Hot, Hot, Hot (Part 1)

How do you keep your people’s passion for those who are far from God white hot? How can you tell how hot it is? We’re gonna take some posts to think through those issues. So how you feeling? (Hot, hot, hot).

One of the ways you monitor, and crank up the heat in your church is through the prayers you pray. Listen carefully to the prayers prayed at your staff meetings, in your small groups, etc. What do people pray for? What do you pray for? I realize that God tells us to “cast all our cares on Him,” so we can pray about anything, but if joining Jesus’ on His mission to seek and save the lost is the priority … shouldn’t we pray about it a lot?

What I’ve noticed is a propensity to pray for sick people. Now I have nothing against Aunt Edna, and I’m sure her arthritis really has been acting up and that stinks for her, but it just doesn’t compare with the fact that my friend is going to burn in Hell forever if something doesn’t change. So why aren’t we praying for him?!? I seriously don’t get it. Where are our priorities? Are we a doctor’s office, or a church?

So … monitor the passion you and your people have for the lost by listening to the prayers that are prayed… And if you want to turn up the heat, start praying the mission. Lead by example. Pray for your lost friends, the lost in your community, for the nations, for all those without God.

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Survey Saturday: Evangelical, Emerging, Emergent

Recently I (finally) read Dan Kimball's book, They Like Jesus But Not the Church. I've never met Dan Kimball but I've now read all his books and really like him. I don't relate to many people within Christianity, but he is one of the easiest for me to idenity with.

Anyway, through his blog I became aware of a really interesting series of posts on another blog. Let me preface this by saying that I'm just not a theology guy. I'm probably just too simplistic but I try to focus on loving God and loving people (and the main way I try to love people is by helping them to love God). I spend the necessary minimum on theological issues and debates. (Yes, I realize some of this is necessary, that's why I said I "spend the necessary minimum" not "spend no time").

Anyway, this series of posts is on the emerging and emergent movements, and whether they are evangelical, orthodox, or something else altogether. It is a very intelligent and well-done series. So, if you have questions about these issues, or you're just into this stuff, you may want to check out this series: First post, second post, third post, fourth post, fifth post.

The most interesting of the series are the first and fourth posts, mostly because of the charts presented. The charts of the first post look like this:

So here's today's survey question: I'm not interested in debating theology with you, but I would be curious: Where on that chart would you put yourself? You can pick a group, or put yourself somewhere between two of them... So where are you on that chart?

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Quote This

Are you like me? Do you like the good quotes? Well, here's a little one I don't like, because it's just too true.

“We have the best materials, media, and methods, but we lack spiritual power.”

- John Mark Terry, Church Evangelism (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1997), 16.

(So let's change it!)

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Preaching: Movie Style - Whole Series & Question

We've been talking about doing a sermon series based on movies. Here are links to the whole series.

1. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-1.html
2. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-2.html
3. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-3.html
4. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-4.html
5. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-5.html
6. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-6.html
7. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-7.html
8. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/preaching-movie-style-pt-8.html

And here's a question: We do this series every year, and will be doing it again in about 5 months. So ... what movies from the end of 2007 and the first half of 2008 are good possibilities for this year's series?

Some I've had my eye on include: 88 Minutes; The Bucket List; I Am Legend and Penelope. What do you think, and why?

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Random Stuff

(1) So yesterday I drove up to Richmond to be interviewed for a video that will be shown at the Exponential Conference. It's on "Mother-Daughter" church plants, so they interviewed me and Brett Andrews, who is the Lead Pastor at New Life the church I worked at before Forefront. They helped us to get started, so they are the "mother" and we are the "daughter." I asked the interviewer dude if we could get some shots of me breastfeeding off of Brett, but I couldn't quite latch on to his nipple. (Okay, the guy wouldn't let me breastfeed, but I did ask!)

Anyway, Brett had a great quote in his interview. He said something like, "God uses guys with independent spirits to start new churches. And if that guy doesn't repent of his independent spirit, it will break him." That is really true! So church planter guys, have you repented yet? Do you understand why you have to?

(2) So my publisher told me I should put a "Google Alert" on my computer to let me know when someone mentions my book, so I can see what they're saying. This can lead a person to become a lot like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory (I now have copies of Catcher in the Rye lining every wall in my house). Anyway, recently someone mentioned my book in a post, so I took a little time to check out her blog and it's very entertaining. So I think this is the first time I've ever given another blog a shout out, but here you go: http://emilythestrange.wordpress.com. Enjoy your reading...

(3) Recently someone told me about the Navpress bible study series, Living the Letters. I'm using it to read through Philippians and it's very cool. You might want to check it out.

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 8)

Today is the last post in our series on movie series (other than a question I want to ask you tomorrow), and we’re talking about creative pieces within the service. Here’s a bunch of ideas:

Find the old “Let’s Go to the Movies” commercial (with the dancing candy and hot dogs) on the internet and make a sermon introduction video with it.

Get the movie “Gremlins” – there’s a scene where the Gremlins are seeing a movie, and destroying the theater. The outside of the theater has a “Now Playing” sign (I think “Snow White” is playing) – if you’ve got skills, change the sign to say, like, “Forefront: At the Movies.”

Do a top ten list. We do like “The Top Ten Signs You’re Watching a Bad Horror Movie” on a Sunday where we’re doing a horror movie, or “The Top Ten Least Popular Disney Movies” for a Disney movie, or “The Top Ten Signs The Movie You’re Watching Won’t Win an Academy Award” for a crappy movie. Go to Dave Letterman’s web site and in the top ten archive type “movie” into the search engine and you’ll get all kinds of help.

