Misc

Whiteboard on Thursday

Will be at Whiteboard on Thursday just outside of DC. Excited about being there, seeing a ton of friends, meeting some new ones, and also watching Ben Arment in action running the show. Ben is joining our team officially on June 1, and can't wait to have him on board working on all kinds of great stuff, plus continuing with Whiteboard next year. 

Ken Coleman and I will be recording part of the next Catalyst podcast live while I am on location at Whiteboard. Rumor is that Steve Fee is going to be sitting co-pilot next to Ken hosting the episode while I am absent. That should be a blast!

If you are attending Whiteboard, let me know as I would love to connect in person. And if you can't attend, you can catch live updates from the event on Conference Channel. You might even see yours truly doing some live updates with interviews of speakers and attendees. You can watch live or catch the archived interviews. 

Best worship song of the 90's

In continuing with our tradition of christian old school from a post a couple of weeks ago, let's go to the worship music genre. What is your favorite worship song from the 90's? And if you can't remember the decade or the specific time of a worship song, just go with your gut on "old school." Basically anything previous to Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, or Hillsong. Mine is easy, and a tie- Lord I Lift Your Name on High and You Are My All in All. You Are My All in All was written by Dennis Jernigan. Used to attend the monthly Night of Praise with Dennis Jernigan in Edmond, OK, where he rocked the house on his piano and came with up some amazing worship songs.  A close runner up is You are So Good to Me.

How about you?

Interview with David Crowder

The most recent episode of the Catalyst podcast features an interview I recently did with David Crowder. Listen on the link above, or if you are an itunes user, you can listen or download from itunes directly. Also, you can actually SEE Ken and I doing the podcast below. This is our first time to actually video the taping- as you can see, our studio needs some help!

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2866538608865126548]

David has some great things to say to church leaders, and gives some really good perspective on the way to keep community in focus even when you become very well known.

 

Lunch today with One Atlanta founders

oneatlantamusic.com  

Had lunch today with Danny Stephens and Dan Hannon from One Atlanta Music. They started One Atlanta only a few months ago. It was great hearing about their vision for helping a range of artists in the Atlanta area, and ultimately creating a collection of singers, songwriters and musicians from Atlanta who can have an impact locally, nationally and globally. Danny Stephens is the former Music Director at Buckhead Church and helped start the popular Small Town Poets band back in 1996. Dan Hannon toured around the US with King Konga for many years, and recently has been active as a producer, helping craft Aaron Shust's award winning album Anything Worth Saying

Once again, there seemed to be little if no interest in my musical abilities..... I will keep trying, but I guess my dream for my own album of hiphopcountrypoprockjazzsoul is just not ever going to come to fruition. 

College Football - Best Team of the Decade?

We had an interesting conversation this morning among our team regarding the best college football team over the last 8 years (since 2000). My immediate answer was Oklahoma, but I am obviously biased. In any case, it was an enlightening discussion with some pretty heated debate. We felt like it was a tie between Oklahoma and USC, with a close runner up being Ohio State. Thanks to our resident college football expert Steven Donnelly for a quick run down on the appropriate stats to help us come up with our final answers! So the second question was why? Why have these teams been so consistently better than other teams in college football over the last 8 years? Here are some of the reasons:

1. Great Head Coach

2. Immediate re-emergence or continuation of a solid tradition; respected program

3. Strength and physical training- worked in the off season to get in shape

4. Know how to win; a desire to compete

5. right players to fit the system (developing players)

6. recruiting the best talent (finding players)

This kind of list has immediate practical application to our worlds of work and ministry, and why some teams succeed and others don't. Also, it was the combination of a great offense and a great defense. This is obvious I know, but think about the teams that are midlevel college programs- Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Michigan State. These teams are usually lopsided towards either offense or defense, and typically have 4 out of the above 6 outlined. 

Do you agree with Oklahoma, USC and Ohio State being the top three teams of the decade so far?

What other qualities are key to great teams?

