One of my heroes of communication is Kem Meyer. She knows how to stay on message “killah style.” As a large part of my job is leading the communications effort, I have watched her church very closely . I respect Granger Church immensely. They do tons of incredible stuff. They have become a case study in all areas for me. That said, as I watch a lot of their music videos I notice something that I don’t dig so much. They execute very well but some of the stuff seems to lack “soul.” I am not talking about R&B stylings, but believability. The notes are right, arrangements are good, and they have awesome backing video but they often don’t carry passionate communicative weight (the authentic quotient). That is until I saw this one…

http://www.gccwired.com/mediaplayer/playeropener.asp?id=278

In the midst of all the covers and other worship tunes, this one stood out as golden. The guy isn’t their best “polished vocalist” but he does something many of the other vocalists on their tunes don’t do . He makes me believe him. What separates this piece from all the music I took time to watch is that this son was performed with a certain soul and passion lacking in others on their site. Having recently read Jim and Casper Go To Church (where Jim takes an atheist to several different churches and gets the guy’s perspective), I am very sensitive to excellence that is absent of communicative passion which Casper so often tags as “cheesy.” Casper prefers less polish and more soul and if that choice must be made, I agree. Just because we can pull off a song well (be it worship, cover, etc.) doesn’t mean we should. Not only do we have to filter “Does this song’s content go with the message?” but also, “Can we really make the communication of the song believable? Is it authentic to who we are and who delivers it?” This guy, in the midst of their other singers, really stands out as one who does. He seems to have had an experience with the songs content. The cheesy factor on it is -1,000 because he delivers his soul to my soul through the songs “soul.” Watch some of their other stuff in contrast and let me know if you agree or disagree . . .

(disclaimer: I ain’t picking on Granger Church. This church rocks. I am just using them as an example because they are daring enough to post their stuff–which takes big guts. The problem is pervasive.)

Dewitt Jones advises to never stop at the first answer. I would say, “Never close down alternative options until absolutely necessary.” Sometimes we arrive at a creative solution in worship design and think, “That’s done, let’s move onto the next thing.” That will ultimately keep you from doing some of the best worship design. We sometimes operate as if there are a scarcity of answers in design instead of an abundance of them. And so we get a little desperate for a creative breakthough and when we get the first one we stop. DON’T. Keep looking.

Here are three answers Dewitt had when he had an assignment to shoot the Easter lily producing capitol of the world.

Photo 1 was okay. Photo 2 would “work” but it had been seen before. He saw a helicopter and asked to be taken up and came up with the photo that National Geographic chose, #3.

What does this mean in our design? Don’t close your mind to new ideas even once that sermon series idea (or special feature, etc.) is had. We recently did a series on the Sermon on the Mount. Initially, we were going to call it Inverted Reality since Jesus takes what is normally thought of as right side up and he flips our natural way of thinking on his head. We had a base image and some ideas in the hopper. It would have been easy for us to stop there. We didn’t. Instead we ended up with the much simpler Upside Down.

A much cleaner and clearer metaphor solution. This also tied to a Jack Johnson base song for the pre-message bump and a custom video we did that made more sense with the phrase Upside Down versus Inverted Reality. It would have been easy for us to stop at solution one. Thankfully, we didn’t. Begin to see your first answer as a safety net to allow you to continue on to other ideas.

Other articles in this series.

Part Uno

So Easter is over and you are fried. You decide to take a vacation and in mid-flight your plane goes down and miraculously you survive on a desert island with a Sony Walkman, tons of AA batteries and only 6 CD’s. Which CD’s would you wish you had remembered to pack?

• 1. J.S. Bach Complete Harpsichord Works (for reflective sunsets)
• 2. Aaradhna Amrit Vani (for morning meditations)
• 3. Radiohead Kid A (afternoon nap chill out)
• 4. John Piper Romans mp3 CD (feeding or maybe Allister Beg)
• 5. Ani Difranco Revelling Reckoning (for the angst of loneliness)
• 6. Oz Noy, Tribal Tech, Metheny or another instrumental burner (to give me musical hope)

Your turn…

Several years ago Bobb Biehl shared several questions with Bob Roberts that are helpful in leading others. As you lead your volunteer teams or paid staff members these will help everyone stay on your timelines, head off problems before they spiral out of control, keep everyone in the communication loop and focused on the priorities.

