I've Moved

That's right...I've moved...After 1,195 posts here on blogger...I've made the switch to a new site.

If you've come here from some link off someones blog...have no fear I'm easy to find.

Just go to:

http://www.jasoncurlee.com

that's it...go there now...oh and if you have a link on your blog to mine...please, would you do me a favor.

Update that link.

10 Commandments of a Weekend Experience

Shawn Wood, author of 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One: Creating a Life of Meaning and Influence, recently wrote a ten part series on the weekend experience.

There are some great things you can pull out of this series if you want to take the planning of your weekend church experience to a whole new level.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, and Part 10

Ask Twitter: How To Build Your Follower Base

If you desire to build your Twitter follower base let me give you a few tips on how I built mine.

I've actually twittered since November of 2007. As of July of 2008 I had around 200 followers. I ended 2008 with right at 1,000 followers and in exactly 41 days into 2008 I added almost another 800.

I write that not to brag but to show you that it can be done. You don't have to be a superstar, famous, or major personality to build a follower base. All you need is a little hard work and some help.

Here are four of my tips:

1. Work - Plain and simple...I am not a fan of someone who did it by any other mean...no bots here baby. To build my follower base I did it by working it. I will go out and follow a lot of people in my area of work and in other areas that I'm interested in. In exchange many of them follow me back. After a week or so I will then un-follow those that didn't follow back and begin that process again. Create a rule...follow everyone that follows you. And also if people take the initiate to follow you follow them back.
   
2. Ask -New Years Eve of '08 was a fun night. I was at 857 followers. I thought it would be cool to make it to 900 by the end of the night...so I asked those that follow me to recommend me...and recommend me they did. Within about an hour of asking I hit 900 and then everyone started pushing to get me to 1,000. In the end I was about 10 short of 1,000 when the clock struck but by the next morning I was sitting well over 1,000. Disclaimer - I would not do this to your network often. In fact, I don't think I would ask my network ever again. This is probably a one time shot for a special number.
   
3. Connect - Send lots of @ replies. An @ reply is taking someone's Twitter name and putting the @ sign directly in front of it in one of your tweets or 140 character post. Ex. "@turnedout so pumped about your vision for launching a church" Connect with others is one of the x-factors of Twitter. In fact, Twitter has become one big communication tool. I've also noticed that as you connect with others many will recommend you to their network.
   
4. Be An Expert - Well, that might be hard to just pull off if you aren't already one...but you can begin to establish a niche for yourself. Choose an area...learn all you can and pass along what you learn. People will follow someone that they believe will add value to their lives.

Now if you weren't turned off by the title and you weeded through the how...let me give you the main reason or the why to all this follow madness. I want to be a leader...I want to set the pace.

I also believe that opportunities are created in connections. With all those people that follow me I understand that someone out there could hold the key to an opportunity.

Third...why would you want to speak to an empty auditorium. If you believe that what you say or write is helpful...why not get it out to as many as possible.

How have you built your follower base? Leave me a comment here with your twitter address. As you know I always give a follow back.

Catch up with the rest of our Twitter Series:

• What Is Twitter
• How Many Tweets
  
• Favorite Twitter Tools
• How Many Followers Is Too Many
  
• How To Build Your Follower Base
  
• *Bonus* Why Should Your Church Twitter?
  

You can follow my tweets at twitter.com/jasoncurlee

Sunday The 8th Through My Window

Here is a look through my window at Bay Area 5 Points on 2-8-09:

• This Sunday was a little different for me as my wife wasn't able to come due to her mom getting out of hospital today.
• First Impressions did a great job today. We added a few new items to our hospitality bar as well as trying out some new flavors of coffee. We are trying to bring something unique to our campus. My goal is to have the best coffee of all our campuses.
• Energy in the band was great today. Ben, one of our singers was all over the stage, speakers, and even did a back flip off the stage...just kidding about the back flip...but he did jump off. Love the energy he's bringing.
• New bass player this week...he's actually a buddy of mine from the "old" days of another church I was in. He was rocking it. Even striking the rockin' bass player pose.
• Song set - Salvation Is Here by Hillsong United, Break Free by Hillsong United, and Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Camp. We only did three songs due to the length of the message.
  
• Lighting was off the hook. Tom Grant, our production director, has been making our Sunday sets stand out. If you haven't been to 5 Points you have to come check it out.
• We tried something new with prayer partners...I thought it out last week...we've tried just about every single way possible to put our prayer team. This week I had them move to the back. Main reason is that I wanted those that were worshiping to not be distracted by watching those being prayed for. We'll see how it goes. Pretty much the same response we normally have.
• Four people prayed to begin a relationship with Christ today....FOUR...praise God...once again...that's the main thing...totally we have had 68 pray to begin a relationship with Christ at Bay Area 5 Points.
• Spent lots of time working with my team today...
• We officially launched Element Student Ministries tonight. It went great...I liked our format...altogether we had 16 teens with 10 adult volunteers. Our student director, Juno Garcia and his wife, did a fantastic job with their team.
• All around great day out at our campus.

Check out how some other churches did today [HERE]

Simply Creative

Awesome Stop Motion Video. Check It Out It's Simply Creative.

Ask Twitter: How Many Should You Follow?

Here is what Guy Kawasaki wrote in a recent post on twitter about followers:

And, truth be told, there are only two kinds of Twitter users: those that want more followers and those that lie. You can follow me here.

The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the tipping point.

How many people should you follow? And why would you want to follow all of them anyway?

