Good Time With Friends...

Here's the slideshow (so far) from our photostream.

A Truck-load of Watermelons and T-bills.

As I was growing up on the farm, my dad joked about a couple of guys who bought a truckload of watermelons for $2 a piece, hauled them across the state-line and sold 'em for $1 each. Poorer than when they started but ever the optimists, the smarter of the two came up with the solution:

"What we need next time is a bigger truck!"

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I guess that's why I left the farm and went off to the big city to get a college degree in finance -- so I could understand Keynesian economics.

But I'm still having trouble explaining it to my dad.

Cell Phones For Seniors

I was asked to do a presentation for senior citizens here in Indy, on the topic of cell phones & GPS. And I wanted to capture some of it to be published to help other seniors too. So Jim (Ackert) and I set out to produce a video on YouTube. [Let me be clear... Jim did all the heavy-lifting on the project.]

Hope you like the outcome...





And here are some other interesting items...

• GPS Shoes
• 
  

What's Better Than A Flat Tax? My Tax Plan.

Why pay tax at all?

The government can print money, right? So don't tax anyone. Just spend ourselves into oblivion, with no revenue stream.

I'm surprised Presidents Bush nor Obama have thought of this before.

Sound crazy? Maybe not. Stay with me here...

Think about it. Today's April 15th -- NO TAX RETURN TO BE FILED. NO COMPLEXITIES. NO ARGUING OVER WHO PAYS THE MOST OR GETS THE MOST TAX-BREAKS!

Moreover, we can spend to our national hearts content.

Sure, it'll inflate our dollars. *sigh*

But that's only fair. The amount that our dollars shrink in our wallets each night, is our effective tax-rate. Ok?

But the beauty of it is, look at all the holders of our dollars around the world who also will effectively be paying tax too! The Chinese government, no less!

[There's nothing like short-sightedness when it comes to creating great economic 'plans', heh?]

Quick Trip To My Old Kentucky Home

On behalf of my father & mother, I was able to take a day-trip down to near Glasgow KY to see some of my dad's cousins...




[Here's a link to the full-screen version -- it's a lot nicer, actually.]

Some sound-bytes from today...

• Quick Intro
• Surprise!
• Dean: "Hi"
• Several Hello's

And here's a link to the Bowles part of our family tree.

Can you help fill it in further???

Top 50 Indy Blogger?

Wow. I'm honored.

**unfolding a wrinkly piece of paper** "I would like to thank the Academy, and...."

Seriously. thank you. [Those who know me best will probably be contacting you shortly. Pay no attention.]

Actually, my whole purpose in blogging individually is to encourage the Christian community to engage in citywide conversation and networking, especially for urban/suburban teamwork. That is, help bring together 'The Church @ Indianapolis'... not unlike the city-churches we read about in the Bible. Be the Church. Bless the community. Thus our collaborative blog... IndyChristian.com is really more at the center of my focus.

But it's always nice to be recognized personally from time to time. Thank you.

7 Ways To Bring About Change

Innovation, renovation, reformation, renewal, revival, transformation... it's all about 'change'. We all desire change, yet are so little able to bring it about... even in our own lives. [Sorry to say, I speak from experience. Thus I've become a student of the topic over the last twelve years, in search of accelerated change.]

Being born-again is about radical change and life-long sanctification through God the Spirit, and into the image of God the Son.

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose." (Phpns 2)

So whether you're Barack Obama -- our Christ-professing U.S. President with a mandate for change -- or you're a church-leader working for the transformation of lives in your neighborhood... or you're even just an individual Christ-follower anxious to see radical change in your own life in the coming year... we all have the same basic question...

"What are the key drivers of change?"

Let me propose 7... and you tell me how to improve this list...

• 1. Humility, repentance & prayer. Profess Jesus as Lord. Confess the ways we have failed Him and each other... individually and corporately. Communicate with Him accordingly. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Lay the foundation that it will be GOD who gets the glory for change. "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Pray regularly for your community & leaders.
  
