Jason Bedell Online

My sister has such a cool job. She works for a newspaper and gets to write sweet articles and meet cool people. Well, below is the latest reason why I envy her (it's the latest post from her blog).

Did I mention that I love my job?! Mikey came to see me this weekend and we got to meet Rainn Wilson at a benefit for the Tahirih Justice Center. Sa-weet! I was lucky enough to snag a one-on-one interview with Dwight and it’ll be featured in my upcoming feature story on the center and their annual benefit. All I have to say is he is the most down-to-earth dude ever.

When I asked him what he hoped his status would bring to the Justice Center, he jokingly replied in his all-business Dwight voice, “Cash, baby.” Ah, love it! Also, when asked if his “Office” mates ever join him at charity events, Wilson replied with, “Yea, many do, with the exception of Steve. He’s such a Scrooge.” Haha, “Off the record?” I asked. “No, that definitely needs to go in there, haha.” So funny.

Disclaimer: Mike has been cropped out, as Dwight and I needed our moment. Haha, no hard feelings love.

To promote Gel Groups during this series, we introduced a new character: Cletus Jenkins. He is an instant staple who will return many times in the years to come. Enjoy these videos as much as our people have. How are you promoting things in your church in a creative way? Let us know.

Mommy Surprise from Jason Bedell on Vimeo.

Fridays are Daughter/Daddy day and we always do something fun together. Last Friday we came home early to surprise mom. We're total rockstars if you couldn't tell!

Chloe Love from Jason Bedell on Vimeo.

That boy doesn't know whose daughter he's messin' with!? Grrrrrrr!

Chloe- First Laugh, Ends with Tears from Jason Bedell on Vimeo.

I was making Chloe laugh while goofing around off camera. I apparently pushed my luck and brought on the tears. Whoops.

I'm 29 and it's time to party! (or work until 4, go to small group, sleep in, then go see the finalists of Last Comic Standing tomorrow night).

God answers with this one constantly.
I pray for discernment:
WAIT.
Pray for clarity:
WAIT.
Pray for God to move in my time frame:
WAIT.

Well, God's vocab just lost a word with me: WAIT.
He exchanged it for a new word recently: NOW.

The shift from "wait to now" scares many leaders (it scares me). We want and desire to be, move, breathe, lead and conquer the world in Jesus name, but when God opens the door and commands us to do it, AND DO IT NOW... (insert deer in headlights face and the need to change my pants here).

But God is calling the Bedell Family into many new things and the time to move He says is NOW. So...
- My wife finds out some important teacher news in the next week or two
- The move to my in-laws to help my wife's mother happens Oct 12
- We're down sizing our lifestyle to help those in need (and I am struggling with my attitude in it)
- God's call to leadership growth in me is moving (FAST) and I'm scared to death
- I've been asking for prayer via twitter & this blog on some personal choices for the future of our family and our ministry together. Thanks for that and more news is coming very soon.

And so a question for you guys (and gals), "What is God telling you to do NOW? Are you responding? Why or why not"

I'm a big fan of Twitter, and love to blog. But, the next wave of quick interactive web ideas is moving and companies like, 12seconds.tv is leading the way.

It's 9:15pm. Our dryer broke. We're at the in-laws doing laundry.

I hate to say it, but it's my guilty pleasure.
We got rid of crazy cable with 700 channels.
I regretfully note I miss this ridiculous show.
That and Man vs. Wild.

So, the photos I posted earlier... here is the final product. I love my job.

We're shooting another small group promo today. Help us out with a caption for these shots...

Slave trade in our world effects over 2.2 million children. I've watched the documentaries and news shows covering the injustice, but have not been moved enough to act. Until now.

My wife and I have been downsizing our lifestyle to help those in need. Those who cannot help themselves. I stumbled upon this new film during a late night of researching how our family can get more involved. I encourage you to do the same. From our comfortable American abundance we can help change lives.

[myinkblog.com]

So today we had our first 757Arts gathering and I am so pumped. I will be giving more of a summary soon, but figured I would let you guys know it was definitely successful for it's first meeting.

J-del **over and out**

Design is everything. It's what draws the eye, sparks the imagination, creates buzz, stirs conversation, and ultimately tells a story. Been thinking a lot about how design impacts our church culture.

What type of design are you pumping out?

until the 757Arts gathering. What are you creating right now? Skits, video, graphics, set-design, media, podcasts? Share with us.

