emergingmethodists.org

I have recently been reading a new blogger whose books are also on the way from Amazon. Here a few thoughts from his recent post on the morality of marketing.

Marketing (the use of time and money to create a story and spread it) works. Human beings don’t make rational decisions, they make emotional ones, and we’ve seen time and again that those decisions are influenced by the time and money spent by marketers….

Now it gets tricky. It gets tricky because you can no longer use the argument, “We’re just giving intelligent adults the ability to make a free choice.” No, actually you’re not. You’re marketing something so that your product will have an edge over the alternative…

If you’re a good marketer (or even worse, a great marketer), it means that you’re responsible for what you sell. When you choose to sell it, more of it gets sold…

For those who share my vocation as a pastor, I wonder how we feel about the idea that our job is essentially… marketing which Seth defines as “the use of time and money to create a story and spread it.” Of course you could argue that we don’t participate in the “creating” of the story, but we do play a major role in “shaping” the story… and I think it is in our role as interpreters and craftsmen/women that we bear a massive responsibility. We are responsible for what we sell, and the question that should humble us to our knees on a pretty frequent basis is this.

Are we selling the authentic story of God that leads people to live, mercy and grace?

If not, we’re just hacks.

Seth goes on to say this…

The morality of marketing is this: you need to be able to stand up and acknowledge that you’re doing what you’re doing… If you can’t look that decision in the mirror, market something else.

To read Seth Godin’s full entry, click here.

Technorati Tags: Preaching, Markteing

if i stopped

if i was quiet for a minute

if i was calm

if i was still

if i turned everyone down

if i switched everything off

if i ceased looking everywhere all at once

if i was silent

if i was still

if i stayed at home

if i didn’t pick up the phone

if i was out even when i was in

if i was silent

if i was still

if i slowed

right

down

if i simply sat

here

there

anywhere

if i stood on my head

and emptied out the contents

if i stopped

would you be there

would you speak to me

would i be able to hear you

would it be worth it?

if i stopped

would it be long enough?

if i was silent

would i hear anything?

if i heard something

would i know it was you?

if i did

would i be interested?

if i was

would i stop again?

Credit to Marko

I can’t wait for Leopard…

Technorati Tags: Leopard, Apple

As I have shared here on the blog, in recent months I have made a concerted effort to live a “healthier” life. I am working with a Natural Health coach and I have switched to about a 90% organic diet. I even plan on doing a “cleanse” here in the next month or so to reset my body and hopefully restore some of the balance my body should have but my diet has prevented throughout my life. So far things are going well. I am eating better… feeling pretty good… and even gathering enough energy to work out some more. All in all, I am feeling pretty good… which got me thinking.

I have spent a significant amount of energy (mental and otherwise) seeking to obtain this more healthy “physical” lifestyle. This focus has been accompanied with a renewed commitment to spiritual health as well, but I wonder if I am willing to go as far on the spiritual side as the physical. For instance, the one thing that I have really been thinking a lot about lately is whether or not I would be willing to work with a spiritual “coach” or director in the same way that I worked with my natural health coach. I really sense that it could be a wonderful thing for me, but I’m a little scared of the idea. Besides a bunch of pride that I need to check at the door, I’m not real sure why else it bothers me. I guess it just intimidates me… the thought of giving someone the authority to speak to the junk in my life…

What made this somewhat comical to me was relaying to some of my friends the depth (if that’s what you want to call it) of the conversation I have had to have with my Natural Health coach… specifically, you have to talk about your bowel movements… frequency, consistency, etc… Needless to say, it was a bit awkward, but it is one of the keys to health… so they say…

So what’s the parallel? Do I need to find a Spiritual Director to talk about my “spiritual” bowel movement? Perhaps a disgusting thing to think about… but makes you think, doesn’t it? While we’re on this topic, one of the other things that my Natural Health coach talked about was the necessity of going to the bathroom whenever you first feel the need to go. Basically she said that you’re body is trying to get rid of this thing for good reason. It’s not good for you. In fact, it’s toxic to your body and your body is trying to communicate it to you… So when you don’t listen to your body, you’re making the decision to allow poison to continue to hurt you…

Hmmm… what’s my spirit trying to tell me is toxic to my soul? What’s the poison that needs to be removed from my life?

“The gospel that changes a heart without moving your hands is not the Gospel.”

Bono

Tonight we shared with our Junior High students that our director for that area is going to be moving to Louisiana. It was a sad night, but I hope the next few weeks are filled with a great sense of encouragement and affirmation for Lizz as students, parents, staff, and our entire congregation expresses to her how much we have valued her leadership and passion for our Junior High students. So, if anyone out there in blogging land is interested in working in Junior High ministry, we now officially have an opening on our staff. Updates to come.

Just got done reading my feedburner stats… It’s always suprising to see that people are actually staying tuned to the bucket… Encourages me to be a little more consistent in my blogging… I will try to do so. I will have some big news to share later on this evening.

Ideas vs. Answers

Inviting people to believe in what they hope is true

Inspiring ideas cultivate conversation… Answers often end conversations

Possibly use with Arrows & Squares

GTD thoughts

You need to have a calendar out when you do your weekly review

You need to schedule time where all distractions are minimized (DND, etc.)

Be more intentional in placing things on next actions and project lists

Do a better job of processing open loops

Use the someday/maybe list more

Next actions should be a physical activity

Student Library Ideas

Reunderstanding prayer

Velvet Elvis

Blue Like Jazz

Secret Message of Jesus

The Sacred Way

Start printing out an agenda for staff meeting

Mosaic digital presence

Instead of Mosaic blog, link to Mosaic bloggers

Put announcements on main page in blog format

Add sermon podcast

Some may say that I take too much pleasure out of hearing bad news from our friends at Dell. Like their recent announcement that you can read here. A quick quote…

Dell knows when to quit, and they’ve done just that when it comes to making their own Dell-branded MP3 players.

So you might ask why do I hold such passionate disgust for this Austin based company. Two reasons.

#1. They tried to screw me on a computer that the motherboard fried and had to be replaced 4 times in 6 months. After about 3 weeks of dealing with customer service, I finally got to talk to someone in Austin who very kindly explained to me that their was nothing they could do to help me. Although they admitted my experience was unusual they refused to replace the computer.

#2. They sell a crappy product and since it’s convenient, they sell a lot of crappy product. Consumers would be tremendously helped if Dell would simply fade away. Luckily for us, that seems to be their corporate strategy at the moment.

I shared Lizz’s opening video from Wildside earlier this week. Here is Johnny’s creation…