Backstage: coolchurch.com

Come on in...

Welcome to "Backstage: coolchurch.com."  This is the landing spot for thoughts, information and random ramblings of Dave Proehl - Pastor of Communications & Operations at Abundant Life Church.  You might find a thought on a current event at our church, a link to an article I've read somewhere else, a sample of a video project I'm working on.  Welcome backstage...take a look around.  Looking for our church website?  Here it is: coolchurch.com.

Work & Play @ Work

An exceprt from Seth Godin's blog this week.  Read it and share your thoughts here.

More and more, we're finding it easy to get engaged with activities that feel like work, but aren't. I can appear just as engaged (and probably enjoy some of the same endorphins) when I beat someone in Words With Friends as I do when I'm writing the chapter for a new book. The challenge is that the pleasure from winning a game fades fast, but writing a book contributes to readers (and to me) for years to come.

One reason for this confusion is that we're often using precisely the same device to do our work as we are to distract ourselves from our work. The distractions come along with the productivity. The boss (and even our honest selves) would probably freak out if we took hours of ping pong breaks while at the office, but spending the same amount of time engaged with others online is easier to rationalize. Hence this proposal:

The two-device solution

Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking... anything that doesn't directly create valued output (no need to have an argument here about which is which, which is work and which is not... draw a line, any line, and separate the two of them. If you don't like the results from that line, draw a new line).

via sethgodin.typepad.com

Multisite Site churches need techies (not trekkies)

Multisite Site churches need techies (not trekkies)

from an article posted on killerchurch on 11 Feb (link to article below)

I’ve had the privilege of serving in three great multisite churches and to interact with a bunch more through the consulting I do with Jim Tomberlin.  This week I want to let you in on three different types of people I believe every staff team needs to do multisite well.

---

A multisite church without great techies on staff is like a zoo without zoo keepers.

After having been in multisite churches for nearly a decade there are three truths that I come back to time and time again with technology:

1. It will fail you. (Get used the fact that there is no perfect “back up system” to save you from this fact.)
2. It needs to be transparent. (If people are focusing on how cool [or how bad] your light show or video projector is . . . something has gone wrong.)
3. The only way deal with 1. and 2. is to make sure we have great techies on our team.

read full article here via killerchurch.wordpress.com

Great article on technology and multi-site churches like ours. I'm thankful for the great volunteers we have in our IMAG ministry that allow us to move forward with excellence each weekend.

Our Next Projection System for the Parkrose and Sandy Campus?

The Gadget Show from Musion Systems on Vimeo.

This would sure make multi-site church a more interesting proposition! (not the girl on her toes...watch the video and think "Pastor George" at Sandy or Parkrose campus.)

Handling Tough Questions...

Enjoy this funny little clip. Aside from the classic, "Did Adam have a belly-button?" what are the tough questions you've been asked about your faith? How do you answer them? Does the thought of a Q&A time about who Jesus is to you freak you out or fire you up?

Creative or Crass?

Contrary to popular opinion, Biblical manhood is not defined by the level of a guy's tesosterone, the size of his bank account or the length of his résumé. No, the people that God used or couldn't use in the Bible can be traced back to the presence or absence of two things in their lives. In this series, we will be taking a look at both of those things.

via www.flatironschurch.com

We're just back from our annual creative team retreat, where we spent time away putting together the mesages series and outlines for the next 18 months.   Our Sr. Pastor's assistant Dorine Nickerson does a great job of pulling together a ton of resources for us from other churches.   We looked at stuff from about 30 churches for ideas.  This one listed above really stood out (relax, we aren't going to use it).

What do you think?  Is it creative or crass?  Would your opinion change if you knew this church has exploded to over 10,000 people (which happens to be ture)?  Should that matter?

Abundant Life tried an edgy series this winter called "Four Letter Words" and on the stage was a graphic with the symbols for "expletive deleted" (*&!@).   Our four leter words were Pray, Love, Hope and Give.  We ended up having a handfull of complaints, and at one point we covered the stage banner up with plants.  (Chickens...)

What do you think?  When it comes to marketing church to an unchurched audience (or a churched audience for that matter) where do you draw the line?  How do you messure success for an edgy campaign?