– The Purpose – Does your church have a mission statement. Something that defines it’s mission in the community. Why it exists

Welcome to the personal interweb space of Paul Povolni. I’ll be posting the things that interest me regarding creativity, tech, culture and faith and then some stuff I’ve created. This is my place for sharing the stuff that gets my attention… Read more »
LATEST PROJECT: LOGO: Australian Youth Missions
– The Purpose – Does your church have a mission statement. Something that defines it’s mission in the community. Why it exists
(used by permission of Group Publishing, www.group.com)
Let’s get formal for a moment…Copyrights (©) give exclusive privileges to reproduce, perform, or display a literary or artistic creation or its derivatives. Trademarks (TM) are distinctive mottos or emblems that are identified with a specific product.
How do copyrights and trademarks affect you? Well, you need to know how to properly photocopy sheet music, articles, and artwork; project song lyrics or words; show movies or videos to your group; use duplications or near copies of logos; and dub recorded music.
Getting permission to use copyright or trademark material is sometimes easy and inexpensive (even free!). First, look to see if the publisher or producer has already given you permission to photocopy or display the work. If not, you must generally check with the producer (a doctrine called “fair use” sometimes allows schools and other nonprofits to bypass this step). If you get permission, make sure you observe its limits. Don’t abuse the privilege!
Most Christian film and video distributors grant, with your rental, a one-time-only public performance license. If you ask, that license may be expanded to meet your needs. Warning: The words “home use only” on your purchased DVD may not cover showing it to your group in your family room!
And you must get permission before you record a worship service that features copyrighted (even out-of-print) songs. Often, I see Christian T-shirts or posters that copy well-known designs. Companies may welcome the “free advertisement,” but don’t assume. Ask first!
Some guidelines for asking permission:
By Drew Crislip
Copyright Laws: The copyright doctrine of fair use permits certain uses of very brief excerpts from copyrighted materials for not-for-profit teaching purposes without permission. (All the video clips suggested at MinistryandMedia are less than three minutes long, unless noted.) If you have specific questions about your intended use of copyrighted materials, consult your church’s legal counsel. Your church can obtain a blanket licensing agreement from Christian Video Licensing International for an annual fee. Visit www.cvli.org, or call 888-771-2854 for information.
My thoughts:
While it’s easy to point at the big guys because of how they use their financial resources to sue and protect their work. But imagine this scenario (you can interpret it also for your art, writing, photography etc):
You’re a worship leader at your church and after a prayer meeting or reading your Bible you get inspired and write a song. You start singing it in church and someone tapes it and puts it on YouTube.
Then a popular worship leader and recording artist sees the video and decides to record it on his new CD.
He starts touring, selling CDs and then it starts being sung and recorded more then “Shout to the Lord” by every artist under the sun.
Making millions for the artists.
Then they write a devotional, that turns into a book and then a movie. Making millions more.
AND YOU GET NOTHING!!!
Copyright laws protect the little guy as well.
Here’s some highlights from Francis Chan at Verge 2010. The excerpts are taken from a transcription by Jon McIntosh
“Exodus 33:13 If God’s presence doesn’t go with us – then we won’t go. Is there anything else we want in life besides the presence of the Lord?”
“My motives in ministry have not been pure. “I want to be funny and engaging – or I want a big church – I want to do that.” All these things enter your mind and you loose sight of what you had at the beginning – where you just wanted to be with God.”
“It seems that the Holy Spirit is speaking the same thing to a diverse group of people. There is no pressure to start a movement – a movement has started – the Holy Spirit is starting it. This is Biblically driven – it’s theologically driven. It’s not just the hip thing.
Be courageous – Biblically. Erase what you’ve seen everywhere else – and just go to the Bible. Don’t just go around to other patterns – to tweak what other people are doing. Have the courage to read the Bible and do what it says.”
“If I just read the scriptures – I wouldn’t care so much about the gathering. If I read the scriptures, I would see that we are on a mission. That we are to make disciples. Then, what would happen, is that the gathering would just naturally happen – because I would be on mission and I would stick out and I would need other people to help me to do that – to hold me to that.”
Here’s another transcript by Felicity Dale at SimpleChurch.com
While it’s going to take me a while to like the name iPad, I think the new product announcement is monumental.
It’s basically a big iPod Touch with some software enhancements. Nothing really “new” or even surprising.
It has some other interesting stuff, but nothing that made me say WOW! Like everyone else, I expected more.
The thing that excites me most (apart from the price) is that is can become a huge catalyst for creativity.
Just sitting and thinking about my iPhone and what an important part of my life and the way I connect and communicate with the world it has been, excites me. When I take time and imagine what can be done on the same platform, but on a larger scale IT’S AWESOME!
Maybe at a later date I’ll post some things I envision, but let me just say, I’m excited about the future and what the….iPad will become.
I sent out a Tweet (that updated Facebook) asking for some youth ministry blog recommendations.
Here’s some of the responses.
I haven’t had time to check them all out for content and relevance, so I’d appreciate your feedback.
I didn’t watch either guy much. But the diff I saw was that on Jays show he was a fan of his guests. On Conan, the guests were vehicles and springboards for Conans unfunny antics.
Good luck to both. They bring their own brand of humor to the world.
Man Buried in Haiti Rubble Uses iPhone to Treat Wounds, Survive | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.
U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a documentary about the impact of poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.
Read More> http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/haiti-survivor-iphone/#ixzz0dDZJFDyF