Dressember 2017: Art Giveaway

I am excited to tell you about a new initiative I am doing for Dressember 2017! It's called #LetterForDressember, and it's an art challenge + art giveaway. If you want to participate in the challenge, creatively letter each day's prompt and share it on social media using the hashtag. I am also giving away my challenge artwork to those who donate to my Dressember page. Keep reading to find out how to receive a piece of my lettering art.

Here's how it works:

  >   Anyone who donates $15 or more to my Dressember campaign is eligible* to receive a piece of lettering art. Donors are eligible to receive one piece of lettering art for each $15+ donation made to my campaign. So if you snag one piece of art, but see another one you want later, you can always get two!

  >   Each day I will post a new piece of art on my Instagram account, @elm_creative. The first person to comment "claimed" has 24 hours to make their $15+ donation to my campaign. If someone has already commented, comment "next" to be the next in line. If the first person doesn't donate within 24 hours, the next person in line will be able to claim the art, and so on. I'll reach out to you if you're next in line!

  >   If you donate $15+ ahead of time, comment "claimed" first and you will be sent the lettering art as soon as possible.*

  >   If no one claims a piece of art within 24 hours, I will share the art on Facebook for someone to claim there. The art will also still be available on Instagram, so I will go by the time the first "claimed" comment is posted.

  >   If art pieces remain as of January 1, I will attempt to distribute them to donors.*

  >   All donations of $30 or more are eligible for a piece of custom lettering art. If you would like a custom piece, please contact me after making your donation with the word/quote you would like lettered. Custom pieces must be 5x8" or smaller.

* I will need to receive each donor's address in order to send the lettering art.

If you have a question, please contact me! I am so excited to combine my love for lettering with my passion for Dressember. And I can't wait to share what I create with you!

14 Things I Love About You

Okay, y'all, you know by now that I love using social media platforms to spread goodness. I figure there's enough negativity out there, some positive stuff won't hurt. So today, since it's Valentine's Day, I decided to write a little post with some goodness for my main squeeze, Nick.

If you don't like Valentine's Day or love stuff, I won't be hurt if you totally skip this post. I don't want to rub anything in anyone's face, I just want to help by uplifting the man I married. Plus, with all this "50 Shades of Grey" crap floating around out there, why not give a look at what real love and real life is like? So, here are 14 things I love and appreciate about Nick. :)

1. I love how we communicate. Most people who know Nick know that he likes to talk. I love that about him because I'm never left wondering what he's thinking or feeling. We can talk openly and freely about anything and everything, and during hard times, it's a lot easier to work through things when we can communicate openly. I also like that he can carry a conversation with anyone, which really helps when I don't feel like trying to make small talk. ;)

2. I appreciate that I don't have to ask for help. Nick is always ready and willing to jump in and help out with everyday tasks like laundry and the dishes. He has such a servant's heart and is always looking for practical ways to do things for me. He'll fill up the car with gas, or go get coffee, or run the vacuum. It's the little things that make a big difference.

3. I love Nick's heart for young people. It is so awesome to see how Nick loves and cares for the students in our church's youth program and seeks to teach them from the Bible. He genuinely cares about their spiritual, emotional and physical well being, and if I were a parent of a student, I'd want them in any program he was running.

4. I love how we can be goofy together. I can't really go into too many details, because it's kind of embarrassing, but I love how we can just be ourselves together. Whether it's talking in random voices or acting like wackos, we have lots of fun together. After being around people who tried to change me, I appreciate that Nick loves me for exactly who I am.

5. I appreciate how Nick supports me. No matter what I'm working on, Nick supports me in whatever I do. It means so much to have someone who doesn't marginalize me because I'm a woman, or feels like we're competing against each other. We can be two strong individuals in our vocations, both supporting each other in our goals and dreams.

6. I love Nick's generous heart. Nick will help anyone and everyone he can. He loves to give of his time, abilities, and resources. This also goes with point #2, in that often he gives without me or others having to ask. Plus he's good at remembering special days and finding gifts for them. :)

7. I appreciate Nick's relationship with Jesus. I love that Nick allows Jesus to guide his heart and life. He's sensitive to where God is leading us, pursues a relationship with the Lord and wants me to do the same. He also shows me Jesus' love by caring for me selflessly and unconditionally.