Do a movie quiz where you ask, “What did we learn from this movie?” For instance: What did we learn from The Sixth Sense? (1) A young boy can give a top notch acting performance, (b) Bruce Willis’ acting career is not over yet, or (3) If someone who sees dead people sees you, chances are you’re dead.

Show the movie’s trailer. This requires next to no skills. Most DVD’s have the trailer for the movie on them, or you can download it on the net.

Show a scene, or a montage of scenes, from the movie. This requires a little editing skills. Be careful though, we once showed a scene from Jerry Maguire that had “F*** you!” in the background. And that ain’t cool.

Do a parody of the movie. Think up a SNL/Mad TV kind of parody that you can do as a live sketch or a video.

Put someone into the scene. (This takes more editing skills.) We had one year where we had a guy who did a great Napoleon Dynamite and so we found the perfect scene in each movie, and put our Napoleon Dynamite into it … hilarity ensues. We’ve also just put a staff person into a scene, giving them funny lines based on the actual dialogue of the movie.

Use video questions from the game “Scene It” to do movie trivia with your congregation. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can pick and choose which questions from the game you want to do.

There you have it, enough creative ideas for a movie series to choke a horse. Finally we’re done with this series, hope it was helpful. Next time we’re on to something else. Until then, watch some reruns of Benson.

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 7)

We’ve talked about why to do a movie series and how to pick which movies you’ll do, let’s finish this series by discussing creative pieces for a movie series.

A movie series makes for easy set and ambiance design. For instance:
Rent (or buy) a popcorn machine and make loads of popcorn in the lobby. People will come into that smell, and you can give each person a bag of popcorn.

Buy the poster for the movie you’re doing that Sunday, and the following week. Frame them, and create a “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” sign to put on each frame.

Get a red carpet and have people walk it coming in. You can even have pretend paparazzi taking pictures of them. Or make black cardboard cutouts of paparazzi holding cameras and put them on each side of the carpet. Set up flashing lights to act as cameras flashing.

Give out a DVD of the movie as a door prize each week. We’ve done all kinds of things. You could tape a card under a chair and the person who sits in that seat wins. Or you could bring up two volunteers for a movie trivia game and give the winner the prize.

Make sure that at some point in the service you tell people what next week’s movie is. Hype it a little. Tell people to invite their friends.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about possibilities for creative pieces within the service. Until then, I’ll leave the light on for ya.

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Video from Sunday

On Sunday we featured the ongoing saga of James Davis' (our Youth Pastor) holiday problems at Forefront. You can see what I mean here:



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On the Radio

If you're in the Ohio area, I'm doing a live call-in radio show from 1:10 to 1:30ish today on WPOS 102.3 - Light Line.

Can't guarantee it will be worth your time!

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 6)

Last time we started talking about the HOW of doing a movie series and specifically how to choose what movies to do.

I also believe in choosing movies that aren’t too old or too new. Huh?

I won’t choose a movie that came out more than a year ago. It just feels kind of stale. I’d wonder if people were thinking, “Do you think this is cool? Do you realize this movie is already in the “old” section at Blockbuster, and they keep movies in the “new” section as long as they can?”

However, I will almost never choose a movie that isn’t already out on DVD. Sure, there’s a temptation to do movies that are out in theaters now, it just feels more hip and current. But we go with movies on DVD (typically movies that just came out on DVD in the last month or two). Why? So people can rent them. A lot of people don’t get out to the theater, perhaps they can’t even afford it. But the more people who have seen the movie, the better my sermon will be. Also, a lot of our small groups rent the movie and get together to watch it before we talk about it. This has been a fun night for a lot of groups and increases the number of people who have seen it.

There are several resources I use to find potential movies (other than simply watching a lot of movies). One is to Google “Top movies of 2007” and “Top movies of 2008.” This will allow you to see the top grossing movies of the past year. Typically the list will be the top 100. You don’t want to pick a movie that isn’t in the top 100.

Another resource is videoeta.com which tells you when a movie will come out on DVD. Once I start narrowing down the options I will (prayerfully) check out their videoeta, hoping they’ll be out before our series starts.

Another is rottontomatoes.com. This site has links to hundreds of critic’s reviews of movies. When I’m thinking about a movie I will read a bunch of reviews of it. This will help me to think more deeply about the themes involved.

Also, I subscribe to the movie marketing madness blog (http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/) which will give me ideas for upcoming movies AND I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly magazine, which gives me all kinds of pop culture ideas, including potential movies to do.

There are also several Christian web sites that tell you what you can preach on for each movie, but for some reason I don’t use those. Nothing against them, they’re probably great, I think maybe I just prefer to force myself to be creative on my own?

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Let's Do Lunch

At the Exponential Conference in addition to the five "Main Sessions" (featuring speakers like Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, etc.) there are lots of "Tracks" where you can take all kinds of seminars (of which I am leading one and hosting/MC-ing I think six).

But here's something extra: On Wednesday (a box type) lunch is provided by the conference, at the conference. Lunch that day goes from 12:15 to 1:15.

During that lunch time, I am going to be leading a "Bring your lunch and eat while we talk" session called "Idealism & Idolatry." (I chose a title that makes you feel good all over!). It's especially for people who are about to plant a church or have recently started a church. We're going to be talking about the expectations we go into church planting with and what drives our need to be "successful." I think these are incrediby critical topics, and that our discussion could save some church planters from an unbelievable amount of pain and depression.

