What were YOU THINKING !

Ann Coulter


Us.

Podcast: "Why Urban Blogging for Change?"

[Jeremy is a neat young influential pastor in the heart of New York City. Perfectly on-target with TechMission things we're doing in our various cities & locations, to help accelerate communications, and in the end... hopefully... CHANGE.]



Listen in this morning, as Jeremy podcasts a presentation that he & I did with other CCDA folks in Indy, to present/discuss technologies to help change the urban world in the name of Christ

[click to see his site and listen/learn] [Comments anyone?]

Christian Scorecard... 'Scoring For Change'

Ok, Indy... we won the Super Bowl... But what's the score in the LARGER contest?

The Baseball Box Score... innovated... sharpened... and helped baseball rapidly develop into the 'national sport'. Key statistics continue to sharpen the sport... In fact, they have now driven the innovation we call "Fantasy Baseball"... ie, fictional teams, games, and whole seasons of fun enjoyed by millions of baseball enthusiasts across the country.

Henry Chadwick, often called the Father of Baseball, innovated the sport and helped it blossom by the use of statistics... the Batting Average, Earned Run Average... and the publishing of the little 'Box Score' that quickly summarized the game.

What's to be learned about this innovation... and how we might deploy the wisdom contained therein?

Or how similar is it, to Jesus telling the parables of the 10 Talents, the 10 Cities, or the 10 Minas? Wasn't his point, that our goal is to be found being faithful stewards of what we've been given -- ie, EVERYTHING we've been given; not just money, not just physical capabilities, but everything -- and thus maximizing our 'return'... ie, productivity/ROI? On what basis will we expect to stand in front of Him and hear "Well Done, Good & Faithful Servant"... especially if we're getting beat 96-4.

Btw, simply building some statistics is not the most important part of Chadwick's innovation... The real genius of his box score was WHICH STATISTICS... ie, he went on to invent the Batting Average, the Earned Run average, etc. That is, he knew which things would become the real key indicators that would ultimately drive success.

And isn't that our goal here? Find what keys work well, to drive godly change in lives & communities? E.g... Bible, Prayer, Worship, Gifts, Humility, Harmony, Loving Action, Justice, Service, Witnessing, Fellowship, Leadership, etc.

The 'Christian Scorecard' is a scoring model to beg the big questions and help drive accomplishment of an organization's (or individual's) mission. Anyone could adapt it to their situation... in business or ministry.

"You get what you measure... and little else." It's an ageless axiom not unlike "Inspect what you expect."

Pastor/Author Rick Warren says... "You must be able to look at your purpose statement and evaluate whether your church is doing it or not. Will you be able to prove you've accomplished it at the end of each year? You cannot judge the effectiveness of your church unless your mission is measurable. A great purpose statement will provide a specific standard by which you can review, revise, and improve everything your church does. If you can't evaluate your church by your purpose statement, go back to the drawing board. Make it measurable. Otherwise your purpose statement is just a public relations piece."

Or conversely stated... I say... "Show me what your ministry is measuring... and I'll show you what its REAL mission is."

The uniqueness of the 'Christian Scorecard' is the division into 4 Quadrants (perspectives)...

Q1 God's Perspective... The all-important perspective... What is our mission... ie, the mission of the Church? The Church @ Your City, perhaps? How will we know if we really are accomplishing it? What objective statistic(s) might symbolize progress toward our ongoing mission?

• Example: Biblical Worldview... held by less than 4% of American adults. What about our city? Our neighborhood?

Q2 Neighbors' Perspective... If we carry out God's mission in our lives and ministries, will it transform people around us too? Our community? What objective measurements might validate if that's true in our communities or not?

Q3 Internal Process Perspective... What value-chain processes should we excel at, in order to best accomplish God's mission? How will we know we're making progress in sharpening our processes? What could we measure along the way?

Q4 Change Perspective... How can we change... individually & corporately... to accelerate our capabilities to carry out God's mission for the Church? What metric might symbolize our improving ability to CHANGE? After all, isn't sanctification a synonym for 'change'? And isn't it the promise of God that He will sanctify His own... over time?

The Christian Scorecard deployed as part of any Strategic Plan needs to demonstrate the status of your plan succinctly at any month-end or year-end. That is, "What's the score now?"

Here's one application of the Christian Scorecard... as we're developing the "State of the Church at Indianapolis" Report. It has helped as we started talking about the 'Indy 400'... and the fact that here at the beginning as we start, we're getting soundly beaten... 96-4.

So how can we sharpen this concept to be even more helpful in driving CHANGE in our city or community?

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[Subsequent interesting link -- Kirby Anderson Commentary]

'Salt & Light' Award...

This honor was way-undeserved, but nonetheless appreciated.


The 2007 Reclaiming America for Christ (RAC) conference took place this past weekend, motivating and equipping Christians to fulfill Christ’s call to be salt and light in their everyday lives.

[continued at ReclaimAmerica.org]

I only accepted is as a representative of the growing team here in Indy, of driven Christians... each of whom is actively involved day to day in great ministries... urban & suburban... and each of them are deserving of this honor way-ahead of me. I'm just doing the clickity-click easy stuff. They are the real heroes here in Indy.