HD Conference- Part 2

More from the HD Conference

From a session on facility administration led by Dan Dorner, Senior Associate Pastor at FBC Woodstock:

• Any warm body won't do
• Hire people with a call
• Hire the faithful
• Hire people who understand the priorities and necessities of time, money and space
• Always redefine "necessary"
• Begin with the end in mind

From a session on young adult ministry led by Wes Cantrell, the Young Adults Pastor at FBC Woodstock:

• Young adults are interested in small groups, causes and interaction.
• Focus on the unchurched, not competition between churches.
• Good leaders produce followers; great leaders produce leaders.

HD Conference- Part 1

Earlier this month, I attended the HD Conference at First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Georgia. Here is some of what was shared:

Johnny Hunt-

• People don't take God's Word seriously because they plan to do nothing with it.
• Alot of people just audit church; where will they be on graduation day?
• What are we doing with what we know?

Ken Ham-

• The seven C's of history: creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, consummation.
• Noah built a boat too large, out of obedience, but also because God is gracious and made room for others.

Book Review- Pyro Marketing

Mass marketing is dead. That's what Greg Stielstra states in his book, Pyro Marketing. Stielstra claims the best way to understand marketing, the way its messages are sent, received, acted upon and spread, is to think of it as fire. Pyro Marketing, he explains, features four steps:

1. Gather the driest tinder: promote to the people most likely to buy;
2. Touch it with the match: give them an experience with your product or service;
3. Fan the flames: help them tell others;
4. Save the coals: keep a record of who they are.

Many of the concepts presented in the book have been shared in other formats but the fire analogy seems quite applicable. Though at times the book is a bit repetitive and some of the sections on brain activity are more in-depth than is easily readable, Pyro Marketing is thought provoking in its attempts to challenge the reader to seek new, more effective ways to market products, goods and services.

Fun on Friday

Our next door neighbor is a nice man. But he mowed his yard this week. He's great at mowing. Me, not so much. I knew I'd fall behind this summer. I just didn't know the mowing cycle would start in March.

I keep thinking that eventually this season of American Idol will get better. That someone will stand out. That if I watch long enough, I'll have a favorite. But I'm beginning to think that's not going to happen.

Since the Kentucky Wildcats' basketball games are on TV all the time, I would love to watch one game without the networks showing us Ashley Judd at least 10 times a game. Enough already.

Why is it that when you order pizza, it always seems to end up costing more than you expected it would?

Great Quote Thursday

Army Chief of Staff George Marshall to General Dwight Eisenhower during the middle of WWII:
"I want to see the solutions, not the problems".

No Offseason

Over the course of the past year, my oldest son has been involved in various youth sports: spring soccer, summer track, flag football in the fall and basketball during the winter. We've allowed him to try different sports to see what he likes to do. So far he likes everything.

Each sport has had a distinct time frame or slot on our family calendar. From preseason practice through the schedule of regular season league games to the post-season awards event, we've penciled in each seasons' starting and ending date. Recently, our basketball season finished in late February and soccer practice begins next week.

While our family has enjoyed each athletic season, we've also enjoyed the breaks that have occurred between each season. The offseason. The time "off" for weeks without practices and/or games. The breaks in the schedule have been nice.

But parenting is entirely different. In parenting, there is no offseason.

Here's the Point: As I think about the change of athletic seasons and the offseasons that accompany them, as a parent, I'm reminded of Ephesians 5:15, 16: "Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity". We try to always look for teachable moments, to make the most of every opportunity, with our sons. Times to encourage, support and build-up them up, not always simply to correct or discipline them. Because, as a Dad, there is no offseason. Making the most of every opportunity is imperative for every parent, as the last words of Ephesians 5:16 remind us- "because the days are evil".

Less Than the Best

I needed to send a fax from work last week. I grabbed a cover sheet from the stack and begin to complete the information on the sheet. And then I noticed the poor quality of the cover sheet. It was obviously a copy of a copy of a copy and, to make matters worse, it had been copied at an angle so that it was off-center. It had about 347 (more or less) pixely dots all over the sheet. To top it off, there was a stray pencil mark in the middle of the page (or possibly, disgustingly, a stray hair that had been copied on to the page sometime in the past).

