This week we started a new series called “Alive”.  We will be going through the book of Colossians for the next month, and at the same time starting a walk through journaling our thoughts and questions as we study through this book.

The creative minds over here decided to do something different and actually engage (not that we don’t try to do that anyway) with everyone on a different level.  We started a website (http://www.thealivejournal.com) that corresponds to a paper journal everyone received on Sunday.

As we walk through the book, the website will be updated with new scriptures and an application each day for the remaining of the series.  A fresh approach and something that will hopefully catch on with others.  I know writing is like many other things in life.  The more you write, the better you get, and the more you write.

How Do We Continue to Create?

How do we continue to create?  It doesn’t matter if you are working for a church, a school, self-employed, or whatever, creativity is important, it keeps our minds “alive”.  Opening up and becoming more creative is something I strive to do each day, but I don’t buy into the notion that there are creative people and people who are not creative.  Everyone is creative, but not everyone allows it to come out, or deems it to be important.

Looking ahead I don’t want this to be the pinnacle of creativity this year.  To me, there are basically three areas of creativity (I know there are many more but follow me here) that pretty much encompass everything else; writing, o-graphy (that would be photo-video), and music.  So, to me, the key is how to grow in each of these areas and find new ways to create in each of these areas.

Anne Jackson wrote a great piece today, The Death of Publishing as We Know It: Who Holds the Smoking Gun? that talks about how the publishing industry has screwed itself into the ground by publishing so many mediocre books.  True, we are not all writers, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t write.  As a photographer I would say the same thing.  Just because you are not a professional photographer does that mean you are never going to pick up a camera again?  My key for myself is to write more, shoot more, and read more.

So, as some say, here is a “mind dump” in no particular order.

10 Ways to Create Original Ideas

1. Write more, read more, and learn more about media
2. Surround yourself with creative minds when you can
3. Ask someone for help or suggestions
4. Expand what you normally do and be different
5. Get out of your routine, go outside your normal elements
6. Remember your focus - what is it, making money, salvation, discipleship?
7. Don’t copy —- take, redesign, and create something new
8. Don’t be afraid of the box - throw the box out and don’t worry about what is “correct”
9. Think for yourself.  Don’t let others tell you how to think.  Study and think for yourself
10. Be prepared to fail and try something else

Number 7 is a little vague I know.  What I mean is what we read from Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:

9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Most “new” is something that was improved upon from something or someone else.  So find something good and make it great.  My problem is always “finding the new”.

This is really my list for myself.  I have never felt like I was a very creative person but most of that is because I refused to let it surface.  It had no real purpose.  Perhaps the older I get the more important it is and the harder I have to work at it to get better.

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• A Blog’s Look at the Highs and Lows of 2008
• I Have Now Joined the Ranks of Church IT?
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• Work From Home Rainy Day and Some Pumpkin Carving // Friday Feet

The bowl game of the day of course is Alabama vs Utah in the 2009 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.  It has been a very long time since Auburn has not made it to a bowl game, so this year I am just going to have to go for Alabama.  Hopefully next year we will be back in a bowl game somewhere warm.

Friday Feet today was a triple shot of trees, bike, and football (although the football game was Kentucky vs Easy Carolina, which was also a very good game).  As I write this the Alabama game is now and Utah has taken a touchdown lead, it should be a great game.  This year it seems like it has been a very long holiday and I am looking forward to getting back to a normal work week and to next weekend when Deb and I will take a short break down in Orange Beach.  Have a great weekend everyone.

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• Dinner and a Movie // Friday Feet

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the Wii or Nintendo or anything like that is evil or wrong, heck, I bought my wife a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, but thank goodness she didn’t have this reaction.  It is the reaction we have in our heart, the importance we place items and objects, especially when we give them priority over our Lord for one, but our family, and our sanity.  Anyway, here it is… be for warned, lower your speakers.

So… what do you think?  Not sure what I could give Deb that would make her have that reaction, but then again, she already has the best gift of all, and we tried really hard to focus on Jesus this Christmas, not just the Nintendo Wii.

Update: New Nintendo Wii Video

Seth Godin’s blog picked up this video from the post here, this is a collection of more of the same from the video I posted above. I think Seth is correct, it has reached critical mass.

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What Was the Highlight of 2008?

For me personally, my highlight was probably joining the staff of Cornerstone Church as their IT person in December.  This was something I had been looking at, praying about, and preparing for, for many years, long before I ever moved to Auburn.  What made it even better to me was how outstanding the existing leadership staff (Rusty, Josh, Brian, and Jack) was when I came on board, and I can’t wait to move ahead in 2009 with the goals set forth by the church and the Church body as a whole.

