Maurilio Amorim

Author: Maurilio Amorim

  • Travel Log: Singapore. Hot, Humid and Fun

    Singapore is a long way from my home in Tennessee. A very long way. After traveling more than 26 hours, I finally got here. Here’s some random thoughts and pictures.

    1. The Singapore airport and customs rocks. Clean, bright, spacious and fast. Everything you want in an airport. What a great first impression.
    2. Clean. Clean. Clean. I’ve never been in city of this size and seen anything this clean before. 
    3. Lush landscape everywhere. Even the streets have beautifully and meticulously kept ornamental plants. 
    4. No old cars. I haven’t seen one beat-up truck or rusted out car. And since this is a sea city in the tropics, rust would have to be an issue, but I haven’t seen one. 
    5. Booming economy. There’s construction everywhere. Big projects around the water and residential areas give you the impression the global recession hasn’t hit Singapore hard. 
    6. Bring your own napkin. For all its wonderful qualities, Singapore does not believe in napkins. You have to bring it from home. That’s crazy. 
    7. Hot and humid year round. If you don’t like to sweat and get your hair frizzy, stay away from Singapore. This is a 3-shower-a-day place. 
    I’m wearing black and it’s a 100 degrees. Therefore no smile.
    Lush landscape everywhere. Beautiful.
    A couple of teens were eating this and I asked them what it was. Dessert! Shaved ice with sweet beans, rice (the black stuff), creamed corn and gummy slugs. No comment. 
    A view of downtown from the top of the Singapore Flyer: a giant Ferris wheel.
    A mall filled with only technology stores. They call it Tech Mall. I call it Geek Heaven.

    The Flyer gets very high. On this picture you can see Earth below. 🙂 
    So Singaporeans don’t like napkins. What’s the strangest custom(s) you have encountered?

  • Bad Church Names

    All the great posts I had planned for this week didn’t happen, so I’m posting my Friday mindless post. As a branding professional, I’m often asked to help name new churches or help churches change their names. So here’s a collection of unusual church names 
    I would not be so flippant with God’s name

    But What Are You? 
    If you’re tired of the exciting church, this is your option. 

    If your blood pressure can’t handle this much excitement, then visit the Boring UMC

    Everything worth doing is worth doing, well, half way. I guess that includes churches. 
    What’s the most unusual church name you’ve visited or driven by? 

  • iPad and Velcro the Ultimate Combination

    This is the latest edition of my Friday mindless post. Today I bring you two of my favorite things: an iPad and Velcro. Separately they are great; together they’re a force to be reckon with.

    If you could pick two of your favorite things and put together what would they be?

  • How to Launch a Church with 1,200 People on Your First Day

    Yesterday my church, Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN gave birth to its fourth campus in the Bellevue area just west of Nashville. I have been on the board since our early days and I must say this is the most successful launch we’ve ever had. Yesterday morning we had over 1,200 people attending two services. It’s a phenomenal statistics by any standard. There are many factors why we saw such success: from the newly remodeled Circuit City building we purchased, to a beautiful sunny day, and to several families from the area already attending our downtown campus. But I believe the main reason for this amazing first day rested on Bellevue’s campus pastor, Justin Davis becoming a shepherd to the community before we even had a first service.

    Months before our opening day, Justin and his wife Trisha and their three boys have been living among the people God had called them to reach.  During the terrible Nashville flood, most of their neighborhood was under water but the Davis’ home was spared. Stranded neighbors and their pets found rescue at the house on the hill and got help by the man many began to call “The Pastor.” The Davis’ took dozens of people in, opening their home for days to some they had not even met before. They cooked all the food they had, clothed and took care of them until the waters receded and people were able to leave.

    I heard stories of flood victims in neighborhoods waiting for “the pastor” to come around so he would help them decide on what to do. I’ve been told that Justin’s handy skills are much like mine; he should not be trusted with a hammer. However, people trusted him to give them good council and guide them in the aftermath of such tragedy.

