• Well, January is just about over. Seems like yesterday we were just setting our goals and making resolutions for the New Year. How are you doing on your goals?
• Coaching begins! This week kicks off the start of my church communication coaching group. I’m so excited for what these next six months have ahead and am praying they make an impact. I’ll keep you posted on how things go!
• This weekend I was in Charlotte and absolutely loved it. I hung out with the team at Lake Forest Church for their leadership conference with Donald Miller and as they opened a new worship space AND kicked off a new series “Hope in a House of Blues” [it was quite a weekend!]. The team at Lake Forest is doing some outstanding work and it was an honor to be there with them. Donald Miller did three sessions talking about evangelism, pain, and the blues. Check out my notes!
• It just so happens that Ben Arment was in Charlotte this weekend for a Dream Year Weekend, so I had the chance to sneak in and catch some sessions. I was so inspired by the dreams that were inside of the people around the room and was so impressed with Ben’s heart to help them come to life.
• I’m still processing what went down in The Elephant Room last week. I’ll be doing a blog post on my thoughts tomorrow. In the meantime, be sure to download my Elephant Room Conference Notebook to catch up on what you missed.
• Communication can change the world. Check out this great post from Jeff Goins on the power of communication.
• Stuff Chicagoans Say. I know the “Stuff … say…” videos are a bit overplayed right now, but this one, as a proud Chicagoan, is pretty awesome.
• While I was in Charlotte this weekend I also had the chance to check out a Saturday night service at Elevation Church. They are kicking off a new series, inspired by Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, on the power of our stories. They built a website, MyBetterStory.com, for people to share a one-sentence synopsis of the story they believe God wants to write through their life. It connects with Twitter and Facebook, which is pretty awesome. Love it. What a great and creative way to get people engaged around a message series.
• I’m about to start drawing circles and being praying in them. If you haven’t checked out Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker yet, you need to. It’s a powerfully convicting book on prayer. Review coming shortly.
• Does your church need a private online community? Kem Meyer shares how Granger Community Church addressed growing connection and communication gaps as a church by coming around The Table. Check it out.
• In church communications? In or near SoCal? Don’t miss your chance to spend the day with me, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Drew Goodmanson, Josh Burns, and Curtis Templeton as we talk church communication at the 77 Events Gathering for Communication/Media on March 14 at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach. Details here.
• Challenge for the week… Think about what you know God wants to you do. Now look at your to do list. Now, focus on the things that will move you closer to what you know what God wants you to do.

• Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day… his life and legacy are inspiring.
• Religion vs the Gospel. If you haven’t seen this video yet, it’s definitely worth checking out. What are you thoughts on it? I think it brings up some great thoughts and has certainly gotten a big response.
• We’re going viral. Last week was another big week in the world of social media for the Church. National Human Trafficking Day [including the A21 Campaign and International Justice Mission] trended globally on Twitter as well as the Code Orange Revival being hosted by Pastor Steven Furtick and Elevation Church. It’s pretty awesome to see the Church making its message loud.
• Church Communications Coaching application deadline is this Wednesday. I’m already blown away by the response and know making the decision on which 12 to accept is going to be a tough one! It’s not too late to throw your name in the hat. Details here.
• The Brits sure know how to make some good TV. I’ve been riveted lately watching some of the Masterpiece shows from PBS. Downton Abbey and Sherlock are fantastic. Brilliant stories, great acting, and I think the accents are cool, too.
• Rules of a Creator’s Life. I saw this being shared around the interwebs late last week and loved it. I think these are rules that should apply to everyone, regardless of the work you do.
  
• On the road again. Next weekend I’m back on the road headed to Charlotte for a conference and to hang with my boy Jason Yarborough. I’m also hoping to sneak over to Dream Year Weekend and see Ben Arment and co.
• Interviews are coming! Last week I interviewed Jesse Phillips, creator of the NeuYear calendar, and I have some great interviews coming up with Charles Lee of Ideation and Julien Smith, author of The Flinch. Stay tuned!
• If you loved the movie Helvetica… then be sure to queue up the latest project from producer Gary Hustwit, Urbanized, where he explores urban design.  It’s fascinating.
• In church communication? Live in SoCal? Save the date… March 13. I’ll explain more soon. In the meantime, save that date, ok?
• I’m hoping the tribe doesn’t vote me out… but I am excited for the opportunity to attend the Killer Tribes Conference coming up at the end of March. I registered over the weekend and look forward to what Bryan Allain has in store. I’m learning a lot from Bryan and loved his book 31 Days to Finding Your Blogging Mojo.
• Bringing sexy back… again?! Pastor Ed Young is back in the headlines for his Sexperiement. There’s a good conversation happening over at ChurchMarketingSucks.com about all of this… check it out.
• Your church could help save a village. Last week I shared about Water Sunday, an initiative being headed up by Water Missions International. Check out a great article about this effort over on The Christian Post.
• First look… check out the trailer for Hillsong United’s upcoming project, Live from Miami. Releasing Feb 14. It will include 22 songs and over 2 hours of footage. It’s gonna be awesome!
• “In life and work, we are forever students. For if we believe we’ve mastered anything, we stop learning and miss what we will cherish most.” (via @BrianSolis)

What about you? What’s on your mind today?

