Hey guys,

This Spring Break I’m hopping in a van with 150 other college students to love and serve the city of Boston, Mass. I get to lead a group of 7 as we love on some elderly Northerners for the week and I’m so excited. God has done some pretty cool stuff on these trips in the past, and we’re praying for more on this trip.

Mk, So the cost is $300 ($270 + $30 in food), money I simply don’t have. I’m looking for 12 people to invest $25 as I go.

1. If you’ve got $25, I would really appreciate your help. You can make a tax deductible donation to Vineyard Community Church, 1377 Palmcove Drive, Charleston SC, 29492 Memo: Spring Break Boston. Or the quicker way is Paypal. My paypal username is stephenbateman@bellsouth.net.
2. Either way, the stakes are higher this time, since I’m leading more than just myself. Please commit to pray for me March 6-11, and let me know if you do! Thanks!

After the trip I’ll blog a video about what we did. It’s going to be fantastic I think.

Right now I’m in process of apply for International Business. One of the questions asks you to discuss career objectives and international issues. I also just read Made to Stick, great book, which talks a lot about stories. So I combined the two. Tell me what you think:

Every morning, Anna carries two buckets of water up from the stream for her family. She is 19 years old and wants to go to school, but her mother can’t afford the pay the $20 for books. Eight months ago, Anna’s friend told her about LearnHope International, an organization that teaches business and computing skills to poor Ugandans at no charge. Anna enrolled in the program and her potential was clear. The school taught her that poverty is a mindset, change is possible, and her future could be bright. After completing the program, she started a business selling chickens grown by her family and even hired two employees who will one day start their own businesses.

Unfortunately, LearnHope doesn’t exist.

1 billion people live on less than $1 dollar/day. But I care about Anna, the girl faithfully carrying water to her family. Poverty is not my issue. Anna is my issue.

So the questions are:

1. Lame or effective?
2. Does “LearnHope” exist?

At Catalyst, Aaron Keyes was leading Worship, and he said something that really helped me.

He said that when the priest would inspect the lamb for the burnt offering, it wasn’t the priest that was up for inspection, or the person giving the lamb, but the lamb itself. And that once the priest declared the lamb pure and clean, it was good worship.

Just a great reminder that my worship is contingent on Jesus pure life and his work on the cross, not my holiness.

This post kicks off the Values series. We’ll explore the values of Churchosphere, and see how they apply to a churches blog. Today’s value is Conversation. My grandfather is a blogger, and he recently complained: “It’s so hard to get people to respond.” In fact, most people who see your blog will never comment. So…how to create conversation after the jump.
(more…)

Before I get caught up in Feedburner subscribers, Analytics stats, comment numbers and ReTweets. Before I get convinced that some amount of my self worth is locked up in this blog I’ve created. Even before any real content appears. I’d like to pause, for just a second, and worship.
(more…)

Welcome to Church-o-sphere and thanks for stopping by. Everything is still a little ‘under development,’ but I suppose every blog is like that, pretty much forever. My goal for CoS is to spark some conversation about Creativity and Technology in the Church, and flesh out what that means for the upcoming year. I am super excited for this gig. Yeaya!
(more…)

Heads up: This is a test post. I’ve heard a number of really engaging speakers talk about how your church doesn’t create as much as it should. I inevitably leave those feeling excited, but frustrated. If you had it your way, your church would be a creative force, driving innovation in music, social media, and experiences.
(more…)