Motivation Station

Are you into motivating or being motivated? Check out this video  by Daniel Pink, author of Drive :  Daniel is one of the guest speakers at this years Willowcreek Global Leadership Summit.  For more information on registering, please go here.

As I watched this, I had 5 thoughts:

1. Am I, are you, in a position to motivate?  I believe the answer is yes for everyone. We are either a leader, manager, parent, teacher, supervisor, coworker, friend, spouse, student, etc or all of them.
2. In any of those positions or relationships that you are in - What motivates you?  What motivates those you lead?
3. Do you assume that what motivates you also motivates other?  Does it?  
4. If you are leading motivation and innovation in a non-profit, church or para-church organization, how do you motivate?  Especially without using money?
5. Daniel mentioned 3 factors that lead to better performance beyond financial.  Do you agree/disagree?  How are you or your organization leading innovation in these areas?
• Autonomy - the desire to be self directed
• Mastery - the urge to get better at "stuff"
• Purpose - the need to be a part of something that transcends profit.  Motive for the greater good.

Can Folgers Do Good?

Does your morning Cup O' Joe make a difference?  Can it?  This is from a friends blog about Good Coffee   This is just another reason why I felt so compelled to change coffee at Grace  - we drink so much coffee in this world and to be able to drink a coffee with a strong mission and vision just makes sense.

“I believe these bikes will give

the people of Bukonya a new start …”

-Emmanuel Hagumayo

We have talked a lot about the Sustainable Cycle project, and many of you have caught this vision for buying a bike that will change the lives of farmers and their families.  It’s been exciting to see the innovative ways people have purchased bikes: bake sales, art auctions, or simply a donation jar.

I am now excited to share with you about a man in the village of Bukonya who was one of the first people to buy a bike through the microfinance project.  Bukonya is the village in northwest Rwanda where we have started a coffee cooperative and focused much of our attention as a company.  This village is very rural, so we have taken the opportunity to work (literally) to the hills. The coffee they grow, by the way, is amazing!  Buy yourself a bag of Bukonya Ikawa … you won’t be sorry.   Here are a few facts about Emmanuel.  If you would like an electronic file of his story to share let me know (erinleigh@drinkcoffeedogood.com).

• Emmanuel Hagumayo, age 62
• Hometown: Bukonya, Rwanda
• Family: his wife, 7 children, 1 adopted orphan and 23 grandchildren
• Occupation: Coffee Farmer
• Emmanuel was one of the first members of the coffee cooperative, & one of the first to microfinance a bicycle
• His belief is that the bikes will give his community a new start, making it “a place where people work hard, food is plentiful, and education is attainable for everyone.

 So Drink Coffee Do Good!  Okay?!  If you need any help starting or marketing this in your organization or church, please let me know.

Drink Coffee Do Good

At Grace Church we now have the opportunity to not only support our local roaster, but to also support fair wages for coffee farmers in Rwanda (who have been affected by genocide) and in Thailand (who have been affected by human trafficking).

Check out the details of who we will be helping and why we will be doing this by watching the videos below or checking out the story and product by clicking HERE.

Watch Video by clicking HERE

We will be offering complementary coffee on Sunday, April 25th - so be sure to check out whats happening in the cafe that day at Grace.

Remember, Drink Coffee Do Good!!!

Volunteers that Lead Well

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he/she wants to do it. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

To be successful in ministry, the art of leading and empowering your key volunteers into ministry leaders is vital to your success. Like business, your ministry and initiatives succeed or fail by your leadership. When done well, this will alleviate your time, energy and provide the proper volunteer with a renewed feeling of ownership and purpose.

Easy traps that ministry staff can fall into:

· Just filling a hole; not equipping a ministry with leaders.

· Not properly matching a leaders’ passion with the position you are seeking to staff.

· Matching the passion properly, but micromanaging the job they are doing or the decisions they make.

· Not being completely honest up front with the duties that the leadership position will entail.

· Not asking for help from others around you that empower well.

A church growing in this economy is probably not adding staff left and right. The staff’s duties will grow as the church grows – and without added staff it will become very difficult if the time is not put in now to have a proactive team of ministry leaders under you.

When done well, you can empower passionate leaders over your ministry teams to:

· Be an initiator not a reactor

· Recognize problem areas before you do

· Feel fulfilled by serving with purpose

· Ownership brings success

· Take stress and responsibility off of your plate

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER – THE LOWER YOUR LEADERSHIP ABILITIES AND CAPABILITIES, THE LOWER YOUR TEAMS WILL BE. You control the bar, as you raise your abilities, they should follow.

Health Care thoughts...uh oh!

Health Care Reform

Random thoughts/questions on the Health Care reform; maybe you can answer some of the questions or have other thoughts.

• We have a health care problem in our country. I was surprised how angry I was about this bill at first and how really angry Conservatives were. The more I thought about it, the Republicans had 8 years to fix this their way and they never did. Shame on them.

• Where does the money come to pay for this? I saw today that Medicare payroll taxes are going up. Is that true? It looks like this might be another bill the middle class has to pay for. Answers please…..

• It disgusts me that we live in a world of political payoffs from BOTH parties with every bill. That is how we get things done I guess. Shame on them.

• We need to love the poor and help them, yet at the same time not enable them. When will this country become good at that?

• What is to keep my employer from providing me with Health Insurance? Is the fine for them not offering it big enough to keep them offering it? And let’s be real, I work at a church, if the fine isn’t that big, wouldn’t it be good stewardship for them to drop all of us? On second thought, if businesses drop insurance coverage, do you get the money in your paycheck that they were paying in health insurance? Well, the amount making up the difference of the fine?

• Am I the only person in America that just wishes we do a flat tax of fair tax?

• How does this affect my doctor visits, my waits for hospitals, etc?  In what ways will this demotivate people from working hard?  Will it?

• I have to see some polls on this, because we live in a Democratic country. If this is something the majority of the country want, then it is what it is, right? Majority wins – always. Whether we like it or not. 

• Do you think that what Iraq became for Bush will become what Health Care is for Obama?

• I hope we all still give thanks and PRAY for our government leaders and this wonderful system we live in. Say what you want about it, but we still live in the best country there is. 

• Lastly, without trying to sound like one of those corny Christians who says I put my faith in God, His values and His sacrifice for my life as something more important to me than the politics of this country or how my taxes may fall…..I am going to say, “I put my faith in God, His values and His sacrifice for my life as something more important to me than the politics of this country or how my taxes may fall”

What are your thoughts or questions? Better yet, can you answer any of mine?