8BIT NETWORK
New on the internet scene is a great church resource called the 8BIT Network. Established by the creative genius, John Saddington (on Twitter he is @human3rror), who brought us the ever popular ChurchCrunch blog, among others, the new 8BIT Network adds three new blogs to the lineup: ChurchCreate, ChurchIT, and ChurchDrop.
ChurchCrunch will provide coverage of web apps/services/technology, blogging, strategy, business/entrepreneurship, and community development. ChurchCreate will focus on art/design, environment production and development, video/audio engineering, and assorted technologies. ChurchIT will satisfy the techno-geek in you with coverage of software, hardware, networking, and other assorted technologies. Rounding out the lineup, ChurchDrop will focus coverage on all types of mobile devices, software, web apps, services, and technology.
THE 8BIT NETWORK:
- ChurchCrunch = Web
- ChurchCreate = Media
- ChurchIT = Tech
- ChurchDrop = Mobile
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part…if you’re an “expert” in one of these areas, the 8BIT Network is looking for people to contribute articles to their sites, and they’ll even send you a little bit of green for your effort. Do you have an opinion and think you’ve got what it takes to be a writer? Then stop by and sign up for your opportunity.
Our company, Visioneering Studios, kicks off every new project with a design charrette, by spending a week at the site working on the master plan and the “big idea” for the project. This week our team was in Katy, TX which is just a short drive west of Houston on I-10.
Grace Christian Church asked us to help provide a new “front door” to their community. Their current building sits well off the main road in the middle of a 28 acre parcel. It looks like a “typical” church building you might see in Anywhere, USA built in the last 10 years. Many people drive by and never notice it because it is so far from the street, while others who might notice it probably don’t see anything to make them want to take a second look, and that’s a shame, because the heart of the people at Grace is amazing. If there was a way to put their heart out front for all to see then there would be a lot more traffic turning into the parking lot every day. And that’s what they asked us to help them do. Over time I look forward to sharing that transformation with you.
While we were there they covered us in prayers, invited us into their family, and had volunteers provide us with home-cooked meals, snacks, and drinks until we were ready to pop! Darren Walter, the Lead Pastor, is leading by example and wearing his heart for his community on his sleeve. He helped organize the whole shindig all week, and made sure we had everything we needed.
I love Texas, and love to visit where southern hospitality still reigns supreme (no offense to you northerners who are hospitable). Being born and raised in the South (yes, Virginia is still the south), and having lived in Atlanta for the last five years, I’m no stranger to southern hospitality, but Texas knows how to do it right! Plus I love their slogans…”Don’t mess with Texas”….and…”Texas, it’s like a whole other country.” How can you NOT like that?
Okay, so now let me know how hospitable your state is, and what your favorite state slogan is.
Linchpin by Seth Godin
I’m not even done yet, but I can tell you that this is a book for anyone who has a job, goes to school, owns a business, or wants to start one. In other words it is basically a book anyone should read and will benefit from. Find out how you can become a linchpin in your organization, workplace, school, or church. Hint: you already have it in you to be indispensible, you just need to learn how to let it out.
I’ve got to give a special thanks to Barnes and Noble for selling me the book almost a week before it was released. I don’t think they meant to, but on January 21st I was browsing and saw the book on the shelf along with Godin’s other books and picked it up. I knew he had a new book coming out, but didn’t know when it was going to be released so I just figured it must have been out for a while because it wasn’t even in the new release section…so thanks B&N for the early peek!
Anyone else ever had a similar experience picking up a book before it was released?
Visioneering Studios is an anomaly in the world of architecture in many ways (caution: shameless self-promotion to follow). 2009 was possibly the worst year in recorded history for architects. The slowdown in the economy that began in late 2008 and still lingers today resulted in the number of employed architects in the US dropping from 230,000 to 189,000, an almost 18% reduction in employment over one year. In fact the field of architecture was the hardest hit profession in 2009.
And even though Visioneering Studios did experience the leanest time in our history, we were fortunate to have a great year working with some amazing churches around the country including a number of project openings (Elevation Church, Southeast Christian Church, Mountain Lake Church, Mariners Church, among several others) and design work with churches such as Austin Stone Community Church, Northeast Christian Church, and many more. Thankfully we have also been blessed with a current backlog of new project starts that is already booked into April, so 2010 is shaping up to be a potential banner year.
The success during the down time is an anomaly itself, but Visioneering’s uniqueness goes deeper. We were established and owned by a non-profit parent company (Provision Ministry Group), but we are staffed with creative design, architecture, urban planning, financing, and construction experts who left successful secular employment with firms such as Disney Imagineering, Universal Studios, Gensler, Lennar, and others. Each felt a calling to bring their experience, creativity, and ability to create destinations that lift the spirit to the world of “church architecture”. With locations in Irvine, CA, Denver, CO, and Atlanta, GA we are set up to work with churches nationwide, so if your church is having a hard time finding an architect who “gets it” and can understand your church’s unique DNA and ministry then just give us a call to see if we are the right fit.
