Previous guests of Elements [Chicago] have included David Hodges (formerly of Evanescence), Matt Emerzian (author of Every Monday Matters), Benjamin Gott and Rick DeVos (founders of TheCommon.org), Cathleen Falsani (author), Andrew Marin (The Marin Foundation), Jamie Tworkowski (To Write Love on Her Arms), Gabe Lyons (Q, co-author of unChristian), Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Athiest).

Each Elements gathering is hosted in unique venues around the city… from art galleries to botiques, a bar in Boystown to downtown high rises. The idea is to convene conversations in venues outside of the four church walls and in places where art, culture, and beauty are created.

This month Elements[Chicago] taking it to another level by welcoming the CEOs and founders of some influential companies who are focused on doing well while doing good. As the founders and outspoken advocates of uniquely innovate social  entrepreneurial initiatives, these guests will engage us in conversation, answer questions, and give us a glimpse into their journey.

Guest include:

• Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water
• Tyler Merrick, founder of Project 7
• Donnita Travis, founder of By the Hand Club for Kids
• Mike Tattersfield, CEO of Caribou Coffee

If you are in or near Chicago, come join the conversation on Thursday, August 19, at 7 PM at ChiBar – 301 E North Water St, at the Lobby Level of the Sheraton Hotel. (map)

Invite a friend via facebook

Hope to see you there!

My co-workers and I planned to hail a cab and head down to Daley Plaza at 10:45 to hear the final vote for the 2016 Olympics.

We had no idea we’d be out in the first round.

I think the picture captures the feelings of most Chicagoans.

Shock. Disappointment.  For others, relief.

No matter where you stood on the issue, the Olympic bid was an epic moment for our city… and no matter what, I still believe Chicago is an amazing city!

Was it the corruption? Politics? Anti-American sentiment?

I thought with Obama and Oprah heading to the IOC there would be no question we’d get it. And if they couldn’t, you know Daley probably knew somebody who knew somebody who could pay for the vote.

Truthfully, I hope that the energy and money the city put into trying to get the Olympics here will now be focused on the real need that exists in our city right now… the senseless crime, corruption and poor infrastructure. I think there’s a lot of renewal that still needs to happen here and energy that needs to be spent making our city better.

Sure, I’m disappointed… but I know that there’s no other place I’d want to be than in Sweet Home Chicago!

Greater things are yet to come… greater things are still be done in the city…

And, for a laugh… here’s someone’s take on why we lost…

I actually used to live down the street from the Fireside Bowling Alley where the infamous bowling team scene takes place.

It’s actually a common sight to see. Being a town full of the young and the restless, it’s inevitable you’ll find a couple breaking up somewhere.

My good friend Lyndsay Rush is an aspiring writer, blogger and one of my favorite Twitterers… and on page four of today’s RedEye shares the Breakup spots to avoid in Chicago.

Timely advice for all of us…

I saw someone get dumped the other night.

It was a tragic scene. She was in tears; he was all “I just don’t think I can do it anymore,” and the waiter was awkwardly hovering, unsure whether to bring Kleenex, refills or the check.

As I gawked at the train wreck before me, I thought to myself, “Man, getting dumped sucks.”

Then I thought, “Wow, there’s an original statement.”

Then I thought, “Is this considered talking to myself?”

But I digress.

While a breakup is a horrible experience regardless of the locale, there are certain spots that would make being dumped exponentially worse.

I began a quest to determine the worst possible places in Chicago to break up with someone or to be broken up with. I know, I know. It’s a bit of a downer. But it’s for your own good.

I began to ask around. I started with my roommates, who are both in relationships. They both laughed and thanked me for such an upbeat question to start their mornings. They clearly were not going to be of any help.

I then asked one of my guy friends whom I used to briefly date. His response? “Flat Top Grill.” Which was where I dumped him last summer. Whoops!

I then turned to Twitter.

Through some golden suggestions as well as some research of my own, here’s my version of the 10 worst places to get dumped in Chicago–along with a little commentary from me. No need to thank me.

• Anywhere at Navy Pier: I went to Navy Pier and all I got was this broken heart.

