History in the Making

New STORY Photos up

By Bjorn Amundsen on the Flickr site

You've Gotta See This...

Amazing STORY photos from Daniel Stancil and Josh White on Flickr. More photos from Bjorn Amundsen coming soon... And Integrity Music had over 41,000 hits on one day at StoryUnfolding.com

The Great Hope of the Pastor

In almost every church I visit... which are mostly church plants... there he is. The pastor. Standing in the front row during worship. Giving his whole heart to it. Feeling the presence of God. Stretching for it. Yearning for it. And he's overwhelmed by it.

Because his great hope is that everyone else will feel it too.

This is why he stands in the front row.

So that by looking ahead, he will block from view all of the passive worshipers behind him and perhaps kedge them forward into the presence of God by his own leadership.

He does church every week with this great hope.

I did this for eight years.

And now I'm doing it again for STORY.

I'm sitting here in rehearsal, being blown away by the presence of God through Jonathan and Candi Shelton and the Granger worship team...

Because my great hope is that everyone will fall victim to the presence of God on Wednesday.

Best Church Venue

Goes to my friend Paul Stewart who just launched Gateway Church in Des Moines, IA. They use the Temple for Performing Arts which looks absolutely gorgeous. And just look at those mounds of muffins and pastries. This is like the Willy Wonka Factory of church plants. Paul is bringing his crew to STORY by the way.

100 Words

If I could have anyone else's blog, it would be Blaine Hogan's. Everything he does drips with excellence. Here's my 100 Words on his site today...

"We are motivated by two conflicting fears in life: the fear of failure and the fear of insignificance. What we endeavor to do is determined by which fear is the strongest... [read on]

Wednesday Morning Run-Down

I'm running 100mph this week, so only a few thoughts today...

• Hard doesn't mean God's saying "no." It means he's saying "grow."
• Oh my gosh, did that just sound like Rick Warren? I think it did.
• I'm so ready for T'hanksgiving.
• Integrity Music and Carlos Whittaker are taking over StoryUnfolding.com for the event.
• We're picking the finalists for the Oxford trip give-away this week... with the winner to be announced at STORY. I'm thinking of winning it under a pseudo-name. =)
• Blaine Hogan is running a really cool "100 Words" series on his blog. I sent him mine today.
• I've responded to over 12 people's inquiries about my out-of-the-box church website idea and heard back from none. Changed thinking is soooo hard.
• The John Ortberg lunch filled-up with 200 people in about 5 hours yesterday. Wow. People like them some free food... or some free John Ortberg. =)
• Went to my son's elementary school this morning to see him get an award for "citizen of the month." Which basically means he rocks. =) Ainsley and I were horrified that we had to put this sign in our yard though. We're simple people. We don't like to brag. About our son. And how he rocks.

Free Lunch with John Ortberg

For those attending STORY next week, we're giving away a free lunch with John Ortberg on October 28. By the way, John just won best Christian book of the year...

The lunch venue is right across from the theater - sponsored by MONVEE. Seating is limited... and this form will shut-off when capacity is reached. STORY attendees only please.

Top of the Tuesday

- This is beating a dead horse, but... If you want to be an author, you have to first be a platform-builder. Some people, a tiny few, can get away with just great writing. But the rest of us need a following.

- I heard that Rob Bell announced the end of NOOMA. Love that. Bigger is not always better. And to create better, sometimes we have to sabotage our own success.

- If I e-mail you and ask for your address, I promise it's going to be a gift... or something of value. Someone asked for my address last week and sent me an advertisement for a $675 conference. Double negative.

- Something I'm learning: When we go through difficult times, and God doesn't deliver us, it's not because he's forsaken us; it's because he wants us to walk through it.

- Something else I learned about myself. A ton of my Christian faith was propped up by being a pastor for 10 years. If you want to see how authentic something is, take away the paycheck.

- Tomorrow, we're sending out an e-mail to all registrants with "everything you need to know about coming to STORY," but until then, here's a sneak peek at Paramount Theater parking options.

- I can't wait to meet a lot of people next week, but especially Thomas Fluharty. Such unashamed passion for Jesus. And he can draw LIKE THIS! My kids love his new children's book Fool Moon Rising.

A Culture of Frugality

Love the story of how Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in his garage and laid an old door across two saw-horses for his desk. Today, the culture of frugality continues. Many of Amazon's employees have constructed their own "door desks" to keep with the spirit of the company.

They've become a door-desk culture.

Lights

Miss dreaming up Christmas Eve experiences. We're not just creating an opportunity for the Gospel, but a cherished tradition for families. Always loved that role...

If I were doing it again this year, I'd go outdoor lights.

Lots of them.

The church should have the monopoly on outdoor lights. The heavens declare the glory of God... through light.

Man Training

I'm in serious need of decompression I think. Wyatt and I played an exorbitant amount of Pirates of the Caribbean on-line this weekend, watched Where the Wild Things Are - which contained an unnecessary amount of screaming - and capped it off with some ribs at Chili's.

Next week's lesson: How to treat a lady.

If You're Not Already a Scott Hodge Fan...

I heard from several pastors who thought this was the highlight of The Nines.

I concur.

Love the Scott Hodge. Love his heart... and his charisma.

