I like helping people reach their goals, so I’ve decided to launch a fun new project.

It is free coaching and mentorship from me for one year. I will give you monthly advice, encouragement, and training and maybe even leverage my resources, networks, and platforms to help you reach your goals.

Only 1 spot is available.

Click to apply.

Who is it for?
Pastors or entrepreneurs,
Churches or startups,
Kidmin or marketers,
Bloggers or designers,
My closest friends or people I’ve never met.

It is open to anyone. However, it is not for everyone. My expertise is limited.

At the moment, I provide strategic advisement to a number of nonprofits. Usually it is marketing and Internet strategy, but it sometimes includes leadership development, operations, or holistic organizational strategy. In the past, I spent 10+ years in kid/youth ministry. On the business side, I founded a graphic design, Web development, and marketing firm that transitioned from client work to its own tech startups (mostly in real estate).

If you think that experience could help you, sign up for the free coaching.

Deadline is September 7th, 2010.

Sometimes designing sermon series graphics can be tough. It’s a design niche riddled with puns, goofiness, and bad art, which is problematic for artists on the hunt for design inspiration.

What you create is a direct result of your inputs.

This is true of everything in life. If you want to be a better designer, surround yourself with the best quality you can find. If you want to worsen or stagnate your skills, surround yourself with subpar work.

Designer Jim LePage is creating some inspiring illustrations for each book of the Bible. His sermon series art is complete up through Hosea. More design candy to come. I find his style and interpretation to be some fresh inspiration for designers creating expository sermon series graphics.

Here are my favorites:

EXODUS

NUMBERS

JUDGES

1 SAMUEL

NEHEMIAH

JOB

For Discussion:
>> What is your favorite source of design inspiration for sermon series? Share links in your comments.

Every July, LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) hosts a sermon series called “At the Movies” that uses movie clips to illustrate spiritual truths. And every year LifeChurch.tv sets new attendance records.

To add some extra fun to the sermon series, each campus decorates their facility with a movie theme. This year Stillwater’s campus did Field of Dreams and created a baseball diamond in their lobby complete with dirt. However, my favorite theme from this year is the Tulsa campus’ Toy Story theme. Here are some highlights:

OUTSIDE
Before you even enter the church, you are greeted by a Toy Story “At the Movies” wall mural and Pizza Planet golf carts to shuttle you to the door.

ENTRANCE
As you enter the building, you pass through a tunnel of Legos and pop out from under a giant bed into a lobby child’s room full of larger than life toys.

INSIDE
The lobby features Buzz Lightyear himself greeting guests in front of an over-sized Etch-A-Sketch (his packaging is off to the side). Toys sit atop a giant furniture. Aliens sit inside a toy rocket. And the church refreshment stand is now a Pizza Planet franchise.

Also, watch out for the giant electrical cord!

To experience an “At the Movies” sermon, visit one of LifeChurch.tv’s many campuses or attend online at one of 48 weekly service times. Due to movie licensing rights, these sermons will not be available to watch online after the sermon series, so be sure to catch “At the Moves” while it is still going on.

Special thanks to @johnadavis (LifeChurch.tv Logistcs Director) and @derrickhenslee (LifeChurch.tv Tulsa Campus Pastor) for taking the photos.

Like free church resources? Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK) is now offering free creative resources to download from their new site, Seeds.

The church resources include artwork, motion graphics, background music, promo videos, opener videos, mini-movies, drama scripts, slides, banners, worship guides, sermon series kits, and more. There’s something for kid’s ministry, student ministry, and plenty for regular worship services, too!

Best of all, the production quality is outstanding. Church on the Move has been winning ADDY Awards and producing mainstream quality content for years. Now you can have that same quality for free! Samples include:

FREE SLIDES & ARTWORK

Please Turn Off Your Phone - Slide

Communion Instructions - Slide

FREE VIDEOS (RSS readers must visit post to see videos)

Dad Life - Father’s Day Video

Why Worry - Drama Skit

Mommy Rhapsody - Mother’s Day Performance

FREE SERMON SERIES (RSS readers must visit post to see videos)

Kidnapped - Sermon Series Opener

Why Worry - Sermon Series Opener

This or That - Student Ministries Sermon Series Artwork

I Love My Bible - Kidmin Sermon Series Artwork

To start downloading free church resources, visit Seeds.ChurchontheMove.com

Recently the Barna Group and the reThink Group teamed up to explore how having a child influences a parent’s connection to a church or faith community. Here are some highlights:

How parents say having kids affects their connection to a faith community:

• 50% did not change involvement
  >> Most common among Northeast and West USA, atheists/agnostics (90%), non-Christian religions (70%), and among college graduates
• 20% increased already active involvement
  >> Most common among lower income homes and Hispanics
• 17% began attending after a long period of not going
  >> Most common among Republicans and political conservatives
• 5% became active in a faith community for the first time
  >> Most common among Midwest USA, Catholics, and Hispanics
• 4% became less active
  >> Most common among single parents, never married parents, and Asians

For full analysis on the study, read the Barna Group’s full report.

