@BenArment just announced Story, a conference for the creative class in ministry, is going to be hosted at Park September 23-24!

The theme for this year is Communicating the Unseen.

As ministers, we are storytellers of the unseen – an unseen God, an invisible kingdom, and a hidden underworld.

The lineup for this year is incredible… speakers include:

• Richard Walter, UCLA Film School and Oscar-award winning screenwriter. Author of Essentials of Screenwriting
• Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere
• Princess Zulu, HIV/AIDS advocate, author of the book Warrior Prinecess
• Gary Dorsey, founder of Pixel Peach Studio
• Jason Fried, founder of 37signals and author of REWORK
• David McFadzean, creator of Home Improvement
• Sean Gladding, New Monasticism, author of The Story of God: The Story of Us
• Andrew Klavan, author of best-selling crime novels True Crime and Don’t Say a Word
• David Hodges, singer/songwriter, formerly of the Grammy-winning band Evanescence
• John Sowers, president of The Mentoring Project
• Leonard Sweet, author and church futurist
• Dan Allender, professor of counseling at Mars Hill Graduate School
• Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines

And muscial guests:

• Vicky Beeching
• Carlos Whittaker
• Kari Jobe

There’s only 500 seats – so be sure and register fast! And, become a fan on Facebook to stay up-to-date with what’s coming!

• This stage is too big for me but it’s not too big for my God.
• The devil does everything to push us towards anonymity and indifference.
• We serve a creative God.
• God’s story is being told in letters too big for some of us to see.
• Ephesians 1:18 – may the eyes of our heart be enlightened…
• We need to aspire to be more.
• We are all storytellers.
• God is not in the business of selling Himself.
• God does not sell beautiful Apple products in clunky Microsoft packaging.
• Our God is in the business being excellent.
• He’s in the business of differentiation.
• He’s in the business of telling compelling stories.
• The Gospel is the most compelling story ever told.
• The cross is the most recognized symbol in the world.

Convincing vs Compelling

• There’s a difference between being convicing and compelling.
• Being convicing uses the power of persuasion to get into people’s minds.
• Being compelling uses excellence and causes people le to be drawn to you in their own minds.
• People are sold, but it’s in their own minds.
• Are you, or your churches, being a “me” monster when you’re telling your story?

Story Sequencing

Impression – Brand Identity + Brand Story

• Story is going on all the time, going on over the lifespan of our communications.
• We have an up-front responsibility in the process.
• Excellence has stopping power; story has staying power.
• The responsibility of brand identity is getting people stopped in their tracks.
• When you do something with excellence, it stops people… they notice.
• Your brand identity is not a logo, it’s anything that touches people that represents who you are.
• Story has staying power.
• Story’s responsibly is to draw people in.

Brand Identity

• Brand Identity creates an impression; Brand Story creates intrigue.
• Story needs to take us on a journey and create transcendence.

Brand Experience

• The Brand Experience allows people to experience, to taste and see.
• When we do that, we pay off our promise.
• We deliver what we said we would.
• Brand Experiences surprise and delight.
• Exceed expectations.

Brand Association

• Customers internalize how they feel about when they first met you
• Branding is building relational trust in storytelling.
• Are you truthful? Are we giving what we promised?
• Are you trustworthy?
• Are you temporary? We want to see relationships go the distance… we want to be a part of something we believe will be lasting.

• Branding manages and challenges perceptions.
• Read  Blue Ocean Strategy
• We can create uncontested market space.
• You can’t tell a story without good assets.
• We need to use words that have the power to move people, re-create imagination.
• “I’m on a personal mission to rid church logos with fish, crosses, and globes…”
• You need a brand that can stand beside any other brand and tell a beautiful story of what God is doing through what you are doing.
• Brochures are pre-experiences… not just paper and ink.
• People don’t get excited about copy.
• You can’t effectively tell stories unless you can effectively document stories.
• Besides a brand consultant you need a brand photographer.
• You won’t get what you need out of stock photography.

We are creating the image of the living God for the world to see… we are telling His Story!

• If you focus on the problem you will never see the solution. – Patch Adams
• Don’t see what everyone else is seeing, see what people are afraid to see.
• Look at the world differently every day.
• We have a doubting audience.
• Do something unexpected.
• Get people’s attention.
• In the end, you’ll be branded.
• We serve an excellent God who wants us to look past problems/conflict and see His Story and retell it in a way that’s irrresistable.

• 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.

