Notes from the Trail

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Imagine my surprise today to discover an old website still haunting the internet that I had designed more than 7 years ago! I no longer have the internet accounts, so I can’t access it, but I’ve grabbed all the files and saved them. But check out the UAM BCM site from when I was the campus minister there. I served as the director of the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Baptist Collegiate Ministry (known to some of you simply as the “BSU”) for eight years, 1995-2003.

I’ve done more writing about Rob Bell’s book Velvet Elvis than I care to. It’s really not that impacting of a book! Really. However, there’s so much buzz about it in some circles that it just keeps getting talked about, torn up, revered, and passed on. Cavman has written a series about his impression of the book, and this entry is related to the chapter on truth. It hits pretty much on my conclusions as well.

VE is not for the new or faint-of-heart Christian. It needs to be read with spiritual discernment, and I certainly wouldn’t advise it if you tend to take “Books” as authoritative (aka, “this guy got published, so what he writes must be absolutely true..”). However, it could be a good read just to stimulate your thinking… or to make you shake your head and say, “What’s the point?”

Based in Grapevine, Texas, the 121 Community Church site is very attractive, but also pretty basic when it comes to some of the sites I’ve been reviewing in this series. One of the reasons I wanted to give it a good once-over is because a fellow OBU grad and Southwestern alum is the senior pastor there - Ross Sawyers.

One of the things that struck me about their site is first of all life and then second of all busyness. There were so many to click and pursue from the main page. Drop down menus, flashy things, glitter, a new CD coming out by their worship team, the ability to register to become a childcare worker, etc… Whew.

They have a well-developed site, and I know they’re proud of it; however, after reviewing it, I began to wonder if perhaps simple isn’t better? The positives are that a person who has time to research and wants to find out more about 121 CC can certainly do so! Everything is there to be discovered. The downside to the site (and many church sites) is that just because you can design a site to contain everything and the kitchen sink doesn’t mean you ought to.

It made me wonder and begin to brainstorm a little about how to use your ministry site as a steamlined pointer. Identify one or two central purposes for your site and then funnel all the design technique into directing vistors toward a certain place. I think Northpoint Community Church has done an excellent job with their landing page that directs first-time web guests or church visitors to a certain spot, members to a spot, church leaders from around the world to a spot, etc.

However, I’d encourage you to stop by the church site and tell me what you think. If this is your first time to visit one of the church sites in this series, look at some of the others I’ve done and compare 121CC to them.

I’d love to visit 121CC someday, and I’ve subscribed to a few podcasts in order to catch up with Ross.

Get it? INTP… I in teepee? Hahahahahah… Uh, ok, nevermind. However, I stumbled across this new personality site that is pretty cool. Check out my results:

You can also join a new group I’ve created there.

Here’s the skinny on an INTP:

• “INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.” - INTP Profile (TypeLogic)
• “The INTP is above all a thinker and his inner (private) world is a place governed by a strong sense of logical structure. Every experience is to be rigorously analysed, the task of the INTP’s mind is to fit each encountered idea or experience into a larger structure defined by logic.” - An INTP Profile (intp.org)
• “INTPs live in the world of theoretical possibilities. They see everything in terms of how it could be improved, or what it could be turned into. They live primarily inside their own minds, having the ability to analyze difficult problems, identify patterns, and come up with logical explanations. They seek clarity in everything, and are therefore driven to build knowledge. They are the “absent-minded professors”, who highly value intelligence and the ability to apply logic to theories to find solutions.” - Portrait of an INTP (The Personality Page)
• “The Architects’ distant goal is always to rearrange the environment somehow, to shape, to construct, to devise, whether it be buildings, institutions, enterprises, or theories. They look upon the world — natural and civil — as little more than raw material to be reshaped according to their design…” - The Portrait of the Architect Rational (iNTp) (Keirsey)
• “INTPs contribute a logical, system-building approach to their work. They like being the architect of a plan, because of the scheming and thinking involved, far more than being the implementer of that plan. Implementation tends to be drudgery. They are content to sit back and think about what might work, given their view of the situation. INTPs may ignore standard operating procedures. The hours that they spend are not what is important to them, but rather the completion of their thought process” - INTP - The Wizard (Lifexplore)
• “…likes solitude, not revealing, unemotional, rule breaker, avoidant, familiar with the darkside, skeptical, acts without consulting others” - Jung Type Descriptions (INTP) (similarminds.com)

Check out the Journey site for more info. If you’re interested, we’re having a group at our house. We’d love to have you! There are other groups as well, but none of them offer free iPods for coming. would you come if they did?