What I love about this study is it is a great example of why we can’t assume all people are alike or even that all subcultures are alike. Not every parent is affected the same way by having kids. And what is probable for college-educated atheist parents in the Northeast isn’t necessarily probable for a lower-income Hispanic parent in the Midwest.

Statistics like these are incredibly useful in letting us compare our sociological observations with scientific trends. They are a sounding board. However, one of the most important things you can do is learn the unique probability of the community that you are called to reach. Rather than surveys and polls, the best way to do this is listen, ask questions, get out into your community’s different cultures, and listen some more.

If you can understand the microstatistics of your community’s niche, then you can better understand how you can turn the bad statistics into good statistics.

For Discussion:
- Describe the types of cultures that your ministry reaches.
- What do you do to better understand these cultures?

Earlier this month, I met with the team from Clark (formerly Clark ProMedia) to learn about future church needs, how Clark has evolved to meet these needs, and what they have learned in the process.

In the beginning, Clark was a production company creating audiovisual environments for churches, but they realized the best worship environments are created from a seamless master plan that lets the architects, audiovisual team, and worship leaders collaborate. So Clark has rebranded themselves and expanded their services to include everything needed to strategically create environments for pre-launch church plants all the way up to multi-site gigachurches.

Services include strategic facilities planning, development, and management as well as designing performance space, audio visual lighting, acoustics, and multi-site/virtual teaching solutions. They also offer worship leader consulting and online strategy. And for the extremely tech savvy, they are one of the few companies in the world offering holographic telepresence.

Cofounder Houston Clark was kind enough to share three leadership philosophies that have driven their strategy in creating environments for churches of all sizes:

1. BE HOLISTIC
   Without a seamless big picture strategy, churches can find themselves in a battle with their building. This can lead to the architecture hindering the audio visual needs and neither one being able to best meet the ever-changing ministry needs of the church. Get on the same page. Developing a holistic plan that meets each area’s needs will not only make you more effective but also save you lots of money.
2. STAY CURRENT
   There is no way to predict the future, but it is wise to be aware of trends that could affect what people need, want, and expect from your church in 5 years. For instance, people in many areas are becoming more locally-focused and interested in community, so Clark spends a great deal of time studying how to create church intimacy regardless the size of a church. Staying current allows you to create environments that are more sustainable since you have a better idea of what the future needs.
3. RESPECT THE CONTEXT
   Just because a technology exists, does not mean it is right for your church. What you do must fit within the context of your worship environment and church culture. Having a 3D hologram preacher isn’t right for every church, but it is for some. Never do tech for tech’s sake. Always do tech for context’s sake.

Clark helps churches identify and implement the right environment for their unique context. If you want to know how they could help your church, just contact them. They’d love to talk to you.

Special thanks to Clark for supporting Church Relevance by sponsoring this post.

Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK) has a reputation for experimenting with creative arts to tell the story of Christ. I like the simple execution but powerful imagery of the backdrop for their Easter weekend worship.

As worship leaders led the congregation in song, three painters began writing bright red-pixeled letters in the background.

It spelled “Amazing Grace.”

At this point, they began singing the song Amazing Grace, and the red letters became a crown of thorns as an image of Christ on the cross appeared behind the letters.

To see the complete opening performance, watch this video:

For Discussion:
- Did your church do something creative for Easter? Share the video link or tell the story in the comments.

I received a review copy of The Tangible Kingdom Primer, a self-described 8-week guide to incarnational community. Written by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, The Tangible Kingdom Primer explores how to become mission-minded and then act on it by creating authentic community.

It is a cleverly designed workbook with lots of graphics and even more questions intended to take you on a journey through the ideas. To get the best flavor of this workbook, here is a sample question from each week:

1. How much time per week are you willing to give to building deeper relationships with them?
2. Who in your life needs you to be an advocate for them now?
3. Is your own view of the Gospel missing anything?
4. What would you need to change to incorporate more opportunities for community to take place in your life?
5. Considering the relationships that God has brought into your life, what are your responsibilities to them now?
6. Who are some of the people in your life that you are currently investing in relationally?
7. As you consider the differences between passive discipleship and apprenticeship, how would you describe your own life?
8. How can you work with God so that you are more accessible to people and more available for God?

The Tangible Kingdom Primer is a great way to immerse yourself in thinking about community. It is an area that I need to improve. What about you?

Do you thrive at creating community or do you get lost in your own world? What are your pitfalls or keys to success?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.