Seeds Conference 2013 Quotes
If you're not leading with uncertainty, then you aren't leading in faith!

If you’re not leading with uncertainty, then you aren’t leading in faith! – @CraigGroeschel

It's not a competition, it's a calling.

It’s not a competition, it’s a calling. – @StevenFurtick

"Your identity exists outside of your ideas.

Your identity exists outside of your ideas. – @WhitneyGeorge

There is no victory without a strategy!

There is no victory without a strategy! – @Willie_George

Who told you you can't?

Who told you you can’t? – @RobertBarriger

My good friend Tim Peters, creator of Sayge Resources, got together last week and talked about Leading Creative People and Bringing Ideas to Life. We caputured the time via Google Hangout and posted to his blog at timpeters.org.

After watching/reading the video/post be sure to check out Sayge Resources for monthly coaching and resources to help you reach and engage your congregation and community more effectively.

Kyle is the Digerati Church-to-Church Team Leader at LifeChurch.tv. His role is to oversee creation, development and support of the resources LifeChurch.tv gives away for free to the global church. To find out more about the tools and resources LifeChurch.tv gives away for free visit http://lifechurch.tv/resources.

VIDEO NOTES

Question: What systems do you use to manage projects and meet deadlines?

  • Try different methods and systems. Find the right systems for your style.
  • Strategically spend individual time identifying what is priority.
  • Consistently meet throughout duration of project for updates and adjustments.
  • Applications: Things and Basecamp

Question: How do you take an idea from birth to launch?

  • Ask questions and listen.
  • Take answers to questions and convert to action steps.
  • Constantly evaluate action steps and development of idea.
  • Set hard deadlines. Meeting deadlines allows opportunities to celebrate progress and create momentum.
  • Regularly talk about idea with others within your team and outside your team.
  • Pray over the execution of big idea.

Question: What are the best way to lead creative people?

  • A creative person is a problem solver. Everybody is creative.
  • Be consistent with creative people.
  • Hype up vision, mission and values of organization and idea.
  • Allow “blue sky” moments for dreaming.
  • Regularly have “fun” with your team of creative people.

Question: What is your new role at LifeChurch.tv and how can churches benefit from your resources?

  • Build and develop new free products for church leaders around the Nation.

How do you lead creative people? What ways do you take an idea from birth to launch?

Sayge Resources

I have been asked why the Project 3:45 reading plan’s “5 days on / 2 days off” does not line up with the New Year. So here is a little back-story and then a easy work around to line up the reading plan to match the weekends.

When The Ark Church launched the reading plan with YouVersion for January 1, 2010 we had submitted the plan to fit the weekday/weekend structure of 2010 (first day of the year was on a Friday). Not knowing at that time the plan would get thousands of subscribers that year (now tens of thousands) causing it to be impossible to make any changes to the reading plan when we 2011.

So know 3 years later I encourage everyone to do a little work around with the “Catch Me Up” feature built into YouVersion to get the weekdays/weekend to line up with the Project 3:45 reading plan.

Here is a step-by-step visual instruction of how to line up the Project 3:45 reading plan in the YouVersion App so that your weekends line up. (And today makes it especially easy because it is the first Friday of the month like it was in 2010).

1) Launch the YouVersion App on your mobile device
2) Select “Plans” on the right menu

1

3) Select “Browse Plans” on the bottom, then search “Project 345″ in the top search bar
4) Choose your Project 3:45 reading plan

2

5) Select “Start Plan” at the top, then it will take you to your Plans library
6) Click on “Settings” which is a gear icon to the right of Project 3:45

3

7) Once on the Settings page, select the “Month” option in the bottom menu
8) If you start the plan on a Friday it will line up perfect. If not then uncheck your readings for John 1-3 and then hit “Catch Me Up” or read ahead John 4-5 and it will line it up moving forward. Works the same way if you are in the middle of the plan. Just read ahead or uncheck your past few days to line it up to a Friday, then click “Catch Me Up.”

4

Hope this helps in your reading of Project 3:45 with YouVersion!

5

Download the YouVersion mobile app or read online at YouVersion.com

It’s has been a fun-filled year since I posted the blog “Welcome Koen Christopher Kutter” and it feels like the brainstorm for Koen’s 1 year birthday party theme has been 10 of those 12 months. After Stephanie (my wife) scoured the internet (pinterest mostly) looking for that perfect theme we finally landing on the concept of “Little Man Mustache Bash.” Oh the fun we had in making this theme come to life.

Beside sharing some of the photos of the decorations and my family in this blog I thought I would pass along some of the files for the design elements I did. Click here to download a couple EPS files.
**note…the font “MrMustache” was purchased at myfonts.com











And a BIG THANKS to my two sisters for stepping up and making this Bash one that looked and tasted amazing. Ashlyn (left) did all the decorations and brought the theme to life. Calynn (right) baked and decorated the delicious cupcakes for our guests.

Here is the party’s complete photo album on Koen’s Facebook page. Enjoy!

This event is a prime example of what ministry looks like when a church, departments and individual staff members work in their gifts. We have been blessed at The Ark Church to put on a day camp for K-5th graders for the past several years.

