This is worth watching if you like fast things!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Upception - Trailer
I haven't seen Inception yet, but this clever mash-up makes me want to see it more than the actual trailers do...
Props to Scott Hodge for sending this along.
Props to Scott Hodge for sending this along.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Doing What You Should
How important is it to be well-rounded? I feel I’ve lived over half of my life with that goal… becoming well-rounded. Today, I believe that was a poor goal because it caused me to spend less time on the things I’m good at and more time on the things I’m not… and will never be. Instead, I want to spend more time developing the skills in which I already excel and less time performing tasks for which I have small aptitude. Perhaps you should consider the same.
Now it seems that if we all just stopped doing those things we either don’t like or are not good at, the whole world would come to a screeching halt and there’d be total chaos and anarchy, and there’s truth to that. But if we commit ourselves to prioritizing those activities through which we contribute the most value – and at the same time allow those around us to do likewise – we’ll eventually find that we are more productive and that more gets done.
There are things that I’m great at that you might struggle with. In the same way, there are activities at which I’m completely inept that you could do with no problem… you might even enjoy it. In the book of 1st Corinthians, the bible compares the local church to a “body” in which there are many different parts – all very important. The best results come when eyes function as eyes, feet function as feet, and so on. If the feet aren’t on the job, our knees and elbows can fill in, but a 10K race may be out of the question. Your organization is no different – when all of the players are in the right positions; when everyone is sitting on the right seat of the bus (to borrow from Jim Collins in "Good to Great") our organizations are primed for success. The secret, then, isn't to become well-rounded, but by allowing everyone to function where they thrive (or in their "sweet spot" as we say at Crossroads) we develop a well-rounded organization.
What does that look like for you?
Peace,
Corbett
p.s. For a much better and in detail presentation on this topic, I recommend “The Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley.
Now it seems that if we all just stopped doing those things we either don’t like or are not good at, the whole world would come to a screeching halt and there’d be total chaos and anarchy, and there’s truth to that. But if we commit ourselves to prioritizing those activities through which we contribute the most value – and at the same time allow those around us to do likewise – we’ll eventually find that we are more productive and that more gets done.
There are things that I’m great at that you might struggle with. In the same way, there are activities at which I’m completely inept that you could do with no problem… you might even enjoy it. In the book of 1st Corinthians, the bible compares the local church to a “body” in which there are many different parts – all very important. The best results come when eyes function as eyes, feet function as feet, and so on. If the feet aren’t on the job, our knees and elbows can fill in, but a 10K race may be out of the question. Your organization is no different – when all of the players are in the right positions; when everyone is sitting on the right seat of the bus (to borrow from Jim Collins in "Good to Great") our organizations are primed for success. The secret, then, isn't to become well-rounded, but by allowing everyone to function where they thrive (or in their "sweet spot" as we say at Crossroads) we develop a well-rounded organization.
What does that look like for you?
- What are you doing now that you should begin looking for an opportunity to delegate?
- What are the areas at which you excel that you should begin to spend more time developing?
- Are you comfortable focusing on what only you can do, or do you need a packed calendar to feel productive?
Peace,
Corbett
p.s. For a much better and in detail presentation on this topic, I recommend “The Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley.
Friday, July 16, 2010
A look behind-the-scenes
(this article was originally posted on the Crossroads blog and e-newsletter on July 9th)
This morning I watched a video of a ridiculously cute 2 year old belting out the Lord’s Prayer. Amazing!! You can watch it here. Music means a lot in the life of most churches and Crossroads is no exception. Our Creative Arts team often gets comments and suggestions regarding Sunday music, so I thought I share a little behind-the-scenes look at how the music for Sunday gets chosen.
The Big Idea
First, it’s all about the sermon. The message that’s being preached from the pulpit is the linchpin of everything else we do. Pastor Glen supplies our team with his message topics as well as scripture references and themes in advance, so we start there. What is the “Big Idea” that we’re trying to get across. We look at what other service elements are planned for that day, for example drama sketches, videos, communion, baptisms, etc. Every single element – including the praise songs – needs to point people toward the Big Idea of that day.
