Jason Bedell Online

So we've been doing this series Guerilla Lovers for the past couple of weeks and just wanted to follow along some videos we've been doing. Paco, our mascot and fun-loving, disco dancing gorilla friend wanted to share some Guerilla Love. When Paco asks, we respond.

Check out two of the three videos we've been showing during the series. And, note to self, that is not a thong, just my boxers showing a little bit laying down all 1,000 plus cups. One more video on the way soon...

We wrapped up our "Broken People" series with an unusual message. I struggled to figure out if it was supposed to be drama, story tellers, straight forward message, or what. In the end it was a hybrid of the 3-4 different versions God had led me to write.

Normally we judge a message's strength by how many people seem to be engaged and impacted. We decided this series wasn't the case. We wanted to count it simply by the number of cards, decisions, and correspondence we had with people as God moved them through this series.

I was amazed at what God did! He moved people who had been coming from 2 weeks to 10 years. He prompted them to deal with some deep rooted brokenness. In a way I think this series changed my life just as much as it did theirs. I embedded the last message of the series for your viewing pleasure.

(Note: The video starts at 8 seconds. We have an area of black for our tech team at our second campus so they have time to cue it.)

This week at the Beach Campus we're starting a new series, "BROKEN PEOPLE." You may totally see the brokenness in your life or maybe you think you have it all together. If you fall into one of those, or anywhere in between- this is a series you won't want to miss.

If you're having questions, hurting, or already going through some brokenness right now- my email is jason@forefront.org and I would love to talk with you.

I've been praying about this series for awhile now and can't wait to see the impact it's going to have on Forefront and the people in our community.

Special thanks to Justin Allen for making a sweet series graphic. You're the man.

There have been sightings of a new program and new website for Forefront in 2009. Could this be true? Or is it like Nessy and Bigfoot? We'll keep you posted.

Jason *over and out*

So, I was speaking at CCYC a few weekends ago and my wife was amazingly wonderful and allowed me to get an iPhone 3G and the world is a better place (seriously it is). I have been amazed at how I can get the information for ministry faster, connect to people, share life, and ultimately do more with this little device.

Over the next few posts we'll be discussing how Your Ministry with Tech can benefit from using social networking, blogs, interactive web, mobile communication, email, etc. to meet the needs of your people and to make your job easier.

First, we'll start with something that is overlooked for most people, but it makes total sense... iGoogle. If you are wondering what this is check out an overview video below:



iGoogle helps you dump outlook, calendars, mutliple pages to view, and so on and to bring everything to a web based interface and basically it's your "landing pad" for all things you need (i.e. RSS Reader, Google Calendar, Gmail, To-do Lists, News Feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Etc.)

You can have one place to get everything you need without haveing to visit 10-15 different websites or have your outlook open, calendar open, web browser open and the list goes on.

To start off, just go to Gmail.com and sign up for an email account. Once that is set-up:

• You can make a Google Calendar (import your outlook to google calendar)
• Set up your blog feeds in Google Reader
• Store and edit documents online with Google Docs
• Store & Keep Photos online with Google Photos (Picasa)
• Then you can set-up your iGoogle Page and add all of these to the main page
• Just save iGoogle as your Homepage in your web browser and... That's It!

• Twitter Add-on
• MySpace Add-on
• Facebook Add-on
• Enhanced Bookmarks Add-on
  
• Framed Photo (I keep my family photos on here wherever I go)

Rumor has is that the Ballin’ series is going to have quite a few spoofs over the next four weeks. One of the shows I LOVED back in the day was In Living Color. There were some sketches done by the Waynes Bros. where they hosted the “Homeboy Shopping Network” (check out the video at the end of the post). They were all about giving tips and tricks on how to make money fast without using your own.

Hmmmm… I wonder if there would be any attempt to do such things in the opening week of the series?!? I smell a video idea…

Ballin' (baaaaaaallll'~en)

1. /noun/ to play basketball (nope, not for this series)
2. /adjective/ one who is in a state of being extremely rich (chiggity-check)
3. /adjective/ to be well respected, in high status, wealthy beyond the norm (cha-cha-check)

In this next series, Ballin'- we are going to take a look at what it means to live a life in God when it comes to wealth, finances, and how does that line up with what American culture tells us. Let's face it, right now everyone is having a rough go at things financially and we all could use a pep talk and direction on how to better manage what God provides for us.

Check it out the next 4 weeks at Beach Campus and it starts the following week at Chesapeake. You won't want to miss it. (Rumor has it there is some rap action going on in the opening?!? I'm just saying, it should be interesting).

See you this Sunday.

So we're starting a new series this Sunday: My Movie Life. Check out the micro-site, evite and a couple promos for the series and website below. How are you promoting your series using the web? I'd love to here your ideas.

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.

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...

[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?

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

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

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:

So Dave over at ChurchyMedia and I have been tossing around this idea of getting other creative minds together in the area (music, worship, arts, video/production, graphic design, sketch/drama, comedy, painting). Our goal is to see where the church is heading and how we can set trends in culture instead of copying them. Once we pondered this, it was clear.

SevenFiveSevenArts.com
Sept 16th, 2008
Moe's in Fairfield Area of Va Beach
RSVP via Twitter
RSVP via Email
Spread the word.
We can't wait.

So if you are free tonight around 7:30 EST and want to partake in a pretty cool worship gathering... Check out the Live Feed via the Buckhead Blog for Night or Worship. Looks to be pretty cool and if you're a church leader who doesn't get to "experience a gathering very often, why not tune in!?