Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #23 / 30.9.09

What’s my role…
Most of my role involves being at my desk, staring at my computer screen… but not so far this week! On Monday I travelled round the whole of the M25, visiting both my colleague in the Media Team, Gibbo, and some local volunteers who run one of our regional websites. I’m also visiting some of my young media volunteers this week to help find out how they can more involved and better supported by us. However, I am currently staring at my computer screen – Tuesday saw some major email account issues and a poorly hard drive – such is the rollercoaster that is working for Urban Saints.

Elsewhere in Urban Saints
This week we re-launched our Energize website with a great new look, new functions and the option to personalise your account so that the group leaders get more what is relevant to where they live and the young people and kids they work with. This is has been a massive project, but now will give us the future opportunity to use video more within the site and set up international versions (multi-lingual) of the resourcing website. Exciting stuff!

How can you help?
Do you have a few hours to spare each week? A passion of administration, a desire to serve & a creative outlook? Well, our communications team would love to have a volunteer to help us at our Luton office. Just one way you could be involved with Urban Saints! For information on this or any other way to support the work, do get in touch…

Tough day at the office

Major, major computer problems today.

A colleague offered some "helpful" advice...

Give. Get Given

So says the deliciously tempting tagline for the latest trigger of my bile duct... Welcome to Orange Rockcorps - the (not so) new initiative to encourage young people to get involved in community volunteering.

This successful corporate scheme has been around at least a couple of years and has done nothing new to trigger this outburst other than the fact that catching some of the coverage of this year's on T4 this afternoon reminded me why its existence frustrates me so. Surely any initiative that encourages disengaged and disenchanted young people to help their community is a more than worthwhile project?! Even as a member of a predominantly volunteer-run movement like Urban Saints, why I would I begrudge this "you scratch our back, we'll scratch yours" approach?!

Well, any initiative that encourages hundreds and thousands of hours of voluntary involvement is never a bad thing. But this scheme sets the bar so low that it requires no level of sacrifice whatsoever - a fundamental element of volunteering in the first place. It's highly incentive-based if not almost "payment-in-kind" and to me smacks a little of self-righteous corporate PR and superficial self-promotion for the "celebs" who get involved.

There's always been incentives offered for these kind of volunteering opportunities and "low-cost" celebrity endorsements of charitable or community projects so what's the big deal. I can remember wanting to be a volunteer steward at Watford FC at one time rather than pay the small fortune for a full season ticket and I'm sure that all those generous stars who give their time to turn up on the night for Children in Need or Comic Relief don't get their own rewards. The issue to me seems to be about unhelpfully raising the expectations for those young people and raising the bar for entry into 'real' volunteering.

You give 4 hours of your time to charity (note, only 4 hours - that's not even a whole Saturday out of of your social schedule) and in return get a ticket to a big exclusive pop concert, the chance to appear on TV and to meet some publicity-hungry celebrity. You're endlessly applauded for your "selfless generosity" yet tempted with glittering exclusive goodies and hey presto, a precedent is set. When you're next asked to volunteer somewhere, what's the question niggling at the back of your mind?! Oh yeah, "What's in it for me?"...

Perhaps you'll be tempted to think that I'm laying it on a bit thick and maybe I am a little. One can only hope that the experience leaves an imprint on these young lives that has them keen to do more. A sense of giving of themselves; of being part of something bigger than their own little world. A desire to be part of a team like that again and do some good for someone else. Sadly, the TV show that accompanies the scheme & concert does little to offer hope here - the summary of the reasons for why they got involved (to be fair the question asked is usually "How did you earn your ticket?"...) is "well, I did some painting and there was all this free food and stuff and I got to meet XXXXXX (celebrity)..." You can't really blame them either - after all, it is THE message and it's being pushed from every angle.

It would be easy to dismiss this as just a sign of the times - no one does anything without incentive nowadays, do they? Well, through Urban Saints, I'm pleased to say I have seen young people giving days of their time willingly to clean up streets, paint walls, tidy gardens & pick up rubbish purely to get involved and make a difference. And they even pay for their own meals! I've known young people give up weeks of their summer to go overseas to countries with devastating poverty, paying their own money (and fundraising) to do so. I've worked with young people who give up one or more night every week to help run their local youth or kids club and none of them ever got to go to a free concert for their troubles. Few of them would have any other way, if you asked them.

