I have chosen a piece of our branding initiative, our logo, thanks to the help of some really cool and creative peoples. Now I am attempting to move on to business cards, letterhead, website, note card, and all other pieces of this initiative that must speak the language of peculiarplace!

And frankly, my brain is stuck, like I’ve eaten more cheese than it can digest. (last one i promise).

So what do you do when you are stuck? Please help!!!!

Today, i don’t read the newspaper, but I read several very informative blogs that fill my cup every morning before i truly get my day started. One of those blogs is called swerve. It is the blog of the senior pastor and the innovation leader and pastor of lifechurch.tv. It is an amazing thing that God is doing with this church, if you have not heard of them you might want to go see for yourself!!!

I digress. This week they spent most of their blog time on blogging. I learned a lot and wanted to share the link with you and hopefully you will grab something as well!! Blogging Week.

I will continue to share with you the knowledge these men and women of God so graciously share with me every morning!!!

According to Monday Morning Insight there are 15 innovations the church should embrace. OK, I know what you are saying, Lloyd, just a minute ago you said we NEED them and we MUST have them, well i meant what i said, but MMI believes we should embrace them, so that works too.

Here are the top 5:

1.  Podcasting – circuit riding at the speed of light

In addition to your weekly messages, how about spicing it up with special editions? Try doing interviews with church neighbors, the mayor, volunteers, staff intros., etc. If it’s worth preaching it’s worth podcasting. Any church of any size can exponentially increase its impact via MP3 technology.

2.  Blogging – digital discipleship

Don’t blog for an audience, blog for you. The more you write about what’s on your head and heart, the more people will respond. Blogging increases your bandwidth and allows you to digitally disciple just about anybody, anywhere, anytime.

3.  Video Technologies – postmodern stained glass

The medieval church used stained glass to tell the gospel story in pictures. We’re using screens to tell the gospel story in moving pictures. Jesus isn’t just the Word of God. He is also the Image of God. The Church needs to communicate in images!

4.  Viral Video – get contagious quickly

Use YouTube to spread the love. There’s even a first-time visitor orientation.

Use it creatively for things like behind-the-scenes sermon prep, church staff meetings, or videos created by the congregation. There’s a reason why this is one of the top visual communication sites on the Web.

5.  Multi-Purpose Church Buildings – doing ministry in the marketplace

Jesus didn’t hang out at synagogues. He hung out at wells. Wells were natural gathering places in ancient culture. Coffeehouses are postmodern wells. That’s why National Community Church, in Washington, D.C., built a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill instead of a church building — to create a marketplace environment where the church and community could cross paths. Less than a year after it opened, “Ebenezers” was rated the #2 coffeehouse in the metro DC area by AOL CityGuide 2007. They serve 600+ customers seven days a week. Instead of asking people to come to them, the church is going to the people.

For a complete list click here.