*The* Metric: Water of Life

I don't write very often.  The rest of you are so much better at it than I am -- so I love tweeting to your great articles.  (Thank you to all who provide great content and tweet it so we can help pass it along!)  But today I couldn't *not* write, after reading Pastor Kevin DeYoung's article for leaders who feel unsure about progress toward their life's work.  So let me offer the following.  It came to mind yesterday as I was meeting with a handful of driven Christians, some from the evangelism sphere and some from the (Christian) emergency response sphere.

Puerto Rico has been in the throes of hurricane pain.  Many are responding, doing their best to come to their aid.  Among people's many needs *water* is the primary need (as in many disasters).  Thus FEMA measured the percentage of Puerto Rico's population who had access to drinking water.  It's not the only need, or the only process needed.  But water sustains life! Thus the water metric concretely symbolizes the urgent state of progress.

Then in October 2017, federal officials visited the island, lauding the great (process-focused) work being done... while quietly removing the not-so-flattering (outcomes-based) water metric from the website.  (Read Mercury News article here).  A social-media storm ensued, and the water-metric was returned to the FEMA site... raising the obvious point (that businessmen have known forever):

"You get what you measure.  And little else."  (...because you manage what you measure.)

Or to paraphrase Pastor Rick Warren:  "If your mission statement isn't measurable, it's just PR."

So Church, what's our mission and how is it measurable to know progress?  What say we return to the very simplest form for answering that:

"Go into 100% of the world... making disciple(r)s."

Not just *some* of the world.  Or some of the city.  Or even just some of the neighborhood.  ALL.  100%.

So where'd you go?  And how's your going, going?

Of the many elements of making disciple(r)s, giving our friends & neighbors access to the *water-of-life* is most key.

So, pastors... in your church's defined neighborhood, what __% of those household have had an optimal opportunity to hear/see the Good News of the *water-of-eternal-life*?

And if indeed The Church is its people, let me ask all of you as well:  Where did you go, and how's your going, going?  What __% of your neighborhood households have been given access to this *water-of-eternal-life*, through a loving Christian friend?




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Next-steps:  Visit BlessEveryHome.com.








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How To Reach Your Congregation In 60 Seconds... for Free

Pastors, can you reach your congregation during an emergency?  (Remember, voice-phone service is often down or jammed during an emergency.)

ReadyIndy is helping area congregations to think through their readiness capabilities.  Just about 'emergencies' and 'disasters'?  No, daily readiness.  And team readiness.  For prayer, care & share(ing the Good News).  That is, for daily effectiveness in carrying out the Great Commission in our city's neighborhoods.

Why?  The readiness that comes from the gospel of peace!  (Eph.6)

• Our God is WORTHY of 100% of Indianapolis' praise!
• Our Indianapolis friends & neighbors DESERVE to have an optimal chance of knowing Christ as Savior, Lord and have peace with Him forever!

Ok, so how DO we reach our congregations in 60-seconds... for free?

• Does your church have an official church Twitter account?  (Btw, these 100 Indy churches do.)  Get one.  In the following example, let me use @ReadyIndy's account-name for instance...

• But btw, your people do NOT have to get an account to accomplish the following step.

• Encourage your congregation to simply text the following phrase to (short-code) 40404...
  
  ON  READYINDY

• Ok, that's it.  Now they will get your tweet(s) within 60-seconds as a TEXT-MSG on their phone.  They don't even have to have a smartphone.

It could not be simpler.

But of course, to maintain your congregation's trust and attention, you'll want to develop a reasonable rhythm of communicating with them in this manner.

Caveat:  If your main church Twitter account is used so frequently that your people do not want to have all those tweets come to them as text-messages, they can just as easily text the following phrase to 40404...

          OFF  READYINDY

• In this case, you'd want to set up a special Twitter account for ONLY NOTIFICATION PURPOSES... eg, @ReadyIndy_notify ... and ask your congregation to turn that account on, instead.

A Video Overview of the Bible & Christianity

I'd be glad to hear your comments, thoughts and questions. You can easily reach me by emailing me at 'Coach@IndyChristian.TV'. Friend me on Facebook.com/IndyChristian. Or follow me on Twitter as @IndyChristian. Or even just call me -- I'd be glad to hear from you... 317-490-1255.