• While on the Untouchables Tour: One minute you’re learning about John Dillinger and the next minute, BOOM, you’re dumped.

• On a pedicab: Now featuring reduced fares for singles.

• At the Wiener’s Circle: Nothing says dumped like a chocolate milkshake.

• In line at the Hangge Uppe: Frankly a bad place for anything to happen.

• At a poetry slam: Not unless you could channel your heartbreak into a kick-ass poetic masterpiece.

• Right before the Purple Line goes express to Linden: $2.25 buys you 20 minutes of awkward silence.

• On the kiss cam at a Bulls game: Almost worse than when they accidentally frame a brother and sister on camera.

• After a tandem bike ride to Evanston for ice cream: You better believe I’d make him peddle the whole way back.

• During seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley: Take me out to the ball game, take me out of your life.

via

A Month in 10 Points…

1 – Our website was stolen. Park’s website was stolen by another church. Like for real. It was a valuable experience in learning that imitation can be the most sincerest form of flattery.

2 – I joined an amazing gym. Already said that in my previous post but for real, it’s awesome. I love it… the staff… the vibe. I don’t feel like I’m going to gym, I feel like I’m going to a club. Me and the elliptical are BFF.

3 – Story was announced. So excited to be a part of it. You need to go. I think
this is going to be an incredible opportunity for all of us to learn to tell
our Story and to re-imagine how we do ministry.

4 – Cultivate registration went live. Thrilled to be hosting it at Park and so
excited about what God is going to do through that event. If you are in
communications, ministry, social media, whatever… you need to come. It’s the
day before Story and it will be phenom… you need to check it out.

5 – MinistryCOM Workshop. I’ll be doing a workshop at MinistryCOM called DIY Church Communications. It pulls some material from my future book and will focus on how to effectively do church communications with a staff of 1… yourself.

6 – The new Whole Foods. Ok, seriously. I already loved Whole Foods. Then they went and opened the third largest one in the WORLD within walking distance from me. I think I’m going to rename it “Whole Paycheck” because I’ve been there nearly everyday. I’m taking any out of town visitor there to check it out. It’s crazy.

7 – Park website 2.0 is in the works. We’re sticking with Ekklesia360 and partnering with CHANGEffect for the design. So excited about it. It’s going to be sick.

8 - Park was in Collide magazine. Park was featured in an article in the most recent issue of Collide on an article about texting in church. Check it.

9 – Hillsong United’s new CD is phenom. So it’s still in the top 100 charts on iTunes. If you haven’t yet, get a copy of it. Seriously.

10 – Resident Ragamuffin. Jason Widney, Park’s Media Arts Director made the cut and will be a part of Carlos Whittaker’s Creative Coaching, Round 1. So stoked for him!

STORY is a first-of-its-kind experience for communicators of the Gospel – the greatest story ever told. It will be held on Wednesday, October 28 at the Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois. Speakers include Donald Miller, Nancy Beach, Dave Gibbons, Ed Young, Stacy Spencer, Chris Seay and Mike Foster. A day of workshops will follow on October 29 at nearby Orchard Valley Community Church, featuring illustrators, designers, scholars, authors and communications experts. Register for the conference and enter to win 2 free trips to the Kilns – CS Lewis’ home in Oxford, England – at www.StoryChicago.com.

Stop Traffick from Park Community Church on Vimeo.

I’m so excited about this.

Park has a ministry called The Just Life, which is completely ran by volunteers who are passionate about living out Micah 6:8 which says to “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before our God.”

Social justice is “in” right now – everyone is talking about it, but it’s long since been God’s heart, to free those who are oppressed and to right that which is wrong.

A team from The Just Life started an anti-human trafficking task force to address trafficking that’s happening here in Chicago, mainly in the form of forced labor.

The team, TraffickFree, has done an incredible job of creating grassroots momentum around their ministry and has organized an entire anti-human trafficking week which will hit the streets of Chicago and create awareness from May 16-21.

The thing that is so awesome about all of this is that it’s all be run by volunteers… the ideas, the branding and graphics, their website, media, EVERYTHING.

I know as church communications people we oftentimes like to have control over everything, but I’m a firm believer that if you let people run with something (with the right tools in hand) they can create something incredible. (And something you’d never be able to on your own.)