• A lot of believers are parked in the marina and not out in the deep water rescuing people who are drowning.
• Too many of us have a marina mentality, we’re tied up, smiling and waving, and smacking each other on the but while people are drowning and sinking into a Christless eternity.
• The guy who was drowning was just far enough away that they couldn’t see what was going on.
• There are people just out of reach who are dying without Christ.
• The Bible is a story of the Great Rescue.
• The Old Testament is about the rescue… Moses, Abraham, David, Disciple.
• In the Bible it says “the thing is the ring.”
• If you stop and consider what happened…
• Humanity was drowning, trying to use poor flotation devices [pleasure, possessions, etc] and God tossed “the ring” [Jesus] to us, giving us an opportunity to let go of what we are holding to and cling to Jesus.
• The Bible from cover to cover is a story of the Divine Rescue.
• The life ring symbolizes what Jesus did for us, Jesus came from the top to the bottom to bring us from the bottom to the top.
• The radically rescued should be rescuing radically.
• Are you in the rescuing business?
• Yacht clubs originally started as rescue societies.
• Some of the people in the rescue societies got tired and got more comfortable in the marina.
• The Church is not a yacht club; the Church is a rescue society.

• The thing is Jesus.
• If you want your life to soar, your church to hit on all cylinders, you’ve got to figure out the thing is the ring.
• Everybody wants to reach people until you start reaching people.
• Once you start introducing change, creativity and innovation, a lot of people get tired of it.
• Is the ring the thing in your life?

The hope is the rope.

• Can you imagine tossing a life ring without a rope?
• God had the rope [ the Church, the House, the boat, fellowship ] tied to the ring  [ Jesus ].
• When we’re rowing the boat together we don’t have time to sit and rock the boat.
• If you have people complaining on your boat, remind them you are a rescue society.
• Don’t be shy to release people.
• It’s healthy for people to leave.
• Don’t chase the leavers.
• When you get serious about the rescue mission, all of heaven and hell will open up around you.
• Church work is brutal-ful.
• It’s hard, but seeing the beauty of God at work around you is like nothing else.
• You’ve got to be called to it.

You better pull so the boat will be full.

• What’s the main thing in Church? Souls, Rescue. The Ring.
• Every single person in the church is part of the pull.
• I would rather a church have volunteers as much as small groups.
• You can have both, but I’d rather have volunteering.
• To get people off of the their rears and up on the bow of the boat, tossing the rings, pulling, so the house will be full… there’s nothing like it.
• We need everyone pulling so the house will be full.
• It’s not about church style or programs, it’s about reaching people.

The question that always messes me up is, “Who are you reaching?”

• We don’t like to address that question.
• It’s not who’s coming, it’s who you are reaching.

The other question is, “What are you doing?”

• In the Church world, chaos is your friend.
• Chaos is good.
• Some of the churches that boast great attendance, when asked who they are reaching, get very quiet.
• How many people, for example, are actually baptizing adults? That’s the public confession of someone’s faith! How many people are you liquidating? J
• We have to fight to keep the ring as the thing.
• We want people to be forced to delegate and get people involved in the pull.
• Usually staff members want to hire people to do their jobs.
• What would happen if we depended on a volunteer basis?

Rescuses [excuses] People Have…

• The Devil wants us to be members of the marina mentality yacht club.
• We have to come up with a great rationale for disobedience.
• Get your AS in gear! AS you go… make sure the thing is the ring,

1 – The “sheeple”

• Are we reaching  new people or pulling other sheep from other churches?
• If we’re not careful, Christian culture can create a faux faith.
• They’ve never reached people from other churhces.

2 – The Safety Excuse

• We just stay safe…
• Change – Conflict – Growth
• Most people resist change because of the resistance to change.

3 – The Depth Excuse

• “I’m looking for something deeper…”
• All rescues happen in the deep water, not in the shallows.
• If you want to get deep, you begin to rescue.
• Do you not understand the depth and complexity of the local church?
• Be active in sharing YOUR faith.
• Oftentimes when we think we’re being deep we’re really muddy.

4 – The “God in the box” Excuse

• We think we’ve got God figured out
• We think the “ring” will go and find people.
• We use election as an excuse to not evangelize.
• We don’t know where election begins and choice ends…
• But we do know Jesus told us GO.
• No matter where you are, TOSS THE RING.
• The knowledge excuse keeps a lot of people in the acht club.
• Encourage people to share their rescue story.
• Get the radically rescued, radically rescuing.

5 – The “Past” Excuse

• “You don’t know what I’ve been through….”

6 – The “Not Far Way from God Friends” Excuse

• Oftentimes the more involved we get in church, the further away we get from people who aren’t Christians.
• What’s your passion?
• Do it with a  passion.
• Leverage your passion with a purpose.

7 – The “We Need to Pray About It” Excuse