Brad Lomenick, director of Catalyst Conference, has extended last week’s special discount of 10% off of the October Atlanta conference through this week (Aug. 30 - Sep. 3) for Church Relevance readers.
10% Discount Code = FOB
This year’s Catalyst Atlanta is October 6-8, 2010. Speakers include Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, Craig Groeschel, Scott Harrison, and plenty more. Be sure to register this week to get better rates.
I’ll be there this year. Leave a comment if you are going, too!
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.
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).
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
If you haven’t registered for Catalyst Conference (October 6-8, 2010) in Atlanta yet, you can get the discounted rate of $209 by using the coupon code “CR” through this Thursday, June 24th.
Coupon Code = CR
This year’s speakers include Seth Godin, Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Francis Chan, and more.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Among the speakers is Gabe Lyons - author of unChristian and founder of Q conference. But what makes Gabe Lyons a fun addition to the Catalyst speaker lineup is he is one of the original co-founders of the Catalyst Conference.
Other speakers include Seth Godin, Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Francis Chan, and more.
Visit www.CatalystConference.com to register (earlier = best rates) and to enter to win a free iPad (weekly iPad giveaway until October).
LifeChurch.tv is launching a new 9-month apprenticeship program for young leaders called LeadershipXP. It is designed to cultivate young leaders and dreamers by giving them responsibility in the trenches and immersing them in a special mentorship group.
LeadershipXP is not an internship or a coaching network. It is a unique flavor of experiential learning via mentorship, serving, responsibility, freedom, and collaboration. It is an immersive lifestyle that develops your character, leadership skills, spirituality, and emotional intelligence.
There are requirements:
Age: you must be 18-24 years old
Time: you must commit to a 9-month experience
Money: you must pay the $3,250 investment (housing included)
Location: you must agree to work at and live near one of LifeChurch.tv’s many locations
Deadline to apply is May 28.
LeadershipXP begins September 7.
One of the few blogs I’ve read consistently over the years is Information is Beautiful by David McCandless. It showcases many of the world’s best designed infographics. Now David McCandless has a book, The Visual Miscellaneum, that offers over 250 pages of infographic inspiration.
If you aren’t familiar with term infographics, it uses visual design to make information faster and easier to understand or at least more entertaining. It is one of the most effective and efficient ways to communicate complex data.
At this point, infographics are more of a novelty, but it is only a matter of time before people grow accustomed to quality infographics and begin expecting them even at church. If you are a designer, consider adding The Visual Miscellaneum to your library. It has quickly become one of my favorite design books.
Disclaimer: Church Relevance received a complimentary review book, and this post uses Amazon affiliate links.
