Podcasting for Churches: Lessons from the Field August 4, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Inside Park, Technology , add a commentAbout six months ago, the communications team that I am a part of at Park Community Church began to set out on a journey to update our website. Key elements of the update included a new home page, an online calendar, a summary of events that we call “the Quick Six” and the ability to offer people multiple ways to get our Sunday message.
Today I’d like to report on our success to date. On the multi-message delivery methods, we revised our audio messages and created video files of each Sunday. We have found that Sony Sound Forge (audio) and Sony Vegas 6 (video) have given us unbelieveably clear sound and video with smaller files.
We relaunched the new site on June 15th and have tracked our website downloads since then. We were only able to install a statistics package on our Feedburner feed 7 days ago. Here are the statistics…………..
From the website:
1,607 downloads in 7 weeks, almost evenly split audio versus video, which work out to an average of 229 website downloads per week
From I-Tunes:
157 downloads in seven days
The lessons that we have been learning:
People want different venues to get their message. We know that people check out our church by listening to our messages. We know that people who miss a Sunday listen or view the message via the website. We also know that others who used to go to Park get the message that way.
If you build it, they will come. We spent a considerable amount of time and effort to design and develop the message downloading, (including sound and video quality) not knowing whether anyone would utilize the technology. Our website users showed us that they appreciate easy and useful information.
Lessons From The Tour: The Long Road Ahead July 26, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentFROM AP --After an arduous 20 stages, Floyd Landis vaulted into the annals of cycling lore with Sunday’s win in the 103rd Tour, crowning a stunning comeback. All but written off after cracking in the final climb last Wednesday, the Phonak team leader managed a stunning rebound on Thursday on the the last mountain stage, pedaling like a madman to move up from 11th to third (only 30 seconds behind the yellow jersey) to put himself back in contention.
“It was the Hail Mary pass,” Floyd Landis said. “To my way of thinking, 11th place was the same as 80th place — I didn’t care, I wanted to win, so I took a risk.” In Saturday’s final time trial, Landis finished third but outpaced race leader Oscar Pereiro of Spain to gain a 59-second advantage and reclaim the race leader’s yellow jersey and win the Tour de France.
I am a Tour de France nut and a Christian on a continuous journey to grow in my relationship with Christ and to glorify him in everything I do. So having spent the good part of three weeks watching with complete fascination at the punishment, tactics and final bursts to win a stage, I sit back and realize there are many lessons one can learn from the Tour de France.
What lessons as Christians can we learn from such a spectacle, such as test of endurance…more than 2,200 miles of pounding pavement?
The first lesson is that there is the long road ahead. Most of the stages of the Tour de France were 100+ miles each day — day after day, up mountains and the pain of the climb, other times descending the mountain with complete exhilaration, then other times long stretches of nothing.
Learning who Jesus is and what He did for us is like getting to the starters booth for the prologue…..but the Christian life is a long road, filled with highs and lows and long dry stretches. Each day we need to crawl off after the long day and get massaged, filled with nourishment (time in the Word), talk to the coach (Prayer) and map out a plan for the next day. We need to pace ourselves and we need to have balance so that we don’t fizzle out early — we need to run the race set before us…..
Landis: Another American Star is Born July 22, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentSoft-spoken Floyd Landis let his heart, courage and legs do the talking in the final time trial, know as the “Race of Truth”, and came out a winner, gaining 59 seconds on his friend and old teammate, Oscar Pereiro. And with the herculean effort on stage 17, (see this writeup), Floyd Landis has exploded into the living rooms of millions of Tour de France viewers as the next American hero.
I watched with baited breathed today to see if Floyd could do it and he did not disappoint! Tomorrow’s ride will be bittersweet for Landis, who will have complete hip replacement surgery in three weeks.
Vivas le Landis and Vivi Le Tour!
Landis on YouTube July 21, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentFloyd Landis’ Miracle 17th stage Effort on YouTube
“Greatest One Day Ride in Tour de France History” July 20, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France , 1 comment so farFloyd Landis proved he has a guts and heart of a champion and wrote himself into the record books with the ‘greatest one day ride in the history of the 103-year Tour de France’. He attacked for more than 140 km attack on the peloton and the maillot jaune, and erased 7:38 of his time deficit IN ONE DAY! Only one day after he appeared to have no chance of winning. I sat glued for four hours to see this special performance by someone I had written off less than 24 hours earlier.
