Why take these pictures?!? I don't know!

The other day I was looking through my pictures, and I noticed something: We take a bunch of pictures with our heads in front of something cool. Case in point, this photo. Steph and I went to a marching band competition a few years ago, and took a picture of the field with our heads in the picture.



Why do we do this? My only guess is we wanted to prove we were there, and that we have heads.

Sometimes we get really creative and stand in a straight line in front of something really important. Like this waterfall in Chicago:



I mean everybody has wedding photos and they take pictures of everybody standing in a line or a of family reunion with everybody just sitting there staring at the camera. Like this original:


By the way, Steph's family is related to the Hatfields.
(they're from the west side!...and by west I mean West Virginia! )

Why take pictures like this? What are we trying to remember? Standing in a line waiting for the person with 5 cameras to get a shot with everybody's eyes open? Why is this a popular idea? All we get is that glare in our eyes that doesn't allow us to focus for like 5 minutes. This is the memory we're trying to save?!?! Why not take pictures of events! or of great beauty? Instead, when I look at your photos on Facebook I'm stuck looking at a close up of your mug...

death of an organization

The moment that an organization, or company, or business dies is the moment that its focus turns to on self-preservation. When the business spends more time worrying that it might die, than focusing on how it can live, the business is in the process of dying.

The best way that this can be observed is when the business starts to protect its structures as opposed to looking for the ways that its structures can become more efficient in accomplishing the goal of the organization.

Success means that organizations take risks. They look for creative ways in which their can rethink the way that they are accomplishing their goals.

This applies to the church. How often do we have programs in place that are ineffective in their goals? Church leaders in many instances have been either content with their programs failing to be successful or unwilling to put in the effort into creatively looking for new structures to replace the ones that aren’t working.

What do you think?

Resource: In Search of Excellence

preaching-pt. 1.

One issue I am personally working through is with the discipline of preaching. I have gone to church my whole life, attended a Christian High School, went to church camp every summer, went to a Christian college, traveled for that Christian college to more Christian camps, and now am going to seminary. In all of these places I have encountered preaching; some good, some bad, some ...ehh. The one big issue I have with preaching is that I feel it is very hit and miss. I feel like the main reason a pastor preaches a particular sermon is, "That's a great idea!", "What church season is this?", or "My people need to hear this!." This leads to scattered preaching, repetitive series, and under-developed listeners. I think we need to re-think our concept of the sermon.

Personally, I feel the big problem is too few pastors do not ask how this week's sermon connect with a sermon from last year, or one from five years ago, or my first sermon. Their preaching is not taking their listeners anywhere! It is merely a Bible teaching that stands alone, or as a part of a series that for the most part stands alone. Here are a few reasons why I think this is so:

• Pastors, at least from my viewpoint, fail to have a plan for their sermons. Here, I'm not talking about short term planning. I'm talking about long term planning. Most pastors develop quality series. They are good at writing powerful sermons, but they seem to be continually circling the proverbial wagons. They don't seem to have a plan for where they want to be taking their people long term. 


• Pastors, at least from my viewpoint, preach from a position of how do my people want to hear this, as opposed to what do my people want to hear. The focus seems to be on creative presentations as opposed to the actual content of what's being presented. Some of the most creative sermons I've been a part of have been the most shallow, but some of the most creative sermons I've listened to have been the most life changing! Creativity does not equal quality, they have no bearing upon each other. Strive for BOTH!


• Pastors, at least from my viewpoint, are merely digging to find something to speak about for next week. They've been at it for so long, they struggle to find something new and profound to say. They are tired and worn out from the endless search to be creative. They feel like they had said it all - and there is nothing new under the sun - so where is my next message going to come from? At some level being creativity has burned them out.


• Pastors, at least from my viewpoint, look up to their favorite preacher (i.e. John Maxwell, JD Walt) and attempt to think like them, communicate like they do, model their sermons with their own. I've been there. The problem is that nobody can be JD except JD. To try and be like someone else, forces one to spend countless hours asking, "How would JD say this?" or "What Would JD Do?" (they actually have wrist-bands that help "JD-ites" focus...), instead of being genuine when on stage.
  

In my quest, I am asking myself (in this order), 'Why preach?', 'What should we be attempting to accomplish?', 'Where does this church need to go?', 'How can I say this in a better way?', 'Who should we be?', 'When should I teach this?'

Wanna start a newspaper??? (thoughts sparked by Seth Godin)

Recently, Seth Godin suggested that a business should start a newspaper. This newspaper would be a compilation of articles that the staff would compile. It would then be sent out to people in the community. Seth’s main principle is to “own your zip-code!” When I first read this I thought it was a great idea! The purpose of the paper is two fold, first to give the community a source of information about the community, second you’re building relationships with the community.

I think that every church should be an expert on its community. It only makes sense. If we’re in the business of transforming the community, why not do everything you can to learn about your zip? If churches spent more time learning about their community then they’d be in a better place to minister to them. I think a church staff spending time researching and being in the community, only good things would come out of this.

The idea of church marketing is for some a big negative. I see it as able to go either way, meaning it can be done in a proper way or it can be done in a negative way. I have seen churches spend thousands of dollars on mailing things to a church or churches attempting to create an image by creating a marketable image. This in some way is deceptive, because either its creating a false image of who the church is in order to bring people in.

On the other hand, I know of a pastor in Lexington who walks around his community, literally going door-to-door. He’s meeting people, inviting them to church, letting them know that if they have any needs his church is there to help. This is marketing. There is no getting around that fact. One could say he is doing it for ulterior motives, and he is, he wants people to be a part of his ministry – he’s just framing his marketing in a proper way.

Have you ever asked yourself why the "Promised Land” is Palestine? Do we realize that this strip of land is half desert, half mountain, half in the middle of no-where without water? It’s not exactly paradise. Egypt and Mesopotamia were both better options, but Palestine had something that they didn’t have – major trade routes. You see God placed his people in the middle of the trade routes between the two major powers of that day. The whole nation of Israel is an attempt by God to market himself to the world.

This is where we come back to the idea of the newspaper. I think that it would work for churches to take this sort of approach to getting to know their community. It is the church showing the community what its values are – we celebrate this type of person. It is the church saying, “We are the type of people who want you to know the people that live near you.” Perhaps it’s the church marketing itself, but is that a bad thing?

Why not make a newspaper for people in your community