Rockin' the NWLC

I haven't blogged this week because I've been wrapped in thought about how to best sum up our amazing experience at the National Worship Leader Conference last week. Finally, with a lot of help from my trusty friend Lee, I figured the best way to sum it up was with a video. Remember, no one made you watch it :).

Teenage Affluenza Spreading Fast

Came across this video on YouTube this morning. From the view count, I'm far from the first one to see it (441,000 views and counting), but I wanted to share it anyway. It makes such a great point in such a creative way. I found myself laughing and feeling ashamed in the same breath. Very well done.



If you're reading the fee, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI

Two Great Short Films

Check out these shorts by Hallmark. The cinematography, acting, writing, direction. Man these are good. I want to be able to pull of shorts like this, to tell stories this well, to move people this much in our space. Man.





If you're reading this on a feed, here are the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRX7tdh1Ww4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-rMgkctHPo

These are two of my favorites, but you can find lots of these great Hallmark spots on YouTube.

Back to the old drawing board.

Better Off Rock'd Debrief

I had a great time shooting video this past weekend for the Better Off Rock'd Tour. It felt so good to be behind the camera again, finding those shots, trying to capture those moments. I really love shooting life. Along the way, I got to meet some fabulous people and listen to some awesome rock n' roll.

Some highlights:

You may not get me on this, but the way the lights hit people onstage, the contrast, the lights coming into the lens and washing the picture out, getting those extreme close ups... I just dig it so much.

The performances. In their own way, Stephen Speaks, Nevertheless, Everyday Sunday and Seventh Day Slumber all gave fantastic performances. It was so refreshing to see good bands playing good music and sharing their faith, love and passion for God.

I wasn't really familiar with these bands before this weekend, but now I'm a fan of each and every one of them. Being out on the road isn't easy. Being away from family and friends. I really respect what these guys do and how they represent Jesus Christ in doing it.

I picked up a copy of Everyday Sunday's latest album, Wake Up! Wake Up! after the shows. The album is fantastic. I'm digging it and find myself worshiping and crying out to God along with the lyrics on tracks like Wake Up! Wake Up! and Take Me Out. The whole album is just plain good. I got a chance to talk to Trey Pearson the lead singer on Saturday and we had a good conversation. We talked about video, what I do, what he does. There may even be some kind of music video collaboration in our future. That would be very cool, but it was great just to meet and talk and share the experience of doing what we do.

I also really dug and respected the way Joseph from Seventh Day Slumber works his testimony into their set. He has an incredible story of how Jesus Christ saved his life quite literally and pulled him out of a world of drug addiction that had led him to jail and to life on the streets. The fact that he is up there on stage sharing that story and playing great music... Our God is so awesome.

Anyway. This post is rambling. I just wanted to share a little bit. Check out the bands, buy the music, go see them if they come through your town. You won't be disappointed.

Don't Waste Your Life

We've been working on getting our new Memorial Day video, For Freedom up on our site and out to our various distributors. So, I've got Memorial Day on my mind. Meanwhile, my small group is studying through a John Piper book called Don't Waste Your Life (great read, highly recommended). This morning I picked up the book to read and God did one of those things that He's so good at. He brought the things in my life, on my heart, and in my mind together in a powerful way.We're in Chapter 7 of Don't Waste Your Life. The Chapter is called, Living to Prove He is More Precious Than Life. The chapter kicks off like this:

To make others glad in God with an everlasting gladness, our lives must show that he is more precious than life. "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you." (Psalm 63:3)

In the chapter, Piper talks about what he calls a "wartime lifestyle." He illustrates how what we do with our time, our money, and even our very lives is what shows others that "he is more precious than life." He goes on to explain that during WWII, even the people at home here in the States made great personal sacrifices for the war effort. One of the mottos of that era was, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." In his explanation of a "wartime lifestyle," Piper exhorts us to remember we're in the midst of a great battle and the stakes are very high. Given the fact that, in times when our nation has been at war, people were capable of rising to great levels of sacrifice, how much more should we, as Christians, rise up and sacrifice for the cause of Christ (which he calls "the greatest cause in the world). To illustrate the sacrifices people are willing to make, he pulls from the book Flags of our Fathers, which Clint Eastwood recently made into a film. Flags of our Fathers is about the WWII battle for the small Pacific island of Iwo Jima.

