I have tears running down my face.  Dripping on my jeans.

For the past several years our family has sponsored a little boy named Eli from Tanzania.  Eli Masoda Deengw.  He’s about the same age as our oldest son, Seth.  I remember when we first got the information packet from Compassion International about Eli.  His cheeks were round when he smiled for his picture.  Now he’s growing up long and tall – a lot like Seth.

Amy and I were talking last night about our life.  What matters most to us.  We are in the between-land right now.  The prayerful place God leads us through when we don’t know what is just ahead.  Between the stable places.  We’re adjusting to a major life-change as Amy is not teaching in the Christian School she’s served for the past 15 years.  Our personal economic landscape is shifting.  We are living on less, looking for open doors, praying for provision.

But today, while snow and rain mix and fall on my roof, it’s warm and dry and cozy in our house.  We have food in our pantry and milk in our refrigerator.  Our boys are reading books and playing with toys.  We’re rich.  And whatever comes our way financially, we are committed to sponsoring Eli.  Homes in his village have dirt floors and grass roofs.  Average income for his parents is about $11 a month.  We can certainly be an extension of Jesus’ love for one boy.  We can afford Eli.

Two weeks ago, Catalyst 2009 was held in Atlanta, GA, for young Christian leaders.  Watch the video below as Jimmy Wambua meets Mark, his Compassion Sponsor of 19 years, for the first time. It’s an unbelievable moment…  This is what brought the tears to my eyes today.  Jimmy begins to share at minute 3:45.

Do you want to make a real difference in someone’s life?  Can you afford $38 a month?  Click here to sponsor a child through Compassion International today.  You can…  I’m going to write a letter to Eli.

“what is it worth :: compassion in perspective” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

We have a new logo.  Again.

Living Hope Church is about seven years old now, give or take, depending on how you do the math.  Over the last sevenish years there has been a metamorphosis in our “look and feel” that has been easily tracked in our logo development.  This shift in design has been in a constant effort to better communicate who we are and what we are all about.

After this earlier post on excellence in artistic output and design in our churches, I feel like this post needs the following disclaimer:  There are MUCH BETTER designers out there than the Living Hope team.  MUCH BETTER designers than me, for sure.  MUCH BETTER logo designs, etc.  Please don’t misread my passion for excellence in the church as a belief that our design work at Living Hope has set new standards of awesomeness.  Not at all.  I thought a look at our design process might be both interesting and informative, so I’m sharing it for whatever it’s worth.  Cool?

Second Disclaimer:  The earlier versions of our logo were developed by a dear friend and working graphic designer who does GREAT work.  Her design work served us well for years, and we appreciate it much (you know who you are, friend!)  This latest iteration of our logo design wad the first one she was NOT an integral part of, so we want to say a huge THANKS for helping shape and steer our look and feel at Living Hope during our critical early years.

Having properly set the stage, we begin…

our very first logo ever

When Living Hope took root, we began as a group of families with a desire to be a part of a new work of God in the NW metro area – a fast growing region, with over 200 families moving into the surrounding area every month.  We had everything in common.  Passion.  Vision.  Desperation.  No money.

We shared a desire to model ourselves after the very first church recorded in the new testament, in Acts chapter 2.  Our dream was to build a biblically functioning community of believers who helped people in our surrounding culture who were far from God grow into mature believers.  At first, we stated it this way:  “Living Hope.  A New Testament Church for Our Generation.”  Our first logo looked like this:

We soon learned that there was another church movement known as the “New Testament Church,” so we made our first adjustment.  Our goal was the same, but we decided to state it this way:  “Living Hope.  An ACTS 2 Church for Our Generation.”  Our next logo looked like this:

We used this logo for awhile (and it’s actually still on the side of the trailer we use weekly to haul our equipment and gear to the Middle School where we gather), but we realized it had some limitations.    First of all, we realized that this logo was not easily scalable.  The tag line text was too small in relation to the rest of the logo, AND the tag line text was an integral part of the logo.  Take the tag text out, and the logo looks lopsided.  It worked fine on top of church letterhead, but it couldn’t be shrunk down easily.  And, we found out, it couldn’t be blown up very easily either…

This was a problem when we tried to develop it for use on a highway billboard near our church.  In order for the tagline text to be readable by motorists zooming by, our logo would need to fill almost the entire billboard.  This was not workable. 

Also a problem, our tag line  “Living Hope.  An ACTS 2 Church for Our Generation”  communicated something specific to other Christians who knew what we were referencing in Acts 2 – but it was meaningless to people who had no church background.  We realized over time that it actually caused more confusion and raised more questions than it helped communicate our heart as a church.  So it was time to change our tag line, as well.