Obviously there are different philosophies about this...NUTSHELL - I follow everyone who follows me and unfollow anyone who unfollows me. I willingly follow a lot to get a lot of follow back. Since I follow a lot, 1,593 at time of this post, people often ask how I keep up.

Truth is...there is no possible way. What I do is set up a group in TweetDeck in which I filter out specific people I do follow. I mainly really follow people who talk and connect with me on Twitter. I really follow people who I want to see how their mind works throughout the day. I really follow people in my "industry". I follow people who are adding to the conversation.

But I mainly follow so many because there is a mutual follow back....1,600 at time of post...and I have met so many new friends because of it. And that is about connection...life is all about connections. That next person you are following could be the key to an opportunity you are about to experience.

This week I learned the power of the follow when I had so many people tell us they were praying for our family through a health situation.

I also want to be a pacesetter...one who is out on the edge trying new things and hopefully setting trends. And if you want to lead you have to put yourself out in front.

Of course this being our theme this week...I pitched it to my twitter friends. How Many Should You Follow?

1. @rafaelmarquez as many as you can pay attention to
2. @sassy007 as many as you actually converse with.
3. @JohanCyprich Follow everyone. Everyone has something useful to contribute and say.
4. @VoteMikeJones 60 or less, I explain more here http://tinyurl.com/c7hk3p
5. @jcride442 at least as many that follows you, thats my motto.

Catch up with the rest of our Twitter Series:

• What Is Twitter
• How Many Tweets
  
• Favorite Twitter Tools
• How Many Followers Is Too Many
  
• How To Build Your Follower Base
  
• *Bonus* Why Should Your Church Twitter?
  

You can follow my tweets at twitter.com/jasoncurlee

Time Warner Cable

Customer service...oh don't you just love calling customer service. That's what I did the other day and spent over one hour on the phone with Time Warner Cable...mainly because the first two people couldn't get it right...and one of them was a supervisor.

Here were the tweets of my wonderful experience that started about 15 minutes into my experience:

• Can I tell the whole twitter world that "Time Warner Cable" technical support absolutely is horrible 11:02 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• I have a technical problem and they tell me they can't come out and service me cause there are no available dates 11:02 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• that I need to call back some other day and try to schedule 11:02 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• WHAT????????????????????? Time Warner Cable that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 11:03 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck'
• From @Pastor_Bob: @jasoncurlee Tell them you can't pay your bill either, since there aren't any available dollars. 11:05 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck in reply to jasoncurlee
• @Pastor_Bob right....yeah when you can't do that they are quick to shut you down 11:08 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck in reply to Pastor_Bob
• Then I was told I can't speak to a supervisor.....WHAT????? 11:10 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• AGHHHH...if the first person would have recognized that I was a "commercial" account....that is why you ask for a supervisior 11:24 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• FYI - Still on the phone 11:26 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• Reason we are with Time Warner Cable was for internet/phone/cable for our building...fastest internet for our building in area located 11:29 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• Now on with fourth person - 2nd person (a supervisor) connected me with the wrong department...nice one Time Warner Cable 11:39 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• If you guys and gals don't think I'm blogging these tweets you're crazy 11:40 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck
• Finally hung up...over one hour on the phone...which could have been resolved by the first person who had....NO CLUE!!!! thanx again TWC 11:48 AM Feb 3rd from TweetDeck

And then a few minutes later:

• From @AlexTWC: @jasoncurlee do you need help from Time Warner Cable? 12:09 PM Feb 3rd from web in reply to jasoncurlee
• @AlexTWC think I got it...long story...you'd have to read through my tweets...I was pretty mad 12:40 PM Feb 3rd from web in reply to AlexTWC
• @AlexTWC first two customer service rep one being a supervisor...had no clue what they were doing. that's what messed it all up 12:41 PM Feb 3rd from web in reply to AlexTWC
• @AlexTWC 3rd and 4th people absolutely fantastic 12:42 PM Feb 3rd from web in reply to AlexTWC
• From @AlexTWC: @jasoncurlee clearly you were mad...sorry to hear. Glad it's resolved. You can always reach me here. 12:57 PM Feb 3rd from web in reply to jasoncurlee

All that because the first service rep I called told me that she couldn't schedule an appointment for a technician to come out because there were no open appointments because that is what her computer showed...I even asked, "for the whole next year?" She then told me that I just needed to call back some other day and try again. And then wouldn't let me speak to a supervisor...which when I finally did...connected me to the wrong department.

All that to say...just cause you have a customer now...you better take good care of them cause they may twitter or blog it to about 1,500 people who just might not ever....and I mean e.v.e.r. choose your business.

You ever experience anything like that? What's your customer service horror story?

Ask Twitter: Favorite Twitter Tools

If you are going to twitter and really be serious about it, then your gonna have to use a couple of tools. By tools I mean other websites or downloadable applications. There are twitter tools for PC's or MAC's,

These will allow you to do several things of which I'll breakdown as I talk about them. Here are my absolute top twitter tools:

1. TweetDeck.com - This is my number one tool. It is a downloadable application that takes your feed and helps you break it down into a manageable stream of information. You can set up certain groups of people so you don't miss any of thier tweets. You can add a certain search term that will search for certian topics. It will gather all your @ replies unlike the web version that only collects them if the @name starts the tweet. If you are going to twitter from your computer this is a highly recommended tool.
2. FriendOrFollow.com - This is a great web application that will show you people you follow that don't follow you back or vice versa...those that follow you but you don't follow. I personally use it to unfollow people that don't follow me back. (One of my twitter rules)
3. SocialToo.com -SocialToo allows me to auto-follow or auto-unfollow people as well as leave them a thank you direct message.
4. Twitterfeed - This application allows me to post the feed of my blog to my twitter so that when ever I post it sends a tweet to let everyone know.
   