Iwo Jima was home to one of the bloodiest battles in our nation's history. 21,000 Japanese soldiers died in the battle, but our Marines suffered 26,000 casualties in the process. This was the only battle in the Pacific where the invaders incurred higher casualties than the defenders. The Marines spent forty-three months fighting in WWII, and yet, in one month of fighting at Iwo Jima, one third of their total casualties occurred. Many of those Marines who fought so bravely there are buried in the Pacific. It's here where I'll pick it up directly from the book, Flags of our Fathers:

Thousands of families would not have the solace of a body to bid farewell: just the abstract information that the Marine had "died in the performance of his duty" and was buried in a plot, aligned in a row with numbers on his grave. Mike lay in Plot 3, Row 5, Grave 694; Harlon in Plot 4, Row 6, Grave 912; Franklin in Plot 8, Row 7, Grave 2189.

When I think of Mike, Harlon, and Franklin there, I think of the message someone had chiseled outside the cemetery.

When you go home
Tell them for us and say
For your tomorrow We gave our today

Those were the lines that really hit me. How powerful, to live in the reality that we are engaged in a spiritual war, a war for the souls of all mankind. That we hold in our hands and in our hearts the spiritual antidote that can transform the lives of all the men and women living on this planet. We all long to be a part of something. To know and to have and to live for something bigger than ourselves. To find something worth not just living for, but worth dying for. And we Christians are blessed to have found the fulfillment of those longings, of that desire in our relationship with Christ. How powerful to be able to say to them, in the end, "For your tomorrow, we gave our today."

Better off Rock'd

Depression affects more than 19 million people each year in the US. In any typical high school classroom, it is likely that three students have made a suicide attempt in the last year. Among college students, there are an estimated 1,100 suicides per year (an average of 3 per day).

Those are some sobering facts. Better off Rock'd wants to do something about it. Started by a good friend of mine, Better off Rock'd is putting together their first tour to raise money for suicide prevention. This is a great endeavor and it's being put together by a guy who has a real heart for following Christ and for young people. And they've gotten some of the biggest names in Christian rock involved. The bill so far includes Seventh Day Slumber, Everyday Sunday, Nevertheless, and Stephen Speaks. Check out their Myspace page and if you're in the Austin or Ft. Worth area in June, be sure to check out a show. I'll be there shooting video highlights of the event. I hope to see you there!

An Unconventional War

How real and present is evil? Why does evil seem to be concentrated more in some places than others? I know that most of us who profess Christ believe that satan is real and that demons exist, but I think the belief tends to be rather cursory. We feel tempted by satan. We talk in terms of the devil did this and tried to get me to believe that. But do we really believe that evil in the form of demons and darkness and hell is present in and around our every day lives? Really present?

I watched a documentary last night called An Unconventional War. It's a remarkable story of faith and perserverance in the face of incredible evil. It centers on happenings in northern Uganda, where a rebel group calling itself the Lord's Resistance Army has been terrorizing people in unimaginably horrific ways for over twenty years. The documentary is the story of how the faith, prayer and persistence of a small group of people reverberated and eventually broke the back of this incredible evil. Here's how the film is described at the filmmakers website (The Sentinel Group):

A remarkable modern-day saga of prayer, forgiveness and deliverance.

For nearly two decades, a bizarre predatory cult known as the Lord's Resistance Army abducted over 25,000 children and turned them into sex slaves and killing machines. The resulting carnage has displaced 80 percent of the region's population.

This powerful documentary chronicles how fervent prayer and unique church-state cooperation played a pivitol role in taming one of history's most brutal insurgencies in northern Uganda. It is a message of hope to lost and oppressed people everywhere - Issuing a challenge to invite God's presence with abandonment and expectation!

I definitely recommend this video. It is an incredible story about the power of God. About how circumstances and things happening in the darkest of times can be used by God to bring about miraculous changes. Watch this video and tell me that the devil and demons aren't real. More than that, watch this film and tell me that God doesn't do amazing things through the body of Christ when people respond to Him in faith and step out to confront evil in the name of Jesus. And then imagine what God can accomplish through the Body of Christ if we are willing to move forward in faith and believe.

My Friendship Connection

I am fired up. I had a great conversation yesterday with a guy named Vernon Brady who used to be the Vice President of the Church Growth Institute. He's spearheading an evangelism initiative called My Friendship Connection. And here's the awesome part for us: He wants eleven72 to help produce a series of videos for this oh so cool event (more on the event itself in a second). First a little background: Did you know that according to research done by the Church Growth Institute a full 86% of the people who trust Christ as their Savior do so because of the simple invitation of a friend. By way of contrast, only 2% come to Christ through the use of advertising. Wow. That is an amazing stat. The single most effective way to evangelize the people you know is to simply invite them to church. We didn't realize that the idea behind our video Just Ask was such a powerful one! But it makes sense when you think about it, because God is all about relationship.

