TTJ Video Opener

I never got around to posting our "opener" video for the "Take This Job" series. We were within a few days of launching the series and some quick creative content was rapidly in the works!

Thanks to Steve for the initial artwork design and some ideas for the video. And of course, thanks to the "star" of the opener, the infamous Wilbur Leach!

We shot about 10 minutes of footage including some quick "stop time" stuff. It took a total of about an hour to edit, render and export. A quick idea that didn't turn out too badly. ENJOY!

Take This Job and Love It!

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. TITUS 3:1-2 (NIV)

Our new teaching series, “Take This Job and Love It” has generated a lot of great discussion about God and the workplace. I’ve heard many of you talking about how this series has stretched you out of your comfort zone – especially dealing with many of your co-workers. While it’s been a great personal challenge for each of us, I’d like to shift the focus to a different topic.

What does it look like to honor God up, across and down? Sometimes we live in our own world, but the Bible is very clear about submitting to one another, including those in leadership above us. Listen to this passage in Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” God has commanded us to submit to authority.

What about leading across? Have you honored God by loving and respecting your co-workers? This is one of the challenges Jeremiah issued this past weekend. How is that going this week? Are you making progress?

Finally, God has asked us to lead down as well. This means those that you have authority over. Go back and re-read Hebrews 13:17. Are those under you leading up? If not, you may not have set a very good example. Instead of blaming them, take a look inside yourself and identify ways you can improve.

The workplace can be a fulfilling environment. If you’re facing challenges at work, let me encourage you to keep God’s word close to your heart. How are you doing leading up, across and down? Are you honoring God and others? I pray for an incredible closure to your work week as you continue to “take this job and love it!”

Creative Process Videos

For you creative gurus out there, head over to this blog and check out the creative process at Fellowship Church in Texas. Fellowship has been a leader in creative design for the church for a long time, and their C3 Conference is phenomenal!

Pace is doing a great job - make sure and leave him a comment!

Beauty In Action

My wife and daughter accompanied me to a video shoot last night and we decided to take the "back way home." What is normally a very beautiful drive turned into a fantastic display of God's beauty in action. Check out this pics below - this spot is only 12 miles from our house! Unbelievable! (sorry for the quality...shot from my Blackberry!)

Say Hello to Mr. Toilet

I've made the statement before that two of the best places for creative thinking are the shower and the toilet. Don't ask me why, but I have a sneaking suspicion that those of us with kids know the answer!

Tonight's question:

Where's your best spot for creative thinking?

What A Day For A Daydream

Love this quote from Butch Whitmire's blog:

If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music…I get most joy in life out of music.

- Albert Einstein


Music has always been something near and dear to my heart, or perhaps I should say my soul. No one in my immediate family had much musical expertise, but somehow God found a way to take a small town boy and give him a lifetime of experiences.

Most of what I learned at an early age came from John Howser. John and I are kindred spirits, soul mates, or whatever other "trendy" title you want to put on it. Most of who I am should also be credited to John as well. I appreciate him more than he'll ever know - both musical and life lessons have captured my heart for eternity.

I've been fortunate enough to play saxophone at many different venues, from an audience of one to an audience of over 15,000. I've played in countless states, been in the studio, recorded jingles for everything from car dealerships to the St. Louis Cardinals. I've played for big bands, small bands and every other band from jazz, funk, swing, hip-hop, rock and other styles I can't pronounce.

But more important than all the adventures God has blessed me with are the countless stories of changed lives from my previous students. Even though I find great joy in music, I find even greater joy in watching others experience music. Some of the most enjoyable conversations are from those who write, email or simply stop by to tell you how much they appreciated the time invested in their lives. Those are moments to be cherished forever.

I pray that we will all be lifelong students - learners until the end. Everyone is a student of something; weaving a story to be told through the ages.

I just prefer to find that story through music.

Hearing From God

There's no doubt that it's important to hear from God. But it's more important to listen to God. There is a difference. I sometimes think that God is humored by people - they want to hear from Him so badly, but they don't slow down enough to listen.

You know how to tell if you're hearing from God or listening to God? By what follows next. Are you being obedient? Are you following up your conversation by doing something? Far too often, I'm afraid, we're scared to death that we'll "hear" from God (which ultimately means we have to "do" something) that we just pretend that God hasn't spoken yet. Have you been guilty of this?

I pray that we will not only listen to God as individuals, but as a church body as well. And because of what we do that our communities will begin to understand more about the incredible relationship that God wants to have with each and every one of us. I pray that we will be consumed by finding God and our world will be changed forever because of those small moments when we stopped to breathe life in and listened to God.