Creativity Rules

So we had another creative meeting yesterday for Catalyst. Photo Really fun ideas generated during the meeting. Plus we discussed in greater detail the theme of "together" for this years event. We met at the global headquarters of BigStuf, in the heart of downtown Alpharetta, GA, just across the street from the headquarters of Passion. Included in the meeting- Kevin Sterner, Reggie Joiner, Ben Arment, Lanny Donoho, Brian Pirkle, Ken Coleman, Jeff Shinabarger, Brian Cole, Jeremie Kubicek, Sheila Shouldeen, Melissa Kruse and myself. It is always a highlight to get together and dream big and think outside the box with our creative team. The reason we are so intensely focused on this is very clear for me- God demands our best, and everything we do is with excellence. "Our standard for excellence is not measured against others, it is measured by our overall potential." Thanks to Jeff Henderson for that quote.

Thought I would provide a list of some of the highlights and major areas we discussed:

1. Speaker flow and overall lineup- the lineup of speakers this year is off the charts, and will provide a great mix of Biblical leadership challenge, practical application, and outside the box learning.

2. Big idea brainstorming- we already have at least 20 good ideas that will be really fun and totally out of the box (something we strive for), and this is only our first official creative meeting of the year leading up to October. One key part of a good brainstorming environment- the response to any idea is always "yes" or "yes and" and is never "no" or "but" or "can't." The technical producers and operations minded people always have a hard time with this one!

3. Ben Arment is a great addition to the team. Ben brought some new creative energy to the team, and also provided great insight from a church planter, blogger and innovator perspective.

4. Theme discussion- the theme of "Together" makes for a great angle to provide some serious moments as well as really, really funny moments. There was smoke coming out of Lanny's ears the whole time due to his wheels turning.... Let's just say Lanny will be busy over the next several months working on some pretty cool stuff. Together is directly tied to the phrase "intentional about community" which is one of the 6 elements of a Catalyst leader, and so vital to the life and ultimate success of a leader. You can't finish well if you finish alone.

5. One of the very important angles to this entire year for Catalyst in general, and not just the event, is the reality that the power of the Catalyst community lies in those who are on the front lines of ministry. See the Catalyst Road Trip- the whole point behind traveling around the country visiting leaders is to hear their stories and allow others to learn from them. Many of these frontline next-gen leaders will never have a platform like the Catalyst stage, and we want to be a conduit for others to hear what they are doing. So if you've seen the Catalyst website or brochure or anything associated so far with this year, you might know that we are using almost 2,000 headshot pics from the Catalyst community to visualize this idea. So look for a continuation of this at the event- you will probably see your mug shot somewhere!

6. Overall experience- lots of discussion around the worship experience, the learning environment, creativity, and aesthetics, based on feedback from last year as well as what we are seeing and hearing currently. Look for a few surprises.

and this serves as an official entry for the Thursday creative chaos over at Ragamuffin Soul.

Best Advice Ever

The most recent issue of Fortune has a good article on the power of good advice, and actually includes a number of insights from leading business moguls on the best advice they ever received. 

 

Was thinking about the best personal advice I ever received: probably a three-way tie between my mom, my dad and St. Francis of Assisi. My dad's advice- "Never let someone out work you." My mom- "present yourself with excellence, including your appearance, your cleanliness (cleaning behind your ears!), your clothing, and your words." And St. Francis- "Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." He actually didn't tell me this one in person, and could be used by many others.... But it is such a good statement I had to include it. 

How about you? The best advice ever?

Young Influencers List- May Edition

Here is the May edition of who should be on your radar screen- The Young Influencers List. 1. Bobby Triplett- pastor of a great church plant called Element Church in Lakeland, FL.

2. Jared Herd- great new young communicator. former associate teaching pastor at Rock Harbor in Orange County, and frequent speaker at Big Stuf Camps, Orange Conference, North Point, and other student ministry environments.

3. Shauna Niequist- The author of Cold Tangerines, daughter of Bill Hybels, and former creative director at Mars Hill Bible Church.