8. I appreciate the example Nick sets for other men. Nick lives with integrity and character. He's an example of how to conduct oneself as a man of God. He also spends time meeting with other men, pouring into their lives and encouraging them in their faith.

9. I love Nick's positivity. Nick is definitely a "bright-side" kind of guy. He doesn't waste time on negativity or being a downer, but has an uplifting and positive spirit. He looks for the good in people and situations, and seeks to bring goodness to those around him.

10. I love how we do things together. Nick and I just like to be together, and I love that. It doesn't really matter what we're doing, going out and having fun or staying in and watching a movie. We enjoy being around each other and spending quality time together. I also like how we can get into the same things, like watching reality tv, sipping lattes, playing games, and investing in high schoolers.

11. I appreciate Nick's passion for cooking. I have moments where I love cooking, but I also have moments where I kind of hate it. I love that Nick enjoys cooking and that he knows a few things I don't in the kitchen. He loves to make dinner, whip up a snack, or make something yummy on the grill. It takes some of the pressure off me to always deliver a delicious dinner. ;)

12. I love Nick's cuteness. Okay, time to get a little sappy. I love how handsome Nick is, and how he gets these cute puppy dog eyes. They're adorbs. If our kids get his eyes, I'm going to have a hard time saying no. Haha.

13. I appreciate how at the core, we're best friends. Nick and I have known each other for about 8 years, and were just friends for 6 of those years. Over that time we got to know each other really, really well. It was a perfect foundation on which to build a marriage. It taught us how to stick together and care for each other in good times and bad. Real life isn't always great and amazing, sometimes it's difficult and painful and you have to help each other through the challenges. We've done that for years and I know we will continue to do that in the years to come.

14. I love who Nick is as a person. People are so complex. Our life experiences, personalities, hobbies, and so many other things combine to make us who we are. Nick has quite a life story, many things came together to make him who he is, and I love that person. He is so special to me and I love getting to be his wife.

Happy Valentine's Day, Nick! I love you! :)

Book Review: The Social Church

 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

I've managed the online presence for several different non-religious businesses over the years, but just recently took a job at my church, which includes helping with any part of social media I can get my hands on. This is what initially drew me to "The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication" by Justin Wise. I wanted to know how to best translate my skills and knowledge gained from previous experiences over to a strictly Christian atmosphere, and pick up some new information along the way.

I absolutely loved reading "The Social Church," it's a great balance of stories, quotes, analogies, history, facts, and calls to action. I also appreciated how the book is really for any person who wants to combine their faith with the current digital climate. In fact, I would recommend this book to literally anyone, but especially to church leadership and those who see social media as a mission field. While the book is particularly geared toward those in a church who have a direct relationship with or control over its online presence, it is informative and helpful for all Christians.

Justin makes it clear that social media is not going away, which is an important lesson for those who may say or believe that there isn't any place for it in their church. The truth is, there is not only a place but a demand for cultural relevancy in the church at large, and a big part of that relevancy lies within technology and social media. It is important for the church to be present in the places people find themselves the most, and today, that's on some form of social media.

For some, this book may be a tough lesson, but it is also an extremely important one as many churches are sadly becoming obsolete. The time has come for churches to decide, will you embrace these cultural trends with the goal of reaching people, or will you be left behind? Justin makes a compelling case, and a plan of action, for not simply using, but using well, social media for the mission of the church. It's about so much more than being cool and trendy. It's about being co-creators with God in the culture in which we find ourselves.

I am so glad Justin wrote this book as he clearly conveys a message I have hoped and tried to impart to church staff and leaders over the years. When I talk about using social media, I'm often met with glazed eyes, excuses, or non-committal responses. My hope is that this book will impart what I have not been able to, and I will be encouraging all the church leaders I know to pick up a copy. It's a quick, easy read and well worth the time.

