Rustin Hamilton is one of the best producer/directors I know. We are using him for 2 shoots this week. He has a great servants heart too. Link: http://hamiltonprod.com/index.html

Great points! I could not agree more. As I explore what it means to plant an organic church, house church, call it what you will church, I also find myself being a partner in 2 start-up branding and marketing agencies and an e-commerce business that looks like it's going to explode in my face in a good way. My concepts of what it means to be a pastor, leader and disciple maker have all radically shifted in the last year. I find myself even questioning if the vocation of "pastor" is even an appropriate biblical model. Again, great points.

I will never think of "sbd" the same again.

Nice. I love it. Yes, language does matter, but so does relationship and respect. My guess is, if you're like me, you could care less about those other brands, but with the New Yorker you don't mind because it a brand you respect and don't mind engaging with them to make a product that you already like better.

Ben, great post! Dead on! I love your thoughts about raising a sail vs. rowing your brains out. All too often I feel like I'm brainless, but then when I least expect it I strike a chord. I consider myself a strategist and yet even at what I think is my best sometimes I feel like I'm just wasting ink. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

True. Profound.

Great question. I'm in the process of planting a church now and I thought I was going to be the artist, maybe the main artist, but now God is moving me into the producer role and a minor artist role. It's exciting and completely unexpected. I really have no idea how it's going to work out, but it's also a relief too. Others are buying into, contributing to, and leading in pushing the vision forward.

Good post. I wouldn't kill myself over a post either. As much as I love Gladwell I think he's completely off base. Look at Haiti and Twitter. That changed and is changing a lot of things for Haitians. Fast Company might be right too, but if we were supposed to remember every tweet then politicians should shut up, because we usually forget what they say in 60 seconds and yet I almost have Theodore Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena" speech memorized and he didn't even have Twitter. Finally, I prayed and felt the Holy Spirit tell me to be different and use "machines" (twitter, facebook, blog, multimedia, etc.) so I guess God can use machines in the hands of his followers.

Good post Ben. I find it interesting your experience and mine are completely different. Although, I attend a very creative and eclectic church so maybe I'm on the outside too and don't even know it. I have seen some of what you're saying, but it is usually relegated to the "old guard" and frankly I'm not around that much, nor is God is leading me to go in that direction. Glad to see you made a move you feel is positive and focusing your efforts.

I think it depends on the context and whether you are calling yourself the leader or that is a trait that others are ascribing to you. It's like an individual self labeling themselves a "guru". It just doesn't always work. Let others that follow consider you the leader and you act on your calling. Just my 2 cents.

Great thoughts, well said.