FILO Podcast

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the weekend after christmas Dec 27, 2015

Show notes

The worst. Right? You’ve just given everything you have to the giant production called Christmas Eve services, and now it’s the weekend again. Give me a break! As I was reflecting on this familiar feeling, it dawned on me that church production people everywhere are in the same boat here. Maybe your church canceled Saturday services, but almost everyone has something on Sunday. As you drag yourself in to get ready for another rehearsal for another service, here’s something to think about... All of us were a part of sharing the gospel with millions of people this past week. Millions! As our churches filled up with people who wouldn’t normally come to church on a normal weekend, we help to facilitate the message of Christ to be taught and heard for maybe the first time. The work you did, helped countless people forget that technology was involved at all, and was able to focus on the content of our services. The countless hours of preparation; the long list of things you neglected in December; the sacrifice your family gave in order for you to give something extra for your church congregation…all of these things helped contribute to people connecting with God in new ways. As you enter into the building for the first time after all those Christmas Eve services, remember that God created you to be the first one in and the last one out. Without you, many of those moments that people had with God wouldn’t exist. God has chosen you and made you uniquely for the purpose of creating an environment for Him to move in people’s lives. Well done. Now go watch Episode VII and you aren’t completely exhausted. Make it 3D IMAX while you’re at it. You’ve earned it.

you frustrate me, and that’s ok Nov 12, 2015

Show notes

I had the privilege to speak at the Tech Arts Conferenz in Karlsruhe Germany. There were about 600 creative and technical artists gathered together to learn from each other and to be inspired to keep doing ministry at our local churches. As I was standing up on the stage having each word I was speaking being translated into German, I was really struck by all the different types of people in the room. I’m used to speaking to technical artists almost exclusively, but here I needed to broaden my audience to include all the people who help make our services happen. I’m amazed at how frustrating it can be to work with people not like us, yet we can’t really do anything without each other. And without our differences, we would just sit and do production without any content, or we’d be performing our content in a quiet dark room. In that moment on stage, I was reminded of how beautiful it is for each of us to be different and to fill a different role in the body of Christ. We are all uniquely imagined by a loving God to become a key component in what he wants to do in our local church. The challenge is to celebrate the fact that he has done the same for the people you are serving with also. The people that think differently than you, were designed that way. The people that will never think about the details of their idea were designed to have the idea, not to figure it out. He designed someone else for that…maybe you. As I see us all trying to work together to pull off a church service, there are so many opportunities for frustration. So many chances to wish people were more like you. There are also many chances to learn from each other. Many chances to love each other. More than many chances to have grace for someone else. Many chances to lean into how God made you to be, without frustration, but with celebration. Celebrating that your gifts were made to compliment those around you for the greater good. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.1 Cor. 12:7-11

will you join the barricade? Aug 25, 2015

Show notes

For some reason, I’ve been thinking about the barricade scene from Les Misérables. You know, when the guy climbs to the top of the pile of crap and waves a giant flag. Part of me is thinking, “Are you crazy?! You’re going to get shot!”. The other part of me feels like I wish I had the courage to stand up for something I believe in that much, that I’m willing to stand up and wave a flag on a barricade for it. The reality is that we do have something we should be standing up and waving a flag for…I know you’re all thinking “Jesus”, cause that’s always the right answer. But I’m imagining something more specific. We have all been made specifically to fit into the Body of Christ somewhere, and with that place in the body comes a responsibility to care about our thing the most…more than anyone else. I’m a production person in the local church, so the thing I care most about is how we use technology to make our churches more effective. If you’re a worship leader, you’re designed to help bring people to a place where they are worshiping our God. I meet a lot of people who feel misunderstood by those around them, by the leadership team at their church. They end up spending significant amounts of time wishing that other people cared about their thing as much as they do; or that others understood how things could be so much better. At the foundation, if your senior leaders don’t care about leveraging technology or whatever you're passionate about, then there’s only so far you can take it. But if you are a part of that church, no one is going to care about technology the way you do…no one is going to care about the band arrangement like you do…no one is going to care about being intentional with the brand of your church like you do. While oftentimes it might feel like there is overwhelming opposition to your ideas, the reality is that everyone should be trying to make our churches more effective, which means we should all be on the same side of the barricade, fighting with and for each other. Even if this isn’t always the case, typically no one is shooting at you while you stand up and wave your flag. Having the courage to stand up, sometimes alone, isn’t easy. But things will not change for the better if someone isn’t willing to stand up and lead the charge. Whether it's for a better process, or it's for better transitions, or it's for greater emphasis on caring for the poor; if it is something you care about, do something about it. If other people already cared about it, something would have been done already. God gave you a vision for what something could be. Are you willing to stand up on a barricade and wave a flag about it?

