Thursday, February 28, 2013

Mean People and Dealing with Tragedy

Couple links to pass along:

  • Tarina's good friend Myra Katherine blogs here about dealing with mean people.  Her blog is a good one to regularly check out.
  • A Sioux Falls pastor blogs here about how we respond to tragic events.  Really appreciate his wisdom.  

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Seven Checkpoints for Student Leaders

While I am not directly in student ministry anymore, I found this book to be a good read for those who are and also for those who parent teens or those who, like myself, will soon have teenagers (that sentence gives me pause!).  Some of my takeaways:


  • The main reason students don’t spend time alone with God is that it isn’t urgent
  • Purity now paves the way to intimacy later
  • Acceptance by a friend is more important than the friend.  What this means is that our student environments and homes must be the most accepting places our students experience.  We must “out accept” the competition.  That is the only way we will develop sustained influence with our students.  They won’t embrace our message until they are assured of our love and acceptance.
  • The question we must strive to keep in the forefront of their thinking is: are the temporary pleasures derived from sex worth the long term complications that it causes?
  • When faced with an opportunity, invitation, or desire, the most appropriate question a student can ask is, “is this the wise thing to do?”

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Legalism and Jazz Band

I played trumpet in junior high school and high school.  My freshmen year, I also played in the jazz band.  I played in the jazz band (in addition to the other band) for two reasons: my friends also played in it, and we really liked our teacher.

We moved between my freshmen and sophomore year, so at my new school, I again went out for jazz band (in addition to the other band).  This time, though, I had no clue who the teacher was (and he ended up being  the reason I'd quit band my junior year, but that's for another post) and was hoping to meet some friends!

During class, our teacher would select someone- usually one person each class- to do a solo.  Nothing big there- I had done solos before.  Except this time, there were no notes.  For your solo, you were supposed to  improvise.  Like a real jazz musician.  So our best saxophone player would play something amazing one class and then the next class our top trombonist would also play something amazing.

As the days counted down to my solo, I became scared.  Horrified really.  How was I going to play a solo when there were no notes?!  Doing what everyone wants to do in my situation- avoid public embarrassment and shame- I asked my section leader what I should do.  He said to play notes based off of the chords of the song.  I asked "what's a chord?".  He stopped answering my questions!  Apparently, based on his look of shock and dismay, I should have never made it this far in my band career and not know what a chord was!

The class came for my improv solo and it was terrible.  Not exaggerating.  It sounded horrible.  Because apparently in something as 'free' and 'loose' and 'cool' as jazz music, there's still rules.  And the rules begin with chords and what notes are ok to play with a certain chord (or in  my case, what notes are NOT ok to play with a certain chord!).

We can never get away from rules, even in jazz band.  And while we often think rules are meant to prevent us from greater enjoyment or satisfaction, sometimes the rules are meant to make sure we don't stink up the place when it comes time for the improv solo.


Monday, February 25, 2013

Wednesday Night Recap

This past Wednesday Night at Hillcrest . . .

  • 180 middle school and high school youth ministries met and continued "The Story"
  • an adult group continued their Emerging Journey
  • volunteers served pizza and cookies to 88 students and staff at Children's Home Society
  • a small group went and purchased over $550 worth of items for the Alpha Center, Cleveland Elementary, Children's Inn, and Children's Home Society.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

My Sweet Tooth and Lent

I have a sweet tooth.  Always have.  Always will.  Cake, cookies, candy, ice cream- just about anything sweet that isn't good for you- I crave.  Have to have.  Most of the reason I belong to a gym and work out has nothing to do with physical fitness as it does with making sure I am doing something to offset the root beer float I had at 10:00 last night!

Every time Ash Wednesday comes around, I feel called to give up sweets.  There are a number of things I could give up- coffee, pizza, cereal- that would also classify as a sacrifice- but sweets trumps them all.  The problem is that the season of Lent always falls around a crazy stretch of birthdays for our family (we call is 2nd Christmas and you can read more about it here).  I knew there was no way I could go through this season without having some sweet, so why even bother with it.

Well, this year's Easter is early- it ends on my son's birthday- March 31.  So the possibility is there to attempt a Lenten fast of no sweets.  Which I started.  On February 19.  Which is technically 40 days before Easter (so no mini-Easters for me on Sundays!).

Why not start on Ash Wednesday?  Because Ash Wednesday was also the week of Valentine's.  The week where my wife makes me multiple sweet things!

I need to hit the gym . . . !

