Digital Musings

Creativities

Yeah, Creativities, like creative activities...

Creativity is the name of the game for me this month. Tonight was our every first True North creative meeting coming together to dream about what we can do for a message series called TXT (text). It was great to have a bunch of people form various backgrounds working together to cook up some cool ideas. Just wait...

Tomorrow, July 2nd, I begin another creative challenge - I am part of a Creative Coaching group with Carlos Whittaker and 4 other guys besides myself (Brennan Loveless - St. Charles, MO, Trae Brogdon - Roscoe, IL, Will Goodwin - Acworth, GA, and Josh Lazar - Fredericksburg, VA). I'm looking forward to what this process with bring, as well as getting a chance to connect with some other guys who are shaking things up in other parts of the country.

So how about you? What creativity is busting out in your world?

Live streaming update

If you have visited our test live streaming of our 6:30 & 8:30 Elevate services, this week you will notice a difference- the lack of chat ability. Last week our chat was attacked by several people being very vulgar & rude. If you were among those who tuned in, my apologies. We are using a free service called Livestream, and honestly the lack of control for chat moderation is more than disappointing. So rather than risk what happened last week again, I decided to turn the chat feature off until I can find a better solution with greater security. I am actively seeking options because I feel like the chat provides a sense of community that just watching the stream alone cannot provide. Keep in mind we are still testing. My hope is that we can have a legitimate "web campus" at some point in the near future. I'd love to heat your thoughts. Do you think it would be good for True North to have a web campus? Have you been a part of the testing we have been doing? What would you like to see? Would you be willing to help cast vision for it & give towards making it happen? As we look towards the future of True North, there are many possibilities. Let's see what plans God has...

Current testing can be found at: Http://www.livestream.com/truenorth

P.s. While we have been broadcasting the past several weeks, this does nit mean that every week we will be doing so. Stay tuned via True North facebook & Twitter (or my own personal accounts as well) for week to week details.

Gunna Be Startin' Something...

Michael Brennan. Long Island. Hmmm... not me. I did attempt to moonwalk once though. God bless ya kid. Thanks to Matt Summers for bringing this to my attention.

The Future of Lumina

Last week we closed the door on the Lumina college & young adults large group monthly meetings. It's one of several changes that has been happening not only in my life, but also at True North. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this incredible team of people and I look forward to what comes next. Below is a letter I posted on the Lumina website:

If you’ve been around True North lately, it’s no surprise to you that there are a lot of changes happening. Well, there’s one more. After much prayer & a sense of God’s leading, Lumina will no longer be having large group gatherings.

Two major factors have influenced this decision. First off, after assessing our large group meetings (even after changing up the format this past year) we noticed that it really didn’t function all that differently from our Sunday night Elevate services. Attendance has been inconsistent & it seemed that this was just one more thing that people could attend, but not that it was really meeting a deep need.  Secondly, I have felt God leading me to something different in my role at True North. I will be doing more creative service planning, and facilitating the live streaming of our services on the web.

So Lumina will be scaling back to what has met the deepest need in college  & young adults - the need for community. College & young adult community groups will continue under the leadership of True North’s Community Life Pastor, Chad Hardison. Under his care, I’m sure that these groups will be given even more time, attention & care so that they will flourish. Also, be assured that the current Lumina community group leaders will continue on serving as leaders.

It has been my great privilege working with  this great team of people serving the college students & young adults of our church & community. I’m sure that it will not be long before something else comes to the foreground as far as college ministry with someone else at the helm. Thanks for being a part of this journey with me!

~ Pastor Mike

P.S. Just in case you weren't aware:

We are MOVING OUT!!  Our last Sunday here at our Terryville Road location will be Sunday, August 2nd. From Sunday August 9th through the 30th, we will be meeting at the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) Base in Smithtown. The address is: 70 New York Ave., Smithtown, NY, 11787. Our new service schedule for the new building will be:  9:30am, 11:00am and 7:30pm. Stay tuned for more updates!

Ok last one... How to Survive an Alien Attack

How the Matrix Should Have Ended

Simply awesome, or should i say "Excellent!"

The Power of Music

True Art

Today we had a bunch of artists show up to create some great work to auction off with all proceeds going to Love 146. Come to the Auction at True North, this Friday night (June 12) at 7:30 Pm. We will have a viewing time while we serve some light refreshments, then the auction. All opening bids will be $20. Bring a friend, donate to a great cause & get some awesome art for your walls!

Here's a few shots of the room & my piece called "Faith, Hope, Love 146".

Conan on Twitter

Meet Cooper

Trying to get Biscuit to play nice with him. Still working on that. Here's some video of our new little stinker, Cooper.