5. TweepSearch.com - This site is a great place to search for people. Just type in a search term like "Pastor" or "innovation" and it will go to work.
   
6. Twitter.Grader.com - Come on...you can twitter and not know how your doing. Just type in your twitter name and it will grade your page. It will also show you the top twitter people in your city or even industry by hitting the search tab and entering a search term.
   
7. TwitterCounter.com - This will show you in graph form how many people follow you day to day and will predict where you will be at next month.
   
8. TweetStats.com -This site will give you a full breakdown of your tweets: tweets per hour, tweets per month, tweet timeline, reply statistics and much more. Just type in your twitter name and it will go to work.

Those are the one's I use, so, it being our theme, I asked my twitter friends what tools they use. Some didn't leave website addresses for their tools but if you google them you will surely find them:

1. @soverpeck tweetdeck.com, twellow.com, twitterfeed.com
2. @daveingland my favorite twitter tool is tweetdeck. second favorite is tweetlater.com
3. @hbuzzell PowerTwitter; TwitterFox and TwitterBar
4. @OnlineDisciples Twhirl http://www.twhirl.org
5. @NickHempsey Tweetdeck, Socialtoo.com and Tweetstats.com
6. @daniellesuzanne oops: twit this http://twitthis.com/
7. @gbrandonc I use twitterfox. I am not crazy about tweetdeck. http://www.usetrackthis.com/
8. @aaronjbates TweetDeck, Tweetholic.com, Spaz
9. @rajean I'm a newbie, but I use http://twitter.com/grader, http://usequitter.com/. I know it's only 2. Hope it helps. Rajean
10. @SloweThinking Stephen Lowe slowethinking.com - tweetdeck, twitterberry and twitterfeed
11. @tahitipearls tweetdeck and twitterfon for iPhone!
12. @ExistentialPunk twhirl and Twitter Search
13. @jdarnell Tweetdeck and Twitterberry & TinyTwitter on the Blackberry to manage two separate Twitter accts... grader and Mr. Tweet
14. @djchuang twitterfon and tweetdeck and twitterfox
15. @Johnwsnyder Tweetie and Tweetdeck
16. @Harrisongivens tweetdeck for the mac, tweetie for iPhone... Twitterfon is also
17. @tylersorrells my fave twitter tool is my cellphone. retro style here no blackberry or iphone here! lol
18. @dawnnicole Tweetdeck [desktop] Tweetie [iPhone] & Twitterberry
19. @shanenassiri I like the browser Flock. Not only is it a Twitter client, but it also handles Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, RSS Feeds, more
20. @BJHewitt Tweetie and Twitterfon on iPhone.... On computer Twhirl
21. @KevinLyons on iPhone Tweetie is #1 for me.
22. @LaurenceTom I use Tweetdeck & Twitterfox [desktop] + Twitterfone [iphone]

Do you have some twitter tools you like to use? Leave a comment and share with us.

Catch up with the rest of our Twitter Series:

• What Is Twitter
• How Many Tweets
  
• Favorite Twitter Tools
• How Many Followers Is Too Many
  
• How To Build Your Follower Base
  
• *Bonus* Why Should Your Church Twitter?
  

You can follow my tweets at twitter.com/jasoncurlee

Ask Twitter: How Many Tweets?

All this week I'm asking my twitter friends questions about using twitter. The question for this post is: How many tweets from one person in one day are too many?

Now to get a little understanding...the definition of a tweet is when you enter in one line of up to 140 text characters and enter it into the twitter stream. It is also called an update.

What is my take on how often should one person update?

Actually it doesn't matter to me how often someone updates as long as they are participating and not spam marketing. Since I use another tool to read all the updates of those I follow it simplifies what and who I'm reading. I actually swing the other way...I think you can tweet to little. BUT...to each his or her own...so in my book go ahead and update as much as you want.

Here are what some of the people I follow said:

1. @josephrueter Depends on the tweets usefulness!
2. @oharaville num. per day doesn't bother me, but consecutive tweets that take up the deck in a matter of a minute or two can be annoying.
3. @jdellis1 I think more than eight to ten a day can be a little bit annoyin
4. @thelastepic i think it should depend more on the quality and not the quantity
5. @joecase I think if they're spread out over a day, around 10 is ok. Some need to learn the fine art of Direct Messaging on Twitter
6. @mikeforjesus What's too many tweets? When it start affecting your work, marriage, being a father, etc
7. @cameyg depends upon what they've got to say 4 me!
8. @andrew_statezny 7
9. @GodsMac I'd say anything over 5 per day is extreme, not including @ replies.
10. @moviepastor there are never too many tweets if they are funny, informative, or encouraging
11. @samluce General tweets or @replys or DM. General Tweets 30 in one day is to much Over 5 @replys or DM's just email me
12. @e3Partners Multiple posts daily are fine. Unless they are consistently meaningless. No one really cares what someone eats for lunch. ;-)
13. @spiritualtramp re: # of tweets I really think that depends on the tweets. Ten is probably getting there not counting @'s
14. @texasaggie1 here's what I think about it... twittequette http://randybryan.com/?p=409
15. @mburleson i say to do what you want to do. If I can't stand it, I'll unfollow. I struggle at times cause I do tweet alot, but be you.
16. @mikekell 5 a day that aren't replies. Replies don't count against you... But after 2 or 3 replies, switch to text messaging
17. @decart whatever @rick_smith sends out, cut in half. Lol.
18. @jreighley That depends on weather they are interesting. If they are conversational, good, Self promoting will get you axed.
19. @iThinkMedia # of tweets not issue for me, what irks me is tweetfeed, 4-9 tweets one after another clogging the feed
20. @littletechgirl I can't put a number on it. I will just say that we do not all need to know EVERYTHING that the person is doing all day long
21. @technologytwit definitely depends on who's doing the tweeting and what they are tweeting about.
22. @chuckazooloo i would say "one" if they don't have anything relevant to say to you. if relevant, i'm cool with as many as you want to post!
23. @mxbx five of the same tweet is beyond too many.
24. @pastrbrf more than 7 is too many. Over 7 then you have too much time on your hands.
25. @laurapalmero I don't think it's necessarily the quantity that's the problem, but it's about the spacing of the tweets.

