I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
I'm also blogging at:
Personality™
Church Marketing Sucks
September 2004 Archives
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September 26, 2004
To Hug or Shake?
Filed under: Rant
Is there a rule book or handy reference guide for explaining the when-to-shake and when-to-hug policy? It is becoming increasingly awkward for me as I meet more and more new people all the time. Add the whole business factor to the mix (new clients, old clients, vendors, etc.) and I'm your perfect candidate for coaching. For example:
If the person was a casual friend and then turned into a business client, do I shake or hug?
If the person was a business client and then turned into a casual friend, do I shake or hug?
If the person is family, I always hug. If the person is a friend of a family member, I shake. But what if the friend of the family member becomes more than the casual visitor around the family?
It seems as though when you begin the "hug," you can never go back to the "shake" with the person. But if you keep things to a "shake" with someone it seems like you always have to keep it that way until the other person initiates the hug.
It always gets weird when I have someone else with me (like my wife). Especially when the frequency of familiarity is different for all parties involved in the greeting.
When I meet someone for the first time, I usually shake. When I meet the same someone for the second time and my wife is with me meeting them for the first time, what is preferred?
What about when the person you are greeting is of a different culture and you know they are particular about their greetings (more so than my white-boy American paradigm)?
What about when the person is a different age, particularly younger?
What about when the person works for you and they come back from vacation? They hug all their coworkers but do you hug your boss?
Maybe I just have a certain phobia for all this, but it seems like there should be some answers.
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September 24, 2004
Goodbye Sir
Filed under: Big Ideal
What do you do when a leader leaves? When a mentor moves on? When a reason for signing up is not reason enough for staying on?
Today I said goodbye to someone who has been an example to me of leadership, humility and wisdom more than anyone I have had the privilege of working with in a long while. His discipline, courage and genius caused me to jump on board and help build a vision.
I've been working for him for the past two years. He was a quiet man. A shy guy. One of those people you know are thinking all of the time. We were not close friends but there was something about being around him that pushed me further and challenged me a lot.
And because proximity often determines proclivity for any more potential "bond," I don't see anything else beyond what the last two years have given.
He will be missed.
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September 18, 2004
American Holocaust
Filed under: Rant
I just finished reading American Holocaust by David E. Stannard. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so. It is a detailed and horrendously fascinating look into the days of Columbus and his Spanish conquest of the Americas. Stannard does a brilliant job of story-telling using journal entries from early Conquistadors, historical and archeological research, and a host of other information sources that all weave together in this 358-page quick read. Be warned: the details are gruesome and the inferred imagery made me do the proverbial "turning of the head" more times than I can count.
Never have I been so helplessly frustrated with humans.
While I sincerely appreciate Stannard's book, I absolutely and categorically disagree with his premise and assumptions for writing it. In the Prologue, referring to worldwide genocidal accounts, Stannard's intent is brief, "The murder and destruction continue, with the aid and assistance of the United States." Later he will say,
"Before Christ would return, all Christians knew, the gospel had to be spread throughout the entire world, and the entire world was not yet known. Spreading the gospel throughout the world meant acceptance of its message by all the world's people, once they had been located - and that in turn mean the total conversion or extermination of all non-Christians."
I could blog about this for quite sometime but it would work better for both of us if you just read the book.
Surprisingly, Stannard includes a quote half way into the book that does a much better job at encouraging change. While the context of it is not a premise for the book, it should have been.
"Rather, as Michael Berenbaum has wisely put it, 'we should let our sufferings, however incommensurate, unite us in condemnation of inhumanity rather than divide us in a calculus of calamity."
Thanks, Stannard, for educating me and completely changing my paradigms about Christopher Columbus and other significant "leaders" since then.
As for your conclusions and assumptions about America and Christianity being the cause of every past, present, and future genocidal evil, I beg to differ. Maybe a future blog?
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September 11, 2004
Early Tuesday Morning
Filed under: Life's Journey
Today is 9|11.
I found this recently from something I wrote three years ago...
Early Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. Jamaica and I were waking up to our one month anniversary of being splendidly married. My cell phone had abruptly stifled what was completing a decent night's rest for both of us. I didn't answer it. As we struggled to find meaning to the day ahead - convincing our newlywed brains that there really is more for us than being horizontal lovers - we fought the covers off and said hello to the honesty of the reflection above the sink.
Continue reading "Early Tuesday Morning"
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September 10, 2004
Church Marketing Sucks
Filed under: Brad Works
From the About page of the Church Marketing Sucks blog, a project I've been collaborating on for a few months that just went public:
Frustrate.
Something's wrong with your church. Something's wrong with the Church. Church marketing efforts and communication in general suck. We've got the greatest story ever told, but no one's listening. The church has a problem communicating, and it's time to change.
Educate.
We love the church, but it needs some help. Typos, cheesy logos, and bad clip art aren't helping the cause. But snazzy marketing won't save this ship, either. It's not about being perfect, but there's a better way to communicate. It's authentic, it's loving, and it knows how to spell.
Motivate.
This isn't simply about putting butts in pews or selling glossy postcards. It's about helping the church be the Church, and seeing lives changed as a result. If helping the church communicate better allows one person to finally glimpse the Gospel, then our work has been worthwhile. It may be fuzzy math, but God can worry about that.
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