The Calm Before the Storm

In leading up to an event, there is a moment you reach -- a threshold you cross -- when the event is done. It's already over.

I don't mean it's happened yet.

But all of the creative elements, the logistics, the marketing -- they're in the can. It's a wrap. You've lined-up the trajectory of this thing... and you just pray and hope it hits where you've aimed it. 

The event is just a formality.

Albeit a glorious and hopefully life-changing one.

Putting Skin on our Skeletons

I was trained to be a preacher in seminary—how to do hermeneutical exegesis, an introduction, three points, and a proper conclusion. They even showed me how to hold a Bible in one hand while signaling the worship leader with the other.

We each took turns preaching in front of the class while the professor sat in a sound booth recording constructive commentary on top of our sermons. The more we yelled, the better we did. We even got bonus points for arranging our sermons into acronyms.

When I entered the real world, I was surprised to see my sermons fall flat. They were perfectly suited for note taking, but I was shoe¬horning content into my messages just to serve the structure I was taught... [read on]

STORY Workshops Sold-Out

It's official. I shut off the registration option this morning -- the STORY Workshops are closed. Only Main Event tickets are left...

Wednesday Morning Run-Down

• National Community Church is losing their Union Station location. They shut down the theater without warning. Heart-broken over this. Buzz Conference... the Washington Post front-page story... so many God moments happened there.
• I'm uber excited about an article I'm writing for COLLIDE this month. Working title is "The Abhorrent Stench of New Ideas" but I think that title will have to change. =) It's about not being a part of the big glob of late-adopters who discover things only when they're proven.
• I've got book number two in the mental shoot. Just need to get to November so I can get cracking on it. I've been a life-long student of the spirit world, and this will be my magnum opus. By the way, anyone see Paranormal Activity yet?
• I've got an amazing idea for a church website, and the team to pull it off. If anyone's looking to revolutionize their church site (around $2,500), give me a shout. No more Wordpress themes baby. What ever happened to Think Different?
• Excited about working with the Micah Watson Band to build a tour for them this winter. Their new album is being produced by Third Day's Mac Powell; Micah's even traveling a bit with them.
• The STORY Workshops are about 10 people from selling out at 600. I'm literally about ready to shut them off.
• There are currently about 1,500 people coming to STORY. The only seats left are in the balcony. By the way, hotels in Aurora are actually low during the week because they boom on weekends with the river-boat casinos in town. And don't get any ideas. =)
• I was the biggest Scott Hodge and Orchard fan before STORY. I'm an even bigger one now. Didn't know that was even possible. And you need to meet Larry Boatright and Amber Smyder on-staff.
• My son is now rocking an iPod, and he loves the Christian music. =) Anyone else on the edge of their seat, waiting for spiritual awakening in their children? I pray spiritual blessings over him every night.
• Have you ever had a print job come back and hear the sound of angels heralding it because it's so good? That's what happens with a Kevin Sterner design + Crimson Ink print job. I'm in awe of the STORY notebook. I almost don't want to give it out. Maybe I'll sell it at an additional cost. =) j/k
• Purpose Driven Network, led by my friend Gerald Sharon, is hosting a lunch at STORY that filled-up with 120 people in literally four hours. Tony Morgan is speaking at the lunch.

This is such a good season of life.

You Can't Be Pepsi. You Have to Be Sprite.

When you're not Coke, that is.

There's a great misconception in church planting that there's no such thing as competition between churches. That we're all on the same team. That there's no market share. That you can't have too many churches impacting one city.

But I think that's a load.

Of course we're on the same team. But there are clearly types of churches. Not every church appeals to every person. Your methodology, style, environment, ministry offerings - they attract some people and repel others.

So if you're the same type of church as the one down the street, you'd better do it much better than they do... or you'll always be the wannabe. You'll always flounder and struggle to play catch-up.

If God is truly activating your church to reach a community, it will be to reach people who currently aren't being reached. It means being "the anti."

And if you're a church in the making, you will already be that person anyway.

The Motivation No One Like to Credit

Read in the New Yorker that dancing legend Fred Astaire shared a unlikely friendship with Michael Jackson. What's surprising is that he confided in Michael that they had one thing in common -- they both danced out of anger. It's hard to believe when you look at Astaire's films. But it confirms something...

Anger is one heck of a motivator.

Even in ministry.

Several years ago, I heard Bill Hybels say, "This young generation of pastors is so angry."

I've been researching stories of church leaders over the past year, and I've been asking one additional question out of curiosity -- what was your home like growing up?

Some of the most ambitious leaders are simply re-channeling anger. An absent or aloof dad, alcoholism in the family, death of a loved one...

It becomes the fuel for great achievement in ministry.

It's not always visible on-stage, but the staff sees it.

East Coast vs West Coast Worship

I'm an east coast basketball guy. The long, baggy shorts and black socks pulled up to the knees. That's how I like to watch my players do it. Who would've thought that geography dictated athletic fashion?

Something I've been surprised by at STORY... there's a big difference between Atlanta worship styles and Chicago worship styles. How they stand on-stage, where they stand, the kind of instruments they use, staging, etc... and I'm having to adapt.

I'm not sure if that makes me the guy with the shorty shorts... or the black socks. =)