    Weeks before Cross Point’s Bellevue Campus open its doors, Justin had become the pastor to many, some of whom have never even been to any Christian church before. Interesting, Justin and all the Cross Point staff and volunteers who have been working tirelessly for over three weeks became the true church, a church without walls but with hands and arms who reached out in love and rescue them without a thought or a price.

    a church without walls but with hands and arms who reached out in love and rescue them without a thought or a price.

    I’m thankful and honored to served alongside the Davis’ and the rest of our Cross Point staff and volunteers. They have stepped up and gone the extra mile. Often Christians are accused of talking too much and doing very little. Not this time.

    When have you seen love through actions more so than words in your life?

  • Comtenporvant and the New Worship Service

    As a church consultant, I have resisted the trend to define and template what some call a contemporary worship experience. I’ve had pastors ask me what to sing, what to say and even what to wear–often that turns out to be what NOT to wear.  However, North Point Church did a great job in deconstructing the modern American worship service in this fun and somewhat scary parody.

    “For some years it has been apparent that the rage for novelties in singing, especially in our Sunday Schools, has been driving out of use the old, precious, standard hymns. They are not memorized as of old. They are scarcely sung at all. They are not even contained in the non-denominational songbooks which in many churches have usurped the place of our hymn books.

    We cannot afford to lose these old hymns. They are full of the Gospel; they breathe the deepest emotions of pious hearts in the noblest strains of poetry; they have been tested and approved by successive generations of those that loved the Lord; they are the surviving fittest ones from thousands of inferior productions; they are hallowed by abundant usefulness and tenderest memories. But the young people of today are unfamiliar with them, if the present tendency goes unchecked.” -Basil Manly, Jr., 1892 (thanks to Dennis Arriaga for this quote)

    Are we facing a “worship crisis” as a friend of mine says, or are we finding new worship expressions for new generations? Does it really matter? 510

  • What I Learned from Creating My First iPhone and iPad App

    We just launched our first iPhone/iPad app a couple of weeks ago. This is a media-rich app that allows the user to watch videos, listen to audio, read notes, share information as well as bookmark favorites for access later. The Met Church in Houston, TX was our pilot church– you can find it in the app store under “The Met Church.” This app works together with our online “Media Machine” which The Met uses. They upload media files only once and the Media Machine takes care of their website media, Podcasts as well as the iPhone/iPad apps. While it’s an easy process for our clients, it’s quite of feat of programming prowess for our team.

    Our challenge was not only creating the app, but making it interface with our existing platform and making it seamless for our clients using our back end we call TAG Tools. We’re a learning organization by the very nature of what we do and here’s some lessons of we learned in creating the app.

    1. People often misrepresent their credentials.  That shouldn’t come as a shock to you, I know. Early on we decided to hire a consultant to help us navigate our first expedition into Apple’s development world. He was supposed to make our trip easier and faster. Bluntly, our first “expert” didn’t know Jack. By the time we figure him out, we had already burned through money and time, two things we rather not waste. Make sure you check credentials. It’s now vogue to become an app developer much like it became cool to be an webmaster in the early 90’s. Do your homework and check references.

    2. It takes longer than you expect. That’s just a life lesson we need to embrace period. Houses take longer to build than we anticipate, projects take longer to finish than we expect,  and little league baseball games take way longer than they should. That, my friend, is just life. Give yourself some margins for the delays that will happen.

    3. Apple changes the rules often and they don’t necessarily tell you. After spending a lot of time programming to Apples’ specs we found out that there new rules on video streaming. These new guidelines were often buried in forums, blogs and comments deep within the web. You’re not correct until Apple says you’re ok, even after you’ve followed their guidelines. It’s their game and they can change the rules at anytime.

    4. Apple is quick to deny an app application. That’s actually a good thing. Within a day we knew that our app had been denied and why. Their approval process is streamlined and effective. It’s like a bad date: the sooner you get out of it, the better both parties are.

    5. Apple is quick to approve an app. Yeah. After revamping the way we streamed video on our app and applying Apple’s newest standards to our streaming servers, we were approved within a couple of days. “You love me after all. You really do.”