Many longtime devotees of professional cycling said they had never seen a performance — from Armstrong, from the legendary Eddy Merckx or from any other cyclist — like the one produced by Floyd Landis on Thursday in southeastern France. With a blistering 80-mile attack over three mammoth Alpine passes, Landis won the final mountain stage of this year’s Tour by nearly 6 minutes, regaining much of the time he lost when he suffered a near-total loss of energy on a steep, final climb on Wednesday.
No less an expert than the longtime Tour director, Jean-Marie LeBlanc, called Landis’ performance “the best stage I have ever followed.”
After bonking with 15 km to go, Landis fell from first place to 11th Wednesday. He won his first 2006 Tour stage and pulled to within 30 seconds of the leader, Spain`s Oscar Pereiro. Spain`s Carlos Sastre was in second place at the end of the day Thursday, 12 seconds behind Pereiro. This sets up Saturday’s 35 mile individual time trial as the decider of this year`s Tour de France. Saturday`s stage and Sunday`s finale are relatively flat stages that are expected to feature sprints to the finish among the top contenders.
See a writeup on Stage 17 at http://www.tdfblog.com/
Here is another great writeup from a sportwriter who was there
Landis: BONK! July 20, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentThe Tour de France proved today it remains unpredictable and one of the world’s great sporting events. Today’s stage 16 — 120 miles with tortious mountain climbs — witnessed the agony and the ecstasy of high athletic drama. The agony was wrapped up in the bonk of Floyd Landis, who went into today wearing the maillot jaune. Landis bonked with 2.5 miles to go, falling out of the peloton and eventually finishing an astonishing 10:04 behind Rasmussen. This has now left our great American hope in 11th place in the GC, more than 8 minutes behind Oscar Pereiro, who regained the yellow jersey. I could not believe my eyes as I watched Landis just drift off — I kept yelling “Floyd — just finish strong and live for tomorrow!” — but somewhere along the way, he ran out of energy and with that, probably dashed his hope for the title
What can possibly happen after this? I am not sure how much my heart can take — we now have had eight different leaders in 16 stages. But I fear the Americans are off the podium….can Floyd make up 8:08? Can Levi Leipheimer finish strong on tomorrow’s stage and move up from 9th?…Hold onto your seats folks!
Genesis 3: The Fall July 19, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Church, Powerful Passages , add a commentGenesis 3 - The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have started our new series ACT ONE: Genesis at Park and this last week, Jackson Crum, our Senior Pastor talked about Chapter 3, The Fall of Man. While I have read the Genesis story many times, I was struck this week as he laid out a way to look at verse 6:
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food (PLEASURE) and pleasing to the eye, (POSSESSION) and also desirable for gaining wisdom,(POSITION) she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
There are three things that Eve coveted by her statement:
PLEASURE: ….John calls this the cravings of a sinful man — Eve was coveting pleasure — a lot of us seek pleasure and use it to cover up pain. We seek pleasure to cover up the truth that we do not want to face. If we seek pleasure it is only temporary but it feels good and we forget our pain.
POSSESSION: pleasing to the eye - lust of the eyes — Possession: I need this, I want this..if I just have this, I will be fulfilled……She wanted stuff rather than relying on God as her Provider (Jehovah Jireh).
POSITION: If I am seen in this way I will feel better. I need position, rather than a provider.
As I grow in my walk, I still need to continually examine these issues in my life — where are my priorities? What does God ask me to prioritize daily in my life?
What do you think? Please leave a comment
Genesis 1 - “Every” July 17, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Powerful Passages , add a commentAs we start our ACT ONE: Genesis series two week ago at Park, I have spent a good deal of time re-reading the this key account of creation and the fall of man. As I spent time reflecting on this powerful passage, I began to notice somethig that I didn’t in the past. Seven times in Genesis 1, the writer uses the word EVERY, to describe all the things that God has given us:
21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and EVERY living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and EVERY winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ………..28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over EVERY living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you EVERY seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and EVERY tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—EVERY thing that has the breath of life in it—I give EVERY green plant for food.” And it was so. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground— thing that has the breath of life in it—I give green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
God has given us EVERYthing that we need to love and glorify him — he did not leave out anything we may need……every living and moving things, every winged bird, every seed-bearing plant and every tree. I am learning more about God’s powerful love and pursuit of me and this is a great reminder.
