Fred Smith on training workers

Read a great article from Fred Smith this morning about training core leaders. So many great points in this article, and many points are applicable to any business setting, not just doing church.

“Development is based on improvability.” He says that we should train to someone’s strengths and not to their weaknesses. I recently read another article that mentioned the same type of thing. If we focus on our peoples good traits and good work skills and talents, many of the negative will fall away.

He gives Five Criteria for Trainers to measure progress:

1. Is this person's job fitting well with his or her talents?


2. How much willingness to do the job am I seeing?


3. How consistent is the person's effort?


4. What are the objective results?


5. Is this person willing to be evaluated?

He develops all of these in the article. Throughout, he gives little tidbits of wisdom that I know, and have forgotten. It’s always good to get a good reminder.

Katrina, Countdown, and Cats

We finally got some word about friends we have in the New Orleans area. Our pastor here in Tenn. received an email from our former pastor, saying that he and his wife were out of N.O. and that his staff had all left to various places in the country. We also heard from some friends of ours who are also pregnant, and they made it to Houston, and have already found a new doctor. Thank God!

Count down to Induction: (since they don’t let ladies who develop Gestational diabetes go to 40 weeks) we go in on Monday night at 11:30, and the process begins. Who knows how long it’ll take for Dean to make it into this world! But I can’t wait! So less than five days now. Wow. My life will completely change. It already has! (And will continue – that’s what life is – right? Change – A Journey – it seems to me that that is a great representation of what God has for us. If we don’t change and grow – we pretty much die).

So I am fretting about our cats and the room they occupy in our house. Here’s the dilemma: My parents are driving into town for the birth of our kid, and I don’t want their first impression of our new house (to us at least) to be ‘hmm – smells like cat pee’. They could very well think that because 1.) Our house is on a corner lot. 2.) We have no garage 3.) You have to park near the back of the lot and walk up to the house. 4.)There is no parking for visitors to come to the front door. 5.) Our back door opens in to a room that was formerly the garage.

Without getting into it here, our four cats have now declared that room their home. It very easily could smell like cat pee. It’s pretty aggravating to me. (I am looking for new homes for the cats. Something in our life just has to give)

So, the parents will come to the back door, and it could smell like cats. See, if they came in the front door, we could hide and mask the eau de cat – but that just ain’t gonna happen. Funny, this could be some sort of teaching on letting God into our smelly, pee infested, back rooms of our lives. That’s pleasant! But true – how often do we want Him to come in the front door, while we hide what’s in the converted garage.

(by the way - even though we clean their boxes every day they still smell!!!)

Pregnancy Fatigue

We’re getting to the point where we would just like our baby to get here! I guess God gets people (mainly women) to the point where “we don’t care what the pain is going to be, just get here!” It’s funny though – I have those feelings in a way as well. Mine are more planning thoughts, like:

• Are we going to be able to continue all the events and activities that we currently do?


• Will we be able to resume life after birth?


• Will we have a pleasant baby – or a crying baby all the time?


• Will we be able to have a routine and function well as a family?


• What will life look like after the birth of my kid?


• What types of issues are we going to deal with after he gets here?


• Where has my mind gone? I feel like I am not functioning at work, or church or home at 100%

So, needless to say – I too am ready for the new blessing to the household, so I can stop my weird questioning thoughts, and just get on with life with new child – as exciting and scary as that will be.

We continue to pray for our friends and former neighbors who were hit by Katrina. The water keeps rising in New Orleans. Scary stuff.

From Leadership Journal

I read an article from Leadership magazine and a quote that I really like stands out to me...Donald Miller was talking about setting up a confessional on a college campus, but instead of having the students come in and confess, he and his friends would man the booth and confess the sins of the church, people of God, they personally.

The point was that confession is the opposite of being defensive, and we need to be more confessing instead of defensive as followers of Christ. The Cool Quote was this - about love:

" Loving selectively is worldly; giving it freely is miraculous."