So, if you're going to the conference, and don't already have plans for lunch, think about hanging out with me for a really honest, really important discussion.

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 5)

We’ve been talking about doing a movie series on Sunday mornings. If you want to know WHY I believe churches should do them, read last week’s posts. This week we’re going to talk about some of the HOW of doing a movie series.

I believe in choosing a movie that on one hand isn't too much of a stretch, but on the other hand doesn't completely make the point for you.

On one hand you could use a movie to make a point the movie doesn’t really make. If you do that, it will seem like you’re trying too hard. It may even come off as disingenuous. People who have seen the movie will be thinking, “Wait a second, that is not what the movie was about at all. You’ve got to be kidding.” So, for instance, don’t pick the movie “Wild Hogs” so you can tell the story of Jesus casting the demons into the pigs. That just wouldn’t be kosher. (I am hysterical!!)

On the other hand you could use a movie where everyone sees the point of your sermon coming from 100 miles away. For example, last year some people were surprised that I didn’t do Spiderman 3. They said, “Didn’t you see what it was saying about the evil within us, and the power of our dark side?” My answer was, “Yes. And so did you. And everyone else. That’s why I’m not doing it.” Think about Jesus’ parables. They always made a point, but the point was subtle, almost hidden, you had to think about it for awhile.

My goal is that when people who saw the movie hear the sermon they’ll be a little surprised by what I saw in it, but at the same time they’ll think, “Yeah, that’s true. You’re right!”

Make sense? You may not agree with me, but if not, well, you have the right to be wrong. (Still hysterical!)

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A Crazy Day

Hope you had an awesome Easter!

I got to have a two hour long, extremely intense spiritual conversation with Jay, my Chinese, atheistic brother-in-law last night. He has crazy questions. Unfortunately it started at past 10:30 so I went to bed at around 1:30, an got up this morning at 6:30 (which is later than I would have liked to).

The juxtaposition was interesting. Talking to a person one-on-one about Jesus, when I "should have" been preparing for my sermon, where I would be talking to hundreds of people about Jesus. Feeling like, "I have to go to sleep or I'm gonna suck tomorrow when I get to tell all those people about Jesus ... but I'm here getting to tell someone about Jesus..." So the whole time I had this undercurrent of prayer, "God, help me get through to Jay, and help me to have a supernatural source of energy tomorrow."

I wasn't tired this morning (though I am a little now!) and things went awesome. Our attendance was up more than 250 people from last week, the service went great, now hopefully those peoplee will come back!

How did your Easter go?

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Bracket Update

Okay, I'm man enough to admit it ... after one round of the Tournament, I am near the bottom of the standings of the Bracket Challenge we're having. And yes, I feel bad and my self-esteem is sinking dangerously low.

However, the one thing that is helping me keep my sanity is Jeremy Myers. I hate to call him out here publicly, but I have to. He may have had the worst first round in the history of picking the NCAA Tournament. Wow. So, yes, that stink you've been smelling is Jeremy's picks. But, don't despair Jeremy, you're future looks bright, with your pick of Oral Roberts to be the ultimate champion. Nice, very nice.

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Rock Out on Easter

Hope you all have a fantastic Easter.

Remember, if there's a Sunday where we're going to have people who are far from God in our services, this is it. But Easter may also bring with it some extra temptations to be "religious" and to play out confusing traditions, and to make assumptions that we all believe the same things.

So let's be careful out there! Let's be normal, let's explain our traditions so no one is in the dark, and let's not make any assumptions at all.

It feels good to be on the "inside" and to impress our people; but newcomers don't enjoy feeling like they're on the outside and we need to make sure we connect with them. Their eternities are just way too important to ignore....

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Church Planting Seminar

You may know I'm speaking at the Whiteboard conference in Northern Virginia in May. Well, I'm also speaking at a Church Planting Seminar the following day, put on my Passion for Planting, in the next town over. This seminar would be GREAT for future church planters, and it just keeps getting better and better.

When I signed on I knew I'd be following Ed Stetzer... that doesn't seem too hard to do. And I know people call him the "Yoda of Church Planting" 'cause he knows so much, but I figured I'm younger and quicker than him. But now I find out that Ron Sylvia will also be presenting at this seminar. You know, Mr. Purpose Driven Planting himself. Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for a guy that plants a church that reaches 3,000 people in just over 10 years but come on ... in Florida? Like that's a tough assignment.

Anyway, you really may want to come to this thing. If you are planting or thinking about planting you owe it to yourself to hear Stetzer and Sylvia (and Antonucci?). Oh, and don't tell the Passion for Planting guys I told you this but you can use the discount code "whiteboard" when you register to get $20 off even if you don't go to Whiteboard.

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 4)

Why do a movie series? Reason number four is that it teaches people to exegete culture.

God speaks to us through the bible, and so it’s critical that we teach people to exegete the bible. They need to understand how to hear God speaking through His Word and how to interpret and apply what He’s saying.

God also speaks to us through culture. He may want us to hear his message through the lyrics of a song, or the stroke of a painter’s brush, or a dance in the Nutcracker Suite. If that’s true (and we could argue whether it is, but I would again point to Paul’s sermon at Mars Hill in Acts 17 as an example) but if it is, isn’t it critical that we teach people to exegete culture? Don’t they need to understand how to hear God speaking through culture and how to interpret and apply what He’s saying?

