Wednesday Morning Run-Down

• You can be part of a video mash-up at STORY featuring worship artists from all over. See the post below...
• By the way, all of the early "leaked" info about STORY comes on our Facebook page. Good stuff there.
• I finally found a pretty incredible designer for Typepad platforms which would prevent me from ever having to switch to an oh-so-common Wordpress blog. Ugh.
• The new Dream Year website is currently under development by the amazingly talented Elliott Munoz.
• We're sending the inspiring Daley Hake on the road this summer to photograph STORY's speakers for the souvenir program. He caught UCLA screenwriting legend Richard Walter last week, Grammy-winning song-writer David Hodges this week...
• This week, I told my Dream Year class the story of how Willow Association's Jim Mellado nearly died trying to save his son in the ocean. Ever heard that story?
• I was hanging with my boys at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg looking at all the fake trees and canoes, thinking, "Why are we not experiencing the real thing??" I'm on the hunt for a good outdoor experience for kids.
• I wonder how many people took up biking after reading Donald Miller's Million Miles in a Thousand Years. We're selling adventure short, I think. ;)
• Heard an interesting tidbit that Macy Gray's new album is doing so well because all the top producers who were asked to work on it said no. I love an underdog story.
• I was invited to speak on the Nines that Leadership Network is putting together. There was voting, but I'm pretty sure I was appointed by the "electoral college" that is the sheer force of Ed Stetzer's influence.
• Big, new speaker announcement for STORY coming up. Scott Hodge is going to break it first on his new blog

Comments

[Bryan Person]

Hey, Ben: No hatin' on WordPress! There's actually an incredible ecosystem of developers and designers around the platform. I've worked with a couple of them, and have seen WP implementations that are *far* from boring or cookie-cutter!

That said, TypePad has its advantages, too, like not having to worry whether a version upgrade will break a plugin and your site!

[Nick Blevins]

I never fail to laugh at your attempts to make yourself feel good about sticking with TP :)

[Ben Arment]

as long as Seth Godin is still on typepad, I'll feel good about it. =)

[Janet Oberholtzer]

Love your Wed run-downs. I always feel 'in the know' after reading them.

As for adventure - yes, it's where life happens. And go for the real stuff over fake whenever you can. That's why my family and I are headed to a rustic campsite in the middle of nowhere this weekend for the 10th year. About 15 other families go also - there's no showers, no electric and too many kids, mosquitoes and dirt, but we continue to go.

[Jesse Phillips]

Thanks for the run down, Ben! Always interesting! I'm surprised at your aversion to wordpress. IMHO, it's the best, most versatile, most customizable, most easy to use platform out there.

[Kyle Reed]

I have heard the story of Jim Mellado. Pretty crazy stuff.
And I took up biking way before D Miller because of the Tour de France. Somedays I feel like I could be Lance Armstrong, then after 5 miles I realize I am slow and out of shape. Good dose of reality.

[Ben Arment]

janet - love it, you're a true adventurer

jesse - and most common! I have an aversion to the common =)

kyle - i would bike if banana seats were socially acceptable

[Jennifer]

I want to hear the Jim Mellado story.

I had some real life adventure hiking this weekend...everything from dirt surfing down the mountain to caves to a sixty foot high narrow train trellis to cross over rushing water!

[Ben Arment]

jennifer whats ur email

[Bryan Person]

I'm experimenting with the Tumblr platform, too. Like WP, creative "themes" for it are popping up all over the place.

But at the end of the day, if Ben keeps pumping out compelling content, we'll keep coming back for me--regardless of the platform.

[twitter.com/rossandtaya]

Vancouver Island is where it's at for real outdoor adventure, camping, etc. It's like the New Zealand of North America.

Surf at Long Beach,
Inner tube on Cowichan River,
Catch Salmon in Campbell River,
High Ropes course in Nanaimo,
Camp in the Pacific Rim National Park

[Ben Arment]

i'm dying to go to Quebec

[Felicity]

Where can I hear the Jim Mellado story?

[Ben Arment]

emailed it to you Felicity

[Felicity]

You rock.

[Daniel Decker]

I think that is why I like and/or am inspired by you... your creativity and your desire to challenge the status quo. :)