drawing blank
I’m like most people (one of the few ways I am), that when I’m put on the spot, or taken by surprise, instead of being able to come up with a snappy + witty comeback, or thinking quick on my feet, I draw a blank. I hate that. But I didn’t get that kind of quick wit when God handed the brains out. I have to make do with my figidy wild ideas for multitasking and intense relating. 
So recently I get stunned in the headlights, planning a small surprise, to hit up one of those once-a-year free-ice-cream days, and enthusaistically invite my friend, but he doesn’t want to go, and not only that, he’s upset and angry, that I’d hold back information from him.. he didn’t want ice cream, free ice cream, a special only-comes-around-once-a-year free ice cream.. sigh.. sincerity only goes so far..
decompress
after a full day of dialogue at the API Pulpit & Pew Symposium, mostly structured in working groups, I now have a break to decompress for a moment.. some engaging conversations, and I find myself straining my vocal cords, instead of using the proper + better speaking technique of breathing with my diaphragm, so tomorrow’s cross-country return flight, with a low probability for conversation, will provide some physical relief.. as widely available as these web technologies are, I’m somewhat surprised, or the better word is: disappointed, that more people don’t use readily + freely available technologies like blogging, IM, web message board, listserv, chat room; email on occasion and web browser they use, but that seems to be about it.. so as much as the numbers say the adoption rate of using the internet is pushing 70% or so, it’s a selective limited use of the web..
to give you a preview of coming attractions, I’ve been starting to reconfigure my job description at Forministry.com, having worked on an internal document surveying the uses of internet technologies for ministry purposes, and in process of exploring how to better equip churches and people for using web technologies more effectively for ministry purposes.. I’m anticipating a launch in a few months, with some fanfare, how much fanfare is yet to be determined, and with summer doldrums not being particularly the best time to launch anything, I might go with a soft launch, and have a rolling start of sorts.. sorry to be intentionally vague about the developments, have to be sensitive to market forces and competition, tho’ we don’t call other companies that, I prefer the term comparable offerings….
research mode
leaving out the door in a sec, bound for cross-country flight (direct, courtesy JetBlue an API symposium until Saturday; sms text message me on my home page and perhaps we can meetup or just chat on phone.. I’m using public transit, so you’ll have to come out to East Bay to meetup.. thrilled to be spending a few days in the most wifi enabled part of the country!
The Connection?
Question >> What is your opinion about The Apprentice, and how does it relate to the postmodern church?
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worlds colliding
(I had said this before but hadn’t blogged it) The Apprentice is being revealed tonight.. I started watching a few weeks after it began, wasn’t on top of that venue, great to see the building momentum over the past few months.. and fascinating to see the development of reality-based television (unscripted but still casted and edited) beyond Survivor, arguably the American forerunner (tho’ arguably Candid Camera, American’s Funniest Videos, Real People, have been past foreshadows).. where the marketing genius of 2 who are way ahead of the pack, in a time where [alleged] transparency and authenticity is [somewhat] craved, the Donald and Jessica Simpson are way ahead of others (exception noted for the Osbornes), by putting themselves out there on reality tv, and instead of spending their own monies via conventional marketing tactics, they get on reality television and get paid for it.. brilliant!
what a way to get a message out, pitch the product(s) via presenting the person.. and the worlds collide [Costanza reverb here] with the Apprentice featuring a Jessica Simpson concert.. would the Newlyweds show have an episode about her concert and how it went with the team from The Apprentice? Can you say cross-branding affiliation?
in an information oversaturated world, the personal touch of a person makes it stand out.. what makes the world of blogging all the more effective is the person attached to the blog, and then the personality and content to support the cast.. with millions of blogs around, to cut through the clutter, it’s the persona-driven ones that stand out (ones that come to mind most quickly: Andrew Sullivan [a profitable one at that], Jen Lemen, Rudy Carrasco, Jordon Cooper, Tallskinnykiwi, Josh Claybourn, boing boing, et al
So what makes Purpose-driven the big deal, according to this thesis, is Rick Warren (what makes Willow World go round and round is Bill Hybels).. but also, Pastor Rick has tapped into the budding infrastructure of pastors, which I’m coining the term (at this moment) as an dynamically-generated inter-church network (or I could call it A New Kind of Network, cf. McLaren).. Mel Gibson tapped into it too for The Movie (now well into the top 10 of all-time grossing movies).. the Purpose-driven (PD) network has been built years in advance, commencing with the PD church book, the PD conferences, the Pastors.com web portal, and most significantly activated (used) with the PD Life book, and would likely be used for the PEACE initiative in the on-deck circle.. with these dynamically-generated inter-church network, the infrastructure gets built through a lot of relational strategies with key leaders (pastors), in order to access the masses to which these leaders influence.. but it has to be done ever so carefully, and not exploited, or the whole thing collapses.. and it can’t be over-used, that is, only 1 thing gets distributed through A Network, not many things.. A Network cannot be used for multiple products from multiple vendors, and thus branded (bad thing).. A Network built around A Person.. opt-in and opt-out going forward.. corollary: A Network built around A Movie.. A Network built around A Event.. A Network built around A Conversation.. then timely dismantled — and this part of the life cycle perhaps most challenging to the institutionally-biased, build-an-organization, kind of thinking..