Twenty years ago, Vernon was part of a program called Friend Day. The program, asking people to invite a friend to church, was used successfully by 47,000 churches. Since then, God has been growing up in Vernon a desire to see millions of people's lives forever changed through nothing more than being invited to church (and, of course, being reached by the Spirit and prompted to turn their lives over to Jesus). And the time is now. The seed that God planted with Vernon is poised to start a flood with My Friendship Connection.

What is My Friendship Connection?

My Friendship Connection is a strategy designed to mobilize your church for a great day of outreach. Synergy comes by connecting churches across North America on the same day with a single focus. Therefore, we seek to engage the masses into the largest army ever assembled for the purpose of reaching, evangelizing and winning friends to Jesus Christ through the local church.

Go to their website and check it out. Tell your church about it. Right now about 500 churches in Virginia are on board, but that number is quickly growing. They've had inquiries from other countries and big groups like the Southern Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board are expressing interest. Just hearing about it, I could tell that God is in this. Imagine what might happen if tens of thousands of churches get involved with this in the next few months. Imagine all the people who will walk through the door of a church on November 4th (that's the day when all of this culminates). My friends. Your friends. Tens of thousands of people. Imagine all the people who will come face to face with the life changing reality of Jesus Christ. What a great day for rejoicing that will be! All because friends simply asked their friends, "would you come to church with me?

I'm so excited that God brought this to Lee and I. So humbled that we might be used to serve God's Kingdom in such a powerful way. I have never met Vernon Brady face to face. We connected because of our media on the internet. He could have called anyone. He called us. God continues to amaze me daily. This life of following Christ is truly a great adventure.

I'll have more to post on this as things progress. For now, check out myfriendshipconnection.com. And get ready friends!

We Are Loved

"We Are Human Torches Lit By the Flame of God." So proclaims this striking piece of art stenciled, smeared and painted on a chunk of wood. I stumbled on the website www.weareloved.info while running down some referrals for designers. I got the referral from Eric Klein who is the super coolest guy and is currently pulling together the Better Off Rock'd Tour, a series of concerts featuring four of the top Christian rock groups and benefitting his new non-profit that is geared toward suicide prevention (more on that later, log on to www.betteroffrockd.com to find out more). Anyway, Eric referred me to the site of illustrator/designer Barak Hardley. I really really dig his paintings and designs. His choice of materials and the way he works with textures and wood and newspaper and spray paint. It's got weight to it, you know. Substance and decay. While looking around his site, I found a link to www.weareloved.info. I know I'm just gushing all this stuff here, but I'm really excited about Barak's work and I wanted to point it out. On the homepage of weareloved.info, there's this video that explains everything. This video is awesome. I aspire to tell stories like this. Check it out:




Feed Readers, click here to see the video.

Why Good Friday?

Two thousand years ago, on a day much like today, God, in the form of his son Jesus, was tried, tortured and crucified on a Roman cross. The God who created the heavens and the earth hung on a hill with common criminals. To pay the price for our sin. To bear our ultimate burden and to save us from death. What an incredible, unbelievably amazing act. But why do we call a day when such an injustice was paid to God by man Good Friday?

I found an explanation that I like on the United Methodist Church's website that I wanted to share:

The source of our term for the Friday before Easter, "Good Friday," is not clear. It may be a corruption of the English phrase "God's Friday," according to Professor Laurence Hull Stookey in Calendar: Christ's Time for the Church (p. 96). It is the common name for the day among English- and Dutch-speaking people. It is a day that proclaims God's purpose of loving and redeeming the world through the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a day that is good because God was drawing the world to God's self in Christ. As seen in John's gospel, particularly, God was in control. God was not making the best of a bad situation, but was working out God's intention for the world — winning salvation for all people. We call it "good" because we look backward at the crucifixion through the lens of Easter!

"Good Friday" is not a universal name for the day. The liturgical title for the day in the Western church was "Friday of Preparation," since the time Jews used the word paraskeue (getting ready) for Friday, meaning the "day of preparation." Popular names for the day are "Holy Friday" among the Latin nations, "Great Friday" among the Slavic peoples, "Friday of Mourning" in Germany, "Long Friday" in Norway, and "Holy Friday" (Viernes Santo) among Hispanic peoples.