And there you have it....stay tuned tomorrow for another edition of Ask Twitter as we are discussing twitter this week.

Catch up with the rest of our Twitter Series:

• What Is Twitter
• How Many Tweets
  
• Favorite Twitter Tools
• How Many Followers Is Too Many
  
• How To Build Your Follower Base
  
• *Bonus* Why Should Your Church Twitter?
  

You can follow my tweets at twitter.com/jasoncurlee

Ask Twitter: What Is Twitter

To get up to speed on what Twitter is, watch this short video:



Why do I twitter and what is it to me?

• I mainly twitter to connect with other leaders across the country. Which is why I follow so many people. Whether it is in the church world or business world I think there are some valuable things I can learn from others. There are many leaders that I have now connected to that I probably wouldn't know had it not been for twitter.
• I also use it pretty much as my primary communication tool. It's a combination of email/text message/instant message. I have built some pretty good friendships through twitter.
• I use it to let others know what I'm doing and thinking. Sometimes that's pretty random. It could be on what I'm doing at the moment, to a UFC fight, to a church conference like innovation3 (where I put out over 300 tweets in 3 days...sorry about that), to completely random thoughts that go through my head.
• I want to keep up with the same from many of my friends across the country.
  

Here are some of the topics I'm going to cover this week:

• What Is Twitter (Which is what we are covering today)
• How Many Tweets (What in the world is a tweet anyway?)
• Favorite Twitter Tools (There is a whole Twitter world out there)
• How Many Followers Is Too Many (Can you ever have too many?)
• How To Build Your Follower Base (Again...can you ever have too many?)
• *Bonus* Why Should Your Church Twitter? (Many churches are missing out on some valuable connection)

Now all through this series this week I'm going to Ask Twitter, well, that is, my twitter followers questions about their use of twitter. To kick it off I asked them "What Twitter is to them?" Here are a few of the responses I got back:

1. @VoteMikeJones Twitter is how I connect with people I would normally never get to connect with (like you)
2. @tylersorrells twittering's connected me to people i would've never otherwise met
3. @pastortrav to cause a ruckus
4. @Rick_Smith I enjoy connecting with so many different people and getting to learn from so many people! Helps me to build bridges!
5. @Pokinatcha To me it's been a great way to meet other Third Day Gomers & learn some interesting internet stuff.
6. @Pokinatcha and exposure to Christian artists that are out there that I wouldn't otherwise have known about!
7. @vinceparker twitter another way to connect and meet people that I otherwise would have never connected with.
8. @coltmelrose I twitter because it keeps me connected and allow for new connections in a much easier workflow than other social apps.
9. @benwiles Twitter is "doing life together."
10. @jasonmaxwell a FREE opportunity to connect/brainstorm w/ a multi-cultural group nationwide
11. @jasonmaxwell scratch that..worldwide
12. @juliebonnheath I twitter to be a resource to other peeps, get an occasional question answered myself and to build my networking opportunities
13. @NickHempsey connect with other christian leaders. And as of recent, keep my volunteers up to date on the happenings in our ministry.
14. @pookiedmb fun fun
15. @josh_silva twitter is open to the public autobiography that happen in 140 characters or less
16. @thejmo because I can. also, because most of my closest friends are on it (bonus answer for ya... a twofer)
17. @artgood Twitter is my way as a small church pastor to connect with other leaders I might never know otherwise.
18. @cameyg it is a part of life's moments for me. encouraging, being encouraged, interacting, connecting, praying, and noticing others.
19. @joecase Twitter is a communication & networking tool. My dream is to have a church full of Twitterers so all "fellowship" continually.
20. @Dougrea I twitter because that where people are. "Real time" access to people. Sounds like something Jesus would do.
21. @CPKIII Connecting with people I may never meet otherwise. I twitter what ever pops into my head when I am typing.
22. @GodsMac Twitter is a place for the unsocial to show their true colors. Updates and those you follow speak for themselves.
23. @gibbsg i twitter because my pastor @jasoncurlee told me to
    
24. @davetravis I do the reading thing, conversations thing and then I pre program some micro blog comments
25. @Hetty4Christ great place 4 those who luv 2 help others thru Christ-but physically can't due 2 illness (epilepsy)ability 2 still do so @ home
26. @nanpalmero twitter helps me get great answers that Google doesn't have.
27. @dawnnicole I twitter to connect & learn from others, resource clients & spot trends
28. @chrisreeder Blogging on crack!