This year’s camp theme was “HEROES” with every square inch of the church campus transformed to support the super hero vibe.

The song “I’ve Got It In Me” is written and performed by Justin Adams & Stephanie Kutter. Thanks to Clay Hestilow our Video Editor for putting together this incredible recap video.

Committed performs live for Mother's Day at The Ark Church on May 13, 2012

I have had the opportunity to be the “promoter” for many of the special services with guest musical artists at The Ark Church. We have made it a tradition of bringing in a special musical act for Mother’s Day and this year’s talent was even more special to me personally.

In December 2010, Stephanie and I got hooked on NBC’s second season of the vocal competition tv show “The Sing-Off.” We both gravitated to one group in particular that we felt stood out above the rest and that 6-man a cappella group was Committed. After their remix performance of “Apologize” by One Republic I looked at Steph and said, “We need to have them at The Ark!”

Well, 18 months later Committed made the trip from Huntsville, AL to perform live during our 2 Sunday morning Mother’s Day services. One thing unique during this “promoter” experience is I made a request for a certain song to be performed and it was one that Committed doesn’t unusually perform in their live show. With it being Mother’s Day and knowing these guys have been musically inspired by Boy II Men (they said that during The Sing-Off) I thought “A Song For Momma” was a very fitting song for the event.

The coolest part of this story is the guys of Committed agreed to learn and perform the song live for The Ark. It was so amazing getting to experience their music live and especially that song (and I am not even a mom). Big thanks to Therry, Tommy, Maurice, Robbie and DJ for such a great performance!

Also, big shout out to my wife Stephanie for the original idea of them performing that song! Love you babe and Happy Mother’s Day!

Last week I had the opportunity to be a presenter at Active Network | Faith’s “Dynamic Church Conference” in Plano, Texas. This was the third conference I had been to for Fellowship One and I was looking forward to the chance to share about a topic that is close to my heart.

During the 6 month implementation of Fellowship One at The Ark Church plus the 2 years that we have been operating strong on the software there has been a lot of “staff buy-in” that I have had to get and maintain. With any major change there is always the opportunity for people to get their toes stepped on or feelings hurt. With the application of these 4 simple principles from this session, “Getting & Maintaining Staff Buy-In”, I believe you can implement a new way of doing “back-end ministry” while keeping your whole church staff energized and enthusiastic about the change.

I was definitely excited to getting the chance to share (twice) at #DC12 but I was even more excited the fact that my friend Becky Grothe was joining the session to share her experiences with this topic while she has served at New Life Church in Colorado Springs as the Membership & Guest Relations Pastor.

It was truly an honor and I hope all that attend were able to hear my heart for all church staffs and be able to apply some of these principles back at their home church.

Here is a quick overview of my notes plus the downloads of the PowerPoint slides and my personal speaking notes (PDF). Enjoy!

1) Software is not the only Solution

  • “Your data is only as good as what you put into it.”
  • Fellowship One (and all other software) is not perfect
  • Adapt your processes to maximize the software
  • Systems Trinity: People, Process, Technology

2) Getting Staff Buy-In

  • “Every person has a reason they are in ministry. Tap into that reason and show them how F1 can accomplish that.”
  • Cast Vision
  • Handle the “Debbie Downers”
  • Roam the halls

3) Speaking the Leadership Language

  • “Reports are not just numbers, make them speak to values of your church.”
  • 360 profile – Power of knowing their name
  • Productivity = More Ministry

4) The Champion In You

  • All church staff seeing Champion Team as resource
  • Having representative/voice on Leadership level
  • Building a Champion Team

Download PowerPoint Slide
Download speaking notes

Under Pressure was a message series at The Ark Church where I serve as MediaPastor. Our Senior Pastor, Alan Clayton, described the series the following way:

“We’re all familiar with the pressure of the last second kick, the important exam or a job interview. Moments like that have the ability to define our lives, but are usually infrequent. Reality is that all of us deal with pressure on many different levels everyday, and how we handle that pressure can shape our future and impact the lives of the people around us. God never promised a life without pressure, but He did promise His help and His peace. With God, handling pressure is possible!”

In this download we included:

To listen to the messages from this series visit www.thearkchurch.com/media

Kudos to the creative team – @rperkinstweets and @clay_hestilow

Starting Strong was our first series for 2012 here at The Ark Church. I was so excited to see the media team take this series from title, concept, design, and done so quickly. The concept was a taken from the Kayak.com brand. We liked the series design so much that we thought we would make it available for free download for anyone else to use.

In this download we included:

To listen to the messages from this series visit www.thearkchurch.com/media

A full description of how the Intro Bumper was made is available in the description on our vimeo page.

Big shout out to @rperkinstweets and @clay_hestilow

Just a Little

October 12, 2011 — Leave a comment

I am big believer of adding “just a little” to my designs and the new facebook app loading page has done just that!

Notice the very light gradient of blue in the background, the oh so faint texture that gives the background a certain dimension, plus the maybe 25% drop shadow behind the word facebook that cause it stand off the screen. I know it is small but to me it adds that needed “pop” to what could be a bland solid blue screen.

It is not too much, it’s just a little!

20111012-103927.jpg