The Center for Church Communication

I was recently asked by Cynthia Ware from the Center for Church Communications to be a part of a small group of creative individuals across the country to spread the CFCC wealth. I am honored to be part of a team that is setting out to lift up and network communications professionals in the local church.

The CFCC is behind many great projects (the most popular being the Church Marketing Sucks blog). They are a great community of folks dedicated to being a resource to those in church communications. I currently help moderate their peer review on flickr, which is an awesome tool for designers (or people who aren't designers but need to be for their church) to get feedback.

The group, so far, is made up of some amazingly creative and passionate individuals. I truly do not belong in the same category as these guys (No, seriously...follow their links. You'll agree. It's ok.):

• Vin Thomas (Portland, OR) 
• Danielle Hartland (Erie, PA) 
• Vince Marotte (Austin, TX) 
• Rich Kirkpatrick (SoCal) 
• Craig Littlejohn (NorCal) 
• Cameron Ware (Dallas, TX) 
• Tim Schraeder (Chicago, IL) 
• Brian Wurzell (Phoenix, AZ) 

I am excited to be a part of this network, and I hope to use this role to help communications professionals in the Northeast. And as those of us who live up here know, the Northeast needs all the help it can get. ;-)

If you’re in church communications and I don’t know you, please leave a comment or email me! I would love to connect and see how I can help support and promote what you’re doing.

(Also, thanks, Vin. I totally copied you.)

Linchpin by Seth Godin

I am only half-way through this book, but I feel compelled to say two things about it right now:

1. If you are an artist/creative type, or if you lead those folks, this is a must read (and soon).
2. As I've been reading this book, I can't help but think, "I've been waiting for this all my life."

I'm not over-selling it. Buy it. Read it. Change.

Here, I'll even give you a link (from which I gain nothing). And, I'll post a full review over the weekend. I'm pretty sure I'll finish my first read through tonight.

Jessy's Wedding Invitations

This project was forever ago! I had the awesome privilege to design Jessy's invitations and other wedding stationery. She's an amazing woman. I love her and her family. Her personal style made this project tons of fun.

Here are a few shots of the whole invitation set together:

Here is the invite card:

Directions:

R.S.V.P. card:

Program (front and back):

Menu card:

Kristin and Some Twins

Here's some work I did recently that I never posted.

First, logo and business card design for Kristin Lynch. I designed and she got them printed online...Vista Print, I think. Definitely look her up if you need Web Development or other technology solutions. She's pretty awesome. Here are the cards:

Front:

And back:

Second, this is a baby announcement I designed for my friend Kelly's sister. Kelly took the pic and it's amazing...i love it. Luckily, her sister Kim is funky and cool, so I was able to try out a more modern design. It turned out great, I think:

The Lusky Family: Brian, Rachel and Chloe

Had a really fun maternity photo shoot with these guys today! I am officially excited to meet Chloe Grace...I can't believe how quick this is all happening!

I'm just putting a few up here as a "sneak peek" for Rachel. More will be on flickr soon!

I call this, "We are the hippest parents ever invented."

Subtitle: "The Luskys: Bringing the Sass since 2000."

And I like the sunlight/flare in the middle. I usually don't, but it works here:

And this is when I started crying uncontrollably.

I took about 10 pics without seeing what I was doing. Good result, at least:

I love how this is framed. It's just perfect, to me:

Models:

"Hello? Is this Jack Bauer? Yeah, we're available for active duty ASAP."

Too bad I LOVE this photo:

Aaaaaand I love this:

I think this is the best "heart on belly" shot in the universe:

In other news, I felt Chloe's butt while she was kicking Rachel. AAAAAAH! Amazing.

3 Words for 2010

Inspired by Terry Storch and Chris Brogan.

This really applies to a lot of things in the spiritual, physical and mental realms. It's not just about "eating right" and "exercising,"it's about being as healthy as possible in as many areas that I can. It's going to be about all of the little choices I make on a daily basis. This includes things like: getting caught up on regular doctor's visits, completing a daily reading plan from YouVersion, and being honest about my feelings with people.
Why? Because I want to be faster, better and stronger.

---

I have a feeling that a lot is going to change for me in 2010. The trick will be surrendering to what it actually is, instead of lamenting what it isn't. It really means being open to God, the people around me, and new experiences/ideas.
Why? Because I don't want to become unteachable, inflexible or closed.

---

I want to continue a goal I had in 2009, which was to be a student of...well...as much as possible. To focus that down a bit, I'd like to be in a constant state of learning about Communications. I also want to be a student of people around me so I can be someone worth studying someday.
Why? Because I don't have all the answers and I want to model a spirit of learning to those around me.

---

Zero Out Your Inbox

I did this quick training/challenge for our staff on Tuesday at our Communications Meeting and I thought I'd pass the notes on. Most of this comes from Karen Leland. This method and it's variations have been around for a long time, but it's a good one, so here's my spin:

ZEROING OUT YOUR INBOX 

WHY?

1. We need to get better at the time it takes to communicate with our people and each other. 
2. Goal is to spend less time playing with email and more time doing stuff. 
3. It’s a tangible accomplishment in an otherwise continual loop of unfinished ministry business. 

Four “D” Method (with some extra hints): 

• Create 2 subfolders in your inbox called “Defer” and “To Be Done” (or whatever make sense to you). 
• Every email you receive falls into one of four categories: Do, Delete, Delegate or Defer. 
• Take action on each message, the ultimate goal being to touch each email only once whenever possible. 
• The only way an email will ever get out of your life (and out of your worrying brain) is to either deal with it or get rid of it. If you’re planning to do anything in-between, you should understand why. 
• Filters can be your friend. Focus on creating filters/scripts for any noisy, frequent, and non-urgent items. Depending on what you consider noise, this could probably include: 
• blog comments 
• “friend” requests and announcements from sites like Twitter, Facebook* or Flickr 
• mailing lists and subscribed forum threads 
• regular updates like newsletters and office memos 
• non-spam store updates, coupons, and sale announcements 

Do: If the message can be handled easily and quickly (within five minutes) do it now. Once done, delete the item or move it to a folder for storage. If the task can't be completed easily, move it to a folder for items to be done, or flag it for completion at some point during the day. At the end of the day, all the flagged items, that are unfinished should be moved to the “to be done” folder, those becoming priority the next day.

Delete: If an email sits in your in-box waiting to be worked on for days, weeks, or even months, you’re probably putting it off for one of these reasons:

1. It is too big to handle as is and needs to be broken down into bite size chunks (DO IT). 
2. The item is not clearly defined enough for you to take action on (FACT FIND). 
3. It is something you don't really, want, need or intend to do (DELETE IT).** 

Delegate: Just because you received the email message, does not mean you have to be the one to execute it.

Defer: Many items in your in-box are good ideas you would like to follow up on - just not now. Instead of letting the someday item sit in your active in-box file, create a folder where you can keep tabs on messages you may want to take action on at some point in the future.**


  * Be careful not to forget about notifications if people are trying to communicate with you.
** Just because you don’t think its important, that doesn’t mean the requester agrees. Communicate!


Five Minutes To A Cleaner Inbox: 
Open your email in-box and then set your watch, computer or iphone on a five-minute timer. Now, starting from the top (the latest email) go through and see how many items you can get completed and moved out of your mailbox using the four D's - Do, Delete, Delegate or Defer.