Collected coffee cups on station platforms
Left adrift amongst commuting agendas
Sucked dry of their buzzing liqour
Awaiting deposit into their new life

One comes back here
Years later as the cup he once was
But the others never see [...]]]>

Collected coffee cups on station platforms
Left adrift amongst commuting agendas
Sucked dry of their buzzing liqour
Awaiting deposit into their new life

One comes back here
Years later as the cup he once was
But the others never see this life again
For them it is black.
Americano.

Coffee & A Kindle

I’ve taken a few knocks recently. Nothing major. Always little things, stuff not quite working out, stupid blunders of my own making induced by either laziness or plain not listening. I suppose it happens to everyone, but when it does it’s often difficult to see [...]]]>

Watching Eye by James Poulter, using Paper by FiftyThree

I’ve taken a few knocks recently. Nothing major. Always little things, stuff not quite working out, stupid blunders of my own making induced by either laziness or plain not listening. I suppose it happens to everyone, but when it does it’s often difficult to see it that way, let alone feel it.

If you know me or have read the blog for any time you know I have a fascination with how technologies are changing the way we think, how they affect our attention spans and how we relate to one another. And I can only reconcile why I find I have a growing interest in this field, by acknowledging these forces are having a growing power over my own abilities to do these very things, and I think is somewhat responsible, in part at least, for some of the blundering!

The constant connectedness of the modern workplace, family and social community at times can be a place in which I thrive, the speed things can be turned around is compelling, the ability to pull together assorted groups of people to get things done that drive innovation, collaboration and ultimately progress is so alluring. But at the same time this is often tempered by a sense that the speed in which we are moving, and the consistency of that speed is somehow degrading some of our more basic human faculties. Those that allow us to hear Gods voice and discern his plan for instance.

I think it can be difficult when you are very aware that you are a product of the generation, because it’s so hard to discern if this is the same inner conflict that people of any generation past have also experiences, or is this an issue very much unique to millennialists who are currently living this out?

In talking with YouthWorker friends and youth pastors, it appears that at least for now the next generation seem to be very at ease with the idea of being constantly connected. This of course is bringing with it a level of concern amongst those working with this age group about their future ability to communicate face to face effectively, and their ability to reflect and learn from their personal histories, when they are living so consistently in the present of the latest Facebook comment stream or BBM conversation.

Those of us who can remember what life was like before broadband and ubiquitous mobile phone usage find themselves in a odd, but vitally important position. We live in part very knowledgable about how these technologies work and their intended uses, whilst still holding an understanding about what life was like before they existed or at least we’re mainstream.

Could it be that we will be the last generation to ask questions about whether this new world we find ourselves in is healthy, right and true? It’s a philosophical question worth addressing: is pushing the boundaries of technology, just because we can, always a sign of progress?

If there is even the faintest possibility that we could be the last to ask such questions, how much greater does that make our responsibility to investigate this area and pass that knowledge on, before it’s too late?

This post originally appeared on BigBible.org.uk as part of the #digidisciple series. For more info or to become a #DigiDisciple, contact @DrBexL

I spend A LOT of time on trains. I know I am obviously not the only one. I accept that. But I do spend a LOT of time on trains. On average around 16 hours a week (including tube and train travel). That’s [...]]]>

I spend A LOT of time on trains. I know I am obviously not the only one. I accept that. But I do spend a LOT of time on trains. On average around 16 hours a week (including tube and train travel). That’s a lot.

That’s 832 hours a year.

If I were to commute to London as I do now from the suburbs, for the rest of my working life that would be a whopping 36,608 hours!

Even if you are stripping out delays, travel at weekends, trips abroad and up the country and the hours spent going literally no where freezing my ambitions, work ethic, moral and bottom to pieces awaiting a mythical South West Train to emerge on the horizon – spending the equivalent of just over 4 years of your life commuting could to some seem somewhat depressing.

So. A lot of time waiting for, on or around trains.

I am also not the first to lament the interesting, somewhat spiritual nature of Mr Louis Stevenson’s creative transportation tool. Philip Larkin was fond of train travel, it was on the long Hals up to Hull where he managed the university Library, that he joule often write his poetry, and some of his best – in particular his observations of different nuptial parties making revelry and dancing at each passing station in the somewhat somber stanzas on The Whitsun Weddings.

