It all starts this November 7/8

Join us for this LIVE Online Event // Pastor Kerry Shook and Woodlands Church services online! If you are in the area join us at one of our three locations in The Woodlands, Atascocita or Tomball.

Or if you are elsewhere join us for our BETA test of Church Online and let us know what you think. http://live.woodlandschurch.tv/ Saturday 6:00pm or Sunday 9:30, 11:00am or Wednesday at 9:00am.

See you on campus or online!

Wow, great article posted front page on the Sunday, October 11 Houston Chronicle Newspaper. “Praise for Technology: Tweeting during church services receives blessings from pastors.” Really excited that Pastor Kerry jumped in and is experimenting with new technologies and connecting with the congregation. I am still amazed and how church is viewed and how this sort of thing might create controversy in the public. Check out the comments and the rest of the article here: http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/metropolitan/6662287.html

Seems to be a bit of a controversy Tweeting in church. What do you think? Cast YOUR VOTE. Also, fun note: just got off the phone with my other half and she said this is the main article on the front page of the printed edition!! Amazing. Give a quick hello to Pastor Kerry via Twitter and maybe follow Woodlands Church if you want to track with us.

Great article! Your comments and thoughts can be posted via the huge button below.

Are you the next Zuckerberg? Really, how so? Tell us how you are cranking out the next big thing. Or maybe you know someone who is a true inventor – innovator. Are you cranking on stuff that is going to change the way we do life? Even small innovations can be huge in the long-term. Just curious about what’s next and what you are doing right now that will shape the way people interact. Is it You? Or someone near you? Who do you think is the next Zuckerberg?

“Initially Zuckerberg asked a small group of people to sign up to Facebook. At a certain point he told us to start inviting friends, and that is what we did on the first and second day which the site went up on the Web. We could only invite students enrolled at Harvard. In fact, if you did not have a Harvard e-mail address you could not sign into Facebook. At first, dozens of Harvard students registered. The numbers then reached the hundreds, and by the fourth day it had already reached the thousands. People were very enthusiastic about the site. It enabled them to know who took what courses and to meet new people. It conquered Harvard. In less than a week, some 4,000 students signed up for Facebook.”

During Facebook’s initial days, the walls in his room were filled with graphs and charts which showed how many people joined on a daily basis, who used what application, and who has the most friends.”

Beginnings of Facebook
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084443.html

MIT MBA (E&I) Program
http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/E_and_I.php

Great post on Facebook and Twitter Office Spaces.
http://www.photopharm.com/facebook-offices-vs-twitter-offices/

Fair Trade Market – September Weekends in November @woodlandschurch

Here’s the scoop from “Trade as One”: We’d like to say they were our idea, but really we just kept hearing the same thing from people at event after event. Women were determined to change their spending habits, and buy their olive oil, chocolate, coffee, and tea through only fair trade channels, but they didn’t know where to get them. So we set up the program to allow any church or coffee shop to keep fair trade items in stock all year round. It’s a great way to make fair trade convenient. Now we have churches all over the country that are known in their communities as the place to go for Fair Trade in their communities. We think that’s pretty cool.  It’s about changing habits.  Host a Trading Post in your area. Trading Posts are about giving people quick, easy, convenient ways to change their spending habits.

Interested? Email kevin@tradeasone.com to get more info.

Great word this weekend from the “Pleasers, Perfectionists, Procrastinators and other people like me” series.  Control Freaks is the topic. So which are you? I really identify with all of them at one time or another but recently I seem to fit into the “Worry wart“. Seriously, have I always been that way and just never noticed?

Just in the past year I have really began to experience the consequences for being a control freak. I seem to be very frustrated, fatigued and honestly feel like I am failing. So what now? Lately, I feel like God is just trying to show me how to do well with what I have been given, with what is right in front of me. Make sense, but harder than it sounds. My mind tends to stay 2-5 years ahead of where we are and if I/we are not making progress towards those goals, dreams and the vision then I panic. Still working on this and other things. Feel better just writing it down though. Peace.

