It happened again a month or so ago when I received an email from Todd Rhoades asking me to be a part of The Nines conference. I can’t believe I’m on this list, it is “in my weakness He is strong” in action.

The theme this year is “Game Changer”.
I knew what I was going to talk about, it’s what I’m passionate about. I wanted to talk about the art of church, the art of preaching, my passion to get church leaders focused on HOW we are doing church.

As I prayed about it though I realized that’s not what I was going to talk about.

Heart’s passion isn’t the theme, it’s “Game Changer”. They’ve given me 6 minutes to talk about the Air Jordans of my work, my life, my ministry. I remember wanting those as a teenager, I knew that they would change everything! I would run faster, jump higher, hello slam dunk! They would make me a star athlete…in spite of the fact that I was a terrible basketball player.

And that’s my explanation to why they gave us 6 minutes (instead of 9), because it signifies what a game changer is all about. A turnaround, a change in direction, a change of perspective.

At least that’s what my game changer was about.

I took my 6 minutes and talk about that thing that changed everything, in spite of all my shortcomings. I believe it is the reason doors like this open, why Holy Cow! continues to grow, and a vital move that every one of us, whether you lead a church or not, needs to make. It’s simple, but something, at least for me, that doesn’t happen easily but is so freeing once you put it on.

Do be sure to tune into The Nines for a group of amazing people doing amazing things as they share the Air Jordan’s of their lives. It’s an astounding group to be a part of including
Seth Godin
Phil Cooke
Kem Meyer
Carlos Whitaker
Jenni Catron
Francis Chan
Jud Wilhite
Anne Jackson
Jon Acuff
Scott Williams
Shawn Wood
Leonard Sweet…the list goes on and on full of incredible people, including an appearance by:

This is gonna be good.

Later in life I thought I might want to be a teacher. Then I realized I really just wanted the summers off.

I never really thought I’d be a designer. I never really thought of myself as a creative, and certainly not an artist.

But that’s what I’ve been doing and that’s what God has created me to be. And I love it.

The difference is in the doing.

It is easy to want to be something. We want to be great parents, great spouses. We want to excel in our career, we want to change the world.

It’s hard to do. It’s hard to stop working and and spend the day looking for a car for my oldest. It’s hard to put down the controller just as I wipe out the entire team in Call of Duty to play “you can’t get me” with my youngest. But by doing those things, I become a great dad.

It’s hard to push through easy ideas to find a great idea, an idea that will be even harder to develop but infinitely more effective in catching people’s attention. It’s hard to not settle on the obvious and dig deep for an original way to communicate that moves people. But by doing those things, we become great designers.

So many times we get pumped up and write out our lists of goals. We make them big enough to be dreams, but small enough to be attainable. But are those nothing but words and ink on paper without action? We need to dream. We need to say out loud “I want to be…” and then we need to take a deep breath, roll up our sleeves and do what it takes to be that which God has called us to be. It most likely will not be easy, but it will be rewarding.

You will love it.

My wife finally let me in on a secret: she wasn’t a big fan.

So off it went. My wifes response “mmmmm…” and a wink.

Exactly what I was looking for.

And everyone else…didn’t notice.

Really? I mean I looked in the mirror and it was a pretty big change.

No one. I expected my hairstylist to notice when I came in for my haircut. Not a word. Either of my sons. Nothing.

What do people do when you shave your beard?

The same is true when you launch a sermon series, promote an event, or even start to preach…people aren’t going to notice just because you do. And that’s okay. It’s just how we’re wired.

Some people will notice, take notice of them, they are your biggest fans, their emotions are connected to you. But most, won’t.

That means you might have to point it out if it’s important that people notice right away and give immediate feedback. Of course that might also mean you have to be okay without people pointing and noticing and just let it soak in.

If you want people to take notice it starts before you pick up the razor. My wife noticed because she was connected. It solved a “problem” for her (she wasn’t a fan of the beard). Create those connections, and people will not only take attention but it will mean something to them.

