Chuck Scoggins | Web + Print + Video Design

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week.

• I ran across this post last week and have been trying some of the tools there. Some of them are really good. My favorite so far: TotalFinder
• Lots of churches are looking for communications help. Here are a few:
• Potential Church in Ft. Lauderdale is looking for a web designer and a lead designer.
• Highland Park in Dallas is looking for a web administrator.
• If you’re looking, be sure to check out the CFCC Job Boards!
• I’ve been asked by the fine folks at The Crossing church to help lead part of their multi-site video broadcast area. I’m pretty excited about that!
• Does your church or small business need a custom-designed motion graphics video? Be sure to hit me up. Or, check out some that I’ve posted to my producer page on Sermonspice.
• I’m getting more and more excited about our Creative Missions trip this year. Would you consider supporting us / me?
• I’m giving away a copy of Outspoken Book. Be sure to see my previous post about it.

We all have something we’re passionate about. If we’re lucky, we get to pursue that passion in our current work. For me, it’s leveraging new technologies and new processes to make a difference in the world. No matter what we love to do, there’s going to come a time where we get a “no.”

The “no” might be to a proposal. It might be a “no” to a sales call. It might be to an idea. We might get a “no” when we ask for more budget. It could be an informal or subtle “no” to a request for your leader to lead or clarify the vision & mission of your organization. There are all types of “no.” While some of these are easier to accept than others, there are several things I think we can do when we get them:

1. Accept it, submit, and move forward.

There are times where the “no” addresses a preference or a request that isn’t all that significant. We might have a way that we’d prefer and would love to get our way with a “yes,” however a “no” to the preference isn’t that big of a deal.

There might be other situations where we strongly disagree with the “no,” but the best thing is still to trust the leadership that God has put in place over us and, though disappointed, need to submit to that leadership.

2. Change our request.

It might be that we’re getting a “no” because the other person doesn’t know what we’re asking for. Or, perhaps, we don’t really know what it is we’re asking for. Maybe our need is unclear. Could it be restated? If there were clarity, would it lead to a “yes?”

Most of the time we’re headed toward the same goal as the person giving us the “no” and it could be that the other person knows better than we do. When such is the case, we need to either change our request or accept the “no” and move forward (back to #1).

3. Find the “yes” behind the “no”

I heard this phrase one time and it has changed the way I think about “no’s” – both the ones I’ve given and the “no’s” I’ve received. Behind every “no” is a “yes.”

For example, when I was Communications Director at Calvary Church, I often received requests that I had to decline. It almost seemed like my main job function was to say “no.” Maybe we didn’t have the staff or resources to fulfill the request. Maybe the request didn’t fit our mission. Things worked out best when I could give a “yes” behind the “no.”

• No, we can’t make you a brochure, but we do (yes!) have a brochure template that you can drop your content into.
• No, we can’t give you a platform announcement this weekend because there are a couple of items that are more urgent/higher priority, but we can (yes!) put your event on the website home page and in the weekly e-newsletter.

The same idea can be applied when we receive a “no” from others. If our manager gives us a “no” to a budget request for new software, maybe we can turn it into a yes if we can find a way to offset the cost. When a leader, for example, gives us a “no” to casting a clearer vision, is there something we can do to help them say yes? Perhaps we can write up a set of expectations, parameters, or a vision document that helps them give us what we need? Get a “no” on an idea for a new program or system? Find the reason for the “no.” It’s often linked to some fear or sense of damage that could occur from saying “yes.” People are conditioned to avoid risk – so if our “yes” seems risky, it’ll come back as a “no.”

There is always a “yes” behind the “no!” If we’re creative, we can find it and leverage it to turn the “no” into a “yes.”

4. Stand up for our convictions.

There are some times when we are right and the person giving us the “no” is wrong. In these instances, we need to humbly stand our ground and stand up for what we believe. It helps if there is a relational history of grace and if we have a mutual trust with those we’re pushing against.

It’s also important to know that we can’t dip into this well very often or we will lose credibility and we will bankrupt the relational account.