a city planners guide to church Aug 19, 2015

Show notes

I live in Chicago. OK, if you’re from Chicago, I basically live in Iowa, but if you aren’t from here, I live in Chicago. One of the things I love about this city is the architecture and its history. The home of the first skyscraper. Frank Lloyd Wright. The International School and Mies van der Rohe. One of the central characters in the Chicago architecture drama is Daniel Burnham. He was influential in rebuilding the city after the fire in 1871. Then he almost single-handedly pulled off the Chicago world’s fair in 1893. And if that wasn’t enough, in 1909 he developed a plan for the city of Chicago that people still fight over today. Most famously, Daniel Burnham said: "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized." There’s definitely a blog post or article somewhere in this quote, but I ran across another one of his statements that caught my attention: "Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty." So what if “watchword” and “beacon” aren’t words that we use every day, I love this statement for capturing the essence of the tension that exists between creativity and execution. Beauty cannot be achieved without a hyper-focus on the details to execute an idea. But if you’re only paying attention to the details, you need to be reminded that the goal is beauty. When I think about Daniel Burnham creating beauty through architecture, none of that would be possible without the massive volume of details that needed to be done exactly correctly. Without order, none of his buildings would be able to support themselves. Because so much energy was devoted to minutiae, his buildings are still standing 100+ years later for us to enjoy their beauty. For some of us, we want beauty without having to spend time on the order. We want to pour our resources into something beautiful but aren’t as interested in the infrastructure necessary to support the beauty. I’ve noticed that in the local church, some are frustrated by the necessities of order, frustrated by the people who only think about order. And on the other side, the people who love contributing to the structure behind the beauty tend to lose sight of what all the details are really for; that they aren’t the goal, but the means to the end. As someone who has spent a good deal of time on the "watchword order” side of this, I have to remind myself constantly that order isn’t the end goal. However, I have spent plenty of time wishing the beauty people would take their foot off the gas and let us catch up. I’ve also spent some time on the “beacon beauty” end of things, and it is easy to see how the end result can discount the need to take care of the details along the way. It is so difficult to come up with the beauty idea in the first place, that the thought of changing it so that details happen, can be overwhelming. Over the years, I’ve been in many conversations with both groups of people. On both sides of this equation, there are people wishing that others would change and become more like them. Unfortunately, if that happened, nothing would get done. We need to do both, and we need to do both well. As Andy Stanley would say, this is a tension to manage, and it requires leadership. Not just leadership on one side or the other, but leadership that takes the whole thing into account. Leadership has the larger view and can determine when we are in beauty mode or order mode. At any given moment, where do our limited resources need to be focused? If order is the most important thing, an idea can become so bloated with the details that it becomes unrecognizable. If order wins, our services become middle of the road and ineffective. Yet if we abandon order in favor of an idea, we end up creating something that won’t last. Or worse, destroying lives in the wake of our ideas. So what do we do? I think Daniel Burnham said it best: "Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty."

