worship trench » 2008

Archive for June, 2008

The Innovation Avalanche

Monday, June 30th, 2008

As usual, the people at trendwatching deliver. What are the implications for the Church?

How do we remain globally focused but also be hyperlocal in its expression?

Can the crowdexpress work to initiate missional endeavors apart from our main budgets or strategy structures? Will the great potential for buy-in engage more folks?

How can we turn the itgredients concept of “desperate attempts to consume anything that other people haven’t” into a Christ-centered passion to reach the more difficult places in the world where they can be pioneers, going where others have not? Or is this a consumption-only centered approach that panders to the “me only” attitude?

Should we be tryvertising ministry opportunities in the church where for a given week people could “test out” serving in a ministry to see if their gifting and skill sets match the needs of the position?

What would infinite transparency look like if it were lived out in our Teams(small groups) in terms of accountability?

Posted in 4 implement | 1 Comment »

How To Stop Writing Crummy Posts

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Were that we all Shakespeare. Alas, we are not. There is help for the struggling writers. These tools will help your writing be more pointed and your readers more attentive.

A summary technique article by Roy Peter Clark, in my opinion, one of the wisest writers on technique.

Also, for a small investment in your blogging ministry, consider 50 Essential Writing Tools also by Roy Peter Clark.

Here is one of his 50 tools as a sample for you to peruse:

CUT BIG, THEN SMALL.

After we overcome writer’s block, it is easy to fall in love with our words. That is a good feeling, but it can lead to a bad effect.
When we fall in love with all our quotes, characters, anecdotes, metaphors, it seems impossible to kill any of them. But kill we must. In 1914 British author Arthur Quiller Couch wrote it bluntly: “Murder your darlings.”

Such ruthlessness is best applied at the end of the process, where creativity can be moderated by cold-hearted judgment. A fierce discipline must make every word count.
“Vigorous writing is concise,” wrote William Strunk when E.B. White was still his student. “A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that he make every word tell.”

But how to do that?
Begin by (more…)

Posted in 4 implement, recon | No Comments »

Criminal. Another Personal Worship Slam Poem.

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

In order to try to force my super analytical mind to read scripture differently, I am writing on poetry on certain reflections (though not as often as intended). After the initial work Apple Pie, here is a second reflection on the contrast of the criminal at Jesus’ side and his probable pre-cross attitude at his trial vs. Jesus’ attitude. And then I ask, when I am “caught in sin,” how much am I like the criminal trying to justify my doing of it so strongly instead of receiving grace.

Criminal

criminal
screaming His innocence
forecasting his acquital
surrounded by slick suits and paid prognasticators
lawyers, spinning evidence like swirling dervishes
painting pictures in the color of doubt
image, controlled and well alibied
the perfect media darling

Innocence
Silent before accusers
forecasting death
abandoned by all but those who would seek his demise
framed in a crown of thorns and a suit of beaten skin
image, broken and
the world’s scapegoat.

Posted in theology | No Comments »

No One Path To Salvation

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

According to an increasing number of evangelicals, there isn’t…hmmm, not such good news.

Posted in theology | 2 Comments »

Our Top 10 WT Posts of “All Time”

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Okay, granted our lifespan has been a mere 1 1/2 years…but still, traffic is good and here is what google analytics spits out as our top 10.

Posted in news | No Comments »

25 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All Time

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

Do you agree with the list?

Posted in recon | 3 Comments »

Coldplay Gonna Get Sued (aka How a Song Gets Stuck in Your Head)

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

According to “The Ticket 1310″ radio, Chris Martin was actually at a Creaky Board’s show in NYC and bobbing his head to the song a long while before he wrote his song. Hopefully it is a case where it subtly got into his head. It happens. Several times I have written a “great new worship song” and as I play it for someone they start singing different lyrics and I think “CRUD.” The difference is, I don’t put it on my platinum selling album…hahaha. Remember kids, plagiarism is not our friend.

Posted in recon | 8 Comments »

Yes we know….Firefox issues

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

~~Yes, we are aware that Firefox is ready the page funny. We should have it fixed by Wednesday. IE and Safari are working fine.~~

Posted in news | No Comments »

Our Current Series Video Bump….Very Nice Work Chris

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

Our own Chris “the College Wiz” made this bump for our I Corinthians series called Core. Check it out…

Core Series Bump from worshiptrench on Vimeo. Wordpress Wordpress CMS

Posted in 3 design | 1 Comment »

Treating Your Employees Like Customers

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

A great post on 37signals dealing with Southwest Air’s attitude toward their employees and why people love working there. I can attest that my next door neighbor hurt her back working on as a check-in attendant for them and they have seen to it that she gets the best doctors and care and she even has a professional nurse that goes to her specialists appointments with her to make sure my neighbor is understanding the medical jargon and so the specialists are not counter-productive of one another in their treatments.

