I go to your church, but you don’t know my name.

I sit in the back.

I slip out early.

I’m there every week…almost.

I try to follow God, but I’m not perfect.

You give me a smile and a handshake, but you don’t know my story.

You don’t know what I do for a living.

You don’t know my passions.

My struggles.

My plans or goals.

My past failures.

You’re happy I’m at church…you tell me every time I come.

But you never follow up throughout the week.

With an email or a phone call.

I’m not in a small group.

I’m haven’t been on a mission trip.

I’m not serving others.

I’m not on your radar.

Or your potential leaders lists.

But God’s gifted me.

And those gifts were meant to bless others.

Including you.

Our church needs my gifts.

And I need to use them.

But I need you.

I need your encouragement.

I need you to believe in me.

To breathe hope into my life.

Show me that I matter.

That God cares.

That I have a part to play.

That my story matters.

But until then…

I’m mostly forgotten.

 

I love blogging.

In fact, to date, I’ve written 347 blog posts.

Given that there are over 133 million blogs, and that 1 in 5 update their blog daily, it’s apparent that many, many people throughout the world like blogging as well.  I’m guessing you’re one of them.

And I think I just might have an idea why.

10 Reasons Why Bloggers love Blogging

1. The immediacy of the feedback. Within 30 minutes, you can get Retweeted.  Mentioned.  Get a Facebook “like.”  Facebook comments.  Comments on your blog.  Replies to comments on your blog…all of which immediately tell you whether your post was a success or a flop.

2. The quickness of publishing. Have an idea?  Watch a video?  A quote move you?  Throw it up on the blog…right now.  No need to wait on a publisher to review and edit.  No need to wait on a webmaster to get back in front of their desk to push your post live.  You can publish right now.

3. The freedom. Since it’s your blog, you can publish what you want, when you want, how often you want, with the consistency and length you want.  You can include pictures, videos, and links…or not.  Your choice.

4. The design. What you write can look cool on a page.  That’s motivating.

5. The platform. Many of us don’t have the chance to communicate with mass numbers of people every week.  Yet God has gifted us to do so.  Blogs give us that chance.

6. Work out our thoughts publicly. Instead of sitting in your office and stewing over thoughts and ideas on your own, blogging gives you a chance to work those thoughts out loud.  And I, for one, find great value in extroverting my ideas.

7. The interaction. Iron sharpens iron.  I think somebody said that.

8. Global reach. Instead of just sharpening your iron in a conversation with one or two friends, blogs give you the chance to sharpen it with hundreds, or even thousands, of people around the world.

9. Sharing. So much of the value of social media is found in sharing ideas, insights, and wisdom with others.  Successful bloggers give away more than they ever get.

10. The challenge. Blogging isn’t easy.  Condensing the content.  Focusing it.  Consistently posting high quality content.  It’s a challenge, but one that bloggers love.

Why do you love blogging?  What did I miss?

 

On every day ending in “1,” I’m writing an 11 word post.

Doing the same things over and over again bores me (see what I mean HERE)…which is why I’m trying this new 11-word series out.  If you’d like to catch up with this series, click HERE.

11s on the 1s

Without love, Truth is

Obnoxious

Offensive

Empty

Impersonal

Insignificant.

Relationships matter.

 

I love Christmas music.  It gets me in the mood to celebrate Christmas.

On Thanksgiving Day this year, we drove to my in-law’s house, about an hour away.  The whole way there and back, we listened to Christmas music.  Singing…smiling…talking about the upcoming holiday season.  I even set up a station on Pandora so I could listen to Christmas music when I was working in the house.  Wherever I turned, it was Christmas music.  I couldn’t get enough of it.

But the day after Christmas, I was done with that stuff.  It was almost repulsive.  I deleted the station off of Pandora.  Took the music off of my iPod.

And in the process, I learned a few things that we can apply to our churches and organizations.

What we can learn from Christmas music

1. Sometimes less is more. The fact that Christmas music only comes around once/year, and only for a month at that, makes it that much more exciting and meaningful.  People can get tired of a good thing.  Case-in-point: Christmas music.  Good ideas have short shelf lives.  Christmas music is a great idea around the holidays…but don’t think that that same idea will work in May.  Move on to another genre.

2. Change for change sake is good. I was so ready for a change on December 26th.  The music that had, the weeks prior, gotten me in the mood to celebrate Christmas now felt old.  Those Christmas carols needed to go.

3. Sometimes any change is a good change. Feel stuck?  Change something.  It’ll feel good, and keep the ball rolling forward.  Change feels like progress (whether it actually is or not).  Putting away the Christmas decorations and turning off the Christmas music feels good.  Like I’m taking a step forward.