I have only had time to just get my feet wet through the month of December but looking ahead there are great things in store for this small, but growing, church body, and hopefully I can contribute to its continued success in leading people to know and serve Jesus.

What Was the Lowlight of 2008?

Can you have a highlight or a best without a worst? I know many who believe this to be true, that you don’t have to have the existence of evil to good but that is for another post.  Probably the low point of 2008 for me and my immediate house was when we lost my mother-in-law Georgia to cancer.  It was not something I will ever forget, and is something I remembered in one form or another every day from April to this day.  I learned a lot, prayed a lot, and miss her as well.

Best of the Blog in 2008

These are some of the best according to me stats, but I am also picking the blog posts that I liked the best, which is not something stats will tell you.  It is interesting that stats will only tell you exact numbers, not feelings, so enter a feeling into the equation and it will change everything.

My Favorite Posts of 2008

• A Cold Day on the Beach in February is Empty and Fun - February 15, 2008 – 5:53 am
• Does a Church Really Need a Website? - March 27, 2008 – 12:58 pm
• Humidity, Storms, and Lightning in Alabama are Back - July 30, 2008 – 9:09 am
• Opening Day for Encounter at Auburn University - August 23, 2008 – 5:00 pm
• Auburn vs Tennessee Photos, Tigers Football Wins 14-12 // Game 5 - September 28, 2008 – 3:31 pm
• The Speakers at Catalyst08 Conference from Thrusday // Catalyst Photos - October 11, 2008 – 9:52 am
• Caitlin Beidler from Redemption Art in Worship // catalyst08 Photos - October 27, 2008 – 12:04 pm

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Sports, financial, technology, everywhere data is kept and you can gain so much information by examining statistics beyond surface level.  It can show you where you need to improve, what works, what doesn’t, and how to reach more people.

There are many reasons to have a blog, but is one of them to reach more people?  If so, you should know something about how to reach those people your blog is targeting.  Statistics is one way to evaluate how to do that.  If you don’t care about reaching new readers than I guess none of that matters, but many bloggers want to reach out.

A quick few tips for reaching new readers in 2009 on your blog would be something you can gain from your statistics.  Your stats just tell you how you have done, not what to do.  So, my few tips for what they are worth would be:

1. Keywords - be descriptive in your posts and your titles, the Internet runs off keywords.  If you had to pick one or the other, blog titles would come first.  Google keys off title tags so choose a title that is descriptive (like a newspaper headline) that accurately describes your post.

Keywords are not bad, they are just describing your post more accurately for the search engines to find the post.  For example, instead of saying we are going to be watching new year’s eve shows tonight, say we will be watching Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2009.

2. Content - the phrase content is king is still true.  Want people to be interested in reading your blog, write original and thoughtful content.  Don’t repeat material found on other blogs and don’t re-post content from other places but instead, write about your thoughts on that topic and link to the original content.

3. Show Some Link Love - one of the best things you can do for a fellow blogger is link to the direct post.  Linking to their blog is great, linking directly to a post they have written is even better.  The reason behind this is by doing so, you give their specific post more relevance when being looked at by google and it creates a pingback to their blog.  Google operates their search algorithms by deciding what is more relevant that something else, and one of the ways it does this is by the buzz around a post or article, and lets face it, the higher you are on Google’s list, the more visitors you will have to your blog or website.

4. Consistency - post with some consistency.  You don’t have to post every day, but posting once, then a month later doing another post, then a week later doesn’t always work well with search engines.  The code on your blog should be consistent as well.  This pretty much taken care of by Wordpress or Typepad but the more frequently you change the focus on your blog or theme or coding the less relevant Google sees your blog.

5. Focus (remember your readers) - know your readers and pick a few key subjects and focus your blog on those topics.  For my personal blog, I focus on faith, photography, and personal topics and I try not to stray to far away from those topics (which are broad anyway).  Remember your readers.  You may think you are writing your blog for yourself, but you are really writing for your readers.  If you are writing for yourself and no one else, then there are several journal programs that will accomplish that purpose, but supposedly a blog is a “web log” about life, sharing ideas, information, and most of all communicating with others (i.e. your readers).

Bonus. Read other blogs and comment - ok, so there were actually 6 points, but I left the best for last.  To me, one of the most important things to do as a blogger is read other people’s blogs, and leave thought driven comments.  Blogging is a two way communication, not one way.  You should be ready to interact with your readers, and interact with other bloggers.  Blogs that only go one way become stale and cold.  Bloggers love comments.  If you want comments on your own blog, leave comments on other people’s blogs yourself.  Don’t spam your fellow bloggers.  Read, and if it was a thought provoking post, leave them a comment with your thoughts.

