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? 

On Thursday afternoon I’ll be interviewing Jason Fried as part of the conference. Jason is the co-founder of 37signals and author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller  REWORK.

I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Jason over the past year or so and am thrilled to welcome him to STORY. I know he will have some great things to share with us. I’m working on a final list of questions to ask him but thought I’d give you the opportunity to let me know what questions you have for  Jason.

So comment below and let me know what you’d like to ask Jason… I’ll pick a few questions to ask him onstage at STORY!

• A good story has a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.
• What’s meaningful in a story is meaningful because it’s meaningful in life.
• Story teaches us what is beautiful, what’s worth dying for and what’s worth sacrificing for.
• Story has an incredible power to engage the human mind.
• There’s a difference between music and noise.
• We engage narrative differently than the language of experience.
• Narrative teaches us what we should be living for.
• Lists of values outside of narrative are meaningless.
• Stories in the Bible don’t stop and tell you what the moral of the story is.
• The story is ongoing.
• We sit down with the text and ask, “what’s in this for me?
• What if God was just in it?
• What if it’s just a relationship with Him that we’re meant to engage in?
• Story adjusts our moral compass.
• We learn by living a story.
• It’s possible to live a good story.
• All of the elements of stories are conditional.
• Characters are important, but they don’t have to be perfect.
• Characters have to sacrifice of themselves for the benefit of others to make a good story.
• Oftentimes our stories are selfish and self-serving.
• Success doesn’t tell a very compelling story.
• A character is not who they feel they are, think they are, or who they want to be.
• A character is only what they actually do.
• What we do tells a story about who we are to the people around us.
• The story we’re telling ourselves is often different than story we’re telling other people.
• We have to want something.
• If the protagonist doesn’t want something, the story can’t start.
• What story are you telling with your life?
• A story cannot be meaningful unless it involves conflict.
• We are taught that there’s not supposed to be conflict [ by the media and in church ].
• What does it mean to be “who God designed you to be?”
• We are born into conflict.
• We cannot reverse the role of conflict in our lives.
• Conflict is here to stay.
• Dark conflict entered into our lives as a result of the Fall.
• God created a protagonist in us.
• We desire what we cannot have.
• Conflict is beautiful.
• Conflict is the only way a character changes.
• The only way we can change is through pain.
• It’s true in a story and in real life.
• Conflict adds value to what we are trying to obtain.
• The Christian worldview has been hijacked by commercialism.
• It’s robbing of us of great stories.
• We need to look at conflict differently and share our stories, embrace conflict.
• If Christians could have a courageous attitude toward conflict, we could change the world.
• In story, there’s a desire for a climax, an act 3.
• In one action, conflict is over.
• The desire for climax is fascinating.
• We are a protagnoist… conflict has to take place to give life meaning.
• There’s always been a desire for conflict to go away.
• It manifests itself like wishful thinking in our lives.
• We’re taught conflict goes away through the climactic act of Jesus.
• The an inference is that Jesus is the climax and an end to our suffering.
• Jesus was not the climax.
• The truth is, in our theology, our conversion is not the climax.
• Conflict just gets worse.
• Can you imagine an infomercial with the Apostle Paul trying to sell Jesus?
• There’s a difference between the Biblical epic and the story we are taught.
• We’ve filtered our theology through commercial messages and lost the true power of our story.
• We are in Act 2 right now.
• Act 3 takes place at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
• When we die and are reunited with Christ.
• Paul didn’t sell Jesus as a product to take pain away, he talked about HOPE.
• What we have is incredible hope.
• The number one way America consumes stories is not through film, television or books, the number one way we consume stories is through each other.
• Tell beautiful stories with your lives.

• People love to fight over the Bible.
• Many of the examples we’ve been given have been combative.
• We need to come a place where love the Bible not as an object that informs us, but something that points us to a loving relationship with a loving God.
• Words only point us someplace.
• We’re called to tell the creation story, instead we fight over how long a day is.
• Creation is one of the most beautiful stories ever told.
• There’s 2 accounts of creation in Genesis… God speaking and God stepping in.
• In John there’s another account.
• The logos is the forming point of all creation.
• It’s like fire… moving, active, forceful, beautiful.
• The Word is active.
• John’s account of creating centers around Jesus.
• We fight over what a day is or if there were dinosaurs,
• All things that exist are in Christ.
• God is the cosmic force that has created all things… let us tell you the story.
• We need to reach the narrative of Scripture, not just the propositions of it.
• We are shaped and made by other people’s stories in our lives.
• Too often we read the Scripture like it’s someone else’s story that we can get some good information out of it.
• We oftentimes read it actively so we can learn how to argue with people.
• The Bible is not your sword to pick up and hit people with – it’s meant to do surgery on our hearts.
• It reveals our need for a rescuer.
• It’s not meant to inform our ideas.
• The way we teach history is very broken.
• We are totally, completely focused don the proposition.
• We gear our learning around propositions.
• We forget them.
• We miss the story.
• Propositions will not save you.
• Check out the book Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
• You can’t tell a story.
• You need to tell a story that invites people into inquiry.
• Explore tensions in the story so students will want to research and investigate.
• Jesus told stories that humbled people.
• We summarize Jesus’ stories in to three propositions.
• Jesus tells a beautiful story that invites us into it.
• We need not propositionalize everything.
• The logos is what we are called to engage.
• We thrive together on mission; we wither in anger, dissent and institutionalism.
• Matthew 11 – Jesus tells us to take His yoke.
• There’s a yoke that’s been created for us.
• We’re not tired for doing the right things; we’re get tired by doing the wrong things.
• There’s life and vitality found when you are doing things with Jesus at the center of them.
• Jesus needs to be at the center.
• Every social concern is an opportunity for God to be about His business of restoring what is broken.
• We need to engage, not just write checks.
• We are called to engage in restorative work.
• There is life in doing God’s work.
• As we put a yoke on us, something comes alive within us.
• There is no one more inclusive than Jesus.
• We must call sin, sin.
• We like the BIG sins… but we can’t point out a sin and say you have to get it together before you can come.
• We can only deal with sin and restoration in the place of community.
• Until we bring the whole Gospel to the whole world we’ve missed something significant and beautiful.

—

• 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.