Btw, here's a friend of mine who's particularly helpful among North American Muslims here in Indianapolis. You'd enjoy getting to know him.

#CSRMsummit ...and our social-media workshop

Follow the #CSRMsummit tweet-stream.

It's yet another great national event which has come to Indy... the Christian Sports & Recreation Ministries summit.

I'm looking forward to participating on a panel discussion re social-media.

Here are a few key links I'll be referring to during my section re 'Twitter 101'...

• IndyChristianMedia.com -- our concerted effort to connect a citywide communications network.
• Twitter.com/IndyChristian -- my individual twitter-ID.
• Examples of important topical #hashtags... esp. re EVENT tweet-streams...
  #CSRMsummit #CCDA2011 #evangelism #indyprayer #Indy
  
• Twitter.com/IndyChristian/Driven-Christians - 500 Christian Hoosiers (& wannabees *wink*). [This one has become to popular that we've even assigned a domain-name to it... DrivenChristians.com.
• Twitter.com/IndyChristian/IndyChurches - another example of how to use a twitter LIST-feed to aggregate tweets by groups of people or organizations.
• Twitter.com/IndyChristian/CommTeam - this is 'the team' that I work most closely with; I follow them above all others, on at least a daily basis. Isn't that what any sports-team coach would do?
• 'Dashboard'... a one-pager re my social-media workflow to promote a given EVENT.
  
• @IndyTimeline... a twitter account, whose profile-link goes to our consolidated EVENTS listing, using a simple Google Document, thus easily formatted for bookmarking on your smartphone so you'll have it at your fingertips all the time. @IndyTimeline is a great example of social media helping develop collaboration citywide.

And lastly... CityReaching.com, as an example of a great connecting ministry, and how they encourage you to 'Push Our Social Buttons'!

Book Review: Transformational Church

Book Review: Transformational Church
'Creating A New Scorecard For Congregations'

Co-authors: @EdStetzer @ThomRainer
B&H Publishing Group, Nashville TN, 2010



Review by Neil Cox, @IndyChristian
****************************

I read a ton on the internet every day, and try to get through my Bible every year... so I have little time for popular books. I made time for this one. Why? I like well-researched information. I've followed @EdStetzer since he became the head of Lifeway Research. When he tweets, 25,000 people listen. When his co-author and boss @ThomRainer (President, Lifeway) tweets, 50,000 people listen.

And these days, the mere mention aloud of the word 'transformation' gets the attention of our driven Christians here in the Racing Capital of the World: we're thirsty to see evidence of real change resulting from the mission of the Church. According to other research, only 9% of Americans hold a 'biblical worldview'. If applied generally to the 400 Hoosiers who die weekly in our metro area between sermons, that means 364 are dying without such a perspective. And our cities look like it. Something has to change. And that something is us -- the Church.

Stetzer & Rainer aren't out to bash the church, but rather see it thrive. They clearly love the Church. And are now pointing us to key factors that characterize 'transformational churches' -- ie, those who are making a difference in lives & communities.

This quick video from their website will set the stage in a powerful way...


"We treasure the concept of 'transformation' because radical change is the heart of the Christian message and because the power of the gospel changes everything -- lives, churches and communities." (p1)

"Few churches use any system of accountability today. Many North American Christians perceive church-wide accountability as intrusive and overbearing. But we can only expect what we inspect. If leaders don't take a close look into the lives of believers, they should not be surprised when there is nothing worth reporting."

Stetzer & Rainer recite the three B's from the 'old scorecard'... "bodies, budgets and buildings"... which they allude to as the 'gold standard'... in need of revision.

"At its essence the new scorecard must measure how well we are making disciples." [Mature disciples.]

In their research, they selected churches by using an assessment algorithm that valued (at least some) growth, high rates of small-group participation, number of new commitments to Christ (per attendee), percentage who have then become active in the church, adults with regular responsibilities in the church, percentage of their adults actively serving in the community, and those churches whose constituents are regularly hearing reports of changed lives.

