All posts tagged conference

Luminous :: May 9-11 in Nashville

by Tim Schraeder on 12/01/2011 in Conferences with No comments

It’s December 1, which means annual budget planning is probably well underway for most of you. As you plot out your budget and make your “conference dream list” for next year, one I thing I wanted to get on your radar is a unique gathering happening May 9-11 in Nashville called Luminous.

My friend Chad Jarnagin shared the idea for this gathering with me late this summer and I’m stoked to see  it come together. Unlike your typical conference or even “un-conference” events that are happening, Luminous is going to be “an experience and movement designed to facilitate a sacred encounter with the Artist of the universe.”

I’m thrilled to attend the event and have the honor of being a presenter there, too.

If you are looking to gather with likeminded creatives, definitely add Luminous to your radar [along with other great conferences like STORY and the ECHO Church Media Conference!].

Here’s more info on Luminous:

Our vision is to see a resurrection of creativity in the lives of those who attend as well as the churches and organizations they serve. The keynote sessions & workshops will provide inspiration and revelation in a creative and encouraging environment for creative arts & communication leaders around the USA, UK, Canada, and other countries.

Anyone from a variety of creative arts, communications, and ministries are invited to attend to be inspired and encouraged at Luminous. There will be artists, communicators, filmmakers, writers, musicians, designers, and many others in attendance; the young, the seasoned, and the aspiring are all welcomed.

2012 Keynotes

  • Ian Morgan Cron - Episcopal priest and acclaimed author of “Chasing Francis” and “Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me”
  • Blaine Hogan - Artist, actor, writer, producer, Creative Director at Willow Creek Community Church.
  • More to be announced soon!

Musical Artists

  • All Sons & Daughters – David Leonard & Leslie Jordan: worship duo rooted in Journey Church in Franklin, TN.
  • Derek Webb – Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Remixer, Noisetrader, Agitator
  • Michael Pharez – Poet
  • One Sonic Society - led by Jason Ingram [vocals/guitar], Stu Garrard [guitar/vocals] and Paul Mabury [drums]; an international collective of respected artists, united in creating music to serve the Church.
  • Bellarive – Atmospheric post modern rock band.
  • More to be announced soon!

Workshop Environments

Workshops will be great times to dialog, and converse around various topics and ideas.

  • Stephen Proctor - curator of visual worship, illuminator, missionary of beauty, experience designer, VJ, projection artist, globe trotter, overgrown hobbit, co-owner of @gi_inc
  • Nate Ragan - Director of Product Development @MediaShout, VJ, artist, musician, all things creative
  • Dan Wilt - Dan Wilt is a writer, and is the Founder of WorshipTraining.com and Worship Development Nashville.
  • Stephen Brewster – Creative Director at Crosspoint Church.
  • Jeff Goins – Writer, idea guy, and difference-maker.
  • Tim Schraeder - Church Communications. Loves to spread ideas that lead to action. Co-director of @CMSucks. Church Relations at @CSGupdates. Creator of @OutspokenBook.
  • Jeff Simmons – Lead Pastor at Rolling Hills (@rhcc)
  • and more discussions TBD. 

There are many surprise possibilities in the works, so keep checking the Luminous website for updates.

Speaking of conferences… Which conferences are on your radar for 2012? 


 

Leading People to the Prodigal God

by Tim Schraeder on 08/06/2009 in Leadership Summit 2009, Notes with No comments

Called a “C.S. Lewis for the 21st century” by Newsweek, Dr. Timothy Keller is founder and pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Over the past 20 years, the church has grown to three sites, with weekly attendance of 6,000. Named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Churches in America, Keller’s ministry is notable not only for winning over New Yorkers who are skeptical to faith, but also for its missional approach, planting more than 100 churches through the Redeemer Church Planting Center. Author of The Reason for God andThe Prodigal God, he will talk about the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son and discuss the ways many people in our churches tend to resist the gospel.

