No matter what version you read it out of, Proverbs 19:21 sums up 2011, and really the last 7 years of my life quite well.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God’s purpose prevails.

In the beginning of 2011 I was rolling along, growing Holy Cow’s impact and reach…doing what I do. During the year a few churches asked me to join their staff, but we were comfortable and felt good doing what we were doing. We weren’t moving, we weren’t going on staff. We knew where we were headed.

“many are your plans”

Then one of the churches we worked with asked me to increase my role there. I eagerly accepted the new role but told them I’d do it in Michigan.

“many are your plans”

Yep, as I wrote about, that translated into us moving down there. But we were still going to be on contract, our workload would increase but not much else other than location and more on-site involvement. It was all still really Holy Cow. I wasn’t coming on full time, I wouldn’t have office hours, steady as she goes.

“many are your plans”

On January 2 I will begin leading the marketing and media team of Victory World Church.

That’s kinda scary and most certainly a bit uncomfortable. For the last 7 years I came and went as I pleased. I set my own hours, I did my own thing. I answered to no one. But in those restless moments, when I start to get anxious I remember the rest, and greatest part of the verse:

“the Lord’s purpose prevails”

They are giving me a lot of room and flexibility to continue to speak and consult and I will continue to direct and champion Holy Cow Creative, but in 2012 I will begin leading this group at this amazing church.

8 years ago I wanted to be creative director at my church of not quite 1000 people. That door closed, Holy Cow was born. I thought I had landed. I thought that desire was gone, door closed and locked. But I am now the Experience Pastor at a church of 10,000.

See, what it doesn’t say, and you just end up figuring it out, is that not only does the Lord’s purpose prevail but it is MUCH MUCH better than what you’d ever dream. The coolest part of all of this is that none of it was on my radar, I didn’t orchestrate it. God opened the door and pulled me through.

This year I had the chance to get an early galley of Len Sweet’s I Am a Follower in order to consider writing an endorsement (which I gladly did). Within it held my new resolution for 2011 and every year after it: Follow Christ and let Him lead.

As in, forget your plans. Forget walking in one direction and asking God to come find you and help you but in walking beside the Savior and following His path.

So go ahead and make your resolution, setup your 5 year plan, it is a good start. But know that if you let God lead, those plans will fade into something much more amazing.

What has God surprised you with in 2011?
What doors are you seeing opened as He leads you into 2012?

A heavy week last week, attended two funerals. One for Ridley who died unexpectedly and the other for a friends mom, Evelyn, who had been struggling for a long time.

I learned a couple of lessons:

Don’t wait for a eulogy

As I sat at Ridley’s funeral and everyone said amazingly kind words (Rid was an icon of faith in our church, an incredible man), it struck me: “why did we wait until now to say this?” I am going to make an effort to let people know how special they are and the impact they make on my life in the here and now.

We’re missing reverence in the church

Evelyn’s funeral was a Catholic funeral. Now, this was not my kind of funeral. Though the building was gorgeous with stained glass all around, majestic etched columns all the way up to the cathedral ceiling, it was just…well, a Catholic funeral. But as I sat there in silence with everyone very careful not to say a word, I realized we don’t have that kind of reverence in the church. In exchange for big lights and amazing displays, we don’t take the time to be in awe of God’s majesty. I am going to look for ways to bring moments of reverence back into our services and worship.

Someone shared some teaching yesterday that has really disturbed me.

Before I get into it let me just say I know I’ll get some heat for this. I know I’m pointing a finger. I know I’m pushing buttons. I know I’ll get blacklisted by some.

I’m gonna be okay with that I think. I’m going to do my best to say this in love, but truth must be told and I believe it good and right to speak out against wrong teachings. It is important to note that I am not going to judge the writer, but I am speaking out against his teaching.

Matthew 7:1-2 ESV
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

I believe this instruction and I believe that putting myself out here like this causes my words to be judged. Oh Lord, I pray that my words will speak truth.

