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Texting and Worship

Last night we made our first foray into texting during worship. We had a panel discussion answering questions that focused on how faith impacts life as a college student. I thought the questions were very good and the panel did an excellent job dealing with them. We did have a few issues in the moderation process, which is something we'll have to improve in the future. There were several questions that we didn't get to because they didn't show up in the moderation tool until after the panel was completed.

We used the services of Jarbyco to setup the the text-to-screen and moderation interfaces. They did a great job and made handling text messages really easy. A team in the back was able to filter questions and get them posted to the screens. I was able to read all the approved questions off my iPhone. The huge screen behind the panel scrolled through questions as they were being answered.

I'm looking into whether or not doing this on a regular basis is going to work. I try to keep the message time during worship on campus to about 18 minutes. I'm pondering trimming messages to 15 minutes and then spending three minutes answering questions every week. The Jarbyco tool will also let us do polls, voting, and send outbound text reminders/updates.

Last year we did a panel about romantic relationships where we had students step up to a mic to ask questions. I feel like the quality of the questions were much better this fall given the anonymity provided by texting (just the question showed up on screen). Working with college students I've become incredibly aware of how important texting is to effective ministry. I'm very excited to see how the use of this technology will unfold and how it will help us to be better communicators of the Gospel.

40 Days of Prayer for College Ministry

NOTE: I'd written this a couple of weeks ago, right before the 40 days started, but it didn't get posted. It's a bit dated, but I logged into write a new post today and saw that this was unpublished, enjoy.

Starting August 17th my friends Creighton Alexander and Ashlee Alley and the team at College Union are calling all of us in the United Methodist church to 40 days of prayer for our college-aged ministries. I would challenge every Christian to be in prayer for students and college ministries as a new school year begins. Each day of the 40 days has a different author who will be writing a prayer for us to share. The focus of these prayers will be:

Evangelism—sharing the Gospel of Jesus on our nations campuses

Discipleship—nurturing the spiritual lives of university students

Provision—building financial resources, personnel, local church involvement

Campus Pastors—supporting family, leadership, vision, personal integrity

Students—raising up the next generation of Christian leaders

I encourage you to join in, visit College Union, and pray along with us for students and ministry leaders all over the world. College ministry is incredibly important and I can't think of a better way to prepare for the year and start a new school year than with prayer.

Theology of Technology Conversations

I'm spending this week in Kentucky at the Asbury campus in a class about the web in ministry. The primary purpose of the class is to familiarize students with the Internet and the web with each of us in the class completing some sort of a final web project. For my project I'm not building a web site, instead I'm working on the SUMC media player - a Flash RIA using the Flex framework, the YouTube API, and skinned through Catalyst.

While understanding and using the technology is an important aspect of the class I'm really enjoying the conversation that is frames the larger issue. Lots of McLuhan, social constructs, relational issues, how we tell the Story, and how Truth is represented in various media. It's a conversation that a lot of people never have and I'm really happy that the seminary is facilitating the conversation.

As church leaders, really as Christians, it's important that we understand the shift that's happening around us. The migration to digital information is as significant as the shift to mass printed text and from an oral tradition to a written tradition. How do we reflect this shift as individuals and as the church?

One Prayer Starts Tonight

During the summer we're going to be experimenting with a variety of different Wednesday night opportunities. Starting tonight we're kicking off the month-long One Prayer series. One Prayer is a gathering of more than a thousand churches across the world coming together to worship, serve and grow. Last year our college ministry participated in One Prayer and I'm excited that we're expanding to include the entire church this year.

We're using the One Prayer teaching for a Wednesday night worship experience. It's going to be a great time for people of all ages to get together and learn more about who God is. In addition to music and outstanding teaching, we'll have group discussion time at our tables. If you've ever participated in Alpha it will be a similar conversational experience. There is a light dinner available at 5:30 or you can come for worship starting at 6:30. One Prayer is open to people of all ages, and there are children's ministry activities available through 5th grade.

John 17:20-23  -  My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Summer Reading 2009

Now that my classes are finished for the spring I've got a bit more time to do some reading for both professional development and fun/relaxation. Several of these books have been on my shelf for months. Several of them I've started, but never finished because other things were a higher priority. I read Story when I was an undergrad, but thought a refresher might be good. I had meetings late yesterday night, so I took part of the afternoon to get started on the summer reading plan. Right now I don't have any fiction on the list and I need to add some. Got any suggestions?

