http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/best-april-fools-joke.html

I was tricked quite a few times yesterday on the web.

What was the best April Fools Joke
that you came across on the web?

Please leave your suggestion in the comments along with links.

http://art.renovochurch.org/2008/04/creative-pulse.htmlhttp://art.r

Renovo does not support art for the sake of being hip, cool, or trendy. Here are some reasons we support the arts...

• Mankind is wired with a creative pulse.
  [This pulse reflects the creative pulse of our Creator, God]
  
  
• This creative pulse; innovates, cultivates, inspires.
  [This pulse can be used for good in the world]
  
  
• Innovation is the primary catalyst for change.
  [Cultural renewal is close to the heart of God]

Here is a perfect example of how creativity and innovation solves various social and economic issues.



Renovo would love to partner with others to provide something similar for the students of Mansfield, OH. Grace and peace...

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/simple-tip-flashdrive-labeling.

LifeHacker reader Jill submitted a simple tip to help increase your odds of recovering a misplaced flash drive (thumb drive, key drive, stick thingy, etc.).

By simply adding a small file to the main folder on your drive, your name and phone number will be displayed as the drive's name when plugged into the finder's computer. The whole process could be done in two or three minutes. Get the full "how-to" on LifeHacker.

I like simply, handy tips.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/how-not-to-use-scripture.html

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/so-many-translations-which-one-

As some of you know I'm planting a church. A decision that I've been wrestling with is what bible translation we will provide.

Maybe you have been interested in picking up a new version, but haven't settled on one.

Try taking an online assessment at MyBibleVersion.com.



When I took the test NET scored really high and I've never even heard of that translation. I'm interesting in seeing what it has to offer.

http://art.renovochurch.org/2008/04/quote.htmlhttp://art.renovochur

I have this theory that art which is pursued so desperately and viciously does not actually sing upon completion. But art that emerges, quite by accident, from a life lived fully, contains someone’s true heart and this art will in fact stir you on the level of your soul.

[From Messy Canvas: “Just” Being A Mom]

http://blog.renovochurch.org/2008/04/what-happens-when-we-pray.htmlh

Something that comes up over and over in our Organic Community is prayer.

How does it work?
Why do we pray?
Does God listen?

Here is a cartoon I stumbled across...

It's becoming more and more apparent that we are going to have to explorer the scripture on what prayer is and isn't. Won't you join us...

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/wordpress-driven-site-launched.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on WordPress Driven Church. My friend, Luke, launched the Church site several days ago. Click the picture below to go check it out and let us know what you think.


If you are considering a WordPress Driven Church Website you should check out some unique themes posted over at Mashable.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/ministry-focus.html

I was reading this really good post over on Seth Godin's Blog.

It talks about the business world and how their is a tendency to focus on the work and not the story. The story is who you are and why you do what you do. Not the day to day operations. The post concludes with "The story creates the work and the work creates the story."

For those of you who are in ministry I hope you hear this loud and clear. I know we aren't selling anything, but we tend to get in a rut of doing ministry work and not telling the wonderful story of God. The story is what fuels our hearts, our souls and ultimately gives us strength to do the work. As we work, the work will create better and better stories to tell.

And allow me to let you in on a little secret...

Telling the story, the good news, takes care of the work for you. Sharing how God is changing you, how God has changed the world and how God wants to change them will begin to change your heart and their's on the spot.

Tell the story, tell your story, tell our story, tell his story!

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/spotlight-kindle.html

Kindle is an online tool built on Web2.0 technology to post prayer request, while praying with and for others. Check it out here.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/love-song-worship-songs.html

Having started my ministry as a Worship Leader I often wrestled and had to rethink what it meant to sing love songs to Jesus that are of a romantic nature. I hold Jesus in the highest place in my heart, soul and mind, but I wouldn't say we are romantic. I would say I am learning to love him unconditional as he love us; to be intimate or vulnerable before him as he was before us on the cross. But romantic relationships can quickly become fantasy's and they do not reveal the truth of God and the truth laid out in scripture.

I'm glad that other more national known worship leaders like Matt Redman have been wrestling with this too. [see video below]



As we plant Renovo I want it to be a place that we rejoice in the relationship that we have in Jesus. Staying intimate with Jesus, the Christ, who loves us unconditionally.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/selah-and-sondra.html

Freezing at Erica's soccer game.

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/different-kind-of-blogs.html

Aaron over at Digital Leadership Network wrote a great post on the different kinds of blogs and then gives some suggestions on why and how your church should blog. I'm summarize his comments below.

What Kinds Blogs Are on the Web?

1) Expert/Personality - an expert or big name giving you advice
2) Personal - someone sharing what they did that day [pictures, journaling, etc.]
3) News/Information - group of people who share information [ex- Church2.0]
4) Humor - just for fun

Suggestions for the Blogging Church:

The biggest keys to blogging is consistent updates. My suggestion would be to take the team blog approach, with different people taking on different roles. You can easily offer up separate RSS feeds or pages to break down the blogging into the three areas above:

The Expert Blog: The pastor, of course. If the community is interested in engaging in thinking about the message series throughout the week, the pastor could/should post ideas and thoughts that continue (or set up) Sunday's message.

