Big Is The New Small

Great illustration of how God, Faith & Focus will help you reach your God potential.

Share your thoughts on this video and how American Idol in general helps people reach their potential.

Ran across this young lady rocking a guitar solo at Potential Church.  I love seeing girls lead with guitars. It’s a short video, Enjoy!

Is it just me or does anyone else like seeing ladies rockin’ a guitar or leading with an acoustic? Who are some of your favorites?

Flavor Fest is the Largest Urban Christian Leadership Conference on the planet. It’s happening October 6-9 in Tampa Florida. My man Tommy Kyllonen aka @UrbanD813 and his team lead and host this conference every year. I’ll be there in 2012. Check out the promo video and invite your friends to Flavor Fest 2011.

I have some great give-aways today.  Today’s BIG give-aways include some cool stuff from some friends of mine, christian artists Shane and Shane. If you are not aware of their music, you should be, these guys are the real deal.  We recently hung out and I just love these guys genuine hearts and passion to share their gospel and impact the community.

Shane and Shane has sold over a half a million records and now they have a new project which is their first studio release in two years, The One You Need. Available Oct. 4, the project’s debut single and title track is quickly becoming a hit.  As a matter of fact just yesterday, on my way to an client appointment, I had to sit in the car and finish listening to “The One You Need” before on The Message satellite radio station before going into the meeting.

After a brief hiatus from recording, Shane Barnard and Shane Everett have returned to the studio with two years worth of new material, all self-written and self-produced. The duo, who has been playing together for 13 years, has joined efforts with Fair Trade Services, home to top artists including The Afters, MercyMe, and Derek Webb, for this new album.

The Shanes, now both married with children, created this latest record through the lens of fatherhood and community. In fact, Barnard penned the title track—a poignant letter from daddy to daughter—a week before his daughter Lucy was born. Having also recently assumed the role of worship pastors at their local church, The One You Need additionally contains songs intended to minister to those hurting around them.

Although it doesn’t release until October 4th, I already have the new album in my iTunes (I got the hook up… keep reading, you can also get the hook up).  It’s an awesome project that really compliments the Shane’s unique style and unique sound.  Some of my personal favorites include: Grace Is Sufficient, Your Love, Praise Him, Miracle and the title track “The One You Need” which is featured in the above video.  As a parent it will break your heart and make you re-focus at the same time.

Do You Want The Hook Up? We are giving away 4 different prize packages, click here to check out what is included in Package A, B, C & D.  Package A includes everything from a signed copy of the alum to 2 FREE tickets to any ticketed Shane and Shane show and more.

Winning is easy as 1 – 2 – 3

• 1. Leave  comment stating that you would like to win a copy of the album, in your own words of course.
• 2. Re-Tweet my tweet about winning a copy, or simply copy and paste the below tweet info. to your Facebook or Google+ status if your aren’t on Twitter.  If you don’t have Twitter, Facebook or Google+ simply leave a comment and we will pray for you to move into the new media generation.  :)  Seriously leave a comment and let me know that you don’t have either Facebook, Twitter or Google+.  Here is the tweet you can copy and paste or you can simply find @scottwilliams on twitter and re-tweet it.  Win Shane & Shane’s new album “The One You Need” B4 You Can Buy It. (Also Tix to a Show) http://bit.ly/Shanes
• 3. Go browse around the ShaneandShane.com and check out more about the project.
• Note: 4 Winners for packages (A-B-C-D) will be selected from the BigIsTheNewSmall.com comment section and will be announced on Monday August 15th.  You can leave one comment each additional day that you follow steps 1 & 2.  Be sure to change your tweets up a bit.   An individual could have 4 entries if they tweeted and commented each day. Increase your odds, participate daily!

I will randomly choose 4 Names to win these packages with the help of random.org or another random means from those who complete the above steps by 4:59 pm central time 8/15/11.  I will announce the winners the evening of 8/15, right here on this post. Good luck and share this info. with your friends.

The Winner Are As Follows… thanks to everyone for entering!

Package A: Andrea MacBean
Package B: @Matreames
Package C: Dana Ferguson
Package D: Steve Gagne

I have always been a fan of Eminem, it’s something about his story and authenticity that intrigues me.  Am I a fan of everything about him and his lyrical content?  Nope, but I pray for the guy.

Everyone has a story, this 13 minute segment from last nights 60 minute interview with Anderson Cooper highlights some of Eminem’s story.  Story of a fatherless, bullied kid who repeated 9th grade 3 times, dropped out of high school, got high, abused drugs, got addicted to drugs, was 2hrs away from dying, father who is now 3+ years sober.

