The sponsors make Recovering Pharisee possible

Posted on June 13, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

A hearty shout out to the sponsors of KaryOberbrunner.com for this month. They believe in the message of this website and I believe in them. Show your support and click on their link below. They just might provide exactly what you’re looking for.

Faith Highway – print, web, video.
Justix Development - a small design company that enjoys helping people realize their dreams.
Clay Productions - video production, web development, and graphic design.
Kings Domain - One of the tri-state region’s finest camp, retreat and conference centers.
Earth Tourist – Exploring and appreciating the Arts & Culture of the World, from a perspective of Faith.
T.R.E.N. E Docs – Searching for Research? Your Resource for Theological Research.
Ministry-Tech – exists to provide professional and cost-effective technology solutions for churches and other ministries.
1 Life Your Choice - exists to help others experience the “abundant life” Christ came to give by focusing one’s Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength.
God’s Mac - THE Podcast where technology meets eternity.
Your Website

If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor and getting the traffic you need to your website, blog, or business, click here to get the ball rolling.

Snag THE FINE LINE on iTunes

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

Don’t have time to read anymore?

No problem.

Now you can listen to THE FINE LINE.

The people at iTunes and Audible.com made it possible to get the full length version via your mp3 player.

Suddenly, your summer vacation travel plans just got a little more… intelligent?

Download your copy today and learn how to be in the world, but not of the world.

Free Stuff from The Fine Line…Finger Lickin’ Good

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

4 brand new CD’s

5 Copies of Flickering Pixels

1 Air Voucher on Midwest Express

Want it? It’s yours.

Why?

I like to win free stuff and I like to give away free stuff.

Here’s all you need to do in order to throw your name in the hat to win (it takes all of 3o seconds):

In your facebook or twitter status just post these 2 urls http://budurl.com/28zh and www.karyoberbrunner.com

That’s it! (Of course you could write a line or two about the links, but that’s up to you.)

Once you post the 2 links then email me: (info at karyoberbrunner.com) and I will randomly draw 10 winners. The 10 winners will get a CD, book, or air voucher mailed to them free. I’ll even pay the postage.

Forget Oprah giving away a piece of chicken at KFC…someone’s going to win big with Free stuff from The Fine Line.

Spread the word…it’s finger lickin’ good!

My TV Interview

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

Last week I was interviewed on the Harvest show about my new Zondervan book The Fine Line and how to be in the world, but not of it . Check out the interview below:

5 Questions with Dawn Nicole Baldwin – A Leadership Profile

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

Aspire.

According to Webster “Aspire” is all about: seeking to attain or accomplish a particular goal. But if you’re Dawn Nicole Baldwin there’s no seeking about it. She’s already done it!

With an impressive resume working with clients like Willow Creek Church and Big Idea (creators of Veggie Tales) Dawn has a passion for learning, stretching imaginations & making a difference. She’s currently focused on helping churches reach peoplemore effectively as founder & lead strategist of AspireOne

Keep reading in order to learn more about Dawn and AspireOne. Here’s the interview:

How did you get from here to there? I started my first business when I was 13, (selling customized locker illustrations to classmates) so I guess you can say I’ve always been an entrepreneur although my path is a bit nontraditional. My career started at a boutique ad agency but the hours required made it really challenging for a young mom with two small children, so I quickly launched out on my own. During this time I also volunteered heavily at Willow Creek Community Church in communications & after a few years I was offered a staff position leading the department. My husband, Keith, left the ad agency he worked with to take over my small roster of clients while I was at Willow. I’ve always been a huge fan of VeggieTales so when I was offered a position at Big Idea Productions, I leapt at the opportunity. Our little company was beginning to grow, so after spending two years with Bob & Larry, I left the vegetables to rejoin Keith at AspireOne in 2001. Over the past eight years I’ve been privileged to work with some incredibly talented people while pursuing my passions of writing and speaking. I absolutely love my team and the clients we partner with. Recently, I joined Jarbyco (a mobile communications startup) as a senior partner in addition to my role at AspireOne.

