scotthodge.org

Two Thousand and TEN!!!

Happy New Year Everybody!

 

Praying that 2010 will be a year filled with hope & peace!

Love,

Scott & Amanda

Merry Christmas from The Hodge Family!

Celebrating Compassion Weekend!

Here's a video we showed last weekend celebrating an amazing Compassion Weekend at The Orchard!

Compassion Weekend....Thank You!

Magic of The Swell Season

Had the wonderful privilege of seeing The Swell Season in concert with Amanda a few days ago at the  Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.  In case you’re not familiar with TSS, they are made up of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Film, Once) along with Hansard’s longtime band, The Frames. 

I could go on and on about the show, but let me just sum it up by saying that it was one of the best live  performances I have ever been to.  Seriously.  It was amazing.  In a way....almost magical.

Why?  Well here's a few things I was reminded of during the performance that may answer that.

People don’t want to simply hear the music; they want to feel it too.

I don’t even know why, but there was something really amazing about experiencing Glen Hansard standing at the edge of the stage, off-mic, singing....screaming....almost crying....from the depths of his soul. It was.....just wow.  You felt his journey.  His pain.  His joy.  His struggle.  And....his redemption.  It was beautiful. 

People love the unexpected.

Loved how Glen (in his “Where’s Waldo?” hat) and Marketa opened the show by sitting on the floor with an acoustic guitar and a cheap Casio keyboard performing the song, “Fallen From The Sky.”  Totally unexpected.  And everyone loved it.

Everybody loves a good story.

Glen is a great story teller.  He includes details that seem unnecessary until you realize that you've fallen in love with the character because of those details.  I’m 100% convinced that people love a good story.  Partly because we see ourselves in most of them. 

People want to participate. 

But you have to ask them to.  Bottom line is that people need to be led.  I think every church worship leader needs to see Glen Hansard perform.  He leads people well by performing with a ton of authenticity and by bringing depth to his audience. 

 Ireland has brought some pretty good stuff to our world.

Guinness, The Swell Season, The Commitments, The Cranberries, The Frames, Snow Patrol, Damien Rice, and of course....U2.

Go listen to The Swell Season.  See them in concert if you can.  I know I will.  Again.  And again.

Me & The Gators!

Tough Times = Breeding Ground for Innovation

No one enjoys having a lack of resources.  Yet, it's often times that lack that ends up pushing us into greater avenues of creativity and innovation.  If we allow it to.

I remember when we had absolutely NO discretionary money or resources to do anything other than pay our bills (barely) and sometimes our staff. The bottom line was that if we wanted to do something, we pretty much had to pay for it out of our own pockets (we still do sometimes) or figure out some other creative way to get it done.  (Side note, it's amazing how differently we think about spending when it comes out of our own pockets isn't it?) 

In many regards, that was a very tough and draining season.  Yet at the same time....it was also a season where I watched the innovative muscles of our team stretch and grow in some amazing ways.  And to a large degree, I would credit those days as being a huge factor in what's helped us sustain a culture of innovation at The Orchard today.

So here's a question/comment that's been on my mind a lot lately...

Leaders, how are we taking advantage of not having "enough" right now? 

Which direction is your "lack" pushing you these days?  Deeper into MENTAL LACK?  Or.....deeper into the world of creativity & innovation?  

Let's make sure we aren't allowing our current situation to move us into a "poverty" or "lacking" mentality.  Instead, let's keep the bar raised and expectations high.  Let's continue casting vision and articulating what could be - even if the resources don't yet exist.  And instead of saying "NO" - what if we said things like, "If you can figure out a way to make it happen, go for it!"  Or BETTER YET....what if we actually challenged and empowered our teams to find ways to make it happen!  Seriously, you'll be surprised at the innovation that will surface. 

I suck at math, but I'm in the mood to create a formula, so I leave you with this:

LACK OF RESOURCES + HIGH EXPECTATIONS + EMPOWERED TEAM = CRAZY BREEDING GROUND FOR INNOVATION  (i.e. figuring out ways to get things done in a completely different way than before)

Leaders, I'd love to hear how you're intentionally fostering an innovative environment in your organization.