church production lessons from the wright brothers Jul 10, 2015

Show notes

I just finished reading "The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough. What a great story of hard work and perseverance.Also of what can be accomplished regardless of the resources at your disposal. At a certain point in the book, Mr. McCullough notes that at the same time the Wright Brothers were solving the challenges of flight, the head of the Smithsonian was also interested in the question of man flying. To accomplish one powered flight experiment, Mr. Langley had access to $50,000 from Congress, $20,000 of his own money, and $20,000 from a friend. The result? A plane folded in half after takeoff and fell into the Potomac River. Several hundred miles away, Wilbur and Orville were flying successfully for about $1,000 of their own money. And not just for that one experiment, for all their experiments from 1900-1905. All the gliders, the wind tunnels, the custom fabricated aluminum engines. All of it, for a little over 1% of the amount spent by the fully funded group. This got me thinking about church production…like most things do. Having resources is great. I worked at Willow Creek Church for over 10 years and know that having the proper resources go a long way in getting things done. I believe there is also a downside to having very few resource limitations. For the Wright Brothers, it forced them to do a couple of things that we can all learn from. creative problem solving With fewer resources, Will & Orv were forced to solve complex problems with simple solutions. With little funding, they had to come up with ideas that could be built in their bicycle shop. When I worked at a church that met in a high school, not only did we not have a ton of money, we had very little time to get things set up and torn down. As a result, one of the defining characteristics of our solutions is that everything had to be a one-person job. This allowed us to get the job done. Once we moved into our own building and removed the time constraints, we started adding 2 and 3 person jobs, which tended to make matters more complex. Having fewer resources force you to think creatively about simple solutions. better results Being forced to think about how to do something differently helps make for better results. If all you have to do is throw money at a problem, you haven’t taken a step back to think about the best way to get it done. You’re just doing your first idea. A friend of mine works at a church where money has never been a problem. As a result, anytime someone wants to start a new ministry or create a new event, they do it because they can afford to. However, after years of this, people are starting to wonder if "just because you can" is a good enough reason to do something. If you have resource limitations, you must really dig down to the root of an idea to get to its essence. Why are we trying to do it and how can we achieve it within the resources we have? With resource limitations, you are forced to stop and strip away all the good ideas and reveal the core of the idea. For the Wrights, they realized that they had to solve the challenge of gliding before they stuck an engine on anything. If they could glide easily, then adding power to it would more than likely work. For the Smithsonian, they skipped right over the glider part and loaded down their flyer with tons of power to overcome the deficiencies of their plane. Next time you wish you had more money to spend on a project or on a service, remember all the Wright brothers were able to accomplish. Our world was changed by their commitment to simple solutions to complex problems to achieve the best results. If they could do it with 1% of the resources, what could you do with what’s been entrusted to you?

what 1934 says about the future Jun 12, 2015

Show notes

Growing up, music was part of my family heritage. As a little kid, it seemed like everyone was heavily into playing some instrument, usually really well. There was a piano in everyone’s house, and with that piano was an expectation that you would learn to play it. Today I have a piano in my house. And not just any piano. As the result of being a part of a very small family, I’m the only grandchild on my mother's side…the musical side, we have THE piano. My grandfather was from a small family in a small town in northern Michigan. The nearest high school was in a few towns over, so he had to stay at a boarding house. They didn’t have a car, they had essentially a covered wagon. He spent most days after school in the potato fields. But they had a piano. And he played it for several hours every day. (OK, so the piano was in a pool hall, owned by his father who was a Methodist minister/barber/pool hall owner) My grandmother grew up in a larger family, a singing family. Not Von Trapp singing, but not far off. She lived in an actual town where she had great opportunities to seriously pursue music. She went to boarding school, but it was for musical training during the summers. They met at Albion College where she was a music performance major and he was just playing piano any chance he could get. Concerts, fraternity parties, pep rallies...you name it. When they got married, my great grandfather decided to give them a piano as a wedding present. A Baldwin studio grand. I don’t know if he gave it to them simply because it was the perfect gift for these two music lovers, or for some grander purpose. Fast forward through the years of piano lessons my grandmother taught on that piano and the hours of my grandfather playing through his favorite Rachmaninov pieces; past my own childhood looking forward to hearing them play and for the chance to play the piano myself, however simple the piece might be. While my experience with music has ebbed and flowed over the years, my love for that piano never diminished. If anything, it only grew with time and my appreciation for the instrument increased each time I went to play it. My grandparents have been gone for a while now, and after letting some time pass, I talked a friend into taking a road trip with me to go and pick it up that piano. There are quite a few crazy stories to tell from that adventure, but that will have to wait for another time; since by now, you’re wondering where this is headed. That piano now lives in my house. There is music that I play on that piano that my grandfather used to play. The very same keys that he poured himself into are the same ones that I now play. When my youngest son started taking piano lessons, he learned to play a piece by Chopin that my grandfather loved to play…on that same piano. My grandfather never knew my son or that he would be playing that song on that piano someday. He probably never thought too much about how pushing me to practice the piano would lead to me attempting to pass on the musical legacy to my kids. I didn’t know my great-grandfather, so it’s difficult to know what he was thinking when he bought the piano, but I’m guessing he wasn’t imagining his great-great-grandson playing that piano in my living room in Chicago. Inside the piano bench, there was a letter from the Baldwin Piano Company along with the original invoice for $1100. (I think I spent that much in gas for the box truck when we went to pick up the piano!) I read the letter out loud to my wife. The Baldwin company was thanking my great-grandfather for his business. Then I got to the last statement: "We thank you for your patronage, and hope the piano will always be a source of pleasure to you and to your family." I'm not an emotional person, but this line got to me. This statement came true for my grandparents and is coming true almost 90 years later with my family. I'm pretty sure the Baldwin Piano Company and H. Arthur White had no idea that my son would be playing this piano. What is the legacy you will leave behind? I don’t know that it is possible to entirely know. Who fully understands the impact of our words on people? Our actions towards them? When I read that letter, I realized how short-sighted I live my life. I don’t tend to think about how the interactions I’m having today will impact the lives of my great-great-grandson. I don’t often think about how the small things I do each day build-up to the legacy I leave my kids; my friends; the people I encounter every day. What if we approached our lives with this long view? What if we invested today far into the future? To invest in people, whether they are our family or people we work with; whether our good friend or a total stranger; whether young or old. The things we do today ring out into the future in ways we cannot fully know, but if we lift up our eyes to look further down the road, maybe we can live with intentionality towards that far-off goal.

