TimSchraeder.com

Alrighty, here’s the fourth and final post in a series of posts inspired by REWORK.
If you haven’t been convinced to get a copy by now, you are just plan ignorant.
So since I’m a ‘church communications guy’ I thought I’d devote my last post some thoughts on REWORK-ing Church Communications.
Stop Being a Communicator, Start Being a [...]

I’m nearing the 10-year mark of being a church employee. That practically makes me a veteran. Ten years, four churches and millions of cups of Starbucks later [I’m convinced that’s the drug of choice for church workers] I’ve had a first hand-look at how the church works [by work I mean how it functions day-to-day [...]

This is Part 2 of 4 in a series of posts reviewing and sharing ideas gleaned from REWORK.
Disclaimer: This post isn’t about the work of the Church [proclaiming the Gospel, being a biblical community, loving God, loving others, etc], this post is solely about HOW the church works.
Dear Church Leader,
The Church is a business… get [...]

I started out wanting to write a short review of REWORK, but quickly discovered that wasn’t possible… so this will be the first in a series of four posts inspired by REWORK.
I’ll sum up all of my thoughts in one, brief statement:
REWORK should be required reading for any next generation church leader.
I’ll explain why [...]

“Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It’s time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can [...]

Ok, buckle your safety belts people….
I spend the majority of my day thinking about the messages our church communicates.
And this blog, although a bit varied in content, is basically an exploration of things I’m learning, sharing of best practices I’ve picked up, and highlights different things I’ve found to be helpful… my passion is about [...]

We plot. We plan. We assume things are going to go a certain way. And when they don’t, we find ourselves in a new place—a place we haven’t been before, a place we never would have imagined on our own.
It is the difficult and the unexpected, and maybe even the tragic, that opens us up [...]

I’ll never forget hearing Rick Warren speak a few years back talking about the fact that Christ’s command to “love our neighbor” meant something beyond our own backyards but, rather, extended into the global community in which we live.
Regardless of our ethnicity, religion or gender we’re all connected. With advances in media and technology our world is getting smaller. And [...]

It was May 2005.
I was working at Riverside Community Church in Peoria, IL. I was only a few years into my career as a Director of Communications. I had no clue what I was doing. Experience was being my educator and I spent a lot of time learning from my mistakes.
A fellow communications guy who was a mentor/big [...]

A friend and I are reading through AW Tozer’s The Pursuit of God right now and get together once a week to talk about it. It’s been great so far and I’m definitely being challenged and kicked in the butt by it!
One thing I didn’t know about Tozer was that he did most of his [...]

Ok, so do any of us really need ANOTHER Bible? Really?
Earlier this year I caught wind about the ESV Study Bible… for the record, I recently converted to using the ESV… it’s Park’s version of choice.
Anyway, the ESV Study Bible seemed pretty sweet and after checking out some of the demo chapters they had online [...]

I just finished reading
Rob Bell’s
new book,
Jesus Wants

to Save Christians.
It’s a manifesto
for the Church
in exile.
It was really good.
Challenging,
and inspiring.
(You would have to have read some of Rob’s other books to get what I just did above.) Anyway, yesterday I read Rob’s newest book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians. It’s a ‘manifesto for the church in exile’ [...]