Friday, May 31, 2013

The Perfect Attendance Award

My kids came home from school a couple weeks ago and told me they didn't get the 'perfect attendance' award.  They missed only a couple days- 1 for an illness, the other for leaving early on trips to the cities- but alas, they didn't receive the 'perfect attendance' award.

Perhaps there is a correlation between perfect attendance and academic achievement (notice I didn't say attendance and achievement because of course missing too much school is going to impact learning), but really, doesn't this award recognize either a) an awesome immune system and/or b) students who have absolutely nothing going on outside of school Monday through Friday?

Life doesn't hand out perfect attendance awards.

Yes, there's something to be said for never missing work or school, but so much of life happens while in an extracurricular activity, a conference, on vacation- outside of 8-5 or M-F.  Again, this isn't to downgrade showing up, loyalty, and working when you feel less than your best.  Those are all great traits.

But if the only goal is attendance and doing nothing once you're there, you'll be settling for the perfect attendance award.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Automated Customer Service

Hillcrest has a great relationship with our online giving vendor.  In fact, if your church doesn't provide online giving as an option, I'd recommend Vanco.  Since we started using Vanco, 25% of our monthly offerings come in online and most donors who give online are giving more than they gave prior to giving online.

Recently, Vanco rolled out a product that essentially allows you to use your iPhone or iPad to process credit and debit transactions.  Now before you get all 'Jesus overturning money-changing tables in the temple' on me, the primary use for this is not for donations.  It's for VBS money, middle school camp, high school mission trip, the ladies tea, and the men's retreat.  It's for the church activities where you'd love to swipe your card rather than write a check or pull out cash.

This all sounded good, but there was one problem.  I don't have an iPhone or an iPad.  My phone and tablet are 'droids'.  So I contacted the company, thanked them for this notice, and inquired as to when they might be rolling out compatible products for the droid market.

Their response?

The same communication they had already sent me- touting the iProducts and completely ignoring my request.

For real?  Is it too much to send an email saying "hey, good idea, we're looking into that".  Or, "right now, we don't have products for the droid, but we'll look into it".  Something other than what you already told me!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Hop on the Meal Train

If you ever take anyone a meal (a coworker had a baby, a family member became ill, etc), you need to use meal train.  Normally, I'd temper my suggestion with less authoritative language such as "you should consider meal train" or "I invite you to take a look at meal train" but no, I stand behind my use of the word 'need'.

This free tool is perfect for those who organize meals for coworkers, church members, neighbors, and family members.  You can pay to get access to more great stuff, but the free service is more than sufficient.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Vacation and Blogging

I'm out of the office for a few days on vacation.

And yet the blog posts will continue.

Some may mistakenly assume I am neglecting my family and friends, basing my identity on continuing my blog entries.  They may think things like 'oh, I feel bad for his kids, as I think he's on vacation but he can't get cut the cord his blog'.

Stop those thoughts!  These entries have been pre-written.  Rest assured you can expect that I am here or here or here as you read these posts.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

The Wedding Sermon

I have a couple weddings coming up this summer and have been working on the message for one of them.  Wedding messages are fun to give- you get to share with the couple, reflect on the time spent together in premarital counseling, and talk about the importance of Jesus in their marriage.

So while I want to make the wedding message meaningful and fun and important, the message will be 10 minutes- if that.

As fun as they are, no one comes to a wedding for the sermon.

There are times when life is about you.  Your wedding.  The birth of your child.  A new job.  A death in the family.     I am sure there are countless other moments.

But there are also times- probably more times- when life is not about you.

Don't be the preacher who gives a 45 minute wedding message because he thinks people come for the sermon.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Oklahoma

Cool perspective on folks coming together for people affected by last week's tornado in Oklahoma.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Geoffrey Canada on Technology and Education

There's not too many folks who have presented both for TED and the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, but Geoffrey Canada is one of them.  He's got a great talk here on technology and education.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Judging Someone's Openness

Tarina and I watched Silver Linings Playbook the other evening.  Now, the movie does have a fair amount of language and a very suggestive scene or two in it, but there's a different scene that stuck with me.  Jennifer Lawrence's character Tiffany is sharing some pretty sensitive stuff with Bradley Cooper's character Pat.  Both characters have their 'issues' but after Tiffany's revelations, Pat is pretty quick with his judgment.  Tiffany is shocked.  Instead of thinking she was sharing with a friend or at least someone who can empathize with her journey, she's met with scorn and judgment.