This is true volunteering. It costs and requires genuine sacrifice but ultimately the rewards are so much greater and long-lasting. Volunteering is about being part of something you believe in and about making a difference to someone else's life. It's harder to appreciate until you do it but you don't become a volunteer thinking about what you'll get in return. There's another word for that... a job!

So perhaps volunteering does have an image problem and maybe schemes like Rockcorps are the future? They do at least encourage those who would never consider doing a generous deed for their community to think twice. But once the "pop buzz" has died down & the lights have faded at the concert, it is the rest of us who have even greater difficulty filling our volunteer opportunities as a result...

The tagline is almost right. "Give. Just Give" - you'll get what's coming to you if you do!

(District) 9 out of 10

There isn't much about this that hasn't already been said but I have to confess that the last time I came out of the cinema with as much desire to know what would / might happen in part two of a sci-fi film (if there is one...) was a little known movie called 'The Matrix'.

My self-imposed note of caution for "District 10" (??!!) would be that The Matrix was ground-breaking but parts 2 and 3 were, while hardly poor in and of themselves, not a fitting continuation of such an awesome beginning. If in doubt, Messers Blomkamp & Jackson, leave it well alone with the questions unanswered!

Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #22 / 16.9.09

What’s my role…
I have a new boss called Lorne. He’s a great guy and I knew him already – we used to go “head-to-head” at exhibitions when he worked for Youth For Christ – so it wasn’t too difficult a transition. However, his working style is leaving me rather breathless! He’s very creative and we’ve been collaborating on a new advert idea for the last week or so. It’s gone through loads of changes and revisions, discussions, sketching and even a mock-up photo-shoot! Suffice to say, Lorne joining the team is a great move for Urban Saints, plus he is really stretching me and I’m feeling more creative and energized by the whole experience! Even if I hadn’t even put my bag down this morning when we launched into our latest “re-think”…

Elsewhere in Urban Saints
Last week, the entire Urban Saints team met together for our Team Gathering. It’s a great chance to catch up with the whole team, be inspired, pray and have some fun together. We heard stories of this summer’s ReAct mission, our work overseas, looked ahead to 2010, experienced the Holy Spirit personally and tried to sink one another while rafting! It is a great couple of days and everyone comes back to their roles energized and inspired.

How can you help?
We really need volunteers – the movement is not built on our team but on the thousands we serve who willing give their free time to Urban Saints. Could you give us some of your time where you live? You don’t even have to be a youth / children’s worker – there are loads of other roles we need to fill! Let me know if you want to know more

Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #21 / 9.9.09

What’s my role…
This week I’m jumping between a number of projects – the course content for this Autumn’s Media Academy (currently looking at creating a “live” TV show to broadcast over the internet…), a script for a Facebook-based competition (which is going to involve a little crazy filming…), sorting out technical outages on the Urban Saints website, reviewing our advertising for this year and preparing for our Team Gathering tomorrow and Friday. It’s a hectic day and it’s set to get worse!

The best way to sum up both what I’m currently doing and what’s going on in the rest of the movement is to watch this video clip that we sent out to all our leaders at the start of term… It’s inspiring stuff!



How can you help?
Please consider becoming an “Urban Saints Partner” – check out urbansaints.org/partners to find out more. Thanks.

Radio GaGa

I'm tired of breakfast radio.

To be honest, I'm just generally tired in the mornings but I do find breakfast radio particularly annoying. We currently "listen" to a local commercial radio station in the mornings and I can just about cope with the inane banter, that feels like it is just-trying-a-little-too-hard to be witty and insightful. The main problem is that they only seem to have about 3 albums. Every morning we get treated to at least one song from that Dalek prostitute herself, LadyGaGa.

I'm not necessarily against the looney pop-stress but for a station that promises "more music variety", they could at least vary the artist once in a while. Not only that but the LadyGaGa song is usually played at the exact same time!! I mean, we only listen between 6.40 & 7.10 and almost every day we hear either 'Poker Face' or 'Paparazzi'... Please! Buy a new CD!!