Social Media For Good: An Idea

At 18 I had a revolutionary moment that changed my outlook on my life forever. And it's still changing it, one little piece at a time.

stock.xchng/parkerii

 I think my generation rode the initial "fame" wave, you know, where every kid wants to be famous and that's their highest aspiration in life. I wanted to be famous. (I still kind of do, but reality regularly brings me back down to size.) I especially wanted to be a famous author, the kind where everyone raves about his or her work and gobbles up each book. I wanted to have my book on front-and-center display at bookstores with a cool-looking cover that cried out to passers-by, "Read me!!!"

When I applied and got into Moody Bible Institute (for those who don't know, Moody's sole aim is to prepare students to enter full-time ministry upon graduation), I was about 50 percent sure I wanted to do ministry. I thought it sounded like a great and worthy idea, but I also knew my chances of scoring a ministry job weren't that high, and I was fine with that. I would do anything, work at a newspaper or magazine, and then get my big-author break.

One night I was sitting in my dorm room, mulling over my fame-dom aspirations when a thought slowly struck me. It started out with the concept of death, every person dies someday and usually when they die they're forgotten, except for what they leave behind. If I was just going to be fame-greedy, my life wouldn't amount to much once I was gone. Besides, if the earth was going to be destroyed by fire in the end, anything I did leave behind would eventually get burned.

I sort of had a mini-panic attack in that moment, feeling like no matter what I did, at some point it would become worthless. The fame would get me nowhere, and worse still, it wouldn't get anyone else anywhere either. In that moment I decided one thing: the only real good I could do with my life would be to in some small way, bring good to others and to hopefully help bring them to Christ. People, after all, are the only thing that's eternal upon this earth. How, when, where, this good would happen, those were all variables. But the end goal, that I knew. And from there my 50 percent desire for ministry turned into 100 percent and I was sold.

-   -   -   -   -

I share this story to give some background into why I'm advocating for this concept of social media for good. It all goes back to the idea that at the bottom line, our actions/lives/achievements are nothing if they do not bring good to others. I love using social media, but it can end up being the biggest waste of space, time, life and emotions. And that's on a good day. Sadly, social media is often used for anything but good (think cyber-bullying for starters).

History has taught us that the only way real change can happen is if people live out the change they want to see, to do it, embrace it, become it. That's the only way to turn social media into a worthwhile use of time, to redeem it into something for good. I'll be the first to say I don't want to hear about my little brother or the high schoolers I work with or my possible future kids being bullied on Facebook. I don't want to see another picture of a student who was tormented into suicide. And I don't want to go through the day posting things that are worthless, obnoxious, false or demeaning to anyone.

And that, friends, is why I'm choosing to do social media for good. It's a conscious effort to use social media platforms to bring good to others. Again, how, when, where, those are all variables, and really they don't matter. What matters is posting content, comments, messages (etc.) that uplift, encourage, (kindly) challenge and spread positive messages to your audience. The great thing we all know about social media is that content spreads. Something you post will inevitably get picked up and re-posted by someone else, who is now sharing it with all their friends. Imagine overtaking social media with all things good and turning it into a place where people actually feel good about themselves.

As a caveat, this is not to encourage people to ignore real-world problems and issues and act like everything's a cake walk. I think it's important to read/watch the news and talk about what's going on in the world. My goal in this is to help create a community where people don't feel run-down every time they log onto their account, and to create a community of positivity, truth and kindness.

Will this take over the social media sphere? Probably not. There's so much working against the idea of real good that sometimes we forget it exists. But that doesn't matter. I'm not hoping for world domination or a slow takeover. I'm just hoping to reach a few friends and maybe through that, they'll reach a few friends. I'm hoping to lift up a few people and help remind them, even on something like Facebook, that they are important and loved. I'm just hoping to do some good.

If you want to join me in doing social media for good, that is awesome! It doesn't require any steps to be part of the club. :) I would love to hear your thoughts on this idea and if you're joining in. Please post a comment (here, on Facebook, wherever) or message me. And if you feel like sharing this post, together we can get the message out.