Igniter Media Group (who usually owns the Top 10 slots at companies like SermonSpice and WorshipHouse Media) has announced what they’re up to these days. I blogged before about their new Igniter Backs Volume 2. In their latest newsletter they announced two new product lines. They mentioned that one of the new product lines is called Bumpers. I played around with a demo of this a couple of weeks ago. It should be pretty cool. Their second new product line is their Igniter Tracks, which I’m excited about testing out and using on a Sunday morning with the Click Track feature.

FREE from Igniter this month is a download of a loopable motion and 2 stills from their Igniter Backs Volume 2. Just go to their homepage and click on “Free Download”.

PERSONAL PLUG:

I have no doubt that some of you reading this blog have never heard of Igniter and don’t own any of their products. Let me introduce you to their Uber Pack.  This would be one of the best investments and additions to your media library that you could get. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The Uber Pack comes with all four volumes of Igniter Videos and both volumes of Igniter Backs – ALL for only $199.95 – that’s a savings of $120! Buy it – you won’t regret it.

Yesterday I mentioned that it’s time to start planning for Christmas. I’ve already heard of some churches that are doing something associated with the new movie “The Nativity”. Outreach has put together several resources if your church wants to do something with this movie theme. Check them out (some are FREE).

Here’s an announcement from my friends at Midnight Oil Productions:

Two Christmas resources for the price of one…

For three days only–now through Saturday night–get two of Midnight Oil’s beautiful, full-featured Christmas resources for the price of
one. Titles include:

• Follow the Star
• Personal Connection
• Rediscover Christmas

Each disc is regularly $75. Get a bundle of two for the same price.

To see videos and learn more click here.

Well, not really, but it’s close. Trust me – it’s never too early to start planning Christmas.

Hillsong Worship just released their new Christmas CD. I’m already working on a new Christmas video (more on that later). I’ve already been meeting with the worship planning team at my church to plan our annual “Christmas to Remember” program. I know that Todd Bell and Prestonwood just finished recording their Christmas CD two weeks ago (they’ll have it ready to roll out in November and be available to their church to give out as gifts to people).

What are you doing to prepare for this fast approaching holiday? For the last 4 years I’ve done a “Christmas Media Review” (which I’ll do again this year). I’m always amazed at how Christmas seems to sneak up on some companies. I’ll email and call them and ask when I can expect to review their Christmas stuff and they end up releasing their Christmas videos or projects in the month of December? December…are you kidding me?

MEDIA COMPANIES:
Start working on Christmas yesterday and have it ready to be available to churches in mid to late October – that’s when they can use it and make plans accordingly.

CHURCH LEADERS:
Start planning yesterday. Dream, friends, dream. Ask what you can do differently this year. How can you celebrate the Christmas season in a new, fresh, relevant and meaningful way? For the many visitors that will visit your church for the first time this Christmas, what will engage them and encourage them to return?

A while back I blogged about the new DVD from Flashlight Films that I reviewed. Today it went LIVE to the public. I encourage you to check it out. I blogged first about their “Run the Race Collection“. Next I blogged about their second one: “Lord’s Supper Collection”. Then I blogged about their third one: “Clean the Cup Collection”.

Now two mini-movies – “Dear Jane” and “Apostles Creed” round out the project (which I’d suggest just buying the whole thing). The “Dear Jane” mini-movie is very well done – very classy and dramatic. A great opener for a discussion on divorce or just trials in life. The “Apostle Creed” mini-movie I’ve used in a service before and it was very well received.

Speaking of going LIVE today – Chris Tomlin’s NEW Cd hit the streets today. You can get it at your local music store or on iTunes.

Also going LIVE today is FaithVisuals.com. I don’t know much about them, yet. I knew they were in development, but just saw today that they went live. I’ll update you more once they get back to me.

HERE’S WHAT I LIKE SO FAR:
Their stated goal is two-fold: 1) to raise the level of visual media used in churches today, and 2) to raise the number of churches using visual media. This I like. These two goals are the reason I teach and speak at so many conferences.

HERE’S WHAT I DON’T LIKE SO FAR:
FaithVisuals.com is created by the editors of Christianity Today International and PreachingToday.com. What’s wrong with that you may ask? I have a philosophy that I believe strongly in. KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING. A project like this, who’s number one priority is not this company, will NEVER be as good of a resource as a company like SermonSpice or WorshipHouse Media, where that’s all they do – it is their “main thing”.

Christianity Today and PreachingToday will never be all they can be as a company with their time, money, energy, efforts and staff divided. Any time, money, energy, effort, etc. that they give to FaithVisuals.com is time, money, energy, effort, etc. that they’re not giving to their “main thing”. Why not achieve the two stated goals by pointing your readers to websites like SermonSpice (featuring over 2000 resources) and WorshipHouse (featuring over 5000 resources)?

As I’ve mentioned before, Anthony Coppedge and I teamed up to do a new podcast called: Creative Synergy. Our first episode is available through iTunes. You can link to it from our website: www.creativesynergypodcast.com. Also on our website are show notes with links to what we talked about. In our first episode, we play an interview with Kem Meyer of Granger Community Church – it’s pretty cool. Check it out!

The Innovative Church Conference started yesterday and went through today at Granger Community Church. I would have loved to have been at this conference, but am just too sore to travel. Granger is a church that I’ve been following for about 7 years – since I heard their pastor speak at Saddleback’s Purpose Driven Church Conference. I’ve shared their web resource: WiredChurches.com with countless people. They are a great church and are helping many other churches become great.

For a play-by-play analysis of the 2006 Innovative Church Conference, check out Tony Morgan, Tim Stevens, Perry Noble or Mark Batterson’s blogs. Check back at WiredChurches.com to see and hear more slices from this year’s conference.

And if you couldn’t make it this year, don’t worry. There are more opportunities coming up. Next year, the Innovative Church Conference will be held on September 27-28, 2007. You can also check out one-day workshops that are being held on Granger’s campus November 10, like Maximizing the Arts, Simply Strategic Volunteers, Communications and Discipleship.