I’m so excited and proud of this team and expectant for what will happen as a result of their efforts.

Learn more about StopTraffick by visiting their website.

At the end of the day, no matter what capacity you serve in the Church or in ministry, that is why we do what we do.

The “world” as we know it has changed.

We no longer need to go to the world to reach the world.

Well, of course we still need people “going” – that’s a no-brainer. BUT, our world is getting smaller and our ability to go to the world is as easy as a click of a mouse.

All that being said I heard two things today that helped give me some perspective:

1. Facebook is bigger than all but four the countries in the world. It just passed 200 million users… (via @michaelhyatt
2. 32% of the influential churches in America are on Facebook (via @toddrhoades) …

So… here’s my take on all this.

32% isn’t a big number.

In fact, I think it’s way too small.

I recently talked with a friend whose church blocks employees from going to Facebook. I nearly wept. Seriously?

We have an unprecedented opportunity to expand our reach through the different networks that social media opens up to us.

And, social media is exploding.

I’ve talked a bit about how Park uses Twitter, but since today’s theme is Facebook, I wanted to take a second to talk about how we’re leveraging Facebook. We’re not experts and have a long way to go, but we’re getting there.

We’ve been using Facebook at Park for awhile – first through groups and more recently with Pages.

There are quite a few Park Facebook Groups, and through them, although there is some overlap, we’re connected to close to 2,000 people.

And more recently, we started our Facebook Page back in November and are just crossed over 850 “fans.”

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant about using Facebook, I wasn’t sure if people would utilize it as a means to connect with us, but the more we’re putting out there, the more people are engaging.

And the thing about Facebook that is so exciting to me is that as our people participate and RSVP to Events we post, or comment on photos or videos we post, their friends (who we may have never had the chance to connect with before) are now seeing that “Joe” is attending our Easter services, or that “Jane” commented on a video we posted. And there is a seed planted.

Bottom line: we’ve got to be out there.

We’ve got to be where people are at. We’ve got make our content more accessible to them in a platform they already use and not try and create our own.

Be it Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or whatever…we need to GO to where they are online!

While some churches have varying demographics, at the end of the day, as the world interacts and communicates more and more online, the church needs to be present online, or we’ll risk becoming irrelevant.

And churches that are making the moves and strides to be more present online are the ones that are going to become most effective at reaching people in the future.

If your church blocks Facebook or other social media, have the tough convo, say what needs to be said… there’s a whole world out there (online) that needs you there!

If your church continues to avoid being online it will run the risk of going offline.

Go into the online world… and proclaim the message of the Gospel!

I don’t know about you but I’m addicted.

Twitter provides a great way to stay connected with people you know, people you want to stalk (that was sarcastic) and provides a great way to network and connect with people you might not normally have the chance to interact with.

Using Twitter for yourself is one thing – but using it for your church is something completely different.

Church Marketing Sucks gave Park a nod in an article they posted about churches that use Twitter, so I thought I’d take a minute to tell you why and how we decided to use it, and how we hope to expand our use of it in the future.

So Twitter…

I set up an account for Park on Twitter about 6 months ago and connected it to the email address where a majority of our churchwide emails generate from (mine).

I didn’t do anything with it but let it sit there. I sat and watched. And I saw more and more people who were in our church were finding us (through the Search feature on Twitter) and saw that it was indeed something people in our church were using.

After we crossed 50 followers (who actually attend Park) I decided enough of our people were using it to go public with it and start using it… which we did a little over a month ago.

Since that time, we’ve accumulated quite a few followers and have seen it take off and are excited to see where it goes from there.