  • Tim has been a minister for 35 years and has been a sucker for anyone who has come along and said,  ”I have the key to spiritual renewal…”
  • The thing that shocks us is the amount of spiritual deadness in our congregations.
  • A small part of the congregations do most of the work.
  • Spiritual deadness is still the main problem.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

  • Prodigal means “recklessly” extravagant.
  • We need an extravagantly loving God to deal with our wayward son
  • We often think of the younger son when we think of the prodigal son
  • In Luke 15, we see two groups of people around Jesus… the sinners and the relgious leaders.
  • Religious leaders don’t understand what Jesus is doing with sinners.
  • He tells three parabels to them (the religious people)… lost sheep, lost coin, and the prodigal son.
  • The younger brother is like the sinners around Jesus.
  • The elder brother is like the Pharisees, religious leaders.
  • The last part of the parable is all about him.
  • At the end, the father is addressing the older son.
  • The point is to address the people in the church.
  • The main point of the parable: both younger brothers and older brothers are alienated from the father, who represents God.
  • They are both lost, the Father has to go out and invite them in.
  • The younger brother is obvious, he doesn’t love the father, he wants his money and does whatever he wants.
  • The elder brother doesn’t love the father either.
  • He’s upset with how the father is using the estate… the elder brother loved the father’s things, but not the father.
  • The younger brother got the money by demanding it.
  • The elder brother tried to get it by staying home, by being obedient.
  • There’s two ways to be your own saviour and lord, two ways to get control of your life… one is by being immoral and irreligious, the other is by being moral and religious.
  • The elder brother says, “because I’m so good, God has to bless me…”
  • For the elder brother Jesus might be his inspiration, but not his Saviour.
  • Both ways are ways that reject God.
  • Elder brothers believe they are with God.
  • Both are alientated from the father, he has to urge each son to the feast (salvation).
  • Younger brother goes in, older brother doesn’t.
  • The “good boy” is not lost in spite of his goodness, but because of his goodness.
  • Religion operates like this: I obey, therefore I am accepted.
  • The Gospel operates like this: God accepts me, therefore I obey.
  • Elder brothers are obeying God to get things, making God a means to an end.
  • Everything we need is already ours when we receive the Father through the Son.
  • Elder brother’s standing with God is based on performance.
  • On one level we believe the Gospel, but we constantly go back to religion.
  • Elder brother is our default mode.

Marks of an Elder Brother

  • Elder brothers get incredibly angry when their lives don’t go well. They get furious with life and with God. It shows they believe God owes them.
  • Elder brothers can’t handle criticism. How do you respond to criticism? When they get criticized they reply with vicious counter-attack. Their self-regard is rooted in their self-image and reputation of being a good person, not in their identity in Christ.
  • Elder brother’s prayers are petitionary. They never just enjoy God. There’s no intensity or intimacy in their prayer lives. They only pray when life gets rough.
  • Elder brothers are loathing. If your self image is based on you having right doctrine and not what the right doctrine is about… or if you are hardworking, you’ll look down on anyone who’s not.
  • Elder brothers can’t forgive. It’s impossible to stay angry and bitter at someone unless you feel superior to them. You have to have a fair amount of pride to stay bitter.

The Remedy

1 – You’ve got to get a new level of repentence

  • Repentance is more than “being sorry.”
  • Secret to renewal is repenting for the reasons for your rightdoings, not just your wrongdoings.
  • “The main thing separating you and God is not your sin, it’s your damnable good works.”
  • You don’t see your need.
  • Until you learn to repent for the reasons of your right doing, you think you’re doing something for God.
  • You’ve got to get to a deeper level of repentance.

2 – You’ve got to get a new level or rejoicing.

  • It’s typical to read the prodigal son and say: if you do wrong, humble yourself and be sorry and God will welcome you back.
  • But if you do that, it’s just one more thing for you to do. Another religious activity.
  • What did it cost to bring the father to bring the younger son home?
  • Their inheritance was split between the two sons, so because the younger son spend his half, the calf, the robe, the ring, everything was the expense of the older brother.
  • The atonement was costly and the older brother was angry about it.
  • What kind of elder brother do we need?
  • We need a brother who would come from heaven to earth.
  • We need an elder brother who would save us at the cost of his life.
  • The only reason we can be clothed in the father’s robe is because he was naked on the cross.
  • The only reason we can drink at the father’s table because our older brother drank the cup of God’s wrath.
  • We are humbled out of our self-righteousness and lifted out of our pride.

