open sourcing

saw this over at evotional.com, batterson's blog, and found it to be amazing. (notice that i'm totally taking something from someone else's blog, but it's all good...we're not competing here)

the idea is great. what is not great is what is being taught in seminaries today is completely contradictory. did you know that there are pending lawsuits, at this moment, with pastors suing other pastors for the rights to their sermons?? i understand the need for intellectual domain and the right to one's own property, but read below...i think being on the same team could be a class that would benefit most if not all of us...


"Had an interesting brainstorming meeting yesterday with Dave Ferguson and Eric Bramlett from CCC and Todd Wilson who is the organizational guru behind the National New Church Conference. Just thought I'd post a few thoughts in process.

I'm a huge believer in and proponent of open-source resources. I have no issue with churches selling DVDs, CDs, etc. You've got to recoup cost. But I think it puts a smile on God's face when churches shareware their ideas and resources. We tried to take a step in that direction with www.chasethelion.com. All the video and graphics are free--no strings attached. Honestly? We love it when churches ask us if they can use something we've produced. And we have no hesitations sharing because nine times out of ten we got it from someone else :) Eric Bramlett threw out a word yesterday that I love: manipulatable. We talked about churches posting videos and graphics so that they are manipulatable. In other words, you take the final cut or photoshop file and make it available so that other churches can watermark it with their information.

The danger with open-source is simply copying someone else's creativity. But I'd like to think of it as stimulating creativity. I'm not sure the most creative churches in the country can come up with 52 weeks of creative material. It's OK to borrow ideas. That is what open-source is all about. We're all on the same team. Let's share best ideas and best practices. Not sure how this idea will evolve. But I think we could have significant kingdom impact if the church-at-large becomes more open-source."