“Hack” = “to break into and rewrite the code.”  “to find a workaround that allows something to work.”

“Hacker” = “someone who rewrites a program, often unauthorized.”  Martin Luther was “an unauthorized hacker.”

My Hack Your Church! blog thread is a collection of my ideas and observations for HACKING (rethinking/revitalizing) church programming, especially CE programming and the WAY in which we go about managing such. Not only must we learned to do better, we need to learn how to work differently. My first two blogs highlight this theme. We need to HACK “the way” we go about things in the church because often it is the machinery/assumptions/traditions/bad habits that are in the way.

Background: I’ve dedicated a large part of my ministry to helping churches rethink their approaches, and revitalize their ministries. My main work has been in Christian education, and in particular, Sunday Software www.sundaysoftware.com/ and The Workshop Rotation Model for Sunday School www.rotation.org. Both of these efforts have involved NEW thinking and NEW ways of accomplishing familiar goals. I have worked in the church as a volunteer, elder, youth program leader, two stints as an associate minister, and one as a parish associate. Click the “About” link at the top of this page to read more of my background. 

Your comments and ideas are very welcome!

<>< Neil

April 2008