Right now my summer reading list includes:

• Killing Cockroaches, Tony Morgan
• Church Unique, Will Mancini
• Flickering Pixels, Shane Hipps
• Intuitive Leadership, Tim Keel
• ReJesus, Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
• Tribes, Seth Godin
• Story, Robert McKee
• In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
• My Stoke of Insight, Jill Taylor
• The Unlikely Disciple, Kevin Roose

Newest Staff Member - Zak Lampert

I'm really excited that Zak Lampert is going to be joining the arts team at Schweitzer in a full-time position as the Media Coordinator & Modern Worship Leader. I've known Zak since he was in high school and he's an amazing young man. He was the first PA who worked in the media office when I was hired and it's been a blast working with him all of these years. Two years ago Zak left working in the media department to become our Modern Worship Leader. He also finished a mass media degree at Missouri State. Zak has a great heart and has grown amazingly as both an artist and a leader since we first met.

Zak will continue in his role leading all of the modern worship teams as well as serve as the primary contact for media production of the church. It's awesome to be able to hire somebody into this role that already gets the DNA of the church and has relationships with people in both the media and modern worship ministries. I'm looking forward to all of the creative possibilities this staffing decision will open up for the church.

Clarity in Communication

It's unbelievable how important clarity is in communication. Too often churches communicate to the insiders in their congregations without any thought about how it impacts guests or infrequent attendees. This morning in our ministry staff meeting we discussed plans for how we're reworking Wednesday nights in the fall. This impacts almost every ministry in the church in some way. As part of that conversation we realized how many ministries have names that really don't mean anything.

We have Sonshine Kids, Sprouts, Tweens, Joyful Noise Choir, Promise Choir, Melody Choir in our Children's ministry. Stephanie made the comment that she's had kids in these ministries for 16 years and has no idea what age goes with each name. Buildings have names that don't mean anything. There are rooms that have names based on colors and rooms that have numbers. We refer to places using language that is significant to us as insiders, but outsiders end up being confused. One of our older classes is named Homebuilders (from when the group was starting families 30 years ago). We have acronyms that have cool meanings, but if you don't know that STEW means Schweitzer Together Every Wednesday or what happens at that event, the likelihood you'll try it out is slim.

We're starting a process of making sure names have meaning. It starts primarily with new ministries. It's incorporated into how we describe events and locations. Making sure there is clarity in communication minimizes confusion, reduces questions and helps everybody be more effective.

Questions that are worth asking:

• What does this name/acronym mean to somebody who doesn't know the history?
• Does this language decrease or increase the chance of somebody getting confused?
• How would renaming this ministry, room, group, etc. impact the group? What about others?
• Can the name accurately describe the ministry? activity? location?

Improving clarity impacts more than just names, but that's an immediate focus. Direct, clear communication in bulletins, newsletters, announcements, and pretty much everywhere else increases the chance that what you have to say will actually be heard. More importantly, clarity in communication makes it possible for people to act rather than ask questions or give up in confusion.

Guest Blogger: Kem Meyer - Less Clutter, Less Noise Blog Tour

Kem Meyer, communication director  from Granger Community Church is doing a blog tour for her book, Less Clutter, Less Noise. It's a great read and will seriously impact the way you think about communication in the church or any setting. I've got a copy to give away to one lucky reader who leaves a comment on this post. Most churches are small, and I was really curious to hear Kem's perspective on communication outside of a large church.

My question for Kem:

In a smaller church setting, where most of the communication material is from volunteers, what can be done to coach all of those volunteers to reduce clutter?

Kem's Response:

Coaching principles are the same whether you’re in a large church, small church, working with staff or volunteers. There’s no sliding scale or different approach, although a lot of people think or wish there were.

Besides sharing articles, links and BOOKS (ahem) with the things you’re reading and learning, the next best thing is to create space for conversations. It is in those conversations where the vision-casting and coaching takes place.

If we’re not leaving time on our calendar—the white space—for impromptu conversations with the people we work with (paid or unpaid), then we can’t expect to see organizational and relational change anytime soon. You see, momentum advances over time through a series of conversations; it is not a one-happy-chat or email event. Bummer. It’d be so much easier if it was. Am I right? If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking this to yourself “I can’t afford the time for that.”

But, the reality is, we can’t afford not to. Every conversation we invest in on the front end makes the next project go smoother. At the end of the day, it’s all in our perspective, isn’t it?

My pastor, Mark Beeson, talked to a group of church leaders last year about what we need to promote forward movement, progress and next steps as an organization. Interestingly, everything he shared starts with an individual’s personal habits, not his or her accomplishments. He reminded us that we can’t get what we “could” have until we let go of what we “do” have. We all need to work on our:
•  Attitude—without this, you will hurt yourself.
•  Relationships—without these, others will hurt you.
•  Persistence—without this, problems will defeat you.
•  Priorities—without these, the insignificant will hamper you.
•  Credibility—without this, no one will follow you.

