We met at Boyd's house this morning and carpooled down to Vilano Bch. We used a family condo for the day to plan, pray, and clarify vision for RiverTown.

While we were there, we nailed down our purpose statement (it actually didn't change), our core values, our strategy, and laid out steps to complete our mission measures. We got a lot of work done and had a good time together.

For lunch, we rode into St. Augustine for some good Mexican food. Seriously, it was delicious. I ate too much.

The best part is that we got it all done in about four hours in total, which is remarkable for our chatty, friendly staff.

Cool things are going on at RiverTown and I'm stoked to be a part!

The thing I notice most is the level of teamwork to make this thing happen. Granted, it's not a high level production, but they're well- coordinated. It makes me think about hiring church staff. Competence in a certain arena of ministry isn't sufficient.

Chemistry and compatiblity with the team should be considered equal to competence in importance. Those are my thoughts on the matter. Done.

Yesterday, the Random Reality bookmarklet took me to an essay in Getting Real called Epicenter Design. I was going to write a review of it, but just go there, read it with the eyes of a leader, and glean.

Later.

This is definitely 'fear mongering.' I like Fox, but give me a break.

(via davidkaneda)

For me, my mind jumps straight to something like Twitter or SMS for quick communication, but what about real-world communication? I don't know sign language and learning it would take way too long.

I could possibly blog more, but that's not real communication, that's just public journaling. Of course, email would be a huge help, but email has never been very personal. I'd no doubt start writing letters to make more meaningful contact with people.

Then there's the whole singing thing. It's how I make a living. My voice is integral to my ability to provide for my family. Without it, I'm a so-so guitarist and a semi-talented web guy.

Not sure why I felt like it was necessary to share that with you, but it's been on my mind since my jaw's been hurting.

BTW, I killed comments again because my readers don't like to comment and it makes my blog look ghetto. If you have a comment, email me and I'll add it as an update to the post with a link-back to your blog.

mashable:

Bill Gates Releasing Mosquitoes on Audience

From a really informative talk from the TED conference.

It wouldn't have been a big deal, but he contacted me with an attitude. His form submission was snide and sarcastic. So, I sent him this reply:

First, iPhone developers are not required to offer support. Contacting an app's developer with snide remarks about App Store ratings/comments is both unnecessary and foolish if you expect decent support.Second, there are no existing bugs in FrontPocket. All App Store comments referring to such bugs refer to version 1.0. Those bugs have all been fixed in the current version, which I assume you are currently running.Third, due to the second point, your launch problem is almost certainly user error. Please double-check the following:

• Read the App Store description carefully.
• Don't try to copy your API key directly into the app's settings view. It's very difficult. I even had trouble with it.
• Go to http://frontpocketapp.com to activate the app. It's MUCH easier.
• Check to make sure your SSL setting match. If your SSL settings on your Backpack account are switched on or off, bake sure the SSL setting on FrontPocket is also on or off.
• If you still can't activate the app, email me again.

----------------------Scott Magdalein

Is this too harsh?

I want RiverTown to be focused on strong teaching and quality worship, not the flashiness that you might find at some other newer churches.

Of course, that's a paraphrase, but you get the gist.

What Danny was saying is that he wants RiverTown to be known for something more powerful and meaningful than production tricks and a stage show. This doesn't negate high quality music and purposeful creativity. Rather, a wariness of flashiness helps us focus our creativity and passion for excellence on those things that really help our people grow in their faith, meet with God in sincerity, and connect to other people in a meaningful way.

When our creativity is focused on that goal, we see more fruit, greater excitement for Sunday mornings, an increased commitment to our church, a greater willingness to invite friends/family, and a readiness to serve. It's spectacular.

Then, it dawned on me. Tumblr! Tumblr can handle exactly what I want it to, and it's free. So, I created a new Photo Log at http://photolog.readscott.com. I'll be posting the best photos I take, interesting snippets from my life that happened to get caught on camera, and other stuff.

But, it will only be photos. ReadScott.com will still be my main blog, but I didn't want to inundate my blog readers with lots of single photos, which is what will be happening on my Photo Log.