The Sobriety of Death - Part 2 July 15, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Family , add a commentWhy do we fill our days with endless activities? — of pushing ahead, climbing the ladder, etc. Life is about relationships….a vertical relationship with the Creator and horizontal relationship with other humans (our family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, etc). As I look at someone like Sara Western Garavaglia who only had a little time on this earth, it forces me to evaluate “What am I doing?”, “Where am I spending my time”, and “What things am I doing that have any significance?” — I call the latter my sigificance meter……
If I honestly evaluate, I realize how much life I get out of spending time in relationship with others and how dead parts of my life are because of inane things I fill my time up with. I want to do things that have significance — things that matter……how about you?
The Sobriety of Death - Part 1 July 15, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Family , add a commentYesterday, a old friend Sara Western Garavaglia, who I admired for her worshipful life and her beautiful singing voice, passed away, having just past her her forty-first birthday. She was one of my alltime favorite worship singers, who could reach way into her soul as she sang songs of praise to God. Wrought by cancer, she persevered and praised God until the end, bolstering my faith by hearing of hers.
As I meander merrily through life, I find myself many days lost in the day-to-day living — in the busy-ness of life, then am brought back to the sobering truth — this will not last forever……..I wrack my brain as I think of all the value, friendship, gladness, and life that Sara has brought to others while “doing life” and I am deeply saddened by her death. Yet I know that she is in a much, much better place, a place we all yearn for, yet keep at arms length.
(I am forced to leave this reflective time to visit with some dear folks in from out of town — more busy-ness in my life…………..Part 2 later).
Boston: Quietly Experiencing Revival July 12, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Urban Church , add a commentI love to think about and dwell on the influence that world-class cities have on the rest of the world and the awesome potential impact we can have for the Kingdom if we harness that influence through an inside-out strategy. Impacting the city for Christ from the inside and then seeing that Christian influence spread out to the rest of the world through leaders, through universities, and through the transient nature of the cities.
The UN’s latest report shows that the world’s urban population reached 3.2 billion persons in 2005 and is expected to rise to 5 billion persons by 2030. On the other hand, the rural population of the world is expected to decline slightly from 3.3 billion in 2005 to 3.2 billion in 2030. Whereas 30 per cent of the world population lived in urban areas in 1950, the proportion of urban-dwellers rose to 49 per cent by 2005 and half the world population is expected to live in urban areas by 2007. The world’s proportion of urban population is projected to reach 61 per cent in 2030. Global cities of influence will play a major role in shaping the world in the decades to come.
I was recently reading a story about Boston, the bastion of higher learning and the quiet evangelical revival that is slowly gaining steam there. Isn’t big-city urban evangelism the hardest and the best? Yea God.
Irish Fest July 9, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, The City, Chicago, Family , add a commentThis weekend , we took the family and walked over to the Irish American Heritage Center for the annual IrishFest – check out the poster. Being 87% Irish (1/8th French Canadian), it is a chance to impart some my family heritage on my four kids. It was a great time with kids games, and a chance to hear some incredible Irish music. Patrick loved listening to the music and checking out the cool Irish t-shirts, Katie was firmly planted at the Celtic Art table, trying her hands at drawing Celtic Art, Ben was jumping on the Jumping Jack Moonwalk and Ryan loved trying the bean bag toss at the Baggo booth. We love the summer in Chicago because of festivals like this. Chicago has so many excellent festivals – I love living in the city and being able to walk or jump on public transportation to expose my family to my heritage and many other cultures living side by side here in this world class city!
Guest Feedback Surveys July 8, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Sunday Services, Church , add a commentAt Park Community Church, we are a church that tries to understand relevant issues in our lives. A place where real people come, with their real problems, and their real questions. And while we know that coming to our church one Sunday won’t make everything perfect, we are a community of people on a similar journey - doing life in the city of Chicago, trying to juggle work and friends and a busy social calendar, and a little bit curious about what this whole God thing is all about. We are always looking to provide an environment where people can invite their friends, neighbors and co-workers to be part of the journey — to seek out truth that might mean something here for them, today, now.