The Personal Blog: Other leaders in your church? Perhaps small group leaders can use a public church blog to toss information and thoughts around to their attendees. A small group can open up to any curious visitor to your church's website using blogs.

The Information Blog: If a church's blog was consistently updated with upcoming events, prayer needs, updates on church member issues (ex- announcements) it would be a great chance for church members to feel loved and want to interact with the site.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/obessed-with-happiness.html

When did we trade fulfillment for happiness?

When did we trade reality for fantasy?

When did we start thinking that reality could never be as fulfilling as fantasy?

When did we replace our emotions for our identity?

When did we trade our pains for a fickle front?

When did we start saying, "I'm doing fine, thanks" when people asked how are you doing?

When did we start drawing back when someone truthfully asked the question above with "I feel like hell."

When did we trade hope for pills?

When did we trade community for a psychologists couch?

When did we trade Joy of Christ in struggles for the depression of this world?

If you are playing the game of happiness that our culture has created, I would like to call you to something more. To a life of joy! Joy is by far better and far stronger than happiness. It will not flee from you in the tough times, because it doesn't rely on you or your circumstances. It comes from Jesus. Life in Jesus takes the pain and suffering of the world and turns it on it's head. It takes the circumstances of despair and doubt, and drives us to God. Not away from him. I pray you find that joy. Grace and peace!
[2 Corinthians 7:8-12 MSG]

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/ats-is-that-you.html

Does anyone remember All Together Separate, the band? Watch the video below...


Is that the lead singer of All Together Separate. It sounds like him, it looks like him, so is it him? I'm curious! Help me out blogging world!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/i-realized.html

... that many of you don't know who ATS [All Together Separate] is. They were the best Christian band at the Turn of the century, but no body gave them any credit.

Embedded in this post is one of my favorite songs called Paradigm wrote and performed by ATS.

Lyrics:

Everybody loves a rose,
But will you be thankful for the thorns?
Love is easy when you're loved,
But do you curse another when you're alone?

Chorus:
Oh, I give my life to You
so I can gain it back again
Oh, I stand solid
while the paradigm is shifting

You say live and let live,
But people are dying everyday
And you say what I don't know won't hurt me
But if what I do not know
is the very thing I need,
then I say...

Humanity sees truth
through a shattered window pane
That blocks the view,
And plants the seed
So we draw the curtains to close but I say
That the sun can still shine
behind a closed mind
And sticks and stones do hurt
When tossed from the tongue of mankind

All Together Seperate - Paradigm from http://suni.vox.com/

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/spotlight-threads-media.html

Threads Media is putting out some great small group materials for young adults and couples. Having been in contact via the blogosphere with writers such as Mark Batterson [Chase the Lion] and Derek Leyman [the Feast], I highly recommend both of their series that they offer. To purchase Threads' material click here.

Here is a video of Derek promoting The Feast.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/ray-of-light-in-dark.html

It's been a really hard and dark week in my family's life. Keep me and my family in your prayers.

A little ray of light that is shining through is the importance of family, faith, and a church that cares.

Also check out this... we have a brother from another mother following Renovo!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/imusic-for-worship.html

Imagine entering a church to see a singer or two with a single musician who uses a iPhone and a delay pedal plugged into the sound system to create a wall of sounds; loops, samples, beats, melodies, pads, etc. all from a Cellphone! Sounds crazy?

But check this out...

It just might happen.

http://art.renovochurch.org/2008/04/jesus-painter.htmlhttp://art.re

Above is a video of an artist called the Jesus Painter [www.jesuspainter.com] and recording artist Shaun Groves [www.shaungroves.com].

Both are very inspiring...

http://blog.renovochurch.org/2008/04/email-from-africa.htmlhttp://bl

Today I received an email with the subject of...

I AM HAPPY WITH YOU PASTOR

The email goes on to say...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am a young man aged 24 years old but saved and love Jesus Christ as my saviour.I use to go in a church that worship the same belief as your church and I am a youth leader and tried to renew them about sabbath day and to be as disciple of Jesus Christ as you are Pastor Kezrush. I will be happy if I will get more through you in the name of Jesus Christ to fulfill my renew or to renovo different young people here in Africa inside Dar es sallam the Tanzania's capital . Amen !!! I will be blessed Pastor if I will get contact with you and hear more about renovo church. Amen!

Biroto

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have open contact with him and I hope to connect with him soon. I'm so excited to be able to network with Christian's around the world. Biroto, I'm happy with you too!

God moves, keep up!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/guitar-hero-no-really.html

Check out this 8 year old boy ripping the face off of several of the hardest guitar licks ever like they were Mortal Kombat characters!


I've been playing guitar for 8 years now and this kid had more skill when he was in diapers than I ever will.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/selah-eats-bitter-biscut.html

What a mess!

