Adams Avenue Crossing's Back Porch

hung up on "the only way"

2009-11-25T07:59:00.000-08:00

really, don't let it bother you or get you hung up.

remember the context. who he was talking to, and when.

maybe the only way for those jews in that time and place was jesus

think too about how we use absolutes in our speech all the time. to make a point. hyperbole. you have to understand this. i'll bet if we tracked all the times in history when someone said "the only way" there actually was another way. maybe the person meant "pretty much the only way" or "one of the only ways" etc

and on another note, don't you think god himself is loving and merciful.

finally we often get hung up when looking at the other guy. it's like when i tell my kid not to play in the street. she's looking over at the other kids playing in the street, saying, "but what about them." yet i'm not talking about them. i'm talking about her. i mean, in your situation, you have been given jesus. don't worry so much about the other people who have. it is more than possible that the only way for you is jesus. that's not saying anything about them.

music to my ears

2009-11-24T00:08:00.000-08:00

So, we’re having a party, and I’m looking forward to hearing Bub playing some of his music. But we are also going to play some recorded stuff. I want to cast a vote for “all the trees of the field will clap their hands” by sufjan stevens. I just found it is based on Isaiah 55. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvq-GQP-VyY

Motto Quest, Pt. 4

2009-11-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

From: Sam

Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: AAC motto

I like all three, but I'm thinking about how people who are not part of the group might react to them:

"Church is a verb" - I read (I don't remember where) of a church that used this one. Most people didn't "get it" and the group ended up changing to something else.

"We Belong Together" - I like the idea. However it does not convey the essence of the group as followers of Jesus as well as the next one. Perhaps it could be a "sub-motto". It sounds like the motto I would expect to see over a picture of someone and their dog that an animal shelter is using in its ad asking people to adopt a pet.

"Live Like Jesus" - I think it conveys what we are trying to do. It feels more Gospel to me and less "emergent" than the other two.

Whatever the group chooses, however, works for us.

Motto Quest, Pt. 3

2009-11-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:56 AM, ... wrote:

TC,

You put below that our motto needs to be subversive. I understand that you don't mean that word in a negative context. However, why does a motto need to be subversive? I just don't connect "church motto" with "subversive". Hmmm . . .

i might be overstating my point.

but i am speaking on many levels.

take aaron for instance. had it smelled like church he would have been repelled. as it is, he's getting baptized.
most communication is non-verbal. people will hear what we are not saying. it has to say that we're different, because we are. we're not a normal kind of church
along those lines, when we wrote the f-s-u mantra we were only weeks removed from church; we have changed dramatically since then. f-s-u sounds church to me + we do not seem churchy to me = we need to remove that gap.
i keep using that word subversion and it may have bad connotations; file it under the 'shrewd as snakes' category; or its like the way jesus spoke in parables. People might not on the surface get a good mantra but they do underneath; "we belong together" to me is subversive because it says "unity" without saying "unity"; and unity is an ambiguous term that conjures images of "United Methodist Church" and "United States of America" ...
furthering that point (shrewd as snakes); i once read in a secular book on power that you are better to not announce your intentions; we intend to follow Jesus, but to someone who is not following Jesus that is a turnoff. How are we going to evangelize then? Appeal to the God (Holy Spirit) within

I don't know if this answers your question.

Let me read what you wrote again.

Perhaps a better answer was, "a motto does not have to be subversive ... but I think many of the best ones are. That's the whole point of post-modern marketing; use sex to sell softdrinks! That's subversion. We're using various appeals (togetherness) to sell Jesus."

Or, looking again at what you wrote: church mottos generally ARE NOT subversive; maybe that's the point. Churches are not by and large modelers of good business practice. Most of what I am saying here is inspired by secular web sites and a consultant (and childhood friend, L.) who worked in the world before her conversion and has since given Joyce Meyers and others a virtual "facelift." But it is also inspired I think by the Spirit; Jesus appealed subversively, didn't he - giving them food for their tummies when what he really meant to give them was food for their souls, so they would never go hungry.