Moreover, the authors realize that this 'new scorecard' must go beyond measuring the tangibles to also measure some intangibles... suggesting these are some of the very things that make a church a church... eg. 'relational intentionality'.

And at its core... worship. "The motivation to see people of all nations become disciples of Christ is rooted in their desire to see God receive the honor He deserves." Stetzer & Rainer, both pastors, then explore some very keen insights about how TCs tend to worship. I'd love to share them here, but this chapter alone makes the book worth its price... $15.

And I've only touched on a few of its gems; there's so much more to be said. So let me just say 'Transformational Church' will someday be regarded as a classic, having re-focused the American Church on our mission.

And it begs a sequel. So let me take a stab at the outline of 'Transformational Church: The Next Generation'...

• Since TC deals primarily with traditional churches of 50 or more, and presupposes active small groups, what if your 'small group' is your 'church'... and worshiping in your home?
• Or expect to hear about Stetzer talking to your neighbor: "How's the church doing with Christ's command to 'love our neighbors as ourselves'... 1 to 5 stars?"
  
• And digging through outcomes data, validating community transformation.
• If so, I'm guessing we'll read reports of radical change perhaps most often documented among urban churches and neighborhoods. So what unique factors do we learn about from urban ministry? [After all... "Those the world regards as poor are rich in faith!"]
  
• And if we've not yet researched Hispanic, Asian and African dynamics, what is yet to be learned from other cultures not only present next door, but also among #multicultural churches?
• And won't a 'community scorecard' press us toward the obvious: our need for 'excellent teamwork' among the larger body of Christ in our communities? Expect to hear those stories.
  

Sorry; you can't buy that book yet. But you can buy this one and get started today.

Often a 'book' can accomplish way more than all the church-parking-lot discussions in the world. Transformational Church is one such book. So don't just buy it for yourself -- buy several copies to give away to the world-changers around you.

*************
P.S... September 7th... a special Transformational Church webcast. Free.

Praying For President Obama

A friend of mine sent a chain-email about the ways to pray for President Obama. How do YOU pray for him? Here's my reply...



Indeed I'll pray for President Obama... notably that he rules with justice & mercy... and that he's successful in bringing about 'change'... especially for those who need it most.

I'm praying that he'll use his every opportunity to defend the most defenseless in our land -- children not yet born and relying solely on the whims of their mother to keep them alive. I'll pray that he models godly wisdom, acknowledging primarily the God in whom we live and breathe and have our being... and that under Barack's watch, every American will have an optimal chance to know Him and have reconciling peace and redemption thru His Son. And that as President Obama has any opportunity to name justices to the Supreme Court of our land, that he do so with our children in mind... to spare them an early death... and who will grant access once again to an education with our historic godly values for them. And name justices who will once again level the playing field among ALL strongly held beliefs... 'religious' or 'secular'... in the quest for human flourishment -- that is, that 'religious' values need not be checked at the public door, but rather, have an equal opportunity to be heard, seen and discussed in the public square and the public educational institutions. To do otherwise is to limit free speech, short-changing our children and grandchildren. And especially in the age of our growing government sector.

I'll pray that he not laden our children and grandchildren with yet more national debt. I pray that he'll be the first to tell the nation's dirty-little-secret that any president can get by for 4 years if they have a money-printing-press. I pray that he'll shut down its excessive use, and that he balance the national budget just like all the rest of us have to.

I pray that he'll bless those who are freely blessing our communities with their nonprofit services, including churches, ministries, heath-care units, food pantries, jobs-ministries, charter schools, housing, etc.... May he encourage even more such organizations to form, thru tax incentives and reduced government paperwork requirements. And not handicap the most effective ones -- the religious nonprofits -- by barring them from an equal footing as they compete for grants and other regulated activities.

I pray that he'll be an advocate for families -- the families that God designed with a purpose. And I pray that President Obama will do everything possible to help families stay together, and be impactful in their neighborhoods.

And I'll pray that he treat the alien with the same compassion that God commands him (and us) to do. I pray that Barack will initiate practical reform of our immigration system -- that he will immediately fingerprint and allow people who will swear allegiance to the values of our country... into the U.S. to work and pay taxes and to thrive here with their families intact... the dream of our fathers. And allow those who accumulate 5 years of working & paying taxes... to qualify for citizenship and the benefits thereof.

