Nick Worth

Decline Is Never the Only Option

How are you growing these days?
John Ortberg | posted 11/04/2009

I got to play tennis not long ago with a man about my age who used to be one of the top ten players in the world. (When I say I got to play with him, what I really mean is I got to stand across the net and watch the ball go past me.) He still teaches tennis for a living, so he’s around the courts a lot. But he’s not playing much any more. In fact, he told me that he plays golf much more than he plays tennis, even though he’s pretty much a hacker on the course. I asked him why.

“Because when it comes to golf I’m getting better, whereas with tennis the best I can do is to deteriorate as slowly as possible.”

I thought about how hard it would be to recruit someone to be the president of even a large entity—say General Motors, or Europe—with that as their mandate: “Help us deteriorate as slowly as possible.” No wonder people would rather risk total failure heading up a start-up in Silicon Valley than make a comfortable living slowly steering the Titanic for the ice berg.

Nothing defeats the human spirit like stagnation.

If we were truthful about it, “Deteriorate as slowly as possible” is probably that shadow mission for all kinds of churches and denominations. One denominational leader told me that in his denomination they lost 10 percent of their people in a single decade; so they pulled together to work harder and lost 12 percent the next decade. They have already plotted on a graph what year they will go out of existence at the current rate.

Stagnation is a killer in ministry. I can’t control outcomes. But I must have a sense of hope that growth is possible. And growth does not begin with external results. It begins with the growth in the spirit of the person doing the ministry. The problem is most often people are not aware of that subtle moment when they have crossed the line from “growing” into “receding.”

So here are my candidates for the top diagnostic indicators of a ministry moving into “slow deterioration” mode. You may know of some group (or individual) that needs to do a little self-assessment:

1. Denial. The capacity of emperors to think they are making fashion statements is staggering. Gary Hamel has a wonderful line: success tends to be self correcting. The very process of being effective also tends to bring complacency, and when effectiveness goes down, we tend not to see it. (As Gary puts it: every successful organization is successful until it’s not. Companies pay him lots of money for these kind of observations.) If evangelistic fervor cools, or prayer decreases, or community lessens, or volunteerism fades, those of us at the center are sometimes the last to know.
2. Loss of motivation. People do not lose motivation simply through age, or challenge, or even repetition. They lose motivation when they lose a sense that they are able to grow. People rarely plan vacations to spend two weeks sitting on the beach at the Dead Sea.
3. Fewer people signing up to lead. My nephew is going through training to join the California Highway Patrol. Because he is based nearby, he sometimes spends weekends with us. The ordeal that CHiPs officers-to-be put up with is remarkable. Many of them do not make it through training. Those that do pay an enormous price of commitment. The very price he’s paying is part of what makes him value the badge. I can’t help but contrast this with leading in the church. Seminaries—and churches—will all-too-often take in any warm body that’s available. It is not higher salaries and longer sabbaticals that will draw people into serving the church—it’s a sense of urgent calling that demands a sacrifice and promises the opportunity to make a difference.
4. Phoning it in. Funny how this one gets sensed by everyone around a person before it gets sensed by the phon-ee himself. Sermons get perfunctory; teams lose morale, planning gets second-rate effort, accountability for results diminishes; and there is a general collusion to not name the dynamic.
5. Cynicism. When other ministries are being effective, instead of producing joy, it creates a sense of envy or a feeling of being threatened. Rather than seeking to learn from it, stagnant people will find some pretext for judging or dismissing it.
6. Spending more time looking in the rearview mirror than out the windshield. More stories get told about how things once were than about what may yet be. Who wants to be watching the road when all that’s left is a dead end?

The good news is that stagnation is never inevitable. I may not be able to control outward events. But God has other plans. As a wise man wrote long ago, “Outwardly we are wasting away, but inwardly we are being renewed day by day …”

God never aims at deteriorating slowly.

John Ortberg is editor at large of Leadership and pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
Original Article can be found here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/leadershipweekly/declineisnevertheonlyoption.html?start=1

Redesigning the Stop Sign

Came across this video from a good friend on twitter and thought it was just video was just to funny. I have experience doing short films with the once infamous Xtremefilms, so I appreciated such a well put together short video, as well as understanding the humor of such a realistic experience with clients. Check it out:

Video Game Evangelism

So I thought this would make for an interesting article because I often find myself explaining to people why I feel its okay to play video games even as a Christian. There are many things to talk about but one positive thing that comes to mind when playing games as a Christian, is the concept of playing like a Christian ought to and the fruit that comes from that.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31

Because I give glory to God even when playing video games, I often get opportunities to share my faith. Just as an example I thought it would be cool to share this real life example from a RPG world. (The names have been changed to protect the identity of the player).