Because of these hurdles we set out to develop a MUCH simpler look… an iconic logo that didn’t HAVE to be married to our church name or our tagline:

The oval logo retained our “new life heartbeat” line from the early days, and it was much more flexible than our early logos.  Although, there was still some problems with scalability.  The hearbeat line would often almost disappear as the logo was used in smaller applications.  You can see this problem, even in large applications.  The billboard we first used this logo on looked like this:

Much prayer and discussion went into changing our tagline – to better communicate what our church was all about.  We wanted to reflect our Biblical mandate from Jesus to make disciples, and we wanted to communicate something about the methodology of our church – not only the WHAT of Living Hope, but the HOW, as well.  We thought the best way to communicate the GOAL of our church (our measuring stick for effective ministry) in as few words as possible was to ask the question, “Is God changing lives?”  In other words, is the Word of God reaching into hearts here and transforming people, or are our methods getting in the way of God’s work?  This became our measuring stick in each area of ministry.  Further, we realized that God had pulled together at Living Hope a very RELATIONAL group of people.  We believed strongly that personal relationships were often the key environment God used to do His work in people.  And of course, the most important and life-changing relationship of all is the one we have with Jesus Christ.  So our new tag line was born.  “Living Hope.  Building Relationships that Change Lives.”

This latest iteration of our logo and new tag line were unveiled at our first ALL-LEADERSHIP RETREAT in January of 2008.  For two days, 60 of our core leaders prayed together, played together, had meals together, and sought God for a clear path forward in ministry.  We wanted to get beyond just “doing church” the best we knew how, and develop a clear plan to help structure environments where God could help actual growth – “life-change” – happen…  to determine whether Living Hope was actually helping people grow into mature disciples of Jesus.

We started the process by examining scripture – trying to identify what a mature disciple of Jesus looks like in the Bible.  After much prayer, study, and discussion, we began to write our bullet points out on a huge white board.  A pattern began to develop.  We realized that we could categorize our bullet points into four key growth areas.  In other words, we believed that EVERY mature disciple of Jesus Christ ought to be CONTINUALLY GROWING in ALL FOUR of these areas:

(1)  A growing love for people not connected to God.  (A growing interest in building relationships with lost people and introducing them to Jesus.)

(2)  A growing love for other believers.  (Sharing resources, pray concerns, and meals together – “doing life together” with a groups of friends you can be honest with and grow in faith and love with.)

(3)  A growing love for serving together.  (Serving the needy in our community and our world, as Jesus taught us to, and doing that together with other believers, the way the Bible models over and over for us.)

(4)  A growing love for God Himself.  (The greatest commandment, and our greatest joy, is to love God in ever-increasing measure, as a response to who He is, what He has said, what He has done, and what He has promised to do.)

For each of these growth areas, we have developed one primary environment.  Each environment is branded with a specific color and logo.  While God deepens and grows the hearts of disciples at Living Hope in multiple areas in each environment, we believe it is important to invest time, energy, and resources wisely – to make sure we promote growth in each of these key biblical areas by assigning each one a primary environment - so that Living Hope can help to develop not just baby Christians, but deeply rooted, mature disciples.  And because God does all the work, and He gets all the credit.

our latest logo design, just launched this fall, 2009

In the end, our newest logo, unveiled this fall, reflects our new tag line, and it also reflects our four key growth areas (and their corresponding environments, by color).  It also reflects our understanding that JESUS CHRIST is in the CENTER of all that we do.  Notice the four color blocks and the cross formed by the empty space between them in our new logo:

Watching the changes happen in our logo design reflects significant points in our church history.  I remember the “Holy Spirit” moments, when an idea broke through, and God led with clarity.  I remember each change along the way, and what drove them.  And I learned a lot about design as we moved ahead.  For my next post in the “Designing Ministry” series, I’ll lay out some key take-aways from our logo development process, and some guide points in developing your next ministry logo.

>> If you haven’t been with us from the beginning, check out “Designing Ministry” part ONE HERE, and part TWO HERE.

“designing ministry, part three :: rebrand 2009 :: logo development” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

When I worked as Minister of Celebration (Worship and Arts Ministries) for 10 years at Emmaus Lutheran Church in Bloomington, MN (just up the road from the Mall of America), I had the privilege of serving alongside a genius Children’s Music Director.  Let me repeat… GENIUS.

Vergene Downs and I are great friends, and I have deep respect for her.  She can keep 700 children at a time alert, quiet, and smiling… and then lead them in celebratory music making that can rival a Broadway chorus.  (OK… 700 may be an exaggeration – but even leading 12 kids under age 10 at a time would freak me out, so work with me here.)

I used to love to press her buttons by repeatedly bringing up the age old children’s worship tune… “Father Abraham.”  Ah yes, that paragon of doctrinal wisdom.  Font of inspiration that has led generations of children to adore Jesus with fresh fervor…

It’s basically the “Hokey Pokey” for church kids.