    6. Version 2.0 of your app will probably be very different than the first. Experience is often a better teacher than theory. You can talk about how things should work and meet with engineers all day long, but it’s not until you build something, encounter real-life challenges that you figure out what you really need.

    If you could build a mobile app, what would it do?

  • The Democratization of Quality

    Last night was a blur. After working all day and traveling most of the evening, I arrived home to help my 15-year old son, Marcus, with his Spanish class project. He and a partner, his friend Tanner, were to cook a famous Spanish dish, Tortilla Espanhola, document the act in a short video in Spanish. The next morning, the boys, their Spanish fritatta and a short video were to compete with the other teams in the class. My task was to film them using my trusty $150 Flip Camera, and help them put together their video.

    It took us 2 hours to cook and document the dish, and by then it was past 10 p.m. Exhausted, I opened a video editing program that came loaded on my Mac, iMovie, and prayed that I would be able to figure it out and get this thing done. I had never worked with it before. After watching the 5-minute tutorial, I was ready to edit.

    Even though I’ve been around professional video production for a while, I have never edited a video before. We didn’t have lights, microphones or an expensive editing suite. However, the final product looks a lot more professional than I expected. Within a couple of hours, I had put together a short film with the production quality of a large-budget project from just a few years ago. Once I spent $2,000 a day to rent an editing system that didn’t do half of what iMovie does.

    Now that quality is becoming more of a commodity everyday, what are people willing to pay extra for?

    I have a hunch that creativity and content will win the day as they have in the past, but even more so in the days where anyone with inexpensive technology can compete with seasoned professionals.

    What’s your take?

  • Book Review: Plan B by Pete Wilson

    Today my Pastor and friend, Pete Wilson, releases his first book. I’m proud and excited for him because I believe this is an important message that will resonate with many people and hopefully allow them to get closer to God in their walk of faith. I always thought the book would be timely. I had no idea of how timely.

    In the past few days Cross Point staff, church members and thousands of people in our community have lost belongings, their entire homes, and some even loved ones. Suddenly our entire community is thrown into our very own collective “Plan B”. But Plan B is not a book just about dealing with catastrophes; it’s also a conversation about dealing with disappointment in life and reconciling our faith with them.

    So what happens when God doesn’t show up the way you thought He would?

    I struggled with that question this morning as I watched the local news and my heart broke for my friends and neighbors. I asked the same question when my sister delivered her baby several weeks early and as the little guy fought for his life in a hospital in Florida.

    http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9056665&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

    what I love about Plan B is its honesty and authenticity. No platitudes. No 5 easy steps to a worry-free life. No gimmicks. I found myself lost in the real-life encounter and finding hope in places I least expected. Trust me, you need to read this book.

    You can read more about the book read real-life stories and share yours HERE. You can buy the book HERE

    Thank you Pete for writing a book we all need to read. Plan B will change you.

    How have the Plan Bs in your life surprised you? Sometime Plan B can be better than your best Plan A.

  • Images and Thoughts on the Nashville Flood

    It rained hard for 2 days. Very hard. As a matter of fact, harder than anytime ever recorded in the history of this town. We were warned, but not prepared. Here’s some of the sobering pictures of the Nashville flood of 2010

     We were fortunate and escaped with the minor inconvenience of having to stay home for a couple of days. Thousands are dealing with devastation and tremendous lost. My church, Cross Point, has set up a Relief Fund for the victims of the flood. You can help by participating in the ongoing clean up and rescue work as well as making an online donation. It’s simple and safe through their website.

    As I watched the terrible pictures of destruction and folks stranded in homes that are now covered in water, I asked myself: “Shouldn’t we have been better prepared? How can this happen?” And the answers were simple but not welcomed. No, we couldn’t have been better prepared. Most people didn’t have flood insurance because they did not live on a flooded area–well, not until yesterday.

    We were warned, but we were not prepared. 

