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Treat Your Meetings to a Little QA :: Tips :: The 99 Percent

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:51:00 -0700

Great thoughts on how to make meetings work for you and not be a drain on your day.

http://the99percent.com/tips/5977/Treat-Your-Meetings-to-a-Little-QA

Miles gets it, does your church?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:22:17 -0700

"I pay my sidemen the highest prices because they're worth it and I've got the best rhythm section in jazz." Miles Davis

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What I am reading right now

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:34:00 -0700

Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition

So What: The Life of Miles Davis

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Christian Consumerism Syndicate

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:44:00 -0700

If God is an author, than when you choose to be in covenant with him do you know the story he is writing?

Or did you buy his iPod to listen to his story rather than read it in order to relate it?

It is hard to win over the entire world, even harder is what meda you use to tell them your story. Should he use sky writing? Plagues, fire, stone, ice, salt?
Would you serve a God that used a sexy magazine ad plastered on the bus? Maybe but I think God knew exactly what he was doing when he was marketing his story. He used the most powerful form of media, us.

You.

Me.

Word of mouth at it's finest.

We are God's media for telling a fallen world about the transformational power of his son Jesus.

Not CNN, Fox......MTV.

The most useful tool in his box is his creation, a changed and renewed people willing to clearly articulate his story.

Here's to telling His story. Here's to not buying the Christian Consumerism Syndicate's materials.

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Designers: Next time a client asks you for options say...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:25:31 -0700

Designers: Next time a client asks you for a few options say,
"No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don't have to use the solution and if you want options then you can talk to other people. I'll solve your problem the best way I know how and you will use it or not that's up to you, you're the client and you will pay me."- Steve Jobs talking about Paul Rand's relationship with NeXt branding.

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Is your character a priority?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:39:40 -0700

I have been reading "Heart of the Artist" by Rory Noland and working with my team on developing character in themselves as well as making it a high value in their own teams.
As we continue to take the next step in our weekend programming I am noticing that all to often the "production" becomes paramount to the "character" or competence of someone.

Rory puts it like this, "We can't expect to get by on talent alone. It's imperative that you and I keep growing spiritually." pg 35.

In Mark 10:17 Jesus has a dude come up to him asking how he can attain eternal life. After the man had told him he had followed all the commandments, Jesus looks him in the eye, and shoots the man straight by saying, "Sell everything you own, give it to the poor and then come follow me."
I imagine it like an old kung-fu movie where Christ has like a eyeball stare down with the guy and in love lets him know that he is on the right track but there is one more lesson he must learn to become a full on master.

This is character building at it's best. Knowing your audience, reading them correctly and then in love calling them to a higher standard.

Are you making sure that you are valuing character over competence?
Are you so competent that you you can't put the service order down, turn off your intercom and plug in spiritually?

I will leave you with a line I have been trying to live by since I read Rory's book,

"God never intended our character growth to be low priority." pg 37

Here's to the journey.

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Build me a barn!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:36:00 -0700

Wanna be awesome? I’ve been needing barn for sometime now. And since I got some animals I thought I’d dive in.

Problem is that I don’t have a enough man power to raise it myself. So, that’s where you come in. If you’d like to help me out here are my thoughts:

Simple is uber.I’d love it have four walls and a roof, preferably a non leaky one.
A window so I can see out while I am or one of my family is milking the cow.

That’s it.

http://human3rror.com/2009/09/14/design-me-a-business-card/

All joking aside, when a person needed help raising a barn on his land, people in the community came and helped, brought food, sons, axes, drinks, a smile.
Seriously? I am a designer and I read John's post about business cards.

Are you freaking kidding me. Why don't we just throw gasoline on our careers because when a potential client comes googling our name to find out if we as a "designer" are reputable in our community and one of the top results is how we blasted a super honest a kind dude.....
Instead of blasting him because it struck a chord with our inherent "Must smash all posts that could potentially hurt our livelihood" and took on a servants attitude and actually helped him.

Who do we think we are as "designers" when this kind of bad behavior happens? How is this "helping" your livelihood?

If you call yourself a designer and have a problem with a "coder" like Jon asking for help when you have seen and there is proof of his help on numerous sites in regards to coding, than I truely wonder what kind of desinger you are. Let's be for building each other up, sharing in our abundance and build something worthy of being called "Design".

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Conflict in Measure

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:46:41 -0700

We will be dealing with conflict in our Sunday morning experiences today at New Hope.

As we were talking about it among staff I realized that all too often conflict goes unresolved because we let it get stuffed into the pockets of our soul in an effort to not confront the uncomfortable feeling of dealing with the conflict.