I, like Larkin, and the railroaders of the southern states in the 1920s have always found something romantic about good, long winding journeys through the countryside, it’s often when my thoughts turn to God, to his creation, to the sense in which we are all on a far greater journey, one that has no rails, but many stations, few passengers yet packed with metaphors.

Of course all too often the joy of such journeys are now, for me at least, harder to come by. All those hours on the tracks are much more likely to be experienced accosted under the armpit of a fellow rat racer or slung deep underground surrounded by tourists more concerned about the nearest McDonalds than what the creator of the universe might be up to that afternoon. But at least, every once in a while, daylight prevails, the fog at the edge of the mind clears and we hear the still small voice of the true conductor whisper to us in even these, hectic moments of the day.

It doesn’t happen half as often in the UK nowadays, for one parishioner to turn to another and utter the sentence, which for many Christians may land like a sucker punch to the gut “how is your journey with the Lord going?”. At least I know I can always say, well we really enjoyed the 7:38 to Waterloo this morning.

When I originally started this blog under the title of Sunday Latte Lamentations, it was always meant as a little outlet. Somewhere for me to stow away my thoughts on the meaning of 42 and the secret to the universe. A place [...]]]>

When I originally started this blog under the title of Sunday Latte Lamentations, it was always meant as a little outlet. Somewhere for me to stow away my thoughts on the meaning of 42 and the secret to the universe. A place for contemplation, removal from the bustle of the day to day, and to frankly practice getting better at writing.

To most ends in the early days it served that purpose. And in some aspects continues to do so now. However a number of changes have happened recently which is giving me second thoughts about how best to continue to document these thoughts and feelings.

I am not about to write off (pun intended) the written word. I love words, I love writing, I love seeing language on a page take form, be that a physical or digital one for that matter. So it’s not about saying that writing and reading are not for me. However time, editing, posting and frankly taking time to form a coherent argument can be somewhat cumbersome when you are writing online. Time is of the essence, and impact is important too.

What was once a pursuit of self exploration has transformed into an outlet of sharing thoughts and ideas for the benefit of others. There are many unwritten posts sat in my Evernote account, Day One journal and WordPress Dash that never made it out into the open because I got too concerned with them being “good enough”.

Of course good enough is a fairly odd concept when one writes supposedly for the pleasure of it, for an audience he is not really able to pin down or frame in many ways and for whom an editor is a figment of a somewhat over stretched imagination. So it does beg the question, why not post any old drivel anyway?

Well of course if you are reading this then you are a member of that audience, someone who has spared even a few minutes to absorb this little ditty, and so I suppose that question is one for you to answer not me. Why not? Will you think less of me for posting stuff that is not quite as good? Would you come back even though not every morsel set before you here is of Pulitzer winning standard? Sure you might. Equally you might not, and who is to say you should.

It’s these thoughts (and certainly they are thoughts without conclusions as is probably by is point becoming painfully clear) that maybe other formats and outlets are a better for oral least should be considered.

I have a slight trouble buried deep in my soul with the idea of filming myself drivel on – about really any given subject. Audio may work better for, the radio background and the tranquility of the spoken word sits far better with me, but do people really to audio files they find strewn across the garbage heap of the web?

In the age where I among others have constantly banged on about content being king, maybe the better question is what type of content? And by content do we really mean knowledge and wisdom or the more McCluhanist thinking of mediums being the true message?

This post isn’t brilliant is it… But maybe it’s good enough. And maybe you will be good enough to share your thoughts below. Remember – I won’t judge you.

I don’t really think I’m one much for a morning routine. Sure I get up roughly the same time most mornings (depressingly around 6:35 – but we set the clock 15 minutes fast (6:50) so it [...]]]>

I don’t really think I’m one much for a morning routine. Sure I get up roughly the same time most mornings (depressingly around 6:35 – but we set the clock 15 minutes fast (6:50) so it is less of a shock to the system… ask @HollyPoulter), the day doesn’t get started until the first cup of coffee and sometimes the second, and most mornings are kickstarted by something to get the creative juices flowing.

For me it’s podcasts. I studied radio production, ran a podcast production outfit and worked on a few shows for stations, and still find the spoken word the best way of sparking new thoughts. Whether its something deep and complex, or heartfelt and warming or just plain fun – the shows that course through my earbuds in the morning are what set my mind alight with new concoctions, ideas and projects for the day ahead. (See below for some podcast recommendations).

