SCD Ideas

With the death of the Titans three weeks ago, I basically watched the Super Bowl for the ads.  While the Steelers’ win was no surprise, there was an upset in the competition for best TV Super Bowl Advertisement.  This year two unemployed brothers from Indiana, Dave and Joe Herbert, won the top honors in the Super Bowl Ad Meter.  Both in their thirties, the brothers entered a contest sponsored by Doritos who promised a prize of $1 million to the best Doritos video sent to them by customers.  The top two winners also had their commercials aired during the Super Bowl, the most expensive TV time slot in advertising ($3 million per 30-second slot). 

Beating 51 big advertising companies was quite a win for the brothers and probably sent shivers down the spines of advertising executives on Madison Avenue.  Why should companies pay millions for one of their spots, when two nobudies can do it on a dime and a prayer?

This is just one more example of what Andrew Keen talks about in his book, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is killing our culture.  Keen contends that amateurs, like the Herbert brothers, are threatening our most valued cultural institutions.  Blogs, YouTube videos, and webcams let anybody anywhere broadcast their views to anyone everyone.   While book publishers are lagging in sales, companies like lulu, a self-publishing online bookseller, are flourishing as they allow anyone with a manuscript to self-publish his or her book for less than $50.00. 

Which raises a powerful question: who is the editor?  Traditionally editors provided the service of making sure what ever was written, produced, or broadcast was of a certain level of quality.  For example, words would be spelled correctly and put in the right order (grammar anyone?).  They also would push authors to fact check their work to make sure it was accurate.  But with the power of the internet, writers and video artists don’t need a fliter that was caused by the economics of getting something published — today they just need to write and click on the right box to published in a blog or on a website. 

While this is a great threat to some, it also provides an opportunity for the listener.  In the midst of the unfiltered voices truth and genius may be found.  Those nobudies out there might have something to say to all of us.  And that is the dilemma that we find ourselves in today.  A world where anyone can be an author, and where the reader now becomes the editor – sorting out what is true, real, and of value on his or her own.  So as you enjoy your Doritos and dream of winning next year’s contest be aware of the implications.  As we all become the producers of our own content, who will decide what is good, of value, and important for all to hear?

To see the ads go to:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2009admeter.htm

Last nights CMA Awards, broadcast live on ABC, is Country Music’s night to shine. It’s by no accident that many of the award winners thanked the songwriters.  For the singers know, without the songwriter there is no song to sing.

Over the last couple of months I have been privileged to take a songwriters class at the Blair School of Music in Nashville.  Each week a songwriter shares his or her story and helps the class look at the craft of songwriting.  Most of the members of the class are songwriters themselves and in many of the sessions they share their music for critique by the speaker and the class.

This last week Laynge Martin, who has written songs like Elvis Presley’s “Way down” and Trisha Yearwood’s, “I Wanna Go Too Far,” was our speaker.

What impressed me about Laynge was his passion for his craft and his desire to be heard.  Some of his advice could be applied to us all.

About music itself he noted that in movies, music is always used to bring the message home.  At the most dramatic point in the story people sing.  For Layne, “songs are really accelerated meaning.”  This reminds us that unlike any other form of communication, music goes straight to the heart.  Lyrics, melody, and rhythm combine to take the listener to a different place of understanding and insight.  The best song becomes your song because it opens a window into what is really important in life.   

Another comment by Layne has importance for us in everyday communication, that “everything we say has a melody and a rhythm.”  The cadence of our speech is really music without the notes.  The tone of our voice, the words we emphasize, and our inflection constantly tells others the state of our emotions, what is important to us, and where our passion lies.

Daniel J. Levitin, author of The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature says the following: “Music, I argue, is not simply a distraction or a pastime, but a core element of our identity as a species, an activity that paved the ways for more complex behaviors such as language, large-scale cooperative undertakings, and the passing down of important information from one generation to the next.”  In his book he says there are basically six types of songs that have formed who we are as humans: songs of friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion, and love.

I might add to this the following thought: before there was speech, culture, and civilization there was music.  Too radical for you.  If you are a parent, my guess is the first form of communication you formed with your infant child was a song.  Maybe it was a coo or a soft hum.  Whatever it was it made a connection that soothed and comforted.  In a sense you became the songwriter as you formed a bond with your child.

Layne made another comment during our time together that really stuck, “what you do everyday becomes your life.”  Days turn to weeks which turn into months which becomes years.  What you do each day has great implications for what you will become in the future.  What you do each moment matters. 

So the next time you listen to a song remember the muse that lurks in the shadow, for if you listen closely the secret of the songwriter will be revealed.

Jorge Acevedo, Lead Pastor
Grace Church — Cape Coral, Olga-Fort Myers Shores and North Fort Myers, Florida
www.egracechurch.com

Grace Church DNA:

In the final presentation at this year’s School of Congregational Development, Jorge Acevedo shared the core principles that has turn-around his congregation.  Here are the notes from his presentation: 
1. We are unashamedly Jesus-centered!  Jesus is the Savior, Healer, Transformer and Friend that every human being needs. 

2. We strive for healthy relationships!  Maintaining genuine and authentic relationships are of supreme value.  Repairing our relational messes is essential.

3. We are passionate to reach people!  This means loving people where they are and helping them grow into who God wants them to be.  Everyone is a “child of God and person of worth.”

4. We hunger for transcendent, culturally relevant, meaningful and experiential worship!  The human heart desires to regularly connect with God.  Music, drama, creative arts, and video are some of the ways this happens.

