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We've just added producer Ed Saxon to the STORY line-up. Ed produced the film The Silence of the Lambs, which swept the Academy Awards in 1991, and Philadelphia, which won two Academy Awards. He also produced Adaptation, nominated for 4 Academy Awards, and many other films.
Best rate ends tomorrow at midnight. Sign up HERE.
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The first one is Anne Jackson's Kickstarter project to create an ebook entitled Interlude. It's a collection of essays, lyrics, poems and photography from the past 15 years of Anne's life. In my humble opinion, Anne is one of the best writers on the planet. She can melt your face off with just an email or a text message.
The second project is Katie Strandlund's new organization Dirty Work! Katie is the operational guru behind STORY, but she serves as a project manager and personal assistant to organizations all over the country. She's the best of the best, and I wouldn't share her with you, except I want to support her. =)
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I understand the tendency.
You put out a free thing. People sign up. You think you've got a tribe. But you don't.
You have rallied people who want a free thing.
It's an insincere tribe.
I'm interested in finding a sincere tribe. People who are like minded, who have the same collective purpose. People who aren't compelled by freebies but by a cause, a community, a life-altering vision. A fraternity of friends...
Where 10 years from now, everyone looks at us and says, "How did those people happen to know each other way back when?"
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The Advance rate for STORY ends this Friday, July 29. Would love for you to come join the creative class. Also, here are a few promotional graphics in case you'd like to share it with your tribe via blog post, Twitter link or Facebook update. =)
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I admit... I really wanted to see Cowboys & Aliens when I first heard that John Favreau was working on it over a year ago.
But not anymore.
I liked the idea of helpless cowpokes fending off supernatural creatures... unlikely heroes against all odds.
But then I saw the trailer.
It's more alien than cowboy. There are more sonic blasters than six shooters. Digital technology in filmmaking has cheated stories about the human spirit.
I recently read a review in the New Yorker about the movie Super 8 where the critic said he preferred the movie the kids were making in the film than the actual film itself. It was more compelling, more human than the digital overkill of explosions and CGI creatures taking place around them.
Movies have become amusement park rides that are more about shock value than heart value.
Give the cowboys a lasso. Gunpowder even. Have a resident Native American save the day with creative use of a bow and arrow. But for the love, don't give them a sonic blaster.
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Excited to announce the addition of Threadless CEO Tom Ryan to the STORY line-up. Best rate ends July 30.
Threadless is a community-based design company with an ongoing open-call for design submissions from visual artists worldwide. As designs are submitted, the Threadless community of over 1.5 million members cast votes to determine which designs become t-shirts and other products. Threadless is a poster child of “crowdsourcing” and was named by Inc. Magazine as “the most innovative small company in America.”
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Do you know the real trouble with negative feedback? I'll give you a hint. It's not the feeling of rejection or the spirit of criticism that crushes your ginger little heart.
The trouble with most negative feedback is that it's often not given at all. They say nothing...
And quietly put your book in a Goodwill box.
And don't recommend your thing to friends.
And don't show up at your concert.
And don't share your project via word of mouth to their friends. It just dies.
They give you the death blow of non-participation. It gives new meaning to the phrase "silent but deadly."
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I can't announce three final speakers just yet. But here are many of the speakers and performers you'll experience at STORY in Chicago on Sept 15-16. I am super excited for you to join your creative tribe. Register HERE by July 30 for the best rate.
Santino Stoner - director and developer of the Nooma series
Listener - amazingly unique "talk music" performer
Ann Voskamp - extraordinary blogger, writer, spiritual sage
Ed Dobson - magazine editor, former pastor, author, survivor
David Wenzel - principal at Robin Hood Ink and Dot&Cross
Kyle Cooper - leading title sequence creator in Hollywood
Esther Havens - humanitarian photographer
Naima Lett - actor in Curious Case of Benjamin Button and others
Ian Morgan Cron - author of 'Jesus, My Father and the CIA'
Lauren Chandler - artist, blogger, other half of Matt Chandler
Nathan Corrona - super 8 filmmaker and one half of Mars Ill
John Mark McMillan - worship artist from Charlotte, NC
Daniel Bashta - worship artist from Atlanta, GA
Scott Hodge - pastor of the Orchard, artist and activist
Sons & Daughters - worship duo from Nashville, TN
Darren Whitehead - teaching pastor at Willow Creek Church
All the Bright Lights - instrumental brothers Jon & James Duke
Skye Jethani - mng editor of 'Leadership' and Huff Post writer
Ted Dekker - NYT best-selling thriller fiction author
Angela Thomas - speaker and author
Matthew West - recording artist and author
Mark Pierson - author of 'the Art of Curating Worship'
Meredith Andrews - recording artist and worship leader
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Had an amazing meet-up and lunch for Creatives in DETROIT on Friday. STORY's director of strategic partnerships, Sarah Cunningham, led the conversation. Chicago is this Wed!