I'd like to wish everyone a Good Good Friday. As I write this, the Body of Christ all over the world begins to celebrate the most incredible act in human history. God's sacrifice, perfect blood shed, blood that makes us clean. Grace that none of us deserve, extended by the hand of the Creator of the universe. And through this act and our belief in Jesus Christ, we pass from death to life and become the adopted sons and daughters of the Most High. As we move from Good Friday to Easter, we rejoice as the apostle Paul says in Romans 5: 10-11:

10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Happy Easter everyone. Our redeemer lives. And that is more than good!

Living As An Ordinary Radical

Here's a great story that has inspired me. I just finished a book called The Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical. It's a book by a guy named Shane Claiborne who is part of a group in Philadelphia called The Simple Way. I've got to be honest, this book made me really uncomfortable. It is a book that raises the ugly issues of poverty, inequality, and warfare. But it's never about throwing the issues in your face so you feel guilty or bad or defeated. Instead, it seeks to bring these issues to light so we might have the courage to imagine a world where they no longer exist. It's about what it really means to follow Christ fully and completely, written by a guy who is doing his best to do just that.

At times, while reading the book, I wanted to dismiss Shane as a hippie idealist, as an over zealous activist, as some kind of left-wing nut... but I couldn't. God wouldn't let me off the hook that easy. Shane lives in voluntary poverty in inner city Philadelphia at a house where he holds all things in common with his community. It's a hospitality house, where the door is always open to anyone with any need. In college, Shane followed Christ to India, where he worked with Mother Teresa and ended up living, serving and loving his neighbors in a leper colony. Recently, Shane was led by the Spirit to journey to Iraq, where he worshiped, encouraged and communed with the Christians living there (while the bombs were falling!). This is a guy who puts his proverbial money where his mouth is. He is a voice calling us out of the complacency that so easily infects us in this American life. Shane may be a little crazy, but he's crazy for all the right reasons. And I know he's crazy about Jesus.

Here's what Rob Bell (NOOMA, Velvet Elvis, Mars Hill) says about Shane:

Be warned, my friends: Shane is a poet, a friend, a brother - but underneath it all, he's a prophet with a fire in his belly and a story to back it up. If you listen - or in this case, read - you will not be the same.

AMEN!

Nike and The Art of Storytelling

Speaking of great storytellers, I think Nike does an awesome job of storytelling. I don't know if there's any other corporate entity that taps into our hearts, our dreams, our desires, like Nike does. They want to tie our longings and desires to their products. We know the only place we'll find satisfaction for those desires is at their source - God. It's easy to say that Nike is able to tell such great stories and do so much because of all the resources that their wealth provides. I often find myself using excuses like that. But sometimes, Nike does it so well and so simply that it lays my excuses bare. We can tell stories like this. Stories that inspire, encourage and point people to the Source. Watch this short video about Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho and think about the stories you want to tell:

Free Easter Worship Backgrounds and Stills

The March Free Media is here! Check out the add on the homepage. You'll notice the ad is now clickable. Click on it and you'll be taken to our new FREE MEDIA page, where you can preview the free downloads each month.

My hat's off to Lee this time. He has really created two awesome backgrounds and stills that are highly usable for Easter. And we're giving them away! We're so pumped about Easter and it makes our hearts glad that we can participate in your services by offering you this media. It's our gift to you because God has given us so much.

We also have other Easter content available on our Seasonal page. Check out Jesus Is and I Will Remember. We've got a Palm Sunday themed background and countdown, as well as some great Sunrise stuff (Sunrise Countdown w/Scripture, Sunrise Countdown and Sunrise Worship Background). Check out the Seasonal page to see them all!

We would really love to hear from any and all of you. Please let us know what you think of our stuff and how you're using it. We want to help share your stories with others and learn from you how to better serve God's church with our gifts.

God Bless,
Storme

Click Image Above To Watch our Easter Worship Video, I Will Remember

We Remember

With Easter approaching, I've been thinking about our video, I Will Remember. The video is a simple illustration of a song that means a lot to us here at eleven72. It's a song written by the Music Director of our church, JJ Plasencio. JJ recorded it on an album of praise songs that he wrote for our church (you can get the CD at gatewaychurch.com). The album was recorded with and by Gateway's volunteer praise and worship band members. The singer on this track is a guy named Scott Leger who is the singer for what I think is the greatest unsigned band I've ever heard, WideAwake (you should check them out).