being invisible vs. feeling invisible Apr 21, 2015

Show notes

As technical artists in the local church, if we are doing our jobs properly, what we do is invisible. It should go unseen. The technical arts should be so seamlessly integrated with the creative arts that nobody can tell where one begins and the other ends. Invisible is what we do. What we do is invisible. The problem is when things aren't perfectly seamless and things don’t go according to plan, we become visible. This is pretty much the only time people see what we do. The only time I’m not invisible is when I’ve “screwed up”. Awesome. Add to this all the effort that goes into what does go well, and now I’m feeling invisible. Nobody gives a rip about all the good that's happening, because they can’t see it. And they shouldn’t see it. If you are a leader of technical artists, it is key for us to hold up the value of creating a distraction-free environment…for creating a culture of being invisible. However, because of this invisibility, it is super important to help your team not feel invisible. Since you are the one who sees the good they do, make sure you say something about it. Point out the invisible good they are doing. Among that, pull your pastor or worship leader into the mix to encourage them to notice something good your team is doing. During a Christmas run, someone on my team had done some exceptional work…really they had done the job of two people. We all know that one job at Christmas can be enough, let alone 2. I asked my pastor to write a short email to this individual as a way to help that person feel seen. I needed to supply some information to my pastor so he knew the hidden work that was done since he would never have known about it. It made all the work that person was doing feel seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if after all these years, that the person who received this email still has it saved on their computer. There is huge power in making someone feel visible. As an individual, do you feel invisible? It feels like a cliche, but God sees. If you feel invisible, know that others around you can feel the same. Go out of your way to make someone feel like someone notices. Let’s not diminish our commitment to having the technical arts be invisible, but let’s raise the bar on not making technical artists feel invisible.

the last 2%? how about the last 20%! Apr 03, 2015

Show notes

When I was at Willow Creek and even before that at Kensington, we talked a lot about “the last 2%”. That part of any project when you just want to walk away, but if you stick to it, it will make whatever you’re trying to accomplish even better. This goes along with the idea of excellence honoring God. Lately, though, I’ve been wondering about the last 20%. In many places I’ve been, both in churches and in schools, or other public functions, I’ve been amazed at the 20% that’s left undone. The thing that is so surprising to me is that some of the things that needed to be done were simple. They weren’t complicated. They just required a little extra time…like 5 minutes here and 2 minutes there. The challenge is those 5 and 2-minute increments needed to happen yesterday or the day before or at least an hour earlier. Taking time to plan ahead and execute tasks before you're in the heat of the moment will make our services so much better. The last 2% is almost impossible for average people to see. But the last 20%! Come on! My mother can see that. Typos. The lights not being quite right. Audio feedback. Let’s take some time to figure out what we can accomplish early so that we can be ready for the unexpected. On any given weekend, there is about 20% we can’t know about…the things that just happen. If we leave another 20% on the table, we are setting ourselves up for failure. We can do better. For the stuff that can be figured out…and there’s quite a bit of it, let’s figure that out during the week so that we can be ready for the stuff we can’t figure out. Let’s make our mothers proud.