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Belong to a Gym?

If you belong to a gym- or are thinking of joining- have some fun by reading this and this

Friday, February 22, 2013

Start with the Story

Explain.  Apply.  Illustrate.

That's the basic model for preaching and teaching I learned while in seminary.  First, you explain the text.  Then you set out to apply the text to real life.  Finally, you use a story, joke, video clip, etc, to illustrate the text.

I can still hear my professor drilling the words into us like a sergeant calling out a cadence: Explain!  Apply!  Illustrate!

But what if that's backwards?  Or what if there's more then one way to teach/preach?  What if teachers started first with the story- a story that raises the emotions of those listening/learning?  A story that unifies the audience in a way that regardless of their spiritual backgrounds, they have something to gain by hearing this thing out?  A story that sets the theme for the entire message/talk/lesson?  A story that gives us the permission to deliver the content (instead of the story proving the content is true)?

What might happen if we started with the story?

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Treat Everyone Like Grandma

And yet another insight from this book: what if we treated everyone we came into contact with like our grandma?

I know- the concept probably seems silly or even stupid.  I can't treat my boss like grandma.  I can't treat my kids like grandma.  I can't treat my supplier or customer like grandma.

I am sure there's a point where this concept breaks down.  And yet the idea behind the concept is to treat people like you walk treat your grandma.  Talk to them as if you were talking to grandma.  More importantly, listen to them as if you were listening to grandma.  When we set out to treat people like grandma, we set out to treat people as we want to be treated.

Sounds almost biblical.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

It's Magic!

I was in a magic club in junior high school.  I know- nerd alert!

I only remember enough to do a few basic card tricks- enough to impress my kids (for the time being) and cause my wife to say "I didn't know you could do that!"- but the one element necessary for my basic tricks is distraction.  I'll talk while I shuffle, get the kids talking while I shuffle, anything to distract them from what it is that I am actually doing.  The more distracted they are, the easier it is to pull off the trick.

Take away the distraction, and you take away the magic.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

"And the Lady Will Have A . . ."

Awhile ago the fam went out for breakfast.  Fast food.  We don't do it a lot and when we do it's a bit of a treat.  So as we stood before the counter, looking through the options and listening to what kid wanted a biscuit and what kid wanted a cinnamon thingy, I became annoyed.  Agitated.  Impatient.  So I cut off the discussion we were having, interrupted my wife who was asking the clerk a question about the menu, and started ordering for everyone.  Kids.  Wife.  Me.

Not my best decision.

In my defense, I knew what everyone wanted.  I knew what my boys wanted, I knew what T and Kins wanted, and I certainly knew what I wanted.  Asking questions, discussing alternatives, and staring at the menu wasn't going to change what our order was.  It was simply going to waste time.

Not my best defense, either.

Just because I knew the outcome (and I could get to the outcome more efficiently!), didn't make it right for me to dictate the outcome.

There's a life lesson in there somewhere . . .

Monday, February 18, 2013

You Didn't Preach from the Bible

One of my first sermons was at the church I interned at while in college and seminary.  That Sunday I spoke on Ezekiel- I know, a great book with which to teach from for a severely inexperienced preacher(!)- and when I went to teach I didn't use my Bible.  When I prepared that week, I had printed the text off of the computer so I could make notes, highlight stuff, etc, and thus I brought the notes up there with me.  Not the "Bible".

While there were lots of 'atta boys' after the message (though I am sure they were mostly being nice as I positive the message couldn't have been all that good being my first time), I'll never forget this comment: "you didn't preach from the Bible".  I was confused.  I had clearly taught from Ezekiel, spoken and explained several of the verses, and even made a connection to Jesus as the Good Shepherd in John 10, but since I hadn't use a physical copy of the Scriptures, I hadn't preached from the Bible.

Couple lessons:

  • Perception matters.  If you are in a context where perception matters a lot, play to the perception.  Not doing this only distracts folks and gives people the opportunity to make the perception the main thing.
  • Perceptions can change, especially the longer you work or participate in a context.  While I played to the perception in the messages after that message, the longer I worked in that context (and the longer the relationship I had with that context), the less that perception mattered.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Andy Stanley's Deep & Wide

Finished reading Andy Stanley's Deep and Wide and much like some other book I've read, I'll probably have several future posts about it.  Here's a few of the statements that immediately jumped out at me:

  • Teaching the Word of God isn’t about knowing stuff; it is about doing stuff
  • People are far more interested in what works than what’s true.  
  • There is a direct correlation between a person’s private devotional life and his or her personal faith.
  • When people are convinced you want something FOR them rather than something FROM them, they are less likely to be offended when you challenge them.
  • Our culture needs to understand that the foundation of the Christian faith is not an infallible Bible.  The foundation of our faith is a single event in history attested to by individuals  who lived and wrote during the days when this event transpired.
  • Knowledge alone makes Christians haughty.  Application makes us holy.
  • I figure if we can get the Christians in our country to live out what the Bible teaches on that handful of topics (marriage, money, parenting, generosity, greed, sexual purity, forgiveness, and decision-making), that would pretty much change everything. 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

From "Yes, but" to "Yes, and"

Another insight from Dan Pink's To Sell is Human:

Most of us are used to "yes, but" thinking.  In a church setting, it might look something like this: suppose you and a peer are planning an event to honor volunteers within your church.  Your "yes, but" conversation goes something like this:

  • You: "we should throw a party for our volunteers"
  • Peer: "yes, but a party like that could be expensive"
  • You: "yes, but the party would be a fun way to recognize our volunteers"
  • Peer: "yes, but people might have a hard time finding child care for their kids"
  • You: "yes, but parents find sitters all the times for their kids"
  • Peer: "yes, but what if we leave someone out?"
  • You: "yes, but we'll double check out lists and make sure everyone gets an invitation"
We've all been in these conversations where we feel like the wheels are spinning and we're not getting any traction.

Now, try the same conversation with "yes, and" thinking:


  • You: "we should throw a party for our volunteers"
  • Peer: "yes, and we could use budget monies to pay for it"
  • You: "yes, and the party would be a fun way to recognize our volunteers"
  • Peer: "yes, and we could provide a program for volunteer's kids to attend"
  • You: "yes, and we can get a list of volunteers from our ministry leaders to make sure no one is left out"
How would this work in your context?  

Friday, February 15, 2013

NFL Bible Readers and Seth Godin on "Those People"

Couple interesting links to pass along:

  • A neat video (6 minutes) on how some NFL players use the Youversion app to read scripture
  • Seth Godin blogs about the danger of categorizing people into those who can and those who cannot

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Can Jesus Be Your Valentine?

You hear it on Christian radio every year around this time.  A well-meaning DJ mentions that Valentine's Day is coming, inserts a comical reminder for husbands to do something for their wives, and then almost as a tag, reminds the audience that if you're without a valentine on Valentine's, that Jesus loves you.

I don't disagree with that statement.  Jesus does love us- each and every one of us.

I'm just not sure how helpful it is for folks.

If you're single on Valentine's Day, Jesus can't send you flowers.  Jesus can't take you out to dinner or go to the movies with ya.

I know I'm one of the least qualified people to talk about what singles feel on Valentine's Day.  My wife and I have been married for 13 years.  We were high school sweethearts and dated for several years before we were married.  I really don't know what it is like to be single, so feel free to throw the challenge flag on me on this one.

We can't pretend that Valentine's Day doesn't exist.  We can call it a a holiday invented by Hallmark and florists, but if you're married or dating, most of us will (and I could argue should- yes should) do something for our better half on this day.

But we also need to recognize that Valentine's Day- like Mother's Day and Father's Day- celebrate some while leaving others out.  And as deep and rich as Jesus' love is, I don't think it's wise to patch feelings of those who feel left out on Valentine's Day with Christian jargon of Jesus being a Valentine.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

A Christmas Card, Beyonce, and Being Easily Offended

Hillcrest's staff sends out a Christmas card each Christmas.  We send it to our members and attenders as well as places we do business with (vendors, suppliers, non-profits we support, etc).  This year's card had pictures of each of the staff members at the manger and having different 'unique' thoughts.  They were funny. They were somewhat connected to each of staff person's unique personality or job at Hillcrest.  They were not meant to be serious.

Unfortunately, someone was offended.  Probably with the remark on the card about "abstinence only being 99.99% effective".  The person doesn't attend Hillcrest but felt led to leave a message on our machine saying she was offended and also informing us that others who had received the card at her organization were also offended.

At the recent Super Bowl, Beyonce performed the Halftime show.  Judging by the comments on Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere, some Christians were offended by her performance.  Or more precisely, offended by her clothing (or perceived lack thereof).  They couldn't believe she was allowed to perform- in that- and were offended.

Honestly, we are too easily offended.