And with all the hoohah about Wogan stepping down and Chris Moyles going up against Chris Evans, you'd think that things would be different on the Beeb. But when we used to listen to Moyles, when he got round to playing any song at all during that 30 minute spell, it would usually be one of about 5. With so much creativity out there, is that really the best our premier radio broadcasters can offer...?!

Indian Summer For Movies

It seems to have been a strange summer for movies - I've hardly been overwhelmed by what's on offer. I enjoyed Watchmen & Star Trek (but neither of these count as 'summer') but Transformers 2 & Terminator: Salvation were nothing special. Hasn't been much in the "Mrs Windo" genre (films that Michelle & I can both enjoy - mainly rom-coms) either.

But September could be a busy month for Windo movie-going. I'm looking forward to District 9 and Mrs W & I might have to choose between Funny People & [500] Days of Summer.

I'm not sure we have EVER had to choose between which film we should see...

Remembering movies

I've been reliving some of my "movie youth" recently. As I sat watching Pulp Fiction last night, for the first time in years, I remembered just how good it is. I wasn't planning to watch it but it was one of those movies that I couldn't switch off. Every scene is so fascinating and engaging, with classic dialogue - that it is easy to forget (as it's been over-quoted) how fresh it was when it came out. There's been a lot of interesting discussion about Tarantino's latest movie and whether it is a classic or not but there is no doubt about the definitive Tarantino film. It's a shame that the same can't be said about some of the other movies I remember fondly.

One night I watched Cocktail - the late 80's Tom Cruise drama - which was one of the first 'adult' movies I ever saw. I remember being very impressed with Tom's bar skills and it didn't hurt that it had Elizabeth Shue in it! I think she was first proper movie crush - although she now seems strangely wet! But I remember feeling upset that the critics had given it an ok rating as, to me, it seemed like a masterpiece. Watching it in 2009, my own review would be a little different. The movie is glossy & superficial & features far too much of that Cruise mug grinning away... Ah, how rose-tinted my movie spectacles were?!

Sadly, the same is true about another "favourite" - Universal Soldier. I remember a no-holds-barred action flick featuring two of Hollywood's premier tough guys. An ultra-violent chase movie featuring genetically modified superhuman warriors. In reality, it is a slightly cheesy clone of Terminator(s). It also seems to be obsessed with getting JCVD to take his clothes off & indulge in cheap innuendo! Such a shame...

I will always remember these gems from my "movie youth" fondly and will want to seek them out - but it seems I will be disappointed more often than not!

Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #20 / 3.9.09

How’s it going…
It’s the 20th edition so it’s time for a recap. Here’s a few updates on some of the projects I mentioned over the last few weeks:

Storyline – We have copies of this youth Bible resource now available to buy (we’re just waiting on final confirmation of price), while Gibbo is working on a video promo & I’m helping to put together the print advert for it too.
Facebook – We’ve gone past 400 fans on the Urban Saints page. This is not necessarily an amazing response but it is encouraging to see the community growing and interacting. I’d like to see it pass 600 by the end of the year so if you’ve still to become a ‘fan’, why not visit facebook.com/urbansaints?!
Digital Communications – I have sent round some suggestions to the rest of the team for ways we could use some digital tools to communicate better as a team. The experiment has begun by using Twitter during staff prayers to include the remote workers and their prayer topics. We are also looking at ways we can use live web video to keep people in contact.
Videos on Energize – We have just this week agreed to include a video library facility on the redesigned Energize (2.0) site, which will also store all our promo videos and vidcasts, when we start producing them!
The Big Picture – Having reported encouraging progress in update #10, this project has taken backward steps due to a lack of funds. I’m still waiting to hear the outcome on this and although we have been unable to invest in it over the summer, I have been encouraged to press on in faith, so hopefully it will be back underway soon.

Thanks for all your support – hope you’re keeping up! I’ve found these updates encouraging (and challenging to put together, if I’m honest…) and I hope you have too. Let me know if there’s anything else I can fill you in on… God bless