I heard a financial guy a few months ago say that the companies that make it through the recession will be the ones who reinvent and retrain their employees in customer service. I was excited about that because for years now it seems, at least where I live, that customer service has been lacking.
This past week I was in Home Depot and it seemed like there was someone standing at the end of every other isle asking me if I needed any help. And then when I was ordering my latte at Starbucks on Monday, they actually had my drink ready BEFORE I had even paid for it.
Maybe it's back. We can all hope.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Saying Yes To God Before...
I'm reading Kay Warren's book Dangerous Surrender. Our small group is reading it together and discussing it each Friday night. The theme basically boils down to "saying yes to God before He reveals His plans to you."
Got to admit that's not an easy one for me and my guess is it's not for most of us. I came across a story on another Pastor's blog that really inspired me. It's the story of how Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life came about.
In the early 90's Saddleback church was starting a building campaign. Rick says he and Kay felt led to share publicly with the church what their pledge was for the campaign. Kind of like King David did when they were building the Temple. He said he felt very awkward sharing that kind of thing publicly but he knew the Lord wanted him to so he did.
They pledged their entire salary for three years and had no idea how they were going to be able to do it. A few weeks later Zondervan called and offered a book deal to Rick to write Purpose-Driven Church and Purpose Driven Life. The advance was the exact amount they had pledged.
I don't think there's any question why The Purpose Driven Life has become the best selling book that it is.
Got to admit that's not an easy one for me and my guess is it's not for most of us. I came across a story on another Pastor's blog that really inspired me. It's the story of how Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life came about.
In the early 90's Saddleback church was starting a building campaign. Rick says he and Kay felt led to share publicly with the church what their pledge was for the campaign. Kind of like King David did when they were building the Temple. He said he felt very awkward sharing that kind of thing publicly but he knew the Lord wanted him to so he did.
They pledged their entire salary for three years and had no idea how they were going to be able to do it. A few weeks later Zondervan called and offered a book deal to Rick to write Purpose-Driven Church and Purpose Driven Life. The advance was the exact amount they had pledged.
I don't think there's any question why The Purpose Driven Life has become the best selling book that it is.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
When the Church is the Church
I haven't posted anything for two weeks. For the last 10 days our church has been providing overnight shelter for the homeless in our community. It's always a busy, tiring, emotional, exciting, etc. time. So for the last day or so I've been processing some of the things I saw and experienced.
The way I would describe the week is "This is what it looks like when the church is the church."
We housed around 40 homeless guests each night and provided them with 3 meals a day for 10 days. We partnered with our local government, para church groups and other churches to provide this service from Nov. through this morning. Our goal was that no one would die from exposure to the cold.
But when the church is the church it always finds a way to go above and beyond the goal. And that's what our church did this week. Our volunteers truly saw our guests as just that - guests.
While I did not see everything that happened this week I did see our church be the church, and it occurred to me that we did that through little things. Things like:
-Floy and Carrie being at the registration table every night, knowing everyone by name.
-Mike and his team in the kitchen on the first night. They not only had a blast serving but set the bar high for the quality of food for the rest of the week.
-The small group who showed up every morning to make lunches for the next day.
-Chris Sole who just signed up to be a driver and ended up being there every night and not only drove but literally did every other job there was - always ready to do what ever needed to be done.
-The Duncan's small group who, on Sunday night, seated our guests at the tables, gave them menus, took their orders and then served them steak with the works and homemade milkshakes. Can you say dignity. Many of our guests have not sat and been served in a restaurant in years.
-Jeremy our team leader who may have missed his calling because he was a better social worker than the actual paid social workers who were there. I was so impressed with how he handled every situation with calm and ease and always treated our guests, even those ready to throw punches at him, with grace.
-People like Cathy, Jamie, Alice, Mike, David, and just about everyone involved sitting and having conversations with our guests. Not small talk but real eye to eye conversations.
-Jeff and Jamie who in the middle of a major family crises found the strength to continue serving and leading.
-Elise and her team that did foot spas and manicures. It was such a hit they had to come back a second night.
-Carolyn and her team who mended people's clothes.
-Danny and Jen who had the original vision for our church caring for the homeless three years ago. And even though they could not be there this year, they were at home every night with their two newborns praying for our guests and volunteers.
-The 11-4 and 4-8am shifts. Those guys are a little crazy. You'd have to be to find as much joy serving at that time of the day as they did.
I couldn't be more proud of our church for the little things we did this past week. God says in scripture "Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in little things, now I will give you greater things."
That's what happens when the church is the church.
The way I would describe the week is "This is what it looks like when the church is the church."
