Systems

This will come as no surprise to any of you who know me... I'm a systems girl. I love having a plan...no I require a plan. The lack of a plan will throw me completely off kilter. So, this Tuesday I am truly grateful for Systems.

Perhaps I take systems to too much of an extreme, but there really are some significant benefits to having systems in place:

1. It's about the goal!
Systems allow you to focus your mental attention on the what of what you're doing rather than the how. They keep you on task.

2. Order from chaos
When approaching a particular goal (e.g. a production, a web redesign, the building of a new team) the number of "to-dos" can seem and be countless and overwhelming. Creating a system makes this less intimidating and gives you clear direction on where to start.

3. Auto pilot
There will always be days when we just have "off" days. Staying on goal on an off day can be at the very least challenging. A system allows you the luxury of going on "auto pilot" and not losing speed.

In the past year I have put systems into place for service planning, marketing, and team development. They have moved my goals for my ministry much further along than before. A plan truly is a beautiful thing, as long as you work the plan.

I recognize that systems come entirely from the organized side of this Organized Artist. What do you artists think?

[image by anthony mattox]

Follow up to Tools of the Trade: Ziti

This morning I was sorting through my many thoughts from last nights meeting as I also sorted through silverware, pots, pans and plates.

Last night was really fun! There is something to be said for sharing conversation around a meal rather than around a conference room table

Here are some things I noted:

1. One of the most important actions I could participate in was listening. Leading, like everything else has a time for speaking and a time for listening. Last night some of the ways I felt we made the most progress was for me to listen.

2. The guys around my table are deeply invested in making the arts at Cypress work. These are folks who don't stop short of investing not only their skills and time but often even their funds directly into making things in the arts at Cypress better.

3. They had great ideas. I walked away from our meeting with two pages of implementable ideas. Ideas that will improve our services and improve our serving.

What have you done to hear from your team members on their thoughts for the team? I would strongly encourage sharing a meal and some laughs together. It's a great use of time and energy and hopefully a way to not only make a meeting not look like a meeting but a way to show your appreciation for your team.

[image by E.A. Sanabria]

Tools of the Trade

Today my tools of the trade are MS Entourage - my out-of-body brain, my china and a pan of baked ziti.

Ok, I realize this is a less than normal combination of items, but it is exactly what I believe my team needs.

Entourage as I've explained before, is a magnificent tool that I use to organize not only my time and contacts, but the Project Center truly rocks at helping me stay on top of large projects involving lots of people, events and tasks. Today I must have spent more than 1/2 my work day in just that software.

Tonight however, I'm hosting a meeting of a different kind. I want to have a chance to get to talk with team members, get to know them better, understand their hearts for our ministry, empower them to serve and lead even better. That kind of conversation feels odd to me surrounded by flip charts, laptops and budgets. Instead it feels like a dialog around my dining room table.

I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, do you have any of your meetings like this? How do they work for developing your relationships with your team members? What is the long term impact on your team?

Well... I'd better go, can't let the garlic bread burn!

[image by joebeone]

Gratituesday - A Cheerleader, Challenger, Friend

Sunday morning we sang the song God of This City. I stood on the front row of the auditorium with tears leaking from my eyes. It is a powerful song. But for me it holds extra power because of a friend who sang it with me the first time we used it in a service.

My friend, Cheryl Khan, was a spiritual leader here at our church. She served on many teams including several within Cypress Arts.

She served as a mentor for me, she was an incredible cheerleader for our teams, our ministry and even for my leadership.

Cheryl was constantly trying, learning and excelling in new things. From studying to become and practicing as a lawyer, exposing herself to different cultures and experiences through travel, to creative endeavors such as cropping, cake decorating, acting and singing she wanted to constantly grow and constantly give back to her world around her.

She would regularly find resources that she felt would grow me as a person and as a leader and get them in my hands. She had the beautiful ability to see things as they could be and the tenacity to not settle for second best. She was not afraid to let me (or anyone) know when I was dropping the ball or not living up to my potential. She spoke the truth to me. I needed that in my life.



A year ago today Cheryl went to be with the One of whom we sang "There is no one like our God." And Sunday, as I sang those words again, I thought of her and how much I miss her on my teams, in our church but mostly in my life. I sang the words knowing that now she truly knows the full meaning of them.