Creative Barriers Part 2 - Tyranny of the Urgent

Many times I have found a creative barrier simply due to lack of time. It's tough to think "outside the box" when you're crammed smack dab in the middle of it. That's what I've fondly labeled the "tyranny of the urgent." Tyranny of the urgent means that what gets done is what's pressing at the time - no time for creativity; only time for action.

Seth Godin nails it in this post. I encourage you to take 60 seconds to read it. Here's my favorite quote:

Add up enough urgencies and you don't get a fire, you get a career. A career putting out fires never leads to the goal you had in mind all along.

I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today's emergencies.

Sometimes creativity turns into an emergency. But even the worst of emergencies still needs a doctor and time to heal.

Creative Barriers

My wife sent me this link yesterday.

While I consider myself an eternal optimist, there are days when I feel like my creativity is non-existent. That's not a good thing if your job depends on it!

I love the viewpoint brought out in the article - sometimes we need to be drained creatively. There are many times that God wants us at the bottom to remind us how good we have it at the top (not to mention all the time in between). It's in those times that our creativity is renewed. The amazing thing is that we surpass the barriers that restricted us in the first place - barriers that would never have been broken otherwise.

I'll be blogging about creative strategies and what has worked for me in the past and present.

As for the future, what inspires you? What raises your creativity level?

Let's get the discussion rolling...

Open Up and Say "Ahhhh...."

Music to my ears:

"IBM Thursday disclosed that 100 of its researchers are giving Apple Macintosh computers a go to find out whether they are a strong option for use in the workplace."

Full article here.

Somebody give me a shout out if you're a Mac user...

Catalyst Is LIVE!

The Catalyst Website is now live! Stop whatever you're doing and go check out this site. If there is one conference I would recommend (and there are lots of GREAT ones) - this would be it.

Go. Now.

Does God Speak Through Music?

Okay...an interesting thing happened this afternoon.

Our youngest daughter, Emilee, was scheduled for Kindergarten screening today. A most important day in the life of any five year old. She was pumped, and I have to admit, I was excited for her as she is ready to enter another chapter in her book of life.

Everything sounds normal, right?

They changed the venue this year for the screenings, moving them to a local church (I won't mention any names, except to say it wasn't Meadow Heights). Everything was going smoothly - Emilee was with someone going over her motor skills, verbal skills and the like (which, I might add as a proud father, she scored extremely well on!) while her mother and I were sitting by ourselves at a round table filling out an endless supply of paperwork.

Here's where things get interesting...

In the "multi-purpose" room in this church were several school employees, a few parents with their kids and my wife and I. I didn't really notice at first, but they had some music playing through the overhead speakers in the ceiling (you know, those really crappy, minuscule speakers that some local chop shop must have recommended). For some reason the style of choice today was country (go figure).

Now I don't listen to any country music, but I did happen to recognize the song that started blaring over those inadequate speakers. I don't know if it was a sign from God or Satan having some fun, but Hank Williams Jr's hit song from the eighties, "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" soon filled the air and I had to smile (strike that, I chuckled out loud) at the irony of that particular song, in that particular place at that very particular time.

I appreciate a good laugh...

And today...

Today, I wasn't disappointed.

Faith Matters

“Whenever we let our failures, both short-term and long-term, become the determiner of God’s character or the condition of our spiritual walk, we’ll inevitably come to some wrong conclusions. Then we’ll just as certainly make some wrong decisions – the most common of which will be running from the valley, even when it’s right where God wants us to be.”

Larry Osborne, author of A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God

Faith and obedience matter. I don’t think anyone would argue with that statement. But yet we do all the time; at least within ourselves. We get caught in the trap of self-worth rather than our “God-worth.” How do you know if this is an issue in your heart?

Think about this past week. Were there any challenges in your life? How about some uncomfortable situations? Were there more successes or failures? Many of us see our worth as a direct result of our circumstances. We say things like, “If I’m in tune with God, I will be successful,” or most of the time the opposite, “Things aren’t going so well, so I must have done something to make God mad.” In short, we begin to question God’s faithfulness.

Sometimes when we’re in a valley it’s exactly where God wants us to be. Our role is not to doubt God but to persist in our faith in spite of our doubts. Instead of wasting time with a pity-party, start by doing the next right thing.

Faith and obedience matter. They always matter.