Having stated that, I firmly believe God has created each of us with unique gifts and abilities. He gives each of us convictions. We need to honor him by standing up for those convictions. Also, we were likely put in the position we currently hold because someone values our knowledge, expertise, and giftedness in an area. Our opinions are valuable and any healthy organization will encourage healthy, unfiltered debate and will want push-back.

5. Get off the bus

If it comes right down to it and we believe the “no” goes against principles and convictions that God has given us, and we can’t find the “yes” behind the “no,” we need to move on. I have few regrets in life, but most of them go back to when I let fear drive my decision to stay on a bus that was going to a place where I knew I wasn’t called to be.

Image Credit: Dimitri Castrique

We owe it to ourselves to be a part of something we are 100% on board with. Life is too short to cheat ourselves (and God) out of our best. We need to be hustling toward the vision we’ve been given. We also owe it to the person giving us the “no” to get out of their way and let them find someone who agrees with them.

My experience has been (and continues to be even now) that when we do the right thing in responding to a “no,” God honors those actions and blesses our lives.

Have you every received a “no?” How did you respond? Is there anything I missed? I’d love your input in the comments!

God taught me a lot in 2011. So many lessons that I can’t list all of them, but here are the top 11:

11. Almost no decision made out of fear is a good decision.

I’ve seen it far too often. Leaders make radically courageous decisions that allow them to get into positions of influence, then they make decisions out of fear in order to keep from losing their followers. It’s usually those latter decisions meant to minimize danger that cause the most harm.

One of my resolutions in life is to not make any decision out of fear. The circumstances of 2011 have proven this to be a worthy goal. 

10. Be yourself.

Lots of people will try to change us into what they want us to be, but God has uniquely gifted us and given us our personality. He has made us who we are and it’s much better to ‘lean into’ our calling and to leverage it than to try to be something we are not. That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to improve on our weaknesses (see lesson 9) and character flaws; but, we shouldn’t let other people tell us who we should be.

9. It’s better to work on your strengths than your weaknesses.

We all have weaknesses. We all have strengths. As Marcus Buckingham has been saying for a couple of years now, we get a much better return on our efforts and time when we try to minimize our weaknesses and maximize our strengths. 

8. Those you trust will let you down.

I don’t mean to be a downer but it’s true. People are people — and the more we put our trust in flawed people, the higher the likelihood that someone close to us will let us down. I know I’ve let a lot of people down this year; and, I’ve been let down by some people I trust.

On the flip side, I’ve been surprised, overwhelmed, and humbled by how some people have come through in amazing ways. I’ve been blessed with some amazing friends…and I’m so thankful for them.

7. Nobody is truly an expert in social media.

Social media is young. Very young. There are some people out there who know a lot about it. None of us are experts yet.

6. Leaders have a responsibility to those they lead.

I once heard someone say that you can’t expect something from someone who doesn’t have the capacity or ability to give it. If that person is a leader (and aren’t we all), I call B.S. on that. If you are a leader, you have a responsibility to provide for the needs of those you lead. The fact that the needs of your followers are an area of weakness for you is no excuse. Either figure out how to legitimately provide it or get out of the way of someone who can.

5. Building in to others is not overrated.

It has been my privilege to build into the next generation over the past few years. This includes teaching at a (relatively) large university and personally mentoring some people who directly report to me. I believe part of personal growth is finding someone to build in to.

4. Leadership training might be over-rated.

Leaders never stop learning. Over the past 10 years I’ve had the privilege of attending dozens of leadership training sessions. From conferences to workshops, to classes and books, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard every cheesy leadership one-liner out there. I am nowhere near where I would like to be in my personal leadership journey. One thing I’m learning though is that leadership is better caught than taught (see, there is one of those cheesy one-liners). Formal teaching sessions on leadership have their place, for sure. But, if we really want to take our leadership skills to the next level we need to find someone who is already there and walk in their shadow for a while.

And, please, please, please — I beg of you: If you are in a position of power (as opposed to authority) and don’t have your junk worked out, please don’t require those who serve under you to go to leadership workshops. Provide them opportunities to grow. But don’t require that which you aren’t prepared to do yourself.

3. What we do is important.

Those of us in the communications/media/content/marketing/branding/messaging industry have a very, very important role in today’s society. Don’t let the nay-sayers tell you otherwise. The stakes are too high. One of the most important things I’ve learned this year is that God has called me to do this thing that I do and I’m going to do my best to live up to that calling.

