Tony Morgan
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Perryisms
Here’s a taste of what Perry shared in the first message of the new series, “No Perfect People Allowed”. I’m guessing some of these quotes will probably generate some conversation.
- “Many of us are textually active. Today we are going to talk about safe text.”
- “Let’s just admit it. There some screwed up people here today.”
- “It’s time for the church to admit we are messed up. “
- “I still believe crowds could and should follow Jesus. God’s house ought to be filled up every Sunday.”
- “If you hate crowded churches, you’re going to hate Heaven. There are going to be a lot of people there…and they aren’t all going to be white.”
- “The people who followed Jesus in Scripture were not perfect people.”
- “The deacons called a meeting and decided I couldn’t say ‘butt’ in my sermons. If they only knew what I say now…”
- “I’m not a religious professional. I’m a common man.”
- “All I was doing was teaching the Bible. That’s all I know how to do is teach the Bible.”
- “This vision is not for sale.”
- “When God has a plan, God has a way.”
- “We’ve always had one goal: Lift up the name of Jesus — not keep Christians happy.”
- “Some people say, ‘I don’t like the music.’ I don’t care!”
- “Where in the Bible do you read that the pastor is supposed to do it all?”
- “Knowing me is not going to help you.”
- “If your view of church revolves around you, get the hell out of here. We don’t have room for hell in this church.”
- “You’ve been taught Jesus-lite all your life.”
- “This isn’t feathered-hair Jesus giving people a hug.”
- “I hope you’ll pray for me that I’ll do what God wants me to do.”
- “I’m about life change. I want to see people meet Jesus.”
I couldn’t write fast enough. I missed most of the good stuff. You’ll have to listen to the entire message to catch the rest of the story.
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I’m Following YOU on Twitter
So, if you haven’t heard, there’s this website called Twitter. It allows you to find out what people are doing (and thinking) in real time. In 140 character or less, people are addressing the question what are you doing? It’s kind of like a marriage between social networking (Facebook) and a blog (my website) only it’s for people with really, really short-attention spans (like you and me).
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I recently started following you. I’m currently following over 2,300 people on Twitter. Here’s why:
- A couple of dudes I really respect, Guy Kawasaki and Michael Hyatt, recommended I try it. They said it would help me with networking. It has.
- People assumed because I wasn’t following them on Twitter that I didn’t love them. (Do you want me to name names?)
- Now that I’m following everyone, anyone can direct message me and that makes communications a lot easier.
- TweetDeck makes it possible to track all my new friends and filter through the noise to hear my closest friends.
- It helps me meet new people I would not normally have followed in the past like Christopher.
So, if you’re looking for a good time, here’s what you can do:
- Sign up for your own Twitter account.
- Follow me.
- Then I’ll follow you back.
We’ll be Twitter friends. We’ll be able to Twitter each other. Won’t that be fun?
By the way if you are already on Twitter, who are some of the people you have found that are interesting to follow?
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No! We’re not okay.
When I read quotes like this, it makes me want to do everything I can to reach people for Jesus. Here’s what Seth Godin had to say this morning:
“We spend so much time smoothing things out, we lose the opportunity for change, or for texture or creativity. Instead of working so hard to make everything okay, perhaps it is more helpful to work hard at living with a world that rarely is.”
That’s going to mess with my mind and my faith for a while. I love that challenge!
That quote also makes me glad that we’re launching “No Perfect People Allowed” at NewSpring this week. We admit it. We’re not okay. We live in a world that’s not okay. But we actually believe things can be different. Change can happen.
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Italian Food Secrets
My Grandma Connavino was a great cook. If you can’t tell by the name, she was Italian. This week while I was at the beach, I read an article in Men’s Health that reminded me why I loved my grandma’s food so much. Here are some secrets to authentic Italian cooking:
- Use very few ingredients including vegetables, pasta, beans, bread, fish and olive oil.
- Limit the seasonings. Try lemons, basil (pesto) and parsley.
- Use quality olive oil…on just about everything.
- Use fresh ingredients and serve it with fresh bread.
- Serve the heaviest food last. The meat portions are typically small.
- And, of course, the meal isn’t a meal without wine.
It’s simple eating. It’s healthy eating. It makes me miss my grandma’s cooking. One of these days I’m going to head to Italy and experience real Italian cooking firsthand.
Here’s the article if you’d like to read more.
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Perryisms
This morning I had the opportunity to participate in the NewSpring service from our vacation spot in Florida. We were able to experience the 11:15 service through a test of our new Web Campus that will be launching in the coming weeks.
Here are some of Perry’s statements that grabbed my attention. (btw… He’s just as compelling when he’s teaching at the Web Campus.)