Song Selection
There are currently about 70 songs on the Crossroads song rotation list. They can be categorized by Theme, Tempo & Key. We first look at the list, pulling out songs that seem to speak to the theme of the day. Now this is subjective, of course, so we depend on a lot of prayer for this step. We ask God to draw us to the songs that will help people worship Him and be open to His word. Next, we look at the Tempo of songs. You’ve probably noticed that we generally start things out upbeat. That’s on purpose. We want Sunday mornings to be a celebration of all that God is doing and has done. It’s hard to celebrate to a dirge. Depending on what other elements are involved, we often let the tempo slow down a bit as we approach the message. Our hope is that every Sunday, there can be times when people can forget about words on screens, forget about the band, and just feel alone in the room with God. Worship is very personal and everyone approaches it differently, but we strive to create an atmosphere where people can approach God with their defenses lowered and focus their attention and affection on Him. And finally the Key a song is played in factors in as well. Without going to deep into music theory, I can tell you that certain keys “lead in” to certain keys better than others. If you have a music background, you may be familiar with the “Circle of 5ths.” This is one tool we use.
What makes the cut
One thing that you may have noticed is we don’t worry about how old a song is. It really doesn’t factor in at all. We try to choose songs that are going to resonate the most with our crowd. Sometimes those songs are relatively new… sometimes they’re over 100 years old. We have at Crossroads adopted a “modern style” of music, because we believe it resonates best with the guests that we hope to draw in. We also will constantly be looking for new songs to use as we worship our unchanging God. But there’s no way we could ever ignore the wealth of incredible songs that have been penned through the ages… there’s too much value there. The challenge then is taking songs that were written for a different culture, and making them meaningful in our culture. Some make the transition relatively unchanged… some receive a higher degree of tweaking.
Well, there’s a lot more that could be written about this process and for some of you, this may have created more questions than it answered, but I would love to say “THANK YOU” to the incredible Creative Arts teams at Crossroads who invest so much into making Sunday mornings meaningful. If you have more questions, I’d love to talk about what we do. Call or email and we’ll get together… Starbucks is my personal favorite!!
In Christ,
Corbett
This morning I watched a video of a ridiculously cute 2 year old belting out the Lord’s Prayer. Amazing!! You can watch it here. Music means a lot in the life of most churches and Crossroads is no exception. Our Creative Arts team often gets comments and suggestions regarding Sunday music, so I thought I share a little behind-the-scenes look at how the music for Sunday gets chosen.
The Big Idea
First, it’s all about the sermon. The message that’s being preached from the pulpit is the linchpin of everything else we do. Pastor Glen supplies our team with his message topics as well as scripture references and themes in advance, so we start there. What is the “Big Idea” that we’re trying to get across. We look at what other service elements are planned for that day, for example drama sketches, videos, communion, baptisms, etc. Every single element – including the praise songs – needs to point people toward the Big Idea of that day.
Song Selection
There are currently about 70 songs on the Crossroads song rotation list. They can be categorized by Theme, Tempo & Key. We first look at the list, pulling out songs that seem to speak to the theme of the day. Now this is subjective, of course, so we depend on a lot of prayer for this step. We ask God to draw us to the songs that will help people worship Him and be open to His word. Next, we look at the Tempo of songs. You’ve probably noticed that we generally start things out upbeat. That’s on purpose. We want Sunday mornings to be a celebration of all that God is doing and has done. It’s hard to celebrate to a dirge. Depending on what other elements are involved, we often let the tempo slow down a bit as we approach the message. Our hope is that every Sunday, there can be times when people can forget about words on screens, forget about the band, and just feel alone in the room with God. Worship is very personal and everyone approaches it differently, but we strive to create an atmosphere where people can approach God with their defenses lowered and focus their attention and affection on Him. And finally the Key a song is played in factors in as well. Without going to deep into music theory, I can tell you that certain keys “lead in” to certain keys better than others. If you have a music background, you may be familiar with the “Circle of 5ths.” This is one tool we use.
What makes the cut
One thing that you may have noticed is we don’t worry about how old a song is. It really doesn’t factor in at all. We try to choose songs that are going to resonate the most with our crowd. Sometimes those songs are relatively new… sometimes they’re over 100 years old. We have at Crossroads adopted a “modern style” of music, because we believe it resonates best with the guests that we hope to draw in. We also will constantly be looking for new songs to use as we worship our unchanging God. But there’s no way we could ever ignore the wealth of incredible songs that have been penned through the ages… there’s too much value there. The challenge then is taking songs that were written for a different culture, and making them meaningful in our culture. Some make the transition relatively unchanged… some receive a higher degree of tweaking.
Well, there’s a lot more that could be written about this process and for some of you, this may have created more questions than it answered, but I would love to say “THANK YOU” to the incredible Creative Arts teams at Crossroads who invest so much into making Sunday mornings meaningful. If you have more questions, I’d love to talk about what we do. Call or email and we’ll get together… Starbucks is my personal favorite!!