So today I am very grateful for the influence Cheryl Khan was and in many ways still is in my life. I hope and pray that you too have someone who will challenge and cheerlead you. If you don't, persistently look for that person. You and your ministry will be better for it.

When was the last time...

[image by ajstarks]

...you listened to a choral project?

I love choral work. I love the harmony and the precision required to make a choral piece excel. But it's been awhile.

These days I serve in a church that has a full band, a couple of vocalists usually, strong multimedia elements and the occasional texting exercise in our service.

We're what some people call contemporary, what my mom would call too edgy, what others call over-produced, we're what churches like our's call relevant, welcoming and we love your kids.

All of that to say that I don't have a real regular call to incorporate the latest octavo into our services.

But I come from a background of years of exposure to some of the best choirs and choral work in the church world.

I grew up in a large church that had a choir of 200 and for the first 13 years of my career I worked in the church music industry promoting all of the best musicals and octavos and hearing them performed by amazing choirs.

And while styles have been and will continue to be debated, there is something to be gained from all of them.

So, when was the last time you listened to Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir? or whoever your favorite choir is? Has it been too long?

I guarantee there is something to be gained by stretching your repertoire. Whether you add that element to your services or not, there is something to be learned, ideas that can be incorporated that can make your existing style better.

So, I think I'll put that on the playlist today. How about you?

Thought Explosion

I am continuously in awe of the vastness of opportunities for learning, connecting, engaging and communicating offered by the web. It is so exciting and sobering at the same time.

With this little box of buttons and screen I feel at times as if I can do anything. Any given day I am brushing up on my photography skills; studying scripture; learning about parenting, web design, graphic design, leadership, arts in the church; connecting with friends from decades ago and others just down the street; finding entertainment for myself or my family; even answering the age old question, "Mom, what's for dinner?!"

Specifically, opportunities for community and relating online amaze me and concern me. I am on twitter, facebook, linkedin and host 4 blogs. So please don't read this as if I am not a fan of online relating, I just find that there is a very false sense of security in this form of relating. We let our guard down in this venue much more so than in person.

Recently, my friend, Paul Steinbrueck of LiveIntentionally and Christian Web Trends, wrote a post that I thought gives some great reminders and guidelines for managing online relating. Perhaps if we all were mindful of these the false security and skewed online relating would be kept at bay. Check it out and tell me what you think.

[image by Matt Hamm]

Gratituesday - Winter

Living in Florida I really have no concept of winter. At least not the kind of winter folks in Minnesota know. I've grown up knowing many Christmas and New Year's days on which I could wear shorts or even go to the beach.

This year, though, we've had a bit of winter.

It's really been funny in some ways. Our "winter" has consisted of several weeks at this point. During which I've been quite amused to sit back and watch all of the comments by my FL friends revolve around the bitter chill we are struggling against day in and day out and when will it end?! :)

Other than our temporary personal discomfort, I have seen some lasting effects of our winter. I noticed some of them just last week on my afternoon walk.

Plants all over my neighborhood are no longer fresh and green looking. They are instead brown and wilted and miserable looking from the effects of frost.

As I was noting this on my walk two thoughts came to me. The first?

Spring is going to ROCK this year!!! My absolute favorite season of the year is spring with its newness and life and color. I love it! And I love it even more when it follows a dark, cold winter. It makes it that much more to appreciate. So, this year, after the cold winter we've had, spring is going to be amazing!

My next thought was as I passed a particular house. (please note, I'm about to sound really snobby and judgmental so if that sort of thing offends you you might want to stop reading now.) As I began to pass this house I heard myself think - Well, they really could use this cold winter to kill off some of that overgrown jungle they have going on in their yard!

No sooner had the thought passed through my mind as I felt very convicted. I wonder, how often God could say the same of my life?

I know that it is in the winters of my soul that God is able to sort through the overgrown junk I have been holding on to and kill it off and make room for new life.

So, in my neighborhood and in my life, in a real, deep and sober way I am very grateful for winter. After winter comes spring... and this spring is going to ROCK!

[image by Ava aka GeorgiaOnMyMind]