X3 Watch

As designers, web managers, bloggers or just those who surf the net, we are all bombarded with the temptation of lust. Porn sites, istock searches, flicker, the list can go on and on with ways we can be tempted into the sin of lust. So what do we do? I myself need to be on the internet daily, I need to look for photos, and some will tempt me. Well, Mike and I just signed up for X3 Watch. The program will monitor sites you are going to and will flag ones with questionable content. Then you choose accountability parters that will receive emails with those sites. The free program is offered by XXX church, and can be downloaded from the link below.

From Ireland to Mexico with Love

I know nothing of Ireland, and I also no nothing of Mexican culture (TJ excluded). God is so great that He can take two people who would never know each other and allow them to interact for His glory. Jonny and Julie Pollock are missionaries from N. Ireland currently serving in Mexico city. I had a chance to meet Jonny through our blog and then spent a whole weekend reading his, and I can say I am better for it. God has used them, blessed them and blessed others through their service. So read the interview, pray for their requests and then keep up with them from their blog.

Tell us a little about yourself and your ministry. What unforeseen challenges have you encountered?

We are two Christians who felt the call of God to work in Mexico City in church planting when we were here as part of a short term team in April 2006. We work alongside one of the national churches to train, equip and work alongside national workers to plant, disciple and encourage house churches. Having only been learning the language for a little over 5 months it has been a challenge to share with people, but God has really blessed us both in this area, and we are learning to lean on Him, and to realize that we can tell people we are Christians, but it is as important to show them through our lives.

What is the church like in N. Ireland compared to Mexico?

In terms of devotion to God it is much the same, however in a different culture it is amazing to see how people relate to God in the ways that they live. Church in Mexico, as in the culture of Mexico, is very family based, and we have been welcomed into the family of Mexican believers as we work alongside them.

How do you see art and culture working with the church in Mexico?

In Mexican culture music is very important, and people here have amazing gifts in this area. It is fantastic to see people here devoted to worshiping God in their own culture, and with their whole heart, mind and strength.

Are there any needs or prayer requests that you have?

We would ask you to pray for our language study, as we have a desire to share Christ with people and that we will have opportunities to do this with the language we have.

For our health and the health of the missionary family that we serve God alongside.

For our family in Northern Ireland, and Jonny’s family in particular that are outside of Christ, that through our lives that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their need for the Saviour.

For our ministry in church planting, and also with the young people of our church, that many people will come to know the Lord as we humbly serve Him.

You can check our blog at http://www.pollockmexico.blogspot.com to keep up to date with prayer needs and our work.

Parting words?

I have been really challenged by Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
14 Do everything in love.

Just to the importance of love in our ministry. We all have gifts that come from God, but unless we use them in love, and to glorify Him, then they are useless. We must be ready, be assured in our belief that He is almighty, be dependent on Him, and also love one another, reflecting this. This should be our base in our walk with God, because by understanding the perfect love He has for us, we can learn to love with His heart, His mercy and His grace.

It is OK to give up.

We had the assignment to design a giving campaign this past month and had a hard time getting started on it. We kicked around a couple of ideas, plant theme, old fruit label them, unpacking theme, but nothing seemed to click. Finally something pushed us to start designing—the deadline. We had one week to show the client what we had been working on for the past month.

So we had the idea to design it around the number 3. 3 questions, 3 responses and 3 celebrations. This was something that I could work with. I started designing it and then it hit me, will anyone care about this? I made a nice logo, brochure cover, even thought of some cleaver message titles they could do, but it was all blah. Who would ever care about this, I know I wouldn’t. So I made a choice, start over with only a couple days left.

What I had been working on meant nothing to me, it was just there to meet a deadline. The campaign also had no value to the member, why would they care about the number 3? We needed to create something that would challenge people, make them think. So we gave up, and started over.

Finally inspiration hit us, a paper lunch bag, that was all we needed. From there it was all smooth sailing. Our campaign was revolved around this theme “Small Change, Big Impact”. What are small changes we can make in our life to helping a larger goal.

