Okay CT - in preparation for next week's meeting & for those who will not be able to be here... We need to begin to throw some ideas out for the next few months. Specifically:
- Mother's Day to Father's Day run (6 weeks)
-Summer run... Week After FD until Back to School (8-9 weeks)
-Back to School series... Big hook to start Fall
In that Summer run section we need to brainstorm some guest speakers or alternatives for the dates that Jim will be gone... The first post will include some of his & B's thoughts on this.
So there you go... If you are reading this, please pray & share some thoughts... Show Sonny & Billy some love! See you Tuesday, thanks for your time!
The Home of Creative Ethos.
13 comments:
From Jim:
We've got 5-6 Sundays in May/June/August to fill while I'm out (may be adding Nicaragua if I go) - what's your thoughts...any other creative ideas?
Option 1: multiple/random Guest Speakers (ex: Tim Wolfe - met @ Mntn Lk, Mark Eiken, BR, Troy Page from FC, Dan Reiland, etc.)
Option 2: Video Series again (maybe something from Ed since there is a
personal connection there I could play off of)
Option 3: Video recorded messages of me on location somewhere
Option 4: David Zimmerman package (2-3 week series)
Option 5: BR package (2-3 week series)
What do you guys think?
Quick first post from the bald guy:
OPTION ONE -- I like
OPTION TWO -- I like, but we need to be VERY conscious to not just have this be a "plug, play and pray" idea; not that FUEL was, but we really don't need to let Sunday morning be a video babysitter for the church -- we ran the risk of KidMo turning into this (b/c we Johnny-ed the HECK out of those kids for a long, long time) and (IMHO) it was only the personal, one-on-one interaction at the end of the lesson that made the weekly videos worthwhile
OPTION THREE -- let me pray about that. :)
OPTION FOUR/FIVE -- since these both fall under the OPTION ONE category as well (in some ways), I'd be all for it -- but maybe we should infuse some different/fresh blood on the stage...? I loves me som BR, and I'm not going to sit here and hype/praise him (he knows it's all sincere), but we have GOT to have someone else who's heart-invested in Compass that is a good speaker, is engaging, and can bring something new to the stage during the summer. Not that we need to go into re-run/"A Very Special Episode of Compass" during the summer...but if we're ever given and afforded an opportunity to -- dare I say it? -- experiment a little with format and who brings the content, the summer is a good, good time for it. (a) no major holidays like when we have CEO [Christmas Easter Only] attenders, (b) it's a more relaxed time of the year, and (c) we might just find someone/something that we didn't know was there before that we, as a church, can use as a valuable assett.
Just my 32 cents. :)
Good thoughts Sonny... What about some things to talk about... Also how can we make Mother's Day huge... Maybe even make big splash... We will see if Laurie reads this or not!
Quoting from the email BR sent out earlier, some of the topics mentioned were:
Marriage Series -- not feeling it
Singles Series -- not feeling it
Mostly because -- and I know that I'm somewhat dating myself when I state this -- but doesn't it seem like we JUST DID these? Do we really want to start repeating ourselves over and over again? And yes, I know that on a calendar you can probably point out where it has been "a while," but realistically, not everyone attends Compass every week, and if we start repeating topics that we've already done a series on or have spoken heavily about during a series that a casual/repeat visitor happens to come in on...that looks like a rerun. And feels like one as well.
Baptism/Communion/Worship – Faith Factors type series
Change the name and I love it. ;)
Work – talking about work itself (not to be confused with relationships-based “The Office” series)
I say thee nay. Not feeling it.
Body By God/Health -- this old chestnut again? ;)
Compass Values Lucy? Can you 'splain this? We talking something like IN THE ZONE, or...?
Book of the Bible – Philippians, Proverbs, etc. YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES. -- did I mention I might like this idea? :)
Series just for men... Oh. No. Just no. This seems MUCH more like a Connection Group topic than anythign else.
Some brainstorming thoughts about Bryan's e-mail from this morning...I had some quiet time this eveing...my thoughts are going to be very broad...maybe there will be something that will spark some creative juices
I wasn't going to compass during marriage/singles series...I can think that that these would be pretty good though.
I like to books of the bible thoughts too...it would be god to get into the word...in an interesting way. Like maybe focusing on "Finding Your Joy" with Phillippians....or something based on wisdom/Cranium for Proverbs?? Maybe something about Fruit?...Fruit of the Spirit from Colossians? I mean we did lettuce, right??
What about doing a series on Leadership...the Word is full of examples of ordinary people...doing extra-ordinary things...fostering maybe the idea that everyone can lead through their service??
