Announcing the Winners of the Pastoralia Membership Giveaway!

Today we conducted the random drawing of members for our April membership drive giveaway! First and foremost, thank you to everyone who bacame a member of Pastoralia! Your contribution will help us continue our mission to bring the gospel to post-Christian people in North County San Diego in creative and non-traditional ways. We ended up bringing in the equivalent of 189 memberships. Not quite enough to give away an iPad (250), but enough to make a difference for our mission. Thank you!

Now, a quick word about how we conducted the giveaway:

Everyone who contributed as a member during the month of April was entered into this drawing. Those whose donations were over $25 were given multiple entries depending on the donation amount ($50 = 2 entries, $200 = 8 entries, etc.). Beginning with the iPod Touch, we drew one name randomly per prize until all prizes were assigned. In the case of multiple entries, we limited one prize per person (so people with multiple entries couldn’t win more than once, even if their name came up more than once). Each name was assigned a number and drawn blindly using the engine at Random.org. With the print book giveaways I drew 10 names at random, then tried to match titles with what I thought the winners would find most useful or interesting (it helps that I know all of you somewhat!).

Here are the results:

Grand Prize Giveaway

iPod Touch: Erin Thomsic

Audiobook library giveaways from christianaudio.com

Library of Classics: Sean Campbell

Postmodern Church Library: Dave (from saintsofvirtue.com)

Library of Contemporary Theology: Jacob Evans

Church and Culture Library: Jesse Schroeder

Renovaré Library: JR Rozko

Audiobook download coupon from christianaudio.com

christianaudio Download Code #1: Tracy Wilcoxen

christianaudio Download Code #2: Linda Orem

christianaudio Download Code #3: Krysten Case

christianaudio Download Code #4: Peter Kipley

christianaudio Download Code #5: Christie Harwood

christianaudio Download Code #6: Jason Clark

christianaudio Download Code #7: Carin Pollack

christianaudio Download Code #8: Aaron Boerboom

christianaudio Download Code #9: Jaeson Ma

christianaudio Download Code #10: John Hindes

Print Books Giveaways:

ViralHope copy #1: Jason Dougherty

ViralHope copy #2: Cynthia Taylor

Practice Resurrection by Eugene Petersen: Rick Dumas

Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal: Duke Lancaster

Urban Christianity and Global Order by Andrew Davey: Geoff Hsu

Experiencing the Trinity by Darrell W. Johnson: Denise Lawson

Christ Based Leadership by David Stark: Bryan Dormaier

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos: Peter Coker

Soup, Soap, Hugs, and Hope by Harold Kutler: James Loesch

Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith: Joshua Hopping

Details, details…

If you won a hardgood item, such as the iPod Touch, audiobook libraries (which are on audio CD’s), or the print books, you should expect to receive delivery of these via USPS within 7-14 days (we need a little time to pack everything up). If your prize is a download coupon for an audiobook through christianaudio.com, expect to receive an email this week with your coupon code and instructions.

Condolences

Obviously not everyone won a prize. For those who didn’t win, my sincere condolences. Perhaps next year I’ll have enough prizes for everyone. At the very least, I hope you’re comforted by the fact that you received the coolest t-shirt on the planet : )

Technorati Tags: audiobooks, Books, christianaudio, Giveaways, Membership drive, Pastoralia

[UPDATED] Hurry! The Membership Drive Ends At Midnight!

UPDATE: Our first ever membership drive is now closed! Thank you so much to everyone who joined and became supporters of our missional efforts here in North County San Diego. The winners of the drawing will be announced later tonight.

Our month-long membership drive is about to come to a close! In just seven hours you’ll lose your chance to win great prizes like a new iPod Touch, and tons of great print books and audiobooks from christianaudio. For only $25 you can support our missional work, get a great t-shirt, and be entered into the drawing we’ll be conducting tomorrow!

Click here for all the details or just go straight to the membership page to become a member!