How do we do that? Well, in a variety of ways, and one of those is a movies series. When you preach on a movie that a person has seen, and you point out how it’s an expression of the gospel, or of the destructive power of sin, or of our desperate need for God, or for how God wants children to treat their parents, or of the addictive nature of sin – the person who saw the movie will think, “Wait, why didn’t I see that? Man, there was more going on in that movie than just entertainment. I could have learned something about my spiritual life from that movie. I need to pay more attention to what God might be saying.” See what happened? That person learned, at least a little, to exegete culture. And that’s a good thing.

Next time we’ll talk about some practical ideas on how to do a movie series effectively. Until then, it’s time to change the settings on your radio.

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Top 10: Confessions

Okay boys and girls, it's time (again) for you hysterical people to help us at Forefront write a top ten list. We're doing a "Confessions of a Pastor" series and next week will feature

"The Top Ten Things That I, Vince, Would Like To Confess Publicly Today."

Would you help us to come up with some great one's? Here's a few ideas to get you started:

• In the late 70’s I was in a music group you might of heard of . . . The Village People.
• I squeezed the charmin.
• The infamous Black Sox baseball scandal back in 1919, yep, that was me.
• These are not my real arms.

I know you ... you can come up with even better than that! So have it, leave something gut-busting as a comment, and I will forever be indebted to you!

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 3)

Why do a movie series? We’ve talked about two reasons, here’s a third: People love it.

One of the things that has surprised me at Forefront is the power of doing repeating series. That never occurred to me before starting this church. But we now have several series we do every couple years. And each time that old series comes back people get excited. They tell new people how great it was the last time we did it, they invite their friends more than for any other series we do. This is true of all our recurring series, but it is especially true of our movie series.

We do the movie series every Fall. About two weeks before it launches we’ll announce, “Hey, two weeks from today we’re starting our ‘At the Movies’ series,” and a big (unprovoked) cheer erupts. People start asking what movies we’re doing, small groups start doing movie nights as they watch the movies together.

Why do people love it? I’m not sure. I think part of it is that they enjoy coming in on a Sunday morning “in the know.” One time I went with a couple people to a movie but it was sold out. We decided to see another movie, the only other movie about to start, a movie we had never even heard of. I did not like walking into a movie having no idea what it would be about. I felt kind of uncomfortable, like, “What am I getting myself into here?” I don’t want to know everything about a movie I’m going to see, but I want to know something. Maybe that’s why people like the movie series, because they have some idea of what the message will be about.

I think it also has something to do with getting to “play detective.” In the lobby on the Sunday mornings of an “At the Movies” series the thing I hear repeatedly is, “I think I know what you’re going to say today,” or, “I can’t wait to hear what you found in this movie.” People seem to enjoy trying to figure it out.

It also might be that it’s such an easy Sunday to invite a friend. Most people want to bring their friends to church, but they’re very nervous about it. But the movie series just seems so relevant, fun, creative, cool – it makes inviting much easier.

I’m not sure why, but people love it. And that’s not a bad reason to do it. Tomorrow reason number four, but until then remember the place where music and passion were always in fashion.

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Forefront 2.0 & 10 Years

Sunday was our ten year anniversary as a church. We concluded a series called Forefront 2.0. Thought you might be interested in hearing the message from our anniversary Sunday ("Turn the World Upside Down"), or seeing the series intro video, or seeing the compilation video we showed (kind of a scrapbook of ten years of crazy forefront videos). So, here ya go:

Vision Message: http://www.forefront.org/messages_forefront20.html

Series Intro:


10 Year Forefront Video Montage:



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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 2)

Have you ever been preparing a message and you have good content, but you’re struggling to come up with a great story to illustrate and drive home your point? You know that people connect with and remember stories way more than “content.” You’re desperate. You need a good story. But your kids didn’t do anything crazy this week, and you haven’t done anything worthy of America’s Funniest Home Videos, and you’re plumb out of Civil War stories. So what do you do? Well, probably preach the sermon without a story. It will still have the good content; people just might not connect with it and remember it so well. Oh well…

This is part of the beauty of doing a movie series. You’ve got the story to illustrate your point. And it’s a good enough story that someone spent millions of dollars to have it made. Someone else took those millions of dollars and made sure it was told in a funny or powerful, and memorable way. Sweet.

You may pick a movie based on a biblical theme or text you’re planning on preaching on. Like maybe you’re planning on preaching on the “end times” so you choose “I Am Legend.” Or it could be that you let the movie pick your text. You decide to do “National Treasure” and that leads you to do a sermon about seeking God and to your text – the pearl of great price.

And you don’t have to use some old Tony Campolo story, or force your kids to do something funny, or pretend that something that happened to John Ortberg really happened to you. Why not? Because you already have a multi-million dollar blockbuster story to tell. So just tell it well!

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Seriously?

There are over 200 people who read this blog everyday, yet when I invite you all into a NCAA Tournament Challenge, only about 15 of you enter?!?

Seriously?

R u scared? Is that the problem? 'Cause if you are, well, you should be.

Or r u incapable of figuring out how to enter? 'Cause if you are, well, I understand - it was difficult for me too.

Or r u just not impressed with the prize? I admit that a copy of my book isn't that valuable, but I have nothing else to offer!

Well, this is my last throw down: You can enter anytime before Thursday at noon, but I am expecting many more of you to be in this and I really don't want to hear your whiny excuses.

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Want to Help Write a Book?