Lastly, I'll pray that he frees us from a portion of the enslavement of working for the government without pay January thru May.

In short, I'll pray that President Obama acts in accordance with the 'Christian faith' that Candidate Obama said he had.

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 too 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

[a sermon I'm testing out.mp3]

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

The Rockpile

"Jan's" project for the summer...

[Slide-show]

Don't Blame Me... It's The Power Of Untamed New Media

I have 'no idea' how this sudden phenomenon got started, but I suspect one of my mischievous, e-capable friends.

[And you know who you are... so BEWARE... LOL.]

Related (real) story at IndyChristian.TV

Do You Have Luddite Ears?

Do you still have rabbit ears? I do.

And sure, I try to hide 'em.



Does that make me a closet-Luddite? I try to hide that too. LOL.

At the same time, all this is very much at the heart of why I do what I do.

Free is good. Free is scalable. So I like to promote free things... like free learning opportunities, free Bible-reading, free prayer and free/easy internet capabilities everyone can have.

But sometimes 'free' is very costly... in terms of your time.

Take free tv, for instance. To get 11 minutes of pure content during the evening news, I may sit through 7 minutes of news-teasers... to get me to sit through 12 minutes of (OMG, Andy Mohr) commercials.

And on-average, broadcast TV's programming really stinks... at least for 'driven Christians' to be watching/digesting regularly. I won't begin to name all the examples, but you know what they are.

Accordingly, I find myself watching less and less television. And more and more internet videos. Apparently so are other 'average Americans'.



Thus our move toward delivering 'IndyChristian.TV' to you. The point is for us to go 'pre-surf' for you, and find the best video content for LOCAL Christians who are actively engaged in the (whole) Great Commission. And increasingly, we're finding great videos produced by churches, ministries, and even by youthful individuals with e-capabilities.



So we're off and running now... adding new videos nearly every day now. How about YOUR favorite videos? Email us the link for consideration...

"Friends, Romans, Neighbors... lend us your videos."



P.S.... Anyone need some rabbit-ears? I'm just about done with 'em altogether.

'Let our gentleness be evident to all.'

Inspiration for the following should go FIRST to God, according to the story's author, Melanie Reed, a writer (and friend) here in Central Indiana...

"A man was walking down a street at night and had no place to go. He was cold and hungry and he was lost. He saw 2 houses next to each other who still had their lights on. One had a cross in the yard but loud angry voices echoing out into the street. He caught part of the conversation. How could he not? The still night air amplified every sound. They were cursing out one of their brothers for having done something they thought he shouldn’t. One said he hadn’t done it. The other said he had. No one was really sure of the facts but they were awfully sure of how they felt about it. The second house had no loud voices, just pleasant music floating above the air. An occasional low voice was heard asking what sounded like a question and then another sounding like it was answering. He thought he heard what sounded like a door shutting very softly as if from a different part of the house maybe farther away from the front where the lights were. And then he looked up just in time to see another light go on in a tiny room near the roof. He smiled as the voices became hushed and gentle while the music continued below. He thought to himself, how dignified. I will go up to that door because I know they will treat me the same way when I enter."

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Neil's Ed. Note.... Melanie's story reminds me that our comments, our blogs and our other forms of public internet interactions should be 'seasoned with salt'. And that's easier said than done, given our human tendencies to take advantage of the moment at the microphone.

So let's all pray and work toward Christ-honoring conversations online. When 'hard things' sometimes need to be said, may they be done in private insofar as possible. And when public... for the sake of dispelling significant error... may they always be edifying to the whole body of Christ, and at the very least gracious at all times. And may those few occasions be greatly outweighed by our posts of encouragement as we 'stimulate one another to love and good deeds." (Heb 10).

My cousin Lynda uses an email-trailer that might serve as good advice for us here as well...

"People may quickly forget what you've said or done in this life. But they will always remember the way you made them feel."

"Let your gentleness be evident to all."
(Phpnns 4)