“Father Abraham had seven sons.  And seven sons had Faaa-ther Abraham.  I am one of them.  And so are you.  So let’s just praise the Lord. RIGHT ARM!   Father Abraham…” 

Then you continue to repeat the refrain while waving your right arm like a chicken, continually adding body parts until the children become a giggling, writhing mass of silly.  Good times.  I can just feel their little hearts drawing close to the Lord as they shake their booty.

And here was my other school-aged favorite.  Sing along, you former young Lutherans…

Halla-lala-la-la-la-lale-lu-ya, Halla-lala-la-la-la-lale-lu!   Halla-lala-la-la-la-lale-lu-ya, Halla-lala-la-la-laaaaaa… lay-loo-yaaahhhhh!

Shake another hand, shake a hand next to ya, shake another hand as we sing this song!  Shake another hand, shake a hand next to ya!  Shake another hand as we sing… Sing this song! (Hala-lala-la…)

You were there.  You know what went down.  Bone-crushing grips between students trying to out cool each other – make the other guy give up first.  “Shake another hand” became “crush this poor dude’s bones, crunch a hand next to ya…”

And it only got worse when we got to Junior High.  With Chuck… our laid back college-aged volunteer sadistic Youth Leader from the dark side.  This was Chuck’s favorite song.  When Chuck led us in “worship” with his guitar, I would begin deep breathing exercises… steeling myself for the upcoming onslaught.  It was also important to strategically place yourself between, say, the captain of the 6th Grade chess team, and the 1985 Junior Great Books read-a-thon winner.  Avoid the hockey players.  Do not stand next to the football guys… or the wrestlers.  Bad.

Chuck:  “OK everyone.  Here we go!  Sing with me…  Pat another back, pat a back next to ya…“

And it went downhill from there.  “Grab another knee, grab a knee next to ya…”  “Poke somebody’s ribs, poke the ribs next to ya…”  “Stomp another foot, stomp a foot…”

At least we had the “Hala-lala’s” to recuperate between the thirteen verses of full contact bodily damage we were inflicting on each other over the soulful strumming sounds emanating from Chuck’s guitar.  Can you just feel the love of Jesus?  I mean, beyond the dull ache of your crushed pinky toe and the hematoma on your right thigh?  I can feel it.  That was so awesome.

And this is where I would drive my genius friend Vergene crazy.  You see, when I was growing up, I never learned the difference between “Father Abraham” and “Father, I Adore You.”  To us kids, they were all just songs.  “Punch another thigh…” right along side “LEFT LEG! Father Abraham” right along side “I love You, Lord.”  Just songs.  Brainless songs.  They all blended together.

So when I came on staff at Emmaus, I banned “Father Abraham,” and all other songs of such frivolous ilk.  My thought was, “You know what?  These songs actually DAMAGED my spiritual growth.  They taught me nothing of value about my relationship to God, and they numbed my ability to think.”  I sh0uld have been told.  Someone in authority should have taught us that when we sing, “Father I adore You” we are singing to the King of Heaven.  That we should think, and feel, and mean what we say.  Someone should have taught us that we need to take it seriously when we sing “I love You, Lord… and I lift my voice to worship You…”

But nobody did.  I had a lot to UNlearn before I could learn what worship really looked like.  Father Abraham = BAD.  Strike it from the record.  May it never be sung under MY tenure in this hallowed hall of worship.

Enter Vergene.  “You know what Josh, you need to lighten up.”  She said this with such conviction that it caught me off guard.  “It’s OK for kids to have FUN.  They NEED that once in awhile.  Kids aren’t ready to be serious all the time.  You need to lighten up.”

So I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  And then I watched her.  Over the years we worked together, countless kids… having FUN.  In church.  And at the same time, knowing the ONE KING they were singing to in their times of worship.  Children’s choirs singing what their hearts believed.  And then taking an occasional break for some full contact play time set to music.  And it was all good.

The genius difference between Vergene and the children’s ministry leaders of my youth was that she simply paid attention to the PURPOSE and the AUDIENCE of the music she led, and she taught our kids to do the same.  “Father Abraham” is not a worship song.  Period.  Doesn’t make it bad.  It just makes it… not a worship song.

“…out of the overflow of the heart the lips speak…”  (Luke 7:45)

Pastors and Worship Directors and Children’s Music Directors and PARENTS:  teach your kids that God made everything, that He loves them like crazy, and that everything good in their life comes from Him.  Help fill their hearts to the brim with gratefulness to our Creator.  Then teach them to sing “Father I adore You” with reverence, and watch the power of an overflowing heart.

And if they need to burn off some energy, break out the dance remix of “Father Abraham” once in awhile.   It’s OK.  That’s what I learned from my genius friend Vergene. 