I missed the halftime show.  Turned to a different channel.  I have nothing against Beyonce, Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, or anyone else who wants to perform.  But as the father of 3 young but maturing boys, I don't need more 'images' coming into my home (especially after our last trip to HyVee and the conversation over the lack of attire of the folks on the magazines by the checkout).  But I have no intentions of writing a letter to CBS, or not watching next year's Super Bowl, or organizing a boycott of companies who advertised during the Super Bowl, or telling my boys Beyonce is a bad person.  What good would that do?  As Christians, we're already better known for what we are against then what we are for.

The caller who was offended by our card could have left her name, number, and given us an opportunity to hear why she was offended and we could have had a conversation.  She could have done nothing.  She could have said something, to herself, like 'well, I wouldn't put out a card like that, but I know the people over there, they are good people, they support us quite a bit, and I am not going to let one card change my opinion of them'.

Too often, though, our response stops at being offended.  And that's the easy way out.        

        

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013

When a Story is Too Good to be True

It seems we can't go a day without hearing a story of someone prominent lying.  Lance Armstrong lied.  So did Manti Te'o.  And the other day I heard on the radio of an(other) American Idol contestant who lied about his life story.

All these stories were simply too good to be true.

There's many reasons why we lie.  This isn't a post about those reasons.

This is a post about one of those reasons- making ourselves look better than we are.

Unfortunately, this reason isn't limited to sports or entertainment.  You see it in churches and church leaders as well.

We (and when I say "we", I don't mean "we"- got it?!) pump up our Sunday attendance.  We over-estimate the number of kids in our children's ministries or our youth groups.  And it's not just attendance.  Any area where there's a measurable statistic- giving, baptisms, new members, volunteers, number of first time guests who return to church, etc- there is the inherent tendency to inflate the number- especially if we need an inflated number to fit in with our peers or make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

The sad thing is that lying or 'estimating' on a number does no good in the long term.  There's a short term benefit- there most always is when we tell a lie- but in the end, if we are using a statistic to measure success (and some will argue against doing that, which is fair), then we are not the number we tell other people- we are the number that is the actual number.  No better.  No worse.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Beyond Ordinary

There's lots of good marriage books out there, but this one is one of the better ones I've read in quite some time.  Written from both the husband and wife's perspective, it gives an inside look at how one marriage between committed Christians who were serving in a 'mega-church' fell apart . . . and how God resurrected it.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

The Perspective of Family

My wife's family is all pastors.  Seriously.  Her dad is a pastor.  His dad was a pastor.  Her dad's sister (her aunt) married a pastor.  Her sister and brother-in-law co-pastor a church in Washington.  Her mom works with and consults pastors.  So when we get together for holidays and get-togethers, it can be really fun to talk shop.  What are you teaching on?  What issues are you facing?  What's happening in your churches, denominations, regions, etc?  It's a joy to hear stories and learn from their experiences as someone in the trenches with them.

My side of the family is not necessarily pastors (though my dad's brother is a pastor and his sister was a missionary to Africa), but they follow Jesus, attend various churches, and serve in unique and various capacities in their various churches.  Some help with worship while others usher.  Some help with children's ministries and others assist with the youth ministry.  Some sit on boards that talk about money while others sit on committees that talk about men's and women's ministries.  Some are in small groups while others are in bible studies.  And when we've gotten together recently, I have enjoyed learning about church from their perspective, and more importantly, what works (and doesn't!) when it comes to interactions between churches and pastors and/or leadership.  

I think in any profession there's the temptation to have some tunnel vision- to think that your perspective or opinion is the only one there is.  When I talk with people who attend church- whether it is those who attend Hillcrest or other churches- it is an opportunity to learn what matters to them when it comes to church and how I as a pastor can better assist people in their following of Jesus.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Disclaimer

With my recent uptick in blogging, I should probably add a very non-legal and vanilla disclaimer to keep the suits happy(!): the words and content of this blog are mine and not necessarily representative of those of Hillcrest Church or any other organization/group of people I may be associated with.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

When Your Testimony Doesn't Make the Grade

One of our assignments in seminary was to write out our testimony- or the story of how we came to follow Jesus and why we still follow him- and present it to the class.  There were a couple of instructions- the written part could not go longer than 4 pages and the spoken part could not go longer than 10 minutes.  Fair enough.  I went to work on my story, wrote it down, and presented it.

A week later the professor handed back our testimonies with a grade on it.

I got a B+.

For my faith story.

For my testimony.

Seriously!  What is the grading criteria for a person's faith story?!  Not enough sin?!  The need for grace wasn't great enough?!