2. Communication with those you love is of the upmost importance.

It is ironic that as I look back over my biggest failures over the past year, the ones that horrify me the most are where I didn’t do a good job communicating with the ones I love. I could’ve told my kids (or, even better, demonstrated to my kids) that I love them more. I could’ve been more patient and could’ve had more empathy. I could’ve shared my big goals and dreams with my amazing wife. As a communications guy, I certainly need to learn to communicate better!

1. God is incredibly faithful. 

There have been many times of uncertainty in the past months. Without hesitation, I can say that my faith has been stretched and God has proven faithful time and time again. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’d love to dialog with you about my faith journey these past months and explore how God could come through for you as well.

What about you? What are your lessons from 2011? I’d love to hear from you…

Happy New Year!

What you do is incredibly important (otherwise God wouldn’t have you doing it).

The impact you can make is enormous.

The number of people you can reach is vast.

The stories you can re-write are waiting.

Opportunity exists today like it never has before. Please don’t waste it with a vision that is too small. Dream big! Be remarkable. Go somewhere amazing and take us with you.

[Disagree? Prove me wrong!]

“Dad, what do you do to make money?” asked my 8 year old son on the way home from a quick run to the grocery store last night.

“Well buddy,” I said, “I teach some classes, and I help churches, and I make videos, and I make websites.”

“You make websites?!?”

“Yes. I make websites.”

“Can you make me a website? Can you put my picture on it? Can we put some games on it? Do I get a password?”

So, last night, I took two hours – two precious work hours – and designed a website. It cost me about $250 in lost time and $10 for a domain name. But the cost of not doing it was too high. This was one of those pivotal moments where I could see in his eye the question, “Does my dad love me enough to do this for me?”

Will he use it? I don’t know. Will this launch him into a love of blogging and web design? Probably not.

So why did I bother? As my wife pointed out, in 10 years Trip will likely not remember that I designed him a custom WordPress blog. She’s right: he probably will never know how much time I put in to setting it up.

So why bother?

I like how Carlos Whittaker put it here and here.

So build!

Want to get more volunteers for your ministry? You could put an article in your weekly handout, monthly newsletter, email newsletter, etc. You could have a big “volunteer fair” or some other big serving campaign. You could guilt people in to volunteering. But I think there’s a better way.

Do you currently have people serving in your ministry area? Would you like to double that number? Why not pick up the phone and ask every volunteer to bring a friend to serve along with them. The benefits should be obvious:

• If every existing volunteer recruits one more volunteer, you double your workforce. Think about what would happen if each one brings two. Think about what happens when the second generation of recruiting takes place.
• It builds in a value of “recruitment” to the DNA of your ministry.
• If friends serve with friends, your existing volunteers and new have a more enjoyable serving experience.
• People who are already serving probably know how best to recruit people that are perfect for the job!

Christmas is a very unique time for churches in that it is the one time of year where people are most open to visiting a church or responding to an outreach effort. I’ve done my share of Christmas planning over the past 10 years in church communications. I know first-hand how crazy the season is for church workers and how important it is for us to think strategically about this time of year. As we approach the holiday season, here is the first of five areas we should be thinking about as we plan (as a side note, these are the same 5 big-picture design areas I teach through in my Design Concepts class at Lindenwood University):

Target Audience

If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. – Zig Ziglar

There is a temptation as church communicators to skip the difficult step of thinking through exactly who it is you are trying to reach. The churchy answer is, “we want to reach everyone in our community.” It is a noble goal to try to be all things to all people, but it is not practical and not helpful as we do our outreach planning. Different age groups, people groups, and culture groups within our communities require different methodologies. For example, if the goal is to reach families at Christmas, we should have a different approach than if the primary audience is artists.

Questions To Ask:
1. Who is the group of people in our community that will go unreached if our church doesn’t reach out to them?
2. Who is it that we can reach that 1,000 other churches wouldn’t be able to reach?
3. What is the DNA of our church and, based on that, who are we best suited to reach?
4. What unique calling has God given our church in terms of outreach.

