Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

6 Things 7 Days

Next week is going to be packed from beginning to end with some very cool stuff. Here's a preview...

One

Ed Young and the Fellowship Church staff are taking the Creative Church Conference on the road to Las Vegas. The one-day conference kicks off Monday morning.

Two

The CreativePastors team will be in Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference Thursday and Friday. They have some free stuff for you whether you're going or not. Find out more on the CP Blog.

Three

We hope to have the brand-new look for FellowshipChurch.com approved by the end of the week. We can't wait to get started on the redesign. Want a hint? Think of all the church websites you've ever seen? Got it?

Now think of the opposite. Yes, it's that different.

Four

On Wednesday, Fellowship Grapevine will have our first Emergent Service, an evening of worship, prayer, and communion.

Five

This weekend, we're debuting a brand-new Flash streaming solution on FellowshipChurch.com. If you have cable, fiber, or a great connection at the office, prepare to be blown away. I haven't seen anything like it on the web.

If you have DSL, satellite, or even dial-up, we finally have something for you as well. If all goes well, we'll post the details on our Code site next week. If it doesn't, you'll be the 3,474th person to know.

Six

And, as Steve Job would say, there's one more thing...

Ed Young. Podcast.

There's a lot of fun things ahead!

Somebody Shout Amen!

There are blogging churches and blogging pastors, but precious few blogging preachers. If you haven't experienced a blogging preacher, you might as well start with the best.

Perry Noble of New Spring Community Church.

I'm not talking about publishing last week's sermon transcript. I'm talking about the real deal - passion, humor, personality, humility, and Truth delivered in a I-couldn't-stop-reading-this-if-I-tried way.

Check out this post: Date Night.

Some men I see on date night are pathetic...they have their cell phone, blackberry, their PDA--they don't look like a husband--they look like Batman!!! Quit playing the super hero role, leave the office and spend time with your wife.

And that's just the beginning. Perry spoke at Fellowship Church a year ago and we can't say enough about him and his awesome church.

You can't read his blog without getting a true sense of his heart, his energy, and his church. His blog is a terrific example of what can happen when a pastor puts it all out there in an open and honest way.

Visit PerryNoble.com.

What are You Working For?

The Newsboys led worship at Fellowship a few weeks ago and it was a truly amazing experience. Having never seen them live, I had no idea what they bring to the table. I also had no idea that frontman Peter Fuller preaches as well as he sings.

At the conclusion of the new song I am Free, Peter gave a passionate call to true freedom. I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

Freedom is held in His hand
Reach out and touch it today
Freedom in your head
Freedom in your heart
Freedom in your emotions
Freedom in your marriage
Freedom in every area of your life
It's through the blood
It's through the Word
It's through the spiritual family
It's with a purpose
The price has been paid
The price has been paid

What are you working for?

The price has been paid

Everyday, I ask myself that question: What am I working for? No matter how many times I hear otherwise, it's so easy to think the burden is on us. That we have to earn our salvation. That we have to earn peace and freedom. That we have to earn God's grace and His blessings for this life. We think that if we just work hard enough, things will work out.

As Christians, we have an incredible opportunity to serve Christ with everything we have and to reach out with love to others in all that we do. But in the end, everything is in His hands.

The price has been paid
The price has been paid
What are you working for?
The price has been paid

Blog Redux

I've received a number of questions about the recent decision to end the Fellowship Church Blog. If you're one of the curious, I posted a FAQ yesterday on the book blog to cover the basics. You can read it here.

10 Favorite TV Shows of All-Time

Tonight I get to celebrate my birthday with the season premier of my favorite show. This sounds like a great opportunity for a list!

Top 10 Favorite TV Shows of All-Time

10. Twin Peaks

Just two short seasons, but what a bizarre and captivating time it was.

9. Leave it to Beaver

I watched this a lot when I was young, but I've rediscovered it with Lori and Ben. This show is so much better than most people give it credit for. The writing and acting are both very high quality. Of course, the main reason Leave it to Beaver is mentioned anymore is in mocking criticism of an idyllic past that supposedly never existed. First, I would argue that the show is more honest and genuine that you would expect. Second, what is wrong with a show that sets a higher standard, instead of racing to the lowest common denominator?

8. M*A*S*H

The first show I shared with my whole family and the first one that I still loved as a grew older. If you ever wonder where my humor comes from, I learned at the feet of the great Hawkeye Pierce.

7. Meet the Press

This doesn't quite fit, but I have to include it since I've been watching it without fail for a very long time. Definitely the best political show out there. I could admit that I love Road to the White House too, but then my secret life as a political geek would be revealed.

6. The Wonder Years

Just incredibly well done, with first-class honesty and respect about what it means to grow up.

5. Arrested Development

One of the most hilarious, inventive shows I have ever watched. There is more creativity in 10 minutes than some shows pack into a season. If it can stay at this level for a few more years, it will definitely move up. I can watch these over and over again.

Check out the website by the way. Very well done and includes a great In Case You Missed It section.

4. Mad About You

The cheapest marriage counseling you'll ever find. Consistently clever, original, and yes, heartfelt. The supporting characters become a bit much after awhile, but Paul and Jamie will always be my favorite TV couple.

I kissed Doug Berkus. Quite a moment.

3. Sports Night

Three nearly perfect seasons, written by Aaron Sorkin. If you missed it the first time, please rent or buy the DVD's. The show is incredible.

What other show would have the nerve to do almost an entire season about the uncertainty of what was going to happen to the show, while they were uncertain about what would happen to the show?

2. Seinfeld

Almost every day brings an opportunity to weave a line from Seinfeld into a situation. My current favorite is Why don't you just tell me what movie you'd like to see?