At Visioneering we don’t feel called to be “temple builders” that create monuments to ourselves or the churches we partner with, but instead we feel called to be “well diggers” who design culturally relevant and cost-effective destinations for creating horizontal (people to people) and vertical (people to God) connections, like when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-26. People are the “church”. A church building is just a tool for reaching the unchurched and our goal is to develop Christ-centered communities that change the definition of what a church building is.
I could go on, but part of the fun of a journey is exploration and finding out more for yourself, so if you’re interested in joining us on this journey into architectural evangelism feel free to bookmark these resources and check them often.
Website: www.VisioneeringStudios.com
Blogs: Visioneering Travelogue, and Reckless Abandon (this blog)
Twitter: Mel McGowan, and Jody Forehand (me)
I’m beginning to sense a theme here. With yesterday’s post about People Of The Second Chance along comes today’s story thanks to Carlos Whittaker. While recording a video for his new song “God Of Second Chances” in a park in Atlanta a homeless guy walks up, and…well…I can’t say it better than Carlos does on his blog. So read about it here and then watch the video or if you’re in a hurry you can catch the drift from watching the video below.
Are you able to pray that prayer…”save us from these comforts”?
Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite have been influential “impacters of culture” for quite some time. Since 2003 Jud has been the Senior Pastor at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, which has weekend attendance in excess of 12,000 people. He’s written several books and is a sought after speaker at conferences around the country. Mike Foster is a busy guy. In addition to his day job as creative principal at PlainJoe Studios he is a serial ministerial entrepreneur. He was the founder of XXXChurch.com and Junky Car Club, and is the president of Ethur.
These guys have been long time friends and came together a few years ago and wrote a book entitled Deadly Viper Character Assassins that is about integrity and character in leadership. Their latest movement is called People Of The Second Chance. Ironically this movement that started many months ago with an idea, some bumper stickers, and t-shirts has now become the centerpiece of Mike and Jud’s collaboration due to some unfortunate controversy within some segments of the Asian-American Christian community over the use of Asian culture to sell books. In my personal opinion the issue was overblown and obviously unintentional, but Jud and Mike chose to take the high road, and not only pulled the books from the shelves but also shut down the Deadly Viper website and canceled all further development of the concept.
The leaders of POTSC overnight became not just promoters of second chances but users of second chances. God has an amazing sense of humor and the ability to use all circumstances for good. The controversy over Deadly Viper, which generated a lot of undesired publicity on the internet in certain circles of influence in the evangelical world, also ended up generating a ton of publicity for the launch of People Of The Second Chance. Now the founders of the movement have a personal story of their own to share…about POTSC and its scandalous movement of radical grace in life and leadership. Check out their launch video below.
We can all use a second chance at some point in our life. It is far too easy to condemn the Tiger Woods’ of the world and forget that behind the moral failure of any individual is a broken person in need of a Savior and redemption–a person who might take that second chance and change the world for Jesus (anyone remember someone named Saul, who after his second chance was known as Paul?), and I am grateful to Mike and Jud for their continued work in the field of grace, integrity, leadership, and second chances. What about you?
The Advent Conspiracy movement is gaining steam. What started as an idea by three pastors has spread to more than 1,700 churches in 17 countries on four continents. The founders of the Advent Conspiracy are asking folks to consider doing four things: Worship Jesus Fully, Consider Spending Less on gifts that are bought out of obligation, Give More relational gifts, and use a little bit of the money you didn’t spend to Love All by helping those in need.
They’ve also put out some really well produced, thought provoking videos promoting the movement. See them here.
2008 Video
2009 Video
After watching these videos, just stop and think for a few minutes about what Christmas really means.
Worship Fully . . . Spend Less . . . Give More . . . Love All.
The book "Primal" by Mark Batterson
I love the title “Primal”. The cover looks like a cross between “Indiana Jones” and “The Mummy”. So, when I opened the package and pulled the book out I was excited and ready to begin an adventure. I wasn’t disappointed. What I didn’t know before I dove into the book was how close to home it would hit, and how much of an impact that I hope it will have on me…
Mark Batterson’s latest book, “Primal” comes out on December 22nd (you can order it here). I was fortunate to be given a pre-release copy by the publisher to review on this blog, so in the interest of full disclosure, I got the book for free, but am receiving no other compensation for this review. That being said, I would gladly have paid for this copy and and after devouring it I think you should consider making it your first read for 2010. I’m considering making it a late Christmas gift for several people myself.
The title of my blog is “Reckless Abandon” and my tagline is “…with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” which is from Mark 12:30 (the Great Commandment, where Jesus instructs us to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”). Coincidentally this is the central theme of “Primal”, and in this book Mark Batterson helps us rediscover the ancient truths about the four ways to love God in deeper and more meaningful ways. He does this not through some deep theological (and theoretical) discussion, but through real life examples and relevant stories from his life and the lives of other contemporaries.
