SERMOLICIOUS IS OPEN!

The team at Floodgate Productions is extremely excited to announce the grand opening of our new company. We’re calling it SERMOLICIOUS. The name is goofy, but we’re very serious about the product we’re offering to the world. Our heart is, and has always been, to resource pastors and church leaders with great media resources. With the launch of Sermolicious, we think we’re continuing to walk that specific vision into reality.

If you don’t care about reading the rest, just go here now.

Sermolicious is a Sermon Graphics Package online store. We offer pastors preaching graphics for individual sermons, as well as sermon series. We also offer options for your church’s seasonal services. Our hope and prayer is that Sermolicious products will help contribute to the overall beauty of every worship service in your church. We also know that a message that lasts in the hearts of people requires a certain consistency. Our Sermon Graphics Packages will provide both beauty and consistency.

So for the entire month of July, we’re having a grand pre-opening sale over in the Sermolicious Online Store. We’re beta-testing it this month (a fancy way of saying that, if you download something, you’re a guinea pig). To help motivate you to test it for us, we’re offering a $5 discount on your order. The product is only $10, so we think that’s a pretty sweet deal. Simply use coupon code: sl-5bucks.

You should be praying for the folks who checked out of this post earlier. They just missed the coupon code you’ll be using.

As a friend of Floodgate Productions, we highly value your suggestions to make Sermolicious more effective in God’s Kingdom. If you have sermon topic ideas, title ideas, etc., please don’t hesitate to let us know (info@sermolicious.com). We’d LOVE to hear from you.

And if you’re still struggling with visiting a site that has such a funny name, just say it 10 times fast. When we came up with the name, it took a month to grow on us. We’ve had our friends in the media industry tell us the same thing.

FLOODGATE STOREWIDE SALE!

It’s not gonna get any less expensive to resource your church with Floodgate’s media than this week.  Here’s the deal…

TUESDAY – Stills are $1.  Motions are $2.  Countdowns are $3.

WEDNESDAY – All mini-movies are 50% off (downloads only).

THURSDAY – All DVD’s are 50% off (shippable products only).

FRIDAY – A One-Year Subscription, giving you access to unlimited downloads for an entire year, is only $249.  It’ll also get you the videos we haven’t even made yet!

So make big plans.  And get some great deals this week.

Offers are good the week of July 20-24, 2009.  All daily offers expire at midnight (Central), and several of our not-so-popular media resources will turn into pumpkins.

New Mini-Movie: Shoes

At the core of the Christian message, you’ll find a God who pursues humanity, ultimately by walking in our shoes.  The proof of this is Jesus.  And ultimately, Christians can never continue Christ’s mission unless we’re willing to walk in the shoes of someone else.

With that in mind, we’ve created a new mini-movie called “Shoes”.  It’s created to help people see the judgmental attitude of the lead character, but to see themselves in the mirror at the same time.

So please take a look at this mini-movie.

Because when we walk in the shoes of someone else, their lives are valued.  Our lives are enriched.  And God’s great name is proclaimed.

New Mini-Movie About Death

Over the past few weeks, a large number of famous people have died. Church leaders know that, in times like these, we’re all drawn to re-evaluate our own lives. It’s not something we have to convince people to do. It just happens.

You also know that there’s no better time to offer hope to the broken, and direction to the non-guided. As a result, we think that this weekend, and next weekend could be life-changing in your church!

With that in mind, we put together a video that will only be relevant for a few weeks. But during those few weeks, we believe you can use it to help offer the Gospel to people. Show it in your church. Put it on your website. We believe it’s important to remain current, and to give the Gospel away at every opportunity.

The Quench Project

Welcome to Floodgate Productions! We think it’s always important to re-focus and re-orient ourselves toward the needs of the world. We’re doing that by highlighting a DVD called “The Quench Project”. The Quench Project is a collective effort among Christian filmmakers to save lives by building clean water wells in Africa. These filmmakers have each donated one (or more) of their finest media pieces to the formation of a compilation DVD. This DVD is currently being sold to local churches for use in their worship services. 100% of all sales will be donated monthly to Living Water International. Let’s say that again – by purchasing this, you’re building a well in Africa. Not only will you save lives, but you’ll own the best deal anywhere on church media.

