No means no

As the old saying goes, "No means no."  In truth, the saying should be rephrased to say, "No means 'I'm afraid to take chances and commit to something at which I (or you) may fail, regardless of the fact that we'll likely succeed'."

On the whole, people trend toward "NO" as a knee jerk response to both simple and complex requests.  Why?  Simple... POWER.  This short, simple, two-letter word carries more power than any other word in the English language (with the exception, of course, of "love").  "NO" possesses the ability to shut down progress, disable hope, cripple change, and side-step risk.  It's a word wielded by bullies and coveted by cowards.  It is a safe word, devoid of risk.  "If we don't take risks, we can't fail! Maintain the status quo!  Bury our talents and wallow in mediocrity!  Let someone else say 'yes.'  THAT'S the safe path!  After all, we may not succeed, but at least we won't fail."

The opposite of success is not failure.  Every successful man in history can attribute his success to the failures that made him stronger.  Failure becomes an inevitable companion to success.  The opposite of success is mediocrity; the failure to even attempt at succeeding.

Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney, was quoted as saying, "To punish failure is to encourage mediocrity... failure is not a death sentence."   If failure is not a death sentence, what is?  In a word... complacency.

Eisner also said, "If it's not growing, it's going to die." Life dictates movement in one direction or another.  If we don't go forward, we must go back.  Nature does not abide stagnancy. An organism must either age and mature or whither and die.  There is no in between.

And so it goes with an organization. The fear of failure envelopes the Movement and slowly suffocates it into hibernation.  In this stasis, it ceases to grow and invariably withers and dies.

So let us champion risk!  Rally around our leaders and pray for the growth that will stay our demise!  Let us encourage our brothers to dig up their talents, abandon fear, throw caution to the wind and say "YES."

Creativity Takes Courage

Preach it, brother Phil!  Preach it!

http://philcooke.com/real-creativity-takes-courage/

Welcome!

SAVN.tv is thrilled to welcome visitors from all over the globe!  We still officially dwell in the "open beta" phase of our launch as we have yet to concentrate our efforts toward any sort of marketing campaign.  Not to fear... a BIG push looms just over the horizon.

That said, we still boast regular visits from our brothers and sister all over the globe. 6 of the 7 continents have made regular appearances to date (we have yet to hear from Antarctica, but we're keeping our fingers crossed!).  So far our biggest supporters have been Australia, UK, Canada, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Sweden.

The list doesn't end there!  We've also had the pleasure of welcoming friends from Central and South America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chili, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Jamaica), Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Morocco), Middle East (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan), Asia (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines), Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany, Norway, Portugal, France, Croatia, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Estonia), and Russia.

We're so happy to have you all with us and pray that you continue to support our mission and spread the word!

Blessings.

Remembering 9/11

Let's pause for a moment in the midst of all the political campaign rhetoric.

The eleventh anniversary of 9/11 is almost upon us. In order to keep the memory going, please share this film - http://savn.tv/campaign/view/34 - with those in your social media network and ask them to share it forward without breaking the chain - take it viral. And all donations will go to recent disasters occurring. Click Share. Click Donate.

A Crusade!

SAVN.tv spent the last two days participating in Harvest America - an amazing evangelism campaign founded by Greg Laurie (the next Billy Graham to my mind).

Allow me to set the stage ... imagine, if you will, a large baseball stadium (Angel Stadium to be exact) filled to capacity with 45,000 believers and seekers all gathered together for the same purpose... evangelism.  Some were there to be evangelists, others were there to receive evangelism.  All were there to be blessed.

Bands like Mercy Me and Jeremy Camp (who sat down for an interview with SAVN) rocked out on the massive stage which encompassed half the infield.  TV Networks, radio stations, and bloggers blasted the event over the airways and internet, nationwide. 1500 churches across America tuned in and volunteered, aiding in the execution of this massive effort.

Both evenings concluded with a "call to seekers" where Pastor Greg invited people down to the field to accept the Lord.  Are you ready for this?  ... 10,000 PEOPLE RESPONDED TO THE CALL.  Each night, 5000 seekers crammed the outfield and were greeted by volunteers who helped them make a decision for Christ.  From there, contact information was taken and disseminated to churches in the area for follow up.  To be clear ... the follow up with these new Believers does not come by way of Pastor Greg's church.  It's done by ANY church that expresses an interest in attracting new converts.

On average, every church choosing to participate in follow up typically gains 8 new church members per Crusade.  Harvest does all the work, spends all the money, brings them in, gets them saved ... then GIVES them away!  "One Savior, One Mission, One Church." It's all about Salvation.  Nothing else matters.