Loving God with all your heart (compassion), soul (wonder), mind (curiosity), and strength (energy) is what Batterson calls love to the fourth power, and he dissects the four components of this verse in detail throughout the book. I know I’ve often read that verse, and in fact I’ve read the entire Bible a few times, but reading it is not the same as meditating on it and letting it speak to you in your specific circumstance at that specific time. Batterson writes on page 71:
According to rabbinic tradition, every word of sacred Scripture has seventy faces and six hundred thousand meanings. If I had to describe Scripture in a single word, it would be kaleidoscopic. You can read the same verse on different occasions and it will speak to you in totally different ways. It reminds me of the adage attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “You never step into the same river twice.” In a similar vein, you never read the same verse of Scripture the same way twice. And that is a testament to its divine Author.
I admire Batterson’s scholarly research and thoroughly enjoyed the dozens of “nuggets” of wisdom he dug up from a variety of sources. To me those extensive anecdotal stories and quotes by themselves are enough to make me recommend this book, but when you add in all the insight and storytelling ability of Batterson it moves this book into the category of a “must read.”
Pastors and small group leaders should give this book a serious look. There is more than enough information here to put together a great sermon series, and your book club or small group could spend weeks discussing the search for the lost soul of Christianity and how to love God to the fourth power.
If you’ve read this book I’d love to hear your thoughts about it, so feel free to leave me a comment.
Been “off-blog” for a bit, and have come to appreciate the discipline, time, and effort needed to truly blog on a regular basis, so hat’s off to you “real” bloggers out there!
At this time of year we often pause, however briefly, to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. It’s unfortunate but true that this is often the only time we stop to really be thankful each year, and I’m as guilty as anyone. This has been a trying year for many around the country and last Sunday NorthStar Church held an “open mic” Sunday and gave people a chance to come up and tell everyone what they were thankful for. There were very few dry eyes in the place after hearing story after story of people giving thanks for God bringing them through tragedies such as divorce, loss of loved ones, personal or family health issues, loss of jobs, and on-and-on, but always beginning and ending with “thanks” to God and their friends in the church who helped them through all these circumstances.
Hearing these stories made me feel even more overwhelmingly blessed to be coming through a relatively “uneventful” year (from a negative perspective). I’m so thankful that I have an amazing wife, three wonderful, healthy children, and a job where I can work with churches around the country. We also just enjoyed a fabulous long Thanksgiving weekend together. For the first time in recent memory we didn’t make the trek back to Virginia to be with family and instead Lisa and I and the kids went and spent Thanksgiving in a secluded cabin in the north Georgia mountains (“How secluded was it?”…Turn off a winding paved road onto a narrow winding gravel road, then turn off onto a single lane dirt road…still called a road on the GPS, then follow that uphill on winding switchbacks until the GPS shows you are no longer on any road at all and you are sure you will never find your way out again, and then go another mile or so and you will dead end at the cabin we stayed at).
We enjoyed time with just us, sitting by the fireplace and roasting marshmallows, playing board games and card games, relaxing, reading, laughing, and having a great family renewal experience. We did drive into the big town of Helen, GA, a unique Alpine village (yes you read that right, look it up or stop by if you are in the area), and saw the town lit up for Christmas and the kids saw Santa.
It was just a great time to unwind, reflect, recharge, and to give thanks for all of our blessings. It is something I should do more often and it shouldn’t take an annual holiday or a getaway to the wilderness to make me remember to do it. What are you thankful for and how often do you remember to give thanks?
Visioneering Studios was honored again this year with multiple Solomon Awards at the annual Worship Facilities Expo conference in Charlotte. Following up on wins in 2007 (Most Innovative Church Facility and Best Overall Church project for Crossroads Christian Church in Corona, CA) and 2008 (Best Church Architect for Central Christian Church in Beloit, WI), Visioneering swept the Solomon Awards in 2009. We took home awards for: Best Overall Church Project and Best Church Design (2,001+ seats) for Mariners Church in Irvine, CA; Best Church Architect and Best Church Design (801-2,000 seats) for Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC; and Best Church Design (301-800 seats) for Northside Christian Church in Spring, TX. Our construction partner on Elevation Church, Cogun, Inc., also won a Solomon Award for Best Building Contractor for their work on that project, where we successfully used Integrated Project Delivery to complete the project. Mankin Media also won two Solomon Awards for their Audio, Video, and Theatrical lighting systems on our project for Southeast Christian Church’s Youth Building in Louisville, KY.
While it is nice to be recognized for projects we’ve done the most important thing to us is that in each case we were able to partner with dynamic churches and tailor a design to meet their unique DNA and serve their specific ministry needs and goals. We love working with churches who love reaching the unchurched…whether they have 5 acres or 100, whether they have 200 in attendance or 20,000, whether they are in a rural small town or a major metropolis, whether they are a church plant or a 100 year old congregation, and whether they are unknown in the “church world” or are a major national influencer. If their heart is on the unchurched and they have a vision and mission to reach them we want to be their first call. So if your church fits one of those categories and you are looking to renovate, build an addition, or start a new campus, give us a call.