You can have the best content, the highest ranking, the best graphical design, and if you don’t allow comments, and never interact or comment yourself, your blog will be cold and corporate.  When I come across blogs that don’t allow comments that are in my feed reader, I title them in my reader with the extension “(blog title) - [no comments]” and they are usually the last blog I read, if at all.

The best example of how not to do it I have is from Desiring God.  John Piper has one of the very best blogs, period.  The content is incredible, the design is great, he has a ton of readers, and he doesn’t allow comments on his blog and (as far as I can tell) does not interract with his readers or responds to his email (at least not mine).  And because of this, I rarely read his blog, but it is one of the best on the Internet.

What are your plans for your blog for 2009?

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Throughout the several weeks leading up to Christmas I started noticing a common and expected behavior repeated over several people and basically saying the same thing.  When they were given a gift there was an expectation of something in return.  This is not new of course.  Many times when someone gives you something they expect something in return, or when you receive something, you feel obligated to return the gift with something of the same.

I am not sure where this “tradition” got its roots, perhaps it was just customary of the culture or something we have come to expect.  Something with strings.  If this is the government talking, yes, I would expect strings.  Many times close friends or family put strings on things, but not always.  To me, there is not much that follows the example Jesus gave us less than giving a gift with an expectation attached to it.  God didn’t do this to us did He?

One of the most famous verses in scripture is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”.  If we briefly break apart that sentence, we see that God did what he did out of “love”, and He “gave”.  The word gave or give appears in scripture so much that you can’t even get out of Genesis without those two words being mentioned over 50 times.  The example God gives us is to give out of love, and expect nothing in return.

So, if you received a gift from us this year, I do not want to receive an obligitory gift in return, and don’t expect one either.  If you feel like giving someone something, great, and if someone wants to give you a gift out of love, accept it for what it is and don’t add the obligation or expectation of something in return.  Personally I would rather receive nothing that a gift given in expectation rather than love.

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To do this, we must not take His glory for ourselves.  Not something very easy to accomplish, especially when you take today’s culture and modern technologies into consideration.  We do almost everything for ourselves, with ourselves in mind.

Driven and drilled into us from day one in our great country (for those who live in the U.S.), life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which sometimes seems like the pursuit of ourselves.  The American dream, to own a house, 2 cars, have 2.4 kids, a good career, and a full 401k.  For some reason, “when love comes to town” reminded me of the reason for Christmas and even moving on into Easter, and the love He showed for all of us when He became flesh, and is why He deserves the glory.

The point of this message (at least in my interpretation) was to bring the Christmas season series to a close and bridge into our new and upcoming series on bringing our spiritual life alive, but I think we use the example we were given and use love to accomplish this.  For God to increase, I must decrease, for me to decrease, I must do this out of love.  To me, matters of faith start from the heart.

I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice when they pierced his side
But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide

When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that train
When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town

As the year comes to a close, I always start thinking about a recap of where, what, when, and how of this year and what is coming up next year.  This year and leading into next year, to bring my spritual life “alive”, I must decrease. [I am not sure why we only do this at year end instead of all year long, but it just seems like a natural break where we mark a point in time that has an end and a beginning at 12:00 midnight at on December 31st.]

Some random thoughts on how I can try to extend this into next year:

• read more
• do less for my reasons, more for His reasons
• work as if no one will ever know or see the results of my labor but God Himself
• remember I am working for His glory, not any one person
• give more :: time, money, effort, support, attention
• give up more :: control, of self…
• don’t give up when… I feel like it
• appreciate :: time, life more (not to be confused with Time Life)
• serve more
• make a don’t do list, and don’t do the things on my don’t do list

I like top ten lists but all the items above can be narrowed down to “love”, and I did what I did before love came to town.  Happy New Year everyone.

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As the holiday days wind down I am really looking forward to getting back to work (without holiday interruptions).  We have so much coming up in the next few months, and I am really looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.  One area we will be ramping up is “Twitter church”.  So if you are not a Twitter member yet, sign up and see what it’s all about.  Once you have signed up, you can follow Cornerstone from @cornerstonebuzz and if you are so inclined, you can follow me at @scottfillmer as well.

My Friday Feet post is a little late because I spent most of yesterday with family and at the movies.  My dad and I went to see Valkyrie and if you have any desire to see the story about the assassination attempt on Hitler, I would highly recommend this movie.  I knew very little about this story from WWII and although it was a movie, it did seem to follow the historical account fairly close.  Although I am not a big fan of Tom Cruise any more, it is hard to deny that this was one of the better movies of 2008.

My friday feet post today is in recognition of the last Friday of the 2008 calendar year.  This photo is on the corner of our patio.  Deb and I placed our feet in the wet concrete just about this time two years ago when we moved into our house.  It is a marker or reminder of the passage of time to me and I look at it almost every time I walk across the patio.  2006, 2007, and a lot of 2008 are almost a blur in history now but this image has become almost a time capsule in my mind of when we finally moved into our house here in Auburn.