4. Chris Capehart and Micah Davis- founders of Roov.com in Dallas, an innovative new social network community.

5. Elizabeth Paul- have you seen the latest commercials with Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, or Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson sitting together on a couch talking about solving the current global warming issues? Well, Elizabeth is involved in crafting those commercials.

6. Krish Kandiah- my friend over in Cambridge in the UK, who helps run the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, and is a budding author, speaker and thought leader for the global church. Started Slipstream which is a great network for young global leaders in the church.

Drive, Drive, Drive

Well the month of conferences continues- Q, ARC, Exponential, Orange, Drive and also a personal stop for some incredible worship at the Passion Regional event. It's been a crazy month filled with lots of conversations, updates and new friends.  Drive is happening over the next couple of days, and is now in full swing- 2 main sessions so far from Andy (really good stuff), and lots of breakouts with North Point staff. Ran into Carlos this morning, and disappointed I missed the bloggers get together last night. He's got pictures of the whole crew who got together and hyperlinks to each of their blogs over at his site. Plus, he is twittering notes and fun things from the sessions. You can also check out Loran Lichty's notes on the sessions. 

Wanted to post a few pics from Drive. Always fun hanging at the Catalyst booth.... you never know who is gonna show up. Got a visit from Kristian Stanfill last night, and then had lunch with Steve Fee today. Sidenote- Steve's song "All Because of Jesus" is #1 on the charts right now. Congrats Fee Band! Saw Chrystina Fincher in the hallway after her incredible opener to main session 2 this afternoon, and then also had a stop by Todd Fields at the Catalyst booth this afternoon as evidenced behind Lanny below. And saw Eddie Kirkland last night as well. Kristian, Steve and Eddie on stage last night was powerful. I am wondering when any of these great worship leaders are going to ask me to join them on stage.... to bust out some Lord I Lift Your Name on High or some Blind Man. Just let me know when you need me.....

[gallery]

One Prayer

If you don't know about One Prayer, you need to. This is a major initiative launched by Craig and Bobby at LifeChurch.tv, and they have hundreds of churches participating along with them, in an initiative that is beautifully representing a spirit of working together within the Church. The question being asked is, "If God would answer one prayer for the Church at large, what would you pray?" The series starts on June 7-8, and is a four-week series. Get involved. Pastors. Get involved.

Notes from Orange Conference sessions

[gallery]So the plan was to post notes and pics from each session at Orange this past week. However, things were hopping at the Catalyst Road Trip Van, and I also spent some time with some leaders who were in town, including Dave Kinnaman, Chuck Bomar, Carey Nieuwhof, Jared Herd, Steve Fee, Gabe Lyons, Lanny Donoho, and others. So didn't really have the time to take notes. You can get the notes from each session at Nick Carnes blog, who did a great job of capturing the sessions and keeping up with Louie and Francis! Way to go Nick.

Artists:: Together:: Catalyst

We are launching a pretty innovative idea tied to Catalyst this year and our theme of "Together."  One of the ways we want to promote a sense of unity within the body of Christ is to have ARTISTS from all different backgrounds and areas of expertise from all over the world submit their work that best represents the theme of together. Check out Corey Jamison's blog to see the first submission that came in last week. Find out all the details on the Catalyst blog. Artists- would love to have you involved. 

Christian Old School

OK, who can remember the first concert they ever attendeed? Or better yet, the first Christian music concert you ever attended? I can remember the first Christian concert I went to - in Tulsa, OK at the Mabee Center, which is the basketball arena on the campus of Oral Roberts University- Carman and Farrell and Farrell in concert together. It was sweet! The song Let the Whole World Know by Farrell and Farrell was a favorite during my fifth grade year. First general concert was Alabama- at the Tulsa Civic Center, with my family. I was around 8 years old. I remember them playing the song "Old Flame" and everyone in the entire arena got out their lighters and were waving them back and forth. It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Growing up in a small town in Oklahoma - it's easy to be entertained!