5. We engage people in biblical, relevant and creative teaching!  God’s Word addresses the most fundament issues of life.  Children, youth and adults need to be taught from the Bible.

6. We endeavor to be a radically diverse church.  This includes a mosaic of persons joined together as one community of faith.

7. We value hospitality as an expression of God’s “welcome.”  The kindness of God is expressed intentionally through things like warm greeting, clean bathrooms, and good food.

8. We are a center for healing and recovery!  God has asked us to assist Him in rescuing people from the hell they are living in as well as the hell they are heading to.  We recognize that healing takes time therefore we strive to very patient with people in their healing and recovery.

9. We strive to unleash God’s love, power, and people in ministries to meet the needs of our communities.  These compassion ministries include both aid (meeting basic needs) and advocacy (being a voice for the voiceless).

10. We have a passion and commitment to fulfill for the Great Commission!  This is expressed locally, nationally and internationally.

11. We understand that spiritual growth is a lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus!  Growing in our discipleship includes spiritual habits like self-feeding through daily devotions, using time, talents and treasures for God, engaging in Christian community and serving in the church and world.

12.  We are a multi-site congregation.  We believe strategically located, multiple campuses enable us to more effectively reach our community while being wise and efficient stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us.

13. We believe ministry is best accomplished in teams of people with diverse gifts and abilities who are bound together with common purpose and covenants of trust. 

by Mary Beth Coudal

Grand Rapids, MI, Aug. 1, 2008–In the video, the face of the pastor is pasted onto the dancing body of Napoleon Dynamite, the title character in a cult comedy movie of 2004.

People under 30 would appreciate the image; those over 40 might not, said the Rev. Mark Beeson, who used the clip to introduce his address to the 2008 United Methodist School of Congregational Development. His topic: “Innovate or Die.”

The point throughout his animated presentation was that the church should not be afraid of change regarding ministries to reach young generations. If the church does not reach the young people of today, it will not have much of a future. “Change is good,” he said.

The pastor of Granger Community United Methodist Church in Granger, Indiana (near South Bend), spoke to two audiences: one gathered in person in Cornerstone United Methodist Church, South Bend, and the other by satellite link from St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Orlando, Florida.

“It’s unbelievable the changes in technology and what it has done to us,” Beeson said. “We no longer learn in a linear fashion…. Everything is story and image.”

The gospel and the mission of the church never change, he said, but the church must find strategies that will engage “postmodern” people, to help them take the next steps toward Christian discipleship.

Punctuating his point that change is good, Beeson said that the church expects people to change when they accept Christ. “The whole world doesn’t go to church,” he said. “You have to give them a reason [to come]. Give them a why…help people take their next steps towards Christ.… Is your cause worth the price of change? Because you’re asking people to change.”

  
The School of Congregational Development is an annual opportunity for United Methodist pastors, administrators, and laypeople to become catalysts for church renewal and growth. The six-day event is sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship and the General Board of Global Ministries. This year it met in two venues linked for some plenary sessions and worship by satellite connection.

Ministry tracks at the school focus on new church starts, church renewal, and outreach to ethnic and minority populations.

In speaking both of new church development or older church revitalization, Beeson put heavy emphasis on the vision, the “So what?”, and the mission. “Mission is why you exist,” he said.

Beeson, who founded Grange Church 22 years ago and is senior pastor, encouraged other pastors to challenge members to use their best talents in the cause of the gospel.

“Most of the people in our churches are under-challenged,” he said, recalling the example of a woman who led a multi-million dollar company but was asked only to usher once a month. “We do not challenge high-capacity people enough,” the speaker said. “Most people would rather be swallowed by a whale than bitten to death by small fish.”

Granger Community United Methodist Church has a membership of some 5,000 and a weekly worship attendance of around 6,000 in multiple services.

*Mary Beth Coudal is a staff writer for the General Board of Global Ministries.

http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=5088

As United Methodist leaders gather in Fort Worth, Texas for the 2008 General Conference they will focus on a number of key issues related to the ongoing vitality of the denomination.  While the number of United Methodists has grown outside the United States, the U.S. Church has continued to decline in numbers.  In a paradoxical way, this ongoing loss of members is bringing leaders to a critical juncture in the life of the largest of the mainline denominations with just under 8 million members and over  34,000 local churches in the United States.  In order to connect with a younger, more diverse population it will need to have a major focus on starting new churches and revitalizing existing congregations. 
If you already have thousands of churches, why would you need more?  Because the population of the United States will grow by over 100 million people by 2050 and without new churches the UMC will not have an opportunity to offer ministry to a population that increasingly lives in urban America.
In 7 Myths of the United Methodist Church, I point out that in the best-selling book, The Tipping Point, the strategy of the John Wesley is highlighted.  Wesley realized that in order for people to grow in faith and practice as followers of Jesus Christ you have to create a community around them that would nurture them and encourage them in their faith journey.  Because of his strategy the Methodist movement exploded in the 1780s from 29 thousand to 90 thousand in the course of six years.  This principle holds true today.  Whether we are talking about Christian discipleship or educating our young people, without a community of people who care individuals easily get lost in our rapidly changing society.
The UMC is at another tipping point in its history.  While it is still strong and has great resources, by focusing on sharing the gospel to new generations of people both in the United States and around the world, it can create communities where individuals can flourish and mature in faith.  A choice for the future means focusing our efforts in a way that creates new faith communities that embrace newcomers with the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
For additional resources go to www.gbod.org\7myths