• ‘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!

• Greetings from SoCal. I flew here on Thursday and have spent a long weekend with my sister and her family and am headed to some exciting meetings today. Being in California in December is absolute torture. It’s going to be hard to go back to winter in Chicago!
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• My first email newsletter shipped last week. Thanks to all who signed up and for your feedback. Watch for more goodness to hit your inboxes soon. Not signed up yet? You can check out my first enewsletter here and sign yourself up by clicking here.
• Ideation 2012 is headed to Chicago! I had the chance to hang with Charles Lee and some other brilliant and creative minds in Chicago last week to dream about the event and to think about content and speakers. I’m so excited for what’s coming together. You won’t want to miss it. Save the dates: May 7-9, 2012.
• So I don’t have many chops in the kitchen but I did come up with an inventive idea for an appetizer: Taco Salad Minis. I guest blogged the recipe on my sister’s cooking blog, Stolen Spoon. Check it out.
• Call me a late adopter. I’m on pins and needles and am absolutely loving Pintrest. I finally spent some time messing around with it over the weekend and am loving it. Follow my boards and I’ll follow yours.
• I’m going to be an author again! I can’t give away too many details but I’ve been asked to be a part of a book that will release next fall. I won’t be writing about church communication, though! I’m honored/humbled and nervous all at the same time.
• This is the best video I’ve seen all week. Consider it my Christmas greeting to you.

• Church communications people my challenge to you for 2012: focus more on being a consultant. More on that coming soon.
• Counting down the days til the Willow Creek Christmas production. Blaine Hogan keeps Instagramming images from the dress rehearsals and I can’t wait! I’m going on Sunday night with some friends and CANNOT wait!
• Over on the Church Solutions Group blog [my day job], there are some great ideas for church leaders on how to plan AFTER Christmas. Check it out.
• So, let’s talk about the Elephant in the Room. I was very intrigued by The Elephant Room gathering last year and am stoked to be serving as a blogger for the event on Jan 25. Seeing Mark Driscoll taking on Steven Furtick will be worth the carpal tunnel I may receive from trying to keep up.
• 2 more days to save on Outspoken. If you haven’t the chance to pick up a copy of Outspoken, don’t miss your chance to save 50% through December 14! Details on ChurchMarketingSucks.com.
• Can’t wait to listen to the latest project from Hillsong United. When United was on their recent tour they recorded their latest live project/DVD, Aftermath Live in Miami. Details on the release are coming soon.  CANNOT WAIT.
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• Just 13 days left til Christmas! Crazy. Where did this year go? Are you guys ready for Christmas? I haven’t even started my shopping yet, but most of it’s going to happen online. What about you?

You know how God has to sometimes put something in front of us a few times before we notice it?

Well, for me, it’s been the simple phrase: God with us.

I’ve been thinking and pondering the significance of that simple statement… and was sort of oblivious to the fact that it was also the theme of Willow Creek’s Christmas service, which I attended this weekend.

When the angel appeared to Mary in the ever-familiar Christmas story, it was proclaimed Jesus’ would be Immanuel, meaning… God with us.

What does it mean to be “with someone”?

It means to be in close proximity, not just physically, but emotionally. It’s an intimate togetherness.

God wants to be with us… it’s wrapped up in the very character and nature of who He is. He designed us for relationship with Him.

I think we don’t think of God and us like that.

I think too often we think God AGAINST us… God SILENT towards us… God is DISTANT from us… God HATES us… but through Jesus, we know God is WITH us.

I’ll be honest, this year has been full of amazing opportunity, new friendships and great moments, but it’s also been wrought with some hard moments, tough decisions, and disappointments.

In moments like those it’s easy to think that God is far away, but I guess the thing I’ve discovered sometimes when you look around and don’t see Him it’s because He’s right beside you or in places you may not expect.

So, moving into a new year [and a new decade!] it’s my prayer that we can live knowing God is WITH us. As we obediently follow Him and His leading, He is with us and promises to give us the strength we need to live out the life He’s calling us to live and give us everything we need to accomplish what He’s asking us to do.

One of the beautiful truths that Bill Hybels shared in his message during the Willow Creek service was…

“one of the best ways to see ‘God with us’ is in the faces and stories of people around us… “

As various people from Willow Creek began to share their stories and how God intervened and was “with them” I realized that  one of the most vital ways we make it through life is through community. Through the people around us who speak life into ours and who do life with us. People who laugh and cry with us; people who listen and give advice.

In one of the final moments of the service as we were singing a song about “God with us” people all around the auditorium stood up with signs… some said “all shall be well…” others said “God with us.”

It was a beautiful reminder and profoundly moving… HUGE props to the entire team at Willow.

I pray this Christmas season, no matter what you may be trusting God for in the New Year that you will know… all shall be well… God is with us… and He is with YOU.

Merry Christmas!