4. When you do the same thing the same way, people will get bored. Christmas music works because, in January, you’re going to stop hearing it.  We’d all get bored if we heard the same music all year.  And when we get bored, we tune out…and stuff loses its meaning and significance.

5. Be willing to do away with your model. Andy Stanley says, “Marry your values, but date your model.”  As organizational leaders, we must know what our core values are.  Those are un-compromisable.  But our model should be constantly changing as it, over time, begins to shift us away from our core values.

Christmas music sounds awful right now. Because I’ve worn out the holiday stuff. Put up the tree. Boxed up the ornaments. Unplugged the lights.  And moved on.

And it feels so good.

Do you need to shake some things up in your church?

What things need to change?

Does “change for change sake” need to happen?

 

Have you seen this video of a homeless man, panhandling for money in Columbus, OH?

He’s got a fantastic voice for radio!  He just needed a second chance. (and he got it…read about his new job HERE)

There’s somebody you know that needs a second chance.  They need you to take a risk on them.

God’s gifted them, and for years, they’ve been told they’re not worthy to use those gifts.  They’ve been pushed to the back because of their past.  Ostracized because their story is messy.  And incomplete.  And there are more loose ends than tied ones.

They need somebody to believe in them.  Tell them that there’s still hope.  Encourage them.  Give them a shot.  Trust that God does change hearts and make things new.

Is there somebody you know that you could give a second chance?

Have you ever been given a second chance?

 

You can’t see God right now because you don’t want to.

I read 95% non-fiction.  The fiction I read is stuff like The Pilgrim’s Progress.

I know…I’m a nerd.  But I’m a learner (StrengthsFinder confirmed that), and am always looking for some new concept to engage.  Fiction doesn’t necessarily offer something new to learn…it offers a fun experience.  A story that is engaging, funny, or exciting.  And though there are definitely messages and truths to be found in fiction writings, be honest…that’s not why you read them.  You read them because you enjoy getting lost in a good story.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Which is why, throughout the month of December, I decided to put down my nonfiction and pick up a good story.  I’m reading (almost done) through the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.  Rick is a good storyteller, and I’ve enjoyed reading through the books.

The Mist

In the books, monsters and half-bloods (half-human, half-god) live, work, and fight right among mortals.  There’s a Mist that’s present on Earth (hang with me…I’m going somewhere…it’s fiction, okay?) that causes mortals to see supernatural people and events in a way that is not supernatural…which explains why we never “see” any of these events.  The main character (Percy Jackson) wields his sword and fights with a god in the city of Los Angeles…and the newspapers report that damage has been done by an earthquake.  When he fights 3 demons in a city bus, mortals see something completely different, explaining away what they saw as a natural occurrence.  In another instance, mortals saw a homeless boy that was big and goofy…through the Mist, he was really a Cyclops.

A little silly, yes.  A little childish, maybe.  But there are implications here for us.

We choose the Mist

Because we do the same thing every day.  God is at work all around us.  He’s causing the sun to rise and the rain to fall. (Matthew 5:45)  He’s changing hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26).  He’s turning the hearts of fathers to the hearts of their children. (Malachi 4:6) He’s holding the universe together.  (Colossians 1:17)  He’s healing relationships.  Overcoming fears. (2 Timothy 1:7)  Breaking the bonds of addiction.  Restoring marriages.  Drawing those who are far from Him closer.  Answering our cries for help.

And yet we choose to still ask, “Where’s God?!?”

The reason you can’t see God right now is not because He’s absent. Or abandoned you.  He doesn’t work like that.

The reason you can’t see God right now is because you’ve chosen not to. Even when you’re far from Him.  And your story has taken you off the best path.  And you’ve got more junk in your life than you’d like to admit.

God’s not far away (Acts 17:27).  You’ve just got to look through the Mist.

Have you seen God working lately?

Have you ever chosen to not see what He’s doing?

 

I’m going to start posting more consistently on the topic of social media.  Because I use it.  And so do you.

How do I know?

You’re reading this blog right now.

You also likely use other forms of social media (platforms thriving on interaction around user-generated content), like

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Ping.fm
• MySpace
• Wikipedia
• Yahoo!Answers
• FourSquare
• Gowalla
• LinkedIn
• Spoke
• Google Reader
• Reddit
• Digg
• Flickr
• StumbleUpon
• Posterous
• PostRank

I wish I had all of the answers, but I often find myself with more and more questions when it comes to success in social media:

• Why do some blog posts take off, and get thousands of hits?
• Why do others, some of my favorites, fall flat on their face?
• Why do the seemingly meaningless status updates get the most comments?
• Why do the posts I take the most time crafting sometimes get no traction, and the ones I put together on a whim go viral?
• Why do I sometimes get loads of comments and no retweets?
• Why do I sometimes get loads of retweets and no comments?
• Why do I think it’s cool to check-in using FourSquare…but nobody else seems to think so?
• Why do some people I know and connect with off-line quit following me on-line?
• What’s the next social media trend?
• What’s next for my blog?