Player:
21.04. at 20:11
So do you believe there is a God? you dont have to answer if you dont wish to, i just need to see if there is anyone out there that knows if God exsists.

21.04. at 20:29
never mind

ME:
21.04. at 21:58
That’s a perfectly fine question to ask, of course I believe there is a God. The bible says “the fool has said in his heart there is no God” -Psalms 53:1
One can easily understand the complexity of our biology alone, not to mention mother nature, and the cosmos, etc. it would take more faith to accept anything else then to accept the fact that God created all that. The awesome thing about it all though is to really know God! That He would even consider someone as insignificant as me to be loved by Him is awesome!
Do you know God? Have you ever set out to get to know Him more?

I’m glad you asked, if you have any questions I would be happy to help you find answers. I don’t intend to tell you what to believe, but as you can tell I’m fanatic about what I believe because I KNOW now. I think your own personal relationship with God is the best way to know Him, so if I can help with that in any way please don’t hesitate to ask me.

Xtremefaith

Player:
21.04. at 22:11
Why then does he let us go through so much pain and loss?

Player::
21.04. at 22:20
I suppose the emptiness i feel inside me is the absence of God within my heart. I once new of him..i have become lacking in my faith as i struggle to understand why so much pain is unleashed on the innocent of this world.

Me:
21.04. at 22:26
God allows us to have free will, we get to choose to love him. The unfortunate result of that is that people can choose to not love Him even though He shows us love. Their rebellion, and even my own disobedience is what is known as sin (disobedience towards God), and sin has hurtful painful consequences both in the physical realm and the spiritual. When Adam and Eve first sinned by eating of the fruit that God said not to eat of, (disobedience to God) God then put an angel to prevent them from eating from the other tree that would make them immortal because He didn’t want mankind to be eternal trapped in their sin; this is because God cannot fellowship with sin since He is sinless. Does that part make sense?
So He had a plan of redemption, (a way to pay for our sin because “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Jesus Christ”) so that we could be saved from payment of sin (death) and have eternal life instead.

To summarize now, the sin that is in the world right now results in pain and hurt for people, that’s why God says not to do certain things. People think God just made up a bunch of rules to be controlling, but truth is, He is all-knowing and therefore knows that those things that He says to abstain from cause hurt and pain. That’s why I think I hear people say that if everyone lived by the commandments then the world would be a better place; that’s true but, people won’t obey those things because it is now our sin nature to not want to. A new life in Christ is what helps you to overcome that, because your love and respect for God will help you to respond against your nature to want sinful things, (that and because God’s spirit lives in you to strengthen you against it).

Does that help you understand? Does that make sense, or did I lose you with that?

Player:
21.04. at 22:29
so is what you’re saying is that i have sinned and fell short of the glory of God?

Me:
21.04. at 23:00
Well ya, me too! “We all have fallen short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
None of us our perfect and to claim that would just prove the point, so yes to your question.

Just ask yourself or anyone “have you ever lied, stolen, lusted in your heart?” Those are just a few things that God says not to do because of the hurt and pain they cause in the world, so if you confess to any of those you have fallen short of God’s glory. His glory is more then we can comprehend so as a Christian I don’t expect to live up to it, but I believe we should pursue it as a way to live a righteous life, knowing that when I do fall short I’ll fall in the net of God’s grace, and you too if you want that kind of relationship with God.

What do you think? Is God someone you want to know more? Do believe the things that I writing? I have a feeling that you’ve heard some of this before, but I don’t know how your heart has responded before. I urge you to not put something like this off too long, as I said before this relationship is the difference of life and death eternally and I say this not to frighted but to be honest about the urgency to consider what I shared.

Player:
21.04. at 23:09
Yes ive heard these things before. I question my very existence..i forget that God is where to look to find myself and seek the solice that i need so desparately. I thought all one had to do was to ask for forgiveness and let him into your heart. i have done this in the past. Where is it that ive gone wrong…what do i need to do?