I'm in the middle of writing my second book. It's called, "Guerrilla Lovers." The idea is that God wants us to change the world, to take over the world - but the way to do it is not through "shock and awe" war tactics, but rather through "guerrilla warfare" tactics. Guerrilla warfare is based on knowing your enemy, on intelligence and creativity, on repeated close proximity, low intensity, quick surprise ambush attacks until you wear down your opponent.

That's what we need to do: love people repeatedly with intelligence and creativity, at close proximity, with low intensity, in quick ambush love attacks, until we finally wear people down and they become open to the gospel of love that drives us.

So ... this book will feature lots of amazing stories of people who have done just that. People who have, basically, loved people into the Kingdom.

And that's where you come in: Do you have a great story like that? Maybe from your life, or someone you know, or it could even be a famous story that needs to be told again. It could be of someone who forgave an enemy, or who touched the sick, or used their resources to make a difference, or a small group who did this, or someone who did it on the mission field... If you have such a story, could you please e-mail it to me at: vince@forefront.org. Put "guerrilla" in the subject line. What will you receive for doing this? Well, definitely my undying gratitude, and if I actually end up using your story (which I can't promise) I will send you a free copy of the book when it comes out.

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Preaching: Movie Style (Pt. 1)

Forefront started in March of 1998. The second series we did was “At the Movies.” People assumed it was because we were meeting in a movie theater, but it wasn’t. If we were meeting in a funeral home we wouldn’t have done, “At the Funeral Home,” but we still would have done “At the Movies.” We now have two campuses in high schools and one in a bar and we’re still doing “At the Movies” every year and will keep doing it.

Do you do a series based on movies? You should! Why? I’ll do a few posts answering that question, and then talk about how we do a movies series.

So why? Well, first, because it’s biblical. Yes, I realize they didn't have movies back then and an "At the Movies" series probably never happened until the 1990's. But what did Jesus use as illustrations? Well, farmers planting seeds and women kneading dough and shepherds searching for sheep. Was that because those were the most spiritual metaphors? Probably not. Instead, I think it was because they were the most common. People knew what Jesus was talking about. It was easy to relate to the stories and to even find yourself in them.

When Paul spoke at Athens he referred to their altars (Acts 17:23) and their poetry (Acts 17:28). Why didn’t he refer to God’s altars and God’s poetry? Because he was using their art to make a connection with them. He knew the power of meeting people where they’re at, and then walking with them in the direction they need to go.

If Jesus came today I don’t think he’d talk about seeds, dough, or sheep. If Paul spoke today I don’t think he’d refer to Greek art (unless he was in Greece!). My hunch is that Jesus and Paul would talk about movies. They would use something common that connected with people, and from which they could make a powerful spiritual point. There would be a variety of options, but one of the best would be movies.

What are some other reasons? I’ll hit that tomorrow, until then have a Coke and a smile.

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More March Madness

The guys at Passion 4 Planting (who, by the way, are some of my favorite people) have organized a NCAA Bracket Challenge for church planting bloggers. I told them that I had already done this, and so they didn't need to, but then they told me that their winner gets a $50 gift card (to someplace really cool). Then I said, "Oh, yes, you do need to do this," because I want to win the gift card!

So, if you want to play with the big boys, here's how to join in the fun:

1. Click this link http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=98844 to join the Yahoo Group: Church Planting Bloggers

2. Make your picks by tip off time of the first game on Thursday. You are allowed up to five brackets.

3. Use your blog to shamelessly trash talk other participants. We'll post updates after each round on http://www.plantingspace.com/

4. Use your blog to invite others to play by including this link: http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=98844

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Last Night ...

Last night the "Gel Group" (what we call our small groups) led by "James" (what we call our Youth Pastor) finished their time together with three people giving their lives to Christ and getting baptized.

They started the night with plans for zero people to give their lives to Christ and get baptized, but the bible study and ensuing discussion about what it really means to be a Christian, and what's going to happen to us after this life, led one person, and then another, and then another decide to go for it.

The group drove over to Susan's (what we call our Youth Pastor's mother) house and got into her freezing cold swimming pool. Then they all went and celebrated at IHOP till 1:00 a.m.

That is COOL STUFF! Man, when people really share life together in a living room, and really share the truth in love ... who knows what God will do!

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Video Invite

Hey, here's a video we made to promote and use as an invitation for our next series. (Our next series is one that everyone has done: Confessions of a Pastor. I consider us one of the more creative churches around ... but not all the time!) Anyway, check out the video at your own risk. And, if you're offended, well ... sorry?

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March Madness

I thought it might be fun to do a NCAA Basketball Tournamet Bracket Challenge with the people who read this blog. If you don't know what that is, just skip it. But if you do, and want to participate, go for it!

Here's the deal:

• Cost: Nothing
• Prize: Bragging rights and a copy of my book. (I'm not trying to promote it, I just have nothing else to offer. So if you win, and e-mail your address, I'll send you a copy.)
• How to enter: Go here. There's a tiny link close to the bottom that said, "Trying to join a league that you haven't received a email invite to?" Click it. Then you'll need to enter your CBS Sportsline ID and Password. If you don't have an account, it's free to sign up. Then our group name is: bloggers, and our group password is: bloggers. Then fill out your bracket.

Okay, let the battle begin...

Saturday Happenings

I did my first ever book signing today. I walked into the Barnes & Noble dreading it, feeling like I was heading into a root canal. I just figured I would be sitting there alone, with everyone just kind of snickering at me. Turns out it wasn't as bad as I expected.