We housed around 40 homeless guests each night and provided them with 3 meals a day for 10 days. We partnered with our local government, para church groups and other churches to provide this service from Nov. through this morning. Our goal was that no one would die from exposure to the cold.
But when the church is the church it always finds a way to go above and beyond the goal. And that's what our church did this week. Our volunteers truly saw our guests as just that - guests.
While I did not see everything that happened this week I did see our church be the church, and it occurred to me that we did that through little things. Things like:
-Floy and Carrie being at the registration table every night, knowing everyone by name.
-Mike and his team in the kitchen on the first night. They not only had a blast serving but set the bar high for the quality of food for the rest of the week.
-The small group who showed up every morning to make lunches for the next day.
-Chris Sole who just signed up to be a driver and ended up being there every night and not only drove but literally did every other job there was - always ready to do what ever needed to be done.
-The Duncan's small group who, on Sunday night, seated our guests at the tables, gave them menus, took their orders and then served them steak with the works and homemade milkshakes. Can you say dignity. Many of our guests have not sat and been served in a restaurant in years.
-Jeremy our team leader who may have missed his calling because he was a better social worker than the actual paid social workers who were there. I was so impressed with how he handled every situation with calm and ease and always treated our guests, even those ready to throw punches at him, with grace.
-People like Cathy, Jamie, Alice, Mike, David, and just about everyone involved sitting and having conversations with our guests. Not small talk but real eye to eye conversations.
-Jeff and Jamie who in the middle of a major family crises found the strength to continue serving and leading.
-Elise and her team that did foot spas and manicures. It was such a hit they had to come back a second night.
-Carolyn and her team who mended people's clothes.
-Danny and Jen who had the original vision for our church caring for the homeless three years ago. And even though they could not be there this year, they were at home every night with their two newborns praying for our guests and volunteers.
-The 11-4 and 4-8am shifts. Those guys are a little crazy. You'd have to be to find as much joy serving at that time of the day as they did.
I couldn't be more proud of our church for the little things we did this past week. God says in scripture "Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in little things, now I will give you greater things."
That's what happens when the church is the church.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Reaction vs. Acting
I was reading Mark Batterson's Wild Goose Chase this morning. He framed a truth in a way that really grabbed my attention. He basically said many of us act like Christians but we don't always react like Christ. "How we react says a lot about who we really are." Wow. As I look on my own journey I can see how it's easy for me to generally act like a Christian but when I get "bumped" in life, sometimes my reaction is not so Christ-like.
Great food for thought. BTW - I highly recommend Wild Goose Chase.
Great food for thought. BTW - I highly recommend Wild Goose Chase.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Letting Kids Serve
One of my goals as a parent is to instill in my children a passion for helping and serving others. I'm intentional about doing that in a lot of ways.
For example, my son has a friend who had to have a number of surgeries when she was very young. On several occasions, when I was going into to DC to visit her and her parents at the hospital, I took Andrew with me. I wanted to let him see what serving others looked like and give him an opportunity to do it himself.
Yesterday we had a parent/teacher conference with Abbey's Kindergarten teacher. She said Abbey is doing great, excelling in some areas and right on track in others. That was great to hear, but what really thrilled my soul was when she described, without really knowing it, how Abbey was serving a couple of her classmates on a daily basis.
Two of the boys in her class have learning disabilities. One of them has Down syndrome. Abbey seems to have a God given sensitivity when it comes to kids her age who need special attention. The thing that really almost brought tears to my eyes was when her teacher said that Abbey was so helpful with the boys that she actually moved them so that they are sitting next to Abbey in class. She said Abbey had a great way of gently helping them stay on track without calling attention them.
I love watching my kids grow and seeing their spiritual formation develop right before my eyes. Can't wait to see what God has in store for them.
For example, my son has a friend who had to have a number of surgeries when she was very young. On several occasions, when I was going into to DC to visit her and her parents at the hospital, I took Andrew with me. I wanted to let him see what serving others looked like and give him an opportunity to do it himself.
Yesterday we had a parent/teacher conference with Abbey's Kindergarten teacher. She said Abbey is doing great, excelling in some areas and right on track in others. That was great to hear, but what really thrilled my soul was when she described, without really knowing it, how Abbey was serving a couple of her classmates on a daily basis.
Two of the boys in her class have learning disabilities. One of them has Down syndrome. Abbey seems to have a God given sensitivity when it comes to kids her age who need special attention. The thing that really almost brought tears to my eyes was when her teacher said that Abbey was so helpful with the boys that she actually moved them so that they are sitting next to Abbey in class. She said Abbey had a great way of gently helping them stay on track without calling attention them.