—

• Ben’s parents didn’t let him see the Star Wars movies.
• He didn’t know the plotlines, stories, characters, etc.
• He realized he missed a significant part of American culture.
• He asked his mom why she didn’t let him see the movies… her answer was “the force.”
• There is a force at work in ministry that we tend to sweep under the carpet.
• It doesn’t seem spiritual to credit our success to something other than God.
• We are all champions and advocates of causes.
• Oftentimes when we experience success we say, “well, God is just blessing us…” and when we respond like that, we silently condemn people who have ministries that are struggling.
• We overlook “the force” that’s at work that makes or breaks our ministry causes.
• Those forces are socioliogical in nature… critical mass, momentum… that proceeds our cause.
• Donald McGavern was a missionary to India and noticed the social caste systems that deeply divided people.
• Donald started individual churches for specific caste groups.
• The specific churches began to grow because people felt comfortable in a church that was meant for their social class.
• Was that spiritual victory or intellectual/socioligocal enlightenment?
• Our causes are really only effective when they are laid upon social movements/forces that can carry them.
• Just because there hasn’t been an epiphany moment in my ministry doesn’t mean that God isn’t in them.
• Those who struggle with their causes typically launched them in a vacuum; those who experience success tend to launch them into a social movement.
• There’s socialogical groundwork behind every successful ministry and organization.
• Great causes are launched in social momentum.
• Matthew 13:3-9, the Parable of the Sower
• If the seed fails, it’s not the fault of the seed, it’s the fault of the soil.
• The Gospel seed is powerful and potenet, and if it doesn’t take root, spring to life and bear fruit, it’s the fault of the soil.
• We all have a cause and its success relies on the context/soil in which you release it.
• If we chose to cast our seed where there is no social movement, our seed is as good as bird seed.
• The troubling thing about social forces is that people like to make decisions in herds, in packs.
• People would rather be safe in their decisions than right.
• People don’t care about your cause, they only care about causes other people care about.
• We often look at what people respond to (i.e. how many views on YouTube, etc.)
• People would rather go through life making easy decisions, decisions made by the social acceptance of others.
• We deal with social conventions every single day.
• Social conventions influence the thoughts and decisions we make every single day.
• If you have enough critical mass you can break through social conventions.
• Jim Collins talks about momentum, a giant concrete flywheel… eventually it will start to move and spin, and as it does it becomes easier and easier to push.
• If you don’t have momentum, you’ll push for a long time before you see fruit.
• We oftentimes give up.
• The thing people don’t tell you about is that oftentimes, momentum works against you.
• John Maxwell wanted to breakthrough and reach influential business leaders, so he wrote a book and purchased thousands of his own books to get it on the NY Times Bestsellers list. Thus, gaining attention from business leaders… boom, there you go.
• We have to create momentum out of momentum that already exists.
• Great moves of God in the past have been moved forward by sociological forces.
• George Whitfield was not just a spiritual phenomenon, he was a sociological phenomenon.
• It’s not just great moves of God where we’ve seen causes laid upon social movements. It’s in the Gospel, at Pentecost.
• God moved in Acts 2 in the midst of a major social movement.
• As it had its impact, people traveled back to where they came from and the message of the Gospel advanced.
• Social entrepreneurs have a divine naivety… be it good or bad, so we’ll be courageous enough to try to do what He’s put on our heart.
• If we haven’t laid a sociological foundation that can carry our cause, we’re throwing our seeds at the wind.
• The Gospel is connected to the word “go.”
• Acts 8:4 – they preached the Gospel wherever they went.
• The Gospel needs social movement and if we don’t go, God will oftentimes at our own peril, cause or create things to compel us to go.

How do you create a groundswell?

1. Understand your target community. Don’t be an outsider. Be indigenous to the people you are trying to reach. Know what they like, what they care about.  Before you can become a disciple-maker, you have to be a multitude maker.
2. Understand what your platform is. Learn how to use your platform to give people value, pour into them, and keep them coming back. Your platform can be anything… a blog, Twitter, speaking, etc.
3. Do it consistently and keep on doing it, persevere. Time will accrue a following.
4. Leverage your influence. As you gain it, take calculated and strategic moves to increase it.

Really looking forward to be hearing from a great line-up of speakers including: Phil Vischer, Ben Arment, Phil Cooke, Mark Steele, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Cynthia Ware, Matt Knisely, Shawn Wood, Drew Goodmanson, Carlos Whittaker, Greg Atkinson, Richard Reising… and many more!

I’ll be blogging my notes and Tweeting away, so be sure to stay tuned!