In August, I wrote a series of posts about signs. It was an interesting journey.
I decided to pull them all together into one document I’m calling Life signs. You can download it by right-clicking here.
What I’d like is feedback. Too long? Too hard to download? Logical formatting? Anything else?
You can comment here or you can email me at jnswanson at gmail dot com.
Thanks for going on the ride.
The other night I was reading my email, minding my own business, when I heard from my friend Becky McCray. She we writing to a couple of us and created a wonderful metaphor about starting something. She said,
It’s like you want to throw a big costume party.
You call a few friends, “hey, I’m going to throw a costume party.” “Great idea!” We make supportive noises, offer a few ideas, and say we’ll be glad to help. Because we are, we will be, glad to help.
Then you work out a bit more on your own, and you send out the invitations, and you prepare like mad.
And you wait. Nervously. For guests you *hope* will arrive. “What if no one comes to my party?”
When I read it, I thought she was talking about something she was starting, a small business online tv show called Small Biz Startup TV. You can see the first episode and find out when the next show is by following that link.
But no. She was writing to encourage the other person, a friend who is taking some cool and bold and risky and tentative steps.
It’s a great story. Go read the whole post. And then think about your own party.
And if it involves a small business, talk to Becky. I hear she is a great party planner.
I started this list as a comment to a previous post. I decided to make it a post of its own.
I’m trying to sort through some things about relationship as it relates to leadership, to spiritual direction, to helping people in ways that are consistent with the ways that Jesus helped (and helps) people.
Respond, argue, clarify, ask for clarification.
1. It takes time to get to know other people in the helping community.
2. The more we know other people, the more we trust what they can do.
3. There are no agencies in the New Testament, only people and the church. (Thus, when Jesus sorts out the people who showed Him love from the people who didn’t in Matthew 25, He was holding individuals accountable)
4. The more time we invest in (as opposed to waste on) people, the more we are about what Jesus was about.
5. Investing in means providing the resources that are needed to accomplish the work. Tools, principles, truth, love.
6. Wasting on means giving up something of value for no gain.
7. It is possible to waste time on people. What that looks like is being with them and not putting into them what we know would be helpful. For example, listening to the same description of the same problem for the 17th time and not saying, “You know, this would help.”
8. I can’t always tell the difference between waste and invest.
9. I know that the difference ISN’T about productivity.
10. So as leaders we have to figure out how to be present with people, investing and not wasting.
Making sense?
This link to Creating Passionate Users link suggests that getting people to act takes getting people to decide.
It's Easter evening, there were several projects that were completed, and it's time to make some notes.
-It is possible to just decide that a project is done.
One video for this morning was a background for a song being performed live. I spent a bunch of time on it, and had some ideas on how to push it even further, which would have taken, um, I'm not sure how long since I'm not sure exactly what to do to create a veil to be torn. But then I realized that it was background. So I finished in the next 12 minutes. Sometimes done is best.
-One second clips of a key sign or image can cover a multitude of cuts.
-Live performance has tremendous power; so does video. However, they have different power and need different scripting and approaches to time. And you can cut 1:28 from a video and still keep the story going. And you can use black screen with time on it to represent the passing of time. And the dialogue can start under the dark slide to keep the audio content going.
-Spend the time on photoshop backgrounds.
-Test the rough cut on the equipment that you are going to use for projecting the actual project or you will be surprised by the sound or the projection or both.
-Adrenaline works, but don't live on it.
-build a mediashout program on the computer in the sanctuary which has
the schedule of the week of March 19th on it and has some of the videos
that we will be using.
-bring Scott in to create it.
THIS GOT DONE!!!!
I'm into dumping my brain right now, since clearly, there is way too much
to dump in there. I figure, if I put it here, someone can look at it and
sort it out and expand on what we are trying to do. It might work, it
might not, but at least there will be some reservoir.
-make sure there are followup booklets at the front.
-write a brochure about the church
-who we are
-our passion statement
-our events
-our plans for the future
-our beliefs
-our web address and other contact information.
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