I believe we are in some really scary times as the church. We have churches that don’t want to talk about sin, churches that only want to talk about grace, and now we’ve escalated that to erasing hell. We’d rather talk about how Jesus can make our life just the way we want it than to speak truth.

My standpoint: Is there a hell? Yes.

I’m not going to try and go through all the teaching, that’s not my gift. I’ll let Francis Chan do that, (aka Go buy his book)

The bible, the word of God, talks about the lake of fire:

Revelation 21:8
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death

There is punishment without Christ:

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(and here are a bunch more)

That’s what the bible says, what Christ speaks, what the disciples taught. But it seems we’d rather not listen to that.

The bible tells us that we will be drawn to people who tickle our ears, we will seek out that sort of teaching. No hell, only grace…tickle tickle indeed.

The latest comes from Rob Bell’s replacement, Shane Hipps. Again, I’m not judging Shane. I think he is brilliant in so many ways. But I believe this new teaching is deceiving and I am judging his teaching.

Hipps: “It’s strange that so much passion and ink has been spilled over something that is all speculation.”

Hell is speculative? Christ told us about hell. It is a real place. A place we don’t have to go to. But a real place if we choose not to call him Lord. For me, I equate hell to the separation from God, an eternal punishment of spiritual hunger.

If there is no hell, exactly what is Christ the Savior of? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17 Save us from what?

And what is Christ talking about when He talks about hell? “fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 Was Christ, all knowing God, unaware that hell no longer existed?

Hipps: “If you died, took pictures, and came back to life again, then you would know with certainty what happens after death.”

I’m not even sure cameras are allowed in hell. But really? That’s the argument that hell is speculation? Because we don’t have a polaroid of it? I’m going to skip that whole argument because it’s just silly. I think Shane was trying to be funny. Right?

Hipps: “If it were important to him, you’d think he would have written a book about it. Or preached a sermon or two. But he didn’t. After Jesus rose from the dead, he spends his time talking about this life.”

“they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” That’s Jesus talking. I’m not a bible scholar so I don’t know how many times Christ talks about it, or when or whatever, though I know the Revelation is full of it. But does he really need to say it twice?

If my son is being blatantly disobedient, all I have to do is walk over to his closet, take out the spatula and say “Parker, if you don’t ______ daddy will have to spank you.”

I don’t have to say it twice. The fact that I go on a business trip, bring home a surprise for him does negate the rules of the house.

Hipps: “It would seem Jesus is more concerned with this life than the next”

I’m not going to be the one to put words in God’s mouth or pretend I know what Jesus was thinking, but we can’t ignore what He said in the past. His sacrifice washes away our sin, not His truth. He told us about hell and eternal punishment, He then paid the price for us. It was important enough to Him to die so that we could have the ability to follow Him to His kingdom so that we don’t have to spend eternity without him.

That said, I do think Hipps has a great point that while we must be heavenward focused, that our belief in Christ should go beyond a get out of jail free card. In fact I struggle finding any biblical foundation that a person who says the “sinners prayer” (which we made up) simply so that they don’t go to hell (fire insurance as it was called at youth camp) has a real strong foundation or security.

So what?

Well, I would urge all of us to head the scripture when it says:

Romans 16:17 ESV
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

that we listen to Luke when he suggests:

Luke 12:57 ESV
And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

So that we can:

1 Corinthians 10:15 ESV
I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

And please, no matter who takes the pulpit, get into scripture yourself. Know why you believe what you believe.

1 John 4:1 ESV
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

But, and this is harsh, I also am careful of who I let speak into my life:

Psalm 26:4-5
I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.

2 John 1:9-11 ESV
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

And I will pray for Shane Hipps that he would use his new found platform to speak the truth of Christ.

When I saw this at Gawker I figured, okay hoped, certainly they must be mistaken or just poking fun.