This dude has major Saul to Paul potential.

God is not through with Eminem’s story, My story or Your story.

Share  your thoughts on this interview, Eminem’s comments and anything else about the controversial rapper that you would like to share.

I know the title of post may seem a little contradictory, but trust me it’s not.  We have all seen the people walking around with the Beats By Dre Headphones.  They are sleek red, white, black and come in many different styles.  Not only do they come in different styles, but they appeal to one of the largest demographic groups I’ve seen when it comes to a set of headphones.

You will see everyone from young hip- hop kids, middle age pastors (like myself), professional athletes, to corporate businessmen sporting these headphones.

These headphones are a status symbol, a status symbol that comes with a price tag ranging from $189 for the in-ear, all the way up to $450 for the over the head Pro’s.  Personally, I love the look, the brand and the symbol of the headphones.  My wife and boys bought me some for Father’s Day, I think this was part my wanting and part my boys trying to keep their approaching 40-year-old father hip.

I owned the in ear Tour headphones (shown in above pic.) First, let me share the things that I liked about the headphones.

• I liked the brand; I liked the name brand appeal, the overall feel & tribe nature.
• I liked the flat no tangle cord.
• I liked the look. (Coolest looking headphones on the market)

Although I liked the brand, I didn’t like the product.  Below is what I didn’t like about Beats By Dre and in my opinion, what makes Beats By Dre Not A Great Product.  Keep in mind, I only wore these for a couple of weeks and kept them in the case.

• The little “B” emblem near the plug-in fell off within the 1^st week.
• The flat no-tangle cord started to fray at the end.
• The shiny little chrome looking plastic piece came a loose.
• They only sounded average, the extra bass was an added feature without an ability to adjust it or remove the feature.
• They were just cheaply made.

Let me say Monster has done an excellent job of creating a tribe, a brand and a following with Beats Headphones.  Every time you turn on the TV you see people wearing them, even the American Idol contestants wore them as they were in the studio.  The branding is masterful.  Similar to Apple, their branding is masterful; you want an iPad, MacBook, IPhone or iSomething just to be a part of the tribe and associated with the brand.  That’s why Apple unassumingly moved from 3% to has 21% of the U.S. market share.

The difference between Apple and Beats by Dre is the simple fact that Apple is a Great Brand that has great products.  For the record, I can’t speak for any of the headphones other than the in ear Tour’s that I owned.  They scored an A+ for Look and Feel and a D- for Quality and Performance.  My son’s Skullcandy Kevin Durant Headphones sound and appear to be made better than Beats By Dre.

The silver lining and irony of the story… Apple gladly returned the headphones and gave me a full refund.

Share your thoughts on Beats By Dre, Apple or any other great brands and or not so great products.

It has been amazing how well the message of #ChurchDiversity has been received around the country and even around the world.  It’s been a true blessing to be able to speak at churches, colleges and conferences all around the country about Diversity in the Church.  It has been great to see churches from 24 states add their name to this list of churches of being committed to Church Diversity.

My buddy Chase put together a couple of Book Trailers that have received over 5,000 views.  I wanted to take the video illustration of the church diversity message in my book to the realm of spoken word, so I called upon two friends to make it happen. I asked my man David Bowden to write an original spoken word piece, not only did he write one, he penned the amazing piece in the above video titled “Diversity’s Symphony.”  My man Samson Varughese from Emanate Media brought David’s words to life in this video.

I love the the richness of this piece, I’ll definitely be using it when I’m speaking at some of my speaking engagements.  If you, your church is interested in having me speak to your organization, church or group about diversity or any other subject, please send Ashley Smith an e-mail ashley(at)bigisthenewsmall.com or fill out a contact form here. We are currently scheduling dates for the end of the summer and fall.

Share your thoughts on this video.  Feel free to share it with your friends as the goal is to continue to lay the heartbeat of this movement on the hearts of God’s sons and daughters.

I really love our worship team led by Stephen Cole and Kaci Baldwin. The team is a diverse group of genuine worshippers that truly love Jesus and care about those they are leading in worship each and every week. One of the things that I love about their worship is the fact that they have fun and they are all “Worshipping” and not simply singing songs and playing instruments.

This weekend they were jammin’ as usual and broke out into a little reggae funk in the middle of a Rockin’ King Of Glory worship tune. Every service was different as Stephen was just free-styling.  One is the beauties of worship is the fact that it’s a universal language and genuine hearts for diversity will help to break down ethnic and style barriers. People were swayin’, bobbin’, yellin’, shoutin’ and jammin’ in the isles.

