the transition begins.
today begins my first day in the office during what will be a several week transition time. by the time we are sitting down to thanksgiving dinner, the transition will be complete and I will be fully engaged in my new role overseeing all things high tech here at mariners.
in the meantime, I will be dividing my time and honoring the role that brought me to mariners 2 years ago. today I will be formalizing a list of final projects to complete before I officially transition. i am excitied and looking to the future of my new role, and at the same time a little sad today to be thinking about the transition. so many great things have happened to me in this role. i have learned a lot and had the opportunity to work with an amazing team.
i know that this new role is a God thing in my life and so as i move forward i embrace God moving in my life and in my family. i thank him every day for walking alongside me as i grow as a leader and a servant. so today i am going to roll up my sleeves and figure out what needs to be done.
reflections on lighthouse weekend.
this past weekend was amazing. our whole service was dedicated to teaching about how important it is to love those who are poor and in need. kenton shared some really cool insights from his study. one of the most impactful ones for me was that Jesus comes to us every day cleverly disguised as the poor and needy. we choose how to respond to jesus by how we respond to those in need. another powerful insight was gained in kentons office… not in the service. we create distance with the poor because that is safer for us. we do not want to acknowledge that we could be them, and franly we do not want to be faced with the need. when we do what jesus commands we collapse that distance and come face to face with poverty and we have no choice but to be compassionate.
Laurie also spoke about how we can respond. she was confident and poised. she shared from her heart and she motivated our church to action. In her message she shared this cool blessing.
A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with discomfort…
at easy answers, half –truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heartMay God bless you with Anger…
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.May God bless you with Tears…
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.And may God bless you with enough foolishness…
To believe that you can make a difference in their world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
the weekend wrapped up at sunday night service. what an amazing experience that was! zimmerman had prepared this community for two weeks that the challenge was going to be 100% participation, and that if you were not going to be all in… to stay home. and they did not. the came in droves. in fact attendance was up over previous weeks. and when the call went out people responded. they took food boxes, promised to bring blankets, signed up for events and gave generously. being able to see the response was really cool.
this was my last lighthouse weekend to be involved with. by the time the next weekend rolls around I will be in a new role at mariners, and I will participate as a staff member, but not as a part of the core team. this dedicated staff works hard to move the congregation to be more like jesus, and it was a priviledge to be part of that.
recent discovery.
this week I had the opportunity to visit several mixed use development sites in the la area as preparation for planning commission. i grabbed my camera on this particular trip and thought I would capture some imagery for further consideration. I did find a few neat features of the structures, that I did photograph (link to album), but you want to know the coolest thing I saw the whole day? that’s right… angela lansbury’s star on the walk of fame. guess what i did to celebrate. right again. i watched “murder she wrote” had some peaches and went to bed early.
my day with xerox.
gather around children and listen to my tale of woe. not really. just being dramatic. our copier resource assessment panel gathered for lunch and a field trip to xerox for a copier demonstration. we however were treated to so much more! during the course of our two hour tour we got to experience multiple scanning solutions, color copiers and they even provided cookies!
here are some of my thoughts…
- listen to your customers. we specifically requested to hear about the color copiers that we are looking at for the office areas. we did not ask to hear about scanning solutions or production color machines. we got antsy during the first hour of our visit because we were being given content we did not ask for.
- attempt to be interesting. mariners is pretty corporate for a church… but this place took the cake. we entered the colorless, bland conference room and were seated facing a screen. we quickly learned that the first part of our presentation was a webex meeeting… a jigga what? so we sat and stared at a bad powerpoint presentation being given over the phone. seriously… picture this - our team of 5 and the xerox team of 6 all staring at a screen and listenening to 2 people at the other end of the phone. priceless. best line… “i’m now approaching the copier” no joke… they were “demonstrating” the product for us over the phone.