How we plan to use it…

• communicate churchwide news and announcements
• notify people about upcoming events
• give people a sneak peek into the life of our church office(we have fun ideas planned!)
• advance previews of videos and print
• as a means to communicate prayer needs for our church family

Who we will Follow…

• People who attend Park, or people who follow that live in Chicago
• Chicago-based media and news outlets

Other benefits of using it…

• Transparency – not that we’ll share all of the nitty gritty of church life, but it’s a great way to be transparent, to share and to lower the barrier between people who attend Park and our staff. It creates space for us to interact.
• Research – it will serve as a great window into the lives of some of the people who attend Park – we’ll be able to see and observe what they care about, what’s on their mind, etc.
• Presence – I think it’s great to be present where people are talking… and if a conversation our people are having is happening on Twitter, then we should be there too.
• Connection – You never know who you might be able to connect with via Twitter. Some people would never come up to you in person, but will interact with you online. Obviously, you don’t want to sacrifice personal contact, but this could serve as a bridge to creating personal contact.

Who Owns it…

• For the interim, I do but we are exploring ways of having multiple staff members to have access to it and to update our status and to reply and interact with Park people who use Twitter.

Final Thought…

I want to re-iterate what I said earlier… just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I think  we often tend to look at what other people (or in this instance, other churches) are doing and be quick to jump on the bandwagon.

Before you do, just make sure it’s the right direction for your church. If it’s not going to put you into closer relational proximity to the people in your church, don’t do it.

I’m no expert on how to use Twitter for a church… I’m still learning!, but Anthony Coppedge recently released a $5 e-book entitled The Reason Your Church Must Twitter. I encourage you check it out!

Down the road we’re going to see how it goes and possibly expand
Twitter to other audiences in our church… singles, 30s, small group
leaders, etc. In the meatime, feel free to follow us @ParkChurch

2008 has been incredible. Definitely had its share of challenges and “moments”… but I’m so incredibly thankful for all God has done in my life over the past year and am so grateful to be where I am, to be with the people I’m with, and to be a part of what God is doing in Chicago at Park.

To try to sum up everything would be crazy, so here’s some highlights via previous posts:

Best of…

• Most controversial post of the year award goes to my entry about Heath Ledger’s death and the response of our friends at Westboro Baptist Church
• Most commented post award goes to when I broke the news Park had murdered our weekly program and was moving to do a monthly
• Funniest post award goes to Park’s Daylight Savings Time reminder

Personal Highlights…

• I turned 26
• I officially joined the Twitter world, follow me!
• I got in an accident, kind of
• Went to New York City… twice!
• Attended the Innovate Conference @ Granger and the ECHO CHURCH Media Conference
• Was a part of history at Grant Park when Barack Obama was named our new president
• I became an uncle again!
• My brother got married

Craziest Moment

• Being one of 25 people invited to interview for an internship with Seth Godin

Most Affirming Moment

• Not getting the internship, but gaining clarity and affirmation about what I do!

Favorite

• Book of the year goes to The Reason for God by Tim Keller, followed close behind by Rob Bell’s Jesus Wants to Save Christians
• Movie has to go to Slumdog Millionaire, fantastic.

In the world of Park Community Church…

• We moved into our building!
• We got a new logo
• We launched a new website, which made the Top 90 Church Websites list
• We made the Trib about our volunteer day, For One Chicago
• …so much more happened at Park, but those were my personal highlights!

You heard it here first… in 2009…

• I will be writing my first book… it will be on communication + the church
• I will be speaking at workshop for ministryCOM 09… be there!

So I’d like to thank…

• All of you! I’ve met some of you, but to all who read, follow, comment, thank you! I’m so humbled to know my thoughts and random rants about life, church, Chicago and everything else keeps you coming back. I look forward to 09 and going on this journey with you!

Do me a favor…

• Let me know what content keeps you coming back… what you’d like to hear more about and what I should maybe write less about… I want to serve you and help you do what you do even better.

Some resolutions for the New Year

• I will convert to Mac, completely
• I commit to not shameless promoting my book incessantly or letting you know that you can get cases of it, or it’s rank on Amazon, or tell you that it’s a perfect gift for every occassion.
• I will do a better job of blogging and commenting, sharing and learning with all of you guys.
• I’m also going to try to connect with more of you church communications people… we’re a small Tribe, we need each other.
• On a serious note, I’m committing to deepening my walk with Christ, even in the hustle and bustle of life in Chicago.

Thanks again… here’s to an awesome 08 and an even better 09!

Happy New Year!

*the word cloud is made up of common words and phrases from my blog, make your own at Wordle.