In Christ,
Corbett
Friday, June 4, 2010
Ministered or Ministers
Who makes up Crossroads Church… (A) the ministers or (B) those who are ministered to? If you answered (B), I think we’re suffering from some misconceptions.
Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that Crossroads is all about Glen or myself or any of the other staff. In fact, it’s the total opposite, but I believe that far too often, we equate ministry with “that stuff the pastors do.” If the church is growing and an area has a need, we hire another staff. Too many teens – hire more staff. Too many hospital visits – hire more staff. A church-wide desire for outreach – hire a staff person.
To do so takes us right back to th
e Old Testament where the Levites and priests were the only ones with access to God. It’s a very unhealthy dynamic and it’s un-biblical as well.
The bible certainly speaks about vocational clergy, but in Ephesians 4:11-12 it narrowly defines their purpose: “It was he who gave some to be … pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
The bible describes it as
As a Pastor, when I DO ministry, instead of training or preparing someone else, I’m stepping outside of my job description and I’m stealing an opportunity for one of God’s people to fulfill their calling. Ministry is for the Body.
So to answer the original question, the answer is (A). Crossroads is all about the ministers… YOU ARE THE MINISTERS!!
Peace,
Corbett
Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that Crossroads is all about Glen or myself or any of the other staff. In fact, it’s the total opposite, but I believe that far too often, we equate ministry with “that stuff the pastors do.” If the church is growing and an area has a need, we hire another staff. Too many teens – hire more staff. Too many hospital visits – hire more staff. A church-wide desire for outreach – hire a staff person.
A church should never hire staff to do ministry!
To do so takes us right back to th
e Old Testament where the Levites and priests were the only ones with access to God. It’s a very unhealthy dynamic and it’s un-biblical as well.The bible certainly speaks about vocational clergy, but in Ephesians 4:11-12 it narrowly defines their purpose: “It was he who gave some to be … pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
The bible describes it as
[Pastors Prepare] --- [God’s People Minister]
As a Pastor, when I DO ministry, instead of training or preparing someone else, I’m stepping outside of my job description and I’m stealing an opportunity for one of God’s people to fulfill their calling. Ministry is for the Body.
So to answer the original question, the answer is (A). Crossroads is all about the ministers… YOU ARE THE MINISTERS!!
Peace,
Corbett
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
I want to laugh...
Watch this video from the Drive conference hosted by North Point team.
I want to laugh, but this hits WAY too close to home. I'm sure we've (worship leaders) all been guilty of this... probably more than anyone wants to think.
I want to laugh, but this hits WAY too close to home. I'm sure we've (worship leaders) all been guilty of this... probably more than anyone wants to think.
"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.
Monday, April 5, 2010
5 Minute Leadership Course
Here are some nice quick leadership lessons. I'll apologize in advance for number 2... it's the principle that is important!!
Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.
The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.
When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'
After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.
The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.
When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'
'It was Bob the next door neighbour,' she replies.
'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'
Leadership Principle:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.
Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift.
She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.
The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'
The priest removed his hand but, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.
The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'
The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.'
Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.
On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'
Leadership Principle:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.
Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'
'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.'
Puff! She's gone.
'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.'
Puff! He's gone.
'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager.
The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'
Leadership Principle:
Always let your boss have the first say.
Lesson 4
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?'
The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not..'
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Leadership Principle:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
Lesson 5
A turkey was chatting with a bull. 'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.'
'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.
He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Leadership Principle:
BS might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..
Lesson 6
A little bird was flying south for the winter.. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.
While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Leadership Principle:
(1) Not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep, it's best to keep your mouth shut!
Consider yourselves trained! =)
Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.
The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.
When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'
After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.
The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.
When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'
'It was Bob the next door neighbour,' she replies.
'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'
Leadership Principle:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.
Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift.
She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.
The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'
The priest removed his hand but, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.
The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'
The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.'
Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.
On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'
Leadership Principle:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.
Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'
'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.'
Puff! She's gone.
'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.'
Puff! He's gone.
'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager.
The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'
Leadership Principle:
Always let your boss have the first say.
Lesson 4
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?'
The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not..'
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Leadership Principle:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
Lesson 5
A turkey was chatting with a bull. 'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.'
'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.
He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Leadership Principle:
BS might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..
Lesson 6
A little bird was flying south for the winter.. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.
While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Leadership Principle:
(1) Not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep, it's best to keep your mouth shut!
Consider yourselves trained! =)
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