You can also follow all my tweets at twitter.com/jasoncurlee

Sunday The 1st Through My Window

Here is a look through my window at Bay Area 5 Points for Sunday 2-1-09:

• Controversial topic today: Porn. Wasn't sure how turnout would be with this message. Mixed response to it.
• Today, our Production Director, Tom Grant, ran two Ultimate HZ's (fogger/hazer). Since we really only get to try it out on Sunday's with a full production it can be trial and error. During 10 a.m. we recognized that with two it fogged up quickly...we adjusted settings and 11:30 looked great.
• Lighting was awesome today. My compliment is that we now are beginning to look like a mini-BAF on our stage.
• We are going to make a tweak on our prayer partner time next week. I'll fill you in on if it works.
• Even with a controversial message four people prayed to begin a relationship with Christ in our 10 a.m. experience. That's why we do it.
• Every single week, we don't miss a beat...first time guests and first time commitments.
• Numbers were down a hair...not sure why but it was totally even between the two.
• I feel like we are getting predictable each week...we need to shake it up a bit.
• Tonight we had our first Super Bowl party. Great thing about being a smaller campus is that it is easy to invite everyone out to something like this...and the screen is awesome to watch it on.
• We had about 75 kids, teens and adults out tonight. Juno Garcia, our Student Director, played flag football with the teens. We also had a little Rockband on the big screen before the game.
• I had a great time connecting with many people that have been coming out. I love doing these community building events.
• We amped up the half-time show of the game with Bruce Springteen with our own lighting show...Tom's getting the hang of this.
• Four people this morning committed...and I haven't see the 11:30 cards yet. Praise God.
  
• All around I would give us an A-...there is still more I would like to see out of our team and things are coming around.
  

Innovation3 Day One

I've let the thoughts simmer all night on Innovation3. With a conference like this so much is thrown at you so fast. I'm going to change up my format here a little. I'm going to leave some of my thoughts and also some thoughts from other attendees.

Here are some thoughts from Day One:

• Loved the format of the main session. Each speaker had 20 minutes and when their clock ended they were done.
• So much information happened so fast. I was twittering as much as possible as fast as possible. Sometimes I would get half way through typing and a new thought would come out.
• It was pretty much been a twitter-fest. The awesome thing is that I felt I knew so many people. You walk in and already have people who you have talked to or follow what you write.
• Mad because I forgot my camera...I never forget it. Thankfully DJ Chuang loaned me one...you're da man DJ.
• Two videos I already have up from #I3 are here and here.
  
• First main session really made me think. I love the thought of failing forward.
• Most overheard comment in lobby, "I follow you on twitter."
• Two favorite speakers of the day were John Jenkins and Stacy Spencer.
• Funny - Stacy Spencer saying they were the hoochie momma church.
• Great to meet Troy Gramling of Flamingo...been following them for a long time.
• Hung with my new buddy Josh Chapman for most of the day.
• Loved that they streamed it live even though we came. Still glad I was there but my wife got to watch a whole lot.
  
• This day really taught me that we should push forward...not fearing but embracing failure.
• Innovation is awesome but no matter what it still should all be about the Kingdom.
• This world has and is constantly changing and the church is not keeping up.
• It starts with us as leaders.
• My nagging thought was that many pastors may be going back home to a bunch of people who really don't want change.
  

Here are some thoughts from others that attended:

1. brettaljets I felt as though I was drinking from a firehose @ #I3. The caliber of speakers & relevance unlike anything I've experienced.
2. dawnnicole #i3 Day 1 = Fast-paced/energizing, filled w/great conversatns & teaching. Bummed I never met @lindastanley
3. cameyg Spirit was alive & visual just as much where I was at than if I had been sitting beside you... or across the room! #i3
4. Rick_Smith that u are just as good looking in person as you are in your twitter picture! #i3

Twitter Response: Leadership Tip

Read the twitter comments of my friends on Twitter who share with you one leadership tip/principal they would want you to know? Here were their responses

1. @Rick_Smith We are to led by example. Christ did this. We don't just tell people things, we model people things..(so to speak):
2. @LeadershipNow Think of leadership IN, not leadership OF. It's not position.
3. @maczter Never underestimate the value of these two little words: "Thank you."
4. @BJHewitt Where ever God calls you to serve, serve one another with a joyful heart even If it looks and feels uncomfortable.
5. @CPKIII To lead is to serve. To show you will do whatever to get the job done. Lead from the bowl of water kneeling at dirty feet
6. @Yochanan Lead by example and fiercely fight for your people.
7. @tonymccollum Move with the movers.
8. @CyndiAKADisneyq you can't lead where you are not willing to go yourself. Not to mention the fact t/you have to allow others to use their gifts
9. @VoteMikeJones "Innovation is being positive and solution oriented" got that from @randycoleman
10. @jimalexander leadership is serving those you lead while managing expectations-yours, your team's, your peers, and those who lead you.
11. @robbiespeaks Learn to recognize Momentum & how to ride it & make it stretch. If you don't know how to make ole' "MO" your friend you lose!
12. @comeandsee Knowing your peoples strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them correctly
13. @joshchapman you are most valuable to the team when you are working yourself out of a job
14. @Dougrea "If I have to do it for you - I don't need you"
15. @foecuspastor Balance is integral in leadership! Keep all things balanced (time, money, theology, family, personal time!) Learned from my Sr.
16. @jonferguson One word: Apprenticeships.
17. @garethgilpin "Leaders get what they inspect, not what they expect."
18. @BertDecker The effectiveness of a leader's communications determines the effectiveness of his organization.
19. @johncatkinson Never hire a smart elic campus pastor (Jason Curlee) that has three times your twitter followers and reminds you daily.
20. @johncatkinson You can teach a good leader almost anything, except character, that they better already have.
21. @nanpalmero practice what you preach and think before reacting.
22. @jasonarredondo u better be smoking what ur sellin
23. @louicanchola Know your VISION, speak your VISION, teach your VISION, live your VISION. Vision, vision, vision!
24. @garylamb You can never teach or cast vision to much
25. @ministrymonkey Always give people a second chance! Don't let their past determine their future! Love them as you serve them!
26. @NickHempsey don't be afraid to pass the torch or else you'll get burned out
27. @billshazzar a few more words than @jonferguson, but he's employing the principle: always leave them wanting more.