Of course maybe you don’t tell everyone you have an awesome [fill in the blank]. Afterall it’s easy to say, everyone says it. Let people experience it, let it soak in. And when you don’t hit everyone over the head with things right away, people will stop and look when you say “you really need to pay attention to this…”

I think the same thing is true for how we wear our christianity. Sometimes people should notice right away and sometimes the subtlety just rubs off little piece by little piece. I think the loudest testimony is that of a person who lives out their faith among those who don’t believe not the people who shout the loudest.

The above images are two recent projects he helped me with. In fact, I was stuck on the info graphic. It needed something more and I was at a wall. So, knowing that he wanted to learn I had him come into the office and we started working with it…and he brought that something more.

As we were talking about design and how he could learn, I had the idea to help him and a church at the same time. So here’s where you come in. I often have churches that call and want a logo, but simply don’t have the budget for us to do it. Now, if you’ve worked with us you know it is important that we stay flexible, but we do have some parameters we need to stay within. So sadly, I have to say no sometimes. But here’s an opportunity for me to say yes to both my son and to you.

I am offering a full logo development for $250 (the entire amount goes to Ty and his education) to one church that is willing to go through the process with my son as the designer. I will still work as Creative Director and work closely with him through the whole process, but he will take the lead in pulling the information together, doing the research, producing sketches and of course producing final concepts.

Who knows, if this works out well it may be an ongoing program for those churches and ministries that simply and truly don’t have the budget for great design yet really desire to communicate the best they can.

You can post here or contact me with the following:

I’ll look through the submissions with Ty and contact the one that feels like the best fit. My goal is to breath creativity into my son and your ministry as you both prepare for ministry.

It’s a part of the MidMichigan Innovation Center, an incubator that looks for companies that are pushing the limits and doing a new thing. This gives me not just an office but access to conference rooms, administrative staff, the whole works.

I am truly grateful and in awe as I see the favor of God. Scripture says that when we do the work He finishes the task. I never ever ever could do this without God’s provision. I am amazed and blessed that he’s given me the opportunity to equip ministries to tell His story and breath new creativity into the church.

Here is a glimpse of the new digs, including a picture from our first employee* meeting.

Our move in is Friday the 13th (hmmm) and our new address is 4520 E. Ashman Rd., Midland, MI 48642

*aka my wife, Carrie.

I wrote awhile ago about the tone of the blog, what to write, balancing my writing here with my involvement at ChurchMarketingSucks…and I think this is a nice step in that direction. Of course, a name change alone doesn’t change things, but it gets the ball rolling. I also hope the new name will bring more people, and more importantly, more conversation.

I go through the many of the same things you go through. I wrestle with a new logo, have dry spells when all I can do is remind myself that I’m not in charge, and yes reorder business cards even though 1000 cards arrived less than a week ago. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cards, they look great but when I had them printed I didn’t know the response JesusHatesPapyrus was going to get.

It stuck with many of you, made its rounds on twitter and it stuck with me. The more I talked about it the more I fell in love with it…thus, a name change. With the name change comes a new order of business cards with the new domain name on it.

The next thing to wrestle with is whether or not to completely move the blog to a new host under the new domain. Right now the domain name is masked, which is fine until you try to forward a post as a link – it stays masked. See, I hit road bumps too.

Some things change, like a name…some things don’t, like challenges. I’d love to hear your comments, thoughts and yes, advice is always welcome.

* for those of you who’ve asked, I will talk about why Jesus Hates Papyrus at Cultivate (probably Story too) and will write a post after these two conferences.

And the list goes on and on for alternatives to “enjoy this season”.

Of course what it really mean is that you don’t believe in Halloween but want to celebrate it anyway. I hear the word alternative being used but an alternative of kids dressing up and getting candy by having kids dress up and come to your church for candy…not very “alternative.”

Who are we fooling? What kind of message are we sending?

If you don’t like Halloween, don’t celebrate it. You have a legitimate argument that could be made against it. Giving it a new name doesn’t change a thing and the only one you’re fooling is yourself.