We tell people to leave their expectations at the door. No one at Park is perfect. But we tell people: bring your questions, dare to ask if something better is out there. We meet on Sundays at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. at 108 W. Germania Place (near Clark/North Ave.) Visit our Website and learn more about what Park is all about.
As we continue to learn and grow about doing church in the city, and focus on creating an open, inviting environment for people to hear the Gospel, we have recently implemented a short 13-question Guest Feedback Survey. This survey has given us good information to help us create a better Sunday environment for people to bring their friends and co-workers. We have found that it takes about 6-8 minutes to complete and helps us address three areas: Pre-Service and Post-Service (focusing on greeting and hospitality teams), the Worship time, and the Message. We then finish with a couple of questions about the person giving the feedback. (more…)
Lifest Draws 85,000 July 6, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Breaking News , add a commentAs we pass the 4th of July weekend, we are just in the middle of the eighth annual Lifest, a huge 5-day Christian concert festival July 4-9, that should draw upwards of 85,000 to Oshkosh, WI, just to our north. This annual festival has become firmly entrenched as the largest Christian music festival in Wisconsin and one of the country’s most diverse - with bands from all of the Christian genres and excellent speakers. Lifest features more than 200 nationally recognized acts over the five days performing on seven stages. Artists include Relient K, Newsboys and the David Crowder Band. The event also had speakers such as pastor Erwin McManus and leading youth communicator Ryan Dobson. (see below for the entire list of artists and speakers) The big change this year was that Lifest expanded from four days to five this year with the Wednesday night concert set and an earlier ending time on Sunday after a 10 a.m. worship service followed by the David Crowder Band. If you went this year, or are going to make the journey up there, leave a comment and let us know your thoughts about this great event. (more…)
Sphere - The Blogger’s Search Tool July 5, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog , add a commentCheck out this excellent new blog search tool called Sphere. As many of you know, it is downright impossible to keep up with the steady stream of posts on your favorite subject, like podcasting, urban ministry, emergent church, etc. We already have blog search engines (such as Technorati, Blogdigger) that help you find the latest blog postings/discussions on specific subjects.
However, the new blog search engine Sphere helps you search for blog postings with specific keywords, and it provides a facility for gathering web pages similar to the page being viewed. For instance, if you are reading an article on `church planting’ and want to find articles related to this subject, the `SphereIt’ facility of Sphere will come in handy. The `SphereIt’ bookmarklet analyses the content of the current page and brings in search results with links to pages that match the topic of the page being viewed. Definitely add this to your toolkit!
Front Seat to the World July 5, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized , add a commentJUNE 23 — Tonight my wife and I watched Iconoclasts, a TV show that brings together two innovative leaders from different fields including film and television, architecture and design, fashion, food, music, and sports and presents an intimate, unpredictable portrait of today’s provocative creative leaders. In this episode, Oscar®-winning actress Renée Zellweger (COLD MOUNTAIN, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY) reveals her great admiration for Peabody Award-winning CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, who has reported from war zones around the globe, including the Balkans, Rwanda, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. It was a great opportunity to see the veneer pulled back on one of the widely respected foreign correspondents.
Superstar Blogger Changes Horses July 5, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized , add a commentJUNE 21 — How can you tell that blogging has gone mainstream? When a blogger leaves a company and the news is worthy of the Wall Street Journal homepage. In the world of blogging, few names conjure up superstar status like Robert Scoble. Word spread last week that Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft for a position with a Silicon Valley start-up named PodTech.net. The story made high page one headlines in the Wall Street Journal.
Deeper Waters July 5, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized , add a commentJUNE 21 — We spent three days last week in Wisconsin on beautiful Lake Delavan as a church staff seeking to review the year, understanding where God is working and then begin to plan for the upcoming year. One of the things that struck me as I prepared for this time was Jesus’ words in Luke 5 where he tells Peter, “put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch”. The fishermen knew that the shore was safe, they knew that the shallower depths are where the fish had historically congregated, yet they obeyed. Deeper waters meant more uncertainty, less safety, and a new faith that there would be fish in the deeper depths. As we begin to intentionally grow our church to attain our vision of reaching 30,000 people (one percent of the Chicago population), we know that we are intentionally being called by God into deeper water. I read a great article about the Four Marks of a Transforming Church and it really shows the investment and personal commitment required if you are obedient to move into the deeper water.