- “One of the reasons we stress out about the future is because we forget about God’s faithfulness in the past.”
- “The reason you are so stressed with the things on your calendar is because Jesus is not there.”
- “Go back to where he called you.
- “We’re not called to fight the world. We’re called to reach the world.”
- “He gives us what we do not deserve.”
- “We cannot know God’s will apart from God’s Word.”
- “I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next.”
- “God called you to be someone special and to do something special for him.”
- “I don’t think it’s right for a church to say they’re committed to missions and ignore the needs in their own backyard.”
- “The reason we exist as a church is to make the name of Jesus famous one life at a time.”
If you get a chance, I hope you take the opportunity to watch the video from today’s service when it’s posted online later this week. The entire service is a video recap of everything that has happened at NewSpring in 2008. Encouraging. Inspiring. Challenging.
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I don’t like Christmas music…
But these songs are good. Here are a couple of songs that RoseAngela and Lee performed during our Christmas services this past weekend at the Anderson campus. The second one you might not recognize as a Christmas song, but when you listen to Perry’s message you find out it really is.
Oh Holy Night from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.
It is well from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.
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Reality Check
I just finished reading Guy Kawasaki’s new book called Reality Check. It’s officially the longest book that I’ve read that I enjoyed. My only advice to Guy is that in the future I think he needs to hire a hatchet editor to streamline his content. The book is 474 pages long. I skimmed through several sections. But within those 474 pages is some rich advice that really challenged my thinking in several areas.
Here are some examples of the wisdom contained within the book:
- “It’s hard to stay motivated and excited about executing crap. It’s easy if you’re changing the world. So if you and your team are having a hard time executing, maybe you’re working on the wrong thing.”
- “The only thing that’s worse than asking for too much help from a person who’s unwilling to give it is to ask for too little help from a person who is willing to give it. So ask. And keep asking.”
- “If you are starting a new church, do you really need a $100,000 multimedia audiovisual system? Or just a great message from the pulpit?” (Didn’t expect to find that question in a business book. It’s a valid question.)
- “Create great products that make segments of people very happy. And fear not if these products make other segments unhappy. The worst case is to incite no passionate reactions at all, and that happens when companies try to make everyone happy.”
- “Lots of research in economics and psychology shows that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. As a result, we become lousy communicators.”
- “You should not try to bludgeon them into becoming a customer. My recommendation is that you enable people to test-drive your product or service in order to make their own decision.”
- “The problem with most presentations is that people try to include too much… What is the core message?”
- “If you create a great product or service, you may not be able to stop a community from forming even if you tried.”
- “The best people are seeking great jobs, and great jobs usually involve great challenges.”
- “Tradition holds that the opposite of excessive ego is humility, when in fact having too little ego is just as dangerous and unproductive as having too much.”
- “At the very top of the list of things that make people feel happy and fulfilled is doing work that you find challenging and deeply meaningful with colleagues whom you respect and care for.”
- “One of the biggest mistakes you can make in life is to accept the known and resist the unknown.”
- “Life is too short to deal with assholes.”
If you are unfamilar with Guy’s work, you can learn a little more about him here or by following his blog. He gained fame for evangelizing the Mac. More recently, he launched Alltop, where, among other things, you can keep up with what’s happening in churches.
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Perryisms
We celebrated Christmas over the weekend at NewSpring Church with 9 services in 3 locations. Over 14,000 people attended, and219 people accepted Christ.
Here are some of the highlights from Perry’s message:
- “Where are you going to spend eternity?”
- “God has relentlessly been trying to get your attention for a long time.”
- “He is king. You are not, and that’s disturbing for some of us.”
- “They knew the Bible, but they missed Jesus. They were immersed in religion, but completely missed it.”
- “Without Jesus, every one of us would be screwed.”
- “What has God been trying to do to get your attention?
- “We find reasons to delay what we know is right.”
- “We like to pretend like there’s nothing wrong.”
- “I was the only one at the table without a sweater vest.”
- “A piece of chicken shot out my nose and landed on the table.”
- “I’m not asking do you go to church? I’m asking do you know Jesus?“
Hope you all have a great Christmas!
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Mac vs. PC
Yesterday I talked about the shift that has happened with browsers over the last year. This shift should be a little bit more alarming for Bill Gates and company. Back in August 2007, these were visitors to my site were using the following operating systems:
- Windows (81% of visitors)
- Mac (18%)
- Linux (1%)
Here’s how the numbers look today:
- Windows (69%)
- Mac (29%)
- iPhone (2%)
Couple of things stand out from these numbers. First, PC-world is losing ground rapidly to the Macsters. (They grabbed my boss a month ago.) Also, it’s interesting to see mobile users pop up. It’s only 2% now, but my guess is we’ll see that number continue to rise at an increasing pace. That should make you wonder how mobile-friendly your websites are.