“teaching kids to worship :: full contact without pads” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

“RE-DEEM”:  to restore the honor, worth, or reputation of…

As an artist, and as a Levite, I have clarified my mission at the intersection of church life and art.  Our God is a Redeemer, and He uses His people – sometimes His artists – to bring about the work of redemption.

My mission:  to REDEEM the phrase “good enough for church.”

I used to cringe every time I heard that phrase…  “Well, I know she’s not that great a singer.  But she loves Jesus, and she wants to sing.  I mean, it’s good enough for church.”  Ouch.  “We’re not a publishing company.  We have limited resources.  Our newsletter can’t look like a magazine, or what does that say about our priorities?  This is good enough for church.”  Whack!  “Bobby’s just learning the guitar and he wants to be on the Worship Team.  He’ll make some mistakes, but he’ll learn as he goes.  I’m sure he’s good enough for church…”  *sigh*

Seems like the only time I heard that phrase, for many years, it was being used as an excuse for mediocrity.  That somehow, because the local church is a family, full of grace with each other, half-baked (or downright bad) art is not only acceptable, in some cases it is seen as a more humble and, therefore, better offering than truly excellent art.  The excellent offering of an artist who has invested heart and soul into creating something deeply beautiful has been written off as prideful indulgence.  After all, art that is “too good” glorifies the artist.  It smacks of pride.  It is distracting.  It is idolatrous.  All we really need art to be is… right.  “Good enough for church.”

This is a lie, and it has been bought and propagated by many well-meaning Christ followers.  Art, after all, falls into the “whatever you do” category…

“Whatever you do, work at it WITH ALL YOUR HEART, as working for the Lord and not for men.”  (Colossians 3:23)

God made artists.  Kingdom artists reflect HIS creativity, and they point people God-ward.  Let them make great art for Him.  Let artists serve with excellence.  And let them set the bar HIGH.  I honestly believe that CHURCHES ought to be the pace-setters in the art world.  If ever there was a place for deep expression, purpose-driven creation, and joyful play, the CHURCH ought to be a support community for art like no other.  And the church should expect the BEST possible work from their artists.

The Old Testament affirms this value.  Read Moses’ account of the building of the tabernacle in Exodus 26-40 with a highlighter in hand.  Notice how many times the phrases “skilled craftsmen” or “skillfully made” or “finely woven” are used.  Similar adulatory commendations are used throughout the book to command creation of the accoutrements of worship for the tabernacle – always with the highest regard for artistic excellence.  It’s in there.  God wrote it.

And who does God pick to lead the artistic design ministry for the tabernacle?  See Chapter 35, starting in verse 30…

“See the Lord has chosen Bezalel… and He has filled Him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts… in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship.  And He has given both him and Oholiab… the ability to teach others.  He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers… all of them master craftsmen and designers.”

And, by the way, this God-infused passion for excellence and beauty and “master-craftsmanship” doesn’t just apply to visual arts.  Look at the account of the Levite musicians who were set apart by God for the “church music” of the day.  Who was chosen to be the head of the tabernacle choir?

“Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing;  that was His responsibility because he was skillful at it.”  (I Chronicles 15:22)

I love that God wrote that little sidebar after the semicolon.  Do you suppose He foresaw some of our churches filling the choir director slot with the pastor’s wife because, well, that’s how we’ve always done it… and she can play the piano a little bit… and it’ll be good enough for church.

God is worthy of excellent art.  Nothing less.  Can you see the obvious connection with design?

The DESIGN elements used in your church most often provide the “first impression” of the heart of your church to the surrounding community.  They are a tool that can either further your goal or hinder your ministry.  So we take design seriously at Living Hope Church.

And the REASON that we care how things look and feel is NOT that we prioritize style over content.  On the contrary.  The CONTENT of our vision and values DRIVES style, determines visual direction, and (we hope) reflects our belief that excellence honors God and inspires people.  We have the greatest and most important message to share in all of recorded history.  Shouldn’t that inspire our deepest creative efforts?  The best possible art?  Inspiring,  excellent, high-quality design work?

Recalibrating your excellence meter is a long, slow process.  It takes grace, patience, humility – but it also takes conviction and intentional direction setting.  The next time you produce a bulletin or newspaper ad or banner for your ministry, think twice before tagging on that circa 1978 clip art cross or cartoon easter lily with a bow on it.  And no doves, please.  Take a look around at the stores, the advertising, the well-crafted marketing campaigns that vie for the attention of every soul that lives within driving distance of your church.

Then ask yourself, “what would it take to get MY attention – to make me look twice.”  Work hard.  Find a team of artists who love God and are skilled in their field.  Design with the understanding that eternal souls are on the line – as working for the Lord and not for men.  And then with fear and trembling, ask yourself again…  “Is THIS good enough for church?”

How can your church take one step forward in making your design work reflect God-honoring, attention grabbing excellence?

>> Note:  read “designing ministry, part one” HERE.