Posted in 1 people | No Comments »

Free Happy Day Backing Video With Click Track

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Here is a freebie background video with click-track to use with your band/vocalists for Happy Day by Tim Hughes. We used this song on Easter though this celebratory song can be used anytime.The YouTube preview is very brief and you can hear both click and audio track. The real video has only click. Please, help us conserve bandwidth by watching the preview and deciding if it would seriously be considered for usage in your service before downloading the 70meg mpeg1 file (and get a sandwich cuz it will take awhile).

Here is the video file: http://www.mediafire.com/?tim3meom4×5

(We are hosting the file at mediafire who offer great hosting of large files.)

Here is the chart: happy-day-chart.pdf

Make sure you handle your reporting to CCLI and support Tim Hughes by purchasing the album itunes or at your favorite bookstore.

Posted in free tools | 5 Comments »

Why I (used to?) Stink at (some) Vacationing

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

I just got back from Piper and my anniversary trip (14 years of goodness baby). If you know me, you know that I thrive on efficiency. I tend to run with the RPM gauge a click below redline but can usually keep from getting into redline because of my detailed (some of my staff would say anal) systems. So when my wife proposed this year’s vacation I listened and had to stop and unnaturally say, “Okay, if that is what you want to do, let’s to” with fake smile on my face. The vacations I plan go like this. We go to London, wake up at the crack of dawn and go from historical site to historical site all day until we wrap it up with a nice slow dinner to counteract the pace we went at all day. New York City, same philosophy. But my wife was proposing something different. Three days in the middle of the Texas Hill Country in a cabin . . . no museums, historical places, or five star french restaurants to end the day. I set about packing and realized all I needed was some flip-flops and shorts/t-shirts. Okay, easy. Then we made the drive.

Last Night in Civilization. In deference to me, my wife planned for us to stay an intitial night in Austin where we caught a great Indian dinner at the Clay Pit and headed to Sixth Street to hear a Delta Spirit and Matt Costa concert. And the next morning we left civilization for the outskirts of Wimberley, TX to a cabin and vast nothingness.

Day 1 in nowhere. As we entered the Cabin complete with hot tub and an observatory on top I thought, “Not too bad.” We sat and talked with no distractions sans our 3 children. I then grilled using charcoal in a gas only grill (they had run out) that ended up shooting sparks all over deck making the BBQ much more exciting. As I drove out later and saw the huge ‘extreme burn ban’ sign, I felt lucky Smokey The Bear didn’t come knocking or, worse, sneaking into the cabin at night to eat me.

Day 2. We slept in…ahhh. Okay technically I slept in and my lovely wife whose biorhythmic clock has been permanently altered by 5:30 a.m. daily runs managed to make it until about 6:30 a.m. She graciously set on the balcony and read until I awoke. Being the terrific husband that I am, I had brought a copy of Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. While not nearly as sound as When Sinners Say I Do, it has some incredible conversational exercises in it which we proceeded to talk through all morning. Then a fresh cheese, fruit and deli meat lunch on fancy french bread (see I almost got my 5 star restaurant). After lunch, lounging in bed reading Chief of Staff , further kindling my fascination with all things Lyndon B. Johnson brought more alive that we were only about 30 miles from his ranch. And then drifting off into a quaint summer nap. Hey, I wasn’t doing too badly at this chilling out thing after all. We took a long post-nap afternoon walk over some beautiful hilly roads . . . thank you God, that I have resumed running a bit in addition to my swimming so I wouldn’t appear unmacho and wimpy in front of my marathon wife climbing the mini-mountains. . . you are truly a good God. Followed by a nice steak dinner at the one nice restaurant a short drive into the village and then back to the cabin, enjoying a beautiful sunset (censored at this point…..)

Day 3. Woke up a bit earlier and turned the hot tub into a swimming pool by turning off the heater and so we soaked in a bit of sun, chatted, and read a bit more, dipping into the water periodically. I was actually enjoying chilling out. WOW! Then we packed up and made the drive home to Fort Worth town. I was tempted to stop by and take my pulse and blood pressure on the Albertson’s b.p machine …you know the one that feels like its going to shoot your bicep up into your brain. I had a feeling they had both dropped dramatically (not that they were anywhere in the concern zone before).