Happy Holiday
How does it make you feel when someone says “Happy Holiday” during Christmas? Do they fool you? Do you realize they’re just being ignorant in their lame attempt to be “sensitive”? Does it just get under your skin? Do you even think of shopping somewhere else?

I wonder if people think the same way when we say “Fall Harvest” instead of Halloween?

Let’s talk about those costumes.
What about the criteria “no scary costumes, God honoring costumes, etc.”? I think it’s just silly. I’ve handed out the candy, I’ve seen the costumes and no one has ever come to the door that’s going to give anyone nightmares.

What message do you send when you put that criteria in place? You’re telling people they can come to your party – if they look and act like you. Why can’t we let people come into church as themselves? Aren’t “those people” the people you say you want to reach? Honestly, if a kid wants to come to church dressed up as dracula…knock yourself out, have some candy. And when they ask you “aren’t I scary” go ahead and be honest “Yes you are, but you know what? God still loves you.”

And let’s not forget, when you give the criteria “bible characters only” you open yourselves to demons, prostitutes, evil spirits – not to mention adam & eve. What about the Holy “Ghost” does that qualify? I’ve just always thought that was funny.

Political
I understand that a large reason for the renaming is that many people would be upset if you had a “Halloween” party in the house of God. No one likes angry letters. I get that. What if you used it as an opportunity for a conversation about reaching people, about being slow to judge and quick to have open arms.

If you think Halloween is evil don’t rename it, just skip it. But if you’re going to have a party, be the place to be. Knock it out of the park. Have the most fun, the best candy, the biggest games…make church the place to be on Halloween.

Use it as an opportunity, not a stumbling block.

Have you been waiting for an invite, looking to starting using Google’s latest toy?

Reply below with why you want one and how you plan to use it in your church or ministry. I’ll reach into the hat and pull a few names out tomorrow and send you an invite.

Proverbs 31:8 (New International Version)

8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.

Which is ironically what I was doing with my open letter to Rick Warren. I don’t need to rehash that conversation, it was covered in length there. I do want to make something very clear.

It’s not about a contest.

It is about creatives & designers feeling undervalued, unimportant, and unappreciated. That’s the bigger issue. Spec work is just one of the things that highlights it and brings it to the surface.

Destitute has a couple of definitions:
1. lacking something needed or desirable
2. lacking possessions and resources

I’m taking of the first, not the second. Designers, specifically in the church, are often not treated fairly. They are treated as second rate.

Is this the same as taking care of the homeless and poor…of course not, but there is a segment of people out there that feel unappreciated and undervalued, and there’s something we could do to help that. And no, they can’t talk because they don’t have a voice, they aren’t listened to…but they should be.

When I tell someone that and they respond with

“suck it up”
“do better work”
“ignore it” and even
“it’s not about you anyway, it’s about Jesus”

that tells me you are so focused on your world that you can’t see the people, and that’s a harmful place to be. Because it is all about people. That’s why Jesus came. He didn’t come for himself, he came for people. When we see hurting people and ignore it because it’s easier to have life our way, that ignores the purpose of Christ.

Designers feel unappreciated.

We either accept the fact that designers, especially in the church, often feel unappreciated or we don’t. We then decide that we care, or we don’t. It really is that simple.

I hope you choose to be a part of turning that around. If you are a creative, know that I appreciate the work that you are doing in communicating the gospel. If you have a creative on your team, do something to let them know that you appreciate them. Start of by telling them “I appreciate you and the important part you play in this ministry.”

What a fitting stop on his tour, Idea Camp’s theme this year: Compassion.

What better time for us as the Church and as churches to show compassion. Sure they’ll be people talking about going to India, traveling the globe, you name it…but you can and should be showing compassion right where you live. I turn on the news and I can’t help but to see a HUGE opportunity for us to show the love of Christ today. People are hurting and desperate for hope.

So please, consider heading to DC, filling up your tank and prepare yourself to pour out compassion on your city. You might even take the chance to help Mark fill up his tank so that he can make it the rest of the way.

Oh and did I mention it’s free?