RockTheDesert

Lifework 2.0 - A Great Experience

My friend Audra, aka Krellfish, and I had the awesome opportunity to attend Lifework 2.0 in Franklin, Tennessee on May 6. We flew into town on Monday, and thus began an action & laugh-packed 2-1/2 days together. It all began with renting the car. It progressed to an impromptu pre-lifework "cinco de mayo" dinner at Pueblo Viejo's in Franklin.  Great conversation and food! On Tuesday morning, Audra and I managed to arrive 1 hr early at Lifework. Thought it started at 8am (5am AZ time). Instead, it started promptly at 9am. We sat in a vibey little coffee place called The Frisky Berry and shared a decadent cinnamon roll. Randy Elrod began the day with a powerful introduction using a presentation technique called pecha kucha.  After a morning filled with headier topics than I've ever dreamed of becoming enlightened about, we headed to Saffire for lunch. I had the Shrimp with Grits - amazing. Audra had the Chicken Fried Steak - even more amazing...

(turn up the volume)

Since we were dining with all new friends, I took a moment to go around our table and introduce everyone via my trusty little Kodak... (might want to turn up the volume again)

Tomorrow morning, Audra and I will finally meet up to de-brief on our Lifework experience and to hold each other's feet to the technology/innovation fire! I will post more on Lifework in a future post. I have 7 typed pages of notes to filter through and assimilate. This bright and shiny new world full of iPhones, twittering, mogulus, facebook and more, simultaneously beckons and threatens, with the give and take of learning curves, aha moments, implementation, triumph, defeat, and the overwhelming unknown. That's a pretty complicated sentence. Sorry about that.

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