Home Again. We got home and greeted mom-in-law and dad-in-law and the three urchins (MiMi let’s them where whatever they want, a dangerous supposition for a 4 year old spitfire girl). We were told that our eldest, 8-year-old Lexi, had thoroughly laid down the law as mini-mom throughout the weekend (I am still fairly sure she is going to be a Supreme Court Justice or a Judaizer as she loves her some rules). Later I sat down at the computer and planned next year’s vacation options. Either a frenetic sunrise to sunset daily historical extravaganza through our nation’s capital or, if funding permits, a blitzkrieg tour of Germany and Austria. Maybe I didn’t learn so well after all.

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The Decision Matrix–Understanding Where to To Focus Your Energy

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

In my years at NorthWood of being on exec staff, I have realized there aren’t that many types of decisions. In fact, there are only four.

Type 1. HARD DECISIONS that are EASY TO IMPLEMENT

These are decision you aren’t totally convinced are the right decision and the answers don’t completely jump of the page at you. There seem to be several good options available which can cloud decisiveness. Often you feel like you seek God and sort of jump off the cliff adapting during the fall. Once the decision is made, communicating it and getting people on board will not be that difficult.

An example of this at NorthWood was in the Spring about 9 months before we moved into our new building. We knew soon that we’d have plenty of space, but our growth was curtailed by current space. We seriously debated starting a fifth service to open growth and build momentum. We weighed the decision over and over finally deciding not to do the service. Could we have grown more if we would have done it? Maybe. Could we have burned out our unpaid staff (we don’t use the word volunteers as it communicates things we don’t like…ha)? Yes. If we would have started a fifth service it would coincided with our most populated hour. It wouldn’t have been that hard to get people to go to it and our band/vocalists etc would have rolled with it as it was going to be an acoustic unplugged service and children/student ministries were already rolling that hour. We looked at several options: an unplugged/less unpaid staff situation; another time and more. Clarity came when we said, “If we filled up the new building the day it opened, what is the long-term solution we think we use?” The answer was Sunday night. So why would we spend energy to move people and start a stop-gap measure. We lived with the crowdedness for 9 months and focused on developing leaders. That was a vital decision as we have grown almost 20% since entering the new facility.

Type 2. EASY DECISIONS that are HARD TO IMPLEMENT

Sometimes the decision is easily jumps off the page at you but isn’t as easy to get people to initially “buy in.” Often the reluctance to buy in is because of unfamiliarity with new processes and ideas or nostalgia for a past process or program. The key to this type of decision is having a great communicative process to share the vision, answer questions, and speak about why the decision is the best for the long-term health of the church.

An example from NorthWood was when we needed to move from Awana’s to our new T-Kids discipleship program. Awana’s is a good program that has a loyal following but we needed a program that carried out T-life language and missional values while still retaining the strengths of scripture memory of Awana’s. To the memory portion we wanted to add a life application discussion so kids could see how the verses intersected their lives. This was a major change for us and had some initial obstacles as Awana’s carries some real nostalgia. We sat down in meetings with all the Awana’s leaders and parents and shared our vision. We also had a controlled (not free-for-all) question and answer time where many of the parents realized that the attributes they liked from Awana would carry into T-kids. As a sign of the successful communication and that we made the right decision . . . our kids discipleship numbers grew from 150 to 355 overnight with the program change.

Type 3. EASY DECISIONS that are EASY TO IMPLEMENT.

The danger here lies in laziness in the process. You begin to think “this is a no brainer” and “everyone will be on board.” Sure they will, but only if they know what they are getting on board. You really need to communicate the who, what, when, and where details of this decision in contrast to the more “why” communication of the type 2 decision. You don’t want people saying, “Well, I would have loved to be a part of the change but I didn’t know the details.”

Type 4. HARD DECISIONS that are HARD TO IMPLEMENT.

These are the toughies and require leaders to be leaders. Don’t be paralyzed with fear. You’ll need to seek God hard, have good data, seek wise counsel from others who have journeyed the same path, and communicate fully the why and details of the idea. Make sure you have the “meeting before the meeting” with key leaders to first sell them on the idea. They will then serve as your advocates rather than creating havoc in the public forum.

Key Decision Questions adapted from Bobb Biehl:

If I had unlimited resources would I still make the same decision?

Is this decision a stop-gap or does it set us up for the long haul?

What are the key assumptions we are making and have we examined them to make sure they are true?

What will happen if we don’t make this decision right now?

Can the decision be broken into phases and at some point we can”no go” it?