I love watching my kids grow and seeing their spiritual formation develop right before my eyes. Can't wait to see what God has in store for them.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Great Pastors
I think the mark of a great pastor is one who is willing to help, support or encourage other pastors. That's something I strive to do. I've met pastors in the past that have the attitude that they are in competition with other churches and therefore other pastors. In Fairfax County, where I serve, there's about 1.6 million people, and the last stat I read said that about 75% of them are unchurched. So to be in competition with another church is silly. The harvest is truly plentiful.
I had a great meeting last week with Rod Stafford who pastors Fairfax Community Church. Rod is a great guy and was a huge help to me. He's incredibly genuine and I really appreciated his encouragement. I hope to get to know him better down the road.
I'm meeting in a couple of weeks with Ray Bearden at First Baptist Woodbridge. I've known Ray for about 10 years. I don't know him really well but he has a great reputation in our local network of churches.
The reason I'm meeting with these guys is to pick their brains a little about some of their best practices in church growth. When they became pastors of their churches, the churches were in similar places as our church is now - about the same size and wanting to impact their communities but needing to strategically plan and organize themselves to do that. And in my opinion they have both been successfully in leading their chruches to impacting their communities.
So I think I can learn from Rod and Ray. And I'm thankful that they are willing to be a part of our churches success.
Along the same note I just want to stop and take the time to thank some other pastors who have taken the time to mentor, encourage, support and teach me along the way:
-My dad, Charles Magnet (first and foremost), Rod Mooney, Rev. Harold, Art Turner, Bill Shoulta, Vernon Cole, My brother Chuck Magnet, Joe Gill, Steve Welch, Samford Beckett, Greg Loewer, Bob Felts, Rusty Coram, Rick Warren, Joe Long, Mark Batterson, Rich Hurst, and the ones that I'm sure I've forgotten.
I had a great meeting last week with Rod Stafford who pastors Fairfax Community Church. Rod is a great guy and was a huge help to me. He's incredibly genuine and I really appreciated his encouragement. I hope to get to know him better down the road.
I'm meeting in a couple of weeks with Ray Bearden at First Baptist Woodbridge. I've known Ray for about 10 years. I don't know him really well but he has a great reputation in our local network of churches.
The reason I'm meeting with these guys is to pick their brains a little about some of their best practices in church growth. When they became pastors of their churches, the churches were in similar places as our church is now - about the same size and wanting to impact their communities but needing to strategically plan and organize themselves to do that. And in my opinion they have both been successfully in leading their chruches to impacting their communities.
So I think I can learn from Rod and Ray. And I'm thankful that they are willing to be a part of our churches success.
Along the same note I just want to stop and take the time to thank some other pastors who have taken the time to mentor, encourage, support and teach me along the way:
-My dad, Charles Magnet (first and foremost), Rod Mooney, Rev. Harold, Art Turner, Bill Shoulta, Vernon Cole, My brother Chuck Magnet, Joe Gill, Steve Welch, Samford Beckett, Greg Loewer, Bob Felts, Rusty Coram, Rick Warren, Joe Long, Mark Batterson, Rich Hurst, and the ones that I'm sure I've forgotten.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Processing Yesterday
I usually try to keep my posts positive but I need to process yesterday's events and this is my best outlet.
I was driving back from taking our puppy to a dog park to let him run off some energy and socialize with other dogs. As we were driving home down Rt 29, in Centreville, VA, I noticed smoke coming over the treeline. It was a cold day but I knew the smoke was too thick and dark to simply be coming from a chimney.
About a mile down the road I could clearly see what I had feared; it was coming from the roof of a house. Rt. 29 is a very busy four lane road but at that point no one was around the house. I pulled into the neighbor's driveway and called 911. As I jumped out of my truck another guy was pulling in behind me. He ran to the house and I ran to the neighbor's house (which was very close) to alert them.
As we tried to get in the front door of the house we could see the second level was full of smoke and the flames were coming down the stairs. We began looking in the bottom floor windows to see if we could see anyone inside. By that time the backyard was already burning from the debris coming off the back of the house.
Just minutes after Fire and Rescue arrived the house erupted with flames and smoke. It was so intense they had to spray the houses on both sides to keep it from spreading, and at one point they were concerned that they might lose several houses in the neighborhood. It ended up being a two alarm fire that took 60 firefighters an hour to get under control.
An elderly gentleman was inside and died in the fire. Talking with the next door neighbor I learned that the man lived there with his daughter and son-in-law and that the man's wife had passed away a couple of months ago.
So, those events and that family are weighing heavy on my heart and mind.
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