It’s questions like these that I wrestle with.  They keep me moving forward, pursuing continued effectiveness online, and with my local ministry here in Clarksville.  If I’m not moving towards an increasing effectiveness, it’s time for me to quit.

What social media questions are you wrestling with?

How do you measure effectiveness on your social media platforms?

 

Photo by Natanis Davidsen

The start of a new year reminds us that there is a chance for renewal.  New growth.  New life.  Fresh starts.

It’s a time of year that God uses to remind us that He’s in the business of renewing, changing, and making things (including our calendar) new.  Making you into who you were meant to be.

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5)

But this whole “making everything new” concept, though it sounds fantastic, isn’t done yet.  And you know that to be true.

• You work your tail off, and still only get a ‘D’ in your class.
• You get sick.
• You haven’t gotten that job you’ve wanted.
• You can’t get pregnant and wish you could.
• You are pregnant and wish you weren’t.
• Marriage is more difficult than you anticipated.
• You’re up to your neck in debt.
• You’re in over your head with parenting.
• Your friends abandon you when you need them the most.
• Your car isn’t running right.
• You need a new roof.
• Your girlfriend just left you.
• You try to do the right thing, and bad things keep happening.

So has God abandoned you?  Is the Bible just plain wrong?  Is God really not making things new?

We live in the already/not-yet tension of this present world.  This is a broken, messed up place.  But it won’t always be this way.  It’s just that we are, in one sense, already new…and in another, seemingly more real sense, not new.  Because all of God’s promises aren’t fulfilled yet.  He’s renewed your heart and place His Spirit within you, but your body continues to waste away.  He’s given you great relationships in the Church…but all around you, relationships are falling apart.

The start of our calendars is a great reminder.  God is still making things new!  He’s still renewing people.  He’s still changing cold hearts.  He’s still redeeming His children.

There’s no promise that it’s going to happen today, though.  He’s making things new.  He’s not done yet.

The new is coming. Hang in there.

The new is coming. Don’t give up.

The new is coming. That’s a promise.

The new is coming. But it’s not here yet.

Remind yourself of these things.  Dwell on them. (Philippians 4:8) Remember that, one day, all things will be restored.  Everything will be made new again.

What do you wish would be “made new” in 2011?

 

I love using my Kindle.  I wrote about why HERE.

One thing I complained about was that I wish there was a way to share a book with somebody.  Here’s what I said:

I love to share books and give them away.  But I can’t with the Kindle.  And I get the whole copyright deal…I do.  Authors work incredibly hard, and should be rewarded for their work.  But here’s how sharing could work: if I share a book with you on the Kindle, I lose privileges with viewing the book on my Kindle…until you “give” it back to me.  If you choose to keep it, I would never be able to view the book again, unless I purchased the book again.

Looks like Amazon listened to me.  Well…I know I had little to do with their decision.  But regardless, sharing is now a reality on the Kindle.

I can loan you a book (at which point I can’t read it…because I’ve loaned it to you).  And it’s really easy to do.  I’ll walk you through it.

How to loan a book on a Kindle

1. Buy a Kindle. (or get the app HERE).

2. Login to your Amazon account.

3. On the left side of the page, under “Shop All Departments,” move your cursor over “Kindle” (see below screenshot).

4. Click on “Manage your Kindle” (see above screenshot).

5. Scroll down the page, and at the bottom of the “Your Orders” section, you’ll notice a link to “View All Orders; ” click on that. (see screenshot below)

6. This will take you to a page (see below screenshot) of all of your past orders.  On the right side of the order, click “View Order.”

7. Click the link for the name of the book to view the order.

8. Under the title bar on the next page, you’ll see a yellow-ish highlighted section.  At the bottom of the highlighted section, you should see a link, “Loan this book to anyone you choose.”  Click that link. (unfortunately, some publishers have disabled their title from being loaned at this time)

9. This will take you to the loan form.  Fill out the loan form and click “Send Now.”

10. Your recipient will receive an email with a personalized message (if you so choose).  They should click the “Get your loaned book now” link in the email.  Your book will be automatically “returned” to you 14 days after the recipient begins the loan period.

Have any troubles?

Are you convinced that the Kindle is worth it?

 

In honor of the new year, I’m going to start a new series of posts for 2011 that are only 11 words long (posted on days of
the month ending in 1: 1, 11, 21, 31).  Ahh…the challenge of limiting my words.  Cutting out the fluff.  Creatively, and quickly, making a point.

Just something different here on the blog.

11s on the 1s

January 2011.

New day.

Month.

Year.

Decade.

Should you make changes?