Okay, this post had me rolling.....literally.

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2009/01/shetland-pony-biggest-loser-and-three.html


The Shetland Pony, Biggest Loser and Three Posts in a Cage Match
Wow, great feedback last week on whether “Massages during church” should be included in the book. Some folks loved it, some said it was average. Thanks for being honest.Today, I thought I’d do a short stack of essays, with three micro ideas instead of one long rambling essay. If you could only choose two of these three, which two would you put in the book? Pretend it's a no holds barred cage match, which two are walking out?(My hope is that I can fit all three, but I’ve put this book on a crash diet and have it running on a treadmill with a piano and a small Shetland pony strapped to its back and Jillian from the show Biggest Loser yelling at it. “You think, you’re good enough to be printed? You think you’re paper worthy? Is that what you think? You gotta be funnier than that! You gotta want it!” I am weird.)

Essay #1 - Using “let me pray about it” as a synonym for “no.”I love when someone asks us to help out at church and instead of saying, "no" we say, "Let me pray about it." Really? I asked you to help me clean up tomorrow night after the youth group and you feel like that's something you need to run passed the Savior of the world? He's going to give you the thumbs up or thumbs down on whether or not you can help me stack chairs for seven minutes?Sure, there are lots of situations that call for a "pause while I pray" response. But I think that 37% of the time when we say "let me pray about it" we are just saying that so we can delay the rejection and can later email the person a big no instead of doing it in person.

Essay #2 - Love OfferingsA love offering is kind of a "volunteer offering" the church takes up during special occasions like when a puppet group from Guam (named “Strings of Mercy”) is performing at your church. It's really not that voluntary though because if you don't contribute anything you're essentially telling everyone that your heart is not full of love. By not putting a couple of bucks in the offering plate you're actually putting in a big fistful of hate. I wish when the ushers collected a love offering they would say out loud when someone didn't give, "Oh, you don't have any love for the magical world of puppetry? I guess love your neighbor doesn't include puppeteers? Fine."

Essay #3 - Church names that sound like designer clothing stores.My cousin attends a church called "Warehouse 242." There's another church in his area called, "Elevation." In Durham, North Carolina there’s a church simply called "The Summit." I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point we started naming our churches after stores that sell designer jeans. And I'm cool with that. I don't think you have to name something the "Back to the Bible Holiness Church" which is outside of Atlanta in case you want to attend.I think it might be a great thing to have a funky name because it opens up some good conversations with people. Imagine you're at work on Monday and someone says, "What'd you do this weekend?" You can reply "I hung out at Elevation." Your friend will then say, "Is that the new salsa/techno/hip hop/Southern Cambodian traditional dance club? I've heard the girls in that place are ridiculous." At which point you can then say, "No, it's a church" and then proceed to share the entire gospel with him and possibly baptize him in the break room sink.OK, it might not go down exactly that way, but at the bare minimum, saying you went to "Elevation" is going to at least keep the conversation rolling and possibly even raise some questions. If you said, "I went to 'God is Awesome, Praise Sweet Baby Jesus Cathedral of Hope and Light' over the weekend," your friend might throw an imaginary smoke bomb and climb out of a window to get out of the conversation. Which is never a good thing.

A New Year

Well another year has passed. What a year it was! A lot changed, including a new job for me. I am not much a fan of resolutions, but this year for probably the first time ever, I am doing them. I am going to stick to them there is no other option (I will keep you posted...). And they are..........drum roll please.......

1. To read 20 books this year. And I am not talking twilight. I am beginning with Bill O'Reilly 'A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity' and John Burke's 'No Perfect People Allowed'
2. I need to run at least 3 times a week. I got of the routine and it shows. I have hit 295 lbs...just kidding.
3. I need to be patient. It is not easy for me to have patience with others. Most of you know this and I need to learn it.

Here we go, let's give it a whirl!

Changing of a Culture Part 2

Changing of a Culture continued:

2. Coffee and other drinks in the Worship Rooms. This is not merely a "let's not stain the carpet with spills" issue. As a matter of fact, that is not the issue. If that were the case, we would not allow coffee and beverages anywhere. The issue here is do we allow it or not. Does it change the spiritual nature of the service? A few weeks ago, we had everyone get up and walk to communion and I saw people walking to get their communion with a "Highly Caffeinated Chaser" in one arm. I read an interesting post allowing coffee in Worship; which side of the line should we fall on. Either way, it is one of the culture changes we need to decide now and the reason why we chose the direction we did.

3. This last one is a non negotiable that churches have been dealing with for years.
Stewardship in Church Resources
We need to create an environment that empowers and motivates those utilizing our facility to be good stewards of utilities, paper products and other items purchased for meetings/etc. I know there is a way to teach initiative in this area. Whether it is during the week or on Sunday mornings. Saving money is a good thing.

One last note, my brother and his family will be up from NC this week. Looking forward to it. I love spending time with him.

The Changing of a Culture (part 1 of 2)

For the last few weeks, I have had some constant and multiple thoughts on cultural changes that we need to start to do some thinking on.

For the last few weeks, I have had some multiple thoughts on cultural changes that we need to initiate brainstorming solutions for.
1. People at Grace tend to carry a late mentality. I am talking members, attenders and even staff. I know this is in part a reflection of how the world is, but how do we change a system that enables people to be late? Furthermore, how much of this is derived from our staff not being timely in their weekly connections with volunteers? We show up late to services, buy tickets late for events and don't end our meetings when we say we are going to end them.
I suppose maybe we need to create fences and draw clearer lines from the top on down. Start everything on time, no matter what. We do this pretty much for services, but what about meetings and volunteer trainings during the week? Do we create a culture where we just wait for everyone to get there? The trick is creating a balance of making the guests feel welcomed and making those who show up to the service late feel as though they are missing something. Apart from guests, as we start a service; are we valuing those that are timely in seats more or are we paying more attention to the late ones? Thoughts?

I have 2 more to post and will do those in part 2.......

Grace Christmas Decorating Team

I would like to take a moment to thank the following ladies for the part they played on Grace's Christmas Decorating Team this year. They made the church look great and are to be commended. I don't think people realize how much work goes into what they do.

So Thank You ladies!!!

Barb Burdick
Amanda Farr
Kathy Herrmann
Kelly Lundberg
Amy Mason
Deana McCullough
Joy Bennett
Please Compliment them if you see them in the hallways.