I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
I'm also blogging at:
Personality™
Church Marketing Sucks
September 2007 Archives
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September 23, 2007
The Irresistible Revolution
Filed under: Reading Room
As much as I dislike flying, I do love being able to read a book from start to finish in a round-trip. My trip this past week to Grand Rapids was no exception with The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
I grew up a good "Christian" boy. Church every week, sometimes twice a week. A student leader for youth gatherings. Mission trips to domestic and international places of need. I prayed and read my Bible. I obeyed my parents. I never did drugs. Unfortunately, I think I spent more time learning the Gospel than living the Gospel. And I continue to suffer with this despicable disease.
It seems as though Shane Claiborne can relate. Quoting from a letter he received sometime ago, Shane echoes that we're living in days full of "unbelieving activists and inactive believers." Fortunately for his readers, Shane Claiborne is not just another guy teaching us how to live, he's showing us how to die.
This is a book for ordinary radicals. It's for "a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of."
Continue reading "The Irresistible Revolution"
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September 17, 2007
Jason Fried, 37signals
Filed under: Inspiration
Here's a great little video interview with Jason Fried, founder of 37signals. I've been a fan (and customer) of Jason and team for quite sometime. I appreciate their approach to business, design and communication.
One of the pull quotes for me from this interview was when Jason says they don't do long-term planning. They look ahead 90 days at a time. This past year I've been doing the same thing with the Personality team but I've always felt a little guilty. It seems like we should think further along. But when you break it down to 90-day outlooks, you're dealing with real decisions instead of hypothetical tangents.
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September 16, 2007
Sunday Paper
Filed under: Media
Every once in a while Jamaica and I get up on a Sunday morning and head to Starbucks for a morning drip and the Sunday paper. Wait a minute, isn't this something that "old" people do? And who still reads the paper?
One of the reasons why newspapers and magazines will always be around is that they fulfill our need to "filter." Reminds me of the book by Lisa Johnson when she suggests that one of the cravings of Gen X and Y is help to sort and sift through all of the clutter. The reason we like printed things are because they narrow the focus for us.
Having the world's information at my fingertips is incredible. When someone sorts and sifts through information and presents it in a way that I can digest, it is powerful.
This is also why I like blogs.
The opportunity for both print and digital filters will continue to expand. Audience sizes will shrink but the amount of filters will continue to grow. And the bond between filterer and filteree will continue to morph and mingle into complex and codependent relationships.
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September 15, 2007
John Wood the World Changer
Filed under: Reading Room
I don’t typically buy books from over-priced airport newsstands, but this week was an exception. I usually always have a backlog of magazines to catch up on (I subscribe to a couple dozen different publications), but for some reason, my stack was empty. So I faced a couple options for this trip to Nashville: 1) pull out the ‘ol laptop to catch up on work during this four-hour flight, or 2) rely on the in-flight movie option. As I made my way down the terminal toward the departure gate, a book caught my eye that was proudly displayed in a kiosk that protruded into the terminal walkway. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood. I impulsively developed a third option: read a new book from start to finish on this trip.
And read I did.
The first 177 pages of this 260-page book were literally page-turners. I got choked up twice and that doesn’t happen to me very often (much to my wife’s chagrin).
Continue reading "John Wood the World Changer"
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September 14, 2007
MinistryCOM 2007
Filed under: Brad Works
I'm sitting in the Nashville airport on my way back home to Los Angeles. I've been here for the last two days for the third annual MinistryCOM event with a little over 400 church communicators. This is my second year to speak a main session and the task was no less daunting. Nothing like being in front of some of the most "been there, done that" people on the planet--myself included!
I had a great time hanging with old and new friends. I was particularly encouraged by Kem Meyer and Shawn Wood. I love Kem's "relational" filter that frames everything she does and if you've never heard Shawn speak live, he just nails it.
Next week I'm in Grand Rapids for another speaking gig at the Internet Ministry Conference.
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September 11, 2007
9|11
Filed under: Life's Journey
One of the things I love about blogs is the archival of thought. From the immature and insignificant to the more meaning filled meanderings, it's cool to have a digital reference point for a brain that thinks all sorts of things.
Today was no exception as I re-read something I wrote shortly after September 11, 2001. I originally scribbled these thoughts on a piece of legal paper, then found it a few years later and typed it on this blog on September 11, 2004.
Reading this six years later is a little awkward. It feels vulnerable, naive and trite. Yet at the same time it takes me back to that horrific day in the history of America. My generation's version of "the day JFK was shot."
Today during our weekly "reflection" time, each of us on the Personality team shared exactly what we were doing when we heard the news of 9|11. Pretty powerful stuff.
Also very wild to remember that Jamaica and I were on a plane two weeks prior to 9|11 (same airline, same destination, same flight number) that went from Boston (en route to LAX) and crashed into the World Trade Center.
This picture is one we took overlooking "Ground Zero" from our room at the Millennium Hilton, where we stayed last month on our way back from Israel and Istanbul.
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September 4, 2007
A Degree in Homemaking
Filed under: Rant
I can't believe this August 10 story from the Seattle Times. It reads more like an article out of The Onion or The Wittenburg Door, not real life!
I can't wait for the stay-at-home dad degree.
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