I was thinking I'd sell maybe 3 copies, but it was actually more like 30. There were some really cool things. One person bought a book to send to a family member who is in jail. Another bought one for a sister who is in drug rehab. One guy bought a copy for his wife who is investigating different religions to decide what she's going to believe. (Wow.)

And now my boys - the University of Illinios basketball team - upset Purdue in the Big 10 Tournament yesterday and are playing Minnesota right now for the chance to go to Big 10 Championship. Go Illini!!

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The Multiplying Church

Okay people, I'm psyched! Bob Robert's new book came out, it's on church planting, and I got a free copy! Score!


If anyone listened to me, Bob Roberts would be put away for a long time in an insane asylum, but as long as he's allowed to live as a free man, I hope he keeps writing books about missions and church planting because he is at the top of the food chain when it comes to this stuff.

So here's my advice: Never travel with Bob Roberts unless you're on speed, but read everything he writes.

Non-Lousy Reviews 3 (Last One)

My book came out last month. My publisher told me to put a "Google Alert" on my e-mail so I'd know when someone mentioned it in a blog. Over 40 people have now mentioned it in their blogs (and only one was negative - I am too "inappropriate" for him). Thought it might be cool to share a few samples. And, in case you're wondering, I've never met any of these people (so these aren't "friend reviews") ...

Paul wrote: I’m not very good at reviews, but I think I can sum up this book in two words: 1) Hilarious, 2) Challenging. I’ve been following Vince’s blog for a few months now and have listened to a few of his messages via podcast. I knew he was funny, but this book literally made me laugh out loud in the middle of Barnes & Noble. At the same time, this was one of the most personally challenging books I’ve ever read. Vince helped me refocus on the things that really matter.

Ryan wrote: If you haven't read it, get in your car and head to the nearest bookstore. It is that good. I have been in a "Christian funk" since the end of this past summer. I was flying high in my faith before that, but then I got out of sync and never regained that "glow." This book changed that. Lousy T-Shirt is innovative, refreshing, funny, and thought provoking. But, most importantly, it gets the reader motivated to truly LIVE the life of Jesus.

Kevin wrote: Vince Antonucci hits it out of the park with this book! This has quickly become one of my all-time favorite books. While words like “authentic”, “spiritual”, and “passion” (might as well throw “relevant” into the mix as well) are some of today's biggest Christian buzzwords this book doesn’t come off as a cheap attempt to capitalize on the flavor of the month. The major themes throughout the book are finding out how to abide in His love and living a life that abounds in His love.

Josh wrote: I'm reading it at 3 miles an hour (read the book and you'll get what I mean by that). I believe a great book will lead you to God, to his Word and to the Gospel. This book does exactly that. Thanks Vince for a life-changing book!

C.E. wrote: The most powerful thing Antonucci has going for him with I became a Christian is his use of humor and metaphor. His ability to make the reader lose himself in laughter for a minute, sometimes making theology downright hysterical, is an effective tool for disarming those who might come at the book ready to disagree with whatever they plan on finding in its pages. And the word pictures painted here are almost artistic in their delivery. While Antonucci strikes me as someone who you could sit and have coffee with, when I sit and think about the new metaphors he uses to re-imagine some of our most cherished old metaphors, I realize he is a genius in his own right. Metaphors are extremely difficult to consistently get across to a reader. Antonucci seems to do it with ease. He also does a good job of not sugar-coating life, as if following Christ were meant to be all gumdrops and lollipops.

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Read This...

A few weeks ago I asked if anyone would be willing to read my notes for the session I'm doing at the Exponential Conference (and thanks to those who did). One thing I noticed in some of the e-mail exchanges I had with people who volunteered to read it was a bit of surprise that I would have people read my stuff.

So let me use this opportunity to tell you: I have someone read all my stuff. And I strongly encourage you to have someone read all your stuff.

Forefront is now 10 years old, which means we've had about 520 Sundays. I preach about 75% of the time, so I've preached probably 420 times here. And I have had someone read my sermon, in advance, I'd say 400 of those times.

What does that say about me? That I'm nervous? That I have low self-esteem? That I'm soft? Well ... I think it says I'm wise. I realize that I'm going to have hundreds of people giving me about a half hour of their time on Sunday, and that I have one chance to connect with those people and point them to God and teach them about life in Jesus, and all of that is HUGE. And so if there is any way to make what I'm going to say better, I want to do it! There are many times when the person who reads my sermon says, "This part is just a little confusing," or "This is good, but what if you added this story..." or "I loved it, but what if you moved this story and made it the conclusion?" That kind of help is priceless!

A couple quick thoughts on this: (1) I guess it requires writing a manuscript. Personally, I write the whole thing out, have someone read it, make it better, read it a bunch of times, then make a little outline of the key ideas, and then throw out the manuscript and go up to preach with just the little outline paperclipped onto my bible. (2) It requires that you have someone who is willing to read your sermons. You can use people on your staff, ministry friends, your spouse, you could rotate some people in your church ...

So ... my encouragement to you: Have someone read all your stuff. Next week I'm doing a new series on a specific "type" of preaching.... Until then, go jello wrestle with someone.

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Meet the Staff

Hey ya - we've realized that with three campuses and some staff bouncing around amongst them, there are people who have no idea who is on staff (which I'm not sure is necessarily bad) (but it's not necessarily good). So we decided to do some quick "Meet the Staff" videos. Thought I'd show you some, just in case it's an idea you might want to use. So here you go:

The Whole Advertising Series

As requested; here are the 8 parts of the series we just wrapped up on advertising:

1. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-pt-1.html
2. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertisng-your-church-pt-2.html
3. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-pt-3.html
4. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-pt-4.html
5. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-pt-5.html
6. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-pt-6.html
7. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-pt-7.html
8. http://www.vinceantonucci.com/2008/03/advertising-your-church-addendum.html
   

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Advertising Your Church (Addendum)

We've been talking about advertising your church, here's a decent read on marketing for ya.

