In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Portman introduces the concept of the Information-Action Ratio. Portman’s ratio aimed to measure “the relationship between a piece of information and what action, if any, a consumer of that information might reasonably be expected to take once learning it.” In theory, a culture that had a low intake of information would have a high information-action ratio because they were more likely to act upon the small amount of information they received. Conversely, a culture that had access to enormous amounts of information would have a low-information action ratio. This is a result of being paralyzed by the enormous amounts of information and either not knowing where to begin or not knowing how to sort which pieces of information required action and which did not.

It goes without saying that humans today consume more information than at any other time in history. Between television, the Internet, and social networking, information is readily available at the click of a button. We can easily access news spanning the globe and get real-time updates on hundreds of friends in a matter of seconds. It would be impossible to act on all of the information one gathers in just a few minutes of surfing the internet. Thus, we live in an age of an extremely Low Information-Action Ratio (LIAR).

What does having a Low Information-Action Ratio mean for the church? For worship? If our technologically inclined culture trains us to merely consume information without acting on it, will we find ourselves complacent with not acting on the knowledge we receive of Jesus and His Gospel? If worship is a response to the revelation of who God is, will living with a Low Information-Action Ratio result apathetic worship?

First and foremost, it is important that the church resist the tendency to reduce the preaching of the Word to simply communicating information. Secondly, we must examine whether or not using overly familiar presentation methods (such as screens, media clips, etc.) actually makes it easier for people to ignore the content that they are being presented with.

I welcome and embrace many of the technologies I have alluded to in this post, but I think these are questions that are worth wrestling with. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

For further reading: Amusing Ourselves to Death, A Royal “Waste” of Time

As many of you know, I resigned as worship pastor of Victory at Sarasota in June of this year.  Since then, Kristin and I have been traveling and leading worship for various churches, camps, and other ministries.  We have spoken with a lot of great churches and sought counsel from friends and family.  We are excited about the road ahead and more importantly, the people with whom we will travel it.

I recently accepted an opportunity to join my good friend Jason Burns at Access: a Church Community in Lakeland, Florida.  I began leading worship at Access today.  For the time being, Kristin and I will remain in our home here in Sarasota.  Kristin will continue to work at Starbucks and I will split time working from home and commuting to Lakeland.

In addition to working with Access, I will also be involved in some worship-related projects outside of the church. I will write more on that as it all falls into place.

I will also continue to travel and lead for other churches, special events, and nights of worship.  Feel free to email me if you’re interested in putting something together.

I decided to begin blogging again since this is such a time of transition and reflection.  I am going to try and use this as a place to communicate my thoughts about life, ministry, and worship.  Hopefully you will continue to join me here for some great stories and conversations.  I would also love to connect with you on Twitter or Facebook.

Thanks for your love and support.

Jordan.

Usually my weekend begins on Saturday night around 10pm. About that time we’ve wrapped up service, packed up, and the band is on their way to Chilli’s for some queso dip and bottomless chips. This weekend’s a bit different.

• Friday – 6pm-9pm Set-up and practice

• Saturday – 4:30pm Soundcheck / 7pm service

• Sunday Morning – 8am soundcheck at Greenway Church in Orlando / Two services at Greenway.

• Sunday Night – 5:30pm soundcheck at Access in Lakeland. 6:30pm service.

Pastor Brian is out of town for a couple of weeks and I filled the preaching slot last Saturday night. I spoke out of Genesis 12 and 13 about Abram’s faith journey. It was a great night. I love mixing it up and doing something different. I was able to pray with tons of people and have some great conversations about God’s call on their lives.

The most memorable part of the night had to be a guy named Arthur. I saw him come in and sit in the back. He was in a wheelchair because he was missing a limb. At the end of the message he came forward and said he wanted to pray to rededicate his life to Christ. I asked him how long he felt like it had been since he had a relationship with Jesus. He said it had been 35 years. I asked him what happened 35 years ago that caused him to walk away. He lifted up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo that said “USAF”. I said, “The horrible things that you’ve seen in war caused you to question how their could be a God who would allow them.” He said, “I watched my wife and son get blown up in the Vietnam War.” Then he said that he knew God still had a plan for his life. We prayed. As he left he said, “I’ll see you next week.”

Pic’s from my friend’s iPhone

This is the last post about our night of praise, I promise. I wanted to take several posts to show you all of the different elements we incorporated into the night. We incorporated various expressions of worship for three main reasons:

1. The church should be more creative and less limited in worship.
2. Involving everyone makes the night less of a worship concert and more of a community night of worship.
3. Using art, photography, and writing stations allows the church to capture what God is doing within the community of faith.

In addition to the artists, photographers, and musicians who participated in the night of praise, we also invited the congregation to write what they felt God speaking to them throughout the night. We had a large table set up with a long piece of craft paper and tons of markers. People were able to write as the Lord spoke to them. It was interesting to see a lot of common themes in what was written.