“designing ministry, part two :: good enough for church” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

part one

This is the first of several posts that will dissect issues of church design with a real-time example unfolding in front of us.  I want to walk with you through our redesigned ”look and feel” at Living Hope Church, first unveiled as of the launch of our new ministry year, beginning September 13, and continuing now in several areas of our ministry.  Our prayer is that this “whole new season at Living Hope” is much more than a catch phrase and a new coat of paint.  We are hoping and asking for a supernatural REVIVAL of passion for our mission >> “building relationships that change lives.”

The rebrand, from a design point of view, reflects a renewed commitment to fulfill that mission in our community.  And design is the language of our culture.  Design – both good and bad – speaks loudly to your neighborhood about who you are, who you are seeking to reach, and how much you care.  Design matters.  My aim in this DESIGNING MINISTRY series will be two-fold:

(1)  To communicate my limited understanding of why good design matters in ministry along with some fundamental design principles that will help your church design communicate in the visual language of our surrounding culture, and…

(2)  To walk you through some of the design process we are going through as we try to better visually communicate our heart and vision as a church.  Logos, fonts, colors, signage, web work.  It’s all being overhauled.  And I want you to get in on it with us.

Not a designer?  Totally cool with me.  In fact, I love “pulling back the curtain” a bit for people who don’t live in the design realm.  Maybe you’ll learn a few things along the way, and you may find a new interest awakening in you.  Are you a conservative evangelical by nature?  Me too!  But if words like “branding” and “marketing” make you uneasy when paired with “ministry” and “the gospel,” then maybe over the course of this series, you’ll see that it’s possible (and important!) to use the best design strategy that our culture has to offer when it comes to sharing the most important message of all time.

More theory/philosophy/strategy later.  For now, let’s just get to the pretty pictures…

NEW LIVING HOPE BROCHURE

Target Market:  People coming into contact with Living Hope for the first time.

Purpose:  To provide a basic overview of our church’s strategy and vision.

front and back cover, folded vertically

first page, pastor's greeting and church vision overview

page two, weekend gatherings and taking the next step

page three, LifeGroups

page four, FUEL

page five, ONE gatherings and a recap of the living hope church vision

Here are TEN KEY TAKE-AWAYS from this design project:

(1)  It takes time to produce quality design work.  We began talking about the content of this brochure last winter.  Most of July and August was spent refining the content, looking at drafts, continually gathering/changing/editing photos, revising, and reworking.  If you want your church design work to look professional, don’t think you can crank it out in an afternoon.  Leave margin.  And invest the effort to get it right.

(2)  Clarify the PURPOSE and the TARGET of your design work before you do ANYTHING else.  We knew this would be a “first impression” piece for our church.  Eternal souls are on the line, so we wanted it to be eye-catching and engaging.  This is a Living Hope 101 piece, focussing on BASIC information, because our target is people who do not yet call Living Hope their own.  That determined which information made the cut, and it challenged us to develop a visual “hook’ (the four colored squares) that consistently represent our four core goals as a church.  If this was an information piece for our insiders, it would probably look and read very differently.

(3)  Relationships = people = pictures.  From the beginning, Senior Pastor Bob Halvorson said to our design team, “if our church is all about relationships, then our brochure MUST be full of pictures of people.  More than logos and text, the pictures of our people in relationships with God and with each other… that’s the story and the mission of Living Hope.”  So our primary criteria for choosing images was “does this picture evoke an emotional response because of the RELATIONAL connection of the subjects?”  If yes, we considered it.  If no, the image was shelved.  And we looked at over a thousand pictures to find the ones we used.  That’s part of the reason that…

(4)  It takes time to produce quality design work.  (see #1 above…)

(5)  Less is more.  I don’t think we hit a home run with this principle.  I like open space.  We usually wrote the text and then tried to say the same thing with half as many words.  Carefully worded text carries more impact than a flood of information.  In the end, we cut a lot, but I think we could have been even more sparing with our text and had an even more effective piece.

(6)  Font matters.  Probably the most difficult and nuanced part of good design is choosing your fonts wisely.  Do you want to communicate strength?  Playfulness?  Solidity?  Does it need to be easy to read, or is it more important that it reflects the artistic feel of the piece?  I have two basic rules of thumb for fonts when designing:  I try to limit myself to TWO fonts in any given design piece whenever possible, and I try to keep my use and size of those fonts consistent throughout the piece.  That’s why our “highlight text” is all the same size, our regular copy text is all another size, and I used one font for everything except our main logo and the individual environments on each page.  These rules of thumb will do MUCH to clean up your design’s look, because…

(7)  Our eyes like symmetry.  And this is not limited to our choice of font and use of text.  If you look through our brochure, you’ll see that we tried to line up edges of pictures and text carefully.  Draw a straight line from the bottom of one picture and it probably lines up with the top edge of another, or with a block of text.  When text blocks ran on both pages of a given spread, we worked hard to keep the text on the same plane whenever we could.  This is something you may not “see” initially, but as a viewer you can really “feel” it.  Look at advertisements in a magazine.  Notice the lines.  Symmetry is a high value.

