History in the Making

Yay.

Stick a fork in me.

Wednesday Morning Run-Down

• Love Seth Godin's thoughts on the rise of artists and the death of the resume. I haven't used one in a while. But there's a huge segment of the population that just wants to punch in and punch out and drink beer on weekends
• I'm three days away from submitting book proposal number two. Writing like a fiend.
• Headed to Knoxville tomorrow to work with Pastor Chris Stephens on the LIT conference coming on April 29. Amazing line-up and event: Pete Wilson, Johnny Hunt, Pat Summitt and tons of surprises
• I'm going to the 99 percent conference in NYC in April. Speakers get announced on Feb 2, but they said: "We confirmed are one of THE leading voices in the design world, a ground-breaking pioneer in the field of design & education, one of the most respected entrepreneurs and VCs in the industry, a world-renowned storyteller, and an amazing social entrepreneur."
• Website for the Whiteboard Sessions is now live! Seeing lots of groups sign-up to make it a conference AND staff retreat in Virginia Beach at one time.
• Our northern Virginia home comes up for availability to rent on April 1. If you're a suburban DC-er, let me know if you're looking for a little homestead
• @ShaunKing needs to start a Blackwater Humanitarian Rescue organization. What an incredible guy. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..."
• Listening to John Stott's preaching this week. Legendary.
• I can tell how stressed I am by how much UFC I watch.
• If I were Perry Noble and witnessed 15,000 people in my church coming together in an arena, I'd be really tempted to shut down the multi-sites and do it every week.

Whiteboard Promo Graphics

If you're interested in helping me spread the word about Whiteboard, here are some cute little buttons that might help. If you use these, you can link to: TheWhiteboardSessions.com.

And would you let me know? I'd like to thank you in person.

Peachy News

Excited to partner with Pixel Peach Studios to create the branding for STORY 2010. Gary and his wife Kaysie have created work for Warner Bros, Taylor Swift, Chris Tomlin, Patty Griffin, and the Passion world tour among others. There are very small -and few- windows of opportunity to work with them. By God's grace, it worked out this year. In for a treat.

Guerrilla Lovers Website Launches

The website for Vince Antonucci's new book Guerrilla Lovers just launched at GuerrillaLovers.com. Vince differentiates between "shock and awe" tactics by churches to reach people... and "guerrilla" tactics. Some great insights in the book, which is in stores February 1.

Working on It, Not Just in It

To get better at what we do, we have to work on it, not just in it.

How many pastors get so lost in message prep that they neglect to work on the structure of the message? They give the audience all of their study... rather than the fruit of it.

How many churches continue to do the same, ineffective things over and over again because they get bogged down in the activities... rather than work on what activities to pursue?

Whiteboard Site Goes Live!

The Whiteboard Sessions website has officially gone live at www.TheWhiteboardSessions.com.

Excited about this year's event. If you were on the 2,000 people who looked at it two weeks ago, you may have to do a hard refresh to see the new homepage (fn + refresh on a Mac).

Two Chances to Get Them for Your Church

I'd like to introduce you to an amazing worship band called The Micah Watson Band. Incredible guys with unrelenting hearts for God... not to mention a great sound.

They've got an album coming out called Daughters & Sons that was produced by Third Day's Mac Powell. He believes in them. I believe in them. And I'd love for you to believe in them.

They're traveling down to Georgia from Virginia in a couple of weeks and are available for 2 dates: Friday, Feb 5 and Sunday, Feb 7. If you'd like to have them, feel free to contact me.

Here's a sample from the album. It's called "Everlasting." That voice... ahhh! Listen to this...

Bob & Weave

Interesting story from Harvest Bible Chapel...

The church had a thriving young adult ministry, but decided to split the 20 year olds from the 30 year olds. So they launched separate mid-week gatherings for both.

The 20s group thrived. Big worship. Big message. Big turn-out. But the 30s group floundered. The community just wasn't happening.

So they changed the game plan. They broke-up the 30s group into smaller groups of 40. Thankfully, it took. The ministry is now back to thriving.

Why is it that struggling churches opt to suffer silently than change their approach to ministry? Why do we confuse repetition for faithfulness?

Forty Minute iPhone Film Fest

Would love to do a 40 minute iPhone film fest at an event using the Owle accessory for 3G. It snaps on a wide-angle lens and enhanced microphone capability to produce better video...

Forty minutes to shoot. Forty minutes to edit.

The Deconstruction of Web Design

Love Bill Gates website.

I'm all about web interfaces that serve content in simple, but beautiful ways.

An Impossible Result

At the Kentucky Derby in 2009, the absolute least-likely horse to win the race blew away the competition.

