RockTheDesert

WFMW - Tote Bag's Surprise Solution

This post is part of Works For Me Wednesday at Shannon's Rocks In My Dryer blog. Check out Shannon's WFMW post called "Paint Jars."

I've got this totally cool straw tote bag that was given to me as a gift from a good friend. Not to drop names or anything, but it's from Brighton. It's my only bag from Brighton. My others are from Target, Walmart, Ross, etc. I'm not a purse-shopper. In fact, I hate purses because not one of them meets my needs perfectly. This straw tote bag is big & roomy, leopard-print-lined, and has sturdy leather handles.

The problem with the bag is that everything gets lost in it. Everything. My keys. My wallet. My pens. My spare change. My lipstick. Everything. Well, one day, I was super-busy at work, gathering things to take downstairs, talking on my phone, drinking a big cup of cold water, making copies, you know, all the essential multi-tasks. My hands were full, my arms were full, my cup of water was now almost empty and clenched in my teeth. I somehow slurped down the water then I tossed the cup in my straw tote bag which was hanging on my arm. I headed down the stairs, down the hall and started searching for my keys to the auditorium. Found 'em. Opened the door. Tossed my keys back in my purse. I was totally surprised when I heard the keys hit the bottom of the empty cup. I stopped dead in my tracks. The solution to my messy, unmanageable purse might have just occurred accidentally...I put my stuff down on a table. Unloaded my purse. Started dropping all sorts of treasures from the bottom of my purse into the 16 oz red plastic cup. From that point on, searching for things in my purse was a pleasure, not a pain. I carried that purse and that cup for at least 2 years. Every so often the cup would crack or split open and I'd replace it with another one. This worked for me and if I were to carry this purse again, first thing I'd do is stick a red cup in it!

cre:ate

cre:ate - Annual Thinktank For Arts & Worship Leaders From Around The World

I attended this conference in 2007 for the first time. Of course, I already love Franklin, TN. So, the fact that I was at an incredible gathering of worship leaders from around the world - IN FRANKLIN - just made it absolutely perfect. It was at cre:ate that I was finally truly inspired to blog.

For more information go HERE.

Websites

I love websites. Well, I love websites that are good websites. The kind that answer the question that brought you to the website in the first place. Right now, as I type, I am supposed to be helping Ean (IT guy at FNC - see pic below) design, create, build, launch, etc. a new website for FNC. I am excited about the prospect of the website turning out great. I will post updates to our progress as soon as something materializes that is really cool. For now, back to the creative process.

 

Innovation

Interesting thoughts on innovation in the church - found it at d-plum's blog - http://www.mosaicland.blogspot.com/

The iPologetics of Innovation

1. Podcasting - circuit riding at the speed of light. Any church of any size can exponentially increase its impact via MP3 technology.

2. Blogging - digital discipleship. Blogging increases your bandwith and allows you to digitally disciple just about anybody, anywhere, anytime.

3. Video Technologies - postmodern stained glass. Jesus isn't just the Word of God. He's the Image of God. The Church needs to communicate in images!

4. Viral video - get contagious quickly. There's a reason why YouTube is one of the top visual communication sites on the Web.

5. Multi-Purpose Church Buildings -doing ministry in the marketplace. Jesus didn't just hang out at synagogues. He hung out at wells. Wells were natural gathering places in ancient culture. Coffeehouses are postmodern wells. That's why National Community Church in DC built a coffeehouse instead of a church building (and they annually aren't ranked one of the best coffeehouses in the city, serving 600+ customers weekly).

6. Multi-site Churches - one church, multiple locations. This is one of the most effective ways to plant strategic, intentional churches.

7. Website - your church portal. Most people will visit yor website LONG before they visit a service.

8. Email - word of mouse. An e-letter is an easy and affordable way to keep the church connected... and it's another form of evangelism

9. Branding - the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing. The opposite of brand is bland. The most important truths ought to be communicated in the most unforgettable ways.

10. Social Networking - church as a tag-team sport. Create a MySpace (or Facebook) page and create an online congregation.

11. Get a [Second] Life - "go into all the [virtual] nations..." Check out LifeChurch.tv's campus at SecondLife. com... it may be more real world than this world.

12. Get Joost - the magic of television meets the power of the internet. Imagine watching your service (or other content) online and chatting with viewers at the same time on the same screen.

13. Text Message - get instant feedback. Instant audience polls. Text to vote during the service for immediate results posted live on the sidescreens. Or text to donate to a cause, building campaign, etc.

14. RSS - the feeds that matter most. Use RSS to get your info fed fast (weekly bulletin, small group announcements, daily devotionals, blog entries, etc.)

15. LIVE! Missionaries - bridging the geographic distance. Link up (live) around the world with missionaries your church sends and/or supports.

http://mosaicland.blogspot.com/2007/08/ipologetics-of-innovation.html

Thoughts on Creativity

Found this at http://ragamuffinsoul.com. I actually took a "how-to-blog" seminar by the author (Carlos Whitaker) last summer at Saddleback's worship conference. Gave me a lot to think about. Took me 9 months to get it all together and start blogging. This article is on creativity, one of my favorite subjects.

9 Attitudes of Highly Creative People.

Published May 9th, 2007 in .

1. Curiosity

I’ve written previously on the topic of curiosity because I’m convinced that it is an essential skill to build as a blogger. Learning to ask ‘why’, ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder…’ are great questions t build into your life if you want to be a more creative person.

2. Seeing Problems as Interesting and Acceptable

ChallengeOne of the problems of the Western mindset is that we often see problems or obstacles in life as unacceptable parts of life. We avoid pain or suppress it when it comes and in doing so don’t often see and feel symptoms that are there to tell us something important. Creative people see problems as a natural and normal part of life - in fact they often have a fascination with problems and are drawn to them.

3. Confronting Challenge

Many of the most creative ideas through out history have come from people facing a challenge or crisis and rather than running from it asking ‘how can I overcome this’?
4. Constructive Discontent

Creative people often have an acute awareness of what’s wrong with the world around them - however they are constructive about this awareness and won’t allow themselves to get bogged down in grumbling about it - they take their discontent and let it be a motivation to doing something constructive.

5. Optimism

OptimismCreative people generally have a deeply held belief that most (if not all) problems can be solved. No challenge is too big to be overcome and no problem cannot be solved (this doesn’t mean they’re always happy or never depressed - but they don’t generally get stumped by a challenge).

6. Suspending Judgment

The ability to hold off on judging or critiquing an idea is important in the process of creativity. Often great ideas start as crazy ones - if critique is applied too early the idea will be killed and never developed into something useful and useable. (note - this doesn’t mean there is never a time for critique or judgement in the creative process - it’s actually key - but there is a time and place for it).

7. Seeing Hurdles as leading to improvements and solutions

HurdlesThis relates to some of the above - but by ‘hurdles’ I mean problems and mistakes in the creative process itself. Sometimes it’s on the journey of developing an idea that the real magic happens and it’s often out of the little problems or mistakes that the idea is actually improved.

8. Perseverance

Creative people who actually see their ideas come to fruition have the ability to stick with their ideas and see them through - even when the going gets tough. This is what sets apart the great from the good in this whole sphere. Stick-ability is key.

9. Flexible Imagination

FlexibleI love watching a truly creative person at work when they’re ‘on fire’. They have this amazing ability to see a problem or challenge and it’s many potential solutions simultaneously and they have an intuitive knack at being able to bring previously disconnected ideas together in flashes of brilliance that seem so simple - yet which are so impossible to dream up for the average person.

Good stuff. Sorry for all the practical info lately.
Just what’s in my head.

Los