We are looking at our website and how the design just doesn't flow the way we dreamed it. It's time to reThink EVERYTHING. While thinking about this, I found a great article. Dropped a couple of the 21 ideas below. To read the full article, click here.

1. Load Time – Most of us are very impatient and slow loading pages will not make us want to return. On the other hand, pages that load quickly will encourage visitors to navigate through your site knowing that they won’t have to wait very long for each page to load.

2. Error Messages – If new visitors to your site are getting error messages and are unable to access your site, they’re not going to be impressed and they won’t be back. There are a number of different errors that can occur. BlogStorm recently published an article Why Businesses Need a Website that Works, which takes a look at one unsuccessful website with an obvious problem.

3. Colors – The look of your site will obviously be a factor in your visitors’ first impressions. The colors of your website can have a huge impact on the overall attractiveness of the site. Choosing the right color combinations can be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of online tools that can help. For a list of resources and links to some articles on the psychology of colors, see Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.

4. Logo/Branding – Another factor in the overall look of your website is the logo and branding. Most importantly, the logo should help to brand your business in the way that you want visitors and customers to think of you. For more information, see What Makes a Great Logo? from David Airey.

I am always looking for designers who inspire. Check out Jurryt Visser. Killer looking design.

So I've been looking for a Green way to have a business card & swap information without paper. Alas, I have found it: TextMarks. It's a great way to get people your information via text and have a business card with your info. Just text jdel to 41411 and within seconds you'll have my number, twitter, email, blog, etc.

I included the steps below for your texting pleasure. That’s it. It’s free, simple to use, environmentally friendly, and you’ll be the envy of geeks everywhere.

1. Go to the “create” page on Textmarks.com
2. Pick a unique keyword for yourself (I used “jdel” my first and last name morphed, not very clever)
3. Enter up to 120 characters of contact info in the “Respond to keyword with text message:” field
4. Click the “Create” button
5. If you haven’t already done so, create an account on Textmarks (if you skip this step, your keyword will expire in 24 hours)
6. Click the “Manage” tab and then click the “Edit” button next to the keyword you created
7. Click “Edit” Configuration and uncheck all the boxes under “Messaging Options” and uncheck “Subscribable Textmark” (those options are for more advanced uses of Textmarks, but not needed for your SMS business cards)
8. Tell new friends and business contacts to “text your_keyword to 41411” (replace your_keyword, duh)

I am always looking for designers who inspire. Check out Tesis Albers. I love the use of color.

Thoughts?

I am always looking for ways to get all my music (work, laptop, arts drive) all in one place. Well, now I have that freedom. It doesn't matter if it's PC or Mac. You don't have to use iTunes, Winamp and others all also supported.

It's called Simplify Media and it can be shared between 30 friends via the web.

Did I mention it's secure and legal? It's times like this that I enjoy technology.

Have you ever had a plan? I mean you put it all together, placed it in motion and you stood back, patted yourself on the back, looked around at those near you, nudged them and said, "Hey man, look at that. I did that! Pretty cool huh?!"

Well my wife and I had a 5 year plan. Date for awhile, get married, wait 5 years to have kids, move to the oceanfront (va beach baby!), I'd keep being a pastor, she'd keep with the nursing thing and we'd enjoy ministry at the church we were at (Real Life).

I think God laughed at us. A lot. Seriously. I'm not joking.

Did we think it would be that easy. We got married. The baby came a year earlier than we thought (after a miscarriage only a few months before). Carrie isn't a nurse anymore. She went back to school. She's a teacher. I'm still a pastor, but at a place I wouldn't have ever thought. Doing what I love. Arts. And God still isn't done...

That moving to the beach thing happened, then a year later he told us to move. So we did. Now he's telling us again.... but this time it's in with her parents.

Her mother isn't doing well, and her father isn't in the best place to be able to care for her, so we were prompted by God to step in for family. But our plan would never have been like this and God's timing is crazy. To get out of our place, we have to have 30 days written notice before the new contract year. We were led to make this choice yesterday. Our contract is supposed to be renewed on Oct. 15th. So guess when the written notice had to be in? Today. Ha.

God never ceases to amaze me. Our family had reached a place about 1 month ago where we thought God was giving us a lull in the chaos and craziness, "Life as normal" we thought. But as a follower of Jesus your "life as normal" will be anything but normal. It's like he puts our lives in a blender and hit's HIGH and let's us find our way to the top. But it does builds character. All this happening with the wrestling He and I are still going through (updates are coming I promise).