And, if you're into this kind of stuff, here are some blogs I read, and that you may want to check out:

• http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/


• http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/


• http://www.tompeters.com/


• http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/


• http://www.madetostick.com/blog/

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Non-Lousy Reviews - Part TWO!

My book came out last month. My publisher told me to put a "Google Alert" on my e-mail so I'd know when someone mentioned it in a blog. Over 40 people have now mentioned it in their blogs (and only one was negative - I am too "inappropriate" for him). Thought it might be cool to share a few more samples. And, in case you're wondering, I've never met any of these people (so these aren't "friend reviews") ...

Tim wrote: I read the first three chapters today. It’s fresh, authentic and Freakin’ HILARIOUS! This book was making me laugh out loud in Caribou.

Jon wrote: Anyway, one of the books I bought was "I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt", and I've got to tell you it was REALLY good! Bought it last night & finished it this morning.

"Romans 3:23 Girl" wrote: I have to tell you that I ate that book. Not literally of course, but I felt consumed by the book. I wrote a little about it last time. It is by a pastor named Vince Antonucci. He described a Christian that I saw when I looked in a mirror.

Charles wrote: Vince gets what its like to want more. He gets the frustration. He gets the American way of making disciples - which sucks and basically says, “Come to church and you’ll figure it all out, oh, and tithe too.” Vince gets that there are huge problems with the church that we all love and lead. Vince is transparent and funny, but Vince is dead on. Vince understands and voices things that most of us religious leaders are afraid to say. He gets it. And thankfully, he points the way to something much better. He reminds us that this life with Jesus is all about Jesus. It’s all about following him. It’s all about being in his presence and then following where he takes us. ... Thanks Vince. I needed the reminder. May God bless you ...for if nothing else, you helped me.

Darren wrote: First, let me say... this is a really good book! Really. Truly. Vince Antonucci really nails it. I want to pass it on to everyone I know... get it, devour it, you won't regret it... because you'll be changed. Doesn't matter who you are: Lead Pastor, staff pastor, ministry worker, small group leader... person sitting in the pews... doesn't matter. Get the book.



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Advertising Your Church (Pt. 7)

Okay, last issue with church advertising: What venues will you use?

First, there are some great books by Jay Conrad Levinson on “Guerrilla Marketing” that you should read if you want to learn more about all this. His suggestion would be that if you’re not Coke or Honda and don’t have a million dollars to plunk down on a Super Bowl ad, your strategy should be to hit people as often as possible, in as many different ways as possible. So rather than selecting one of these options, consider choosing several. So here are some options:

(1) Direct Mailing: Their effectiveness seems to be decreasing, but there are some advantages to direct mail. Mailings don’t interrupt people’s lives (like phone calls do). If someone does look at your mailing, it will probably get their undivided attention for that moment. Also, people will often keep mailings.

(2) Door Hangers: A lot cheaper than a mailing, but a lot more work.

(3) Phone Calls: Very time consuming, and very intrusive. Also, people can’t “keep it” and so there’s not that lasting value. I’d nix this one.

(4) Radio: You can make a radio commercial as good or better than others on the air. If you do a (great) church ad on your local secular station, you may be the only church. I did a series on this back in January if you want to check it out.

(5) T.V.: The problem I have with advertising on TV is that I’ve never seen a church commercial that looks as good as the commercials around it (unless it’s a local car dealership ad). Some churches seem to like TV ads, but it’s never appealed to me.

(6) Newspaper: We’ve never done a newspaper ad. But if you have a local paper and a wider area bigger paper, I would go with a big ad in the local paper over a small ad in the bigger paper. Question: Are the people you’re trying to reach reading the newspaper?

(7) Phone Book: If you have a decent ad in the phone book it will probably bring in some people and you’ll get the money you invested in it back. My question is: Will it reach truly unchurched people? Are unchurched people looking for a church? And if, for some reason, they were, would they look in a phone book?

(8) Billboards: We had someone give us a few billboards once, but we didn’t seem much return. I have heard stories of churches making a major impact with them. The gurus say that billboards are reminder advertising; they will only remind people of what else they’ve already seen and heard.

(9) Theater Screen Ad: Like billboards, this is also probably more in the “reminder advertising” category. It’s also somewhat expensive. Personally, I would definitely do theater screen ads if I was meeting in that theater, but probably wouldn’t if not.

Okay, so there you have it. Just about everything I know about advertising a church in seven posts. Do you know something I don’t know? You probably do, so leave it in a comment. I’d like to learn from you! So we’re done with advertising (except a quick addendum tomorrow) and then it will be something else altogether. Until then, don’t get your knickers in a bunch.

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Heard At the White Horse

For those who don't know - our church has a service on Tuesday nights at a bar, an open bar. The service is identical to the one's we do at our Sunday morning locations. That means we have worship music, an offering, a sermon, communion... The communion is put out at each table in little tins.

There's a waitress named Gina who works almost every Tuesday night. Well, tonight she had a table of her friends there. I'm not sure, but I think maybe she encouraged them to come and see what we're all about.

