This Sunday, November 8, is Orphan Sunday. Thousands of churches all over the world will be joining together through events, small group gatherings, concerts, and sermons to help educate Christian leaders towards our call to take care of the orphan. If you can't participate this weekend, there are still ways to get involved. 143 Million Orphans around the world need our help.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/6317258[/vimeo]
As leaders, many times we have to lay down, with our head face down, in the mud, in order for things to get done. What does this mean? 1. instead of standing up and leading forward, many times we have to lay down and get out of the way.
2. No one likes to step in the mud, much less lay down in it, much much less lay down with your face in it. But sometimes as leaders we are called to sacrifice.
3. Just because you may have to lay down in the mud, doesn't mean everyone else on your team has to do the same.
4. Servant leadership sometimes means someone else walking over our back to get to the next big thing. And not always someone from your team- many times it could be you're getting walked over by the person you might have been arguing, competing, or at opposite ends with. You may have to serve truly as a bridge between side A and side B.
5. Face in the Mud doesn't mean you are wimpy or not willing to stand up- just the opposite. Face in the mud leadership is quiet strength. And being confident and competent as a leader.
Head on over to Charles Lee's blog and take a few minutes to watch my interview with him. We talk about Catalyst, getting things done, what I've learned over the years about leaders, and why collaboration is so important. Charles is a perfect example of what I would consider a true Catalyst- a risk-taker, a leader willing to follow God's call, a pastor who is impacting his community, a Christ-follower intent on living out the Gospel through word and deed, and ultimately a visionary who is creating opportunities for influence to occur. Check out more of the great work he is doing.
Here is part three of the Producing Events Series. You can find Part One and Part Two below on the site. 7. Engage all of the senses. Taste, Touch, Smell, Seeing, Hearing. Hit all of them as much as possible. Most events or experiences only focus on Seeing and Hearing. Disney is the best I've seen at this.
8. Video/screens can be one of your greatest assets, or biggest barriers. Everyone thinks that they have to do IMAG screens and lots of video elements, but anymore, if it's not HD quality and really well done, it can be a hindrance. The biggest lesson- if you are leveraging video, then invest heavily in the quality.
9. A proper balance of challenge/light/funny/serious is a good grid for the rhythm of your programming. Lots of combinations on these four options. Always build in margin through humor and intentional moments of light-heartedness. Otherwise people will check out.
10. Learn from those who are more talented, have more money, create bigger events, and know more. Regardless of industry or background, learn from those who are the experts. We're never too good or too big or too experienced to learn from someone else.
A few pics from the past week. [gallery]
Got a chance to recently interview Scott Harrison, the founder and president of charity: water, a leading organization providing clean water to people around the world. Founded in 2006, charity: water has already raised over $10 million to help fund clean water projects, wells, and filtration in locations all over the globe. You might know charity: water from the connection in 2008 with American Idol as part of Idol Gives Back. Scott's story and ultimately the story of charity: water is inspiring.
You can listen via the Catalyst website or download from itunes.
Part two of the three part series on producing events. 4. Find talent everywhere. If you can't hire someone full-time, then bring em in as a consultant, or at least just for a day to bring fresh ideas and different perspective. When you live in the middle of planning and producing every day, it's good to have someone from the outside.
5. Understand the difference between producing, directing, and leading. For Catalyst, each of these roles are different people. And they require different kinds of people. (more on this later) It's important to not just have the same person filling these strategic areas, unless your event is basic and not in need of a comprehensive production team.
6. In programming, focus relentlessly on transitions. Many times producers focus so much on the speaking, or the key production parts, that they leave the transitions to chance. It's essential to have transitions that are seamless, experiential, and connect with the audience.
Part three coming on Saturday.
My good friend Joel Houston is leading the charge on a great project called The I-Heart Revolution. As part of this project, a feature film will be releasing next Wednesday, November 4 in 500 theaters across the US entitled "We're All in This Together." Blogged about this last week. You can buy tickets here. Hear from Joel regarding the reason behind the film and what he hopes to see as a result of thousands of Churches and leaders unified together.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/7278497[/vimeo]
I'll be doing a three part series this week on some of the basics behind producing great events. So here you go, part one:
1. Content is king. It all starts with content. Without great speakers who can deliver, you're climbing uphill.
2. Know your audience. Aim small in terms of your audience. Be VERY specific in terms of who you are creating an experience for. Aim big, miss big. Aim small, miss small.
3. Creativity many times requires conflict, complication and frustration. Everyone wants to know how to deliver creatively. But getting there is many times a course in patience, conflict resolution, and many hours of frustration. Great ideas and creative programming is the result most of the time of healthy tension and debate over many months. It's a process.
Part two coming on Wednesday of this week.
I love John Maxwell. He's impacted my life greatly. And I love Tripp Crosby. Great friend. And part of our Catalyst creative team.
So enjoy this interaction between Tripp and John. A truly authentic interview...... brought to you by Tripp and Tyler Films.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjW7y4eGkRI[/youtube]
A few end-of-week thoughts, highlights, links and notes of interest: - Vote now for Jamie Tworkowski, a good friend and Catalyst speaker, and founder of TWLOHA, to win the Woodie Award from MTV, given to an artist who is helping impact our generation through social causes.