The above video is a little sample of today’s worship, shot with an iPhone video camera.

What do you love about your worship team? Share some of your favorite worship songs or unique things that you like to see from your worship team.

Israel Houghton’s new CD & LP “Love God. Love People.“ released yesterday and it received a lot of buzz.  You may be asking, “What is an LP?” An LP is only 3 dollars more than the regular album and includes Chord Charts, A Huge Photo Gallery, Remix Room, Daily Encouragement Through The Word & more! This project is Kind Of A Big Deal.

As a matter of fact, Integrity Music and Israel Houghton make history as his new release Love God, Love People is the first Christian iTunes LP.  Houghton also becomes the first artist, mainstream or Christian, to have an LP release that includes interactive social network capabilities, a music mixer and Bible verses, as well as the ability to create your own album cover. Other artists who have popular LPs include John Mayer, Dave Mathews, Lifehouse, OneRepublic and Christina Aguilera.

You can listen to “Love God. Love People.” right over there —–>

The album released yesterday and you can win it today.

Winning is as easy as 1-2-3:

• 1. Leave  comment stating that you would like to win a copy, in your own words of course.
• 2. Re-Tweet my tweet about winning a copy, or simply copy and paste this tweet info. to your Facebook status if your aren’t on Twitter.  If you don’t have Twitter or Facebook, simply leave a comment an we will pray for you to move into the new media generation.  :-)  Seriously leave a comment and let me know that you don’t have either Facebook or Twitter.  Here is the tweet or you can simply find @scottwilliams on twitter and re-tweet it: Win a FREE copy of @israelhoughton’s new CD “Love God. Love People.” at BigIsTheNewSmall.com http://bit.ly/ihLGLP
• 3. Go browse around Israel Houghton’s Website and check out the cool stuff including some great videos.

I will randomly choose 5 Names with the help of random.org, from those who complete steps   1-2-3 by 11:59 pm central time today 9/1/10.  Good luck and share this info. with your friends.

“Love God. Love People.” — Ready, Set, Go!

Winner Update: Random Integer Generator Winning Numbers-

14 - Willie Harris
29 - Buddy Boone
9 - Kyle Smith
35 - Dale Schmucker
27 - Cameron

Timestamp: 2010-09-02 23:31:48 UT

There is nothing better than a great worship tune, that comes from true worship leaders out of the local church.  The names that come to mind for me include: Kari Jobe, Israel Houghton & Hillsong United. For more than two decades, Integrity Music has introduced new worship songs emerging from churches around the world including Gateway, New Life and Lakewood in the U.S. and Hillsong in Australia.

Integrity’s latest discovery is Abundant Life Ministries a dynamic, multi-cultural church based in Bradford, England and led by pastor and renowned speaker/author Paul Scanlon.  One thing is for certain is that Integrity knows how to find some of the best talent in the world and shares their music with the world.  I got my copy of ALM UK’s new CD titled “Name Above All Names” a couple of weeks ago when it released.  It’s definitely a great CD with tracks that will grab you personally and will play well in a corporate worship setting.  Some of my personal favorite tunes on the CD are Be Glorified, Name Above All Names, My God Reigns and First Love.  You can grab your copy directly from Integrity here or on iTunes here.

If you would like to win a copy, Integrity has given my 10 copies of this CD to give away.  Winning is as easy as 1-2-3:

• Watch the video above.
• Leave a comment stating that you would like to win a copy of the CD.
• Re-Tweet my tweet about winning a copy, or simply copy and paste this tweet info. to your Facebook status if your aren’t on Twitter.  If you don’t have Twitter or Facebook, simply leave a comment letting us know, and we will pray for you to move into the new media generation.  :-)  Seriously leave a comment and let me know that you don’t have  either Facebook or Twitter.  Here is the tweet or you can simply find @scottwilliams on twitter and re-tweet it: Win A FREE Copy Of ALM UK’s CD — A Hot New Worship Band from @IntegrityMusic http://bit.ly/almuk1

I will randomly draw 10 Names from those who complete steps 1-2-3 by 11:59 pm central time tonight 7/2/10. Integrity Music will promptly send winners their FREE copy of ALM UK’s CD.  Good luck and share this info. with your friends.   Ready, Set, Go!

UPDATE WINNERS: Below are the 10 random # Winners.  I used the random # selector from random.org to select.  If your comment is one of the numbers below, you will receive an e-mail and a free copy of this amazing album.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6
13
23
7
5
10
24
26
22
1