Give us the Big Idea behind AspireOne? The reason why we exist is to help churches reach people more effectively. There are so many that feel they are the community’s best kept secret or are battling misperceptions–not only of their church, but sometimes Christianty in general. Our passion is to help churches understand how to live out their unique purpose and communicate that with clarity.

I applaud your vision for AspireOne. What is your “God size” vision for it? Our God-sized vision is to enable churches at a deeper level and on a global scale. Helping churches not only understand marketplace best practices, but the unique purpose God has in mind for their specific church. This is beyond brand strategies, marketing tactics or convincing some not to imitate what other influential churches are doing. But helping each church realize their potential and connecting others to that vision.

Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while functioning as the Lead Strategist of AspireOne. It’s hard for me to believe that God would use me in the way it appears He might want to. Honestly, I’m humbled by some of the circles I’m invited to play in, and a lack of confidence can become exposed due to the absence of a pedigreed education or experience climbing a traditional corporate ladder. It’s caused me to hold back when I’ve needed to speak up or step forward because I’ve doubted my abilities.

How have you closed that leadership gap? It may sound trite, but I’ve been stretching my faith to trust God more & myself less. I’ve also been intentionally looking to surround myself with people who will be honest with me about what I can and can’t do and then balance our teams with talented people who complement those skills.

As I sign off, I wonder one thing about you…what are you aspiring to become. I’d like to know. Shoot me a comment below.

5 Questions with Brad Abare – A Leadership Profile

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

Is “Suck” a bad word?

Brad Abare seems to think so. That’s why he founded Church Marketing Sucks, the blog to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.

Offended? Interested?

Keep reading in order to learn more about Brad and the Center for Church Communication. Here’s the interview:

How did you get from here to there? I started a magazine when I was 16 which turned into a small publishing company by the time I was 18. By age 19, I would be sued for millions of dollars which eventually forced me to lose everything. Although I won the case, I lost the business and in the rubble of failure emerged the rumblings of three things I’m involved in today: Personality, a consultancy that profiles organizations; Foursquare, communications director since 2002; and Center for Church Communication (CFCC), a nonprofit that helps churches communicate better.

You seem to be involved in several initiatives (CFCC, Personality, Foursquare). What are some strategies you employ which keep your from
spreading yourself too thin? A few things come to mind: 1) I surround myself with super smart people who know more about their game than I do. I hire or recruit people who will take the team in directions I can only imagine. 2) I arrive to the office every morning at about 6 AM which gives a couple silent hours for accomplishing what I need to do. The rest of the day is about my team’s agenda. 3) I leave the office every day at 4 PM and spend an hour or so at night preparing for the following day. The rest of the evening is for life outside of work (family, friends, small group, etc.). 4) I’m not on Facebook.

Give us the Big Idea behind Church Marketing Sucks. The church has the greatest story ever told but not enough people are
listening. That’s in part to a communication problem. Church Marketing Sucks (part of the Center for Church Communication), is the blog to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ. The first post went live in July 2004 and we haven’t looked back since.

Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? This is a loaded question and I honestly don’t know where to begin or how to squeeze my response into this short space. However, for the context of your readers, let me say that I have a dream to see the church re-calibrated over the next ten years to be more reflective of the bride Jesus is coming back for. This means looking a lot less like a sleepy corporate religion with all its departmentalized denominations. I want to be a part of a growing church that measures its significance not by the size of its building, but by the size of its giving. I want to win the attention of people not by clever sermon series but by incarnate living. If the woman at the well had attempted to come to church (temple in her day), she would have been stoned. The closer someone wanted to get to the Holy of Holies, the more death was risked. So Jesus comes to tear down the temple and access to God is now incarnate. So what does God do? He goes TO the woman at the well. I don’t want to be at the temple when my neighbors are at the well.

In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture? It means meditating on scripture (I’m currently memorizing the book of James) and contextualizing Scripture for today. It means being where I am and living locally. It means intentionally surrounding myself with inputs that don’t always support the way I view the world. It means prodding my religious leader friends (pastors) to get out of the temple and hang out at wells.