Maybes Are For Wussies

I was looking back through the first two years of posts here at Bucketology and was surprised at how different my writing was "back in the day." I realize it's natural to develop and mature over the years but in my case, I'm not sure that has happened.

I have read many authors talk about staying fresh through different mediums, but what do you do to stay creative? Los has been having weekly creative trade sessions over at his blog - a GREAT idea. Others suggest reading or walking in nature or perhaps drinking strange liquids while standing on your head. Maybe the Neti Pot qualifies as the latter?

Whatever the case may be, writing has always been an effective outlet for my brain and inner soul. That is, until recently. Part of me has felt cheated, while the other part thankful for not being consumed by blogging. In reality, neither one has been satisfied.

What's the balance? I don't have the answer. Maybe there isn't a true balance. Maybe I haven't found it yet. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough. Enough maybes. Maybes are for wussies.

Quotable Quotes

“My primary assessment would be because American Christians tend to be incredibly self-indulgent so they see the church as a place there for them to meet their needs and to express faith in a way that is meaningful for them...there is almost no genuine compassion or urgency about serving and reaching people who don’t know Christ."

“I think the bottom line really is our own spiritual narcissism. There are methods and you can talk about style, structure and music, but in the end it really comes down to your heart and what you care about.”

~ Erwin McManus on the decline of churches in America

link via these guys

If I Could Save Time In A Bottle

There's a great post over at the Swerve Blog on time management. I've really been working hard on time management for the past year or so. Has it improved? Yes and no. Yes I have made substantial improvements in many areas but no, I still don't have it all together.

Time is an ever-changing constant. Confusing? Think of it this way - we all have the same amount of time; it's how we choose to use it that matters. Time is constant (unless you subscribe to chaos theory!) but how we use it consistently changes.

Here are some strategies, thoughts, books, etc. that have impacted me:

* Getting Things Done - great book, great ideas, difficult to implement
* Getting up early - when I get up early I'm much more productive
* 3 MIT's - what are the three most important things to get done today - write them down!
* Email - I try to keep my inbox completely empty (spam is making it difficult!) and have been using my Blackberry to keep it organized
* Home Wall Calendar - we've implemented a family wall calendar and it has really kept us on track
* Google Reader - an aggregate reader has saved me HOURS of time
* Avoid the "tyranny of the urgent" - I'm not very good at this one, but it can mess up your time management in a hurry

These are just a few time management (and organizational) strategies I have used. I'm no where near where I need to be. How about you? What time management strategies can you recommend?

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Our youngest daughter Emilee (she just turned five) stopped suddenly the other evening and said, "We need to pray right now." She then proceeded to start her prayer like this, "God, I love you. I love you a lot." She then finished her prayer quickly and went on about her business.

It's amazing to see Emilee's authenticity when it comes to God. So many of us get caught up in the "technical" aspects of prayer (what to say, when to say it, etc.) instead of just opening up a conversation with God. Prayer should truly be like the faith of a child instead of the convoluted systematic process that we are so prone to fall into.

When is the last time you simply had a conversation with God? Has prayer become a ritual or routine? Maybe it's time to take a moment, stop what you're doing and thank God for being a loving and accessible God.

Vision (and coffee) Leaks

If I lived anywhere near civilization, THIS would be a problem. Thankfully I'm enjoying my fresh cup of French Roast coffee on my own this morning.

Will Starbucks really be better after their training today? Absolutely! There's nothing like getting everyone on the same page from the top down. Customers want a consistent product no matter what location they visit. Leaders know that vision "leaks" and re-communicating that vision and detailing the expectations is huge for any organization.

Where do you need to recast the vision?

Do You "Twitter?"

It seems I have been lax in the posts again, but I have found a new interest in "Twitter." If you're not sure what Twitter is, check it out here. It's very addicting. Simple, fun and effective. It's basically a micro-blog (an online diary if you will) of what you are doing at any particular moment. You can follow others and they can follow you.

It's rumored that this guy and this guy are enjoying Twittering much more than blogging!

By the way, you can follow my Twitter here.

From the "WOW!!!" Files

I'm thinking about attending this church for their "30 Days" series!!

Here are some details:

The Relevant Church in Tampa's Ybor City has issued a 30-Day sex challenge. Single men and women can't have sex for 30 days, and married couples are urged to have it every day.

"If you look at the studies, studies say in 30 days you can develop a habit," said Pastor Paul Wirth. It definitely caught the church wives by surprise. "Our married people are far more fearful than our single people," said Wirth.

You can check out the entire article here and the church website here.