Are You Promoting Mother’s Day?

There’s been an interesting development in churches over the last ten years.  Mother’s Day has become the second-most evangelistic seasonal opportunity, second only to Easter.  This is due to one fact:  Everyone goes to church somewhere on Mother’s Day – especially unchurched people.  If this is true, then it becomes very important that pastors and church leaders think through their promotion of their Mother’s Day services, as well as the elements of those Mother’s Day services.

MOTHER’S DAY PROMOTIONAL IDEAS

IDEA #1: Floodgate Mother’s Day Logo Packs – Each of these beautiful logo packs includes a print-ready, full-color, 5.5 x 8.5 postcard.  All you need to do is print the back side, and get it distributed to your community.  The most effective way to distribute these may be to equip your people with them the week BEFORE Mother’s Day, and encourage them to hand the cards out to their unchurched friends, family, and coworkers.  And you’ll not only have promotional material, you’ll also have a logo to display on the screen for your Mother’s Day services.  These packs even include Powerpoint/Keynote backgrounds!  All for only $10.

IDEA #2: Floodgate Promotional Mini-Movies.   Plan on playing one of these videos the weekend BEFORE Mother’s Day.  Check out “The Clean Toilet Mystery” and “She’s the One“.

And if you’re looking for some great options for videos to play on Mother’s Day, go here and have fun.  We’re praying for Kingdom potential to be realized in and around your church this Mother’s Day!

The Floodgate Media Team

Rachael Getting Married

One of life’s little pleasures for me, is having a Netflix account. My wonderful wife manages this, and being that we have very similar cinematic tastes, this works out well. Sometimes however, as we parse through the series of red-envelopes, stashed away in our little “Netflix drawer,” attempting to answer the question, what will we consume, and be consumed by for the next 2 hours, we come upon a movie that I may not be thrilled about. Such was the case of “Rachael Getting Married.” A chick flick. Or at least so I thought, based mostly by the title, and lead actress, Anne Hathaway, the one in all those princess movies.

But alas, I was quite wrong. I was unprepared for this story, told in a slightly off kilter, yet very natural and refreshing way. As the story begins, we find the characters converging upon a bustling home, filled with friends and relatives preparing for the soon coming wedding. This wedding, is beautiful. Not the kind of beautiful that can be bought, with the perfectly coordinated decorations, and the best caterer in town, though. It is beautiful, because it is so eclectic. There are so many cultures and traditions represented, it becomes a beautiful tapestry of human life and experience. You feel that you want to be there, and very quickly, hanging out with these people. You get sucked right in. The groom’s mother make’s the statement at the rehearsal dinner, that “This is what heaven will be like, and we are glad to practice it now.” It’s a beautiful sentiment, and it resonates with overall mood of the film.

At the center of this story is Rachael, the bride’s family. Kym (Hathaway) is the younger sister, freshly back from rehab. She’s used to getting all the attention, which doesn’t play well when you’re not the bride. What is so engrossing, is to see this family celebrate, grieve, fight, and somewhat resolve, all throughout the festivities. These emotionally packed scenes, tracing through very difficult family history, do not derail the big event at all. They seem to be a necessary part of the celebration. There are many unpleasant issues, and difficulties for this family, but as they deal with them, in very natural ways, the catharsis makes the celebration that much more full and vibrant.

This speaks to an idea that seems to be rattling around in my brain lately. It is that perhaps, in some way, pain is a natural component of beauty? I have disliked, for a long time, the notion that you need “bad times” to appreciate the good. But as re-evaluate that a bit more, I wonder if there is not something going on a bit more, under the surface of that idea. I wonder, if Man had not strayed from God’s original plan, and left that infernal fruit on the tree, what would our lives really be like. Would childbirth not produce pain? Would we literally have to do almost nothing to harvest our food and produce our shelter? I believe that we now have knowledge (of good and evil) without a complete wisdom as God does. We see and experience pain, but without omnipotence, we can’t see the whole picture, and we miss the point a lot of the time. We do not see the necessity of the pain and labor, as a part of a larger picture of beauty. We sometimes catch a glimpse of this, in the satisfaction after a hard days labor, a physical challenge completed, a relationship mended, etc. It is difficult however, to often see that perhaps pain is an integral component to beauty. I think of some of the flavors that captivate my palette. Dark chocolate, dry red wine, single malt scotch, sushi, etc. These things require a little more of you to enjoy them, then say, Mountain Dew and a Snickers Bar (Which I also enjoy, thank you very much!). The prior flavors tell you a story, where they have been, what they are made of. The later produces a sugary sweet rush of instant gratification, with no real lasting reward. Often a dash of bitterness, intensifies the sweetness, making it more robust and satisfying. I think this is true of many things in life.