When our church first started out, we were meeting in movie theaters and hotel banquet rooms, loading in and out before and after the services, completely portable. At one point, we were moving around so often that our pastor joked, "if you can find us, you can go here."

Each week, as our little body grew and as more and more seekers became true believers, we would sing this song that JJ had written. We will remember your name! We will remember your grace. We were seeing Him do mighty things among us. Redeemer. Prince of Peace. The Lamb Who has Died in my Place. Lyrics from this wonderful song.

The video for I Will Remember was really a labor of love for Lee (see our about page to learn more about Lee). He put his heart and his considerable talent to work illustrating this beautiful praise song. And I think the love he put into it shows through in the work.

Over time, I Will Remember has become one of our most popular videos, especially at this time of year. It's a great piece to use as you give the congregation time to reflect on who Jesus Is and what He has done for us. It's a great video to use to end a sermon with. Build up your sermon about Jesus' life, death, resurrection and sacrifice and then let this video make a powerful ending statement that moves people closer to Christ. We've also heard that the video is really useful during the celebration of Communion as the congregation reflects on the body and the blood of Christ.

However you use it, know that it means a lot to us and we pray that it might mean something to you and your congregation as well.

The Story's the Thing...

The single most important thing you can do is tell stories! Let me explain.

The Bible is the very Word of God. We read it to know Him. And He uses it to speak to us. It is His Story... History.

We just finished producing a video for a local missions organization called Mission Possible of Austin. The project will be shown this weekend as part of their annual fundraising banquet. In the process, we had the opportunity to meet and interview three incredible people. People whose lives have been transformed by the power of God, through the ministry of Mission Possible. There was a woman who found herself pregnant and on the streets. There was a well to do foreign business student at a major university, whose family had an emergency back home that used up all his money, and he too ended up on the streets here in America. And finally, a young man with a Father in and out of jail and a Mother addicted to drugs who found himself all alone. Mission Possible helped all of them find a relationship with our living God, as well as helping them meet physical needs. And now all three are actively serving the body of Christ and giving back because they've been given so much!

I know there are similar stories of radical transformation and the incredible grace of God playing out in your local body. Those stories illustrate how your church is living out its' mission. How you are enacting your vision. You need to tell those stories. Stories connect the body to what God is doing through us. They show us that we are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves. And our people need to hear them.

So I encourage you to find creative ways to tell the stories of what God is doing. - globally, locally, and personally. Help people to see. Inspire them to act. It's all part of HisStory.

If you need any ideas on how to tell the stories of your people, even if you don't have many resources, email me at storme@eleven72.com. I'd love to help you find a way to get your story out!

Jesus at Crossroads

We received a really great call from the pastor of a church in Tucson, Arizona on Friday. After buying our video Jesus Is to use in one of their services, Pastor Kyle contacted us to see if they could use it on their website. They have a page directed at new comers and seekers that raises the question "Who Is Jesus?" He thought our video fit so perfectly with their purpose for that page that he wanted to incorporate it. We were really excited about the idea and they've already got it up - Check it out here!

Kyle is leading a really cool church in Tucson called CrossRoads Church. They are meeting weekly in an active movie theater in Tucson and are very much a community based church. Our home church here in Austin started out portable and meeting in movie theaters. We have really fond memories of that time in our church, so we were excited to hear about how they're doing church. They get a really early start every Sunday, set up in one of the theaters, have their service and have to get all their equipment and people out before the matinees start.

CrossRoads is focused on creating relationships and getting people involved in small groups/home churches and that approach is really paying off. By meeting in a movie theater, Kyle says the typical non-church going person is more intrigued by their set up and is more likely to come and check it out. He is really excited about what God is doing with their church and it's so cool that our media can be a part of helping CrossRoads reach people in Tucson.

Web 2.0... Re-Defining God in the Machine

Web 2.0. Church 2.0. I watched this video this morning and it blew me away (the video is called "Web 2.0... The Machine is Us/ing Us"). We are living in an incredible time. As we think and re-think ourselves as we relate to the network, as we relate to each other ,and ultimately and most importantly, as we relate to God... Think about the opportunity we have to use these amazing new tools to share our God with the world. To teach the machine and by teaching the machine to teach each other all about the love of Christ and his desire to know us. Think of the ministry and the reach we have and that God has through us as we sit down at the computer and participate in this web. Wow! What on earth am I talking about? Watch this (and then watch it again):

Digging for Fire




Any Pixes fans out there? I've re-christened the eleven72 blog. It shall henceforth be known as "Catch Fire." We've tasted the fire of God's Spirit here lately and we're really praying that the fire will spread. What I mean by that is that we really desire to tell God's story in a way that will set people on fire for the Lord. That will make people hungry for Him. And so, we hope you "Catch Fire."


