Twitter banned

Sounds like Twitter is banned in the football locker rooms at Texas Tech. Coach Leach was upset to find out a player posted a couple of messages a week ago: http://bit.ly/d3wfu

"I think that a guy who plays college football gets enough attention," he said. It's "a bunch of narcissists that want to sit and type stuff about themselves all the time. We'll put mirrors in some of their lockers if that's necessary but they don't have to Twitter."

Really? Leach is known for giving horrible interviews. I'm not sure I've ever heard or seen one that was not awkward or just ludicrous like this one. Surely the next day Leach realized that Twitter is not the problem. It often is an indicator of people's thoughts. We are often transparent when we tweet our thoughts. Leach's issue should be with the attitude of the player, not the medium in which he expressed it. The problem is what was said, not that it was. It is merely an indicator of a bigger problem, whether that is the player, the situation or Leach's leadership ability. Leach should not focus his energies on "fixing" the Twitter problem but instead on fixing the problem with the attitude of the player(s).

Leach is not the first and will not be the last to take naive steps to "control" social media. A lack of leadership is clear when people fail to own up the situation and instead take cheap shots at the medium of which that brought the problem to the surface.

The Nines

The Nines today was 9 hours of 9 minute segments.
It was awesome, constant, insightful, encouraging and convicting.
Below are my highlights - here are all my notes.

Troy Gramling
Pride is sneaky and leads to your downfall
Lines help me realize I'm just not all that important

Dave Ferguson
5 Step apprentice leader process (simple but amazingly effective):
1. I do, you watch
2. I do, you help
3. You do, I help
4. You do, I watch
5. You do, someone else watches

Scott Hodge
Pray that I hear God's voice everyday and that I have the faith and courage to obey Him.

Perry Noble
A movement of God can not be planned but must be prepared for
THIS IS NOT OUR CHURCH - we need to get over ourselves and just listen, pray, obey
Churches still stupidly schedule revivals

Skye Jethani
Large impact <> legitimate ministry

Scott Wilson-theoaksonline.com
church grows as the leadership grows
35 books a year/104 leadership CD lessons a year

Amy Hanson
The age group 65+ fastest growing segment of population

Dino Rizzo - healing place church
1. know christ - HAS to be only about Jesus
2. know the people you serve - love & know them
3. know your partnerships - how do we help another organization
4. know the poor
5. do it - action now - you have enough resources to do what God is wanting you to do

Jorge Acevedo - grace church - florida
"Lord send us the people no one else wants"

Nancy Beach
As people get closer to you do people see more or less of Jesus
Isolation leads to denial - Truth rarely gets spoken to us

Steven Furtick - Elevation Church
Elijah - 1 Kings 17 - the brook dried up - why?
Because you did exactly what God asked you to do
Stuff happens after the drought - weather it - love God/listen
Something is around the corner - build on what remains

Reggie McNeal
Mission church - stupid term

Craig Groeschel
To reach those that no one is reaching you much do what no one is doing.
Not ministry from memory but revelation
Be value driven but culturally evolved
Innovation comes from the front lines not top down
Delegate authority not tasks - makes leaders
Release and empower leaders
Doing ministry out of the overflow - not the bottom of the barrel - out of our own effort.
Seek God until it overflows, allow more time to stop listen, read, journaling, track prayers

Teresa
Tell yourself the truth all the time. brutally

Rick Rusaw
How do we have the best church in the community?
Wrong! How do we become the best church FOR the community?

Scott Williams
when we stand to sing at 11am on Sunday it is the most segregated hour of the week

Mark Batterson
I'd rather have 1 God idea than 1000 good ideas
Need to take the God ideas captive and turn them into reality
A mind stretched never returns to its original state

Rick Warren
Most churches don't have a systematic, sequential and intentional plan for moving people from come and see to come and die.
Slowly turning up the heat to pull people deeper

Amazon buys Zappos

Today they announced that Amazon purchased Zappos.
Seems like a good fit. The CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh posted a memo about the deal.
I didn't read much but I did watch the video he included from Jeff Bezos.



Mr. Bezos said everything he has learned from starting and growing Amazon could be summed up in 4 things:
1. Obsess over customers
2. Invent
3. Think long-term
4. It is always day 1

How do these apply to the "church world" (that in itself is a sad phrase).

1. Obsess over people
People and relationships are what matter most. It is easy for churches to get distracted by programs, what the church across town is doing and miss out on what God is wanting it to really do.

2. Invent
Ouch. Most churches do not know the meaning of the word. Sometimes we get stuck and fixated on what worked 20 years ago. If a new idea at first glance contradicts established paradigms it is quickly disregarded. Mr Bezos explained that it doesn't have to be A or B. Often if you are willing to work at it and "invent" something, it CAN be both A and B. Invent infers originality - not copy what God has chosen to bless somewhere else and think by merely copying the actions of others, you'll see God bless again.

3. Think long-term
We must think strategic and long term. If the church is constantly changing it's focus and strategy, how can it hope to reap what it invests? A church needs a clear vision from God, relevant methods and a steadfast scope. We should always be evaluating and tweaking but often churches do not stick it out long enough for something to bear fruit. But, like Mr Bezos hinted at - bad ideas can not be killed fast enough. You must fix mistakes, not ignore and hope they go away.

4. It is always day 1
I'll be honest, not 100% sure on this one - your thoughts?