I just thought that was a great quote and it truly is miraculous when love is given freely., How easy it is to hold love back when someone or something does not gel with our way of thinking. How radical and counterculture it would be if we truly loved, truly gave away and didn't hold it back because someone may have a different opinion on something (a cause, or mission) we hold near and dear to our hearts. The thing is, we are all different, and have been called to many different things.

Can I truly confront in love and not be condemning? Can I truly love freely, not selectively? I would like to work on that.

Unique

God has really been dealing with me about being a ‘unique’ ‘singular’ person, created in his image and not like anyone else…its cool to see a couple blogs about it this week – Gods reading my mail!!! Check out Perry Noble’s Thoughts on the issue, also Mark Batterson had some thoughts in a different direction on our unique Signature.

Also, doing some major praying for all our friends in New Orleans who are evacuating or staying there during Hurricane Katrina…I used to work in the building right across from the Superdome at B97, and I am trying to imagine all the folks who are being herded in there because they can’t evacuate the area. Scary and intense to watch and wait. We pray for the best for the city!!!

Preaching on the big Screen

Mark Batterson from National Community Church had this on a blog post a couple days ago…

Who said you have to preach from behind a pulpit? Jesus did most of his preaching at the beach or on the mountain! We are currently experimenting with "offsite preaching" that is shot "on location" and pre-produced as a short film. Why not? Especially if your church meets in a movie theater! Our theater screens double as postmodern stained glass. They enable us to communicate truth in moving pictures.

How sweet would that be? A cool thought, and very true of our culture today, every thing is so visual – I love NOOMA that Rob Bell and his team put together. I think it’s a great way to relate truth, and keep people interested in the big message of God without being irrelevant. Mark Batterson continues and says “irrelevance is irreverence”. Great post – and Amen Bro!

Keepin it real

Perry Noble had a great post on ‘Keeping it Real’

“The way I see it--it is our job to point people to Jesus, not ourselves.”

His point is that he needs to be, and should be, transparent when leading his congregation. Cool thoughts, and great post.

Blogger for Word

Got the new Blogger for Word attachment – Very cool! I can open up Word and type in blogs now at my convenience!!!

Dad Decisions

I had to make a Dad Decision that really rocked me last week. My wife developed Gestational Diabetes - like many women - during this pregnancy. Her body isn't breaking down her sugar like it should. So Friday we were at the Doctor's office and we had to make the decision between a new 'glucose pill' treatment (actually it's been around a while, but just recetnly begun use on Mother's during pregnancy), or the insulin that has been around and everyone knows.

Needless to say, we had little clue about either, actually. But we had to make the best decision we could. And I thought to myself...

"Holy Crap - I am going to have to make decisons like this that could alter ANOTHER life for the rest of MY life!"

I felt like Calling Mom and Dad and saying - thank you for all the decisions you made. You did well!!!

What Napoleon Character r U?

You are Napoleon Dyanamite and a buttload of gangs
are trying to recruit you.


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I am Napoleon! I didn't expect that!!!

dream?

Weird Dream last night - What I remember... 1st - not being able to move my feet. They felt lilke they were dead weight. Then, I was back in my hometown - I was in the 'theatre school' I grew up in with my old friends. I saw one of my friends' mom and dad - but his dad, in the dream, was my current CEO of the company I work for. Weird. Then, I was doing some sort of Song and Dance number with someone. Then I woke up.

Weird weird weird. Trying to figure it out!

John Wooden Quote

Mistakes made while expanding boundaries are what I wanted. If we weren't making mistakes, we weren't far enough out on the edge. If we weren't pushing against the walls of our capabilities, we weren't practicing correctly. The time to cut down on turnovers is during games, although we should try to avoid them during practice, too. When the game was tight, I wanted the person taking the last shot to be surprised if he missed. When we needed a basket badly, the player who wanted the ball was the one I wanted to have it. For example, in my next to the last game as a teacher, we were two points behind Louisville with only a few seconds to go. We set up a play for Richard Washington. Afterward a reporter asked, "Why did you pick Washington?" I replied, "Because he's not afraid to make a mistake. He thinks he's a pretty good shooter — and he is — but if he misses he'll think, Well, you can't make them all. He won't be devastated. Therefore, he's harnessed his fear. The others might be thinking, I've got to make it. If that's their thinking, they'll be fearful about missing. I didn't want that. I went with Richard."

From Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success - book just came out - I love reading stuff by and about John Wooden. Definately an amazing Man of God and a great Teacher and Coach

Great Prayer from Dave Foster

"O God, I am tired of trying to be a better version of the old me. Change me and make me a man after God's own heart. Let me love you for who you are not what you do for me!"
-- David Foster

Dave is the Pastor of Bellevue Community Church. My wife and I went there when we first started dating. Dave is a great Pastor/speaker/Motivator! and I really believe God worked thru him and his church to draw me back to Him! Thanks Dave!

thoughts on Tuesday

At work -

Trying to use Viral marketing to promote DMLIVE! we had a good meeting about it - and it's interesting that I started reading Seth Godin's Unleashing the Ideavirus just this weekend.

I also have to use these ideas to market myself - and my product - my voice- to radio- specifically Christian Radio - its an avenue I haven't been focused on a lot lately - but now with Dean coming, and needing some extree income - that is something I need to work on again.

Thoughts from today that I can remember

1. Its tough to remember all the thoughts that you have in a day.
2. Its going to be fun being a Dad - We were walking in Burlington Coat Factory and we were in the Baby Depot section - and I couldn't keep from smiling!
3. Sometimes I feel like a spiritual weekling, or lesser person than some who do the same things I do - or simialr things to what I want to be doing.
4. 'A person with experience is not slave to one with an opinion' - great quote I heard again today that I must remember.
5. why all of a sudden am I blogging so much?
6. Wanting to read The Tipping Point, I know, I'm behind.
7. I hate feeling behind.

Blogging effectively

So, I have been stumbling thru blogs, and reading, and my dilemma is this - after I blog on the computer - I have no desire to write in the journal or anywhere else...Is the blog for separate thoughts than the journal, or the same thing...or .....WHAT?

the line in that previous post that gets me is...

'Christians are walking billboards for the church'

Signs are all around us and they advertise all sorts of things...where to go, which way to turn, what to buy, what service is provided...(red)Stop,(green) go, (yellow)Go very fast..etc...what is the sign people see when they see us? What am I advertising? What signs that I have seen in my life do I follow?

great post from awhile back

saw this on www.Churchmarketingsucks.com

False Advertising
"The greatest challenge the church faces today is to be authentic disciples of Jesus. ... That's one reason why the statistics on Christians generally don't differ from the statistics on non-Christians. We're not living a different life." -Dallas Willard (RelevantMagazine.com)
Christians are walking billboards for the church, and too often it's a case of false advertising. Church marketing sucks, but so do we. We're a sinful and broken people, but half the time we can't admit it. We put on an air of perfection, forgetting that in our brokenness we are complete. The church is for the broken, not the perfect.
Yet rather than accept our imperfection and live lives transformed by grace, we pretend to be perfect and wallow in our sin.

good point, and so true.

Haven't been posting in a while

So here is the first post in a while.

Yay.

Late night - preparing for the Youth tomorrow night...talking about acceptance and rejection - and how we tend to lean towards always going for people who automatically accept us as our friends...instead of takinga front seat and being a person who is accepting, not rejecting, and being involved with our choices in life...hmmm. Its is you go too far one way or the other, the two sides could contradict each other. One side - paying no attention - lean toward acceptance - you get what you get - side two - be picky - and selective - so you have to play the middle...selective with who is in your inner circle, yet accepting and not rejecting, so people want to be around you in the first place.

From the Crescent City

I got an email from my former Worship leader in N.O. (Kenner) to be exact...And he has a new CD out. I've only listened to one song so far - but I intend to buy the whole cd! www.crispinschroeder.com is the website - his blog is over in the right hand corner. My wife and I were always big fans of Crispin and his music while we were in New Orleans - She always thought He had that 'Edwin McCain' sound...which is a good thing in our book! Talented guy - and I can'twait to hear the rest of the CD!