I certainly have never seen a show be so consistently funny for so long, and it such unique ways.

1. The West Wing

I know this is my favorite show because I can start watching any episode from any year and be immediately captivated. Of course, I wish Aaron Sorkin was still involved, but they've done a better job than I would have imagined possible.

The writing continues to be first-rate, the acting is fantastic, and despite a few military dramas and a kidnapping, the show has stayed amazingly consistent. It's a show about politics and the White House. It appeals to the political romantic in me. If politics isn't a noble cause, I'm sure glad it is for one hour a week.

Now let's hear your favorites!

Birthday Boy

Yesterday, we celebrated my son Ben's 10th birthday! As fast as these years have gone, it doesn't change the incredible thrill of watching someone grow more amazing every day.

His official party was on Friday and what was the theme? Our first re-run! We had so much fun with our hotel party last year that we duplicated the experience. Nearly everything was the same, including the hotel and the general plan for all 15 hours of fun. As an example of just how cool this idea is, think about feeding 5 10-year old kids at the Hampton Inn's free breakfast at 8 a.m.

New this year was the addition of a girl and a pillow fight. We were blessed once again with having the indoor pool to ourselves for over two hours, making this the cheapest private pool party rental ever. Ben was in heaven.

Our family celebration was last night. Star Wars dominated his birthday week as much as it has dominated his life over the past year. Legos, books, computer games, cards, and, yes, Star Wars Risk were all found under his birthday tree.

As I've watched Ben grow up and observed other boys, I've found that boy obsessions tend to a consistent order. See if this sounds familiar...

Balls
Blocks
Rocks
Bugs
Matchbox cars
Dinosaurs
Knights
Baseball
Star Wars

What's frightening is that I remember a very similar cycle when I was young, but I can't remember what comes after Star Wars. It isn't girls, is it?

Maximum Matt

A special blogosphere welcome to Matt Murph, former FC web designer and all-around cool guy!

Matt was the primary web designer for nearly two years at Fellowship, designing the current FC site and too many other projects to count, including more header graphics and icons than I'm sure he'd care to remember.

He left our team over a year ago to explore his entrepreneurial side and has remained a big part of Fellowship and a great friend ever since.

If you're looking for a web designer, you can't wrong with Matt. Conveniently, if you're looking for someone to play guitar at your wedding, run your cafe or provide a great solution for your online giving, you also can't go wrong with Matt!

Check out his excellent custom-built blog.

SXSW 2006

The next edition of South By Southwest is only six months away and this weekend I received my first promotion in the mail. I've attended SXSW in Austin the past two years and enjoyed it greatly. It is definitely one of the best conference values you can find anywhere and the Interactive Conference gets bigger and better every year.

This year, they're finally taking my advice and giving 37signal's Jason Fried a keynote spot! His sessions have been the highlight of the past two years and now he gets the big stage. He'll be sharing it with Jim Coudal (please click that link - it's quite a site).

Craig Newmark (craigslist) and Kathy Sierra (Creating Passionate Users) are two of the other confirmed speakers and there will be many more big names over the next few months. Definitely worth checking out.

Excellent

The sixth and final element of COFFEE Design is Excellent.

What do I mean by excellent? Here's a simple definition: extremely good, outstanding.

Excellent means you took the time to do it right. Excellent means you didn't settle for good enough.

All of us know excellence when see it. Whether we're listening to a song, watching a television show or movie, reading a book, test driving an automobile, or using a website, we find excellence both in the overall sense of outstanding quality and an obsessive attention to detail.

In all honesty, there is a time and place for good enough. If you're working on a minor feature that only a few staff members will use, hours spent perfecting the interface may be wasted. If you've been given very little time and your deadline is quickly approaching, a functional solution is more important than a truly excellent one.

Most of the time, though, excellence is a matter of choice. The choice to listen to feedback. The choice to start over when something isn't working...and even when it is. The choice to take one more look at something because you just might see something that can be improved.

Each time we role out a new site, application, or page, we ask ourselves...

Could this be done any cheaper?
Could this be more open?
Could this be faster?
Could this be friendlier?
Could this be easier?
Could this be more excellent?

Web development is a continual process of learning and improving. The goal can never be perfection. The goal must be to do the absolute best you can with the time, skills, and knowledge you have.

When you look at your work a year later, you should always see things you would change and improve because you now have knowledge and skills that you didn't have before.

Don't ever let that take anything away from what you accomplished in the past. Give it everything you have and then let go and move on.

Easy

The fifth element of COFFEE Design is Easy.

How is Easy different from Friendly? Easy is about making things simple; Friendly is about making people smile.

Of course, there is a lot of overlap between the two, but something can definitely be one without being the other.

Something is easy if someone can get what they want quickly and without thinking twice. Is the navigation intuitive? Do you use names and terms that a first-time visitor to your site can understand? Is there a lot of similarity in your menus that cause the person to guess where to click?

Are your pages consistent? Is the Next, Submit, or Register button always in a familiar location? Are your buttons and text easy to read, easy to locate, and easy to click? Do you have a lot of extra text that stands in the way of someone getting the information they want?

If you want to find out if your site is easy, just watch someone use it for the first time. At Fellowship Church, we have computer kiosks in our atrium for people to use. During a recent weekend service, one of our designers had the opportunity to do just that.

As Jeph watched a middle-aged woman click through the site, he could see the confusion and frustration growing on her face. She clicked on things only to find that it wasn't what she was looking for due to confusing verbiage. She seemed overwhelmed by the amount of information, when all she wanted was the basics.

This week, we started our redesign of FellowshipChurch.com. We can't wait to roll out our new site and put these principles into action. We've been very pleased with our first two sites, but we want FellowshipChurch.com to truly serve seekers and build believers in a brand-new way.