A Day in the Life of a Lemon

Everett just emailed me about a new search engine called Viewzi.  The idea is instead of being presented with a list and clicking an item only to see it is not what you wanted and then have to go back to the list.  This shows you screenshots of what your results are.  Watch the 101 video for the idea behind it.  It could be cool… not sure I like the cosmetics of it though.

Just watched Family Matters on Nick at Night. Laura said she was such a good salesperson she could sell suntan lotion to Michael Jackson.  Thought that was hilarious!

Also a side thought, in the opening title the grandma is reading Rolling Stones and U2 is on the cover.  How cool is it they are still doin it and doin it well?

Another thought, what has Richie been up to?

Rory Noland

Calling all team builders – 1 cor 3:10

Suggestions for team building

• Visualize what it is you’re trying to build. (Cast a vision) don’t duplicate another church
  • Question – within the next 5 years what would you like to see happen in your ministry? (services, volunteers, leaders, vocals, instrumentals, musical styles, level of musicianship, fellowship, discipleship, musical growth, spiritual growth)
• Communicate your vision in a compelling way
  • remind them often
  • you are recruiting people to a mission, not yourself
• Build your ministry one volunteer at a time
  • not once in all of his years of ministry did he sit back and say, wow I’ve finally got enough volunteers
  • challenge musicians to reach out to their talented friends
  • Pray
  • adopt a “go after them” mentality – Jesus went after his peeps
  • Build your ministry around strong people
  • Make sure your ministry is a safe place for an artist
    • Encouragement is huge in an artists life
    • Prov 3:27 – do not withhold good from those who deserve it
    • Moses hired artists – when done he blessed them – he inspected their work and encouraged them
  • Implement processes that work
    • Constantly evaluate our processes
      • Music selection
        • if one person selects all the music it will lack variety
        • use a team to select music
        • have one non-musician
        • make time to listen to new music
      • Music preparation (meetings, rehearsals)
        • spend time making sure everything is setup a head
        • Think ahead of time about the layout of the rehearsal
        • start with easy songs (ones they know) then throw the hardest one at them.
        • if you can work with vocalist and artist separate that is the best in his opinion
        • tell the vocals at what you want them to sing
      • Evaluation
        • This is how speak to each other
        • Give your ministry a letter grade in terms of its processes. What can be done to improve the area that scored lowest?
        • Is there anything you’re doing that’s inhibiting the ministry’s effectiveness in song selection, preparation and evaluation
      • Don’t ignore problem, fix them.
        • Question: are there any problems within your ministry that you’ve been putting off? How can you address them?
          • A lady just asked I have a problem – I’m married to the Senior Pastor
          • BE CONSISTENT
          • The way we talk to each other is extremely important
  • Utilize volunteers to help you manage your ministry more efficiently
    • What do I need the most help with right now and are there any volunteers who could assist you in that task?
  • Invest in the lives of your people
    • do life together
    • phil 2:19-20 – Paul was frustrated because he didn’t have others who cared like Timothy.
    • Don’t be too busy doing God’s work that you’re not doing God’s work which is dealing with people
    • Looking back on his ministry the people is the best thing that stands out, not a song, book, cd, event, etc.
  • What specifically are you doing to invest in the lives of your volunteers?
  • Live a sustainable lifestyle
    • There is a crisis in our ministry today. People are working way too many hours.
    • from me – Learn to say NO! enjoy the video below from Doug Fields I heard at a youth specialites concert
  • Don’t stop being a musician just because you’re a leader

Saw this through kem’s blog. I gotta say, it it did it’s job. I wanna go!

It’s no secret that I love reading Ken’s Blog. Even though I am way behind in my blog reader (currently trying out google reader instead of bloglines, I’ll let ya know what I think when I’m done evaluating) I always stay up to date with Ken’s blog.  He has a feature he does called Yes and No.  I ran across this today and thought it was awesome! In my book it would definitely be a yes. Check it out!