Category: Uncategorized

CMS turns 2

Church Marketing Sucks turned 2 recently and as Kevin and others look towards the future, they’re highlighting the “heart and soul” of the ministry, which includes the Center for Church Communication.

Jesus commanded us to spread the Gospel. It’s the mission of the Church. And that mission inherently requires communication. Sometimes that communication is less than inviting. Even though God can and does work in spite of our botched efforts, our vision is to see churches communicating in a way that doesn’t mess it up. God is worthy of more than our best efforts, and that means communicating with clarity, authenticity and effectiveness.
We cringe at the thought of visitors being turned away by shoddy workmanship, by typos or eyebrow-raising moments. We’re tired of Christians and the church being the main reason fewer people become Christians or go to church. We’re tired of second-rate efforts when God deserves so much more.

I love that. Allman was telling me last night that he’s recently found a place at Ed Young’s Fellowship Church in Grapevine. I never thougth I’d see that. In my opinion, Allman is more of a traditional, don’t rock the boat church goer. But he told me that despite all the lights, videos, band and such, he’s found a place he enjoys. He realized that the people doing the media ministry and music ministry are simply worshipping with the talents God has given us. And if we as media junkies are doing our work for God – it should be the best of the best. That’s why I’m a fan of CMS and the CFCC. We as Christians have the greatest message ever, but if we’re not communicating it effectively, will anyone hear it?
Read the first three articles from the Heart and Soul series:

  • Why We Do What We Do by Kevin D. Hendricks
  • Our History by Brad Abare
  • A Tribute to CMS by Mark Batterson

    • 21 Tips for Church Plants

    Gary Lamb, a pastor in Georgia, has made a list of 21 things he’s learned over the last 2 years with his church plant.
    Great thoughts and pointers…
    Thanks to CMS for the link.

    1.) If you truly believe in your vision then 99% of decisions are already decided. Saves you a lot of trouble.
    2.) God will send scaffolding. You need scaffolding to build a house but once it is built the scaffolding is gone. God sent us some GREAT and GODLY people who were scaffolding. I hated to see them leave but I now realize God sent them for a time and for a purpose.
    3.) You CAN build a church without a building. Everyone told me you couldn’t in this area but, God has done it here. I have really kicked up our land search lately just to be prepared, but lack of a building will never be an excuse for us not growing.
    4.) You can lead your people by doing life WITH them instead of being ABOVE them.
    5.) People want a pastor who is the same Monday-Saturday as he is on Sunday.

    Photographer fired for altering color

    From Newsdesigner:

    A Charlotte Observer photographer, Patrick Schneider, was fired Thursday for altering the color in the lead photo of the Local section. In the original photo, the sky in the photo was brownish-gray. Enhanced with photo-editing software, the sky became a deep red and the sun took on a more distinct halo.
    The Observer’s photo policy states: “No colors will be altered from the original scene photographed.”
    Schneider said he did not intend to mislead readers, only to restore the actual color of the sky. He said the color was lost when he underexposed the photo to offset the glare of the sun.

    Progressive Bloggers United

    Vince, over at Capital Annex, just sent me a press release regarding the endorsement of three candidates by Texas Progressive Alliance.
    The group of bloggers are launching an online fundraising drive to help the campaigns of Hank Gilbert, Juan Garcia and Shane Sklar.
    From the press release:

    The Texas Progressive Alliance
    Blogs Unified To Promote Democratic Candidates & Causes
    Texas Progressive Alliance Launches ‘TexRoots’ Fundraising Initiative