How do you get this basic idea, Biblically informed and spiritual empowered into the deeper parts of people’s hearts?

  • The Gospel is religion or irreligion; morality or immorality; it’s a new thing, it’s something else.
  • Young people are demoralized by religion and legalism.
  • We’ve got to distinguish the Gospel from moralism.
  • Moralism creates older brothers.

4 Ways to get this into people’s hearts…

1 -You, the leader, have to get this into your heart.

  • Don’t let the ministry save your soul.
  • Too many of us base our identity in our ministry.
  • We’ve got experience personal renewal and revival for ourselves.

2 – If you are a preacher or teacher, when you communicate, move beyond Biblical principles to the Gospel.

  • To the degree you see how you have everything you need in Christ, is the degree by which you will give. You’ll be more generous if you believe the Gospel in your heart.
  • Don’t teach it unless you take it back to the cross.
  • Never end the teaching without pointing back to the One who did it.
  • Make it Gospel-centered, not moralistic.

3 – Get a group of leaders and go through his book The Prodigal God…

  • Don’t make it a class… that takes you back to step 1!

4 – Let it spread through your church.


The Truth About Church Websites and Effective Online Outreach

by Tim Schraeder on 07/30/2009 in Church Communications, Echo 09, Notes, Principles, Social Media, Web & Email with 3 Comments
  • Drew has a passion to help churches use technology to do outreach, build community and advance the Gospel.
  • 2,600 churches use Monk Development technology.

I’ll post Drew’s notes on this when I get them, they will be more accurate than mine! ;-)

Are church websites effective tools for outreach and evangelism?

  • John 17:18… as you have sent them into the world so I have sent them into the world.
  • Facebook is now the “5th largest nation in the world.”
  • The world is online so we need to be.
  • 64% of wired Americans have used the internet for spiritual or religious purposes. – Pew Research Study
  • 0.17% (1 person) said they were not a Christian and influenced to go to the church as a result of visiting the church website.
  • 60 million Americans say they use the Internet to make big decisions.
  • 6% of churches have Gospel presentation on their websites.
  • At present, church websites are ineffective tools of evangelism.
  • One possible reason… if you’re not a Christian, you’re not going to go to a church website to learn about God.

How are people finding the church website?

  • On average, 25% are on a search looking for it.
  • 43% are direct.
  • 30% are clicking on a referral.
  • What does search hits mean? Non-Christians are finding your site.
  • Direct traffic typically means its people in your church, who know.
  • The search represents the content of your site and how well it’s laid out.
  • The higher the direct traffic, the higher the community involvement
  • Referral means your online presence elsewhere.

During usability studies, 88% of web users went to a search engine first to accomplish a task.

Traditional church marketing has its message and you hope it connects with the person’s situation… online searches allow us the opportunity to be a “just in time” church based on what people are searching for.

  • Life change – reach people when they need the church the most. (depression, marriage, health, death, illness, transition).
  • Think about your town and how you can optimize the life changes people face in your community.
  • People stay on a page for about 45 seconds… what are you going to do with that time?
  • What are you going to do with the traffic that comes to your web? (Wherever it comes from!)
  • Church websites are an effective tool for reaching Christians.
  • 16% of people say that the church website is the first time they heard about the church
  • #1 area people went on websites for information for new people… how are you thinking for that population?
  • Many churches are creating websites for internal purposes, but what are you doing to connect people on the outside.

There’s three populations of people who visit your church website: visitors, beginners (3-6 months), and regulars (6+ months).

  • 30% of people who were new to the church said the website is where they learn about the church.
  • 77% said the church website was very important in making the decision of whether they were going to visit your church or not.
  • A church’s website is people’s first filter to find a church.
  • Spend your homepage connecting with first-time visitors and new people to your church.

