Hello out there! It’s time for my weekly roundup of the latest and greatest in the world of church communication, conferences and events, viral videos, and more!
- ‘Twas the week before Christmas… I cannot believe how quickly this year flew by! I celebrated Christmas with over 60 friends at my annual Christmas party on Saturday and am headed home to central Illinois later this week to spend time with my family. I hope you and your families all have a GREAT Christmas.
- @ShaunKing is legit. Last week I had the chance to spend the day with him and some of the staff at Newsong Church in Irvine to talk about church communication. I’ve had the chance to meet Shaun a number of times before, but this was the first time we’ve had the chance to hang out together. I’m excited for him and the work he’s doing. He’s leveraging his platform, influence, and voice for good… check out HopeMob, an initiative he’s launching in March. [Twitter released '@hope' to him! WHAT?!]
- @GaryVee takes us to school. I loved this clip from Gary Vaynerchuck talking about SEO and the future of the web. In :45 seconds he predicts the future of the social web and leaves newscasters speechless. It’s brilliant.
- The Best of 2011. In case you missed it, last week I did a recap of my top 11 posts and conference notes from 2011. Over 150,000 people visited this blog in 2011 and I’m thankful for all of you. See what the most popular content was from 2011 and let me know ideas or suggestions you have for 2012!
- My 2011 Conference Notebook. Also, last week I posted my 2011 Conference Notebook. Over 140 pages of notes from some of the top conferences of 2011 including notes from talks by Scott Belsky, Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Blake Mycoskie, and more. Check it out.
- Speaking of Conferences… Next year, I’m going to hit up the usual suspects, but I’m also going to branch out and go to some new ones. I love Christian conferences, but after you’ve been to a few of them you’ve been to most of them. I’m excited to mix things up and hear some new voices and be a part of some new experiences. First up, I’ll be hitting up LessConf in Atlanta in February. According to friends, it’s a great alternative to SXSW and has a total un-confernece feel. They don’t even announce speakers! The content is so great, though, that people keep coming back.
- Favorite Tweet of the Week. @RickWarren is quite the twitter machine. Last week I literally laughed out loud at one of his tweets >> “If you resent having to adapt to Twitter’s new look,you can now understand church members who didnt want the music changed!” Oh, church life.
- Favorite Video of the Week. @SalomonLigthelm tweeted a link to this video, a modern-day retelling of the Nativity story. Loved it. O NIGHT DIVINE from Eliot Rausch + Phos Pictures on Vimeo.
- Are you a worship leader or a senior pastor? 77 Events, an initiative of Church Solutions Group, is hosting 1-day gatherings for worship leaders on Jan 10 in Louisville and Jan 12 in Grand Rapids for senior pastors. Future gatherings will be held for executive pastors, tech directors, and communications/media leaders. These are great opportunities to connect with peers, learn from mentors, and gain applicable ideas for your ministry.
- Question of the Week… what was your highlight of 2011? I’ll share mine later this week!