Innovation3 First Night

I'm going to be posting thoughts, notes and hopefully everything else from The Innovation3 Gathering.

First Night Thoughts:

• Pastor John, Dave Cothem and I made the trip up from Dallas today. We watched the temp drop all the way up from Corpus.
• We picked up Cathy Harwick in Belton and ate some good bar-b-que.
• This being the first night we had a blast with some of the staff from Bent Tree Bible Church where the conference is being held. The church was simply first class. I'm so depressed that I forgot my camera to catalog all of this.
  
• We got the back stage tour from Greg Atkinson who took us into the video control room where we met some very cool twitter-ers.
• Got to meet Camron Ware the genius behind www.visualworshiper.com who has some simply stunning stage designs using images with projectors. Check out the picture galleries on his blog.
• After the tour we went over to a Mexican restraraunt called Mena's and ate and hung out with some conference attendees and the guys from Bent Tree. If you ever eat there I would highly recommend the Chipotle Brisket Taco's.
  
• We had a lot of fun and spontaneously dubbed ourselves the "BackTweet Boys" for the first unofficial Tweet Up at the conference. Check out the pic.
• I'm Blue Steel the drummer of the band by the way.
• Looking forward to the first official Tweet Up with DJ Chuang tomorrow.
• Have to say though that I'm missing the wife and kiddo's.

Stay Tuned

I'll be blogging here and twittering from the Innovation3 Conference this week. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Silent Blogging

What I've been up to over the past few days that has kept me so silent on here:

• Meetings - Production Night, Children's Night, Shopping, well shopping is not really a meeting but just about every night this week we've been out doing something for the campus.
• First Impressions - We mailed out to two zip codes, well over 10,000 mailers this past week, so we have been working really hard to put some finishing touches to our lobby and lighting. We put out pictures, furniture, new sink/mirror in bathroom, rugs, and then reworking our lighting. It added a spark today.

That not only covered my evenings but most of Friday and Saturday. Cool Thing???? I love it! Just since December we have added so many touches to our campus. And we are also building some great relationships with some new people out there.

My Blog Content Sux

So....what question or topic do you most want to hear?????

Yeah, I said it sux...right now that is how I feel...I hate to tell you that because you already agree but just didn't want to say it. You have already been close to unsubscribing but your holding on. Waiting.

The time is now for me to kick it up. To start bringing the content.

Curious...What do you want to know? Are there any ministry questions? How we do stuff on our campus? Multi-Site? Youth Ministry? Leadership?

In our next Tokbox we are doing a q & a session, so why not do it here.

And sorry, I'm not going to get into some deep theological what does this scripture mean...for those that still follow you know that's not me.

I would like some ideas since I do write this partly for you.

So I ask one more time....what question or topic do you most want to hear?????

Multi-Site Church TokBox - Buy In

John Atkinson, our Bay Area Fellowship Multi-Site Pastor, and I will be hosting a Multi-Site Ministry Tokbox for churches and campus pastors on Wednesday, January 21st. Time will be 12 p.m Central time. That's 10am Pacific, 11am Mountain, and 1pm Eastern. Changing up the time a little so that eastern time zone is not always stuck doing it at lunch.

Our topic of discussion will be creating buy-in and commitment on the campus.

At or around that time go to >>>>> TokBox Live <<<<<< When participating please use headphones to minimize echo/feedback. And when not talking try and stay on mute.

Crazy Enough

Am I crazy enough to believe that:

• we'll have over 100 people at our prayer meeting Wednesday, Jan. 21st @ 6:30. That is more than half our Sunday attendance.
• we'll double in size over this next series. Am I that crazy? Buckle Up 5 Points
• marriages and relationships will be restored during this series.
• lives will be changed during this series.

Yeah...I'm crazy enough.

Church Leadership Podcasts

Are you the leader of a church or a leader in a church? Today I want to point you in the direction of some great resources. It is called Podcasting. If you don't know what a podcast is check out the wikipedia podcast entry.

To listen to these you need to download itunes which is a free program. Once downloaded and you are subscribed to them, itunes will gather them whenever a new one is posted.

Andy Stanley's Leadership Podcast - A relatively new podcast from Andy Stanley where he shares some of the best leadership topics designed to grow you.

Potential Podcast - Hosted by the guys and gals at Flamingo Road Church...this weekly podcast is a mixture of fun and content. Leading you through what Flamingo is learning this podcast is power packed with content.

Catalyst Podcast - Delivering some of the best interviews of church leaders, the catalyst podcast is sure to stretch your leadership as well as inspire you.

Church Leader Insights - Nelson Searcy brings some great content to pastors/church planters on many of the lessons learned in leading a church.

Increasing Commitment

Out of a great conversation I wanted to give you a couple of points on how to develop commitment to your church from those that attend.