• 1. What DECISIONS do you need from me?
• 2. What PROBLEMS are keeping you from your priorities?
• 3. What PLANS are you making (which we haven’t discussed)?
• 4. What PROGRESS have you made?
• 5. On a scale of 1-10, how are your PERSONALLY? Why?
• 6. How can I pray for you?

For additional wisdom nuggets such as these, sign up for Bobb Biehl’s Quick Wisdom emails at www.quickwisdom.com. He sends them out 3 to 5 times a month. They are extremely helpful and concise.

In a recent staff meeting, Bob challened us on thinking in a growth mode rather than a maintenance mode. Many times because of building limitations, system limitations, or other obstacles we start thinking in terms of maintaining what we’ve got. If our overall attendance is stable or slowing growing, our worship ministry’s participation count steady, tech crews staffed at adequate levels, we think everything is “okay.” Most of the time the shift from a growth mentality to maintenance mentality is subtle. So how do you break out of it?

• 1. Count accurately and consistently. At NorthWood, we do not count duplicates of anything (ex. people who attend service an hour and then work in Children’s ministry, usher, tech etc. the second hour are counted once). Even if you choose not to do that, make sure every ministry is counting in the same manner so you measure overall growth. You need solid individual numbers to make sure you are really tracking whether growth is happening or not.
• 2. Ask the hard question, “What would it take if I absolutely had to grow my area of ministry by 50% in one year?” Be brutally honest in your answers.
• 3. Don’t hold any system sacred. A system should always serve to mobilize people, not people moblizing the system. If your system is the limiting factor, blow it up. (Ex. Several years ago we had maxed out our available singing positions so we started bridge team -kind of choir- that sings odd weekends. If we need to we could start a second bridge team that sings even weekends which would open our growth up to 40+ singers).
• 4. Fractal your positions to create new openings. Have each person serving in any position right down all the tasks they do. Then take several of their sub-tasks and create an entry position for someone to get involved. (ex. Our stage manager has several responsibilities including checking to make sure the plasma cheat monitors and foyer monitors are working. We will soon be breaking this out as an entry level position and the person will also monitor the service from The Village -foyer- to make sure that the experience there is good in terms of volume and screen content. This creates an opening for a new person and gives that area more attention to detail.)
• 5. Seek Outside Assistance. Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Sometimes an outsider/consultant can instantly see obstacles to growth because they are not so close to the situation or any particular system as we are. Abraham Maslow would add this to conversation, ” When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.” An outsiders perspective can sometimes bring with it a new tool. We have done numerous consultations with worship ministries and have been consulted as many times. Make sure you have a wise consultant who will understand your DNA and vision.
• 6.Details, details, details. Growth happens not from one massive “fix” but from a myriad of growth blocking details receiving attention. Stop looking for the one big fix and hit the details.
• 7. Seek God! There are obviously huge spiritual implications for growth. Are we praying, seeking God, being obedient, loving others and having faith? Hitting #1-6 hard without #7 might lead to outward growth, but it won’t be God honoring or sustainable.

From the human vantage point there is a single element to growth. . . problem solving. Growth strategies really come down to solving the barrier problems to open up the funnel for others to come. Sometimes these problems are in our communication systems, assimilation systems, care systems or other means of working to include people. Identifying these problems and tackling them is key from moving from maintenance to growth mentalities. Don’t be afraid of the problem or the problem solving exercise. Ask the hard questions this week.

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. –Theodore Rubin.

This is totally addicting…

http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/

Just start typing the words hit space bar between. David has come in first at 68 wpm (with ten mistakes) and I have come in second at 67 wpm (with three mistakes). He better watch his back.

[via our graphics artist David Wen]

Sometimes we need to reign in those ideas….

[via Live. Work. Play. by my friend Jon Sampson]

Men get drug by their wives for a once a year Easter visit to “dreaded Church.” In that light, we wanted to create a series that a dude would go, “Wow, a bare minimum, that was better than I thought it would be.” So we created a special man friendly series that includes lots of testosterone elements and bounce back events. (Yes, we’ll get phone calls on some of our wording, but any mailer we don’t get calls on tends to not get anyone in the door anyway.) The series features video testimonies of guys who have came to Christ later in life and what drew them to God, a live testimony from Tommy Maddox, and man centered messages. We are thinking it will appeal to women who want their husbands, boyfriends or sons to get a life (or at least a spiritual life). The bounce backs include a motorcycle ride to Hico where dudes can get to know other dudes in our Church and see they aren’t weirdos (so please no NorthWood guys show up if you are a weirdo…hahaha), a golf tournament, men’s breakfast with Pat Combes, and other dude stuff. We’ll let you know how it goes.