Nope.

It’s real.

And it’s stupid.

Listen, I know many/some/all have written Halloween off as evil. And in fact I too believe there are some things about Halloween that are best left alone. But JesusWeen? Really? You know people are laughing at you, right? And don’t be kid yourself that you’re reaching the lost that night, I’d even suggest you might just be making you and your group feel superior and more righteous than everyone else.

If you don’t “believe” in Halloween than skip it, but don’t fool yourself with an “alternative“. You’re just renaming it.

If you do dress your kids up in a fun little costume and go trick-or-treating (aka. community outreach) then be sure to know the code.

Thank you for not dumping me at the altar as I licked my lips ready for you to be my bride.

Thank you for holding me back so I wouldn’t tell our pastor to get on with it.

Thank you for making me laugh and allowing me the privilege of bringing laughter to your life.

Thank you for never giving up on the plans that God created for us. When this picture was taken we had no idea the hell our life was about to go through. But we also didn’t know just how much our God loves us. I truly believe that while I wouldn’t wish that dark valley on anyone, it has made us stronger and his given our marriage the character it has needed to get us to the happiness we now experience. You may quite possibly be my exact opposite, and I am grateful that God has shown me just how beautiful that is.

Most of you weren’t at the wedding (we only invited 70, if that). So here are a couple of highlights:

We didn’t make everyone eat out of the same dry cake. Instead each table had its own cake, each a different flavor. We didn’t do dancing (because I’m sure Carrie would’ve divorced me on the spot if she saw me dance) so we encouraged people to get up and try their neighbors cake too. Loads of fun.

Our party favor was a CD mix of some of our favorite songs.

My favorite picture.

And one last one because he’s just so darned cute. Yep, that’s Ty.

If you follow the twitter feed you know that I’m in Atlanta usually once a month working with a great church down there, Victory World Church.

You may have also seen some chatter about a move.

Well, through a course of events that could only be orchestrated by God (and if you want the whole story give me a shout, it’s incredible) a conversation came up with them about increasing my role there.

Over the past few months Carrie and I have met with them, talked it through, prayed about it, and sought wise council of expanding our contract by serving as the Experience Pastor at Victory World Church.

And in January (tentatively 1/11/12) we will move to Atlanta.

We are really excited about what this means for us personally and professionally as well as what it will mean for Holy Cow Creative. We have really fallen in love with the people at Victory. The staff and leadership became quick friends. Professionally and for Holy Cow we are stretching our tent and thinking big.

This allows for an even greater impact on the Church as well as allowing me to bring more talent to Holy Cow. I will continue as owner (because I’m not really selling the biz) and Creative Director of Holy Cow. I will continue to consult and speak (and excited to fly out of a major hub) and am working a number of projects that I’m really excited about as well.

So, much will stay the same. Much will be added. I serve an amazing God and am so very thankful for His favor on us.

I think it is important to point out that I didn’t plan this. This isn’t happening because I’m so awesome. 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have imagined this opportunity. This isn’t a door that I knocked on. This is a reflection of what happens when we stop trying to figure it all out and start first with following Christ and letting Him lead.

God has an amazing thing in store for you too, sometimes you just might have to get out of the way and stop trying to force it.

Carrie’s thoughts on the move >>

“are you building a business or creating a job for yourself”

I see a lot of people who call themselves business owners but as Bruce points out what they’ve really done is create a job for themselves. They don’t own it, it owns them.

I don’t just want a job.

I own a business.

But I don’t want to just own a business.

I’ve lately realized that those aren’t my only choices. I didn’t start Holy Cow so that I could have a large agency, though we’ve certainly been blessed with growth, I started Holy Cow to bring change to the way the church communicates, to help make the bride of Christ beautiful.

You can create a job, you can build a business or you can create a movement and platform. And that’s my goal with Holy Cow. To create a platform, a movement, focused on ministry. I call that Holy Cow, and the IRS sees it as business. But it’s not about the business, I could sell it today and little would change.