Technorati Tags: Membership, Pastoralia

Only Two Days Left To Win An iPod Touch at Pastoralia.org!

That’s right, only two days left to win an iPod Touch and a couple dozen great books in our first ever Pastoralia membership drive! Your donation of $25 gets you the coolest t-shirt in Christendom, plus a chance to win great stuff from Apple, Inc and the largest online audiobook publisher in the world, christianaudio.com. You’ll also have a chance to win some great hard copy books from my personal library, not to mention a copy of the book I recently contributed to, ViralHope, published by Ecclesia Press.

Our members drawing for these great prizes will be conducted this Saturday, so get your membership now before it’s too late!

Technorati Tags: Giveaways, Membership, Pastoralia

Announcing the First Ever Pastoralia Membership Drive

(For those who want to cut to the chase: We’re conducting a membership drive through April. Members get a cool t-shirt and chance to win some great prizes on May 1, including an iPad, an iPod Touch, and a MacBook Pro. Scroll down for a complete list of giveaways. Click here to become a member now for just $25, or keep reading for all the details.)

I love writing this blog. It’s a way to work out my thoughts and connect with other missional folks, and I hope the discussions here have been as thought-provoking and helpful for some of you as they have been for me. As I recently mentioned, I hope to expand on the articles and features here in the future.

Almost two years ago I left my full-time staff position at a big church in Columbus, OH and moved my family across the country to start a missional work here in North County San Diego. As it turned out, my daring move almost perfectly coincided with the advent of “The Great Recession” – a tough time to break into a second career, to say the least. But, we’ve made ends meet with a combination of part-time jobs, contract work, support from friends and family, and savings. There have been some scary months, but God has been good to us. In addition to cultivating a missional community, Jenell and I both work and I go to seminary nearly full-time.

But even though we live very simply, California is very expensive, and we’re not quite making it. We need to bring in more income to continue with our missional projects and give them the attention they deserve (not to mention pay the rent). So I’ve decided to use this blog to do so. I don’t want to plaster this space with ads. I hate that. Nor do I want to create “pay walls” for the content. I’m committed to offering Pastoralia as a kind of gift.

Instead I’m offering “memberships” at Pastoralia, a bit like public radio. Just like your local public radio station, the content here will remain free, but becoming a member is your chance to support not only the content here, but also our family, my continuing theological education, and the missional work we are engaged in.

Also like public radio, you’ll get a gift for your contribution and a chance to win some very cool giveaways.

Here’s how it works:

• The month of April is our membership drive. Membership is only $25 for one year (a little over $2 per month). You can click here to become a member now, or keep reading to find out about the prizes.
• For your contribution you’ll get a “thank you” Pastoralia t-shirt with original “Space Priest” artwork by Christine Jung (see picture above of my daughter Judah wearing one). Additional t-shirts can be purchased on the same order for $18 each.
• Everyone who becomes a member during the month of April, 2010 will be entered into a drawing to win one of the prizes listed below. Each membership/t-shirt purchase is good for a giveaway entry (if you buy 2 shirts, you get two entries into the drawing). The drawings will be conducted on May 1 and winners will be announced immediately.

Obviously at such a cheap price I need to move a lot of memberships. To be honest, I need your help. I figure there are a couple hundred readers lurking here – at best – so it’s not enough for you to buy a membership. Frankly, I need you to get 5 or 10 (or 100) of your friends to become members too. Now, I realize your friends probably couldn’t care less about me paying my rent, so in addition to the t-shirt I’ve decided to sweeten the deal with a few cool giveaways for the May 1 drawing (shameless, I know, but fun!).

Membership Prizes:

The Really Big Giveaways

1 Apple iPod Touch will be given away.

1 Apple iPad will be given away if membership/t-shirt sales reach 250 (yes, this is pretty ambitious).

1 MacBook Pro will be given away if membership/t-shirt sales reach 500 (okay, this might be a crazy goal).

Audiobooks From christianaudio.com

1 Library of Classics: The Confessions of St Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, and Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross.

