StriveMind

StriveMind.com “Pushing the boundaries of new media and design”

Today marks the kick-off of StriveMind, my self-run media and design business. And with radio ads beginning, I hope the contracts start pouring in.

Since leaving college, I've mostly run my business through word-of-mouth. Recommendations and inquiries about my work have been enough. But now, I'm approaching the industry in a more unified and professional manner. I'm a multimedia designer, and I might as well act look like one!

Facing the Giants

Facing the Giants has easily been the greatest and most influential film I've seen in a long time. For it's story, and the real-life story behind the scenes.

This is about overcoming the impossible. With God, all things are possible.

Not only is it a story about a coach and his football team overcoming impossible odds... but about a church that trusted God to help them make a film that would reach the world.

With a budget of only $100,000, Facing the Giants somehow caught the attention of Sony, who jumped in offering to distribute the film. Since then, the film has grossed over $15,000,000!

The masterminds behind all this? Everyone. Check the credit list at the end of the movie... everyone gets a credit! The only people who were paid to make the film were a couple of professionals to do some of the technical stuff. Then there's the dynamic duo. Brothers, Alex and Stephen Kendrick, wrote it, directed it, edited it, and starred in it. Them and their church family trusted Jesus to make the impossible, possible.

God, use my family and I to make wonderful God-glorifying multimedia like this happen. We can't do this without fully trusting in You.

Church Site Check-list

With the Internet Evangelism Day coming up on April 29th, 2007, Sequoia has decided to completely redo their website. So we've put together a small but promising team to look after it.

So why redo the entire site design and content? Try taking the site design check-list, and see where you stand. In a day and age where everybody looks up your website before dealing with anybody, it would be in your church's best interest to score over 250 out of 377 on that test.

Excellence, Lewis style

"Let choirs sing well or not at all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this culture and religion (horrid words both) are essentially marginal, amateurish, and rather effeminate activities."

C.S. Lewis

Some Christian media groups that are striving:

• Church Marketing Lab
• Church Marketing Sucks
• Church Tech Talk
• Godbit Project

Check out some of the others on my sideboard under E-Ministry

Skimping on Ads

...our instrument is how we present the church's message to those around us. In either case, we shouldn't cheap out or do it halfway in order to save a few bucks. The gesture only works if it's total and complete. A half-designed brochure is a failure.

Go read the rest of this article over at Church Marketing Sucks. I know it's a bit old, but definitely a good one.

Church Alternative?

With Podcasts readily available from nearly every major church, we now have access to the most current teachings from the greatest teachers out there.

But even with podcasts, books, CDs, and online community groups... is it really a replacement for church?

Boundless.org covers this exact issue.

Because, even with ready access to all this material, it's really only a supplement. And while I'd suggest you take part in all those things, it's not a replacement for getting involved with a church. There, you have something far more precious: a family... that look after you, and get involved in your life.

And while I do listen to great sermon podcasts, I would never give up a church family like at Sequoia.

The Gathering

Last night was The Gathering, held at Ottawa's largest venue (and hockey arena). It was a good time of worship and prayer that helped tie together many of the churches in the area... from all denominations.

It was a brilliant idea, and pulled together a large team of volunteers to bring the night together.

Unfortunately, while it was good, it wasn't great. And probably for a few different reasons.

1. Marketing. They did use much better graphic design than last year (even if it was the same one design copied everywhere). But really, they didn't promote it all too well, and you can see this in the fact that the attendance hasn't grown since last year.
2. Sound mix. The Gathering used fantastic sound gear, including the new M7-CL and gear from Wall Sound. But the mix itself left much to be desired. There was a distinctive lack of fullness, and sounded a little mushy. And at many times, you couldn't hear the lead singer. Or as was often the case, one of the backups drowned out everyone.
3. Video. One single boring background for the entire night's lyrics. And the one time they used a motion background, it's animated lyrics were ahead of the band by an entire verse.

I did enjoy the evening, but it should learn from those problems, and bring new life and a stronger presence to next year's Gathering.

FM Radio

Does anybody still listen to FM radio anymore?

Supposedly, they still do. Just not for the same reasons.

With the recent advances and popularity in music distribution, people are no longer tuning in to their local radio stations. Even while driving, they plug in their iPods and mp3 players, or turn on to a XM or Sirius satellite radio. Through those mediums, they can listen to exactly what they want to, when they want to... and lots of it.

