Another week, another Monday. Tim and Scott explain the workings of Lent Madness. They also cover the growing global phenomenon of Lent Madness Fever.
Monday Madness -- February 20, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.
Another week, another Monday. Tim and Scott explain the workings of Lent Madness. They also cover the growing global phenomenon of Lent Madness Fever.
Monday Madness -- February 20, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.
This week, Tim and Scott look at the lineup of celebrity bloggers. And more. Much, much more.
Monday Madness -- February 13, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.
In this week's installment of Monday Madness, Tim and Scott discuss some of the key matchups in this year's bracket. Also, Scott drinks his coffee out of an awesome mug.
Monday Madness -- February 6, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.
Tim and Scott will be offering regular sessions of Monday Madness, in which they discuss various aspects of Lent Madness. Think of it as color commentary. Once the contest starts, they'll review the winners & losers, as well as preview upcoming match-ups.
Today's conversation covers the bracket -- how do saints make it onto the bracket of 32 holy people? What happened in previous years? And what's coming next week? Tune in for all that, and more.
Monday Madness -- January 30, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.
We want to hear from you! Watch the video to find out how you can submit your questions to Tim and Scott.
Due to technical difficulties and the burdens of exotic travel (to Beachwood, Ohio and Treasure Island, Florida), Scott and Tim are a day late with "Monday" Madness this week. Rest assured, it was recorded on Monday (we have some truth-in-advertising standards!), so you can enjoy the full Monday "live" ambience. The episode is worth the wait though, as Tim reveals his plan to try to escape Lent Madness and Scott shows his love of exotic locations for video backdrops.
Make sure you consider carefully how you vote in the Saintly Sixteen, because soon enough it will be time for the Elate Eight. Every (single) vote counts!
Tim and Scott may not be able to turn water into wine, but one of the great advantages of being Supreme is the ability to change Tuesday into Monday. Because yesterday was a holiday (celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr., prophet and sometime Lent Madness competitor), Tim and Scott are releasing Monday Madness on Tuesday.
Yes, folks, we are entering Lent Madness high season. Ash Thursday is February 15! Which means you can now look forward to weekly videos to put you in the Lenten mood and prepare for the Madness that is to come.
We suggest you dim the purple lights and head over to the bracket page of the website to find out who's in this year's competition and when they are competing. You can study the saints on Wikipedia, in your public library, or by wandering through European cathedrals. Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't also tell you about the fabulous Saintly Scorecard. It's a steal at just three bucks. You can buy them in bulk for $2 each, and if you buy 30 or more copies, they're just a dollar each (sold in sets of 10). The scorecard is also available for your favorite e-reader (Kindle, Nook, and iBooks).
You can also either print your own personal bracket or buy a giant bracket poster.
Whatever you do, make sure you're getting ready for Lent Madness!
At Lent Madness, we know a few things about Mondays. After all, we crank out brilliant new episodes of Monday Madness every week during the Lent Madness high season (aka Lent). During the rest of the year, 50% of the SEC (the one with Mondays off) focuses his Monday devotions on the eighth sacrament of coffee. So we Mondayologists were a bit nonplussed when internet culture tried to crash our Monday party with Cyber Monday. What to do?
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So we at Lent Madness are pleased to announce Cyber Monday specials that can't be missed. Pull out your wallets. Then call your friends and neighbors and tell them to pull out their wallets. Today would be a good day to test out the parish phone tree or to send out a special breaking news email.
Tim's latest book, Dog in the Manger: Finding God in Christmas Chaos, is available at a jaw-dropping and timely bargain price of just $5 from Forward Movement. The book features illustrations by Jay Sidebotham. You can even find -- hidden inside the book, like a treasure hunt -- a rare example of rapprochement among the archnemeses, in which Tim goes on record saying something nice about Scott. But buy the book for Tim's funny but spiritually helpful stories of God showing up even in Christmas chaos. It's so good, you'll be tempted to junk your usual same-old, same-old reading from St. Luke on Christmas Eve and use this instead. (We don't think you should do that, but that's how good this book is.)
Carrying over from Purple Friday, today is the last day to stock up on Lent Madness 2014 Bracket Posters. This is your last chance to buy these things for only $6. At that price, you can buy one for every parish in your deanery, one for everyone in your child's third grade class, and one for everyone in your Tuesday night poker game. Or whatever. The point is that you should buy at least a dozen at this bargain price. They're giant brackets printed on vellum and/or high-quality paper, shipped folded but miraculously unfolding into a spectacular 24" by 36" poster. Then go wallpaper your foyer.