If you’re still unsure if “suck” is a bad word check out this link.

FREE AUDIO COPY OF THE FINE LINE

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

The amazing team at Zondervan has allowed me to offer a select group of people a free copy of The Fine Line (via audio book). You’ll get it immediately, even before it hits iTunes in a few weeks.

Here’s all you need to do in order to get your copy:

Read a sample from the Zondervan website (click here) and write a short review about what you read on Amazon.com (click here).
Shoot me an email (just click contact tab on the top right) and request your audio copy (It’s even full length).

That’s it! For your effort, we’ll even let you share the secret audio link with 5 of your friends (how’s that for a hook-up?).

5 Questions with Ben Arment – A Leadership Profile

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

Entrepreneur.

Don’t belittle the word unless you’ve had the courage to try it on for size and walk around a bit. When I think of Ben Arment words like guts, bold, and fearless come to mind – not to mention entrepreneur – (hence his founding of The Whiteboard Sessions).

You gotta be a little crazy when you’re a church planter. It’s one of the toughest jobs and 3 out of 5 church plants fail. My dad’s planted 3 of them and he is as tough as nails.

Listen in to my interview with Ben as I asked him about the Risks he’s taken as a leader and the next ones that have him in right in their sights. (If I were you Risks, I’d walk away, before it’s too late.)

How did you get from here to there? I wanted to be a political journalist, but then interned at the White House with Monica Lewinsky and had enough of that. =) I moved into writing for an advertising agency until I realized my soul was shriveling. So I started dabbling with youth outreaches and discovered I had a passion for ministry. I went to seminary at Liberty University, but Lynchburg was saturated with ministry students, so I drove 4 hours each weekend to work at a large church in Virginia Beach. After 3 years of feeling like a social director on a Christian cruise ship, my wife Ainsley and I decided to plant a church in Reston, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. Seven years later, I stepped down from pastoring to create The Whiteboard Sessions and then become a director for Catalyst.

Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while functioning as the Experience & Innovation Director at Catalyst? I’ve come to realize I’m not a good shepherd of a congregation. I must have been trying to fake it for 10 years because now that I’m not in that role anymore, I have an overwhelming sense of relief. Joy is being restored to my soul. As for my Catalyst job, I’m not good at brainstorming in groups. I’m too decisive.

How have you closed that leadership gap? I ask my team to brainstorm without me and then ask for their recommendations. It lets them dream without my interference.

What led to your decision to transition you and your family from serving in a local church? After seven years, I felt my shepherding gifts being stretched beyond comfort. I’m rather entrepreneurial in my gift mix, so I kept trying to reinvent the church, but it was lurching the organization. They needed a true pastor to give them stability, and my associate pastor was the perfect guy. God used me to launch the church, but he provided a true shepherd to lead them on. At the end of my tenure, I invited 5 local pastors to assess our church. They confirmed my suspicions and graciously and lovingly helped me move on.

I applaud the vision to take the Catalyst brand beyond the Podcast, Filter, Catalyst Atlanta and now into Catalyst One Day and Catalyst West. What steps are you taking to protect the Catalyst brand from diffusing too much and becoming victim to the Starbucks parable we all know so well? For the record, I still love Starbucks, =) but I understand what you’re asking here. Keep in mind there are hundreds of thousands of church leaders who have never even heard of Catalyst. I can’t tell you how many people ask me, “What is Catalyst?” So we’re working hard to reach those people. To our die-hards, this might feel like over-exposure, but our One Day events, for example, attract a whole new audience. Our “community” consists of over 140,000 leaders, but only 19,000 will come to our events this year. And those are only the leaders who know us and love us.

Which of the Catalyst brand is your favorite and why?

Blogs Walking The Fine Line

Posted on March 15, 2009 by Kary Oberbrunner

Just a few more of the people who have reviewed The Fine Line. Send me a link to your review if you want me to link to you. Thanks Readers.