And from what I could tell, the B+ wasn't for some grammatical errors or mistakes I made while telling my story, because there were no comments on the paper.  So, and I've always feared this, I was given a B+ because in fact, my faith story isn't all that exciting.

I knew early on my faith story was not A material.  I'd go to camp and hear the speaker talk about illicit drug use before a radical conversion experience.  I'd go to a youth retreat and hear a youth pastor tell stories about premarital miscues and stories of sowing wild oats until finding Jesus and getting back on the straight and narrow.

Even in seminary, the favored stories were from those for who seminary and pastoring was their second career, meaning they had worked in the world for awhile, had always sensed a call to serve God as a pastor and bucked it, but now had submitted to God and were here in seminary because of purposeful and profound obedience.  The subtle communication was we prefer Moses' story (why me? send someone else!) to Isaiah's story (here am I!  Send me!).

I am far from perfect.  Far from it.  I grew up in a home with parents who loved God and brought us to church.  I decided to follow Jesus at an early age.  I was a typical church kid who  as I got older struggled with displaying my faith and trying to fit in.  We moved when I was in high school and I decided to live a bit a more boldly for Jesus.  I remember that decision made me stand out some and yet still felt fortunate to have good friends and good memories.  I felt called to serve God as a pastor while in high school and explored the educational track that would get me to that point the soonest.  And since, there's been hardships- medical hardships with our children, financial struggles, and other sources of difficulty and pain.  And true to form, God has never left me or forsaken me.

It's not the kind of story Hollywood could make a movie about.

But if there's one thing where we all get As- it's our story of how we followed Jesus and why we follow him today.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Night I Became That Parent

Our 3 boys are playing basketball and are at various stages- our youngest is at the 'everything is cute' stage and where the game resembles more of a blend of rugby and football then it does basketball.  Our middle son is at the 'almost but not yet' stage where you see lots of stuff that resembles basketball, but there's still no stealing, no keeping score, and still lots of traveling.  Our oldest is at the 'it's on' stage complete with referees, scoreboards, fouls, free throws and a wide discrepancy in the talent of the teams competing.

Needless to say, it's been a rough year for our son's team.  They've played hard and had fun but they haven't won a game yet.  And so that's led me (along with other parents) to begin to assist the referees with officiating.

For me, it started subtle enough.  I'd mutter something like 'traveling' or 'double-dribble' every time I felt the ref missed a call.  My wife would look at me.

Then it proceeded to 'call and response' where I would begin an unofficial banter with parents of the other team.  They'd cry over a missed call and I'd smile.  They'd smile over a missed call and I'd talk loudly.  That kind of thing.  My wife would elbow me.

Finally- and I am really not proud of this- it became more vocal and audible towards the referee.  Things like "call it fair", "you have to call it both ways", and "c'mon man!" would come out of my mouth, all said very vocally.  Some of our team's parents would nod in agreement, silently 'amening' my comments.   My wife threatened to sit on the other side of me and mentioned something along the lines of my behavior not being included in our vows of 'til death do us part'.

And then one night- after some previously mentioned behavior- the ref rolled his eyes.  And I knew I had become that parent.  The one where some parenting expert or childhood behavioral expert or youth sporting expert is probably blogging about somewhere as what not to do.

And so I stopped.

I stopped criticizing the officials.  I cheered for our team.  I encouraged our son to play good defense, set a pick for the ball, and move to get open.  I cheered for the other team too, because they were making some nice plays (give and gos, backdoor cuts, that kind of thing).  But I stopped being that parent.  And hopefully won't relapse.

But if I'm tempted, my wife's left elbow will redirect me!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Giving Leftovers to the Food Drive

Each year our kids' school does a food drive connected to the Super Bowl.  It's fun for them as they compete against another school, there's a traveling trophy involved, the class with the most amount of cans wins a pizza party, and it obviously goes to a good cause in supporting our local food pantry.

But if people give to this like I give to this, then I suspect the food pantry might be in some trouble.

You see, whether it's this food drive, the one the Scouts do, the one where I get my wife some discounted roses, or the one the postal worker does, I give away the stuff I haven't used.   A can of Pumpkin pie filling.  A can of chicken gumbo soup.  A can of tomato paste.  You know- stock items you've never gotten around to using.

And the thought hit me- I wonder how many cans of pumpkin pie filling are lining the shelves at the food pantry?  And then I wondered about an under-resourced family coming to the Food Pantry and being oh so excited because they could claim one of those cans of pumpkin pie filling?!

