Here is the introductory video for the 2006 Institute Of Contemporary & Emerging Worship Studies. There are still spaces open for the our One Year Diploma (low to medium experience level), and a few for our 2 week Intensive in Worship Leadership & Spiritual Formation (medium to high experience level):
For many reasons, I thought this was delightful. I would change the website at the end, though, to “wheretheheavenismatt.com.” It may not get closer; wired for earth and each other as we are.
This is a good resource for young communicators to “grow by watching.” Check out any of the Louie Giglio flash messages, or Andy Stanley.
Good visual intro work by their design teams (see Louie’s series called “Alive”), too.
Good communication is good communication. Good communication recognizes the context and the target group; it can bend and shape itself to the ears and hearts of the listeners to meove them to action. It can be slick (like these, in front of many with solid budget for pro graphics), or it can be artful with sweet informality.
Emerging expressions of the church should not hide behind “informality” to pass off bad communication. Yes, the orators of our day are the musicians and the artists, but a timely word, well-spoken, has been a skill needfully since the beginning of time, and the Church.
Father’s day for me is a series of moments, mingling across the landscape of the past fifteen years:
It’s the moment of bewilderment when the nurse holds up our newborn daughter, punk style hair, black as an evening ocean, and my wife and I realize we have just become parents.
It’s the moment of horror when I realize my young son prefers to talk about the Carolina Hurricanes rather than Our Lady Peace.
It’s the moment of pain when I realize that I’ve just spoken harmful words in a harmful way to my very sensitive fifteen year old daughter.
It’s the moment of sweetness when I look into my beautiful wife’s eyes and we simultaneously realize that we just may survive the teenage years of our children. (You know, that span of approximately 8 years when everyone goes INSANE, as the teenagers go through adolescence, and the parent goes through his or her adolescence… again.)
It’s the moment of ecstasy when my thirteen year old daughter scores a goal, and I can scream my head off because I’m the assistant coach and screaming is therefore legal.
It’s the moment of tenderness and disorienting love when I look into my son’s sleepy dark eyes and hear him say “You’re the best Dad ever.”
It’s the moment of quiet elation when I feel my fifteen year old daughter slip her arm into the crook of my own as we’re walking, and rest her head on my shoulder.
It’s the moment of unfettered anguish when I see the plans I’ve just made shattered by the pressing need of one of my children.
It’s the moment when a sense of purpose overwhelms me, as I hold my tearful daughter on my lap after a long day of relational pain.
It’s the moment of stunned awakening when I realize my son has just punched me in the arm just a bit harder than he did last week.
It’s the moment of breathless thought as I see my oldest daughter round the corner, looking very much like her mother and very much like a young woman.
It’s the moment of triumph when I allow my child to develop in their character by choosing not to rescue them from a situation, and their true colors show as they deal well with a problem.
It’s the moment of fear when I wonder if I did the right thing, said the right thing, will do the right thing next time when my daughter struggles to keep a good attitude toward her parents.
It’s the moment of wonder when I realize that the day I cross the shining seas to touch the endless white shores of Eden, my favorite people in life, my wife and children, will cross either before or behind me – to live forever, together.
I have yet to post the final reading/media list for our 2 week Intensive (Oct. 30-Nov. 10) and One-Year students (Sept. 06 - April 07), and give final dates/details for the Masters in 07, but that will come presently.
Note: I’m collecting ideas for some strongApple-esque, quirky vid or comic strip ads for the Institute. Name a concept that is a laughable take on contemporary worship leadership to help me out, smartfriends.
I’ve been thinking about the poor tonight. I’ve been thinking about the arts as well, and I’ve been thinking about being a father to my children. I’ve been thinking about the broken minds in the western world, and the broken health in Africa. I’ve been thinking about the clean drinking water I just enjoyed, and the way I love my friends (especially Mac owners – okay, that’s a joke).
I believe the Church was built to work. I believe the Church, as a community, was designed to overtake all other communal bonds in holistic effectiveness, remedial love, and sustaining action.
Our theology has elevated some dumb ideas at times, that have stifled innovation, corrupted our power to change the world, and caused us to deviate from the central themes of Jesus’ Gospel. Welcome to humanity; we should not be surprised. Yet, I tire of the crankiness I hear in the conversation – hope fills my heart tonight that we could be what we were made to be.
White: Queen on Left of King,
Black: Queen on Right of King.
The battle begins.
Now, we’ve been playing for years with the pieces out of order. The game will change ever so slightly, but possibly dramatically. As the Church wrestles through its current standing in society, maybe the pieces have been out of order.
We’ve played with the dualism of Platonism (sacred/secular/spiritual/physical) and Gnosticism (who holds the spiritual keys of power and insight/de-humanizing Jesus) in a prominent place on the board – for millenia. Postmodern worldviews and playful psuedo-historical musings (Da Vinci Code) have exposed some flaws in the game. Let’s go back to the basic layout and re-evaluate.
Things may need to be repositioned by the community of the faithful. Theological innovation – or theological/anthropological/biblical reformation?
Thursday June 08th 2006, 10:41 am
Filed under: Brainwaves
For all my friends who were getting tired of spam comments coming in on the posts, good friend Jeremy Wright has just installed power-level spam guard on my site.
Thanks for your patience. So sorry for the last bit of junk that found its way in.