Do we do this in the church?  Do we do this with other believers?  Instead of extending grace, we offer judgment.  Instead of protection, we opt for injury.

If we desire to know people as they really are, we are going to have to put down the stones.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Performance Payoff of Practice

"Want to go hit some balls?" I ask my sons.

Lately, the answer has been less than enthusiastic.  Perhaps they might say "Maybe" though if they are feeling a little down, they may come back with a "do we have to?".

And I get it.  I've been a little fanatical about practicing baseball lately.  As in most afternoons or evenings (even on game nights), taking them to get a little 'BP'.  Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest (if not the hardest) things to do in sports, and the older the boys get, the harder it is.  You move from the ball on a tee to a coach basically 'teeing' it up for you to a 9 year old whizzing one by you for a strike followed by whizzing one behind you ("just a bit outside!") for a ball.  The progression is needed but makes hitting a ball all the more harder.  Which leads to my daily inquiry as to whether they want to go hit some balls.

Because, I only know one way to get better at something- practice.  Want to get a hit in a game?  You have to get more hits in practice and you only get more hits in practice when you see more pitches.

One life lesson I want my kids to 'get' is the connection between time spent practicing and the payoff of a better performance.  You might not make the major leagues, but if my child can connect time spent practicing something and then seeing it payoff with a better performance, that's a win no matter what the score says.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

We Have a Policy Against That

Policies.  Rules meant to spell out what things are ok to do, and more often, what things are not ok to do.

Whenever I hear the words "we have a policy . . .", I filter it through three lenses:

  1. The practicality lens- for instance, "no diving" is a good policy in a 3 feet deep pool, but a terrible policy in a 12 foot deep pool.  If the policy isn't practical, or doesn't make sense, I quickly move onto the other two lenses.
  2. The reactionary lens- if the policy doesn't appear to be practical at first glance, then I suspect it was put in place as a reaction to something.  I've blogged earlier about dumb rules and think these rules- or policies- are reactions to isolated situations.  If the pool had an accident with a diver in a 12 foot pool, that is horrible, but it isn't sufficient enough to make a policy against it.  If that sounds harsh, think of how many times you hear a tragedy happen (on the news or one of those 'news magazine' shows like 20/20), think to yourself 'that's horrible', and then do the same thing (i.e. leaving child in car while running into your house quick, running with a stick, etc).
  3. The 'excuse' lens- the final lens for policies is the excuse lens, meaning, we actually don't have a policy against a certain behavior, but we're not comfortable with the behavior, so we'll use the word 'policy'.  You see, using the word 'policy' scares off most of us- we hear it and we stop our inquiry.  Back to the pool analogy- you start diving in the deep end and soon the lifeguard whistles you.  She says "no diving" and you're respond with "why?".  She says, "it's our pool's policy".  Most of us stop there, but if you were to keep going and asked to see the policy, you may very well in fact find no such policy.  It's simply a matter of preference the pool has adopted as policy.  Also, if you were to ask five lifeguards as to why there is a policy against diving, you might get five different answers.  In this event, you know the policy fits this lens.     

Friday, May 17, 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Remember When

My wife has a saying- if it is not in the scrapbook, it didn't happen!  So, she takes lots of photos and is very diligent in updating our various family albums.  We live a fairly fun life so she doesn't want to let a moment go by without capturing it and being able to remember it.

There is lots of wisdom there.

Our small group met for the last time (until school resumes again) last night.  I had put together a picture collage (I am not good at anything artsy, so I rely on online sites to do the work for me!) and gave each family a collage full of photos from our small group this past year.  There were serving pictures, there were connecting pictures, and just general pictures.  We had a blast this last year serving and connecting with one another, and rather than rely solely on memories (which are good, don't get me wrong), we each have a small memento to remember the year by.

