NYWC - Day 1 - Afternoon General Session

So yesterday was the first day of the National Youth Workers' Convention in Atlanta. This is the second time that I've gone with my wife, and the third time that I've gone total. It's a lot more fun having my wife there. Sometimes I can be a little bit too into the art side of things, and usually she's able to be more realistic in that respect.
General session was pretty good. The band was Flatfoot 56, a Celtic punk band. They were awesome. Really old-school true punk sounding. It's cool too because it sounds like they are accepted in the punk scene and play a lot in bars as opposed to the usual Christian band that bounces around churches, conferences, and festivals.
Andy Stanley spoke yesterday afternoon about what to do when you realize that you are the most powerful person in the room (serve). This was the first time that I've heard him since reading his book about how he creates his messages (Communicating For A Change).
There was also this cool sand/light artist guy. Interesting. JM

Communicating For A Change

I finished this book on our staff retreat. It's divided into two parts, the first is a narrative that puts the information they're trying to communicate and embeds it in a fictional story. The second part was just the information with some analagous stories and kind of how Andy Stanley developed this process. The book is basically about how he organizes all of his messages around one point and the basic outline he uses. It's an amazingly practical book. I hated the first half and loved the second half. It was especially annoying because the second half was just a reitiration of the first half without the narrative. Good book though with some great ideas. Just skip the first half of it. JM