• The History of Typography

    I’m Learning a Lot Everyday

    As I was watching this video I couldn’t help but think… how did this happen?

    By “this” I guess I mean… 

    Every day I’m learning new things, new techniques, new ways of doing something, new ways to connect vision to reality.

    Today I’ll build a website for The Summit, an event that Marko and I created last year to help youth workers dream about advancing their ministry in new ways.

    Tomorrow I’ll finalize the interior layout for Every Picture Tells a Story, 2013 edition.

    Everything about those two sentences are outside of my formal training.

    • I went to school to be a youth pastor, not a web developer.
    • I studied biblical theology, not the psychology of typography.
    • I was taught how to plan small events and retreats, not conferences.
    • I went to a school that taught the fundamentals of youth ministry, not advancing anything in new ways.
    • My education taught me a lot about books, reading them and not designing them. Much less taking them to market.

    What the point?

    Your knowledge, experience, skills, and aptitude are preparing you for something new.

    This perspective has taught me that what I know got me here but what I’ll learn today will get me there tomorrow, closer to my ultimate goals.

  • Why do people go to a church service?

    why-do-people-go-to-a-church-service

    I think most would agree that the church is one of the last places around that you’ll still see the primary/sole mode of teaching/transformation be a lecture-style sermon, monological preaching. Folks in education have been experimenting with different forms of pedagogy for years, and have moved past the “talking head” format for quite awhile now. Sure, there are times in a large lecture-format course where it still makes sense to give information that way – but most students would probably tell you there are more engaging ways to learn and actually have the information stick, than listening to a lecture.

    Yet, it’s a safe bet that you can show up at church on a Sunday morning at your typical church, and expect, for the most part, to sit back, listen, hear and be a passive recipient of a worship service, particularly during the sermon.

    Source

    Why do people go to a church service?

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  • The Process of Creativity

    Ah Creativity. You Ruse.

    I totally identified with this talk. Creating + efficiency aren’t always best friends. I’m surprised that in my own process sometimes things come quickly while other times they tend to drag on forever.

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  • How to Lose an Internet Debate

    Cat-brain-versus-alligator-brain

    Ah, the internet debate.

    The NASCAR of the web.

    Simultaneously enjoyable and infuriating. Dangerous and alluring. Two sides duke it out in a non-face-to-face battle of “intellects.”

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  • Finding an Identity in We

    I’ve spent the past couple of days thinking about identity. When I think about the great division our country finds itself in I can’t help but think of the way our society sub-divides itself into millions of identities.

    A Few of My Identities

    • I identify in the youth ministry people.
    • I identify with people with toddlers.
    • I identify with married people in their 30s and 40s.
    • I identify with people who like Notre Dame football.
    • I identify with children of divorce.
    • I identify with evangelicals.
    • I identify with urbanites.
    • I identify with WordPress developers.
    • I identify with entrepreneurs and small business owners.

    All of those identities talk to one another in a certain way. And, in one way or another, they build language and norms which communicate that you get it while others can’t possibly get it.

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  • Giveaway: What It Means to Be a Man by Rhett Smith

    what-it-means-to-be-a-manThere seems to be three archetypes of men in the church.

    1. Mr. Rogers – Soft and gentle. But mostly soft. 
    2. Tim the Tool Man – He’s got a tool for everything. And he loves to fix stuff when he’s not out hunting.
    3. Mr. Invisible – You hear great things about this guy from his wife. But you’ve never actually met him.

    I’ve been part of churches with lots of men. I’ve been part of churches with almost no men. But most of my life, I’ve been part of churches who paint a confusing portrait of what it means to be a man.

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  • Open YM – It’s Gaining Momentum

    open-boston-morgan-schmidt
    Open, a movement celebrating new ideas in youth ministry, is growing up and taking shape. Technically, it is growing up by not taking shape. 

    Last year we alpha tested two locations, Seattle & Boston. This coming year? We’re beta testing  at least three additional new confirmed locations: Paris, Bay Area, and Grand Rapids… and a couple more to hopefully be added soon. 

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  • First to stand up? Or first to punk out?

    small-wrigley-pano

    I read this yesterday on Love is an Orientation. It’s from Michael Kimpan, associate director of The Marin Foundation.

    It made me think all day.

    He shared the story of how the crowd at Wrigley turned on a fan, not because he was a Brewers fan, but because he had acne. As the crowd chanted “pizza face” with an increasing furor, Michael and Andrew knew they needed to do something. And they did. They got all indignant up in the holy hallowed halls of Wrigley Field. They stood up. And they acted. And they didn’t stop acting until something changed. And, to their bewilderment, the same people who once did nothing stopped them to thank them.

    Michael wrapped it up with this thought:

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  • Should I filter the internet for my teenager?

    Should I filter the internet for my teenager?

    internet_filter_by_sally06Should I filter the internet for my teenager?

    My default answer to this question is “No.” I think it’s better to set-up healthy internet habits which you can all agree on and abide by. (Meaning parents follow the same rules as teenagers.)

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  • How to become an innovator

    Thomas Edison - The King of Chasing Stupid Questions
    Thomas Edison – The King of Chasing Stupid Questions

    “Well, there really are such things as stupid questions.”

    This was a phrase uttered in my workshop last weekend. It was met with agreement among the crowd. But it struck me as an undermining of something core to the human experience.

    Something deep inside me yawned at the cackles. And something else in me was a little bit offended.

    You see, when we stop exploring stupid questions, and when we start mocking those who do, and when we think that exploring stupid questions is in and of itself a stupid proposition, innovation stops. And the dark ages begin collapsing in on us.

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