Ode 17

Selling to Poor Markets

I read this article this morning and thought about the possibilities of expanding this thinking into other areas. Very enlightening should you choose to read.

At the Base of the Pyramid

Blessings!

Systems: Keys to Success!

I have had a lot on my mind. So much so that I haven't been adding to the list of postings on a regular basis like I used to. Most of the thoughts I have been mulling over have been about leadership. Over the past few years I was put into a high leadership position in my work at Sugarloaf UMC. Along with that, my wife and I (primarily Joanie) opened a business which obviously put us in the primary leadership role with the team we put into place. Consequently, my mind does not choose to leave the arena of leadership.

Joanie and I attended a business summit last week in Tampa, FL. There we learned many business principles related to the industry of the independent hair salon. It was interesting to note that what I heard being preached by the leaders were in fact the same principles on leadership we learn in church ...and any other business out there. An overriding tone was that the employees have to be treated as valuable members of a team. Yet all members of the team do not contribute to the same degree of effectiveness. Those who are most effective must be treated accordingly or they will end up leaving the team.

As a team leader I have experienced the joys and frustrations...

Wisdom From Mr. Bean

 
Smell it and roll it over before you eat it. This is especially true if you find it on the beach. If you find it in your front yard you might want to leave it for the neighbor's cat.

Transforming a Doer to an Equiper

My wife and I are attending a seminar this week that deals with business practices specifically for hair studios (Joanie's business). I took a week of vacation to attend this with her as I am always looking to pick up insights from the business world. Besides, it's not often I get to sit in a seminar with my wife (the real reason I'm here).

One of the instructors gave a talk this morning that reminded us we have employees that come in all shapes, sizes, and personal standards of work ethics. Our job as employers is to move them further up the ladder towards being the best employee they can ever be. After all, if they are satisfied with being adequate at best, are they the ones we want to have working for us? To paraphrase his talk, the presenter broke the employees down into the following five categories:

Level 1: These are blamers not thinkers. They don't think the quality of the job...

My Bench: Allstars!

I've been reading John Maxwell's book, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. This morning's law was the Law of the Bench. Every great team has a strong and deep bench. What would any great sports team be like if not for a group of tremendous players right behind the starting lineup? A great bench is not only wonderful to have but a necessity if you want to see success continuously.

While reading this chapter I reflected on this past Sunday at church. My starting role at Sugarloaf is...

Big Church - Little Church

I recently had a conversation with a fellow minister about traps that churches fall into. These traps can easily define a church's size. This morning I awoke to have my devotional time, drink my coffee and check emails, when I ran across this brief article from Church Solutions. I thought I would share it with you. Of particular note is the simple check list at the end. Check it out.

Copyright 2009 by Virgo Publishing. http://www.churchsolutionsmag.com/ Posted on: 09/09/2009

Why Small Churches Are Small By Lamar Slay There are many reasons churches are small. Every small church is small because of a combination of many of those reasons, but there seems to be one common denominator: Small churches think small. Or I should say, “smaller churches think small.” There are some churches in the 1,000-2,000 attendees range, or even larger, that continue to think small; they have grown in spite of themselves. That small thinking...

Career Transition Workshop

In these economic times it is obvious that layoffs would have effected some of my friends. I was talking with another of my good friends, Gari Tarulli, about things we could do to help our friends. His company, TCI Search, has put together a great seminar called the Career Transition Workshop. He offered to bring it to a small group at Sugarloaf. I offered this to some of the people in my Worship Arts Ministry and we are sitting in the seminar right now. There is a lot of energy in the room.

Here is a wonderful discovery: there is as much a desire to help each other as there is to get something out of this seminar. The attendees who have been looking for work for the past year obviously came here with a desire to get something useful out of the time spent here today. But along with that desire comes a real caring desire to give to each other.

That brings me to this question, "What are you doing to help your friends along?" If we all do just a little bit, whether it be a simple word of encouragement or networking assistance ...we can all do something to help our neighbors out doing these times.

Too Many Notes

In an earlier blog I quoted a comment that Miles Davis made to one of my favorite jazz trumpeters, Freddie Hubbard, "Freddie, you play too many notes. Ain't nobody can hear all that [stuff]."

It reminded me of a time as a youth when I had played my little jazz oriented heart out in a church service on my trumpet. A couple of my friends were impressed that I could do all that I did on the horn. I had gotten quite good and was always looking to impress while I continued to woodshed my chops. My dear, sweet great grandma walked up to me and confessed with a combination of look and tone of voice that only Grandma could give to one of her favorite grandsons, "It sounded like you were slidin' all over the place. You weren't playing the melody. I didn't understand it. Remember who you are playing for." Then she gave me her loving and special condescending look, along with a pat on the side of the cheek to assure me she was only trying to help. Grandma didn't understand my bent toward jazz. when it came down to it, I began to realize that in that little church I was growing up in, very few did. Yes, a couple of people understood, but most were clueless as to what I was doing. They really began to understand when they felt and heard me playing for the glory of God and not for my self (but that is a topic for another posting on another day).

How many times do we bring our expectations and personal agenda to the teams we lead or the congregations we minister to? The results can be devastating to you and to the people who are attempting to follow you.

I remember taking a job in a little country church one time. I thought...

Sanctifying the Secular

I was talking with my pastor the other day. We were sort of debriefing about the past week's Sunday morning services that have taken place since his arrival. I mentioned to him that of all of the services I had planned during my many years in ministry, the one that evoked the most response was our service a few weeks ago where we used five Beatles songs to get the message across (click here if you would like to hear what we did). It clearly was an "out of the box" worship experience ...and for a few it was a bit too much. However, for most...

Mission Statement

Over the past three years I've spent a lot of time working on mission statements. I worked on one for the church. I worked on one for my wife's business, Joanie Parker Hair Studio. And now we are about to go into a process of reevaluating the one at Sugarloaf UMC again.

This morning I received a devotional from "Lead Like Jesus" and it encouraged us to have a mission statement. Why all the fuss about words on a sheet of paper? Because it keeps you focused. Become clear about what you are trying to achieve in your life and you will most likely find success. A simple and succinct mission statement assists you to know what to spend your time doing as much as it lets you know what you shouldn't be spending your time doing.

At Sugarloaf UMC we want every person to be able to say we are about the mission of, "Transforming lives for Jesus Christ by worshiping God, growing our lives, and serving the world."

At Joanie Parker Hair Studio our mission is "to provide the highest degree of service to the body, soul, and mind of our clients, in a professional and comfortable environment. We do this by caring for our clients, caring for each other, and styling great hair."

Lead Like Jesus gave us this in today's devotional. Read on, and then ask yourself, "What is my mission?" If you don't know, sit down...