David Miller

Lots of wisdom in this video.

Sorta brings things into perspective, don’t you think?

Cole NeSmith is one of the most talented people I know. Over the past few years I’ve learned about his desire to connect quality artists to The Church. This passion is becoming a reality through Uncover The Color.

Uncover The Color is an online art resource that licenses high quality art at affordable  rates for non-profit use. It provides creative, organizational and design consulting along with professional musicians and communicators to bring an added element to church experiences. Uncover The Color also provides free online video tutorials to  help artists and organizations truly become who they were created to be.

Uncover The Color will be launching April 21st!

If you are an artist and looking to contribute to Uncover The Color, or a church leader looking for quality art for your community check out uncoverthecolor.com for more information.

Unbelievably proud to serve along side this band!  Once again, great videos Justin.

Three years ago I started working with Home Sweet Homeless (HSH) and the experience has changed my life.  The following was written by a 10 year old boy who’s life was also changed by serving with HSH.

Once every month, I go on Saturdays to serve. I go to the park called Lake Eola. It is sunny and has a water fountain in the middle of a big lake. But I don’t go there to play around. Can you guess what I do? Well, I feed the homeless people with the help of an organization called Home Sweet Homeless. I feed them chicken, donuts, spaghetti, pasta, and many other foods. It is very fun to go outside and help.

Sometimes it is very depressing because you see all those people struggling. They are like me because they are people living. They need the same thing as me, like food, water, blankets, shelter, clothing, and love. But they are different than me because they don’t have some of those things. They are not always clean, but they are kind and thankful for us coming out there and taking our time to feed them.

I do this service because it makes me feel different. I feel sad for them and grateful to be able to go out there and take time on them. I don’t just do this by myself. I do it with my family, friends, church, and other people. It is a wonderful opportunity for me to help people. It is fun to see others helping.

Sometimes the homeless people feel like they are left out because no one will look them in the eye. They feel invisible. I always look them in the eye because I know that people don’t like to feel invisible and left out. When we feed them and help them we also get to talk with them and pray for them. I met this girl named Teri. She was very depressed because she lost her mother and father and she has nothing. I pray for her every day and night. I love helping those people out there who need our help. I love serving! This is very important to me.

Home Sweet Homeless by Sydney J. (Age 10)

Where are you serving and how have you been affected?

We wanted to put together a video of what a high school student can expect when he or she becomes apart of thElement Student Ministry.  Here is what we came up with…

Thanks Anthony for putting this together.  You’re a champ!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the direction of  The Church and I was reminded of a story I read in Love, by Leo Buscaglia.

There’s a wonderful story in education that always amuses me. It’s called The Animal School. I always love to tell it because it’s so wild, yet it’s true. Educators have been laughing at it for years, but nobody does anything about it.

The animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish and an eel, and they formed a Board of Education. The rabbit insisted that running be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming be in the curriculum, and the squirrelinsisted that perpendicular tree climbing be in the curriculum. They put all of these things together and wrote a Curriculum Guide.

Then they insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects. Although the rabbit was getting an A in running, perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him; he kept falling over backwards. Pretty soon he got to be sort of brain damaged, and he couldn’t run any more. He found that instead of making an A in running, he was making a C and, of course, he always made an F in perpendicular climbing. The bird was really beautiful at flying, but when it came to burrowing in the ground, he couldn’t do so well. He kept breaking his beak and wings. Pretty soon he was making a C in flying as well as an F in burrowing, and he had a hellava time with perpendicular tree climbing.

The moral of the story is that the person who was valedictorian of the class was a mentally retarded eel who did everything in a half-way fashion. But the educators were all happy because everybody was taking all of the subjects, and it was called a broad-based education. We laugh at this, but that’s what it is. It’s what you did. We really are trying to make everybody the same as everybody else, and one soon learns that the ability to conform governs success in the educational scene.

I have to ask, as The Church, are we losing sight of the individual?  By mass producing our churches, we’re saying that everyone experiences God in the same way.   This is simply not the case.  Some of us are birds, some rabbits and others squirrels.   By simply copying and pasting a church culture we are cultivating individuals who simply attend a service rather than become a contributing member of a church community.

Please understand that there is a difference between learning best practices from successful churches and copying what they do simply because it worked for them.

There is no such thing a mass producible church model.  Know the people you’re trying to reach, seek wisdom from others, and petition The Holy Spirit.

Are you signed up?

I’ve always hated it when people shamelessly promote their product or blog. Honestly I roll my eyes and completely judge people who do this.

Last night, I was called out for doing just that. I was so embarrassed.

Not angry.

Embarrassed.

Embarrassed because it is true.  I’ve become obsessed with my blog analytics and it made me something I’m not proud to be.  I’ve become “that guy”.

Normally I’d freak out, quit cold turkey and drop the blog entirely, but I find it incredibly therapeutic and helpful to our ministry. So here’s the deal, I’ll continue to post about ministry and life and when a new post goes up, I’ll let you know on Twitter and Facebook one time. No more of my many reminders to “check it out” or other not so subtle ties to past posts.

If you enjoy the blog, I’d suggest subscribing to the RSS .  Also, if you particularly like a post than help get it out there.  You can hit the “tweet” button at the top right of the post and let your circle know what you think.

Sorry for the momentary laps in judgment, it won’t happen again.  Thank God for good friends who put you in your place.  Let’s start again.

Yours truly,
“That Guy”

Bellarive played their first show at The Plaza Theater on March 18th and it was incredible! Here’s some footage of their final song (shot by Justin Mezzell).

Don’t miss Bellarive when they play in your city.  Check out their music HERE!