The problem with this form of early morning mental stimulation is the activities that I snared by through the average working day from the moment my coat comes off in the office. Namely – email.

Now I know several of you share my sentiment about email being the number one productivity killer of modern times, I truly believe it does more damage that Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest combined! But maybe this is only because of the bad habits we have developed with it. For most people, the first thing they do when they sit at their desks (or for those of us cursed with the CrackBerry – when we wake up) is checking email. This may seem logical – but the problem is email is full of inputs – actions that once acknowledged begin to create a backlog of unresolved loops* that our brain begins to want to process. Thus dashing any of the creative musings that were getting going in our heads when we first awake.

One of the sideaffects of working in companies, firms and businesses is that we are inherantly required to disregard the natural physical, emotional and mental cues that our mind, body and spirits give us to do what comes naturally. Now of course this is somewhat necessary convention – as otherwise it is likely that we would never get anything accomplished, but I dare you to follow me in this small change to the way we start our days.

Use the start of the day to be creative. Not productive.

Creative. Not productive.

By learning to do what comes to use naturally first – by starting the day not with a to-do list but with the act of putting fingers to keyboards, pen to paper or lips to words we may just find we spend a lot less time trying to be creative, and a lot more time actually creating the things we so long to see come to fruition.

So start today with what comes naturally – embrace it, feel it, let it mold you – and maybe, just maybe – leave the email till 10:30.

Podcast Inspiration

• This American Life from NPR
• Snap Judgement from NPR
• The Relevant Podcast from Relevant Magazine
• RadioLab from WBEZ Chicago
• Freakonomics Podcast from Freakonomics
• The Moth Podcast

*See David Allen’s fantastic “Getting Things Done” for more on loops

Something I have been meaning to do for a while is share some of the great stuff I find around the web with you all. So using the power of Storify I thought i’d do just [...]]]>

Something I have been meaning to do for a while is share some of the great stuff I find around the web with you all. So using the power of Storify I thought i’d do just that!

Social media in the B2B space, whether your are a small business or operating at enterprise level can often seem like  either a whole other job, or a political minefield. Here are my top 5 tips for marketing your people, content and events in [...]]]>

Taken @WeAreLikeMinds 2011 - Photo by Harry Duns (www.harryduns.com)

Social media in the B2B space, whether your are a small business or operating at enterprise level can often seem like  either a whole other job, or a political minefield. Here are my top 5 tips for marketing your people, content and events in a social way.

Make your content digestable

Complex and difficult to interpret information, often held up in long PDF’s can be a sure-fire way to lose a reader. By taking the key statistics and presenting them graphically in a infographic you create not only content that user can absorb quickly, but through including and “embed code” for that graphic, you can create a piece of content that can be shared with others in a matter of second.

Create content collaboratively

Bring the debate to you

Make your events work harder for you

Optimise your enterprise

Warning – this blog post is longer than the average – and it’s about attention. I dare you to read it all the way through.

When I was in my late teens I worked in a small Christian bookshop in [...]]]>

Warning – this blog post is longer than the average – and it’s about attention. I dare you to read it all the way through.

When I was in my late teens I worked in a small Christian bookshop in my home town. It was a Saturday job, stacking shelves, serving customers, making coffee – surrounded by books. When you spend that amount of time around books, including everything from The Purpose Driven life through to Stong’s Extended Concordance to the Bible – you begin to know what you like when it comes to literature.

During these formative years of faith I began to attempt to absorb as much knowledge ABOUT God as I could. Who was he? Where was he? What did he want from me and how on earth was I going to live up to that? So I lapped up the works of Wesley, Edwards and the late and great John Stott – hoping that in and amongst those pages I would learn enough to develop a deep understanding of God’s plans and purposes for me and the world.

The problem is – that while theology is important. Right. True – it can sometimes be – well a little flat. Studying the conflicting views of transubstantiation make tickle some people’s fancy – but not really mine. For most people I meet that also seems to be the case. We desire emotion, narrative – story. And if you hang out in the New Testament for any length of time – you will find Jesus was pretty keen on it too.