The last time I needed to fax something a few weeks back, I had seen the same cover sheet, noticed its poor condition, used it in a hurry and then went on my way thinking that someone should place a clean cover sheet next to the fax machine. Someone should have done it. I didn't do. And nobody do it.

But last week, that fax cover sheet took on extra significance for me. Because I recognized that it wasn't just a poor quality cover sheet; that page represented our organization to outside vendors. When we fax a company a request for information, when we fax in a recommendation for someone, when we send something to another church, that cover sheet is the first thing others see. It makes a first impression and represents us as a church. And it was poor quality and it was an embarrassment.

Over the course of time, each of us on staff, myself included, had ignored the poor quality of the cover sheet and waited for someone else to make it better. We had each settled for less than the best. When I decided to address the situation, it took about 2 minutes to print a clean cover sheet, make several copies and throw out the old ones.

Later that day, in our weekly staff meeting, I challenged our staff to be pay attention to details. To not take things for granted. To try to look for ways to make things better. To not settle for less than the best.

Dominance: Good or Bad?

Is being dominant a good thing? If you are part of a team or an organization that is dominating, it's a great thing. But to those on the outside looking in, it seems that it may depend on your point of view. Why are those who dominate often viewed so differently?

The Connecticut women's basketball team just won its 71st straight game; setting a new record for consecutive wins in women's college basketball . If Connecticut doesn't win the national championship in a few weeks, it will be deemed a major upset.

Coca-Cola historically commands the lion's share in every soft drink market, consistently outselling all other brands. Its percentage of the market share is unrivaled.

Prior to recent revelations of marital infidelity, Tiger Woods was the top-ranked player in professional golf. He was consistently among the final pairings playing on Sundays. When he did not win a tournament, especially a major, that often seemed surprising.

Jimmie Johnson has won the past four Sprint Cup championships. By winning last year's Sprint Cup, Johnson set a new record for consecutive championships.

But when considering each of these examples of dominance, it's interesting to note how each is received:
The Connecticut women are often disliked (somewhat due to their head coach's seeming arrogance), though their winning is almost expected;
Coca-Cola is so synonymous with the phrase "soft drink" that people will often order a "Coke" without any thought that a restaurant may serve Pepsi products;
Many golf fans will ignore the final rounds of a tournament if Tiger Woods is not in contention and will not even watch a tournament in which he does not participate. Often, he seems more popular than the field;
Thousands of NASCAR fans seem bored with the unprecedented efforts of Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports #48 Lowe's car as witnessed by lower TV ratings and declining attendance at NASCAR races.

Is dominance good or bad? In a society that often loves the underdog, I guess it just depends. Sometimes dominance is celebrated while other times it is ignored or disliked.

Alvin Reid

Dr. Alvin Reid, Professor of Evangelism and Student Ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke at my home church last weekend. He really challenged our church to focus on the next generation. Speaking in conjunction with a DiscipleNow weekend, Dr. Reid shared in the morning service from Acts 2 on "Movements". Here is some of what he shared:

The American church has reduced a movement to the maintenance of an institution.

Personal preference is not the Truth of the Gospel.

Everyone is living a life that is different from what they thought their life would be, but everyone wants their life to matter.

Many people treat Christianity as a factory and as a result they are raising their children to be atheists.

Later that evening, Dr. Reid taught from Acts 11:19-26 on the topic "Reaching the Next Generation". To reach the next generation, he challenged us to:

1. Share unchanging truth, but differently- v. 19-22
2. Focus less on behavior and more on wonder- v. 23
3. Focus less on rules and more on relationships- v. 24
4. Focus less on institutions and more on a movement- v. 25, 26

People don't necessarily reject the Gospel, but because of the way many Christians live, they just find it irrelevant.

Fun on Friday

With gas prices as low as they've been in awhile, I wish I could stock up for later this year, like around summer vacation time, when prices always seem to go up. Unfortunately, some things like gas and milk you just can't really stock up on.

Recently, Tonya and I ate at Pancho's Mexican Restaurant. We love Mexican food. But let's just say that if you wear your coat into the restaurant (it has been quite cold), unless you have it cleaned, your coat will smell like a Mexican restaurant for days afterward.