Finally, again, realize that I am thinking about a whole host of people ... people like my rich uncle who for 70 years have grown tired of being "preached to" but might be inclined to give a few grand to a group like us (and better yet might actually see God in what we do through his gifts!) ... as well as those people who frequent LeStats at 2 a.m. and feel comfortable with the Satanized art of Jesus on the walls. They all crave God and we fully intend to unite in ways that are virtually unimaginable at this time. Think again of Aaron.

But internally we will continue to operate with vision and values statements such as "following Jesus in service and unity."

Hope this is helpful in answering your questions, and as always I hope I am open to being pursuaded where appropriate.

Motto Quest, Pt. 2

2009-11-20T17:35:00.001-08:00

Two other workable ideas for AAC motto are:

Church is a verb
We Belong Together

In addition to

Live Like Jesus

Realize that a motto ("Just Do It") is different than a mission or values statement ("Making great shoes for athletes, and kids, too!").

A motto is for marketing. The 85 percent of people who don't go to church ... aren't going to respond too positively to "following Jesus in service and unity". Furthermore the "Follow-Serve-Unite" trifecta is remniscent of pretty much any church catch-phrase ("Love, Joy, Peace," "Faith, Hope, Love" ... or as a former member of my youth group so brilliantly coined in parody, "god-jesus-bible-church.")

Just wanted to make that clear. I'm not killing f-s-u; it's still a good mission or value statement. But we're looking for a motto or marketing slogan that relatates how we are different in a subliminal, creative and non-threatening way. If it evokes images of churches past, then it's probably not doing the job.

It should be subversive :) !!

A few motos, from Wiki

Google: Search, Ads and Apps (I like the old one better!!!: Don't be evil) :)
GE : Imagination at Work
Honda: The Power of Dreams
IBM: Think
Intel: Leap Ahead/Sponsors of Tomorrow.
LG: Life's Good.
L'Oreal: Parce que je le vaut bien. (Because I'm worth it)
Mazda: Zoom Zoom
Microsoft: Where do you want to go today? / Your potential, our passion.
McDonald's: I'm lovin' It
Nike: Just do It
Nissan: Shift_the Future
Pony: let's get it on.
Sony: Like No Other
Xbox 360: Jump In

Motto Quest

2009-11-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about our motto, and conversing with a friend who is a creative media director. I want you to be part of this conversation as we come up with a motto or affirm one that we already have. She says:

If Nike decided to go a traditional route:

Good shoes, Fast results, Great looks.

...do you think it would have had the impact that

"JUST DO IT"

has done?...it's still living in our midst.

Now, I know that Nike is a wearable item. You are a mission. But think how the product is considered a fashion item now, when it WAS a running shoe for starters. It broke barriers. It has defined a lot in the world of fashion.

I hope I am not going to deep here about branding blah blah, but I love bringing the element of breaking into bigger and higher ground with perceptions - identity.

The combination of words you decide to use will be part of the emotional response you will build with the world.

These are good.

Help one another. Cross into life.
Live like Jesus
Follow. Serve. Unite.

I am just coming from the world of branding...so, take what you find to be fitting.

Perhaps you can sit on these and see what may come?

Any thoughts out there? We're not on a deadline or anything, although corresponding with our Dec. 1 party, Sunday's conversation about our vision, and other roll-outs this wouldn't be a bad time to dream up something.

Resurrection

2009-11-20T09:44:00.001-08:00

Time for a rebirth here. This site was the main home of Adams Avenue Crossing until this summer. Now it becomes the underbelly. If the main site is the foyer, the entry way, this site is the back porch, the cellar, the place where residents walk around in boxers and yesterday's t-shirt.

A few ideas:

Be transparent. Be creative.
Post notes and reflections from the books you're reading, including the Bible.
Post links to your own blogs or things you have written elsewhere.

We Have Moved

2009-06-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Set this as your new bookmark: adamsavenuecrossing.org.