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/tired-of-buying-ring-tones.html

I know this isn't directly 'ministry' related. However, for those Youth Ministers who spend half of their paycheck on the newest ring-tones, this could be a life-saver.



Mashable has made a list of 10 tools to create your own ring-tones.

For those of you who make your own ring-tones...
What programs do you use and do you distribute them to others?

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/renovo-art.html

...is a blog and ministry of Renovo Church to be active in creating, producing and restoring arts in Mansfield. Renovo believes that art is at the heart of cultural renewal and transformation in the city.


[check it out sometime]

We desire to be a community of artists and stewards who see their work, their art, and their job as witnesses of Jesus Christ in them. To be a force for good in the city; by serving the needs of those in it.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/uncle-joel.html

I got this from my brother-in-law when I was at work.

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/ready-for-play-offs.html

The Q! Stay tuned!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/end-of-3rd.html

It's not even close at the end of the third. Cavs are up by 23!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/excellence-in-church.html

Churches that adopt and put into action the core value of 'Excellence' most often see growth. Yet, I have seen a tension among church staff to produce a bigger and better service each week. Slowly they become overwhelmed and begin to burn out. Often they leave ministry, never to return.

As the worship gathering grows in excellence, there appears to be a breaking point where you don't get the same return as you once did. After you reach that point, the investment into the gathering yields less impact while an abnormal amount of stress is obtained.

[Below is a chart from Kent Blumberg that explains this visually.]



I am not suggesting that 'Excellence' should not be a value. I am just suggesting that we keep an eye on the breaking point of excellence.

http://art.renovochurch.org/2008/04/mansfield-and-arts.htmlhttp://a

Below are quotes and an abbreviation of an article from Mansfield's local newspaper when Artspace a nationally known nonprofit came to town...

After a seven-building tour and meetings with local officials, business owners and artists, two Artspace consultants are impressed with Mansfield.

“For a community of its size, Mansfield appears to be very healthy. We’ve also noticed a lot of people who care about their city and that’s super important.”

Artspace is a nationally known nonprofit real estate development group that focuses on downtowns, with emphasis on the arts.

...the mission of Artspace is to create, foster and preserve affordable space for art organizations and artists. The company owns and operates what they build.

“We believe that artists play an important role in our society,” Holmes said.

I can see that Renovo and Artspace have a lots in common. [see bold]

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/churchy-media-and-muxtapes.html

The guys at ChurchyMedia are knocking the ball out of the park when it comes to their video podcast called Short Takes.

Below I embedded a Short Take on how worship teams can use MuxTape

Short Takes 7 - MuxTape from Churchy Media on Vimeo.
Keep up the good work!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/flashback-foto.html

My sister scanned in some old photos and I stole them off of her private blog.

I am the one sitting on the lap of my dad. What a dork! I still remember that shirt.
And what's up with the bandanna sis?

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/facebook-for-pastors.html

Ran across this e-book today, "Facebook for Pastors" by Chris Forbes. It's essentially about using the power of web 2.0 to reach people, he even uses the reference of "church 2.0". I found that very fitting.

We could debate whether or not Jesus would have a Facebook account, but what's not in question is that Facebook is where people are at. With 70 million active users, and the 6th most trafficked site on the net. Facebook has made huge leaps to catch myspace in the last year, and is predicted to pass myspace in international traffic sometime in mid April 2008.

So go check it out, it's only 31 pages so it won't consume your whole life, and it's FREE!

http://www.kezrush.com/2008/04/stolen-photos.html

I stole the following Photos off of my sisters blog. These are pictures when she visited on Easter weekend.

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/spotlight-fixmymovie.html

Tired of videos recorded from your mobile phone looking pixel-ly when you upload them to YouTube? Check out FixMyMovie . It's a web-service where you can send videos from your mobile phone, it will automatically correct pixel-ation and it then allows you to push the video to your YouTube, Blogger, and MySpace account. You can also download your videos to a Quicktime, WMA, or Flash file.

Below I embedded a video of my daughter, Selah Joy, drinking coffee.
Click compare in the menu to see the video before and after pixel correction.



You can also upload digital files from your computer.

http://art.renovochurch.org/2008/04/is-poetry-prayer.htmlhttp://art

An article over at Image discuss Poetry and Poems as Prayer. What's your thoughts?

http://church20.blogspot.com/2008/04/online-storage-adrive.html

Over a year ago I talked about online storage and offered some free suggestions.
[click here to read the article]

However, I wanted to make you aware of some other online storage/backup options.

First, ADrive. They offer you 50GB for free!
That's crazy, but they do it.


Another option is Mozy. They offer 2GB for free. But wait... what sets them apart is they have a software add-on that automatically backs up your documents. They also offer an option to pay $4.95/mo for ultimated space. This is great for the church who doesn't have any kind of backup system in place.

Personal, I still use Box.net and like it, but they only offer 2GB for free and do not have automatic backups. It might be time for a change.