(8)  It takes time to produce quality design work.  (see #1 and #4 above…)

(9)  Never design alone.  EVERYBODY needs a second (and third, and fourth) opinion, because design work, like all art, can become very personal.  If you design in an insulated bubble with no feedback, you end up overlooking glaring errors, and what seems like a great idea in your mind may not translate to the real world at all.  So leave margin for drafts and revisions.  Team effort produces more effective design.  Period.

(10)  And lastly, remember that it takes time to produce quality design work.  (you get the drill…)

Watch for more in upcoming posts.  If you have questions about design and ministry, shoot ‘em my way and I’ll do my best to answer them!  In the mean time, pull up a chair, and watch a work in progress at Living Hope with a front row seat.

 

“designing ministry, part one :: rebrand 2009 :: new brochure” by Joshua Skogerboe text and images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Another reminder that right now, normative = change. It will take some time and some effort to stay ahead of this technological wave, because it’s big. Really, really big. And if you choose to tread water, you will get wet.  I’m a missionary from Minnesota, and my mission field is full of surfers.

As a church leader – actually, just as a Christ follower- I don’t want to see local churches choosing to let culture pass us by. Too often the church looks at our changing world with a cautious eye, afraid of becoming “of the world” we are in, and excusing our lack of engagement with the culture by saying that we are called to live differently, and this world is not our home.

Yes, we must live differently. Yes, this world and all of the technological advancements of humanity will be gone in a blink. Yes, we need to be alert when engaging the enemy’s territory, because he prowls around like a roaring lion, and he’s hungry.

But don’t concede ground!  Don’t fear cultural change!  Read the book – God wins.  And greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world.  God did not give us a spirit of timidity, after all, but a Spirit of POWER and of LOVE and of SELF-DISCIPLINE.  No more wimping out, church!  No more “keeping the world at arm’s length” out of fear of being tainted.  Where’s our backbone?  Engage!

To be in the world and not of it (John 17:14-16) requires us to actually be IN the world.  How else will we have a platform to spread the news of God’s love and plan for redemption?  Jesus’ prayer in John 17 reveals His heart for us not to be removed from the world, but to protected from the evil one as we navigate through it, and influence it for the Kingdom.

Bottom line: I’m speaking to my fellow believers, now.  I’m begging you not to be ignorant or stubborn about all things technological.  The reality is, a tsunami of information and technological tools for connecting and communicating is roaring through time with ever-increasing speed. If you decide you’re “just not that into” computers/technology/social media, etc. you will miss out on opportunities to influence our culture for the King.

Of course, nothing beats face to face relationships.  Technology can hamper us if it supersedes our face-to-face time.  There is a cost, and there are dangers.  But I’m tired of churches who decide, “we like it here.  Let’s not change too fast.  It feels good right here…”

That’s wimpy, lazy, fearful, ineffective, comfortably stagnant faith inaction.

The truth is, right here is all wet.  The moment we tread water, the wave of change roars onward without us.  Don’t fear the wave.  Learn to surf.  Then we can engage the surfers who need to meet Jesus.

What do you think?  Is technology a dangerous minefield, or is it an important part of reaching our current culture for Jesus?

 

surf or get wet :: the information tsunami by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Today my second-born lad is nine years old.  Wowza.  So my blog post today is a tribute to the greatness that is Isaac Jamie Baby Dudes, as Amy likes to call him.  Nine years of a better world ’cause he’s in it.  So here are nine of my favorite memories that make the case for Isaac James as the greatest nine-year-old of all time… at least since his older brother was nine… and until my other boys catch up, but let’s keep it simple…

(1)  The screen door.  On the day we left for the hospital, Amy was feeling it.  Big time contractions, 4 minutes apart.  Time to head to North Memorial!  I was in charge of the “stuff.”  Amy’s clothes bag. Check.  My clothes bag. Check.  Diaper bag.  Check.  Baby clothes bag.  Check.  Amy’s “labor bag” with kooshy socks and washcloths and a robe and momly stuff. Check.  CD player for the delivery room.  Check.  Video Camera.  Check.  35mm camera.  Check.  Digital Camera.  Check.  Kitchen sink.  Check…

“Josh!  Joshua!  We HAVE to GO!”  Amy was in no mood to wait around as I gathered up the bags, bits and pieces, slung them over my shoulder (all at the same time) and headed through the door.

And when I say “through the door,” that’s exactly what I mean.  We’d been in our new house for two weeks.  In perfect Bill Cosby-esque “husband-of-the-mom-in-labor” style, I charged right into the closed screen door with all our stuff, and it blew off the frame, flew several yards through the air and landed in a cracked, crumpled heap.