    The Texas Progressive Alliance today launched ‘TexRoots,’ an online fund-raising campaign designed raise funds for Democratic candidates in Texas via the internet. The launch of ‘TexRoots’ is the first major unified fund-raising effort by Texas blogs of its kind.
    The Alliance, a group of blogs and bloggers united to promote Democratic and progressive candidates and causes, launched ‘TexRoots’ Monday with solicitations for three Texas candidates: Hank Gilbert, candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, Juan Garcia, candidate for Texas House of Representatives in District 32, and Shane Sklar, candidate for U.S. House in Texas House District 14. The Alliance’s goal is to raise a combined $3,000 for the “Texas Trio” of Gilbert, Garcia and Sklar. TexRoots works with the nationally-recognized fund-raising tools of ActBlue.com.
    The candidates were selected by the more than 20 member blogs of the Alliance and comprise the first set of what is likely to be as many as five groups of candidates solicited for prior to the November general election. Candidates selected for this and future TexRoots solicitations were picked after a number of factors were considered including the strength of the candidates and their Republican opponents, the candidate’s use of the internet and blogging, and the demographics of the districts of the candidates.
    The first group of candidates comprises a cross-section of regions, ideologies, and ballot races,” said Anna Brosovic of Arlington, founder of the Alliance and author of Annatopia.com. “We have a statewide candidate, a congressional candidate, and a candidate for Texas House of Representatives which we believe are worthy of the intention of the Texas Netroots,” Brosovic continued.
    “These particular candidates range from a decorated naval aviator and attorney trying to upset one of the most entrenched, out-of-touch Republicans in the Texas Legislature to a conservative Democrat opposing the only Congressman in Texas to vote against Hurricane Katrina aide, to a former high school agriculture teacher opposing one of the Trans Texas Corridor’s greatest allies. It is really a diverse group,” said Karl-Thomas Musselman of Austin, another founding member of the Alliance and owner of BurntOrangeReport.com.
    TexRoots came into being earlier this summer, when the Alliance’s member blogs launched a fund-raising drive to activate ActBlue in Texas. After raising $5,000 for this effort, the bloggers have worked behind the scenes for several weeks in anticipation of today’s announcement.
    “We are pleased that we have been able to raise the funds necessary to activate this important fund-raising tool. Netroots money has made the difference between merely being competitive and winning in races all across the country, including here in Texas. Through TexRoots, we can do our part to ensure online support and funding for many of Texas’ Democratic candidates,” said Charles Kuffner, a Houston blogger who writes OffTheKuff.com and is another founding member of the Alliance.
    TexRoots follows a formula similar to the popular national Netroots Candidates fund raising solicitations launched earlier this year by blogs such as DailyKos and MyDD. However, TexRoots focuses only on Texas candidates.
    Solicitations are made by individual bloggers at Alliance member blogs. Typically, member blogs will put up a post discussing the candidates and inviting readers to contribute to fund-raising efforts online. More than 20 Texas bloggers from the Rio Grande Valley and Austin to Dallas/Fort Worth and East Texas participated in Monday’s launch.

    No word yet on if local (Kerry Horn and David Harris) Democratic candidates will get some loving as well for their strapped bank accounts as well. I’m also beginning to feel like blogging is to Democrats as Talk Radio is to Republicans.

    Colbert banned from Wikipedia


    Stephen Colbert has been banned from Wikipedia for prompting an online prank of the user driven and edited encyclopedia.

    Colbert urged his audience to find the Wikipedia entry on elephants and create an entry that stated their population had tripled in the last six months, a fact he freely stated to not know if it was “actually true,” with his sidebar stating “it isn’t.” Guess what happened next?

    Priceless.

    Re: Indigent Health Care

    According to county statements of expenses, Ellis County Indigent Health Care is not yet breaking the bank.
    In 2005, the county budgeted $1.35 million for medical, hospital and prescriptions costs for the county’s indigent patients.
    After budget adjustments of $526, the county had $779,297.84 left over at the end of the fiscal year.
    In FY 2004, the county budgeted $1.35 million as well, but removed $546,550 from indigent health care to adjust other budgets.
    After $546,549.12 in medical, hospital and prescription bills, the county was left with 88 cents for indigent health care at the end of the fiscal year.
    In FY 2003, the county made no adjustments to the $1.35 million budget and spent $782,146.69 on health care, leaving $567,853.31 at year’s end.
    Finally, in FY 2002, the year before County Judge Chad Adams took office, the county budgeted $1.2 million for indigent health care and adjusted the medical budget from $300,000 to $60,000.
    After the $240,000 adjustment and bills, the county was left with $4,777.58 at year’s end.