Interview: Scott McClellan

Who are you, and what do you do for a living?

Allow myself to introduce … myself. My name is Scott McClellan and I’m the Editor of COLLIDE Magazine. COLLIDE is a new magazine about media and technology for church leaders.

What is your dream for Collide magazine?

Good question. I’d love for COLLIDE to become a source of inspiration for our readers. It seems like media and technology have almost unlimited potential in the hands of creative and passionate people. Hopefully COLLIDE will catalyze a lot of innovation and experimentation when it comes to communicating the gospel.

What is the future of design and media in the Church?

Honestly, I wish I knew. I certainly hope that creative excellence becomes synonymous with church media and design someday. But more than that, I hope that authenticity is infused into everything churches create. I see a ton of impressive commercial print and video work, but it doesn’t mean anything to me. Hired guns with a boatload of talent can produce mind-boggling visuals, but I think authenticity is the key to meaningful design and media, especially in a spiritual context.

What are your favorite sources of inspiration?

Music is my first love. The intro to U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” or the chorus to Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” inspire me to create. Scripture inspires me to think about who God is and who we are. Good writing (fiction, non-fiction, film, whatever) inspires me to try to understand the people around me.

How did you start a magazine?

COLLIDE’s parent company has been involved with church media for quite some time through Igniter Media, WorshipHouse Media, and now Echo Church Media Conference. At some point we realized no one was consistently writing about the things we love: media and technology in the Church. We’d never done any publishing, but we figured experience is overrated. We’ve learned a lot since then.

Who are some people you believe are using media well to give glory to God?

The Mars Hills are both good examples. Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI has a great website and provides a ton of great media resources. Plus, Rob Bell is involved with the Nooma videos, which I feel are unparalleled in quality and depth. At Mars Hill Church in Seattle, they have a huge media library, the Vox Pop blog network, Film & Theology nights, and they did a sermon series in which people could submit their tough questions for Mark Driscoll via text message.
Also, it seems as though not a week goes by when I don’t marvel at something innovative LifeChurch.tv is trying. Those guys see new technologies as opportunities to impact people with spiritual truth.

Anything else that you think the world needs to know?

Hmmmm … the world probably doesn’t need to know that collidemagazine.com features our blog and subscription information. I guess I can’t think of anything.

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A few notes:

Scott has been awesome in getting an interview back to us ASAP. Please get a subscription to their magazine, I think it will help in our conversation about giving glory to God through art.

Mars Hill in Grand Rapids is doing a lot of good things, though as a note the head pastors theology is being heavily called into question. The Plow does think they have a pretty cool website, and are doing some great things for their neighbors and helping the poor.

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