That’s how excited I was to welcome my wee lad into the world.

(2)  Joy-Boy.  When Isaac was a baby, all you had to do was LOOK at him and he’d burst out laughing.  Isaac came into our world in a time when we were going through tremendous stress.  Both my job and Amy’s were uncertain, finances were scary, and we had just gone through losing our rental housing and buying our first home.  We were physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted.  And then came our sunshine.  Isaac, you earned that nick-name a thousand times over.  Turned our world around.  “Joy-Boy” still fits.

(3) “All done sleepin’!”  Right!  When Isaac was old enough to talk, too old for a crib, but not old enough to turn the doorknob in his bedroom, we’d put him to bed at night, tuck him in, say prayers, and close the door.  Wait 12 minutes, and then…  “ALL DONE SLEEPIN’!”  He thought his night of rest was over.  Time to play!  We’d see his little fingers peeking out under the door of his bedroom.  Wiggle wiggle.  “Aaaaaaall done SLEEPIN’!”

Cutest thing ever, but we didn’t open the door.  No sir.  Tough love.  Got to the point we had to put a blanket on the hardwood floor inside the door because he would fall asleep there for the night.  Guess he wasn’t all done sleepin’ after all.  Good times, until…

(4)  Wal-Mart.  One day he figured out how to turn the doorknob.  Bad times.  Now he could escape.  Bad, bad times.  Cute or not, you don’t mess with Dad’s sleepy time.  No sir.  I remember my frantic, but purpose-driven 1AM trip to Wal-Mart vividly.  Pretty sure I broke some laws getting there.  I bought three things:  A baby gate.  Rope.  Earplugs. 

Got home… Clean diaper?  Check.  Drink of water?  Check.  No monsters under the bed?  Check.  Blanket on floor?  Check.

Closed the door, put up baby gate, tied the door to the gate, put in earplugs, and commenced sleeping.  Ahhhh…

(5) Faces.  Since he was very little, Isaac James has displayed an aptitude for expression that he must have inherited from his momma.  Behold:

(6) Hot Stuff.  Girls like Isaac.  Much to his chagrin.  His teachers have all noticed this phenomenon.  Isaac hasn’t.  Flocks of female admirers.  It’s that killer combination of charm, wit, and crazy good looks…  He must have inherited that from his dad.

Once, while his grandpa was giving a presentation to Isaac’s class about his travels to India, a cutie patootie in Isaac’s class held up a little note for only Grandpa Bob to see.  “I *heart* Isaac.”  We saved it – you know, just in case they get married some day.  Isaac, we’ll never tell who…

(7) Dance Dance 2000.  Isaac has always been one to get his groove on.  One of our favorite parts of family movie night has been the inevitable dance fest that occurs during the closing credits.  Isaac is the master of all things funky.  Case in point…

(8) Ronald Arstenschvagen.  Good times.  If you missed it before, go here to read the story…

(9) Certified Genuine.  I thank God everyday for our boys.  They are amazing kids.  All of them unique.  And one of the things we value most is that they are REAL.  Isaac looks us in the eye.  Unselfconsciously giving and receiving affection.  Quick to obey.  Quick to express gratitude.  Quick to laugh.  Quick to help out.  Isaac is just plain wonderful.  And I don’t take it for granted for a day.

God, thank you for this great boy.  How do I rate getting to be HIS dad?

Isaac, I love you buddy.  Congrats on making it nine years so far.  I’ve got you for another nine or so before you head off to school somewhere, fall in love (ew!) and break out on your own.  But I’m so glad you’re my boy – and THAT will NEVER change.

“isaac james :: the greatest nine-year-old of all time” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I’m quiet.  Thinking.  I don’t think I’ve seen that in a long, long time.  In fact, I’m trying to remember the last time…  from a public figure… ?  Nope.  Can’t remember the last time I saw one.

A real apology.

If you don’t pay much attention to celebrity gossip, pop culture, etc., it’s possible you missed out on “Taylorgate”:  Kanye West’s disrespectful rant during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for her MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Music Video on Sunday evening.  Bottom line:  he was a jerk, and the crowd ate him for dinner.  You can read about it here, or, if you want to watch it, here you go…

Note:  Viacom has been pulling down any posted video footage they can find of this incident due to copyright infringement.  Therefore, I’ve pulled my video link, as well.

I’m not a Taylor swift fan.  Don’t know any of her music.  I’m not a Kanye fan.  I’m pretty sure he wrote and performed “Jesus Walks.”  And I only know that because I’m a fan of Jesus.  Otherwise, I can’t name one Kanye West song.  I don’t have a horse in this race.  So dedicating a blog post to Kanye has nothing to do with his celebrity or my respect for him as an artist.  From the snippets of pop culture media I’ve seen over the last couple of years regarding Kanye, my knowledge base on the subject can be summed up in two bullet points:  (1)  He seems to be a pretty talented artist, and (2) he seems to have a pretty healthy ego.

