf for free.
Filed under Blog Series, organizations, Poster Series, Projects, Uncategorized
Poster Series: Make a Decision
I think I’ve decided to have my blog series be monthly (like a church series!). This month, it will be a bit self-promotional…
I’m a fan, curator, and promoter of Beautiful Ideas. I’ve begun to encapsulate many of them in posters that I envision hanging in the offices and “war rooms” of the people and organizations that share my convictions.
Why Make A Decision? Because we work so hard not to. A meeting without a decision is a waste of time. If the point is to meet to “decide x” then by golly, DECIDE Something! You work alone? You aren’t exempt. Right now I’ve got very sketchy details about an event coming up this October. Any number of things will change by then, and I’m considering changing the format of the project. I can stall the planning like I have been since March, but what’s the actual antidote? : MAKE A DECISION. Either change the format or don’t. Pick a date and time. Start making phone calls.
Many times I pretend to “get more information” or do a “feasibility study” : ”Hi last years sponsor, what do think about…” but honestly, most of that is a stall tactic because I don’t want to choose between my two visions for the project. I’m AFRAID I’ll throw the baby out with the bathwater. I’m sure I’m the only one reading this who acts this way….
MAKE.
A.
DECISION.
Sweeten the deal: The poster itself is available for $10 + shipping via Etsy. However, If you subscribe via email in the next 7 days, I’ll email you the pdf for free.
Changing Teams
I keep wandering forward in my career/life, and now having seen and experienced more, I’ve officially changed my mind on the following:
I used to think that Rock Show Megachurches would change the world. But they don’t if people aren’t led to become mature disciples. If that doesn’t happen, they leave for the next church in 2 years.
I used to think it was normal for churches to take out mortgages for new buildings, and then use the resulting growth in income to fuel staff and programs. Now I think my vote would be towards a massive downpayment (or total payment) and using the resulting growth in income to pay the rest off. Dave Ramsey is right about getting a mortgage that’s no more than a 1/4th of your take home pay. Debt shackles people, and debt shackles churches, too.
I’m also pretty sure now that I’m a bigger fan of “Church in the Making” church planting than the entrepreneurial kind. My favorite churches (shameful, I know) grew accidentally out of home bible studies. The resulting congregations are wonderfully indigenous, comfortable in their own skin and have a rich sense of community – that’s a great place to be.
Filed under church, evangelicalism, Uncategorized
Everytime I Think I’m Hip…and “in the know”
I’m reminded that the levels of hipness are infinite. (AND I missed/didnt-know-about-it-till-it-was-over the mumford & sons house show!)
How can I call myself a fan of immersive storytelling and NOT know about this:
There is a really good video on the bbc page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13167360
If anyone has the chops to let me enbed that bbc video clip, please message me
So a group of people I’ve never heard of called Punchdrunk took the story of Macbeth and crossed it with Hitchcock’s Vertigo. But you don’t watch the play, you EXPERIENCE it. Imagine a haunted house with real dancers, a real plot, real death and real props. You walk around a “hotel” that you can move in: buy a drink at the bar; open the filing cabinet, read personal letters- even take a piece of candy from the jar. The show is called “SLEEP NO MORE”
I think it’s important that the plot is vaguely familiar- it is Macbethish, or so I’m told. Most genre-bending projects start with known stories.
This for me, sets a new standard for experience design. I imagine Ben Arment would agree.
WOW. I wish I had plans to be in NYC sometime soon.
If there’s any justice in the world, I’ll get to know these Punchdrunk guys…
More pics:
Filed under Art with a capital A, creativity
