An online magazine for pastors and church leaders.

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Communication & Marketing

An Astronaut Book Promo

Viral video superstar astronaut, Chris Hadfield, asked his son to make a promo video for his new book. Here are the results. [tentblogger-youtube gPw8C1fID80]

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Creative

The Nature of an Artist

You know the guy. The artist. The mad genius. The eccentric. The wild card. That guy on your team that has crazy talent, incredible ideas, and no sense of time. He?s five minutes late for everything. He barely seems to be paying attention sometimes. When he starts a project, he disappears for long stretches, and […]

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Creative

Creating Artificial Art

My wife and I are fans of musical theater. Recently, we watched 3 musical shows within a span of a couple of weeks. First, we watched a local community theater?s production of Legally Blonde the Musical. (Yes, they made a Broadway musical version of that movie. And yes, I admit that I saw and loved […]

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Creative

Visual Silence

I want to propose that one of the most powerful visuals you can use this Sunday is nothingness?visual silence. Setting is a critical component to any well-told story. It?s the environment in which the story is developed, and the plot exists. It?s setting that allows the narrative or the story to have a sense of […]

Categories
Creative

Hourglass Storytelling

Storytelling can be so simple. Beginning, middle, end. ?Once upon a time?? the standard narrative arc of protagonist overcoming an antagonist or challenge. The kind you might tell to your child, invented on the spot. The kind a child might tell you. Storytelling can be so rich. Symbolic parables and allegories, moral dilemmas and uncertainty, […]

Categories
Worship

The Nature of a Worshiper

What is the nature of a worshiper? Among many things, a worshiper is? ? someone with a broken and contrite heart. (Psalm 51:17) ? thankful and worships with reverence and awe. (Hebrews 12:28) ? someone who prays and seeks after God. (1 Chronicles, 22:19, Psalm 9:10) ? someone who reveres God. ?(Psalm 5:7) ? able […]

Categories
Worship

Dropping the Act

We all have one. Recognized or unrecognized, it?s there. It shows up in our worship leader voice, our frantic searching for the right thing to say, and our ?what should I do with my hands?? It?s built into that unseen veil that we unconsciously construct between them and us because the real us is too […]

Categories
Leadership

The Birds and the Bees

Do you remember when and where you first heard about the birds and the bees? Sex-ed class at school? Hanging out with friends? Movies or magazines? I can remember sitting on the back porch step of our house in Georgia, when my aunt set the stage by referencing Genesis 1:28, where God told Adam and […]

Categories
Leadership

Against Your Nature

We had reached a stalemate. As I looked around the room at my team, I was staring into the faces of incredibly strong-willed and passionate individuals who were not going to budge on their opinion. I was convinced they were wrong. They were convinced they were right. Everything in me wanted to play the trump […]

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Technology

For the Beauty of the Tech

What is the job of the technical, live production person? Some might say to amplify what?s happening on stage. Others may suggest we are to create an atmosphere where people can worship. Still others might posit that we maximize the use of technology to further the Kingdom. To some degree, I think all of those […]

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Technology

Dropping the Ball

You?re probably a jack-of-all-trades to some extent. Everyone has his or her actual job description, but how often do you actually stick to that? Or even if you do stick to your job description, have your responsibilities expanded to the point that you simply cannot do everything on your plate? What happens when you have […]

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Communication & Marketing Social Media

Communication Streams

A couple of months ago, I compared communication to pipelines. Communication is about moving a piece of information from one area to another: from the communicator to the listener. Therefore, the cleaner you keep the pipes the information travels through, the better chance it has to reach the audience. I want to continue that thought […]

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Communication & Marketing Social Media

Human Nature and the Web

At this year?s Global Leadership Summit, Willow Creek Church?s senior pastor Bill Hybels said something that made me stop mid-tweet and look up. He said, ?The more I utilize social media, the hungrier I get for true community.? He followed that by saying, ?Social media provides the illusion of true community.? Did he really just […]

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Communication & Marketing

Interviewing Ragamuffin, The Rich Mullins Film

We got to chat with David Leo Schultz about the upcoming movie Ragamuffin?a film about the life of Rich Mullins. David wrote and directed this independent film slotted to release in summer of 2014. Thanks for chatting with us. Tell us some about the movie. The movie is about Rich Mullins. Rich was a huge […]