So, that gave me a little bit more perspective and courage to put down some of my workload to create the whitespace for coaching and relational investments. Although it felt like I was losing ground at first, it didn’t take long for me to see the difference. I went from adding individual value to multiplying team value. Conversations. White space. That’s your secret weapon.

Five Spring Lessons

I've learned a lot this spring. Not all of the lessons have been fun, but they're all important. I thought I'd share a bit what's been going on in my life.

Lesson One: I don't have time to take two classes. Last spring I did fine with two classes, but as the courses get more difficult and my pastoral role gets more demanding taking two seminary classes at once is more than I can handle. This semester it caused me to not sleep as much as I'd like, not see my wife as much as I'd like, not plan and write as much as I'd like. Take away: no more than one Asbury class each semester.

Lesson Two: I love meeting people that I've connected with online. I've always maintained relationships online, but this spring I got the opportunity to make some cool new friends that I later met in person. If you've been reading this blog or following me on twitter and we've never met, see the next lesson.

Lesson Three: Prioritization matters. I've booked some speaking/training engagements in the later part of the year and I really want to control how much time I'm away from home. The schedule filling up means that I need to make a short list of events I really want to attend this year. After a great week at Q I've made a list. Right now I'm planning to be at:

• Cultivate (October 27) - Where culture, innovation and communication meet. I'm excited to see where this conversation based event leads me.
• Dirt (November 10-11) - Creative conference looking to break the mold of creative conferences for the church.
• I'll also be in Wilmore, KY for the week of August 10 for a class at Asbury.

    Events that are on the list, but still not 100% on the calendar:

• MinistryCOM (September 10-11 ) - Probably not going to make it to MinistryCOM this year, but I might still squeeze it into the schedule.
• Innovate 2009 (September 24-25) - I've loved going to Innovate for the past several years. I've got another event on the 25th and 26th which means I'm probably not going to Innovate this year.
• Story (October 28-29) - Ben Arment's latest project looks really interesting. How do we tell the greatest story ever?
• MAX (October 4-7 ) - I think I've only missed one of these (counting back to the 1997 Macromedia UCON). I love the designer/developer community/content at this event and it's great creative inspiration from the marketplace. It's a bit spendy though.

Lesson Four: I feel better when I eat right and exercise. This is absolutely a no-brainer, but I've found that the busier I get the first thing that goes is exercise followed by good eating habits. I'm slightly embarrassed by the number of days this spring my lunch has been a bag of chips or some cookies.

Lesson Five: Relationships matter more than tasks. This is one that is a real challenge for me. I'm incredibly type A and very task driven. The more stressed I get the more likely I am to let relational/emotional intelligence issues slide. I'm really thankful for a group of friends and coworkers that both understand how my personality works and are willing to tell me when I'm being a jerk.

Bonus Lesson: There's nothing quite like being able to work from a patio in 75° weather. I'm glad that it's an option some days.

What have you learned this spring?

Q 2009 - Initial Thoughts

I've been in Austin this week for Q, a conference that brings together leaders to discuss how the church, culture, future and Gospel all relate. The event brings together people from numerous spheres of influence, slightly more than half were primarily connected to the church. Over the course of three days we heard 18 minute presentations on topics ranging from the narrative of Scripture to nuclear  disarmament to neuroscience. Interspersed with the presentations were a lot of opportunities for conversation. This is one of the first conferences I've been to where absolutely every session sparked something for me. It was also great to catch up with friends I haven't seen in awhile and meet a lot of new people.

Alan Hirsch gave a great opening presentation and I had the opportunity to have several follow up conversations with him about a missional approach to church, technology, ethnography in a digital world, and how age-specific ministry fits with a both/and attractional/missional ministry model.

Probably most important takeaway from this session was that discipleship is much more important than conversion. Hirsch uses the example of the disciples in Scripture, who by modern "baptized by the spirit" standards weren't converted until Pentecost, yet were still disciples. It's about the direction of your life and learning to follow Jesus than getting people to a statement of faith. The church should be more about helping people grow than about trying to convert them. People who are being truly being discipled (as described in Scripture) will come to faith because their lives are moving in the direction of God.

Some other thoughts:

• The church has gotten really good at extracting people from culture but is not very good at keeping people in cultural relationships once they become Christian.
• Holiness has been defined negatively (by what we don't do) rather than the way Jesus exhibited holiness redemptively.
• Christianity should be about redeeming the world, not fleeing from the world. How can we ensure that discipleship isn't an isolationist activity.
• Current church models will realistically only connect with 30-40% of the population. What models need to be developed to reach the other 60-70% of people?

I'll write some more about other sessions, but now I have to get on the plane.