Our effectiveness in planning and execution will be much greater if we do a the hard work of selecting our target audience. Chances are good that by selecting a group to go after that we will attract those on the fringe and even outside of the target group as well. Don’t be afraid to target a specific audience.

I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of Blaine Hogan’s new book, Untitled, this past week while on vacation. In the book, Blaine walks us through the creative process based on his years of experience as an actor, writer, producer, etc. He discusses how doing creative endeavors with excellence involves hard work – the type of work that most people are never able to overcome the natural and internal resistance to do. Here are a few of my favorite quotes (with some thoughts following them):

• It is the artist’s job to accept that the work will be very, very hard; to understand the importance of deep reflection, and to fight the forces of fear and resistance, all in the name of filling blank pages and creating beauty.

  I think most people aren’t willing to do the hard work; particularly the hard work of reflecting, scratching when things don’t itch, and  cultivating a culture of creativity. As a result, very few people end up creating beauty.

• No one cares about your ideas. The people who pay your salaries or buy your art really only care about one thing. They only care about what you make.

  I appreciate how Blaine discusses the nitty gritty of making things and is blunt about how little most people appreciate the creative process. Sure, people appreciate art (in that, they want the product you create for them to look aesthetically pleasing), but they don’t care much about the process to get there.

• No one cares about your ideas or how great a pitch-person you are if you can’t execute your vision.
• Your vision casting must be in direct proportion to the work you are willing to do to make your vision come to life.
• Vision is easy. Ideas are even easier. It’s execution that separates the amateurs from the pros.

  I often have grand visions, big plans, cool ideas, etc. However, when it comes time to execute that vision I often don’t want to deliver.

• You must always have something more for them to see. Always. Always. Always. The discipline of cultivating ideas is a difficult one, believe me. Who has the time to think up new ideas just to hide them in our back pocket. But if you plan on creating for a living, there is no other way.

  I think a lot of creatives (myself included) feel that we should be given an assignment and – poof – inspiration should come out of thin air. However, for those who create for a living and are often asked to be creative on demand, there must be a constant cultivating (or “scratching” as it’s called in the book) of ideas and inspiration. As I think back on my dry periods (and what creative person hasn’t gone through droughts), it has been during times when I’ve neglected to scratch when I don’t itch.

• Our tendency when trying to explain ourselves (through words or art) is to add instead of subtract.Less is almost always more. Better should come before bigger.

  I’m constantly reminding myself to reduce (images, lines, verses, words, etc). Tear away all that is unnecessary. What I’m left with is almost always clearer and better.

• Creativity (in art making or relationships, even) only really happens in the tension and tension is created when we give ourselves something to push against, even if it’s something seemingly benign as a deadline. 

  I think a lot of us (creative types) often feel that boundaries, such as deadlines, are restrictive and reduce the amount of creativity we can produce. However, as Blaine points out, the best creativity happens in response or in the midst of tension. And, deadlines and boundaries are some of the best tension-producing devices. We ought to welcome boundaries. Think of them as challenges.

• This is the creative process – stop complaining! It’s messy! It’s rarely mappable! It is always dynamic and ever-changing! It will always be hard, but it should also be fun. Every landed plane deserves some kind of celebration.
• In the end, the effectiveness of our creative process comes down to whether or not we’re going to whine or do the work.
• The [young / inexperienced / student] filmmaker doesn’t present you with an alternative way to view things, instead she tellsyou how it is. Sadly, many of us don’t outgrow this phase.  

  The point I appreciate here is how subtly presenting people with alternate realities is almost always better than screaming your point about how you think their reality should be viewed. However, the maturity required to do this is difficult to obtain. It requires us to do a lot of inward work. It requires us to be willing to give up our view of how things should be in order to make room for someone to view the art differently. I honestly wish I could do a little less “shouting” in my art and invite others into the creative conversation.

• Execution isn’t sexy. Execution is hard. And it’s always harder than the pitch. 

  I agree with this principle. It’s always easier to propose an idea than to execute it. However, I often find that executing is not nearly as hard as I imagine it to be. When I ‘ve done the hard work beforehand, and when I break the process down into smaller steps the execution usually takes care of itself. The hardest part for me is usually taking the first step in the execution because of the resistance I’ve built up in my own mind.