Free New Worship Backgrounds and Stills




We've got two new Worship Backgrounds and four new Still Backgrounds that we're offering for free on the homepage. Sign up for our newsletter and you'll get a link to download the free videos and stills. If you're already a subscriber, we'll be sending out a newsletter with a link to the free media early next week. Click here to preview the worship backgrounds (Praising Hands and Powerful Worship) and click here to check out the stills (the top four images - really cool urban black and whites).


Backyard Evangelism and Evangelism Statistics




And speaking of new media, we just released our latest Sermon Illustrations, "Backyard Evangelism" and "Evangelism Statistics." There's also an "Evangelism Statistics Countdown." Be sure to check those out.

Fired Up

Found footage! New freebies coming soon!







We've unearthed and rediscovered some exciting footage that we've shot over the last couple of years and it has inspired us to put together an urban series of stills, loops and who knows what else. I'm getting so excited just looking at the footage that I may just pick up my camera right now, head downtown and start shooting.

We've got all this first-rate footage. And even though we shot it in the past, it's like it's brand new again. Time-lapse footage, protest footage, gritty black and white footage. Some of it was used in a documentary we did, some of it was just because we wanted to capture a past event, and some of it was for this cool little black and white short film we did (shot on 16mm B&W film!). Whatever the reason we shot it, we've got it, and pouring over the footage has given us inspiration to create a whole new set of urban mini-movies, loops and stills.

Right now we're working on a new set of free power point still images and free worship background loops that we'll be serving up to all our email subscribers very soon. If you're not currently on our email list, I encourage you to sign up on our homepage before the new stuff goes up. That way, you'll get the free loops and stills we're offering now and you'll get the new free stuff when we send out our newsletter in the next couple of days.

We're really fired up about giving you resources you can use and we're hoping this new urban themed media will help you fire up the people you serve!

Burn Baby Burn

John Wesley once said, "I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn."

Lee and I have been talking a lot about what we're passionate about, about what God's desire is for us, about what to do with the gifts he's given us, about what this thing called eleven72 should be about. We want to be fire starters. We want to tell stories about what God is doing in people and in the world and we want those stories to set fire to people's hearts. It is our prayer today that God would set you on fire. That God would set us on fire. And that people would come to watch us burn.

What I'm listening To

More props to Greg Atkinson at Church Video Ideas for continuing to point the way to outstanding resources for all of us doing life in the trenches. His blog turned me on to two great audio assets this week, both of which can be accessed through his post titled Starving Jesus (which is the name of a really good short film by a guy named Blaine Hogan).

Church 2.0 from Wired Parish.com:

Church 2.0 is a six-part podcast seminar for pastors and ministry leaders. The seminar focuses on using technologies such as podcasting, blogging, and social networking sites to fuel effective ministry.

To subscribe to the Church 2.0 podcast for free, follow this link to Church Video Ideas. The free link to the Church 2.0 podcast in the BONUS section of the Starving Jesus post.

Francis Chan's message from Passion '07:

I listened to Chan's message this morning, "Passionately Loving God in A Lukewarm Church," and it changed my life. I know that's a huge thing to say but you've got to hear this message. Chan challenges us on our whether or not we really want God's will for our lives and then he paints a picture from Scripture of what should be the object of our desire. And the picture he paints is so compelling it made me want to drop everything and plunge headlong into the arms of God.

Here's a link to that message available from iTunes.

New Years Videos (Ready to Serve!)






New Years is all about second, third, fourth or five hundredth chances. The beginning of the new year provides a great space for people to reflect on their lives and on the people they are and want to be. It is a time of Hope, Resolve and Change. Is it just a coincidence that we've got some brand new Countdowns and Sermon Illustration videos that are perfectly suited to those new year themes?

Check out the funny sermon illustration videos Change IS Possible and Resolve. And don't miss the incredible time-lapse photography and inspirational scripture that is New Year's Hope (Available as a Sermon Illustration or Countdown) on the New Years Tab.

Let us know what you think :).