I replied to an email from a younger guy that I am trying to help into the professional design world… he asked me about education… this is my reply… I am posting it because I really feel this applies to all facets of life… 

I don’t have any formal education myself (in the area of Media/Graphic/Video/Web production)… and I have a bit of thought on the topic… If I wasn’t already full time in the field I would get educated because now about 6 years in I have learned a lot, but I am still learning tons every day and some the hard way… However… Go and come out comitted to learning each and every day. I know some guys that went to school and just cant land jobs because they learned and stopped learning. They havn’t looked into what is the hottest and latest… I try to read at least 4 tutorials a week… whether it be flash, photoshop, illustrator, whatever… just search out and read. Look at the source code of websites, mimik what you like and grow… just never stop growing. Trends and fads are your friend. Utilize them, exploit them and use them, but don’t attach yourself to them because the moment you do they change… Needless to say… I don’t know everything… and don’t have it figured out at all, but I strongly believe that is a good mindset to keep, because you’ll never be satisfied… you will just keep on learning!

in 1990 Timothy Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web. That’s right… the web, not a software, not just a network, but the World Wide Web, the thing most of our lives is completely dependent on! I can’t stop wondering if Mr. Berners-Lee could have imagined what his creation would become. Transforming the face of business, leisure, the sharing of information and the world as we know it. Generating trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. 

Does it make you wonder… what seemingly simple, fairly private thing, will the world take and run with next? Transforming the world as we know it?

Mr. Timothy Berners-LeeThe worlds first ever World Wide Web server (note the sticker on the CPU.. haha)

Our arts team made a killer set… I thought it would take us only like 20 hours combined… try like 5-6 times that… oh well.. love the end result

I was so blessed by our team and how they contributed to the worship through art at Overflow!!!

So here I am at Overflow Youth Conference leading a team of artists as we endeavor for the first time at OverflowYC to do a massive art piece on stage live. It will develop and grow over the weekend long conference and so this morning I felt led to grab some scripture to encourage the team and this is what I came across.

Psalm 145:1-13 (NKJV)
I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.

Revelation 4:11 (NKJV)
“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

God is more creative than I or anyone could ever be. And what better way to worship God than to be creative and express our love to him in a creative way.

My prayer for the team this week is that we would see what we do as exactly that. That we would worship God with are creativity. It doesn’t matter what the turn out is. As long as we are doing it unto God we can’t fail…

So it is 1:30 in the morning and I am working (which can be a regular occurrence) and I just talked with a client in India… 16 hours time difference, worlds away, and on skype we practically having a live meeting with one another. Gets me to thinking… OUR WORLD IS SHRINKING

I am not great, but my God is.
I am not even good, but my God is.
I am not skilled enough, but my God is.
I am not strong enough, but my God is.
I am not consistent enough, but my God never fails.
I can’t save a single soul, but praise God that He can.
I am none of these, but in his name, power and glory I am all of these.
I am nothing, but I am blessed, because in Him I have everything.

This thought is bouncing between my ears and has been for quite some time. And I have to admit that I don’t have an answer to the question of “What qualifies a church as a church that is achieving effective community outreach. The conversation touches a number of areas, practical needs verses gospel message, events verses one on one outreach, and so on. Of course no matter what side of the coin(s) we find ourselves on I am sure that we all wish we could be doing more! If only we had more volunteers, if only we had more money, more resources, more people, more support. If only we had more food, clothing and shelter to share, if only… if only… 

And here I find myself frustrated. Because it seems that people, myself included, can have a lot to say and think about what qualifies as community outreach. I love being a part of the community at the church which I serve Royal View Church in London. And I would personally say that we are doing well, at least the best we can at community outreach. Just as most churches we have a significant commitment to overseas missions and missionaries. Then here in the city we support Ark Aid street mission with money and volunteers, we run a food bank ministry (the care n share cupboard) we run programs in local public schools where children are given snack and taught moral lessons, then we have the gospel message for the children at our weekend services where we bus kids in. Our youth ministry is over 80% community kids, with no parental involvement in the church. We run free events at various points of the year where hundreds upon hundreds gather. We do our best to show care, love and benevolence. And just as every ministry and non-profit organization of course we would like to have more to give and share, but we do our best. I know there are other churches and organizations in the city that are better at sharing the gospel message, some have very effective ministries meeting the practical needs of their communites. Some give thousands upon thousands to global missions, some excel here and others excel there. And I think, right on, we are all doing what we can. 

However, and here unleashes my frustration, I can not stand when people say that this church or organization is, or is not community focused. I especially hate the statement because it usually comes from the mouths of people that have no idea what they are talking about. We all wish we could be doing more. I have heard it about Royal View, and I have heard it about pretty much every other church in our city. That we are not doing enough for our community.

And to this I say with pure conviction, what more do you want from us? We are doing all that we can. And I can guarantee you that as soon as we are able to do more, we will. Before the words fall out of your mouth about any church in regards to their community involvement, think… I need to SHUT UP! Just because they don’t fit your conviction of how to bless your community doesn’t mean that they are doing what God has called them to do. 

SHUT UP! STOP IT! I am sick of the bull crap! What makes people think that my way is the only way? I love what our church family does to strive to bless and reach our community. I think I will flip if i ever hear someone say “well they are not ‘really’ a community minded church” just SHUT UP! Because I am sure whatever organization or church you are saying it about, you don’t know half of the stuff they do, and if they had the resources and manpower to do it… they would… 

What qualifies as community outreach, I don’t exactly now. I do know I am sick of the global church “Christ’s Church” taking a hit from a bunch of people that really have no idea what they are talking about! 

Thats my piece for the day… I feel much better…

WOW, well it has been more than two weeks since my last post on here and this ties in with my post today. I must admit that the only reason I find time to make a quick post today is because I am waiting on Videos that are rendering… As many of you may know… for the church (the global church) Easter is a busy time, and Royal View is no exception. We are almost done producing our Easter Creative Message Series “Overcome”. Drama, Dance, Song, Video, Testimony and more accompany the message to get home the central theme of the Easter message. That Jesus died for our sins, and that by his blood and the word of what he is doing in our lives we have power to overcome, to be filled with life, zeal and joy because no matter what hardships come our way we are victorious because of his work on the cross. 

This brings me to my point. I love doing all of this, but I am pooped! I am just running out of steam a little bit. Above is a picture of one of the video shoots that I did this week with some people that are a part of the Royal View community, it was a blast, the shoot really turned out well. Yesterday we shot the illustration videos for the three services at various locations in the city and now I just need to buckle down and edit (which if I am honest is my favorite part of the process). God is good and I am stoked to show you all the finished product of all this hard work. 

I am saying this for myself in hopes that maybe it will help someone else if they stumble across this. Remember, that to really do something significant and ground breaking it will take a lot of time, a lot of hard work, and a lot of prayer. At times we might feel like this is all in vain and that we should just coast and stay within the norm. But lets be honest with ourselves, if we did that… we would just be bored. So as I take some time to write and digress on life at this present moment, things might seem a bit crazy, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way…