Anyway, before the service, one of her friends mistakingly bumped one of the communion tins and said, "Gina, I spilled Jesus!" ... Not something you hear everyday. In fact, someone should name a book, "I Spilled Jesus!"

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Wibo Fever is Catching!

Got to spend a couple hours today with my friend Ben Arment, who is the genius behind the White Board Sessions, a conference in Reston, VA on May 22nd. Sounds like Whiteboard fever is spreading. All I can say is ... I"m excited to hear the other speakers.

Well, I can also say that it's an honor to get to know Ben. He is an awesome guy and I'm grateful that God has connected us... He's easily one of my favorite people to hang out with.

Advertising Your Church (Pt. 6)

We’ve been talking about church advertising – today our question is: When and how often?

Two critical factors with advertising are repetition and penetration.

Repetition refers to how often you send out your message. In advertising there is what’s called “the rule of seven” which refers to the fact that most people need to hear about something seven times before they act on it. This means that sending out one postcard to a big group of people will probably not be very effective (unless it’s combined with some other “hits” they’ll receive). Or, another example, doing one radio ad – not very effective. The rule of seven means you should get your message out as often as possible.

Penetration refers to how many people will experience your ad. If you send out a postcard, will it go out to 25,000 homes, or 50,000 homes? I’ve seen studies which reveal that something like 95% of almost every church’s congregation will come from within a five mile drive. And so unless your church is the exception, you will reach almost no one from over five miles away.

So, putting those two factors together: It would probably be much more effective to send a series of three postcards to the 15,000 homes closest to your building than it would be to send one postcard to the 50,000 homes closest to you. Make sense?

Also, there are times when people seem to be more receptive to the idea of going to church, and you should probably concentrate your advertising on these times. What are they? Easter, Christmas, Back to school time, start of the new year, maybe Mother’s Day.

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Non-Lousy Reviews 1

My book came out last month. My publisher told me to put a "Google Alert" on my e-mail so I'd know when someone mentioned it in a blog. Over 40 people have now mentioned it in their blogs (and only one was negative - I am too "inappropriate" for him). Thought it might be cool to share a few samples. And, in case you're wondering, I've never met any of these people (so these aren't "friend reviews") ...

Ryan wrote: If you haven't read it, get in your car and head to the nearest bookstore. It is that good. I have been in a "Christian funk" since the end of this past summer. I was flying high in my faith before that, but then I got out of sync and never regained that "glow." This book changed that. Lousy T-Shirt is innovative, refreshing, funny, and thought provoking. But, most importantly, it gets the reader motivated to truly LIVE the life of Jesus.

Brad wrote: I have found myself laughing out loud on two occasions while reading. It’s not just a funny book either … it’s actually hitting me right where I’m at. The concepts he talks about are simple but very timely in my life. He has a great ability to take scripture and honestly present it in a way that it catches my attention and makes me ask myself “is this really what I believe … or is it just something I tell people?”

Nathan wrote: God wrecked me and set me on a different course. ... I have a couple more chapters to go but so far it has made me laugh and has challenged me in some areas of my life.

Paul wrote: ...it is easy to be deep, to speak over people's heads. It is much more difficult to make the complex, simple. That's what Antonucci does, and in a humorous, simple, yet profound way. A true test for me, when it comes to a book like Vince's, is when I'm done, do I want to hand it off to someone else? The answer on Lousy T-Shirt was a resounding YES! Antonucci strips down all the baggage that goes with so many of our perceptions of leading the Christian life. And he calls us to instead of just "be in" relationship with Jesus, to abide in Him. To not just share the good news, but to BE the good news. To live the adventure of living the Jesus life - being with Him, face to face. If you're struggling in your spiritual growth, feeling like your time reading the Bible is not being helpful, like your prayers aren't doing much, like you're not sure where to start or how to keep going - pick up this book. I believe it will help.



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Advertising Your Church (Pt. 5)

So you’re going to do advertising... Let’s assume it’s advertising that needs copy written (most does). Who will write the advertisements, and how should they write them?

Well, preferably you will have a professional copywriter (someone with background in marketing or at least journalism) who will work alongside you, or a team from your church.

Here are some tips for writing advertising copy (that I found in my computer – I honestly don’t know if I cam up with these, read them in a book, or heard them in a seminar) –

(1) Don’t imitate others. Don’t just use something from some other church. Their church is different than yours’. The community they’re targeting is different from yours’.
(2) Advertising is NOT for evangelism. You’re not going to win anyone to Christ through your ad, so don’t try. Consider it pre-evangelism. Evangelism is meant to be shared relationally. Use advertising to get them to come, not to get them to believe.
(3) Use advertising to attack objections. Think about why people don’t go to church, and hit those themes.
(4) Write from the viewpoint of the person you want to reach. Put yourself in their shoes. Marketing guru’s tell us the most important word is “You.” The more you use the word “you” the more it will be read. Always use “You” rather than “I” or “We.” For example, what interests you more, an American Airlines ad that says, “We fly non-stop to Dallas,” or that says, “You can fly non-stop to Dallas”? I don’t care if they fly non-stop to Dallas, but I do care if I can!
(5) Focus on benefits more than features. Features are what you offer, whereas benefits are how the person will be impacted.
(6) Emphasize motivation, not information. WHY I should come is more important than when or where.
(7) Do not use religious jargon. If you do, I will kill you. You are trying to reach non-believers, not believers.
(8) You may want to use testimonies, but make sure there’s no churchy language in them.
(9) Advertising a message series is generally more effective than advertising your church itself.
(10) Ask for action. Aim for a specific decision you want peo