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I get to speak at Jon Acuff's Quitter event in Nashville on Saturday, July 30. You're going to loove this experience.
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MANY people start to pursue their dreams, but MOST people don't achieve them. That's my experience. Even in Dream Year. I mourn those who start strong and then flounder, give up or walk away. Here's why they do...
1. The dream is much HARDER WORK than they ever realized
2. The allure of a COMFORTABLE alternative
3. The NEAR-BRUSH with failure, set-back or financial loss is too great for them to bear
4. INDECISION. They keep coming up with ideas until the clock runs out. Let me tell you - doing the WRONG thing is better than doing NO thing because at least you learn something
5. SELF-DOUBT. There is absolutely nothing wrong with their resources or giftedness. The defeat is entirely in their heads
6. A dream without PASSION. I pray for holy discontent, holy irritation, holy AGONY - because a whim or a curious interest is not enough to bring any dream to life
7. No FINANCIAL MODEL to make the dream personally rewarding
8. Unwillingness to TURN THE TUMBLERS and adapt the idea until it works. The first try isn't the ONLY try. But they have to say goodbye to the pride wrapped up in the first wrong approach
9. The EMPLOYEE mindset rather than the CEO mindset. Unwillingness to pick up the phone, make the ask, execute the to-do list, approach the customer... whatever it takes to make it happen
10. SPIRITUAL WARFARE, which is meant to be shaping, not debilitating.
My job as a Dream Year coach is to build systems - COUNTER-MEASURES - that help every participant overcome the challenges of becoming ALL that God intended for us to be.
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One of the great tragedies of a social media culture is that we develop 140 character friendships.
We strive for equality in our relationships in order to amass more and more of them, and online platforms offer us the chance to practically avhieve this.
What happened to friendships like Tolkien and CS Lewis?
The ones where you dive deeper, not wider, and accomplish more - personally and professionally - through a life journey?
I think to be a great friend, it requires discrimination against other potential friendships we could have.
We're so busy trying to build platform -- thinking that mass connections will create the most impact -- when history clearly shows that it's always just a few guys in a garage, dreaming, toiling, and praying together, who change the world.
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Josh Garrels blew everyone away at STORY last year. This is some very rough video, but treat yourself right and get some of his music. Don't miss the surprises we've got lined up for this year. Best rate ends July 30. Register [here].
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Some exciting things coming to Dream Year this fall...
Next year, I'm reducing the number of personal coaching openings in Dream Year to just 12 passionate visionaries who want to achieve an audacious goal. The goal is high impact, high return on investment. Application required.
And we're launching a new Dream Year Subscription program that will allow you to go through the process with private films, weekly lessons, and community at just $39 a month. It comes with a milestone creation tool and a journal that prints out at the end of the year. Launches in September.
Finally, the next Dream Year weekend is scheduled in Charlotte, NC on January 27-29, 2012. We're securing a phenomenal venue right now. Seating is limited, and best price for early sign-ups.
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Here's a beautiful rendition of 'Winter Song' by Kari Jobe and Becky Johnson at last year's STORY featuring holographic snow. Raw footage, selected scenes, but turn your speakers up =)
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I made a mistake my first year with STORY.
I tried to gather "communicators" in the church, which included everyone from creatives to ministry leaders to teaching pastors.
I didn't succeed the first year. I just failed well.
There's a great line in The Patriot where Mel Gibson's character tells his rifle-wielding kids, "Aim small, miss small."
I aimed big.
But I learned my lesson for 2010. I narrowed our focus to just the creative class in ministry -- the photographers, designers, dreamers, innovators, musicians, filmmakers and artists who keep our Story from being purely academic.
In Exodus 35, the artists of Israel came together to build a dwelling place for God. They carved poles, fashioned gold, and constructed curtains "with cherubim woven into them by expert hands.” Their job was to envision the kingdom of God and use their gifts to heighten people’s spiritual imaginations.
These weren't priests or prophets. They were creatives.
The spiritual life and the imagination cannot be separated, and it is the role of the creative class to ensure it. As my friend Blaine Hogan says, the artist is the new pastor.
STORY is about fueling the creative class in ministry. And we're coming together in Chicago on Sept 15-16 for an unforgettable two days of connecting, dreaming and learning.
Photos of the inaugural 2009 event at Aurora's beautiful Paramount Theater from Kevin Sterner's iPhone
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