1. Brown Bag It: bring a sack lunch to work once a week, save $540 a year
2. Think Water: Drink water instead of coke for one day, save $240
3. Make a Meal: Make a healthy meal once a month instead of eating out, save $600

This would work, and could have great visuals to help the message.

So the lesson is that it is OK to give up. Stop what you are working on, go for a walk, get some air, and then re-look at the project. Pray about ways that you could communicate with an impact. We have a great message to tell people, we need to make sure we use great ways of doing that.

PS: You can hire us to do this or something just as creative for your church or ministry!

How would you use this?

Here is the challenge. Your a graphic designer for a church. Your pastor loves this art and wants you to use in some form of communication. How would you use it?

(from our homey Cre8vE)

Here’s what I would do: Print it on toilet paper, let the body do the rest.

How far can we push?

LifeChurch has always intrigued me. Here is one of the largest churches in America, has a virtual butt-load of campuses, and they still preach the true gospel with-out compromise. I read a post on their blog Swerve today, and it really stopped me in my tracks. Check out these points.

• In the name of being culturally relevant, some expose themselves to unnecessary temptation.
• In the name of relaxing, some are entertained by sin.
• In the name of ministering to people, some spend unsupervised time with the opposite sex.

In design and marketing we all know what sells, but should we use that? When creating marking we need to think of the person who is reading this and how they might see it, and if sin could creep in. Sites like iStock are a mine field for sexual temptation and we need to make sure that we check ourselves, and have someone who is watching over us. If anything I do leads to sin, mine or others, I need to rethink my approach.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a web service that keeps you in touch with the day to day events of your friends. At first Twitter sounded like a dripping of shallow self-centered thoughts from strangers. But it’s grown on me, though I only follow a few people, it allows me to get a feeling for their lives. You can be my friend here. And here is a video called ‘Twitter in Plain English’:

I would love to see a pastor use Twitter as a way to teach his flock…

What if he twittered verses and the whole church read together, or prayer requests and the whole church prayed together. Most of us sit behind computer screens all day long, how cool would it be if it was done ‘together’.

What if a community group decided to fast together, and twittered each other through the day for prayer and support.

What if a group of porn addicts or alcoholics were on Twitter made themselves available for accountability and support.

What if people twittered their thoughts about the sermon going on they could immediately tel all of their friends about the gospel?

What if the church was reminded of the bible reading plan of the day?

The list goes on and on. Innovation is going to be much more than making things pretty, Twitter is one area that could be used to worship God.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

I myself am a big Bob Wills fan, and now I understand him better. We have just spend the past 4 days in Fort Worth Texas for our yearly company meeting REV08. We nailed down systems, better business practices, and got to go to the world’s largest honky tonk!

God has truly blessed us with an amazing team and I am proud to be apart of it. We will be sharing more about what we learned, and how it will effect our attitude and creativity later, I just wanted to share some photos.

Y’all come back now.

A Note to Our Friends

To everyone that spread the word about the Love Your Enemies poster—your posters are printed and will be shipped by the end of the week. We love that people are getting involved, making comments, and sending us emails. I’m excited to see what’s in the future for us.

You NEED a Sketch Book

Almost no one draws as well as T. Scott Stromberg. In this article he sings the praise of the sketchbook in the creative process, and I couldn’t agree more. Let me tell you a little about my (Mike’s) path to the advertising industry… I was taking a ton of math classes at Western Washington University, and was bored out of my gourd! Instead of taking notes, I drew in my sketchbook for hours everyday. I grew an eye for design, and a mind for pushing boundaries. Listening to math and physics lectures will have you drawing things you’d never imagine. I then expanded that to taking notes during sermons.

I have absolutely zero professional training in design. But sketching through lectures built an eye for design that I don’t think I would have gotten as an art student. I’ll talk in the future about my reading regimen—both theological and business.

Above is a flow chart for a website I was building. Along with a sketch of several interface ideas. Below are some sketches I did a few years ago that I had uploaded on Flickr. They aren’t great, but keep in mind each was done during one sermon.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.