A few months ago I posted with the question “where are all the artists?” In mid January my travels led me to Nashville, TN where I ended up in a meeting with new worship leader/artist Kari Jobe and her family in a restaurant in Franklin, TN.

Kari was in town working on her record with producer Ed Cash. Sometimes you meet people and you can just see big things inside of them and that’s what I saw in Kari.

We just had a CD release party at her home church (and mine as well) with a completely packed out room, in fact it was standing room only. I was amazed as I watched the audience stay engaged for over an hour and a half. No one left, but everyone had an incredible worship experience. O

One of the highlights of the night for me came when I walked up to one of the overflow rooms during a worship time and saw that the entire crowd in a room completely removed from the main worship center, was entirely on it’s feet and completely engaged in worship.

There were no HD screens, no amazing audio, and no moving lights. I guess it goes to show that when you have something to say and a call on your life maybe you don’t need all the toys….it definitely made me re-evaluate some approaches to things. The technology and the set design stuff are all great, but they should always exist to compliment a larger message. Too many times we as tech people tend to forget that we are not the message…we are just support…..

I am sitting in the front seat of our tour bus headed down the road as Kari’s tour manager. What a blessing it has already been. You look for opportunities in life that are “once in a life time”…..this is one of those.

If you haven’t seen Kari live you absolutely should. If you aren’t as familiar with her then you should check out her new CD called Kari Jobe.

Hope to see some of you on the road somewhere…..

As I was reading last night I was struck by the introduction:

“A recent gallup study found that when people leave their companies, 65% of them are actually leaving their managers.”

I also came across this…top 5 reasons a person leaves a company:
#1 - Not being treated with respect or dignity
#2 - Being prevented from making an impact on the company
#3 - Not being listened to
#4 - Not being rewarded with more responsibility
#5 - Monetary reasons

These are great reminders for those of us who are leading teams (especially young teams). While most leaders and managers may not have the ability to hand out large raises or stock options (especially in todays ecomony)items 1-4 can be addressed easily. Get creative about your work environnment. If you are a micromanager…take a step back and see what your team can bring to the table. They will tell you what is important to them, and where you can…give it to them. It’s a funny thing, the more control you give them the more they will likely see you as their leader.

This is a great tool that will need the right strategy. This combined with the power of Ministry Give are incredible tools to reach directly to people. The broadcast networks gave us “potential households” this gives you direct access to people and the ability to track them as donors or viewers. Cool stuff….

Keep in mind, this is the guy who raised an unprecedented amount of campaign capital. Not only did his campaign set records, it eclipsed anything people have imagined. Here’s the really crazy thing…he did it during the middle of an economic recession. They had the right tools with the right strategy.

In a time where churches are seeing on average of 15-25% reduction in giving it’s time to start looking at a new way of doing things.

Monday morning I met with Yuri Star of Church Media Group about a new product they have called Ministry Give. Ministry Give uses the same technology that the Obama campaign used to raise record amounts of capital…..AND…it’s not expensive at all. It allows your donors to give online, at a kiosk, or via their cel phone. It’s a very cutting edge solution for fund raising.

Check out Ministry Give and put together a strategy that will help your organization. If you have questions please feel free to drop me an email.

When Bill Parcells came in to take over the coaching he had a phrase he used to pound in to the players heads, “don’t eat the cheese”. When things started going well and the press would start giving out accolades he would remind his stars especially…”don’t eat the cheese. Your cheeks will get fat from eating the cheese”.

What he was trying to tell his guys was this, be careful about reading and believing your own press. You’re never quite as good as they say and never quite as bad.

Eating the cheese can be incredibly destructive to any organization. I have seen it first hand in several organizations. Some of the strongest teams with the most momentum have been undone because they started believing their press. They got distracted by the success and quit doing the things that got them there. The guy or girl who outworked everyone else suddenly became the one crying for another assistant so they could spend less time doing what made them successful in the first place….their cheeks got fat from the cheese.

Just because something worked for several years doesn’t mean it will keep working…which means YOU have to keep working to stay current and keep yourself and your company on the leading edge.

Don’t eat the cheese.

I have a very simple philosophy on church production….go big or go home! When I say that you need to understand I am not saying that the production needs to overshadow everything or that you need to pull out your full bag of tricks. What I am saying is this, in the church world we get to tell THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD…so why not be good at story telling?

I just got back from trips to NYC and Las Vegas. Their messaging is big and larger than life. In some cases complex and in some cases very simple, but they they are still saying it loud and proud. Why can’t the church do the same? In some cases it’s a taste thing, in some cases it’s a talent/skill level, the one thing I don’t buy is that it’s a budget thing. You can do plenty of great story telling on a smaller budget….I have done productions that cost upwards of $750,000 and I have done productions with less than $1,000. Get creative and tell a good story. It’s not about having a ton off moving lights, it’s not about HD video, it’s not about technology at all (even though they CAN be valuable tools)…it’s about getting creative and making a good presentation.

In thinking through a good presentation, don’t get locked in to entertaining yourself. Just because you and your staff think it’s a good idea doesn’t make it relevant to the majority of your attendees. Does your presentation make people want to come back for more or did they get their fill until next year? The choice is yours on how you want to approach it, but my approach has always been to gain return attendees after the first of the year….it’s good marketing

I have seen a couple of really good Christmas eve presentations in the past 2 years. At the end of the day do what you can do well. If you can pull off a large elaborate event….do it….if you can’t then maybe simple is the way to go…but either way do it well. Your audience demands it. If you want proof then look at your numbers from previous years and in the weeks that follow.