Oh yes, types of Control Freaks just in case you can’t read my writing:

• The Intimidator
• The Perfectionist
• The Worry Wart
• The Uber-Planner
• The Anti-Planner
• The Master Manipulator
• The Micro Maniac
• The Opinionator

Are you a Control Freak? Comments from You

Woodlands Church will be joined by Trade as One September 19th and 20th for a fair trade market. Pastor Kerry and Chris Shook will be interviewing Nathan George, the founder of Trade as One, to learn how our community can make a difference in communities around the world while transforming individual lives and entire families. The Trade as One fair trade market is an extension of our Missions Ministry which is led by Chris Shook.

Trade as One is a fair trade organization that connects American churchgoers to the working poor all over the world. For three weekends, from September 20th-October 4th, Trade as One will be at Woodlands Church, giving everyone in our community a chance to learn more about how we can use our regular spending to bring hope and restoration to some of the darkest corners of the world. Fair trade allows people to give unique, high-quality gifts to family and friends— while giving hope and income to the poor.

http://tradeasone.com/blog/ or http://www.woodlandschurch.tv

Really enjoying Interactive worship and the online experience today. I went to church this morning at http://live.lifechurch.tv/ and heard from Christine Caine from Hillsong. She spoke about the tough reality of slavery today; 27 million people are caught up in slavery. She specifically spoke of sex trade of women and gave several examples of her encounter with girls and women who were kidnapped or sold into this cruel business.

This is a very tough topic and I instantly stopped to pray about what God wants us to do; wants me to do to help. I then began to be very thankful for the opportunity to hear Christine’s story. To hear the other girls story to learn through an online experience. Then I started to think about the thousands of others who have had a similar experience. This is possible because we are learning to become more interactive; engaging; we are learning to be more like Christ. He is giving favor to those who are exploring new areas to deliver the word and His hope.

I am writing all this thinking about the investment that Woodlands Church is making to be more Interactive Next weekend a whole new level of interaction will take place. You will love the leaders behind this new experience, join Kerry Shook, Justin Keller and many more passionate and driven Christ followers and experience something fresh and unique. Find out more at @WoodlandsChurch or #SundayPM. This is just the start. I feel like I want to pour everything I have into creating an online interactive experience, a place where people get excited about and will inspire action and change. I am praying for a fresh perspective and approach to doing what Christ called me to do; us to do.

Would love to hear what you have experienced recently that excited you that you want to learn more about. What new areas are you exploring in the next few months? How are you making this world a better place? I am asking myself the very same questions.

What do you feel compelled to right now? Anything? Let us know here.

Auto dealership photo from wired.

Revolutionary Change and Brilliance for $1
What if we all pitched in $1 each and hired Seth Godin and Malcom Gladwell to speak at a live stream “tv, radio, internet” event in Chicago reviewing the next 3-5 year strategy and business plan for The Big Three automakers. I say yes. It is time for GM, Chrysler and Ford to hire the best. Or better yet we can “lease” them for a 2-day summit. Leasing is always better, except when it’s not.

Or we can save our money if they will just empower some of the visionary minds and hearts already in their organizations to help them re-invent.  Your thoughts?

Just in case your in for $1

While we are at it. Let’s apply the same concept to the church.

Simple but cool Mars Hill iPhone application by SubSplash.

About Subsplash
We aspire to go beyond convention and deliver both amazement and delight.
Subsplash is a design-centric software company. Our approach to software design is strongly rooted in the iterative process. We love Getting Real and being Agile. By channeling our efforts through this methodology our clients get great results and the return on investment is high. We hope our customers see this benefit when using DreamStream, Timeless and our forthcoming products.

About Mars Hill Church
Mars Hill Church lives for Jesus as a city within the city – knowing culture, loving people, and seeing lives transformed to live for Jesus.
That’s our mission.

YES. You need to have your own iPhone app.