Last week I received a very nice package from Ben Arment, the lead brain behind Story. It looks like Carlos Whittaker received a similar package–watch Los open it, he looks a lot better than I do!
I love Ben’s heart behind Story. On the handwritten note he included with the package, he said simply, “My passion is to help church leaders become better communicators.” It’s as if Ben is speaking the love language of the Center for Church Communication!
If you’re a church communicator, I encourage you to get to Aurora, Ill. (about an hour’s drive from downtown Chicago) on Oct. 28-29, 2009. And while you’re at it, consider coming a day early for Cultivate. It will be a nice primer for Story to get the conversation going. Plus, Cultivate is located in downtown Chicago, a great excuse to come check out the city.
I hope to see you there.
By the way, in my post last week that unintentionally stirred up a firestorm of comments and commentary (along with my sincere apology), I challenged all of us event-goers–including those of us going to Story and Cultivate–to keep our focus first and foremost on Jesus. For a lot of you this seems to be a big “duh.” For me, I need constant reminders.
On a related note about Story, when my wife and I were in South Africa last month attending a national arts festival, I had to do a double take at this poster. For a moment, I thought Ben was on a world tour!
Jim
August 6, 2009
story looks great, so does cultivate
i’d like to start a conference for people who can’t afford to go…
Leanne Shawler
August 6, 2009
I’d be at Story and Cultivate if I’d known about them when I was submitting my budget last year. If I were local I’d be there, but I have to come from the West Coast.
I hope they do them again, so I can submit my budget accordingly this year!
Jay Brock
August 6, 2009
I’m road-tripping from Canada Brad! I’m excited just to see ‘Ben Unleashed!’
Sean P
August 21, 2009
What happen to the days when Christians were just christians, doing great things to do them because they were compelled to, and well they wanted to pay the bills.
Guys like CS Lewis, JR Tolkein, and so many others. They wrote amazing stories, created amazing worlds for us to read about AND see the love of God in them.
But they weren’t made and marketed to a christian market, they were just made and marketed to the world.
The church is to inbred now days. Christian music, christian books, christian movies. You all work in churches, make churchy products, and make your quick cheap bucks creating sub-par trite entertainment in the name of doing God’s work.
Why not be awesome creative christians in the real world amongst the real world and influence it from the inside out, not from the outside.
All the conferences, all the product, its like the money changers in the temple to me.
Of course no one will listen to me even though every one not associated with church now days thinks what you do is crap, cheesy, lame, and well we make fun of it.
But keep on selling that Buddy Jesus Action Figure, it worked for Cardinal Glick with Catholicism WOW! haha