partners in ministry Mar 07, 2015

Show notes

I’ve been married 22 years today. I can’t even believe that so much time has gone by. On my wedding day 22 years ago, I had been working at my first full-time job out of college for about 9 months. It had been quite a roller coaster. I loved what I got to do. As a result, I found myself at work every day of the week. Not because anybody was making me, but because I couldn’t get enough of it! Pretty soon into it, my fiancé moved from Atlanta to join me in Michigan. Never mind that it snowed in the second week of October that year, my future bride had another rude awakening. She wasn’t the only love of my life! With the crazy life of a technical artist in the local church, we had to do some serious work to figure out how to have a strong, healthy marriage, while still cranking out productions to help tell the gospel story. Not an easy combination. Now, before I get into too much detail, I know that every person is different, which means that every couple is different. What worked for my wife and I may not work for you, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Here are a few phrases my wife has used to help me remember that it isn’t all about technical arts in the local church. As a result, we’ve had a pretty good run these last 22 years and I hope that we keep growing and stretching together for another 22 at least. “Come home early." This phrase was usually uttered as I was getting in the car. It also had an upward inflection with eyebrows raised. It usually got a laugh from me. Not a “That’s funny!” laugh, but the nervous kind. Sometimes I would answer with “Like 2 am? Is that what you mean by early?" While this wish was very rarely granted, it did do one thing to my mindset. This phrase was always in the back of my mind. When I wondered if I should push through to get something done, keeping me late or waiting until tomorrow, this phrase would pop up. If I had just spent a 15 hour day at work and my afternoon is clear, my wife’s voice would enter my head. If I were honest, I very rarely came home early. However, I did spend quite a bit of time weighing out the options that got me home sooner than I would have otherwise. Home much effort are you putting forth to your wife and family? Does ministry always win, or do you sometimes drop the ball on your work so your family feels valued? “We need vision too" During one particularly long Christmas run, I was getting up from the breakfast table to head into another long day and night at work. My wife gave me the “where do you think you’re going?” look. When I tried to let her know that as the leader, I had leadership-type things to do before we got into the next rehearsal. At that moment, she let me know that just like my team needed vision, our family did also. From my kids' perspective, Dad was just not home. There wasn’t anything attached to it. The only way they would understand why I was working so hard is if I told them. Unless I gave them a vision for all the work I was doing and the part they played in making it happen, there is no way they could get behind me being gone. In the crazy schedule that Christmas brings to local church technical artists, large sacrifices are made by everyone, especially the families left behind. They need to understand what it’s all about. “Be a man" Ouch! One night after a midweek service, I saw my wife make a b-line to the senior pastor. I thought to myself, I can’t watch. I was tearing down the stage, so I turned my back on the action and just kept wrapping cables. She was confronting the pastor on how hard they worked for me and that they need to give me a break. He listened patiently, then let her know that nobody was asking me to work that hard and that I needed to be a man and have some boundaries. My wife never actually says this phrase to me, but that experience early in our marriage really helped frame the rest of our time together. I needed to learn to say no. I needed to learn to be the bad guy. I couldn’t keep blaming someone else for me working so hard, I needed to blame myself. And what was I going to do about it? I think so many tech people (myself included) can get themselves into a victim mentality, blaming other people for our problems. In reality, we have more control over our situations than we think if we just stand up and take responsibility for ourselves and our own lives. Especially moving into my current future, I can’t imagine doing it without my wife’s amazing support. We would not have made it this far without it and we wouldn’t have a chance to keep going. Thank you to my wife for having the courage to stand up for yourself and our family when work became too important.

the next big thing Feb 22, 2015

Show notes

Many months ago, I was feeling like God was calling me to the next thing. The only problem for me was that I had no idea what that “next thing” was. I’m excited to announce the beginnings of that next thing. Remember Gurus of Tech? After attending an amazing event in Louisville, KY back in 2010, the production team at Willow and I decided to give it a shot, and we had a great time hosting that amazing event for a few years. We saw it grow and expand. I have lost track of how many people have told me how meaningful it was to them and their walk with Christ, as well as their development as a technical artist. The other big question people ask me is “When is the next one?” Through many twists and turns, and many, MANY conversations, I can say…I don’t know when the next Gurus of Tech will be. But I can tell you that I’ve been working on something new and am excited to announce the hopefully first of many: First In Last Out Conference! One of the things we noticed about Gurus at Willow Creek, was that 80% of the people drove, which meant there were many people all over the country that chose not to come. When you start adding up travel costs and hotels, even the “free” event started to cost quite a bit. Taking this information and all the things we learned from doing Gurus of Tech for three years, we’ve assembled a team to craft a one-day conference that we will hold throughout the year in different regions. Our goal is to have one close to where you live, making it easier for you to take advantage of the skill development, inspiration, and encouragement that comes from being around other church technical artists like you. Check out our new webpage and let us know what you think! As time goes by, we’ll be adding new locations, so keep checking back to see if there’s a FILO conference near you! We hope to see you there!

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