I have just finished reading Mere Christianity...again...what about a series about being "Merely Christian"...what does that mean??...or maybe "More than Merely".
What about a series or something on Prayer and...making the "connection" with God. What about something focusing on the action of worship?
I love both the ideas about doing books of the Bible and prayer. What about an old fashioned favorite Bible stories series. David vs. Goliath, Noah, Daniel vs. The Lions? Most everyone can find an interest in these topics because most everyone has heard these stories before. For mother's day, how about doing a look at mothers who never thought they would be, like Ruth, Sarah, and Mary?
Here's an idea - I've been reading a book called the search for significance and let me tell you - there is some really good stuff in there. 4 of the chapters are titled: the performance trap, the approval addict, the blame game,and shame. All these talk about us trying to find our purpose and self worth thru Christ not thru the world and how to recognize these different things in ourselves and what we can do about it.
I also like the idea of some different guest speakers. I think they need to be in person on our stage NOT ON VIDEO. There's no interaction with a video. No person to go up to afterwards and thank them for the message or whatever has touched their heart.
BR - he would be good to here from - or what about a tag team sermon with BR, Sonny, Chris, Billy? Any combo of these. Pick a book of the Bible and let them do a "conversation" on stage about it. This could be a good kick off for a series starting with either Mom's day or Dad's Day.
My comments on upcoming ideas:
1. Guests- great idea
2. Videos- seems impersonal, difficult to connect, especially with someone coming to Compass for the 1st time.
3. Marriage/Singles/Men/Parents- anything that speaks to a certain demographic can risk losing those that don't fit into that demographic.
4. I love the idea of the Faith Factors or Spiritual Disciplines. This is a subject near and dear to my heart and can't get enough of.
5. I love the idea of a series on Vocation or even Calling. We've all been called to do a work- some know what it is, some are still figuring it out. How to balance vocation with the call to make disciples and spread the Good News.
6. Book of the Bible. Great idea. So many possibilities. Anyone ready for Revelation? How about Lamentations?
I may just post based on the number of cups of coffee I drink today...
VIDEO SERIES: while I know that there are churches in Athens that do this (and do it well), it's not...us. Like Meredith said, if someone comes to Compass for the first time, even if we have an into to it that says "Hey our Senior Pastor is out, blah blah blah," is this really what we want them to be hit up with as their first CCC experience? So, if possible, I think we need to stay live.
SERIES/VIGNETTES:
* Thinking ahead (an odd idea, to be sure) to what might be a good series to kick the Fall off with, I think this might be a great time to revisit Bumperstickerology (no, I won't let it go) or Stripped. Much as I hate to state this, I think they'd be too good to use for the summer.
* Books of the Bible -- putting the suggestion of Revelation to the side while we all pray about that, I love Jeri's suggestion of a tag-team/roundtable/THE VIEW approach to a discussion (not debate) on the interpretation on a certain book of the Bible.
* Since it'll undoubtedly be brought up, I'm going to put my vote of "I'm not feeling that as a good idea" on the oft-suggested look at comparative religions as a series.
* Spiritual Disciplines/Faith Factors -- again, great idea, would be a GREAT tool for use for material for small/connection groups to talk about and tie into (that stuff Chris sends out every Sunday)...and hey, Jim? You can even tie into this some of the basics of the BODY BY GOD II you were talking about, lo, all those months ago.
BIG POP CULTURAL MEDIA WHATZITS HITTING THIS SUMMER:
* the final HARRY POTTER book
* SPIDER-MAN 3
* PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
* SHREK THE THIRD
* OCEAN'S 13
* RUSH HOUR 3
[NOTE: there are a LOT of third
installments of movies coming out this summer -- just look at the FIVE of them listed above; is there something here about a trilogies or -- *ahem* -- the Trinity that we might be able to touch upon?],
* THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
Not much to say regarding direction but I wanted to echo what others have said about the video series. At least tell people that's what it will be. We talked up Compass to our neighbors last year and they finally decided to check it out - in the middle of the vids. It was hard for us to show them *all* the things/people that drew us to compass when we're staring at (basically) a big TV. No surprise, they never came back. I think we would have asked them to come at a different time if we'd known the nature of that series (although I personally enjoyed it and did internalize some of what I heard).
I hate to chime in with only a critical point, but you've all got a great bead on the positives/creativity so I have nothing to add to that body.
I think the idea of discussing the Trinity is awesome. What do people know/understand about the Trinity?
A discussion in the "view" type setting would be a great way to bring the book of Revelation to life.
My comment on Revelation was totally tongue-in-cheek, by the way, although it would be interesting.
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