So no, I’m not selling Holy Cow, but I am looking at it less and less as a business. So go ahead and buy it. I’m not holding on to it as tightly. In fact I’m currently working on some things that aren’t Holy Cow and certainly not all about Michael Buckingham, but that will serve as a platform to build a movement towards greater communication within the church.

*That said, if Google decides to buy Holy Cow! along with Yahoo! I’ll take those millions and continue to build a movement of the church once again being the most creative place on the planet. Because the God we serve poured his creativity in us and as the bride of Christ we must be beautiful. Oh, and I’ll buy a jet.

What are you building?

the best parts of a conference aren’t the speakers.
(unless maybe if it’s an online only conference)

It’s all about the people and relationships. But sometimes you need an icebreaker.

Sometimes you need a laugh.

And sometimes you just need to punk a creative.

So….I’ve created the Holy Cow! I’ve Been Punked sheet for you to print out, cut out and enjoy! Slap these babies on your unsuspecting creatives back and let the conference begin!

These are also great for your next creative meeting, your next general council…but not a prayer meeting. [tape sold seperately]

Let the wild rumpus start. Roar! (which means download by clicking below)

Update: Let’s make this interesting, have some fun with these, stick it to your favorite creative, then take a pic and post it here. On Monday I’ll pick one for a free holy cow shirt.

Normally I keep all my ideas to myself and only share them with a select few. Protecting them until I can roll them out. But I recently watched an interview with Philip Rosedale who created Second Life and was inspired by his openness to not hold on so tightly to all my ideas. So I have an idea swimming around in my brain that I wanted to share and see if it has merit.

Since we first started the Church Marketing Lab, my heart always went out for the person that was on a church staff and handle the torch of design. I could tell they were really trying but they just have a really long road ahead of them, learning as they go and struggling to put it all together.

Now, we’re all on different parts of that road. We all started somewhere. For some they just need a push or clear and constructive critique. Others need definite art direction, and others need someone to take their idea and design file and bring some polish to it and bring it up a notch. They need their design pimped out a bit.

I’m considering offering those last two as a service of Holy Cow: art direction and next level design assistance.

Art Direction would be like a critique but much more hands on and continuous through a project.

Next Level (or whatever I end up calling it) would be hands on with the actual files but also instruction of what and why we did what we did. This produces a better end product so that the church can communicate to its best and fosters a better artist connected to the project.

I don’t know what I’d charge or even specifically how it would all work, but it’s something rolling around and I thought I’d listen to what you thought.

So, what do you think of this idea?

Shhh. Telling people about Christ is not as effective as showing people Christ.

After a few conversations about it I thought I’d expand on my thoughts a little.

The thought came after my son and I were talking about someone who had demonstrated their street preaching. And as we talked about it, we just wondered how in the world that could be effective. Now the problem we had with this example wasn’t just that all he was doing was telling, only using words, but also that he was trying to be sneaky (the old, ‘hey can I ask you something’ gig). But it stirred up the thought.

The church is very good at telling. Preaching has equalled telling. Pastor, you’re very good with your words. You have all the books, you fill your brain with knowledge, we are blessed because you know so much.

And that’s good.

But it’s not enough.

Honestly, if I have to tell someone I’m a christian…well, I best take a look at myself because I’m falling short, need Jesus just as much as they do and am in no place to be pointing fingers.

You know how it drives you mad when people criticize the church without any solution? It’s just like that with us pointing out people’s need for Christ without modeling what a redeemed person looks like

A bunch of religious people (that would be you and me) ask Jesus what the big things are that we have to do. And as you know He gave two things:

Love God
Love people.

And then we spend our days telling people that God loves them.

Christ didn’t ask us to [just] tell them. He asked us to show them.

What would happen if we spent most of our time showing people the things we’ve been telling them for the last 100 years?