I know- excuse my sarcasm- it's not that the under-resourced family using the Food Pantry couldn't use the pumpkin pie filling to make a pumpkin pie with.  It's that compared to say Campbell's Chunky Soup or Chef Boyardee or a can of veggies, the pumpkin pie filling is about as useful to an under-resourced family as it is to me.

Which isn't much.    

Monday, February 4, 2013

What Does the Average Family Give?

When it comes to charitable giving, my review of the data says that the average evangelical Christian family gives roughly 2-3% of their income away to churches and charitable causes.  The authors of Courageous Generosity- who have worked with lots of churches throughout different parts of the country- have lots of data that suggest the number to be about 2.8%.

Now, the key here is that most of this research uses median household income- a number you can very easily  obtain from census surveys and other accessible research.

For Sioux Falls, median household income is $51,049 (this is actually an average of 3 figures I found in a quick online search).

So . . .

  • A Sioux Falls household giving 1% of their income would give $510.49
  • A Sioux Falls household giving 5% of their income would give $2,552.45
  • A Sioux Falls household giving 10% of their income would give $5,104.90
Using Sioux Falls household income data and the average donation of 2.8% from the Courageous Generosity authors, and the 'average' amount would be $1,429.

Where does Hillcrest sit?  The average gift for a Hillcrest household is $2,565.54- slightly higher than the 5%  level and much better then the national average of 2.8%.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Volunteering and the 80/20 Rule

As long as I've worked in churches, I've heard about the 80/20 rule.  In fact, it came up in a conversation last week with a pastor who serves a church in another state.  The 80/20 rule is simply this- in any given church, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  The rule has to be true- at least in some places- or there would not be enough evidence for it to be a rule- and a popular one at that.

I've always felt that Hillcrest was different (read better) than the 80/20 rule.

But I recently read this book that suggested a different 'rule' or parameter to shoot for- what the author calls the 30/50/20 rule:

  • 30- at any given time, 30% of your church should be sitting on the sidelines, not currently serving anywhere.
  • 50- at any given time, 50% of your church should be serving one hour per week.  This service could be anything- worship teams, greeting, ushering, children's, youth ministries, etc.
  • 20- at any given time, 20% of your church should be involved in some kind of evangelism or outreach ministry.  Could be actively inviting friends to church or participating in an outreach initiative such as serving at a homeless shelter or reading with an under-resourced 1st grader.
When we compare Hillcrest against the 30/50/20 rule, we see:
  • 38% of Hillcresters not active in volunteering  
  • 52% of Hillcresters serving on a consistent basis (not necessarily weekly, but at least 1-2 times a month)
  • 10% of Hillcresters involved in evangelism or outreach ministry.
Of course, these numbers are specific to serving with or through Hillcrest and don't account for volunteering people may do through their kids' schools, workplaces, or neighborhoods.  If you factor those in, my hunch would be the 38% number would decrease some and the 10% number would increase some.

I'm not necessarily saying the 30/50/20 rule is the rule to shoot for.  But if you want to move away from the 80/20 rule, you have to use another benchmark.  And if not the 30/50/20 one, then feel free to suggest or come up with something else!


Saturday, February 2, 2013

Mark Cuban and the Future of College

Heading to college soon?  Or know someone who is?

Mark Cuban does more than just own the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.  He's got some interesting thoughts on the future of college here (warning- an instance of foul language towards the end of the article).

Friday, February 1, 2013

Inventory

I don't own a business, but I've got to think one of the biggest sources of tension would be inventory (or what is now more sophistically called supply-chain management).

In preparation for our 2013 series called "The Story", the publishers offered us a great deal on the books.  But we had to buy the books in cases and they had to be bought in November- two months before we would be launching the series.  Buying the books in cases allowed us to pass on the great savings to our members and attenders and also allow us to subsidize books for people who purchased multiple copies, couldn't afford the books, etc.  So we looked through our database, consulted with our children's and youth directors on their best guesses, and came up with a number of cases for each book (there's different books for adults, teens, older kids, younger kids, etc).

We ran out of the popular hard cover pre-school and younger elementary books a few weeks ago.

I could have bought another case- though not at as great of a price- or use my Amazon account and order the copies I need and have them here in 2 days with no additional cost.

I went with the Amazon option because I didn't want to get stuck with extra books.

Well, we're out of those same books . . . again!

And we only have 6 copies of the adult version left . . .

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