26Sep, 2011

A Reminder that Beauty Comes from Pain

Posted by Don
50

My dear friends Jesse and Brianne Olson e-mailed me a picture of their daughter this morning. She’s beautiful of course, and strong and smart just like her parents and her name is Payson. What got me all choked up, though, was her name. I knew immediately where the name came from. I was there when the name Payson was born, sort of. It was a few years ago and we were all riding our bikes across America. We’d been in the desert for a week, riding through temperatures as high as 112 degrees. The day we rode out of Phoenix was one of the hardest days of the trip. We rode over mountains and then more mountains. Every range we climbed revealed another range. Our hearts sank each time we topped a massive, hours-long climb. We slept in a rock quary for rest, literally flat on our backs on piles of rocks. We drank gallons of water but never quenched our thirst, and our stopping place was hours and hours away. The ride was so tough a friend and I actually got off our bikes and walked the last few miles, our tires flat from punctured tubes. We walked into [...]

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03May, 2011

Special Blue Like Jazz Screening at Storyline

Posted by Don
36

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Our very first public viewing of Blue Like Jazz the movie will take place at the Storyline Conference in Portland on June 6th and 7th! When you register for Storyline, you’ll not only be attending the conference, but you’ll be in on the first screening of the movie! And not only this, but director Steve Taylor and Cinematographer Ben Pearson will take the stage after to take questions and film some DVD extras for the movie. Our deadline to get a watchable version of the film is set in stone, and the 500 people in the audience for Storyline will be the first to see the film. We can’t wait for you to see it! We will be screening the film in several cities, but that schedule has not been determined. We will also be holding screenings for our backers, but if you want to see the movie first, register for Storyline today! Come on out! Here’s some behind-the-scenes footage to get you excited. It’s going to be incredible. We are all pretty nervous. Can’t believe it’s actually going to happen! Video Update 5 – Blue Like Jazz the Movie from Blue Like Jazz The Movie on Vimeo.

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02May, 2011

Storyline is Coming Up!

Posted by Don
9

We have one-hundred seats left for Storyline so if you’ve been daydreaming about a trip to Portland you’ll want to register soon. Hundreds have just left Portland for the Q conference which was fantastic, and it got me thinking about the Storyline Conference and how only five weeks from now hundreds more will be descending on the city so we can talk together about what amazing things we can do with our lives. It’s going to be a terrific time. Last year about 500 new and old friends came up for Storyline and spent two days going through five lectures, small group meetings and a robust workbook analyzing our gifts, our skills and our passions in an effort to map out how God has wired us so we can participate with God to do amazing things. If you find yourself wondering what could be next in your story, Storyline is for you. Check out the website and lets take this journey together! To register, simply click this link, watch the video and tell your friends. Tomorrow, I will be making a special announcement about a treat that only Storyline attendees will experience. Stay tuned!

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31Mar, 2011

Five Reasons to Register for Storyline

Posted by Don
14

Today is the last day to get the pre-registration price for the Storyline Conference. If you’re needing a bit of clarity in your life, or wanting to jump-start the story you are living, come visit Portland in June with hundreds of other people who will be mapping out their personal storyline at our two-day conference. How long has it been since you’ve performed a life evaluation? Here are five reasons to attend Storyline:   1. Because you can walk out of the Storyline conference better understanding what you want to do with the rest of your life.   2. Because you’ll come to understand why some roles in life don’t work for you and others seem to work great. You’ll understand the “kind of character” you play in life’s story and be able to shape your story around that role. 3. You’ll have a broad map showing you where you currently are in your story and be able to list the priorities you can focus on now so the story is as impacting as you hope it can be. 4. You’ll meet people from all over the country who are interested in the kind of life you are interested in [...]

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18Mar, 2011

Is Your Life Confusing?

Posted by Don
66

In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell references a study done by the people who created Sesame Street in which children were observed as they watched the show to see when they turned their heads and lost interest. The study showed children lost interest in the show, not when there wasn’t something exciting happening on screen, or there were boring characters, but when they didn’t understand what was happening. In other words, if they did not understand the story, even if it were a mini story of bringing two halves of a word together, they lost interest and started playing with toys. Producers tried to remedy the lack of interest by ratcheting up conflict, but this didn’t work. Conflict without a story is still confusing. Interesting characters without a story are confusing as well. The producers at Sesame Street worked hard, then, to make every scene, every segment a very clear story, and because of their work retain the average child’s engagement an unheard of 80% of the time they are watching the show. I reread The Tipping Point recently and wondered about how this study relates to our own lives. I posit that we all do the same [...]

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