Radio....

I met with Shaun Russell from the local radio stations yesterday regarding TRCC doing some short-term advertising for the Christmas season. Well I was amazed at how reasonably priced the advertising turned out to be. So TRCC is going to be doing a safety message on KRXL (94.5 FM) and KTUF (93.7 FM) from December 10th through the 14th. These messages will remind people that they need to take care at the holidays and be safe.

Now it gets better...from December 21st through the 24th we will be running a 30 second ad on both stations three times per day highlighting our Christmas Eve service and inviting people to join us for the Christmas holiday. This is prime advertising time for churches. I don't believe that on a year-round basis churches do well with mass media advertising, but at Christmas and Easter, when people who don't attend church are more likely to go, then it has great value.

So let me know if you happen to hear one of our spots.

Have a great day!

Active listening

I was going through some more boxes this week and I found my folder from the Nehemiah Leadership Institute that I attended in 2005. I was flipping through this goldmine of knowledge when I happened upon the unit on active listening. Let me share some of what they taught:

• Active listening is a skill. It must be developed and practiced often or we will lose it.
  
• Hearing is not listening.
• We often are not truly listening to another person because we are focused on what we are going to say next or distracted by other thoughts.
• Body language is a big part of active listening. Sitting forward and engaging the speaker with your body language helps to show the speaker you are interested in what they are saying.
• Active listening can diffuse disputes among people, because sometimes people just want to know that you heard them and their issue.

I thought this was especially helpful when dealing with conflict. I have noticed that can diffuse conflict most of the time just by letting the other person "vent" and letting them know that I am truly listening to what they are saying.

I have noticed when I preach that I tend to feed off of those who are engaging me with active listening. They are making eye contact and showing me with body language (nodding of the head, sitting forward, smiling or frowning) and it truly energizes me. I have always wondered how it would feel to preach in a church where the congregation is standing and giving lots of active listening cues...oh boy...that little Pentecostal preacher inside of me could come out...

Have a great day!

Sunday Scorecard

Here is the rundown for Sunday 11/18/07:

Praise: The band was missing several of our regular members, but we were blessed with some remarkable substitutes. Well done friends! The highlight for me was Frank's rendition of Michael W. Smith's song "Forever". I love the line "By God's grace we will carry on"...how true is that! It is only by the grace of God that we all carry on each and every day.

Drama: Debbie did a fantastic job as the recently divorced woman having Thanksgiving with her seemingly dysfunctional family. A glimpse into the reality of why we all need to be giving thanks to God for all we have in life. Debbie really made us feel like we were peeking into another persons life for just a moment.

Message: I finished up our Thanksgiving series on an "Attitude of Gratitude" by looking at how we can safeguard our Thanksgiving by knowing to whom we are thankful and what we are truly thankful for this year.

Attendance: 207

It's A Wonderful Life...

It is the weekend where we all sit down and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" together. We are starting a series called "A Reel to Real Christmas" this week and we are going to look at some of our favorite Christmas movies and how they can illustrate for us a Christ-centered Christmas. This week we are looking at "It's a Wonderful Life" and how like George Bailey and the priest Simeon we can know the peace of God through a life lived for His will.

I hope you will join us as we all learn how to have "A Reel to Real Christmas".

Have a great Thanksgiving!

BHAG?

What is a BHAG? It is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal as outlined in James Collins book "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies." This is a book that the leadership team is going to work through after the first of the new year. We are going to set some BHAGs at TRCC.

One of my BHAG's for the new vision is that 80% of the current attendees will be involved in a small group. Right now we have about 15% of our average attendance is involved in a small group. So how are we going to get another 65% percent of our attenders to get involved in a small group? Well that is the Big Hairy Audacious Goal...but we have a plan and it all begins with 40 Days of Community. We will be starting that campaign in the spring, so make sure you plan to join us for a life changing 40 days.

Blessings everyone. Have a great day!

Catching up

Sorry for not posting sooner. I was sick all weekend with a combination of sinus infection and flu bug. Well let me catch up a bit:

• Finished planning out the preaching strategy for 2008. I actually have the year completely planned. It will be an exciting year. We are Chasing Lions, tackling marriage and parenting and doing 40 Days of Community.
  
• I am working on my Christmas series "A Reel to Real Christmas". We will be looking at the beauty and message of Christmas through some of our favorite Christmas movies like It's A Wonderful Life, The Santa Clause, Polar Express, A Christmas Story and A Christmas Carol. If you love Christmas movies like I do then you should join us beginning November 25th.
• The family is getting away to the St. Louis area for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am looking forward to spending some time with my father-in-law.
• I am just finishing a wonderful book by Andy Stanley and Bill Willets: Creating Community: 5 Keys to Building a Small Group Culture. This is a very thought provoking book and touches on something that is at the core of my soul...the need for authentic community in the church.
• I am currently on a pace to read 35 books this year...my goal for 2008 is 50 or about one book a week. I won't have seminary studies to slow me down in 2008. I will post a list of the books I have read this year at another time so be looking for that in the coming weeks.
• On a personal health note...I will reach Day 60 of my workout plan on Monday. I am looking forward to the "tale of the tape" and the scale. I am almost to the point of needing a new wardrobe.
• We are busy at the office...we are getting ready for the December 2 Annual Meeting and the December 9 Christmas Dinner.
  

Have a great day everyone!

Sunday Scorecard

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Praise: Once again the band rocked "Salt and Light"! The energy level in the worship space went up ten-fold. The Holy Spirit was so evident in that room Sunday.

Drama: Vickie did a wonderful job on video of promoting the Drama Ministry. As a result of her upbeat and positive approach she has an entire new crop of budding thespians to serve God.

Message: I finished up the "Simply Amazing" series by taking about the fact that Jesus is personal, powerful and forgiving.

Attendance: 238

Ministry Fair: The energy and buzz in the lobby was wonderful. I really love that everybody either signed up for a ministry or walked away with information about TRCC's ministry opportunities. We are going to do these fairs in the Spring and Fall annually.

National Runaway Prevention Month

November is National Runaway Prevention Month. I don't think people think enough about runaways and so I want to raise it up so that we see it. The numbers are staggering. According to the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) somewhere between 1.6 and 2.8 million teens runaway from home each year. That means that 3-5 teens runaway from home every single minute of the day. Those are horrible statistics. We all know that sometimes these teens need to leave their homes because of the abuse, but life on the street is terrible.

There are resources available to abused teens in almost every community. If you know of a teen that is in trouble and contemplating running away please act on their behalf. Help them to find the resources available to them so that they have alternatives to running away. If you know a runaway teen please encourage them to call the National Runaway Switchboard to get help. We don't want these kids on the street to live a life of abuse and exploitation. We here at TRCC are here to help any teen that is in trouble.