I stood in the outfield, surrounded by this enormous ministry, watching thousands of new souls enter the Kingdom simultaneously.  Clearly, these Harvest guys have figured it out.

Here's the amazing part:  They didn't NEED us!  Their mission is not dependant on any single ministry in order to succeed.  The place was crawling with TV networks (TBN and CTN) and ministries from all over Southern California... the last thing they needed was SAVN.tv running around, getting in their way.

Did they close the door on us?  Did they look down their noses, push us aside, and insist we stay out of their way?  NO!  On the contrary, this enormous evangelistic crusade went out of its way to welcome The Salvation Army in and make us feel like one of the family... the family of God.  They were kind, humble, compassionate, and patient.  When we asked to be carried a mile, they carried us two.  When we asked for their robe, they gave us their tunic as well.  Not once did they ask for a single thing in return. They simply wanted to help another ministry spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The members of Team SAVN were blessed to be involved in this incredible outreach.  Be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming series, "Harvest Daze."  You're sure to be blessed as well.

If you would like to get your corps or church involved in this outreach, visit www.harvest.org and click on "Crusades" (there's another Crusade around the corner).  I promise, you'll never forget the experience!

Transformational and Inspirational!

SAVN.TV (Salvation Army Vision Network) and our website design partners have been totally immersed this summer in streamlining the website (our virtual street corner). The final design touches in phase one will be completed in September. Immediately following, we plan to launch an aggressive social media networking marketing campaign, along with a "How To" video that will walk the user through steps on setting up and implementing his/her own personal Mission Station page.

Meanwhile, the production team has been busy creating and filming new campaigns and shows, one of them being The Salvation Army Oxnard California Medical and Dental clinic (http://savn.tv/campaign/view/49), as one example (bottom video on right). This is exciting, inspirational and transformational stuff, one of many life changing ministries that need to be shared far and wide.

This is how it works. 1) Go to SAVN.TV and click on "Edit Profile." This will take you to what will become your "Mission Station" page. 2) Register as required (the "How To" video will be forthcoming should you require it). 3) In the meantime, go to "Missions" under "Media," and on page 2, you will find a Mission Outreach category. 4) Click on that and at the bottom you will see the Medical and Dental Clinic video. 5) Watch it, and if it resonates with you, add it to your profile and then share it with your social media congregation (Facebook, twitter, Email, etc.). 6) Make a donation to this particular mission campaign and asks those within your social media family to make a donation, likewise - 7) and encourage them to keep it going forward. Your profile page will track all donations and the number who have been impacted (views) as a result of your sharing of the Gospel message. Think of it this way: You will have your own virtual congregation and someone else will take care of compiling the statistics for you.

Take note of the gentleman introducing this "Clinic" video. His is a miraculously transformational and inspirational testimony - a modern day Trophy of Grace. The world needs to hear his story and have the opportunity of donating (getting involved) in this exciting mission expression. Let's take it viral though our social media networks.

For a visual culture and cause-oriented generation, SAVN.TV is a unique integration of a video-driven website and social action network. Users will be given the opportunity to get involved, physically, financially, spiritually in a ministry or cause of their choosing through social media networking.

Most importantly, it’s a powerful tool for evangelism.  It not only shows the work, but invites people into global conversations about why the work is happening.  It will allow an entire generation to share their faith – a faith that is changing the world.

SAVN.TV  

The intersection of technology and ministry. 

The “virtual mission station.”

The “digital street corner.”

The future of evangelism…

Update

Today officially marks SAVN's two month anniversary since our "open beta" launch at The Gathering.  With no branding, advertising, or marketing, our limited opening has seen 11,000 hits (5K unique) and 55,000 page views.  These numbers FAR exceeded our expectations.  From an 'online corps' perspective, we're thrilled!

But that was just the first big drop on the SAVN roller coaster ride.  Phase 2 plans will bring many more exciting features.  Our future plans include apps, interactive gaming, and a branding strategy that will make SAVN.tv the "Social Action" hub of the World Wide Web (to name just a few).

We're also teaming up with Territories and ministries all over the world in order to create a global meeting place for people of all walks, believers and nonbelievers alike, to congregate and "do the most good."

And last, but definitely not least, we're on the verge of unleashing our secret weapon - Mr. Phil Cooke.  A best selling author with a PhD in Theology, Phil comes to SAVN with an impressive resume and unparalleled background in Christian media, marketing and branding.  We can't unveil the "Phase 2" projects that Phil and his team will be championing just yet, but rest assured it will be monumental.  I guarantee you will not want to miss out!

So, fasten your seat belts and keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle ... the ride has just begun!