True, how long people keep it is different matter, but that's not really the point.  The point is "remembering when" with more than memories and stories.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Everyone Cleans Toilets

In the world of sports, it's known as "next man (or woman) up".  Meaning, someone gets hurt or injured, the backup or substitute comes in and is expected to do the same job.

In the world of ministry- and work- I think a similar phrase is "everyone cleans toilets".

We had three- yes three- toilets overflow this past Sunday at Hillcrest (and for those keeping score, none of them were men's toilets!).  And each time, a different person noticed the problem and went about cleaning up.  After the messes were contained, they found me and let me know so we could solve the problem going forward, but no one saw the overflowing toilets and said, 'gee, I wonder who's going to clean that up?'.  They simply went about cleaning it up.

Everyone cleans toilets.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Interesting Thoughts on Marriage

Some interesting thoughts on marriage here

Monday, May 13, 2013

The Tension Between Good Enough and Excellence

I've heard arguments both ways.  This guy argues for good enough, believing focusing too much on excellence is fear's way of stalling the project.  This guy, on the other hand, takes a different perspective, believing focusing on excellence is what makes the work great, and that if we settle for good enough, we're setting the bar too low on our work.

I can go both ways.  There are countless times when I settle with good enough and other times where I use excellence as a way to delay completing a project.


What say you?

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Tribute to Moms

Cool video to moms from the Kid President himself.

Happy Mother's Day moms!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Work with 20 somethings?

From The Catalyst Leader some good advice on working with 20 somethings:


    • Give them freedom with their schedules
    • Provide them projects, not a career
    • Create a family environment
    • Cause is important
    • Embrace social media
    • Accept that they are tech savvy
    • Provide opportunities for mentoring, learning and discipleship
    • Coach them and encourage them
    • Create opportunities for quality time, individually and corporately
    • Hold them accountable
    • Grasp that the sky is the limit in their minds
    • Recognize their values, not just their strengths
Anything missing from the list?

Or, if you're a 20 something, is this list on?  or off?

Friday, May 10, 2013

The Catalyst Leader

Recently finished reading this book and found it very good.  I had the privilege to attend a Catalyst event way back in 2008 and it was a great conference.

The best takeaways I found in the book pointed to the author's website.  Very good stuff:


Thursday, May 9, 2013

A Church-School Partnership in Portland

A neat video on how churches and schools work together in Portland, OR.

For Christ followers, there are so many opportunities to partner with local schools and live out our faith.  

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Putting Your Facility to Good Use

Church facilities often sit vacant.  A lot.

Outside of Sunday morning and Wednesday evenings, you'd be hard pressed to find a facility that is less used than a church facility.

There's an opportunity for churches to steward the use of their facility to benefit the community.

This last month, our facility has been used by a several different groups:

  • Several soccer teams practiced here because we've had a less than ideal spring.  
  • Pampered Chef consultants met here for a monthly consultant meeting.  
  • The boy scouts use our facility for weekly meetings and a girl scout's den also meets here  
  • Kindermusik  uses a classroom for music classes.  
  • A youth ministry from the twin cities is staying here this weekend on their way to a youth conference.
  • A neighbor used our parking lot to sell her truck
  • A Sudanese church uses our building each weekend for their worship services
  • This last weekend someone used our gym for a high school graduation open house as again, our less than ideal spring threatened their planned open house at a park
Do we charge these groups to use the facility?  Depends.  If there's a Hillcrester connected with the event (it's their daughter's soccer team or son's open house), then no.  No charge.  It's a simple way for Hillcresters to use our facility to bless the community they are a part of- their teams, their scout groups, etc.

If you're not from here, then we do charge a little, but from what I've heard, we're way under the market rate.  

A church facility shouldn't necessarily be a revenue stream; instead, it's a simple way for the church to tangibly demonstrate care to its community and neighbors.  

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Should Leaders Be Liked?

A long time ago, one of my friends was applying for a teaching position in a secondary school.  One of the principals asked my friend how important it was to him that he be liked by his students.  The way my friend told it, he could tell the 'right' answer was to say 'not very important' and thus demonstrate his ability to educate students, make decisions, and manage classrooms in an environment where you will likely not be liked.

