Words are Dead… But I’ll Keep Writing
For a while now I've been contemplating icons. You know, icons, like the little buttons that you click for Firefox (or Explorer), iTunes, Word, etc.
Here are some of my current favorites.
Icons say so much. They are the abbreviations of the day, but they encompass so much more.
In many ways they are like logos, but they get the message done in so much less work. They are portable, memorable, and engaging.
In the church world, at least where I've come from, our lives have been wrought with abbreviations: WWJD, BSM, SWBTS, WMU, RAs. Letters that represent words that refer to ideas.
Great icons are wordless. They take the name out of the equations and transfer simple, visceral ideas. They are something that people can connect to and be moved by.
While I've been considering this post for a while, I knew that it was time this Sunday. During a service where the vision of the church was re-cast (as it should be regularly), we rolled out some new icons to designate our three specific areas of ministry.
(Thanks to Drew Rodgers for the graphic)
I'd love to see if/how other churches are doing this.
More thoughts on this topic tomorrow.
On Mission
We had a good discussion in staff meeting today about volunteers in the church.
I mentioned a couple of thoughts from Blanchard's Gung Ho, which I just finished as well as Waltz' First Impressions.
From the first, the idea that what people do must be meaningful (Blanchard says "worthwhile"). People must transition from seeing themselves as openers of doors to openers of hearts.
Second, Waltz suggests that people must own what they do in service.
Another great insight came from one of my colleagues who said, "People shouldn't feel like they are helping the church staff accomplish our ministries, they should see us as helping them accomplish their ministries."
I thought that really captured it.
Monday Morning List
The wife and I are really starting to like Souper Salad.
She likes kung-fu. I like Shakespeare. We rented The Legend of the Black Scorpion (Japanese version of Hamlet). We were both disappointed. We ended up watching 2 X-Men movies which was fine by me.
Helped my friend's fiance move.
Last night church-wide leadership meeting. Great info, but I'm very protective of the word leadership and the difference between positional and influential leadership. Here are several resources for the latter.
Trying to decide if I like the Raconteurs.
For my money, it doesn't get much better in coffee world than Brazil Ipanema Bourbon... especially when I don't pay for it.
Ampersand EP
I got my hard copy of the Ampersand EP in the mail this week
Of course, I've been listening to the MP3s since I bought it back in late Feb. I still don't know how I feel about it completely. I really dig the intro to Valentine. It reminds me Waiting on the World to Change.
But, the fact is two fold: 1) you can't go wrong with anything Derek Webb is involved in, 2) most of his work grows on me over time.
So, with that in mind, it gets my seal of approval.
Resource of the Week
I'm probably a week late on this, but I'm going to go ahead and put it out there. Also, I haven't completely read it, but what I have read has been good, so far. That said...
This book came out last week. It is completely downloadable as a a .pdf file. Basically, (at least from what I've read) it outlines what Facebook is, why pastors should use it, and how to do so effectively.
As you may have read earlier this week, I've made some great connections over Facebook. Just last night I reconnected with two old friends that I've known since my freshman year of college, but hadn't seen in years. We actually ran into each other a couple of weeks ago when I was on my way to the Bon Jovi concert. The next day I looked for them online, but couldn't find them anywhere. Suddenly, this week the joined Facebook and they popped up on my homepage immediately. So great.
So, yeah, check out the book and share it with all your friends.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
I watched the film a couple of years ago.
I just got the soundtrack and listened to it this morning.
Here's the basics... Back in the 50s and 60s when Motown was huge, they had a session band that played on nearly every hit record that came out of Hitsville. We're talking Marvin Gaye, Tammy Terrell, The Supremes, and my favorite, The Temptations.
So, they made a documentary about the band and they came in and played all these hit songs with present day artists including Ben Harper, Gerald Levert, and Montell Jordan.
It's great, you've got to give it a listen.
For Group Discussion
I keep a book called a "Learning Journal."
It is where I write key things that I learn from books, discussions, lectures, ideas, etc.
I want to start posting some of those ideas and seeing what everyone else thinks. You give me your feedback and in a couple of days I'll expound on my own thoughts.
Thought of the day:
Culture (corporate, church, national, etc) is comprised of three main ingredients: shared language, common knowledge, and shared experience.
What do you think?
Quote of the Moment
No person is more apathetic than when in the pursuit of another person's goals.
Communication
I'm in and out of a training session for the next two days. This is what happens when you work for an organization that puts on training events.
I usually get to spend half my time learning (hooray!) and half my time in the office (not "boo", but definitely not as much "hooray!")
So we were discussing our leadership strengths and weaknesses in our small group time and I realized something:
On the topic of communication, the biggest issue is audience. In other words, I can be talking all day, but if no one hears me, then what's the point?
For instance, I just sent an email to my admin pastor about the fact that much of our staff's outgoing messages are being delivered to people's junk mail. Great information + No Audience = Bad Communication. (Of course, the irony is that he may not receive my email that I sent back to him about the problem, because it could end up in his junk mail box.)
As you have read, I'm working out my whole involvement in the new internet world. My current situation...
4 email accounts
2 blogs
Myspace
and the people that I desperately need to reach are appearing to be non-users of any of these media. (Not that I don't love you guys and want to communicate with you.)
So, am I just running out in front of my audience and developing a presence that they will eventually become aware of? Judging by the people that I want to reach, my guess is that they aren't interested in joining this type of conversation.
I think that I just have to further diversify. The thing about the individualized world we live in is that mass communication is dying (Good thing I've never really made use of my degree in it). It's no longer about "hits" or "views", it's all about relational communication and that is the world of "touches."
Just my thoughts.
Self vs Sin
My friend John Wilson posted an amazing blog about temptation - specifically, sexual, but it applies to all temptation. Check it out here.
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