Want an easy sign to see if you're following His leading? Just look around and see if it's chaos in all directions. If it is, you're in the right place.

Until next time,

J-del *over and out*

So tomorrow is the first gathering of 757Arts and I think it's going to be pretty cool. Like anything I do, my expectations are higher than what many hope for, but we'll see. Let your peeps know and come on out.

Tomorrow at Moe's Southwest Grill
11:30-1pm
5222 Fairfield Shopping Center
Va Beach, VA 23464

Spread the word and see ya there!

We do some very different series here at Forefront, but I L-O-V-E where we take them. This series we're in right now, "Crappy Love Songs" is one of them. The logo design was altered from the free vine resources and we did a really easy intro video for each week.

It's a simple photoshop file of a TV and the logo inserted into a video editor. Then we placed the youtube video of each message/song behind it. The crowd loved it and it changes it up for the crowd to sing along to the crappy songs right before the message. This is an easy way to brand the message and get the effect your looking for without a lot of hurdles to jump through. Check it out:

God calls you.

You respond.

You and God walk hand in hand in ministry.

Ministry doesn't meet your expectations of the "win"?

What is your response?

What should it be? Why?



Thoughts...

So, at Forefront we're starting a series called, "Crappy Love Songs" this week and during every series we promote 1 thing. Since this series deals with relationships, we're promoting our small groups (Gel Groups as we like to call them).

Each week we're having a different commercial to promote them in a funny way. Here is our Real Men of Genius Parody: "Mr. Always Late to Gel Group Guy." Enjoy.

"I'm beat the crap outta this thing!" is exactly what I said when our brand new Eureka vacuum cleaner just decided to suck (or not suck, which sucked). Just as I'm about to throw this thing out the apartment door my wife steps in and says, "Try taking it apart and see if you can fix it."

I had poked, prodded, flipped switches, took off the back of the darn thing, but hadn't completely taken it apart to see what the problem was. Two hours later it was dismantled on my floor and the lone motor was sitting there... plugged in. So I did what any rational-figure-outer would do: I flipped the thing on.

It went crazy, my daughter started crying, my wife leaped for joy... but it worked again. Which made me think...

As leaders, are we sometimes ready to give up on programs, groups, structures and plans in God's church simply because we are just too frustrated to deal with them? Or maybe we want to, but fear the reaction of our people (crying like my daughter did). Possibly it's due to the fact that pastors can be lazy. I fall into this rut from time to time and I imagine you do too.

It's high time we step up to the challenge, and gut God's church. Take it a part, and evaluate the problems, find a solution (even if it means people will react poorly)- because God has commanded His church to be the best. We're His joy, and as a leader I need to learn to not be afraid and figure out the problems- and act on it.

So you blog, write and communicate, but wonder... "What is it for? Is anyone reading this stuff?" Well apparently you are and you notice when a brotha goes missing.

Twitter= seldom.
Blog=deserted.
YouTube=baren.

I just want to say thank you to all the emails and texts that have come in over the past two weeks. They have been so encouraging. I am not dead. Please don't call 9-1-1. God and I are wrestling. As a leader you have seasons where God challenges you to do things and move in ways that makes you say, "Holy crap, you have got to be kidding!?"

Now when I say that, I am under the assumption that as a leader you and God are in constant communication. If you are sitting there thinking, "I've never really had those moments" then it would cause me to simply ask, "Why not?"

As God's leaders, we have been given the difficult task of communicating God's truth. Period. I hear (and have used myself) words like culturally relevant, technology driven, leveraging all that's 'POP' and so on. But I am being challenged by God. Have I bought into the hype? Have you? Possibly so.

Now don't get me wrong, I still believe in those things and as a creative arts pastor; it's the world I live in, but... when do we say when? Are Web 2.0, online communities, lazer light shows during worship, and over the top tech in our services working? Now I would say yes. Completely.

For the future? I'm not so sure.

Tech & Culture changes so rapidly. Is anyone really "keeping up?" Churches across the country are using the right projection, music, bands, twitter, videos, blogs and ideas. They're keeping up. But at what price? I'm not completely set on this yet, but I would say people are the price. I "know" more about people than I ever did before, but hang out with less people than I ever have in my life. Technology is a tool we use, but I'm pondering if it will ultimately be our downfall?

On top of all this, God is pushing me to do something I've never dreamed of.
More on this as God speaks. Until then,

J-del *over and out*