Plus, can anyone remember the cheezy cover bands that used to do tours in schools/communities across the country, and would play cover songs from the popular bands of the time. Many of them were sort of undercover Christian evangelists, and would do some sort of a low level alter call at the end of their service. Some of these guys were actually pretty good musicians. I remember a wanna be Van Halen group coming through Bristow, OK and we all thought these guys were incredibly cool. I got to go backstage in their dressing room and meet them because my dad was the principal of the school and the concert was at the school gym. They had bandanas everywhere, terrible mullets, and spandex tights galore. I actually signed up to be part of their fan club, on the spot! My first real look at the behind the scenes world of entertainment!

Fee Band, Orange Opener

Just hung out with The Fee Band backstage at Orange. Steve, Matt, Heath, and Brandon are great guys and have huge hearts and a major passion for leading people in worship. In my opinion, Steve is one of the top worship leaders out there, and their album Fee is one of my favorite worship albums in the last couple of years. Also, the opener for Orange was sweet. They put together a string of great quotes from prominent pastors and church leaders over the past several years, and then strung together the entire list of churches who are represented at Orange through some cool animation. Major props to Jonathan Bostic for the motion graphics and to Eddie Kirkland for the musical score. Very powerful. Reggie Joiner opened with a great talk on the power of the church. Pictures and notes to follow tomorrow. 

Orange Time

Will be over at the Orange Conference the next couple of days. Orange is put on by the team at reThink Group, good friends of mine and also of Catalyst. I will plan to post some pictures and thoughts from the conference, plus some highlights of speakers and sessions. I went over to Gwinnett Arena to see their stage set up, and it looks really cool, with an innovative ribbon board in the middle of their backdrop made out of myStrips- a visual effect that I don't recall seeing before. I also just saw Reggie Joiner, founder and family ministry extraordinaire, with some kickin new orange nikes on, plus an orange track jacket. I see Reggie quite a bit throughout the year, and I don't think I have ever seen him without something orange on. He really carries out the orange principles! Also ran into Lanny Donoho, who is Reggie's sidekick and also co-host of Catalyst. Lanny was trying on an outfit- can't reveal what character, but you will know soon if you are attending Orange. Let me know if you will be here- would be fun to connect. We will have our Catalyst Road Trip Van out in the front lobby. 

End Times Politics

Glenn Beck, CNN star of his own talk show, had on Joel Rosenberg, the wildly successful author of several political end time books, including the most recent hit Dead Heat which is #11 on Amazon's current bestseller list, along with several other end time and political thriller books, including Epicenter. Joel is an evangelical Christian, and sounds like a pretty legitimate guy. Interesting that Glenn Beck would have him on- not necessary that Glenn would invite him on, because I think he is a Believer, but that CNN would allow this conversation to happen. A topic that can backfire quickly on a TV Network. By the way, Joel used to be an end times strategist for Israel, and is currently consulting with the White House, Congress, the Pentagon, and many others on the End Times and prophetic interpretations from the Bible. I guess the Bush administration is okay with Joel giving insight into End times prophecy, but I wonder if the next administration will see the need to hear from Joel? 

Current Reading List

So here is a breakdown of the books and magazines that are currently on the ole nightstand: 1. Fast Company- the best magazine out there for innovative business ideas. Period.

2. Starfish and the Spider- a great read focused on the difference between a hierarchial organization and one that is decentralized. 

3. They Like Jesus But Not the Church- from my friend Dan Kimball. Provoking, inspiring, and great for discussion among peers. 

4. The Wisdom of Crowds- Similar in many ways to The Tipping Point, but some insightful thoughts on how crowds can lead, learn, and provide hints on the way things work.

5.  The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive- a classic from Patrick Lencioni. 

6.  Know How- by Ram Charan. Ram is a genius when it comes to execution and creating solutions for getting things done. 

7.  Simply Christian- by NT Wright. Been reading this one for quite a while. It is an instant classic. 

What are you reading?