Welcome home to all those who were traveling over the last few days, hope your New Year will be great.

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Some here is some Christmas link love for some of the blogs I read.

• …and protest
• 12 Steps Closer
• 97secondswithgod
• :: Cre8vE [creative] chaos ::
• =) Bnpositive’s Blog
• A renewed revolution of hope
• A Rising Generation
• AC Blog
• Anne’s Spot
• (A’s)Musings
• BARNABAS TASK
• BEDOUINS INTERNATIONAL | Blog
• betterthanblank
• Beyond JEMS
• Beyond Relevance
• Big Skye’s Country
• Billy Chia
• biscuet.com
• Blake Thompson daht Net
• Blogerton
• BradRuggles.com
• Brett Younker
• brett younker
• brian fox
• brian seay
• Brody Harper
• Bryan Allain’s Blog
• Catalyst Backstage
• CatalystSpace | Catablog
• Cello Girl Talks
• Christian Music Fan
• ChurchCrunch - The Intersection of Technology and…
• churchrelevance.com
• Clif Guy all the time
• College Rambling
• Comments on your photostream and/or sets
• Consuming Worship
• Cornerstone Finance
• Creative Worship
• creative|ideas
• Crucial Encounter
• CULTURE TYPES.com
• Daniel Renstrom
• daveferguson.org
• Desiring God Blog - No Comments
• Dialogue Church Blog
• Disruptive Faith
• djchuang.com
• Doxologist
• Driven
• Dwell Deep
• EdYoungBlog
• effective web ministry notes
• Eric Taylor
• Ethos-A Cultural Watercooler by Randy Elrod
• Faith, Love, and Rock and Roll as Told by The Brown…
• Fierce Grace
• First Impressions Team at Cornerstone
• Flickr CPF Blog
• FlowerDust.net | Anne Jackson
• fluidity
• FredMcKinnon.Com
• From Wilmore, with Love
• Give Grace - Grace Campus Ministry
• Gods Mac Blog
• gotroot.hsdemos.com
• History in the Making
• iknowtheguru.com/Blog
• Inside Out - Lisa Ruggles
• inWorship
• Jack Fisher
• Jack Graham Blog
• Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings
• JDGreear.com
• Jesus Creed
• Joe Thorn
• Just Another Minute
• Kem Meyer on Less Clutter & Noise
• Leading With A Limp
• LeadingSmart
• learning the rhythm
• Lefsetz Letter
• Letters from Kamp Krusty
• life as we know it
• Lincoln Brewster Newsfeed
• Live to Worship
• Livin’ Out Loud
• Makarios
• Malachi’s Very Unscientific Hypothesis
• Mark Driscoll’s blog
• MercyMe
• Ministry Best Practices
• MinistryCOM
• MMerge
• MoreThanDodgeball.com
• movement, movement
• My Technical Life
• MyWorshipinMotion
• natedavidscott.com|ifiweredebtfree.com
• Nelson Searcy - Renegade Pastor - Church Leader Insights…
• NewSpring Church Blog
• Nickcarnes.com
• nikao | a collective
• Normal Rockstar
• Notes from Jennifer
• Of First Importance
• Our Rising Sound
• Out of Ur
• Outdoor Encounter
• Pastor Steven Furtick
• Paul D. Watson
• Perry Noble dot com
• Phil Wickham
• Provocative Church
• Ragamuffin Soul
• Read Scott
• readdB
• RELEVANT Magazine
• REVEAL Blog
• Rich Kirkpatrick’s Weblog
• robwestbrook.com
• Run’n Like A Vagabond
• Samaritan’s Purse News Feed
• Scott Magdalein
• Shlog
• Spence Smith - Connecting People To The World Of Travel,…
• Stephen R. Covey
• stevenbush.org
• Steve’s Devotions
• Stevo 28 and Growing
• Striving to Worship
• Stuff Christians Like
• supersimbo……….
• The 410 Bridge
• The Digital Sanctuary
• the normal christian blog
• The Prodigal Jon
• TheNorEaster
• Thinking Christian
• Third Day Pix
• Third Place Consulting
• This Guy Falls Down
• This is Life
• This Is REVERB
• Thoughts of Resurrection
• TonyMorganLive.com
• transitionpete
• Tribal Leadership
• Unspeakable Love
• Vertizontal
• Vicky Beeching
• Visual Coma
• Wayne Elsey’s Weblog
• What If?
• WhyLifeChurch?
• Without Wax
• Worship Journey
• www.askanne.com
• Zak White

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