This is probably an area that many churches struggle with. It is how to get more people to step up and commit to serving, giving, etc...

Here are three ways you can get more commitment:

Cast Vision
Vision is one of the biggest keys. It is vital to continually cast the vision for what you want. People want to be part of something bigger than themselves.

Celebrate
When you do make a difference, celebrate it. Celebrate often when you get the wins. People do want to be on the winning team...and when others see where you are getting it done they will gravitate to participate.

Ask and Expect
I asked my wife this one, she led our children's area and still oversees our family ministries. I asked her how she is able to staff our areas each Sunday...her answer, "Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, & ask." Basically you keep asking until you get a yes. She felt you almost need to get five no's before you get one yes. I might also add that you in your asking...add in expectation. Expect to hear a yes...mix some faith with your asking.

Caption Please

For a little light-heartedness on Tuesday....what would your caption be for this picture?

Sunday The 11th Through My Window

Here is a look into my world for Sunday 1-11-09:

• We had our third biggest attendance for Sunday Mornings. I really believe that the vision for what we are doing is catching.
• We cut the songs to three today due to the length of the message. It is awesome knowing a week ahead what we need to do.
• Our hazer didn't seem to be working well. So we were pretty much haze free today. That makes some of our lights not very effective due to the style of light.
  
• We have been a week behind on our messages and from what I gather from people is that it doesn't matter. It still works. Today we had one person commit to begin a relationship with Christ. God knows what they need and when.
• It has been awesome to see the progression of our music from day one. It takes time to build a team from scratch. The team has responded and are working it now.
• I still feel that as a team we need to click a little bit overall at the campus. The next three months are about connecting and building community. I'm pushing our team to really step out and connect with others.
• We had our membership class today with eight people attending and becoming members. That's what I'm talking about.
• Looking forward to 2009 and the possibilities.
  

Here are some pics from our 1-11-09 Sunday Experience


Tonight we had our First Element Student Ministry Night:
19 teens showed up to a night were we just had a time of hanging out.
10 adults showed up to help.
Looking forward to what is going to happen out here.

Making Difference Makers Challenge Part 1

Let me take you through a little Jason Curlee personal health/fitness history. After quitting college football in 1989 I went full into bodybuilding. Even worked in a gym for 3 years. I'm talking about hardcore bodybuilding...up on stage...tiny little suit...yep...here's a little picture to prove it.

When I started college football in 1988 I weighed 205. For my first bodybuilding show I cut from 215 down to 185 to make the middleweight cut. BTW that is where the picture is from. After that show I took my weight up to 225 and cut down to 203 for my second bodybuilding show.

That second show was a top level amateur show and was a wake up call for me as a bodybuilder. Since I competed naturally against several guys who competed with drugs I knew I would need to take about two years to really get my weight up to where I could come in cut at 225.

Over that process I got my weight up to 275 and was pretty big. Sure it was off-season and not a shredded 275 but I was meeting my goals. I was pretty confident that at my next show I would hit my 225/230 mark.

That was in 1994 and life changed for me. I took a new direction in my life and ended my bodybuilding quest and with that...the workouts ceased. 15 years later and I have to say at 39 I am not pleased. I probably weigh around 255/260 and am in the worse shape of my life....obviously...THINGS NEED TO CHANGE!!!!!

I tell you all that to prepare you for a challenge. Obviously if I'm doing to be a difference maker there needs to be some things that I get straight in my life...my health and fitness are going to be an area that I'm going to target.

I'm challenging any of my readers...I'm a competitive person and one way that is going to drive me in this is a competition. If you are like me and are sick and tired of being where you are health/fitness/body....then lets do something about it.

Plus...probably the only way I will do it is if someone steps up and challenges me.

The challenge will begin next week and if any of you are willing to step up I'll give you the details towards mid-week. Is there a prize? You bet...mostly bragging rights...BUT...the real prize is the gift we will give to our families and our self. If your willing to possibly challenge me read more on the details of what we will do and let me know you will be in with me by leaving me a comment.

Campus Pastor Week

Would love to know what your week is like if you are a campus pastor at a multi-site church?

What are some of the things you do in a week? What are your daily responsibilities?

Feel free to elaborate as much as you want....I really want to know.

Late Night Look

This seems to be my look every night from 9 to 1 am....I need sleep but I'm not sleepy.

Crazy Challenge

I've been thinking of a crazy challenge....it's about time...I'm still mulling it over. Details to come next week.

Multi-Site Church TokBox

John Atkinson, our Bay Area Fellowship Multi-Site Pastor, and I will be hosting a Multi-Site Ministry Tokbox for churches and campus pastors on Wednesday, January 7th. Time will be 11 a.m Central time. That's 9am Pacific, 10am Mountain, and 12pm Eastern.

At or around that time go to >>>>> TokBox Live <<<<<<

We are trying to limit this only to churches doing Multi-Site or are really interested in doing Multi-Site. This first one is kind of a meet and greet and ask questions. Future ones may become more exclusive and be content specific.

When participating please use headphones to minimize echo/feedback. And when not talking try and stay on mute.

BAF Blog Links

I thought I would give all of you some links to some staff blogs at Bay Area Fellowship. You can get some great insight from their blogs.

Bil Cornelius - Senior Pastor
John Atkinson - Multi-Site Pastor
Joey Davila - Multi-Site Director of Worship

BAF Multi-Site: What We Do 1

Every now and them I'm going to post some info on what we do or how we do multi-site at Bay Area Fellowship.

