Clowns Scaring the Elderly

This is just a bit strange.



Go to 2:00 in and watch the clowns reenact the Sharks and the Jets from West Side Story.

A new literacy?

Tony Dye has an interesting post on his blog today. Have we reached the point as churches that basic computer skills are a defacto job requirement?

I think the answer is probably yes, with some qualification. We need to define what computer literacy is. It's different for each position in the organization. I think we can say that just about every employee (with the possible exception of custodial???) needs basic skills in how to use a computer. Cranking out a basic document in Word, using E-mail and other similar skills cross just about every position, at least in our organization.

Part of the problem is that we often pay sub-market wages, patricularly in clerical areas. That means we get people with sub-standard skills. Our budgeting can also be behind the curve. We don't budget for training the way the private sector does.

Adequate assistance for professional level personnel is also an issue in many churches. It's silly to have a Youth Minister struggling to do mail merges, but that's part of the job at many churches. A well trained clerical worker can do lots of tasks in 10 percent of the time a member of the professional staff, and free them up for higher productivity tasks.

In many cases, I think we're talking about older workers, moms returning to the work force, or members of the church interested in part time work. In many cases, these folks bring great experience and passion. Their technology skills may not be great. We can take advantage of their experience by providing adequate training, and adequate clerical assistance. It's a managerial decision as to whether or not a particular persons skills outweigh the cost of providing the training, or the lower productivity.

Mr. Deity

This will so offend so many people. I love it!

Mr. Deity is brilliant. Think "The Office" meets heaven. The theology may not be right, but this is funny, funny stuff.

First Impressions Featured in TFWM

This month's edition of Technology for Worship magazine features a nice article by Dan Stark, of Stark Raving Solutions. Dan was our design engineer and video systems integrator and he's our engineering guru, and his article includes several nice pics of the First Impressions production suite.

If you're looking for a video system that absolutely wrings every ounce of functionality out of each dollar you invest, you won't go wrong with Dan and Jess Stark.

Thanks, guys!

A Worship Media Search Engine

You know what there should be...

There should be a worship media search engine... tag based... and not tied to a particular distributor or production house.

That would make my life easier.

Anybody know of such an animal?

www.dictionary.com

I'm really glad to know that the big guys sometimes don't proofread to well, either. They say it's not a mistake. I've had a long day. So, I've decided I don't believe them. They just messed up.

Post Modern Methodists?

Brian Slezak asks a big question over at "The Appian Way" blog. He's raised the possibility that the United Methodist Church (and probably by extension, all of the other mainline protestant traditions) simply isn't capable of reaching a post-modern generation. He asks "What if the things that make a worship United Methodist are exactly those things the postmodernist revolts from?"

Scarey thought.

He recounts coversations where modernists ask post-moderns just exactly what would have to change in a worship service to make it work for the younger crowd. I've witnessed the same conversations. Brian is right... they're usually not very productive.

A post-modern, or emergent worship experience may, or may not have much similarity to a more traditional "service." Many of the elements are the same. Presentation and style differ. But it's deeper than that. There is desire for community, for participation, and for more intimate connection, with each other and with God.

When folks are asking... "what can we change"... are they sometimes really asking "how much do we really have to change to attract these younger folks?"

I think there may be a lot of value and utility in the birthing of post-modern worship communities, within a traditional church. Whether that will work in a particular congregation is probably more a function of leadership (both clergy and lay) than anything else.

If the existing leadership have the strength of ego to let something be different and be successful on its own terms, without being threatened... it could work very well. If they are threatened, and eventually treat the new community as "church-lite" or a pathway into the "real worship service," these folks will find the exits, quickly.

For what it's worth, we're involved in just that experiment. Check out the NEXT website for more information.

Coffee with the Church Communications Pro

Had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time today with Cory Miller, the man behind ChurchCommunicationsPro.com. Corey's blog is an amazing resource. To say he's prolific is an understatement. I told him today... I have his blog flagged just to sort off to a special folder, so I can study it later! Recently, he's been running a GREAT series on running a church website using WordPress. Definitely worth your time.

It was great to meet Cory and his sweet wife Jennifer, today. And, I got a CD of Jennifer's music as well. Some great original tunes and lyrics! Check out "Closer to Jesus." Pretty cool stuff.

Spending time with folks who are like me is the best part about blogs. Thanks guys!

Open Minds?

One of the pieces of post-modernism, the emergent church, and our culture as a whole is the willingness to look at many different religions and value systems in the search for truth. It's not a rejection of the whole of any one system. Rather, it's an openness to explore many systems and traditions.

There's a great video of the community at Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis that illustrates.

I also spotted this on The Visitors Card.

"I’m down with a lot of the Judeo-Christian ethic. I love some of the stories in the Bible. But I admire the spiritual discipline of the Muslims, who pray every day, five times, and who fast during the day all through the month of Ramadan to remind themselves of those who need charity. I admire the ideas of Buddhism, even if I’ve never come close to a practice of it. In short, I like being able to wander around in the hardware store and pick up the tools that I need."