His taking the stage (and the mic) Sunday night did not seem completely out of character for Kanye West, in my limited view.

What has me quiet and a little stunned tonight is actually Kanye’s apology, delivered interview style on Jay Leno’s new show that premiered last night.  If you haven’t seen it, please go now and watch.  My blog will wait…  Go ahead… < click here >

(no really… go watch it…  or the rest of this won’t have the same impact.  OK.  Go…)

The apology to Taylor on Leno’s show was truly was remarkable.  I’m trying to figure out why it moved me so much.

First of all, I just came out of a meeting a few hours ago with a group of people I hold in HIGH regard: the combined staff and leadership teams of Living Hope Church.  During the meeting, one of our teammates said, “Humble people inspire me.  Praise God for humble people.”  And I guess that’s really part of it.  Being in a room full of deeply humble people all evening puts a person in a “no baloney” kind of mood.  Real, authentic, deep relationships shorten my tolerance for superficiality, celebrity, and ego trips.

My take:  Kanye West reflected real, authentic humility.  And he is an international superstar.  THAT is a rare moment worth analyzing:

(1)  He showed up.  As Woody Allen famously said, “eighty percent of success is showing up.”  Kanye could have avoided responsibility, laid low, waited for the dust to settle.  I respect him for showing up.  Took some guts.

(2)  He affirmed Taylor as a talented artist and he acknowledged that he hurt her.

(3)  He flat out OWNED his error.  “I hurt someone…  it was wrong…  it was actually someone’s emotions that I stepped on, it was very… it was just… it was  rude.  Period.”  What?  This doesn’t fit the mold.  There seems to be a “public figure apology/non-apology” model that goes something like this… “If you were offended, I’m sorry that your feelings were hurt.”  Drives my authenticity meter through the roof.  Basically, I’m not admitting any wrongdoing here, but if YOU have a problem with what I did, it’s too bad that you feel that way.  Holy Hannah.  Makes me want to throw things at my television.  But Kanye OWNED it.  He actually said the “w” word.  WRONG.  As if there may be a moral standard that exists OUTSIDE of Kanye West.  Wow.

(4)  He didn’t make a single excuse.  In the one moment that may have sounded like a justification for his actions, Kanye was quick to assert, “I don’t try to justify it, because I was just in the wrong… that’s just, period.”  The minute an apology is followed by a “but,” the apology ceases to be an apology.

(5)  He modeled a Biblical concept here:  Repentance.  It’s a churchy word that just means, “to turn around and go the other way.”  It’s more than lip service.  More than just, “Yep.  Sinned again.  Sorry.”  It’s an acknowledgement that “I have been on a wrong path, and I need to turn around and go the other way.”  When Kanye talked about taking some time off, doing some self-analysis, and trying to figure out how to improve – to live better…  That sounded an awful lot like repentance to me.  I’ve been on the wrong path.  Time to turn around.

(6)  He offered to make it right.  “If there’s anything I could do to… help Taylor…”  That sealed the deal for me.  He came full circle.  Kanye showed up.  Acknowledged her hurt.  Apologized verbally.  Took responsibility.  Made no excuse.  Repented.  And then offered to make it right.

You know what?  I’m not in the habit of asking my kids to pay attention to pop icons.  As a general rule, we discourage them from looking up to celebrities.  But this is one celebrity video clip that we’re going to watch together.

“kanye west, jay leno, and taylorgate :: a rare moment” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I was home that morning.  Amy and I were watching a bunch of kids.  I turned on the radio to do dishes.  Heard about a plane crash.  World Trade Center.  NYC.  Went to turn on the television.

I remember seeing the second tower get hit in real time.  I remember the way Katie Couric went silent.  The pit in my stomach.  Kids outside, playing on the swingset.  Safe at home.

I remember when the Pentagon got hit.  Experienced physical, tangible fear.  I remember learning that passenger planes were missing.  Experiencing physical, tangible anger.  Sadness.  Weeping quietly so the kids couldn’t see.  Maintaining a forced normal for the kids.

Praying for protection.  Praying for comfort for the lost people and families who were separated.  Praying for divine protection for the firemen and police.  Praying for George Bush, Rudy Giuliani, all our leaders.  Praying for my wife and kids.

I remember thinking about how many people were slammed face to face with Jesus.  In an instant.  I remember the sick pit in my stomach thinking about all the souls slammed into eternity separated from God.  In one moment they lost their hope.  No more opportunity to reach out to Jesus.  Forever lost.

Everybody dies.  But you’re breathing now.  Still thinking.  Making choices…

“september 11 :: remembering” by Joshua Skogerboe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.