"Mine that Bird" had a long-standing losing streak. So he surprised everyone by pulling ahead of the pack and actually winning. "An impossible result," according to the announcer.

When the jockey was asked how the horse won, he said, "I rode him like a good horse."

Dream Year is founded on the principle that most of us get ridden like we're bad horses. We need better jockeys.

I still remember when my first boss in ministry told me "You're not good enough." I can remember all the "You can't do that" statements like they were yesterday. One boss mockingly referred to my Moleskine as my "happy book."

Surround yourself with people who believe in you. Ditch the stall they put you in and go achieve an impossible result.

You can watch Mine That Bird win here.

Take-Aways from Harvest Trip

Spent an amazing day at Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, IL yesterday with their team. A couple of lasting impressions:

• Luke MacDonald - great host and kindred spirit in ministry. Excited to see what God's going to do with him.
• James MacDonald - more energy in one finger than I have in my whole body. He just got back from Haiti the night before and was running at 110mph.
• Kent Shaw - executive director of Harvest's Fellowship program for church leaders. He's a pastor's pastor.
• Janine Nelson - directs the radio ministry Walk in the Word. She's a gift to the church from the marketplace.
• Harvest was given a $55 million piece of property by the Hobby Lobby company. It's now a sprawling church campus. Staggering display of God's provision.
• Got to meet Duncan Dodd who is the executive director at Lakewood Church. Great leader.
• Harvest doesn't have a video venue strategy. They're all about planting churches in the best way possible. So they have a beautiful blend of pastor-led church plants, multi-site campuses and video venues. It's healthy, empowering and balanced. Best in the country.

Hologram at STORY 2010

On Monday, I spent the day in Atlanta with some good friends to talk about STORY 2010. We're partnering with the all new Clark to create an "optimized environment" at the conference.

This means a lot of things, but one of the big ones is... hologram technology.

Genius-bothers Houston and George Clark are bringing a jaw-dropping, hologram solution to the ministry world that can enhance how we communicate the Gospel.

That's all I can say for now. But mark your calendars for Sept 23-24 in Chicago. STORY will be a two-day, main event to fuel the creative class in ministry.

ChurchesHelpingChurches.com

I was slated to fly up to meet with Luke MacDonald and his father James tomorrow, but thought it would be canceled due to his trip to Haiti with Mark Driscoll with ChurchesHelpingChurches.com. Looks like we're on - here they're at the airport coming home - so excited to hear stories from the front.

The Final Whiteboard Speaker is...

...Dr. Albert Mohler.

Al Mohler is the president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY and probably one of the most brilliant men to walk the planet. So glad he's representing the Christian faith.

You might know him from the Together 4 the Gospel Conferences which he hosts with Mark Dever, CJ Mahaney and Ligon Duncan. He's also featured regularly on CNN and other news shows as an expert on Christianity. So excited to have him

I'm now having the website speakers updated and will launch in a day or so. You have about 1-2 more days before the price goes up from $69 to $79.

Register [HERE].

MacDonald and Driscoll to the Rescue

Whiteboard speaker James MacDonald is partnering with Mark Driscoll to launch Churches Helping Churches to aid the churches in Haiti. I was going to say "unlikely duo," but you kind of get that description every time you pair Mark Driscoll with someone... =)

Bedside Manner

If there's anything proven in human affairs, it's the eventual decline of those who are elevated by God's sovereign hand. The "hot" personality this year will one day find a less receptive audience. Our generation will stop buying their CDs, reading their books, and going to their conferences.

And the way you go up is the way you go out.

Occasionally, I get my breath taken away by the ruthless bedside manner of ministry assistants to prodigies. I understand the world is currently their oyster. But when you have to say no... when you have to reject someone... by all means, be direct... but add one line of grace. Because there is always a Joshua for every Moses. Okay, rant over.

ORF-ATL

Caught an early morning flight to Atlanta today. Will be conspiring for STORY 2010 in Chicago with some amazing friends Jason Young, Barton Damer, Stephen Brewster, Jeannie Stevens and an incredible company based in northwest Atlanta. I'll tell you more about them with pictures in the next day or so.

As you are reading this, I am no doubting sipping on some Chick-Fil-A sweet tea, listening to an overproduced worship band, and stuck on I-85 traveling north.

What Was Your Pivotal Moment?

I'm curious...

In 1999 when I was a college pastor, I went to Glorieta, New Mexico for a collegiate gathering. Killing time in the afternoon, I ducked into a Lifeway bookstore where I picked up Leonard Sweet's book Aqua Church.

Boom. My life was forever changed. I wouldn't have become a church planter without reading that book.

What was your pivotal moment?