The future of radio? Personality.

While you're working, or on the drive home, you tune in because of radio personalities. Radio DJ's who are fun, real, and who lace their shows with stimulating banter. They comment on local musicians and events, their latest favorite song, and their real-life situations. But best of all, you can see them and meet them at local events.

Think of it as a podcast with syndicated music.

It's entertaining stuff. So be sure to support your local radio stations: like CHRI 99.1FM here in Ottawa, Canada.

8 Great Church Sites

Here's some excellently designed church websites that I've came across over the last little while. All feature brilliant designs, intuitive communication and interactivity, and good content. Here they are, in no particular order.

Take a look:

Buckhead Church

Jouney Church

Life Center

LifeChurch.tv

R3volution

Theater Church

The City

The Vine

Need More Books

We, (the multimedia-impassioned-Christians), need to write more books.

There. I've said it!

Walk into any Christian book store, and I challenge you to find a single useful and relevant book written for our ministry. I poured through the latest LifeWay resources catalog, and couldn't find a single one there either.

Is it that people in our field are too busy? Too occupied with the countless hours required to pursue excellence in their ministry for Jesus?

Well, there's plenty of online resources. We love the internet, and it works for us. Just take a look at the links on my sidebar over there -->

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it be nice to have something in print? Readily available for newcomers entering the field? I would love to see this happen. Even if it's just a "most popular" anthology from the Church Marketing Lab. A collaboration would be ok too. I'd even be willing to help with that.

So sharpen your pencils. Open up your Word and OpenOffice documents. Fire up your Quark and inDesign. It's time to get writing!

Starfield Concert

I took Shannon to see Starfield in concert last night. Fantastic rock/emo-ish Canadian Christian band. The concert was a great blend between their hit songs, and well-known worship songs.

The concert was sold out! They actually set today as a second concert, which is also almost sold out. So you better hurry and get your tickets.

I completely forgot my camera, so if you want to take a look, you'll have to search Flickr.

Their setup was pretty simple, and still awesome. Besides the usual lights and stage setup, they were ringed by three huge screens with projectors behind them. They projected full 3-screen-spanning videos that perfectly synched with the music. A combination of motion graphics, and very artistically presented song lyrics. All run off of a Mac laptop controlled by their bass guitarist.

Since the band controlled most of their own presentation, they had just two other guys. One to control a small lightboard, and another for the soundboard and small rack of equipment... It's amazing how affordable quality productions are becoming.

Well, we had a great time at the concert, and thoroughly enjoy their music. So check them out.

God Edited My Video

I was down to the night-before rush to get the material ready in time. Last-minute changes and ideas left me with having to almost completely re-edit the short animation demo that was needed for a meeting the next morning. There was no way I could finish editing, and get enough sleep to keep me awake and alert throughout the meeting. And so I prayed that God would help me.

Nearly falling asleep, I cut out interesting video samples from various animated series, and slapped them down onto the timeline. Then I grabbed two songs from different soundtracks, and lined them up beginning to end and overlapped them so they just fit the length of the video.

And you know what? God edited my video. I couldn't have done a better job even if I tried. It did not require any tweaks or changes. It was finished. And everything fit perfectly too: the pacing flowed well, the music was seamless, the video was edited to the music, and it even felt like the music was tailored to the context and actions which transpired within each scene.

It was amazing... and very humbling.

Blog Responsibly

Believers should take great care when navigating the blogosphere, avoiding such pitfalls as carelessness, gossip and dissension. Christian bloggers should adopt a responsible view of blogging that incorporates basic disciplines.

• Maturity
• Self-Control
• Accountability
• Humility

When undertaken responsibly, blogging can be a tremendous ministry. And the beauty of blogging is that anyone can do it.

Read the rest of Blog Responsibly at Boundless.org.

Church Planning Center

Thanks to the podcast from over at ChurhTechTalk, I heard about a fantastic new piece of software called Ministry Centered Planning Center.

I'd suggest any church to check it out. It's totally free, and can organize every aspect of your church. Service outlines and notes, song databases, volunteer ministry rosters, calenders, files, photos, everything. It can keep your church up-to-date and on top of things.

