2011 VSN Summit

We are putting final plans in place for our 2011 Summit. It will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland on April 13-14. If you are interested in participating, let me know. Due to space considerations, invitations are limited. clyde@visualstory.org

Happy New Year

May God's grace be real to you as we look back on 2010 and lean into 2011. If you are reading this, you are alive and blessed. May your 2011 be filled with the reality of being blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

Executive Summary Available

The Executive Summary of the first-ever Mobile Ministry Forum held December 2-4, 2010 is available for download. Select "Download" under the "Resources" tab. Look under the Mobile Ministry section.

American Bible Society - Getting Visual

The American Bible Society is taking strong steps forward into a visual approach to having people engage with Scripture. Several new initiatives are slated for 2011 that should increase their impact. They have a 30 second piece that will be on the Times Square jumbotron through the Christmas season. See below

Butterfly Circus Goes Viral

Kudos to Josh and Rebecca Weigel and team. Butterfly Circus has hit 10,000,000 views. Whoa! The film is available on DVD http://thebutterflycircus.com). They are working on producing the feature-length version. Nice.

Mobile Ministry Forum - Slide Show

The first glimpse of the group that met is available in a slide show format. Look under "Photos" under the "Visual" tab. A milestone event. 16 participants, 15 organizations, 5 continents represented.

Mobile Ministry Forum - Day 1

We just wrapped our kick-off session of the first Mobile Ministry Forum. 12 participants representing three countries are gathered. Brilliant minds and passionate hearts are here.

Historic Gathering

The Mobile Ministry Group will be hosting a small gathering of mobile ministry thinkers and practitioners from December 2-4. To our knowledge, this is the first time a group of mission-minded believers has gathered exclusively to consider strategic ministry opportunities on the mobile platform. That said, we'd be thrilled to know someone has already done this. For more info, clyde@visualstory.org

Wedgwood Circle

I enjoyed the Friday morning session of the Wedgwood Circle meeting in Santa Monica on Friday. Mark Rodgers has done a great job of assembling people interested in for-profit ventures with a kingdom impact in media. Great to get time with Chris Bueno (Ocean Avenue Entertainment) and Bill Oeschler (Ethnographic Media). Props to David Wood for the invite.

Commercial Creative Commons License

I just had a great discussion with Tim Jore of DS Media (see his profile page). He is looking for open licensed video content (see his discussion below). He makes an important case for open access licensing that includes commercial rights with limitations. See his rationale here:http://www.dsmedia.org/blog/toward-common-discipleship-content-license.

My Lausanne Experience in 1 Minute

I have several pages of personal reflections on my experience of the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town. I managed to distill the key elements into a 1-minute video. Please check it out below.

Lausanne Global Congress Day 8 - Partnership

There was a great emphasis on partnership in order to fulfill the Great Commission. "Partnership is a journey of friendship." I picked up lots of sub-text (discontent) in the last two days but P. Fung said "Arrogance and self-pity are the greatest barriers to world evangelization." The final session was a rich, very Anglican worship service. Now the long trek home.

lausanne Global Congress Day 7 - Integrity

"Calling the Church to Humility, Integrity and Simplicity." Ephesians 5 was the text for the day. The session on Ethics and Technology was sobering (e.g. 40 million babies are aborted each year vs. 50 million natural deaths). Great worship and prayer focus in the evening. I had great meetings with Nick & Carol Pollard, Rob Hoskins, Brian Birdsall, and the VerMootens. Tomorrow is the last day.

Lausanne Global Congress Day 6 - Priorities

We studied Ephesians 4. World Evangelization was the focus for the day. Paul Eshleman did a great job hosting the session on "Finishing the Task." There were optional sessions on Oral Storying. I attended the Urban Mission session (Tim Keller was solid). The "Arts in Mission" session premiered the new journal issue on this topic. Got to pray with key leaders from the church in Turkey (humbling).

Lausanne Global Congress Day 5 - Day Off

They give a day off to give everyone a break from the 13 hour days. Joe Sindorf, Cheryl Meredith and I were treated royally by Cape Town native Graham VerMooten (head of Media Village). He took us on a day long tour around the Cape of Good Hope. Absolutely stunning geography, views, vegetation, whales, seals and penguins. I was able to meet and spend the evening with VSN type Chia Kisuh.

Lausanne Global Congress Day 4 - World Faiths

John Piper exposited Ephesians 3. We heard a stunning and tragic martyr story from Afghanistan. The Archbishop of Jos, Nigeria described churches being burned. "We must ask ourselves, is it true I have been crucified with Christ?" (Michael Ramsden). We heard a brilliant young Turk talk about the Church in the Middle Eastern context. Tim Keller spoke on mega cities. I enjoyed lunch with Denver Seminary alumni.

Lausanne Global Congress Day 3 - Reconciliation

We studied Ephesians 2. We learned about the Dalits in India, 27 million slaves worldwide, the Rwanda tragedy and more. I facilitated a session on the visual story movement and short films in particular. The evening session highlighted the Church in the Middle East and two people with HIV/Aids. Bob Beltz screened 30 minutes from "Narnia: Dawn Treader" being released worldwide 12/10/10 (it looks great! Save the date).

Cape Town Day 2 - Truth

"Truth" in a pluralistic world was the theme for the day. We studied Ephesians 1. "Only a high view of the truth will allow us to be transformed" (Os Guinness). Great session on "Media Messages Matter." In the gathering of the American delegation I found Greg Johnson, a Denver Seminary classmate not seen for 18 years. I am undone since hearing an 18 year old North Korean girl tell us her story of losing her mother to leukemia and her father to persecution.

Cape Town Opening Day

We met in our table groups before the opening dinner. I'm at table #231 with Malcolm (New Zealand), Pavul (Russia), Pearly (India) and Miyon (South Korea). The opening ceremony was an African celebration with choirs, an orchestra, and a welcoming address from Doug Birdsall. There was a 30 minute video of the history of missions from Pentecost to Edinburgh 1910. Great start!

Arrived in Cape Town

After 40 hours in transit from Los Angeles, I've arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. I got to visit some friends in Paris (we lived there 7 years) during a 9 hour layover. I observed faces representing the many nations as I went through registration thi afternoon. The main sessions kick off tomorrow. To participate from a distance, go tohttp://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/participate.html