1 Postmodern Church Library: So Beautiful by Leonard Sweet, Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller, The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren, and Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren.

1 Library of Contemporary Theology: Foolishness To The Greeks by Lesslie Newbigin, The Challenge of Jesus by NT Wright, and Evil and the Justice of God by NT Wright.

1 Church and Culture Library: Deep Church by Jim Belcher, and Culture Making by Andy Crouch.

1 Renovaré Library: Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard, and Longing For God by Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe.

10 download codes for an audiobook of your choice from christianaudio.com given to 10 people (1 each).

Print Books

2 Copies of Viral Hope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and everything in between), edited by JR Woodward, given to 2 people (1 each).

1 Copy of Practice Resurrection by Eugene Peterson.

1 Copy of Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal.

1 Copy of Urban Christianity and Global Order by Andrew Davey.

1 Copy of Experiencing The Trinity by Darrell Johnson.

1 Copy of Christ Based Leadership by David Stark.

1 Copy of Transforming Power by Robert Linthicum.

1 Copy of Treasure in Clay Jars by Lois Barrett.

1 Copy of Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith.

That’s it! Pretty simple. Buy a membership, get a t-shirt, maybe win a prize, tell your friends. Go ahead. Click here to become a member now.

Technorati Tags: Books, Giveaways, Membership drive, Pastoralia

Help Me Decide the Future of Pastoralia

I started this blog 10 months ago and only wrote sparsely; about 9 posts a month. During that time I was working full-time as a project manager for a interactive media agency, Jenell and I starting a missional small group in our home, and we conducted a small film festival. Needless to say, I didn’t have much time to write.

Things changed in December. With my employer in a financial crisis, and nearly $8000 in debt to me for back wages, I walked away from my job and jumped back into school to finish my M.A. I now work part-time and go to school nearly full-time, both of which have afforded more opportunity and inspiration to write. Since January I’m writing about 40 posts a month.

I’ve enjoyed writing more, but quantity doesn’t necessarily equal quality, so I’m looking for your help. I’ve been experimenting with a variety of content the past few months – poetry, devotional meditations, literature reviews, blogging through books, writing parables, and hosting guest bloggers. I’d like to know what you’ve enjoyed and what kind of features you think I should explore moving forward. So below are a few ideas for new features I’m thinking of exploring. Please let me know in the comments which old and new ideas you like best, and feel free to add your own suggestions:

New Feature Ideas:

• Movie reviews
• Blogging through Old and New Testament books
• Interviews with other local Christian leaders involved with missional work
• Interviews with diverse Christians about their faith, gifts, experiences, etc.
• More guest blogger posts on Christian leadership, mission, discipleship, etc. (topic suggestions?)
• Blogging from Christian gatherings such as the upcoming Nurturing the Prophetic Imagination Conference at Point Loma Nazarene University, Catalyst West Coast, and The National Outreach Convention, etc.
• Blogging pop culture events from a missional perspective, such as ComicCon, The Latino Film Festival, the San Diego Film Festival, and The Sundance Film Festival.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Pastoralia

Top 10 Pastoralia Articles This Month

That’s right, it’s the top 10 most-visited articles on Pastoralia for the whole month of January (er, two days early):

• 5 Arguments Against the Use of Media and Marketing in Church
• Should Missional Church Leaders Be Paid?
• The Worker’s Wages Part 1: Framing the Discussion
• The Worker’s Wages Part 2: The Biblical Lens
• Pat Robertson Falls From the Ladder of Being (And So Do We)
• Did Tony Jones Kill The Vineyard?
• The Most Important Church Planting Book I’ve Read (Isn’t About The Church)
• Biblical Ethics and Gay Marriage in California
• The Arrogant Bastard Church
• Is The Book Of Eli A Christian Movie?

You gotta love that “The Arrogant Bastard Church” snuck into the top January posts from all the way back in October : )

Technorati Tags: Pastoralia, Top 10