There are more Cyber Monday specials from Forward Movement. Take note of FREE SHIPPING if you use code CYBER13 on your order. This is good on all Forward Movement products including Lent Madness mugs. Instructions for doing that are in the magical email flyer for Cyber Monday. This offer is good until 3:00 am EST (midnight in California) so place your order TODAY.
So, TGIM! and we're glad to bring Lent Madness into this Advent season of hope and expectation. And brackets.
Sure, the regular season of Monday Madness begins just after Christmas. Okay, just after Valentine's Day. But it's never too soon to anticipate the thrills and drama of the Lent Madness season that is to come. After all, there are only 114 days days left until Ash Thursday!
Fortunately, Tim and Scott have taken some time out of their busy pre-Lenten schedules, for a special broadcast of Monthly Madness. In this edition, they highlight a few key battles of the newly-unveiled Lent Madness 2020 bracket, rack their brains to recall the Lent Madness url, and generally engage in penitential tomfoolery. And as you'll see, the opening battle of the upcoming 11th year of the Saintly Smackdown promises to be, more or less, one of the epic battles of all time.
Come Monday morning, it will all heat up as the Faithful Four begins. One of four saints will soon take home the coveted 2018 Golden Halo. We hope you have enjoyed the ride. It's been another great year of Lent Madness, as tens of thousands of people from around the globe have learned about the saints together. Once again, we have enjoyed a wonderful online community together. (Name another site where you actually want to read the comments!)
It can all seem a bit silly at times, we know. And that's the point. Lent Madness also gives us an opportunity to reflect on all the ways the love of Jesus Christ is revealed in women and men of all sorts, in all places, in all times. Perhaps someone from the Lent Madness Global Viewing Public will one day be remembered by the church as a saint.
Tim started this madness on his blog in 2010. Scott got involved that very year, running a proxy campaign for George Herbert, the first-ever Golden Halo winner. When Scott went to work at Forward Movement, Tim suggested they team up to kick the madness up a few notches. And the rest is history.
Back in 2012, it might have seemed unlikely. Why would a staid publishing company choose to sponsor Lent Madness, which is anything but predictable? Simply put, it's because Forward Movement was in the midst of embracing a deeper calling, to be a discipleship company, not just a publishing company.
Lent Madness is but one of many ways Forward Movement has expanded over the last few years. Families can get encouragement and ideas for practicing faith at home on Grow Christians. People have gathered for inspiring conferences on evangelism and discipleship. Free curricula are now available so that churches can teach people the wonders of scripture or the breadth of diversity in the saints. Lately, Forward Movement has offered more and more resources for free to prisoners, people deployed in the military, nursing home residents, and hospital patients.
What do all these new and expanded ways of serving the church have in common? None of them brings in much net income. The expenses to offer resources to today's church often exceed what comes in. And yet we know that these are exactly the kinds of resources that lead to transformed lives in today's church.
Here's your chance to give thanks for Lent Madness and many other new resources for the church. Please consider making a gift (large or small!) to support this work. Make your gift in honor of your favorite saint, if you like. Make your gift in honor of someone who has received free material. Make your gift in hope that Forward Movement will continue to inspire disciples and empower evangelists in tomorrow's church.
You can make a gift online, you can send a check to Forward Movement, 412 Sycamore Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202, or you can call 800-543-1813 during business hours. Your generosity will allow Forward Movement's ongoing generous response to the needs of the world and the church.
If you watched yesterday's edition of Monday Madness, you know that Tim and Scott revealed a well-kept secret about the world's most 
popular online Lenten devotion. Participation in Lent Madness is...(shhhhhh)...entirely free. You can simply download a bracket and vote during the weekdays of Lent.
Sure, you can purchase copies of The Saintly Scorecard: The Definitive Guide to Lent Madness 2018 or giant bracket posters to put up at church or Lent Madness mugs. And, yes, the Bible says (somewhere), "God loves a cheerful purchaser of Lent Madness tchotchkes."
But beyond our "no purchase necessary" approach to Lenten learning, we have one more item to give you. A token of our appreciation; a free pre-Lenten gift in the form of...an article about Lent Madness!
Perhaps you edit your church's newsletter. Maybe you like to share really long posts on Facebook. Or spam your friends and relatives with unwanted e-mails. However you want to use it, the article and accompanying graphics below are yours for the taking. Because we care. Enjoy!
