Monday, January 11, 2010

God is Up to Something...

Intersection of life:

  • Completed reading "Same Kind of Different as Me", a powerful story about how a homeless street bum from the streets of Fort Worth impacted the life of Debbie and Ron Hall: a story of persistence, faith, loss, and triumph
  • Watched "The Soloist", a true story of a Los Angeles newspaper reporter who discovers a brilliant street musician and their unique friendship that transforms both their lives
  • Lead a parking team at Elevation that includes a couple of homeless guys, who find this little bit of serving to be fulfilling, yet...

God is up to something...

Friday, January 8, 2010

A Little PDA, Please

That's Passion, Discipline, and Action - were you expecting something else?

Mark Sanborn, writing in "The Encore Effect", reminds us that everyday we are in a performance of sorts. Like actors in a play, there are bad performers, average performers, and exceptional performers.

Passion plus Discipline without Action = daydreaming

Discipline plus Action without Passion = a fire made from damp wood

Action plus Passion without Discipline = a race car without a driver

The right mix of PDA will move you into the exceptional category, enabling you to give a remarkable performance. Remarkable performances affect us, whether on the stage or in a meeting. They:

  • Move us to act
  • Make us feel good
  • Cause us to laugh
  • Stimulate us to think

The curtain is rising on your performance today - knock em dead!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Story Loop

Once upon a time, I suppose, people sat around and told stories to each other around a cooking fire. The older ones told the younger ones, who told their younger ones. Eventually, one family group passed along their stories to another family group.

Thus, the oral tradition of storytelling was born.

At some point in time, people figured out letters and the materials to write them on. They took the stories that had been told and passed down from generation to generation orally and wrote them as text.

The written story was born.

Much later, people invented devices that could capture the sound of the human voice, store it, and repeat it for others to hear - across the street or around the world. These devices changed shape and form, but they all worked in an analog fashion - capturing sounds for reproduction.

The audio recorded story was born.

In the last couple of decades, a new way of recording the story emerged: digital. The sound source was recorded by breaking it down and storing it digitally. Not only could the sounds be reproduced, they could be reproduced over and over, without any degradation of quality.

The digital story was born.

Now here we are, in the digital age, texting, tweeting, IMing, voice calls, emails, etc., all using a digital form of communication. Sometimes, even when we're in the same room or under the same roof.

Kinda like sitting around a cooking fire, telling stories...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Does Word of Mouth Suit You to a T?

More great stuff from Andy Sernovitz's book "Word of Mouth Marketing":


The Five Ts of Word of Mouth Marketing



  • Talkers - Find people who will talk about you

  • Topics - Give people a reason to talk

  • Tools - Helps the message spread faster

  • Taking Part - Join the conversation

  • Tracking - Measure and understand what people are saying

Here's your homework assignment: go here and download the 5 Ts worksheet. Now complete it for your church.


What are you waiting for? Dive into the Ts and turn them loose!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Everybody's Talking...


Why not give them a reason to talk about you?


Word of mouth marketing has been defined as " a) giving people a reason to talk about you and b) making it easier for the conversation to take place".


Andy Sernovitz, author of "Word of Mouth Marketing", has compiled some great ideas about how to use Word of Mouth: check them out here.


What's the lesson for ChurchWorld?


Sernovitz lists 4 Rules for Word of Mouth Marketing. I've listed them here, along with my interpretation of how a church might apply them:



  • Rule # 1: Be Interesting. Nobody listens to boring, and that goes for churches, too. Do you communicate with passion and energy in all you do?

  • Rule # 2: Surprise People - Make Them Happy. Do you do everything with excellence? Do people leave your campus excited about what they've experienced, and ready to tell others about it?

  • Rule # 3: Earn Trust and Respect. Nobody talks about an organization they don't trust or don't like. Welcome your your guests, then listen to them. Fulfill their needs, and work constantly to make the best impression you can.

  • Rule # 4: Make It Easy. Work hard on your vision so it's easy to remember and repeat. What can people tell a friend about your church in one sentence?
In today's hyper-connected world, word of mouth is more important than ever - even when the "word" is digitally transmitted.



Monday, January 4, 2010

The Prerequisite of Clarity

2010 ushers in a new decade, one that will be loaded with uncertainty and contradictions. Writing on New Years Day, Seth Godin states that “change” and “frustration” are going to be the biggest trends of the new decade. Leaders with clarity will need to see through uncertainty and have the ability to discern what to do and where to go, when neither is apparent.

Clarity is a prerequisite for compelling leadership.

Bob Johansen, author of “Leaders Make the Future”, states that clarity is one of ten leadership skills that leaders will need in the upcoming decade of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Here’s a brief recap on clarity:

  • Clarity requires inner strength and discipline: leaders, even when immersed in a world of ambiguity and confusion, emerge with forward momentum.
  • Clarity requires great self-knowledge: leaders must first understand who they are becoming, and how to get there, before leading others.
  • Clarity requires external engagement: leaders communicate with inspiration and a call to action that attracts others to follow.
  • Clarity requires flexibility: leaders are clear about their destination, but flexible about the journey.

Leaders understand why people crave simple and easy answers, but should provide clarity without introducing false hope. Navigating the maze between hope and hopelessness, leaders with clarity will find a way out.

How are you relentlessly pursuing clarity in 2010?

Friday, January 1, 2010

The Calendar


It's 2010...a new year...a new decade...and a new calendar.

Hanging up inside a cabinet door in our kitchen, right next to the phone, is The Calendar. It's taken many forms over the years, but it serves as our family coordinator, so to speak. Every year on December 31 we take down the old one and put up a new one. The old one joins our file of 30 years of family memories.

The Calendar is a snapshot of what happens through the year - doctor's appointments, family and business trips, rugby games, church events, special nights out - if it happened, it's on The Calendar.

In this high tech world of smart phones, instant messaging, texting, Twitter, etc. it's reassuring to be a little "old school" and have a calendar on the wall that everyone contributes to and everyone can coordinate what's happening as a family.
Our family is ready for 2010 - The Calendar is pretty much blank, waiting to record our memories. We're looking forward to a great year!