  
• 2. Adversity & Diversity. God sharpens us as we persevere in faith. He calls the body of Christ to be together. We cannot begin to know the fullness of Christ if we segregate into self-serving homogeneous groups. John 17 commands us otherwise. Our harmony is a testimony to our testimony. The multicultural church is the only church we read about in scripture. The parts of the body are given to benefit the whole.
  
  
• 3. Study, Research, Learn. The Bereans were called 'noble' because they went home daily and searched the scriptures. Do you read & re-read God's Word? Cover to cover? Over & over? He equips 'teachers' to make things clear -- do you listen? Do you read existing research? If not, chances are you're quite content being unaware that we, the Church, are only 4% effective in this country.
  
  
• 4. Goal-strategizing. Set your heart on things above. Lord, teach us to number our days aright. The apostle Paul always had a plan, and adapted as necessary. Do you have a plan? If you aim at nothing, you're sure to accomplish it. Are your goals measurable? If not, you've built-in your own loophole. Pastor Rick Warren intimates that if your mission isn't measurable, it's just a PR piece.
  
  
• 5. Train for gain. Self-discipline. Train yourselves to be godly. Sharpen one another. Stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Be prepared to make the most of every opportunity. Spread the good news rapidly. Learn new tools. Try new approaches. Test everything -- hold onto that which is good.
  
  
• 6. Mentoring & Accountability. Seek wise-counsel. Get a mentor or coach. Change won't occur naturally -- the human heart hates accountability. Commit to report your progress (or not)... to others. Then do it. Btw, Paul commanded Timothy to be a mentor to others. Are you mentoring others? Bonus: Teachers always learn more than the students.
  
  
• 7. Extend yourself. Partnering... it's a great way to effect change in our ministries & community endeavors. Are you sown into the citywide tapestry of believers? They'll help effect change in your life too.
  

Sharpen me. Your thoughts?


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[visit the 'Change' topic in the CityReaching wiki]

Why Johnny Can't REVEAL

Commentary by Neil Cox, Ministry Support Services

Top Ten Reasons The Church Can't Multiply...

• #10 "That can't be right. We're multiplying just fine."
• #9 You're way too short of data to prove otherwise.
• #8 Besides, we'll do anything to explain facts away.
• #7 And if we can't explain 'em away, we'll deploy an ad hominem defense.
• #6 Rhetoric serves us well... and especially if that's what the masses are atuned to.
• #5 Stay away from me with the facts. Me and my mission are just fine; and I have lots of stories to 'prove' it.
• #4 My experts are righter than your experts.
• #3 My people are happy. We must be doing things right.
  
• #2 [Thankfully it's my microphone. Please step away from the mic.]
• #1 The effectiveness of The Church is not an appropriate question to ask about.

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For those of you that survived these ten 'reasons'... you may be interested in following the discussion going on during the REVEAL conference this week at Willow Creek.

And for those of you believing the Church is multiplying mature disciples just fine... check out Barna Research reflecting 4% of American adults hold a 'biblical worldview'... CityReaching RESEARCH

Recent 'METRICS' articles & discussions

Where Did All The Money (Really) Go?

I had coffee recently with an out-of-town ministry friend whom I greatly respect for his 30+ years of urban ministry in NYC and beyond. At the end of our conversation, he gave me only this parting observation...

"Neil... I look at you as a servant
to help people navigate change."

The jury's not in just yet, but Lord knows I try.

So I've altered my journal slogan here, to keep his advice ever in front of me. And perhaps I'll write a little more often here if it's helpful to anyone who truly is trying to understand the change we see in our world today. I'm not the expert; but I have intentionally studied 'change'... both academically and biblically... and might be able to speed you along by simply sharing what I've learned so far. And you can take it for what it's worth. Fair enough?

Frankly, I didn't really expect to start writing today, but my financial genes have been actively buzzing lately with all the Wall Street talk and the ensuing political rhetoric. Then as if almost divinely directed, this morning I read a local theo-blogger (James Kubecki) write on the financial topic... "Where Did All The Money Go?"

James found a Yale economist's notion 'fascinating' that it's only a fallacy that we lose a pile of money when the stock market tanks.