- make sure your product actually works. it’s great that you want to try and show us all the shiny new features of your machine, but when it won’t print the files we sent over LAST WEEK then “houston, we have a problem!” also the booklet maker did not work, the copies were on glossy paper (which we do not every use), the black toner is just as shiny as ever and the print driver needed to be downloaded and reinstalled.
- pick someone to lead the presentation. of the 6 people in the room with us the whole time, no one ever took the lead. at various points, they were actually talking over one another. now, i understand this is sales and everyone wants in… but for real? one person could have lead the discussion and brought in experts as needed.
at the end of the 2 hours the sales rep had the gaul to ask our team point person if we had gotten everything we needed while we were there. ummmm no. the copier did not print our samples as requested. we had been overloaded with info we did not need and the only reason the demo ended was because we finally said we were leaving.
so what can we learn? learn everything you can about your audience. make sure that your message is designed to mee their needs and not yours. don’t try to sell something unless you are sure it will work. and most of all keep it simple. one clear voice would have gotten much farther than the six mixed messages we received. will we renew our xerox lease? who knows… so much goes into the decision beyond this one visit, but if this was their one chance to impress they would be given a failing grade.
update: turns out that xerox is reading my blog! who knew? anywhoo… spent some time on the phone with the manager of the santa ana branch and discussed in great detail how xerox could meet or exceed our expectations. now only time will tell.
breakfast with sally
christie is training a new hire this week which means early mornings to get prepped before the newbie arrives. the plan today was for her to drive in by herself, but sally and I decided that we should just go in together and we would have breakfast since her teacher was not at school yet (a concept that sally still does not really understand). we dropped christie off and headed to our friendly neighborhood starbucks and got a couple of bagels and beverages. sally got a short cold milk and i got the venti carmel macchiato. she teased me with the promise of bites of her bagel, she giggled when i played hide and seek behind my coffee cup and she cracked me up with her “faker” smile and raised eyebrow faces. right before we left she looked around really thoughfully and said to me, “daddy, this restaurant is really nice.” fun times.
Facebook.
Over the past few weeks I have been connecting with tons of people via Facebook. I have had an account for some time, but recently have seen a surge of people jumping in. I am literally connecting with people that I have not seen in years. I am a huge fan of web 2.0 and social networking and I believe it is a communication tool that should be used by the church to foster community. The power of Facebook has been seen in the launch of a new service here at Mariners that was promoted only on Facebook.
So friends… go forth and connect on Facebook. Add me as a Friend if I am not already one.
Oh… and one more thing… I came across this early interweb posting. This must be from sometime in the 1860’s. Hopefully someone other than Don Sewell will find this funny.
Technolust.
I want an iPhone.
I always said that when it could talk to Exchange I would get one. Well guess what friends. It talks to Exchange now. So what is the problem? AT & T coverage SUCKS at my house. So I could have the world’s coolest phone and not be able to make calls when I am at home. Perfect. How about another cell tower in the Huntington Harbor area AT & T??? You could make a little boy very happy.
Wondering what features the new iPhone has? Check this video out.
Wouldn’t it be great…
if this sign really was true. in a deeply theological sense there is truth to this. when jesus was resurrected on a sunday everything was able to go back to normal. i am pretty sure that is not what the sign was talking about though.
between…
traffic in socal can be unpredictable, so i left early enough to get to planning commission even if there was bad traffic… but there was not. guess what that means…
you guessed it. chai tea frappuchino and free wifi while i wait.
thank you starbucks and att.
I love helpful signs
For as long as I can remember I have been a fan of helpful signs. Whenever I see a new one, I try to record it for posterity. I saw one the other day on the side of a truck unloading at Mariners.
The implication of the sign… eating out is the way to really enjoy life. I hope that is not true. If it is then how do I enjoy the 4th Meal and a great life at the same time?
So everyone… hop in your car and head to your favorite eatery and start enjoying life.
//blair
P.S. The first photo (while very realistic) is in fact a clevery forgery of an actual church sign. Click here to create your own and fool you friends and family.