To start Bay Area Fellowship is just fixing to hit it's 11th year....we have four campuses...Our Corpus Campus which is the original, initial campus....Our Kingsville Campus which was our first multi-site campus....our Padre Island which launched in 2008....and our 5 Points which also launched in 2008.

Distance from the Corpus Campus:

Kingsville Campus - 37 miles
Padre Island Campus - 22 miles
5 Points Campus - 23 miles

Sunday The 4th Through My Window

Here is a look into my world for January 4th, 2009.

• First, Sunday Experience for 2009. Great day at the campus.
• Attendance showed a bounce back from the holidays.
• I was on the microphone today with the message. I did it with a 11 minute video intro and then followed it up live.
• Video was a mixture of me talking and review the start and first five months of our campus.
• It is so awesome to think how we jumped out of the box and did some crazy things as a campus starting out.
• Our church is unique as a multi-site. I really believe it is an example of many future sites we do in that we didn't really send out a launch team.
• We got a text from our Multi-Site Worship Director who was at the campus who felt the music was the best he has heard out there. Way to go band!!!!!
• My message was called "The Time Is Now". I intersected Esther 4:12-16 and where we are.
• There points were: 1) Recognize The Opportunity 2) Seek God 3) Commit To Action
• I felt my talk in first experience had a better flow than the second. Seemed to not flow right in the message in the second.
  
• THE TIME IS NOW
  
• I so feel our campus is ready to just take off.
• Told everyone we are beginning soft launch of Element Student Ministries next week.
• Juno Garcia did a great job doing all the other elements since I did the message.
• Numbers in both were almost identical...five person difference.
• One person committed to begin a relationship with God this morning. That is one reason I love our campus. Whether video or live...God moves on the hearts of people.
• Check out the pictures below:

TokBox Live

At 10:30 pm central, I'm having a live integration of TokBox.com on my blog below. I've put out the invitation as a pastor/ministry. You can add me as a friend on Tokbox at http://www.tokbox.com/jasoncurlee

To help everyone that is in, please hit mute on your microphone when you aren't talking and use headphones to eliminate the echo.

*****UPDATE***** Great time with people all over the country on our first TokBox....We had a max of 15-16 people on the screen that was live...and also had people jumping in from all over. Plans are to do many more.

***2nd UPDATE*** Another good session on TokBox...had around 15 people and had in inpromptu discussion on using Secular Songs in Worship.

Twitter Flow: Noise

I have tried something new on Twitter. It is taking about 10 to 15 lines of Twitter and continuously write out my thoughts as they are coming. The purpose is to hopefully stir up some conversation. Below is the stream that came out....for those that don't know how to read Twitter you start from the bottom and read up:

• So what are your thoughts?????? Are you adding noise...or are you adding value???? Not trying to change your game...just your thoughts?
  
• That's it....The FLOW is done....The SHOW is over....and now back to your regularly scheduled TWEETS....
  
• I guess in the end here....I don't know that I solved anything....I guess I'm just gonna be me....maybe just not as LOUD!!!!!!
  
• I'm still going to keep connecting....and probably having fun with some great people out there.
  
• I'm still going to participate in the conversation....I'm still gonna add my stuff...BUT....I want it to add value
  
• maybe time will tell...I would have to say that I need a balance....I'm going to resolve to have more of a balance. with my tweets.
  
• or am I just creating a stream of muddled non-sense???????
  
• am I adding value to others...am I helping others make more of a difference in their life...
  
• I mean is there anything constructive coming out of here....I mean my tweets....not just on twitter.
  
• But is that conversation healthy...or is it just adding more noise to the internet...and to my life?????????
  
• of course they never will cause my twitter is one big conversation.....
  
• I'm sure some of my friends would say yes....in fact they tell me "I can't ever understand what your talking about"
  
• I have realized this last year especially as I went into the last part of the year....is that what I'm doing with Twitter
  
• I would blog on just about anything...I would blog 3 to 10 times a day....and there wasn't no theme either
  
• So in 2008 I believe that I kind of overused twitter...Kind of like my initial venture into blogging
  
• Ok....here comes a Twitter Flow....let's see how it goes.
  

Here are a few thoughts from others as they hit my twitter box right after:

	Cheeze73 @jasoncurlee Read this. I think this may add to your conversation. http://tinyurl.com/6bkdkl about 1 hour ago from twhirl in reply to jasoncurlee
	lilacave @jasoncurlee I would say tweet all you want if you find it satifying. Some things strike people when they least expect it. about 1 hour ago from web in reply to jasoncurlee
	3amjosh @jasoncurlee I like conversation and I LOVE getting relevant links from people I have similar likes. Twitter is my Human RSS. about 1 hour ago from Tweetie in reply to jasoncurlee
	churchpunkmom @jasoncurlee lol... I think I add mostly just noise. ;) about 1 hour ago from web in reply to jasoncurlee
	treasurefield @jasoncurlee Hey there! I think it's the connecting that counts. JMHO ^_^ about 1 hour ago from web in reply to jasoncurlee
	churchpunkmom @jasoncurlee not sure.. but i have realized that Twitter tends to make me even more socially inept IRL than i already am.. about 1 hour ago from web in reply to jasoncurlee
	johnincolorado @jasoncurlee constructive? that's up to you. what you put into it is what you get out of it. about 1 hour ago from twhirl in reply to jasoncurlee

Now it's your turn.....you add to the conversation....do you twitter? is what you doing adding to the noise or the conversation? Is it adding value??? Do you even care???? Hit that comment button and let my know your thoughts and don't forget to leave your twitter address or blog if you don't twitter.