My blog-post today is not at all to castigate fellow Christ-followers as they venture into the blogosphere world of conjecture. I'm an avid believer that we SHOULD have such discussions at the speed of Light... and accordingly, learn from each other. And since my career background includes a reasonable amount of financial training and practice... especially within a ministry context... perhaps this IS the time to venture a bit further toward 'serving people as they navigate change'.

There's little time or space here to comprehensively address this question of market value; so let me just offer a few items for your reflection...

• Just like courtroom testimonies, we see there are plenty of 'experts' on all sides of an issue. And in the final analysis, it's the responsibility of the jurors to discern truth from fiction. Similarly, there are all sorts of 'experts' about global finance, but it's your decision to make about which expert to listen to. Think back to how many of these tv experts predicted $5 gasoline. If anyone really has the ability to know that a stock or commodity is going up tomorrow, they would be wealthy beyond imagination. And a few are. But only a very few. Most aren't. Why not?
  
  My advice... take expert advice (and mine) for what it's worth... a perhaps-insightful opinion... and gather more facts & insights. Then weigh them with some good, biblical, common sense.
  

• The proverbial 'market'... is not just the U.S. market -- let alone just the Dow Jones set of indicators. It's the global marketplace of things considered to have 'value'... including your home... and other financial instruments held around the world. And standardly, U.S. television and other media outlets concentrate your attention only on the U.S. forms of expressing that value. As a result, while you're alarmed at the DJI falling last week, few people even discussed the 25% per-annum devaluation of the dollar from September 2007 to May 2008... as compared to the euro. Why not? Because our news and financial media only express value in denominations we understand... ie, the almighty dollar. Meanwhile, Europeans ate our lunch.

• While media now focuses on individual Americans overspending their budgets, who is talking about our government overspending (really)? What do you think happens to the dollar in your wallet when the U.S. government prints billions more than it takes in? Yet which political candidate is telling that 'dirty little secret'? None of them. Not really. Dare I suggest it's because they TOO want to be able to use that printing press in the back room when THEY might become president?

• If you're willing to swallow the Yale economist's comment hook, line & sinker... that your portfolio loss is just some ethereal 'fallacy'... I have a little piece of land in Florida I'd like to interest you in.
  
  Friends, if you can turn your portfolio into cash at any moment, then the change in the valuation of your portfolio is indeed going up... or down... with each tick of its market indicator.

Where did all the money (really) go?

For every transaction on Wall Street, there's a buyer at the table believing the price is going up, and there's a seller believing the price is going down. Indeed someone is going to be right, and someone's going to be wrong.

Sorry to say... if you paid someone for an investment that is now worth something less than it was, then it's easy enough to know who's got your money.

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If your ministry needs some common-sense help with navigating 'change'... give me a call. (317-490-1255)

Church Metrics.... An Outstanding (Upcoming) Innovation

Introducing ChurchMetrics from ChurchMetrics on Vimeo.

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IndyChristian Commentary...

Awesome innovation !!!

I love seeing this being promoted by an innovative church, too. That could greatly help its chances for success.

But of course the BIG QUESTION is... WHAT WILL THEY MEASURE?

We have an expression in the business world... "Ya get what you measure... and little else." (because organizations tend to MANAGE what they measure... and little else).

So WILL we measure the right stuff.... ie, indicators of TRUE CHURCH EFFECTIVENESS at what Christ gave us to do? (the Great Commission) And hopefully, the DRIVERS of the Great Commission... eg., Bible, Prayer, Care, Share, Dare, Discipling (replicating), Multicultural, Connection, Communication... etc.

[Or will they only measure pew-sitters and money-givers? Remember, churches have been measuring that for years... and thus we now have accomplished what? Uh... pew-sitting and money-giving.

It's an exciting day, when churches start begging these kinds of great questions, and developing innovating solutions. I guess we'll soon see -- at the speed of Light -- whether in fact we're actually DOING what we say we're doing... ie, the Great Commission.

Let me be the first (that I know of) to suggest that as driven Christians start STANDARDIZING some of these measures, we will someday soon see the advent of a new addition to the accounting field... called... "Mission Auditor".

Let me paraphrase Pastor Rick Warren... "If you can't measure progress re your mission statement, it's just a PR piece."

ECFA... Are you with us on this?

METRICS