Maurilio Amorim

Month: June 2009

  • Vacation Log: My Day at the Water Park

    The Big Kahuna’s Water Park is a vacation tradition for the boys. We must spend at least one day of our week-long vacation there. This year is no exception. I love the water park rides as well as the sea of humanity that shows up there. At Big Kahuna you’re sure to encounter anything and everything. But I’m always aware I’m no where near Brazil for several reasons.

    I was reminded I was not in South America by the generous amount of material on women’s bathing suits. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that the Brazilian dental floss bikini (now that’s a mental picture for ya–and no I’m not posting a pic) has not made its way into the American beaches and water parks. The thought of seeing the women I saw today wearing the dental floss is pretty upsetting. But I’m also thankful for the men’s long shorts in vogue here instead of the minimalist Speedo swimming suits my Brazilian friends wear. Granted, as a generalization, Brazilian men are somewhat leaner than the average guy at the water park today; however, I don’t care how lean you are, at age 70, stuff just hangs. Enough said.

    I also noticed that those of us without tattoos, or body “art” if you prefer, seem to be in the minority. Most every adult was sporting several tattoos. As an observer of culture, I would like to caution my friends who are thinking of getting tattoos to think long term with them. As you consider your art of choice and location, also take into consideration that your skin will lose its elasticity and that the area of the tattoo will grow, droop and change along with you. For example, I saw an older lady sporting a tattoo of what I imagine started out as a butterfly decades ago, that now looked like a vampire bat trying to craw out of her cleavage.

    I saw a young man with large block letters tattooed across his entire abdomen that read: RELENTLESS. I even heard a young girl say: “I like your tattoo.” That’s fine today because the kid is young and has a flat stomach. But I can see the day where after too many beers and many missed gym workout one my look at his belly and just see a few letters, saying “LENT” or “RENTLESS” Again, thinking ahead.

    All in all we had a blast-lots of sunshine, water and fun for everyone. Well, maybe not everyone. I’m not sure how the man whose hair piece came floating my me earlier in the day feels about losing it and then deciding whether or not checking with lost and found. A life guard saw it and retrieve it. I wish I had a picture of his face looking at the floating hair.

    I’m curious how do you feel about tattoos? And if you have one what does it say?

  • Vacation Log: Captain Schedule Takes a Break

    I’m on vacation this week. Vacations are weird things for me, since I’m so structured in my daily regimen that vacations are interruptions of my schedule. I’m not complaining, however, it’s just the way it is. My friends and family call me “captain schedule” for my seemingly obsession with “redeeming the time.”

    I must confess I have gone overboard in the past. A few years ago I bought a software package that allowed me to customize our Disney World experience based on the age of our children, our food tastes and the best time to reach the rides and restaurants that we liked. I had a print out every day with a timeline for our park experience. I thought it was great; my family not so much.

    This week I have decided not to have a schedule–well not a hard one. So far I have done well. The only thing I have scheduled are my morning runs, which unless I get up before the sun is out, 5 a.m., I can only manage to get in 4-5 miles in the heat and 150% humidity before getting light headed. I ran at 6:30 this morning and it was already a balmy 85 degrees.

    During the day I take my kindle to the beach and read while the boys catch waves. I have cooked alongside my mother in law who is down here with us. The other day she made blackberry cobbler from scratch. How great is that?!

    Today I have already run 4 miles and taken a dip in the cool gulf waters. The pool, however, is another story. The pool temperature hovers around 95 degrees, hardly refreshing. We call it the giant hot tub. I tried swimming laps, but got light headed again. Hmm. lots of light headed incidents. Maybe it’s not Florida. Perhaps I have something wrong with me. Meanwhile, I’m trying my very best not to plan things on this vacation even thought it goes against my very core.

    Are you a planner or do you just go with the flow? (even typing “go with the flow” makes me nervous)

  • Is the Creative Team Killing Good Preaching?

    In the past few days I have heard from three different pastors the same story: my creative team has asked me to do something I’m not comfortable doing. One group had the Pastor repelling down from the rafters in a harness before delivering the sermon. But no matter the request, each of the men I talked with ended up arriving at the same conclusion: ultimately it’s not the creative team that has to preach this message, I am, and I’m not comfortable doing what they have asked me to do or say.

    Before you accuse me of being old school and not wanting to try new things, let me tell you I value creativity. My dad is an artist and I grew up in my parents’ art gallery. The A Group, a business I own, is built on creativity and filled with creatives. And beyond all of that, I consult with pastors on how to make the most of their sermons through a creative outlet. “So what’s your problem?” You might be asking.

    Years ago I developed a creative team for my church that helped our teaching pastor to think of dynamic ways to illustrate a point, create a moment or bring a new perspective to an-age old question. It was something very new back in the early 90s for a church to have a creative team. Now it’s almost the norm, specially for large churches.

    It seems like what started as an helpful tool, has become the proverbial tale that wags the dog. More and more I see creative teams dictating what happens in the service down to the Pastor’s illustration and overall direction of the service. Church leaders have somewhat elevated the creative team to the place they have become the ultimate decision makers on what happens during the weekend services.

    Recently I watched a friend who had conceived a very poignant and timely teaching series having to change his direction and adapt his teaching to something very different because the Arts Pastor of his church had already created all the visuals for the following six weeks according to the team’s vision and not the man who was preaching it.

    I still believe creative teams are a great tool to help communicators do a better job. They can help bring perspective and powerful illustrations to a message when they are aligned with the speaker in both style and content. But ultimately, it’s not creativity that wins the day; it’s content. “Powerful” trumps “cool” every time. Pastors, if you don’t feel good about it beforehand, you’ll never feel good about it afterward. And we, those of us in the congregation, do pick up on that right away.

    Ultimately, it’s not creativity that wins the day; it’s content. “Powerful” trumps “cool” every time.

    Pastors, be creative. Find the most compelling illustration, song, video, prop that you can to drive you point home so people will understand just the magnitude of the God we worship. But please, don’t let people talk you into something that’s not aligned with your personal style or the message God has put in your heart.

  • Top Twitter Cartoons

    I have been on Twitter for over an year now. I lost count of the number of times I have described it to people who look at me like I was completely insane. I love Twitter and I’ll be writing about it more shortly. For now, let’s just celebrate the best Twitter cartoons that have capture the best and worst of this micro blogging tool that has taken our planet by storm.

    Top 25 Twitter Cartoonshttp://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=twittercartoons-1233888048677500-3&stripped_title=top-25-twitter-cartoons

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  • Google Wave to Change the Way We Communicate

    Google has changed the way we catalog and access information. Now the geniuses are out to redefine and change the way we communicate. Google Wave is schedule to come out later this year, and if it is successful it will kill email as we know it. This is a long presentation, but it’s worth your time to see how Wave might change the way we communicate.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ]

    How quick are you to adopt a new communication platform?