Let’s hear it. Has anyone in the crowd switched from PC to Mac in the last year? Also, has anyone left Mac for a PC? And, if so, how’s the transition treating you?
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Web Browser Wars
Earlier this week, I did a little analysis using Google Analytics to determine what web browsers people are using to access my site. Here’s the current breakdown:
- Internet Explorer (41% of visitors)
- Firefox (39%)
- Safari (16%)
- Chrome (2%)
- Other (2%)
What’s interesting is to compare these stats to what the picture looked like a little more than a year ago. Here are the numbers from August 2007:
- Internet Explorer (63%)
- Firefox (27%)
- Safari (10%)
Clearly Explorer is losing ground fast. I happen to use Firefox on my PCs and Opera on my mobile phone. I ditched Explorer a couple of years ago. I also have Chrome on my PCs and use it from time to time; however, I love Firefox and all its add-ons.
Are you one of the folks that switched browsers within the last year. If so, why?
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The Global Village?
I went back and looked at the stats for 2008. Outside of the United States, here are the top ten countries that sent the most traffic to my site:
- Canada (Eh?)
- United Kingdom (They’re going to love our new Web Pastor.)
- Australia (Wonder what they thought of Perry’s visit?)
- Germany (They must have heard I drive an Audi.)
- India (I’ve been to the Taj Mahal.)
- Philippines (I have a friend that used to eat bats there.)
- New Zealand (I still haven’t watched the Lord of the Rings movies.)
- Spain (Thanks for sending Christopher Columbus our way.)
- South Africa (I’d like to visit someday.)
- Singapore (I wonder if you have the most TonyMorganLive.com fans per square mile.)
I’m also proud to share that Italy was #25 on the list. It all began in Matrice, Italy about a century ago. I wouldn’t be here blogging without you.
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Top Searches of 2008
Yesterday I shared the top sites that sent traffic here, today I thought I’d unveil the top searches of 2008. Here are the top ten searches other than some version of “Tony Morgan” that led people to my site in the last 12 months:
- Andy Stanley
- Google Task Manager
- Steven Furtick
- Assistant
- NewSpring
- Sticks Conference
- Craig Groeschel
- Perry Noble
- Lee McDerment
- Hoosier Jokes
Just for the record, I think this list proves that you are a bizarre group of people.
Aside from your own name or your church’s name, what’s the most popular search term that leads people to your site?
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Top Traffic Sources
As we’re closing out 2008, I thought you might be interested in learning a little bit about yourselves. Thanks to Google Analytics, I’m able to track how people end up on this site. Here’s how you ended up here:
- Direct traffic (29%)
- Google (19%)
- Twitter (14%)
- PerryNoble.com (12%)
- Facebook (2%)
- MondayMorningInsight.com (2%)
- Bloglines (1%)
- StumbleUpon (1%)
- Yahoo (1%)
- Other (19%)
Here are a few observations. First, it’s obvious that Google is kicking Yahoo’s tail. Secondly, I’m amazed at how social networking sites are beginning to impact traffic patterns. Finally, it’s good to have Perry Noble as your boss.
Just out of curiosity, how does this compared to your site stats?
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Fear or Hope? It’s Your Choice.
Read this fascinating article this morning from TechCrunch on the challenges of our current economic situation. In it, the writer quoted Steve Larsen, veteran CEO and currently co-founder of Krugle:
“I think the doom and gloom crowd are getting too much airtime. Look for opportunities. Difficult times are when they’ll most likely occur. When we’re at ‘steady state’ and things are normal, good opportunities are much harder to find with GREAT opportunities nearly impossible. It is during periods of tumult and transition when you can spot things that lead to the greatest returns—if you are alert. So be alert.”
The writer goes on to challenge business leaders with this:
“If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it, is the surest path to obsolescence. Equally, swinging the axe without accuracy and grace will also send you packing. Constraint forces and inspires creativity. Operate not from fear, but from vision, determination, and ingenuity.”
This article was written for business leaders, but hopefully you are embracing the same tactic in your ministry. The economic situation our world is facing offers an incredible opportunity for the church. We should be rejoicing. Our message of hope is clearly distinct from what the rest of culture is communicating right now. People are craving what we have to offer. We should celebrate because “constraint forces and inspires creativity” within the church as well.