- Watch this interview with Mac Powell at Catalyst regarding adoption and the importance of the Church to lead on this issue.
- Have you visited Lanny on Leno yet? Check it out. Still time to be involved in this campaign to get Lanny Donoho on the Leno Show. Tweet it up and put on your Facebook status. Not just for fun, but to help build awareness for the 143million Campaign.
- Pebble Beach is heaven on earth. Got to spend a couple of days there earlier this week.
- Phil Wickham's new CD is really good. It releases middle of November. Thanks Phil, for sending me an advanced copy!
- The Catalyst Music Project album is now on itunes. You can download here. It released in the top 15!
- Working on the final speaker lineup for Catalyst West Coast. Wow, it's hard to narrow down to the final lineup. Will be releasing the lineup in the next couple of weeks.
- The Catalyst One Day event in Baltimore is officially sold out. Actually has been sold out for the last three weeks! Gonna be a blast to finally take Catalyst to the Northeast!!
- Got to hang earlier this week with the great folks from Alpha and Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London. They were all in Orlando for the Alpha USA Conference. The Alpha course has impacted millions around the world.
Hillsong United's brand new film "We're All in This Together" will release on Wednesday, November 4 here in the USA, with a one-night viewing of the documentary film along with a live concert with the United band from Hillsong Church in Sydney. The film is being shown in over 500 theaters across the USA. Buy tickets and check availability in your area here.
You won't want to miss this experience. It will be an epic evening
Seasons of Service. We've talked about this story before on the blog, but it continues to get more press and be a great example of how the Church can be engaged in a community through service and partnership. Our friends Luis and Kevin Palau from the Luis Palau Association, along with John Bishop shared some of the story at Catalyst West back in April, and the buzz continues to build around the Seasons of Service project in Portland, Oregon. Basically, the Seasons of Service initiative is a follow up to the large festival held last year that brought together local government, businesses, the Church, and ministries like Palau. Kevin Palau put this partnership together, and is focused on a long term strategy to truly serve the city
Over 500 churches are participating from the Portland area, and 26,000 volunteers.
A great article and short video clip is currently on the PBS website, and PBS is running the story nationally on TV this Sunday. Check your local listings for times.
Been out at Pebble Beach the last two days. David Hoyt and I teamed up for a great score of 67 today playing Spanish Bay, which is one of 5 courses on the Pebble Beach/Monterey Peninsula. Hanging out with some great friends at the annual Equip gathering with John Maxwell and the Equip Staff. Equip is doing incredble work in training Christian leaders around the world, and now counts over two million leaders who have gone through the Million Leader Mandate training around the world in the last couple of years. Amazing work! If you are not familiar with Equip's work, check them out for sure.
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So someone asked me recently to talk about the keys to being a great interviewer, which means conducting a great interview. I've learned lots on doing interviews from Ken Coleman, both in terms of the art and the science. He is my interviewing hero, along with Charlie Rose. I'm going to ask Ken to also answer this question here on my blog.
But in the meantime, here are a few thoughts:
1. Do your homework. You would be amazed how many people show up to do an interview and have no clue about who they are interviewing, and just try to wing it. It shows. Believe me.
2. Ask the question behind the question. Get under the surface. Dig deeper. Not to uncover gossip or something that is not relevant, but because someone has probably already asked the question you are thinking about asking. So ask a better one.
3. Shutup. No one wants to hear your answer to the question, otherwise the tables would be turned. Your job is to pull great content out of the interviewee, not to give your opinion.
4. Create a conversation, not just a serve and volley. When appropriate, give the sense to your listeners that you are sitting in a living room having coffee and catching up. Creating conversation is different than just giving your opinion or an answer to your question. Conversations require context, which means you have to have 20 or 30 questions ready to go for an interview that would usually be around 10 questions.
5. Don't interrupt unless you need to, keep your hands off the table, and save your "ums" and "uh-huhs" and "oh-yeahs" for after you're done. For audio or video purposes, your agreeing by saying something just muddies the water. It seems like the thing to do in person- giving your interviewee verbal feedback, but just stick with non-verbal. Sounds better when you don't respond. And hitting or tapping the table is picked up by microphones- seems obvious, but everyone forgets.....
Please take the time to watch this entire clip. I promise it is worth it. If you only have a few minutes, then fast forward to around 9:00.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/7072300[/vimeo]
Now consider how you can be involved as a sponsor through Compassion.
I wrote a short article highlighting the 6 areas of social justice we focused on at Catalyst this year. The article is on CatalystSpace and highlights our areas of focus in regards to justice- not only at this past event last week, but also areas we'll be focusing on throughout 2010.
Check out a recent interview I did with Rob Bell, teaching pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI. We discussed a number of issues, including what music Rob is currently listening to, as well as getting an update on the Drop Like Stars Tour.
You can stream here or download from itunes.
These guys are big time college quarterbacks, but also great guys. Strong leaders. And doing their best to love God and follow Him. I of course am one of Sam Bradford's greatest fans, and even though it is difficult, will cheer for Colt McCoy as well. It's OU/Texas weekend. Boomer Sooner!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnx2MungsGI&NR=1[/youtube]
Will be posting several thoughts on Catalyst 2009 over the next week, but for now, just wanted to share a few pics. 10 Pics from behind the scenes. 10th year anniversary. More to come later. [gallery]
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