Did I mention it was free? There's no install involved either, so it runs entirely through your web browser.

Film: Second Chance

Christian films have slowly and surely being catching up with the industry. Christian music has been widely recognized for a while now, and cinema is slowly on it's way.

The Second Chance, starring Michael W. Smith, is about a pastor who is estranged by the cold-shoulder of his fathers church, and returns to the church of his youth... right in the middle of the projects. He has to deal with homeless, prostitutes, and innercity street gangs, in a way that helps their daily needs, and shows them the light of Christ.

The film is fairly well directed, very well scripted, and has pretty decent acting. Good cinematography, and a true and heart-wrenching message.

Two cool things about this film...

First, a lot of the street people and some of the minor actors are actual homeless people or aspiring actors and actresses from the projects.

Second, the large church where some of the scenes were filmed, is none other than Brentwood Baptist! As some of you may know, they graciously hosted 8 of us when we drove 20-something hours to attend the Passion 05 conference. It was pretty weird seeing Brentwood play the role of a fictional church in the movie.

Webcast

The CCSB convention is here in town this week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. But with work and other things keeping me home, I am not able to get out to the conference itself.

Luckily, the entire thing is being webcasted. So I can go onto their webpage, and watch it live, in the comfort of my own home.

Awesome.

Oh, and Henry Blackaby, and his son Richard, are the main speakers for the conference. They run an exciting ministry that reaches some of the top leaders around the world.

Anyways, I'm going back to watching Bob Shelton talk about enabling ministries through e-quip.net

Superman vs. Jesus

Superman can leap tall buildings, fly faster than a speeding bullet, and perform incredible feats of strength. And he was sent to earth, to live amongst us... became one of us... so that we may be saved.

Sound familiar? Especially when you consider that Jesus is God... he made the buildings, and the bullet, and defined the world and how it works.

I would even go so far as to say that the story of Superman was created to patch up that Jesus-shaped hole in the hearts of many.

And you know what? Even though I'm not super, I can still be a hero. A hero to my family, a hero to my friends, a hero to my protegee, and a hero to my girlfriend.

I'm not super, and I'm not God. I make mistakes and screw up. I need to forgive and ask forgiveness. Jesus is in my life to save me. Superman may save me from meteors or crime bosses, but Jesus saves my eternal life. Not only that, but he gave us the guide book to live our lives heroically.

Ministry vs. Money

I really believe that God has given me my talents in multimedia and design... and I always do my best to produce quality work for my church. But the problem is, many people from church come to me expecting that I will do my work for free.

Sure, I don't mind doing the occasional small church production, on top of my regular volunteer work of running the tech ministry. But when someone (or the church itself) comes to me expecting me to do a much larger project for free, that's when I have to put my foot down and say no. Especially for projects that require huge amounts of skill and time. I do have to earn a living in this world, and can't afford to work for free all of the time. Multimedia and design takes far more skill and time than people realize.

Just go into your church office, and look up how many paid staff there are. If your church expects to pay your pastor for working full-time, then they better be prepared to pay you for the same amount of work. It is unfair, unbiblical, and exploitive to use religion to pressure someone into working for free... especially if it's above and beyond their already heavy volunteer work.

So next time your church or ministry leader comes to you with some work, demand to be paid for your efforts. If they want free work, then they can round up some inexperienced and untrained volunteers from the congregation... and they will end up with an unprofessional and amateur final product.

Postcards

Celebration! Church has been using postcards (or 'rave' cards) for a couple of years now, and with great success. With a good designer they can be fun, informative, interesting, and something your church can really be proud of. Not to mention that they're almost the cheapest and most personal form of advertising your church can get. Mail them, drop them off in highly visible places, or hand them out in person.

Here's some things to keep in mind.

Worship Dilemma

I went into church today, thinking that I wanted to do a really great soundmix of the band to impress a girl.

But then God really hit me...
I just needed to do what I was supposed to do, and worship God. Worship him with the talents and gifts He's given me. Then I realized that the girl isn't going to be attracted by a rockin' mix... she's going to be far more excited with my heart for Jesus, and my willingness to use my gifts for Him.

And you know what? Once I gave in, and focused on just worshiping Jesus, we actually ended up with the best sound mix the church band has ever had!

(except I still don't know whether the girl was impressed or not *lol*)