“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (I Peter 3:13-15)
We can’t be slaves to fear. We need to demonstrate that we our set apart. Our message is unique. Our hope is unique. We have what others want desperately in their souls. Now is the time for the church to inspire, capture people’s attention and share the good news that we have to offer. And we can embrace that mission because our God is:
“Able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Eph. 3:20-21)
He was our God before this economic crisis, and he still is our God. That’s why we have hope. It’s not fake hope. It’s real hope for real people dealing with real challenges.
Be alert. Pray for opportunity. Now is not the time for fear. Now is the time for hope.
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Top Posts of 2008
I just went back and looked at the stats. Here were the posts that received the most traffic in 2008:
- America’s Most Innovative Churches of 2008
- Resign Today!
- 25 Web Apps that Make My Life Easier
- 10 Reasons I Don’t Like Most Christians
- Pastor Does the KJV-SmackDown on NewSpring
- Listen to this New Tune from Lincoln Brewster
- My Desktop
- 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail
- NewSpring Church Opener: Crazy in Love
- “Ladies and Gentlemen” Opener form Buckhead Church
Do you remember any other posts from the last year that caught your attention? What are you hoping I’ll write about in 2009?
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Last Minute Christmas Shopping?
There are only a few days left until Christmas, and I know a number of you are facing the dilemma of knowing what to buy your favorite blogger. In an effort to make life easier, I’ve done the shopping for you.
- Day & Age, new CD from The Killers
- Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder
- Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musings on Leadership, pre-order my new book!
- Kindle, reading device from Amazon
- Outliers, new book from Malcolm Gladwell
- Paper Trail, new CD from T.I.
- When the World Comes Down, new CD from The All-American Rejects
- Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It
Just forward this list to Santa and let his elves do the rest. It’s just that easy.
What are you hoping Santa will bring you this Christmas?
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Comment Problems
I implemented IntenseDebate on my site several days ago to allow for threaded comments on my blog. Though WordPress has added that feature to the newest version, my specific theme doesn’t support threaded comments.
IntenseDebate seemed to be working for a while, but then the comments stopped syncing with the WordPress comment database. Because of that, I had to turn off IntenseDebate before I lost more comments.
The bottom line is that I unfortunately lost the comments that were left within the last 24 hours or so. My apologies to those of you who left those comments. Even though future blog readers won’t see them, I did. And, I’m quite sure, they will be embedded in my mind forever.
Feel free to share your comments about losing comments if you’re in to that sort of thing.
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Where is Your Focus?
When my staff team shows up at the office on Monday morning, is it because they love what they do or is it the relationships?
When my daughter’s friends show up for student ministry, is it because they know they’ll hear a great message or is it the relationships?
When my kids laugh at me laughing at my own jokes, is it because of my keen sense of humor or is it the relationships?
When people attend a NewSpring service for the first time, is it because we created a compelling series graphic or is it the relationships?
When people return to my blog, is it because of my writing ability (or lack thereof) or is it the relationships?
When people volunteer at NewSpring, is it because they get to use their gifts or is it the relationships?
What I do is important. I’m just not convinced it’s what’s most important.
Where is your focus?
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When Does Church Marketing Work?
Church marketing is more effective when…
We realize it has little to do with advertising or promotions.
We focus less on what we say and more on how we act.
Every interaction reflects the values we embrace. (Think personal, biblical, excellent, relevant, simple, etc.)
We realize that louder isn’t better.
Someone says “I’m in” and timely follow-up happens.
We look at it as relationship building and stop viewing it as information sharing.
We talk less about how great we are (”organization-focused”) and instead deliver a message and ministry that leads to life change (”people-focused”).
We realize we can’t force what we think people need until they know they need it.
We reduce the number of competing messages we are trying to communicate.
We know who we are trying to reach.
We’ve acknowledged we can’t reach everyone.
We’ve developed a way to measure the outcomes of our efforts.
We deliver on what we promise.
You can read the previous posts that have been a part of this conversation here, here and here. What would you add or delete from this list?
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It’s Just Hard to Say
You probably thought this was going to be a cheesy post about how hard it is for people to say something like “I’m sorry.” Those may be difficult words to say, but that’s not what this post is about.
I rarely communicate from a platform. Honestly, I’m much more comfortable sitting behind a keyboard than I am standing behind a podium. One of the reasons is that I have trouble saying words that normal people handle fluently.
I’m verbally-challenged. Words that easily flow from your mouth are difficult for me to enunciate. They may be simple words, but they make me stutter.
For example, here are
10 words that are easy to write but difficult for me to say
- Liaison
- Folks
- Groin
- Jewelry
- Roof
- Dollar
- Hallelujah
- Squirrel
- Realtor
- Uvula (more on this later)
It’s literally hard for me to say this, but I hope you folks never need a liaison to bring your jewelry to a squirrel. That would be like a kick in the groin.
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