My friend, though, gave the contrarian answer of saying being liked was very important, because if the students like you, you're more likely to help them achieve their educational goals then if they do not like you.

Much of the leadership material out there- and especially the spiritual leadership stuff- takes the first approach.  Leadership, by definition, means making decisions that will not always be liked or popular so you might as well face it and deal with it.  And by and large, that is still true.

Yet I think sometimes leaders can act in ways where they forget that it can be ok to be liked, to have friends, to enjoy the people you are leading and working with.  That doesn't mean there will be times where you might make unpopular decisions or perhaps have different perspectives then folks on a decision or an issue.  But it also doesn't mean leaders should carry themselves as if people's opinions do not matter or as if they are immune to being liked by folks.

Doing that will guarantee not being liked and making leadership more difficult.

Monday, May 6, 2013

If You Give a Customer a Cookie

I had to make a deposit for my kids' school PTA the other day so I went to make the deposit.

Exciting stuff, I know.

When the teller went to give me my receipt, it was being held down by a cookie!

What a great paperweight!

I beamed.  Seriously.  As someone who will take his boys to Sonic at 9 PM after baseball practice on a school night because there's 1/2 off shakes (no joke!), the cookie made my day.

In my encounters, and in your encounters, how can we offer the equivalent of a chocolate chip cookie?  What can we do that will leave folks beaming?

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Values

There's lots of talk about values.  The books I read frequently discuss the importance of values.  The curriculum I use for the ethics class I teach is big on values.  Whether for profit or non profit, church or business, values are huge.

I learned long ago, though, that there is a difference between what you value and what you want to value.

For instance, and I tell my ethics students this all the time, you may say you value generosity.  But if we look at your time and finances and see no evidence of generosity, you merely aspire to be generous, because as of now, you are not generous.  You can test this with any value: time with family, hard work, organization, and trust are just a sliver of possible values.  Take a value, measure it against the proof of your life, and see if it's a value.

This isn't a judgment or a negative thing.  It simply means our values are already apart of us.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Boundaries for Leaders

Some nuggets from this book:

  • The real problem is getting the people to do what it takes to make the plan work.
  • As a leader, you are going to get a combination of two things: what you create and what you allow.
  • The research says that when we multitask, our brains run in a hampered state.
  • Do you as a leader lead in way that is compatible with humans?
  • Try giving teenagers a lot of advice and see if it changes behavior.  But if you provide context- by listening, sharing information and positive examples, setting expectations and consequences, creating a healthy emotional climate, and challenging them to do their best- they will figure it out and implement it.  That is a lot better than just “telling them what to do”.
  • What kind of mood and energy am I fostering when I enter a room?  When I give feedback?  When I make a request?  When I make a correction?
  • The act of “paying attention” to what I need to do differently and better next time can’t happen if I am afraid of what you might do to me now.
  • Act and good things happen
  • There are two kinds of people in the world.  People whose circumstances overcome them, and people who overcome their circumstances.
  • Focus your people on what they have control of that directly affects the desired outcome of the organization.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Court Martial for Christians?

There's been a lot of chatter on potential court martials for Christians in the military.  This blog hopefully provides some assurance.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Critics and Fortune Cookies

Seth Godin has some good stuff to say about critics here while my friend Peter blogs on fortune cookies and leadership here.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

They Will Know We Are Christians

Reading in Romans recently and got stuck on 14:13- "so let's stop condemning each other".

I've posted before about how Christians like to devour our own, how we're more known for what we are against then what we are for, that kind of thing.

In this section, Paul's talking about food and drink.  Is it ok to eat this or drink that?  What about believers who struggle with those things?  Then what?

Our culture and time has its own issues, its unique ways of asking is it ok to do this or that (or not ok).  We ultimately take sides, defend our sides, and begin to see the other side as someone to defeat rather than as a human being (or a group of human beings).

Rather than being known for our love, we're known for our arguments, our rhetoric, and fairly or not, our judgment.

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