As I travel the country meeting with pastors, teachers and theologians I seem to be seeing the same problem time and again – how do we get people to engage in church? How will we see the church grow? How do we get our young people to stay on past their teens? Questions as old the church itself no doubt, but today I think we cannot answer this question without story.

It is no surprise to some that our attention spans are shrinking – the average according to recent research by the BBC saw teenagers showing attention spans as short as 11 minutes, compared to the average of 20-26 minutes of the past 30 years. Social media and mobile technology is rebooting the brains of our young people (myself included) and when those little machines come back online their RAM is already overloaded by texts, emails, phone calls, tweets, status updates, adverts, blog posts and people in the street trying to corral them into donating to Children In Need (a worth cause but there has got to be a better way guys?).

So no wonder – with this social ADD  rife in our youth population that holding that attention when they walk through the doors on a Sunday is a challenge.

This is why I think we need to return to storytelling – on and offline – if we have a chance in all of Christendom of getting people engaged in the message of Jesus.

Storytelling in a real-time world

If you take a look at any of the major social networks you can clearly see that the silicone valley elite are determined to usher in a “real-time web” – an internet where all things are accessed in real-time and where the word “archive” is sometimes delivered with a bitter tone. Whether you are scouring the “Stream” on Google+ of delving through your Facebook “News Feed” the emphasis is on “now” and the “live”.

The great thing about living in the real-time web world is that we be constantly in the know – but I think this constant focus on what is happening right now is training us out of being able to understand story, which requires reflection and imagination to speculate about what is coming.

We see this creeping into our interactions with all sorts of media, whether its monitoring #bbcqt during Question Time, focusing on the “most highlighted” book passages on the Kindle or constantly flicking between a speaker and the TwitterFall on the screen behind them. Our attention is being tested – and often we are the one wielding the whip.

Story telling in this world of constant distraction, particularly from the stage or pulpit means we need to drastically rethink the way we communicate – doctrine, theology and discipleship in the form of the sermon needs to move from being “delivered” or “preached”. We need stories that can be “told” and “experienced”.

Recently in our church our leader gave a talk on healing. He outlined how we see Jesus heal in the Bible. A model for healing, of laying on hand and praying in the power of God’s spirit. But do you know what the real kicker was? The bit that captured the hearts and minds of the people – when a young women from our Student Group got up and told the story of how her serious heart condition was healed through that very model of prayer. Of what she felt when she realised God had touched her life. Of the relief and fear and anger and then unbelief and joy and love of those who prayed for her. Of how the Doctor the following day couldn’t explain what happened and how he would have to take her of the heart donor list.

That’s a story. That’s what gets us hooked and coming back again and again and again.

If you have been inspired into telling more stories please check out a project by a friend of mine Richard Littledale, whose short Christmas story “The Littlest Star” is helping raise money for the charity Shooting Star Chase.

As regular readers will be aware I head up the UK communications effort for YouVersion the Bible App for smartphones as the web. Over the past few years of being a user, and more recently being involved with the community of users [...]]]>

As regular readers will be aware I head up the UK communications effort for YouVersion the Bible App for smartphones as the web. Over the past few years of being a user, and more recently being involved with the community of users around YouVersion, we have seen the interactions, engagement and sharing of the app in all it’s forms explode.

Today with over 30 Million users the Bible is being engaged with in a whole range of new ways, so to show that off we have put together this little infographic to show just what goes on in a single minute in the YouVersion community.

To find out more about YouVersion don’t forget to tune into this evening’s live Webcast from the team starting this evening at 6PM GMT (1PM CT).

Myself and a crack team of social media monsters (@deanseddon @DrBexL & @icthusvideo) have been through a whirlwind 4 weeks setting up an event for Christians wanting to know more and embrace social media. The even came together in 48 hours, complete with branding, [...]]]>

Myself and a crack team of social media monsters (@deanseddon @DrBexL & @icthusvideo) have been through a whirlwind 4 weeks setting up an event for Christians wanting to know more and embrace social media. The even came together in 48 hours, complete with branding, lineup, web presences, venue and even catering – and 4 weeks later it’s ON!

We had a great morning, and rather than me summarising it all – I thought I would hand it over to the community to do this – via the medium of the mighty Storify…

For more info on DigiManc visit the site or follow the #tag – #DigiManc