The first artist I worked for had a profound affect on my life. I learned so much from him that has really made me look at everything I do in my work and personal life different.

He had a song that he wrote that came out of personal experience he had gone through titled “To Forgive”. The song was incredible and had an ever more powerful video. I remember night after night how that song affected both he and the audience. Little did I know that almost 20 years later it would change me.

The song came out of a personal experience of his, but I have now lived it and the message has taken on a personal twist for me. It’s amazing how forgiveness and unforgiveness can impact our lives..even when you don’t realize it’s there.

Here are the words:
-I have never been the kind to let too many get behind the walls that I have built around my heart
-Now I find myself afraid, feeling like I’ve been betrayed by one I had trusted from the start
-But friends are only human and at times they’re gonna fall and when it hurts the most is when you need them most of all

-To Forgive is to reach out to your brother…as one friend to another…no matter what the cost
-To Forgive is to leave the past behind you…and pray tomorrow finds you stronger for the journey as every day I’m learning to forgive

-It was another place and time that I had failed a friend of mine and there was no one else to take the blame
-Though he could have turned away, somehow he found the strength to stay, his love for me was stronger than the pain
-In light of all this mercy, it’s much easier to see that even from the cross the Lord was calling you and me….

-To Forgive is to reach out to your brother…as one friend to another…no matter what the cost
-To Forgive is to leave the past behind you…and pray tomorrow finds you stronger for the journey as every day I’m learning to forgive

Now every day I am learning to forgive.

To me one of the most fascinating times in Davids life is his time in the cave. A lot of his character was challenged and shaped while in the cave. I would imagine that his belief system was challenged as was his character. I’m sure it wasn’t one of the highest points in his life after having been a celebrated warrior and living in the palace to be forced to live on the run and live in caves.

He could have been angry and bitter, but instead he chose to embrace his time in the cave. He allowed that time to influence his character for the better….even though several people around him wanted him to compromise (and I would imagine at times he also wanted to compromise) he never wavered.

I believe that David’s time in the cave is what gave him his final preparation he needed to handle his duties as a future king. David needed that experience and time to prepare him for what was coming next.

It’s almost like the military that puts new recruits through boot camp. One of my good friends is a former marine who often recounts boot camp as the toughest time he encountered in the military and has been through combat situations. To hear him describe it, boot camp exists to prepare you for the next situations you will face later….almost like the cave was for David.

The past couple of years have been some crazy ups and downs. Without going in to details, I have had to learn to embrace my time “in the cave”. It’s been an exciting, but at times very challenging season, but what I am learning that by embracing the time in the cave life my life has been blessed ten fold.

The cave looks different for everyone. For some it can be in business, the economy, family, relationships, etc…the truth is though that at some point we will all go through our version of the cave. Take time to embrace the cave and allow it to be a building time…you never know what your time in the cave is preparing you for in your future.

Having a background in the music industry I can speak in to it from a more educated standpoint. As I listened to and thought about some of the great songs and artists in history one common thread I noticed is that of artistry. They were all leaders and change agents in their own right. Names like Nirvana, Metallica, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Michael Jackson, while yes older names, all changed the landscape of music and the status quo. Even in Christian music names like DC Talk, Amy Grant, and even now Hillsong have created something new and different, and the industry was changed because of them.

My question is, where are todays artists? The people who are coming in with fresh new ideas and are going to change the face of music.

As of late I have been on a search for something new and exciting in Christian music especially. Unfortunately Christian music, like the church, tends to be about 10+ years behind. I live in Dallas, home of KLTY which at one point set the standard for new upcoming Christian music. At the time they were led by a friend of mine named Jon Rivers who is a man who is a true artist himself that happens to be a radio personality, and because of Jon the industry was changed. After Jon left KLTY has gone through a phase of a lot of advertising and a whole lot of nothing interesting. Bring back the artists…

Artists change things and refuse to accept the status quo. They don’t do it for huge profit margins or record sales numbers. They do it because it’s inside them and they have to get it out.

Hillsong radically changed the face and sound of todays praise and worship market. We should celebrate what they have done. The problem is that in celebrating them too many other organizations have copied them and not put out their own artistry and voice.

I believe there is a huge disconnect in the understanding of the worlds of talent and of artistry in the church world. I have worked side by side with people who are great artists and people who are great talents…and you need both.

Talented people have an extraordinary gift in a given area. For some it’s singing, for some it’s an instrument, for some it might be technical such as lighting or audio. They have a talent for their craft. They do it and do it well.

Artists are those, however, with something to say…something to add to the conversation….something that changes our ways of thinking. Artists almost always have some extraordinary talent, but talented people do not always have artistry. I think too many people in Christian music and the church don’t understand this and it’s a big reason why music and the arts have gotten watered down in recent years.

One of the first artists I worked with when I broke in to the touring market was one of THE FIRST Christian artists (actually one of the first artists period) to use interactive video inside a concert tour. He changed the market. Now almost all artists look to take out interactive video with their shows. He was a game changer.

When was the last time you heard a song that revolutionized your life in Christian music or church? When was the last time the churches or Christian tours led the way in technology? There are a few out there….Northpoint in Atlanta, Willow Creek in Chicago, Life Church in Oklahoma, Hillsong in Australia….but by in large where are the trend setters? The people who are tired of the status quo? Sure we have heard some good performers, but who is changing the game? Who is challenging us? Have we really become a society of cheap knock offs whose highest aspiration is to be just like Hillsong? Hillsong is incredible and should be celebrated. What do you bring to the conversation?

I could go on about this for a long time, but I will wrap with asking the question….where are the artists and leaders who are going to lead us in to the next 20 years? There’s lots of talent….where are the artists?