    This happened because we are not in control. Everyday we plan and live our lives as if we have complete control over the outcome. Days like these are a sober reminder that’s not true. We had plenty of warning that bad storms were headed our way, but no one could have predicted what happened.

    So today I do what I can to help neighbors, friends and family and wrestle with my illusion of control and God’s blessings on my life. 


    Have you ever been warned about something but not prepared for what happened?

  • Travel Log: Brazil. Observations from an Expatriate

    Last week I had chance of visiting with the leadership of TWR Brazil. While there’s so much I would like to say about my 4 days in Sao Paulo, here’s a random dump of observations:

    1. Evangelical Christianity is booming in Brazil. Entrepreneurial Christians are taking the gospel further into the remote parts of Brazil and using technology to reach large cities as well as remote jungle locations. God is alive and well in South America. 

    Cutura bookstore. Four stores filled with inventory and lines 8 deep of people buying books. Who said Brazilians don’t buy books? 

    2. TWR Brazil has a great leadership team that is visionary and entrepreneurial. I believe their best days are before them. Not only TWR reaches the entire nation via radio waves, they now have a growing publishing division that’s resourcing their listening audience and finding new audiences.

    Tim Klingbeil (TWR Americas Director) Jose Carlos (TWR Brazil Ex. Director) Lauren Libby (TWR Global CEO) Me, Michael Visentine (NavPress COO) Lemuel Larroza (TWR Hispanic Director)

    3. We might be in a global recession, but someone forgot to let Brazil know that. Shopping Malls and book stores were overflowing with people making all kinds of purchases. Ad these were not cheap items either. Brazil is a great business opportunity at the moment.

     Shopping Mall traffic. I thought it was Black Friday it was so busy!

    4. Brazilians consume meat in amazingly large quantities. I ate my weight in beef in my 4 days in Sao Paulo. Fruits and vegetables abound but beef is king. It’s plentiful and economical.

     Brazilian Churrascaria cooks several kinds of beef and gauchos bring skewers much like these to the table often and you eat as much as you care to. And I cared a lot.

    5. Business is not all about the bottom-line numbers. It’s true that in most cultures, relationships are very important. Brazilians take that to another whole level where 3-hour lunches and dinners past midnight have as much to do with closing the deal as the proforma.

    Long lunches and longer dinners deepen relationships. If you don’t enjoy people, you might not want to do business in Brazil.

     
    6. I shouldn’t complain about US traffic. 6 million cars on the roads make Sao Paulo a driving nightmare. It took us almost 2 hours to drive the 15 miles from the airport to our hotel. The fastest growing transportation vehicle in Sao Paulo for business executives is the helicopter. Most downtown buildings have helipads where business men fly in and out to escape the traffic as well as crime.

     If you think your traffic issues are bad, think again.

    7. I take for granted how safe my life in Brentwood is. I asked one of our Brazilian hosts if it was safe for me to run on their streets. “Yes, it’s safe. But leave your iPod and watch at the hotel, don’t look around like a tourist, and wear old running shoes and you should be ok.” Needless to say, I ran on the treadmill at the hotel. At few different times as we stopped at a traffic light, our driver would say, “please put your phones down. You don’t want to call attention.” I wouldn’t last long there.

    8. Americans are not the only generous people in the world. I’m so proud of how much American’s give to causes, especially Christians in this country. But I saw first hand how TWR Brazil raised over 1.2 million dollars in support from their 15 board members in one day.

    This restaurant had a 120-year old fig tree growing in its middle and a table with 40 desserts to choose from. I had to plowed my way through it, but it was well worth it. 

    9.  Brazilian coffee is still the best in the world. With all due apologies to my international friends, Brazilian coffee is just superb. It’s strong and yet not bitter. It has a smoothness that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. 

    Cafezinho (small coffee). Don’t let the small size fool you. This stuff is powerful. By the end of the first day I had so many of them that I couldn’t sleep at night. Good times!
    A trip to another country always helps me to broaden my worldview. Where have you been that has had a lasting impact on your life?