Triperspectival Design

  • Normative
  • Existential
  • Situational
  • What do you want to communicate about your vision?
  • What behaviors do you want the visitors to imitate?
  • 82% of beginners say the website was important in their participation in the church community.
  • 45% said it was important for their spiritual growth.
  • 73% said the website was helpful in their evangelism efforts.
  • 76% of regulars said the web was still important in their involvement in their church community.
  • 47% said it was an active part of their spiritual growth and discipleship.
  • 52% of regulars said it was important in sharing their faith.
  • 82% of regulars visit the church website at least once a week.

Web Development – Developing a Church Web Strategy

  • Internet Presence Management – how and what is your presence online? We have to develop a strategy and lead our people that way, or people will be all over the place. Where are your people online? What are they using? Is all your info on Facebook? Google Groups, etc? Think about the principal issues and how you’re going to accomplish them.
  • Website Development - what behaviors do you want from people?
  • Community Development - how are you going to engage your community? How do you create space for community online and use Facebook missionally?
  • Church Management - online donations, event registration, etc.

Willow Creek Arts Conference Session 1 :: Nancy Beach

by Tim Schraeder on 06/10/2009 in Notes, Willow Creek Arts Conference 2009 with 2 Comments

Nancy Beach is a visionary leader and champion for the power of the arts and artists in the local church, Nancy Beach is known around the world as a leader and mentor of church artists and teachers. Vice President of the Arts for the Willow Creek Association, she is a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church and the author of An Hour on Sunday and Gifted to Lead.

Our Creator has lavished this world with wonder, and waits to see who will notice.

Psalm 40:5 – many are Your wonders…

Wonder points us to God.

Wonder is the base of our worship. It’s our call to worship.

Wonder is closely connected to beauty, awe, mystery and imagination.

The early church knew a lot about wonder… everyone was filled with awe.

Children are natrurally filled with wonder.

Children ask at least 125 probing questions every day… Adults ask 6.

How did we lose our childlike wonder? Check this great example.

Something terrible happens to us when we move toward adulthood – we exchange
awe and wonder with apathy.

Too often we’re hardened towards wonder and don’t realize greatness when we see it… example.

There are many enemies to wonder: hurry, stress, too much technology, lack of solitude, boredom of routine, noise, information overload, unrealistic job descriptions.

Every weekend artists and teachers in the church have the profound privilege of leading
people into the presence of God. When we are in awe and wonder of God we can
usher people into the presence of awe and wonder of God.

We can be agents of wonder.

Without a childlike wonder we’ll go on auto-pilot. We’ll use the same old
words, images and routine… dead inside, and no one we’re reaching will be inspired towards
life.

Cultivating a spirit of wonder means we have to wake up.

We need to go through life saying, “WOW!”

We need to marvel at God’s creation.

We can look at our own human bodies and wonder at God’s creation.

“…there is nothing more artistic than loving others.” – Van Gough

Recognize not only the beauty in creation, but the beauty in the people around you.

Too often we’re hard on ourselves about our bodies. (Psalm 139:14,15)

We can marvel in wonder from the dynamics of human relationships.

Is your default setting “open delight”?

Who are the people you are thankful for?

We need to learn to once again marvel and be in awe of God’s grace. That should astonish us on a regular basis.

We should never grow tired of understanding God’s grace.

We must, especially as artists, accept our responsibility of ushering in the light to those who walk in the darkness.

Whatever palette we are most gifted to use… words, creating images, painting, video, lighting, dance, singing, music or technical arts… we are called to be agents of wonder and hope.

Do you notice the “pennies” God has sprinkled around you or are you indifferent to them.

“Never be indifferent… the opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference… the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference… whatever you do in your life, indifference is never an option…” – Elie Wiesel

We have to fight against indifference, boredom and cynicism.

Isa 29:13-14 – What is the solution to indifference? He astounds us with wonder upon wonder. God will break through our boredom and indifference with wonder upon wonder.

We need to wake up and notice what God is doing.

“It’s terrible to be grateful and not know who to thank…” – CS Lewis

Let’s be people who are easily “wowed.”

What God said when He made the world was a prayer… “it is good.”