This "buffet mentality" drives some folks nuts. But we'd better get used to it. It is the culture. I understand why lots of folks are threatened by it. It requires an apologetic knowledge that I don't think many Christians have. Without that ability to articulate, a lot folks are unable to handle a conversation, and because they're unwilling to have conversation, the conversation ends, quickly.

Super Results

Fellowship Church in Dallas had a great idea. They decided to capitalize on the interest in the Superbowl in a unique way. They gave away tickets. Tickets, airfare and hotel accomodations to be exact. Someone at their Saturday evening service in Texas won the package, and someone in attendance at their Miami campus won a pair of tickets as well.

It definitely captured attention. They got more than 30 television new stories, in markets all over the US, with total combined viewership of more than 1.8 million. That's some nice free media.

So what, you ask?

What they did was different. They cut through the noise of the noisiest event of the year, and they stood out. That's a tough thing to do. And valuable. A tremendous amount of attention is paid to the Superbowl, and they managed to hijack some of that attention.

So what have we done that is different, recently? I mean "stand out from the crowd, make people halfway across the country notice" different. Yes, it was a stunt. No, it won't get that kind of coverage next year. But it sure worked this year.

I'm also guessing that the stunt will drive more than a few people to check out Fellowship, just because they're doing something so different and cutting through all that noise.

Pimp My Potty

I may never have to leave the house again.

Rotorooter is giving away this bad boy.

It's a toilet, but it comes complete a Tivo, DVD player and Xbox, a notebook computer, a 20 inch LCD, and a keg-erator!

You can enter once per day between now and April.

Don't ever say you don't get useful information on my blog again!

These Ads are Lame

Still a pretty thin showing. At $2.6 million per :30, you better throw something out that that's going to generate some buzz. So far, not much.

The payoff line in "GoDaddy Marketing" was funny. And the Coke "Give a Little Love" was a seven or so. Bonus points for the animated dancing rats.

So far the Chevy commercials have been stupid. And don't ever show me a shirtless 80 year old again. I'm also hoping for no wardrobe malfunctions from Prince.

Rain in HD

Rain makes it a race again between HD and SD. They're both blurry when it's pouring.

Superbowl Commercials

Halfway through the first quarter... and only one ad that will be remembered.

Budlight Auctioneer Wedding made me laugh out loud.

Other runner ups... the Snickers commercial ripping out chest hair, and the NFL Network promo with Janet Reno and Beckham. The CBS promo with Letterman and Oprah was funny, too.

If anyone needed any proof...

The world is watching.

And, boy, have some of us put forward an interesting face this week.

kdl

Super Compromise

Interesting some of the comments on the Superbowl party posts around the blogosphere.

"churches can operate with a clear conscience in this matter, and can point to the newfound “vagueness” of the letter from the NFL"

"go have your “Big Game” Party for Jesus, just don’t call it a super bowl! "

"we are having a Game and Grill and I’ll be ready for the County Sherriff and State Trooper (inattendance) to get up out of their seats and arrest me."

"Somebody pass me a chile dog! Me and my boys are getting together Sunday night to watch some football AND to praise the Lord!!! Yes I am a pastor."

These just seem to fly in the face of being above reproach.

But it's probably, again, just me.

I'm So on the Wrong Side

I guess that I'm on the wrong side of this one.

This issue is the Super Bowl. The NFL has sent a church in Indianapolis that was advertising a Super Bowl party at the church. They were charging for the party. They were showing it on big screens. You can read the story here.

The NFL has a problem with this, on several counts. One... they're using the words "Super Bowl" in their promotion. Can't do that. It's a registered trademark. Bars aren't allowed to do it. The words have value. They own the trademark.

Second, they're charging. Can't do that either. The broadcast is not theirs to charge for. Do they plan to show a movie off ABC and charge next week? We would all agree that wouldn't be OK, right? So why is the game different?

Third, (and here's what really gripes church folks) the NFL (who owns the broadcast) licenses it for "private in-home viewing." Group viewing they don't mind, as long as it's on a single TV set of no more than 55 inches. Your 60 inch plasma, or projector is a no-no.

Here's the thing. There are millions of dollars involved here. Advertisers pay CBS who pays the NFL who pays the teams who pay the players. The way CBS sells advertising is by aggegating eyeballs to watch the game. But... and here's the rub... if they cant COUNT those eyeballs, they are of no use in selling the ads. They can't count your party, and those folks at your party might be watching elsewhere where they COULD be counted, so it has the potential to hurt them economically.

Lots of people disagree with me. Others are offering stupid uninformed advice that could cost some church its building.

Here's the bottom line.

It's a copyrighted game, and a trademarked name. The NFL owns it. They get to say how it gets used. If you want to dispute that, you can go to court and do that.

But until you're willing to do that...

You're just breaking the law. Good position for the church to be in, don't you think!

Headlines

I'm not good at writing headlines. It seems like I should be. I'm always the guy with the one-liner. But I struggle with them.

This is a good one.

"Parents, Grandparents Beat Back California No-Spanking Bill"