National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones has an incredible video out on creativity (and some stout articles as well). He defines creativity as the ability to see the ordinary as extraordinary. What if we were to take his principles and apply them to worship design? In this series of worship posts we’ll do exactly that adding some insight from so of our other favorite creativity gurus.

“Creativity is a matter of perspective.”

Some of the most amazing photographs Jones takes are of the ordinary with a radical change of perspective. How do we change perspectives in a worship service? As we believe worship is a divine dialogue of God and man, we start with the message and work forwards and backwards from it in our design.  Here are some questions we are asking:

• 1. How can we make the familiar unfamiliar again?
• 2. What sets of eyes and ears have and have not experienced this in our community? What people in the Bible experienced this and what was their experience before and after this?” (”This” being whatever the text speaks of…forgiveness, judgment, justification, transformation, serving, etc.)
• 3. What elements can we use to help people realize they are seeing through certain lenses/perspectives and what can we do to change their point of view? (This can be a play on Dallas Willard’s fundamental question of discipleship, “What does Jesus believe/do that our people don’t believe/do? What do our people believe/do that which Jesus doesn’t believe/do?” We are working on people’s assumptions here?
• 4. How can use a different or unexpected medium to communicate?
• 5. What is a response to this new perspective on old Truth that would stir people’s hearts and minds because it asks them to respond to the Truth in a new way?

You change perspective by changing the character viewpoint and/or time reference of a story, photograph, worship service, etc. Here are some example of how this works:

Our Good Friday service is heavily liturgical and symbolic. We change the time reference most people have to the Cross by not hinting one bit at the Resurrection during our Good Friday. Most of the time Christians experience the Cross as an event conjoined to the resurrection (which is very much needed). On Good Friday, we are trying to get people to experience the cross minus the resurrection. Each year we flip out the character reference point. One year the cross was experienced through Celtic eyes. One year through the Prophet Jeremiah’s eyes and his speaking of a cup of wrath. One year through a physician’s eyes as we had narrative readings about the medical aspects of the cross and what Jesus endured. One year through the eyes of a someone who didn’t need eyes to see as the whole service was tactile. One year through someone on the streets of Jerusalem as our congregation journeyed on a pilgrimage through the building the led up to the cross (foot washing, monologues, a Gethsemane prayer garden, etc.). With these changes in perspectives, new aspects of the Cross unfold.

Easter definitely has a core story that needs to be told. We don’t deviate from the core narrative. But how do we change perspectives on it to open up new insight into the death and resurrection of Christ? This year we are doing a series called Man Up (on manhood) and realized one of the things men suffer from is a feeling of invincibility. We are approaching the Passion narrative through the eyes of Peter who must have felt invincible as they walked into the hosannas on Palm Sunday. “I will be the right hand man of the new emperor of the Kingdom of God.” But what a punch in the gut was the cross. Now he pigeon holes up in the Upper Room and feels very “vincible.” But the resurrection restores his hope and his true purpose in the Kingdom. Same story, different set of eyes.

In your worship design, how can you move the perspective so that people encounter God and the story of God with us in new ways? What dramatic shifts can you make and what subtle shifts can you make in character and time of reference?

If there is anything we are obsessed with at NorthWood it’s the Sermon on the Mount and its implications for discipleship. In light of our Upside Down series on the Sermon, we offer the following Life Focus Questions for you to use that correlate to each Beatitude. Take it and use it how you want.

the-beatitudes-life-focus-questions.pdf

Several of you have said you were using this Good Friday Service and needed instructions. Our Stage Designer/Set Manager Sherri Sokoly just shot me the following instructions in a powerpoint file. We are expecting a picture of the cross being disassembled to be emailed to us soon. Check out the video to see what this thing looked like in full-scale.

Here is: good-friday-cross-building-instructions.ppt

Blurry but a reference:

As a follow up, here is the other side of the coin of what a fantastic environment feels like for an employee.

We had “wordpress issues” and were unable to post or respond to your posts. Cristian just hacked it and did his voodoo on it to get the site working. (Okay, technically Cristian doesn’t know any voodoo art forms nor would he condone them). We are now officially almost back (posting and comments are working but we are attempting to restore trenches/categories and the about us page).