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about today…

Mark Meyer’s Blog
I was cruising around Mark Meyer’s blog the other day and a few things caught my eye…

• He posted some notes from Phil Cooke‘s new book, Jolt, that were good food for thought, such as:

  -Everything communicates. Everything.
  -You can’t brand a lie.
  -More content is created in 48 hours today than was created from the beginning of time to 2000.
  -We’re bombarded with approximately 5,000 messages per day. It’s creating clutter in our minds.

• In another post, he talks about “focus and flow” saying, “Studies show 80% of our email is irrelevant, of the 20% that’s remaining, only 50% of those emails are relevant 24 hours later.” I think I’m going to start checking my email every other day.

Leadership, Vision, & Tony Morgan
I’ve been thinking about leadership and vision lately. Tony Morgan posted a post back in 2009 about the different stages or types of leadership. It’s good stuff. I need to think about what I need to do to lead at the next level (so as not to be caught up in the Peter Principle as one commenter points to).

Engagement vs Adding Value
I’ve also been thinking about some data that Justin Wise posted about the effectiveness of “engagement” as a social media strategy. It’s turning what many of us thought was essential about using social media upside-down.

Ultimately, I think what the study shows and what Justin is teaching me is that adding value is the most important thing. By adding value I mean

• adding relevant content
• engaging when social interaction is the goal, and
• measuring metrics that really matter (as opposed to metrics that make us feel warm and fuzzy)

I have to ask myself, “does what I’m posting here and on Twitter and Facebook add value or add noise to all of the other messages out there that my followers/friends/readers are being hit with every day?” I firmly believe that if I add value, I’ll be successful. If not, well…you know.

That’s what’s on my mind today. I might follow up on some of these topics with some expanded posts in the future, so let me know your thoughts in the comments (yep, I’m asking for engagement if you feel this post added value).

If you follow me at all, you probably know that I’m on a Mission Trip for Creatives this week. I thought I’d share a few things that I learned this week:

• It’s pretty amazing what God can do through a few people who are willing to use their gifts. On our two-man team (one of four teams) alone, we served 6 churches, provided about 60 hours of complimentary communications work, and gave an estimated $8,300 in goods and services away. But that’s not even the amazing part. The amazing part is how God is going to take our humble efforts and multiply them for his amazing purposes. That is something to get excited about.
• There are some churches that are doing amazing things here in the Albany / Hudson Valley area. It is a good reminder to me that in spite of size, resources, and communications ability, God can and is moving in mighty ways.
• The creative communication of the Gospel is of the utmost importance. My new friend Jon Rogers said it well on his blog:

No, we didn’t build a church building or construct an orphanage. No we didn’t run a VBS or witness on the streets. We have created sustainable solutions for churches to effectively communicate an ultimate message of God’s never-ending love for each community these churches are involved in. Yeah, we all know that design is not what’s going to grow the churches we work with on this trip but it can help to remove the barriers for outsiders looking in. It’s still and always will be all about Jesus and his people devoted to growing in their faith and reaching out to others.

• It’s really important to know your calling and work where you (and your gifts) are celebrated. Sometimes when we get into the daily grind, it’s easy to forget that God has called us and gifted us. This week was just what I needed for renewal and rededicating.

Some people that I would like to thank for making this trip possible if you will indulge me for a moment:

• My church (Calvary) for getting behind the vision enough to release me from my duties for a week.
• Cleve Persinger, the guy who dreamed up Creative Missions.
• Andy Burns and Eric Murrell, two guys who really came alongside Cleve to make it happen.
• Michael Buckingham, Danielle Harland, & Phil Bowdle who were team leaders.
• My parents who gave a generous donation to make this trip possible.
• My amazing wife who stayed home to take care of the kiddos; and my inlaws for coming to help her out.
• All of our sponsors/partners (Center For Church Communication, Mid America Seminary, Media Salt, Hudson Baptist Association, Our Shirts Don’t Suck, and others too numerous to name).

If you’d like to hear more about Creative Missions, I’d love to chat with you and tell you our stories. Please feel free to give me a shout. If you’re interested in future trips, check out www.creativemissions.to. If you’d like to help sponsor a future trip, hit up Cleve.