To go to The Quench Project website, click here.

To purchase The Quench Project, click here.

Never Trust an Artist

I am an artist. I’ve always wondered why the average Senior Pastor has a hard time trusting our tribe. I used to think their lack of trust was completely unfounded. But as I get older, and as I become more in touch with being an artist myself, I’m beginning to understand why. I’ve noticed some tendencies that seem to be consistent among artists I know who are getting paid by churches.

I have never met an artist who displays ALL of the following list of characteristics. But some of us display some of them. And it’s important for us to have the courage to look in the mirror, and to NOT respond with a defensive victim mentality.

1. Artists commit, then forget. Ask an artist to “get me that document”, or to “forward me that email”, and we’ll tell you “Sure. Right after lunch.” And we never think about it again. Until an organized person in charge reminds us.

2. Artists don’t write anything down. We honestly think we’ll remember. The best friend an artist can have is a senior pastor who gently whispers, “Did you want to write that down?”

3. Artists live one wrong decision away from disaster. Most people live 9-10 bad choices away from personal ruin. Many artists walk as closely to the line as they can because of the risk, and the rush.

4. Artists lie. Not all, but some. We lie to cover ourselves when we’re guilty of #1 or #2.

5. Artists struggle to see the bigger narrative they’re living in. Sometimes, we think our stories are the biggest, and the most important stories being told. The senior pastor, really more than anyone else in the church, sees the clearest portrait of the church’s big picture. Senior pastors get ticked when the church won’t fulfill her biblical mandate. Artists get ticked when their guitar strings break.

6. Artists gossip. Not all, but some. Much of the time, we’re gossiping about the Senior Pastor who refuses to trust us.

7. Artists deflect blame. Our first reaction is usually to find someone else to blame the problem on. Then we engage in #4. An hour later, we engage in #6.

There’s a pattern here. It always boils down to two things. If Christian artists could simply learn two things, we’d be a lot better off, and we’d make more of an impact on those exposed to the art we create.

First, we need to learn to follow through. Do what we say. Say what we do. Never walk into a staff meeting without a yellow pad and a pen, a Daytimer, or the IPhone “Notes” App open. Immediately following every meeting, we need to transfer our to-do notes onto something we’ll look at every day – our main computer, our wall, our secretary’s forehead. Paint an office wall with chalkboard paint, and create a special drawing every week, made up of to-do’s.

Second, we need to take personal responsibility more seriously. When we don’t meet a deadline because we forgot, we simply need to be honest about that. We need to have the courage to simply say, “I’m sorry. I forgot. I’ll take care of it immediately, then give you an update later today.”

Our world would be flat without artists. But our world would never move in any positive direction without leaders. May we all be willing to look hard in the mirror, and learn that artistry and leadership are not opposing or competing gifts. I pray that every true artists takes their leadership responsibility more seriously than ever.

New for Independence Day

Independence Day in the USA carries with it so many memories, deep feelings, and hopeful expectations. It also reminds us that, at the core of it all, there is a God who loves granting His children the blessed gift of freedom. At Floodgate, we want to equip you to bring God into the Independence Day conversation. Our nation’s Founding Fathers certainly brought God into the conversation when the Declaration of Independence was ratified. To do that, we’ve got a couple of great media options for you.

TRUE FREEDOM (SERMON GRAPHICS PACKAGE) – Need a great background package for your sermon or patriotic-themed event? This package gives you two complete sets of images – one for print, the other for screen display. We even include three Powerpoint or Keynote background slides.

THE GREATEST GIFT (MINI-MOVIE) – The United States is the greatest nation on earth, not because of its military power or financial capacities, but because we are one nation UNDER GOD. Works great for any patriotic-themed service or event.

May God bless you, your church, and our great country!