Dealing with conflict has been a life saver for me, especially when it comes to working in a church. I don't get it right all the time but it is the journey in reconciliation that I most love.

It is awesome to watch two people, seemingly at odds, confront the issue with the mind of Christ and seek to understand not be understood which I think is ultimately what we should strive for when dealing with conflict.

Here's to riding the train, try not to get derailed on the small things but live at peace where you can help it.

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Money for nothing, and your "chips" for free

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:49:15 -0700

Just read a great post over at The Art of Manliness about "Paying your dues".

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/08/31/the-importance-of-paying-your-dues/

And yes I know that DIre Straits said a different word in their song but I am trying to get that word out of my vocab.

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Simplicity Works

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:14:00 -0700

via behance.net

Are you doing your best to simplify things at your church. Does loading up your congregation really get you to your destination?

Simple works plain and simply, because it gives the brain less things to be distracted by in order to make a more intelligent decision.
When we overload people with programs and other "decisions", it takes the focus away from being a community doing something together and puts the focus onto, "What answer can I come to with minimal brain effort because I have already had my brain faculties taxed enough".

It's simple. The easier the choices, the better the results. Do you want to add value to people's lives? Or are you stuck into thinking you need to keep them busy.

You....You can add value to people's lives by valuing their time.

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When you face difficulty

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:14:32 -0700

It is impossible to calculate the extent of human powers; it can only be ascertained by experiment.
Difficulties

Welcome to Sunday, and all it's percieved glory.

To all you church leaders out there, this is your Super Bowl, your game time. Are you ready?

We do our best but in reality it is minor in comparisson to God we have on our side. You may think the show is running because of you, and without you things would collapse, but you'd be wrong.

You are in your position because a merciful God allowed you to aide in the winning of souls, and when you face difficulties just remember that he is the one who does the life change, not us.

So keep trying to do your best all the while you are being transformed by Christ's unfailing power.

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What Sunday feels like when things go badly

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:21:11 -0700

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Can the your church learn from the navy?

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:14:49 -0700

10 super cool observations on how a naval carrier operates.

My favorite is: Accountability and Continuous Improvement.

http://blog.usni.org/?p=3259

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What the dealio?

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:29:22 -0700

American churches have a hard road to haul if they want to truly reach people for Christ.
Some of the toughest challenges will be for those who are trying to make the transition from what they "were" to what God wants them to "be" now.
I know, cause I work at one of those churches. Now I am not saying that what we were "before" the change was necessarily wrong, but it just wasn't the direction the leadership felt like we needed to head down.

The guy who spearheaded the shift for New Hope was Ray Cotton, who is the Senior Pastor and part of our Lead Team. At staff meeting the other day he talked again about why we are making the shift from one way of doing things, to another.
He said, "We had to die as a church and be resurrected as a mission."

How often do we try to reinvent something or re-purpose a program when in fact all we are doing is prolonging the problem.

Here's to being resurrected as a mission.

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People or Buildings

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:12:11 -0700

When people say "I Love the Church" do they mean the building or the people?
My thought is that most mean the building because people are so hard to love.

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Methods change, not the Massage?

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:39:27 -0700

Interesting thoughts from Shane Hipps on the phrase "We want to change our methods, not our message".
And how that is a lie.

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Are you leading right?

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:58:41 -0700

Leadership involves more than knowing what to do, but actually doing it right.

“Never confuse movement with action.”
-Ernest Hemingway

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Making a difference is sometimes a struggle

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:44:19 -0700

I recently read a great little story on http://artofmanliness.com/2009/07/31/making-a-difference/
Try it on for size.

A man walking on the beach saw a child reaching down to pick up small objects and then throwing them into the ocean. He called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?” The child looked up and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” To this, the child replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the man commented, “But do you not realize that there are thousands of starfish? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
At this, the child bent down, picked up a starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”
Adapted – Loren Eiseley “The Star Thrower”

Wanna make a difference?

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Doing church cheaply, does not mean it has to be crappy.

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:28:00 -0700

As a staff member of New Hope, I am always excited to see the work God is doing within our community. We as a church have embraced "engagement" of our culture in the hopes that our actions will help them take the next step in a growing relationship with Jesus.
Sometimes this is super hard though because we don't have the:

- Budget
- Staff
- Time

All those obsticles can lead to a stagnant pursuit of our goal as a church, but I am so proud of our team for their sacrafice and innovative take on problem solving.

I was recently reading Soul City's blog and came on this entry by their Lead Pastor Jarret Stevens:
http://soulcityblog.com/church-on-the-cheap/

In which he outlines some of the ways they are doing "Church on the Cheap".

Hope you find it helpful, I know I did as I strive to do things cheaply rather than crappy.

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