Me:
22.04. at 00:22
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” -2 Chronicles 7:14

Accepting that message into your heart is one step, Romans says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord than you will saved. So don’t mistake the importance of what you have already done, you “humbled yourself, and prayed” now ask if you’re seeking his face. I think our conversation alone shows some effort on that, but what are you doing on a daily basis to “seek His face”. As a Christian we’re suppose to read the bible like its the love letters of our soon to be groom. That until the wedding day when we see Him face to face we have these letters to know Him by. I believe God reveals himself through His word, but you have to read it and seek understanding, pray and ask for wisdom. As a Christian you are called to many things, and just living isn’t one of them, because unlike the rest of the world we have a purpose behind our living, a hope for more that the world doesn’t have and can’t guarantee like God can. That’s where the peace through all the hard times in life comes in; yes the economy is bad, but I know the one who’s taking care of me through it all. I care who’s in the oval office but I know that God is in more control then He is. You see how faith dictates my life and choices and peace. I don’t have pickle brains and act like I don’t have to do anything cause God will take care of it all, I know He will but it takes my effort if I want to be used by Him in any of it. Remember what I said in the beginning, we have a choice to love and serve God.

Ask Christ in your heart for all the right reasons, not just because you need to feel something, but realize what he did for you on the cross, and understand that he did it just so that he could be with you and have a real relationship with you, not one where you’re forced to love Him. Tell Him right now in prayer how you feel, there’s no special words, its a relationship. If you’re confused, tell Him, if happy/excited tell him that, if you have a need share it with Him, if you’re ever afraid/concerned He won’t hear you don’t be, read God’s word and remember His promises. He promises He’ll never turn you away when you come to Him.

[players name], what is your real name so that I can pray for you as well, and ask that God would reveal Himself to you that you might see His faithfulness to you everyday

Player:
22.04. at 00:29
thank you My name is _______

Me:
22.04. at 00:57
It was very nice talking with you [insert name]. My name is Nick, and if you need prayer for anything, or help with more questions let me know and I will do my best to be around for you, but let God know it all because He’ll always be around.

*I hear He’s online all the time

Player:
22.04. at 01:14
thank you thats the first time ive smiled for real in a long while .

Me:
22.04. at 01:41
That’s good to hear.

Player:
22.04. at 20:43
Ive found some peace my friend..thank you so much

These opportunities come when you never expect them, and this is one of the few times that I could actually share the conversation since I had all the text. Typically a conversation happens and all you can do is try to share the aftermath of the conversation. I want to encourage you all to give glory in everything you do and then be ready in season and out to share your faith. I don’t know what will be the fruit of some of these conversations but I hope that they lead people to spending some time with God so that He can reveal Himself to them.

Definition of Graphic Design

So I had to write a paper for my design class, and I thought that maybe some other self taught designers out there would appreciate reading my paper on the definition of Graphic Design. So if you’re interested, this should hopefully be a good read, enjoy!

================================================================================

Defining graphic design

The question is; what is graphic design? The answer is very interesting because the definition is different depending on your prospective. This article will attempt to give a clear definition to the term design in reference to graphic design. Exploring the idea of design from the prospective of a designer and a consumer will help to clarify the full meaning of the phrase.

Design is a noun

To the observer of a design piece, design is a noun; it is something they appreciate, like art and brand names. The everyday consumer sees design and can either appreciate it or dismiss it, because in some form or another they are a designer since they have an opinion of what appears attractive as well. They don’t practice design, but they do critique it. The ordinary individual observes the result of design and does not understand the full concept or the work it takes to make the product. This dilemma makes the job of a designer even more difficult because he cannot portray all the handiwork of his subtle markups to the end-user. Often people can view a logo like the Nike swoosh and think it is so simple, but they neglect to see the concepts, originality, and work that went into creating such a marketable brand name and look.

Design is a verb

On the other side of the fence is the designer who works countless hours to earn the appreciation of the recipients of his hard work. Design to a designer is about designing. He must consider his product, demographic, and any other obstacle along the way. The mind of a designer must be consumed with influences of original and thought provoking creations because it is said that “the only way to know the future [of design] is to create it” (anonymous). Design is about communication and the verb, to design means to communicate imagery and a message to the public or a target audience.

Designing a strong design

To summarize, now that you understand the opening statement to the editorial a little more I think you can clearly see how different perspectives can bring about diverse descriptions for design, and or what it means to design. Stating the differences so vividly may raise the question as to why there is not a different term referred to in order to better state these discrepancies but it is my personal belief that design is a beautiful thing and like beauty, its elegance is in the eye of the beholder.