So, this is all to say that I really enjoyed this movie. It has stayed with me. It feels like I actually attended this event and have fond memories of it. Technically, and creatively, it was also very engaging. Much of it was shot handheld, giving it a very intimate, and almost documentary feel. The entire score is comprised of music being played by musicians whose characters are there at the house over the weekend rehearsing and playing for the wedding. It was all recorded live, simultaneously with the actors and their dialog. This movie is what I would call a “Slice of Life” movie. You drop in on the characters for a few days of their lives. We witness a momentous event, but nothing outside the scope of ordinary life. And then it is over. But through these ordinary events, we are able to examine some of the deep truths of life.

$50 Off Echo Church Media Conference

We’re not just saying this to hear ourselves talk. And we’re not engaging in flattery at any level. But the Echo Church Media Conference is the finest conference of its type anywhere in the world. The Floodgate Team attended the Conference last year, and we’ll be there again this year.

The Conference is entirely unique because it provides a meeting place for church media artists to gather, to be challenged, and to realize that they’re not alone. The Conference consists of great keynote speakers, along with some highly practical breakout sessions (Floodgate’s own Gary Molander will lead one of the breakout sessions).

And here’s the sweet part: Between now and July 29, you can get $50 off FOR EVERY PERSON attending. Simply use the coupon code: Flood.

So go here to check it out. It will literally change or re-focus the trajectory of your media/worship ministry.

An Open Letter to Creatives

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about creatives who exist in the church. People who create their church’s videos, design and maintain their church’s websites, lighting and stage directors and artists, and musicians. There are so many things I want to say to you, but haven’t.

Until now.

I guess I want to make this simple statement first and foremost: After watching people like you for years and years, I want you to know that the stuff you create doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.  After years of experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that the artistic designs you engage in may only marginally impact someone’s life.

I wonder if it all starts at the top of the food chain?  I wonder if the lead pastor and executive staff team have sold creatives (like us) a bogus bill of goods?  They’ve told us that the stuff we create every week has the potential to change lives.  But just be honest for a minute.  Can you actually name someone whose life has been changed as a result of your craft?  I doubt it.

You awake in the middle of the night with creative ideas, mixed with the stress of deadlines you can’t possibly meet. You’ve ignored, or even dropped the most important relationships in your life.  You stay late at the church office, and no one knows, or even really cares.  And all for what? All to create and maintain art in the desperate hope that someone’s life will be impacted?

Really?

And what about this obsession with beauty?  You uphold beauty like it’s the gateway to God Himself.  God only communicates His presence through His written Word.  He has chosen never to communicate through any other means – His Word even says so.  Again, my greatest fear is that you’ve been sold a bill of goods that simply doesn’t produce over the long term.

And so here’s what I really want you to hear and meditate on.  Next weekend is coming.  Over the next few days, your schedule will be taken with creative meetings that you don’t want to be a part of; with pastoral conflict at the highest levels; and with late nights away from the people you love.  You are preparing for something that will come and go in a heartbeat.  By the time you’re worship services are over, most of the people will be at brunch, arguing about the choice of music, or the pastor’s sermon.

And I’ve just gotta ask this most obvious question: Why labor in vain?

Wouldn’t you be a better steward of your church’s financial resources if you didn’t put as much time and effort into one weekend? There’s a time to know when “good enough” is “good enough”, and it might be a good time for you to back off of any unrealistic expectations you have of creative beauty, and to simply declare “good enough”.

Will this weekend change lives?  Maybe.  But do you need to take any of the responsibility for setting up an environment for that to occur? In my experience, the answer is a resounding “no”.  Let God be God.  He will do whatever He wants.

I openly invite this conversation to continue.

Yours truly.

Satan

(This article was written for Collide Magazine – a great magazine that helps church leaders better understand the unique intersection at the corner of church and media).