Month: March 2009
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Spike that weekend football
Sometimes good weekends come unexpectedly. This past weekend was one of them.
Coming into the weekend was cool because I am finally feeling good about my Monday-Friday workload. The first few weeks after YS’s re-organization I just had a hard time relaxing. There was so much to do! (Or so it felt) A lot of that has settled into routine so I can really, truly, chill on weekends.
Friday afternoon I took advantage of a whole in my schedule and took Kristen on a little mid-afternoon date. We went to a little beach bar for some pub grub and took a walk on the beach. It was the perfect way to kick things off even though we had to cut it short so I could get back to work and Kristen could get the kids from school.
Saturday morning Kristen got up at the buttcrack of dawn and climbed Cowles Mountain. This is an important part of her weekend routine. When she came back Paul and I took the dog to Ocean Beach for a little chase the ball and Stoney sniff butt time. Dog pack rules are fascinating to me, but that’s for another post. After we had been at the beach for a while I got a call from Mandy, who is new to YS and lives in the Ocean Beach neighborhood. She and her husband, Jon, came over for a while and we caught up while Paul built the Great Wall of China. An amazing feat.
After the beach trip we came home and I fell asleep watching golf on TV. About an hour and a half later Paul jumped on me and said, “Let’s go to the beach!” Since it was a perfect weather day I couldn’t resist that. Really, we went to the beach and frolicked in the sand to honor our friends who were shovelling snow, sandbagging, or otherwise being tortured by an early Spring blast of cold weather. We splashed around Coronado beach for a few hours. The kids played in the sand while Kristen and I waded up to our ankles in the cold water looking for sand dollars. We came home, got some carry out from a taco shop, and everyone crashed before 9 PM.
Sunday continued the fun. We did our normal donut routine in the morning, headed to church, and came home for lunch. After lunch we went to the Rolando Village street fair and got a better feel for our neighborhood. When the kids had eaten too much cotton candy and mom/dad had seen all the crafts, we headed home.
From there, I took off to meet-up with Dave from work. Dave had arranged for us to do a podcast shoot with the guys from Family Force 5 before their San Diego show at the House of Blues. That was a blast, I got some cool footage of the band. What they had to say was a little bit goofy, but a lot important to youth workers. Later, we headed over to the show. I’m used to Christian shows… so this one was a bit wilder than I expected. About 1000 screaming and sweaty high school kids, mostly girls, filled the club for the 5 act show. We got there for the 2nd act, The Maine. They were good… clearly I’m old since I have no clue who they are. But they had a fun sound. It always cracks me up that high school kids can’t remember to do their homework but know every word to every song. If it weren’t for the annoying habit of them walking up to a mic and just saying random cuss words between songs… I probably would have liked them more. “S**t yeah. How are you mother F**kers, tonight?” Again, showing my age.
After a little swap out of equipment, Family Force 5 took the stage. If you’ve never seen them, they have an incredible energy. I was given a photo badge so I could take some shots for the bands DCLA appearance. As I snapped pictures stageside I could literally “feel the heat” from the crowd who was mashed up against the barriers. I’ve seen them perform before in Christian venues… same songs, same intensity, ten times the energy. Dancing, bouncing, screaming the words. Makes a geek like me wish I had chosen to be a rock star. This band will light up the stage in DC this July.After their set, Dave and I headed home. We’re old people… two acts and we’re done! I caught up on some sports news… congrats to Tiger Woods on his comeback victory after knee surgery. Super congrats to Tom Izzo and Michigan State. If ever a state needed something to cheer for, it’s this weekend in Detroit.
Great weekend. Lots of good stuff cooking for this weekend as well.
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Telecommunications in the 1990s
This video is part of an elaborate hoax. Allegedly, it’s from a British video series from the 1960s about the future. There’s just a little too much social commentary in there to be believable. But it is pretty funny. And I can see how a lot of people could be fooled!
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Saturday Tunes
It was a loco week. Not in a bad way, either. My head is spinning this weekend with all the fun stuff that happened in the previous 7 days. But today is Saturday and I am trying hard to put all of that aside so I can recoup for the week to come. This morning I am off to dog beach to let Stoney run. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend weather-wise, so I am guessing this won’t be our only trip to the beach. (Actually, Kristen and I snuck in an afternoon date yesterday where we went to the beach and walked along the surf.)Here are the next 10 tunes I’m jamming to right now. As always, completely random and my ratings are included.
#1 How Great in Our God by Chris Tomlin ****
#2 Down to My Last by Alter Bridge ****
#3 Take My Life (and let it be) by Chris Tomlin ***
#4 Broken Wing by Thousand Foot Krutch ***
#5 A Distant Episode by Till Bronner ****
#6 Rain Down by David Crowder Band ***
#7 My Hope by David Crowder Band ****
#8 Tonight by High Five aka Jimmy Savage *****
#9 Amazing Because it Is by The Almost ****
#10 Syndicate by The Fray ****
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Youth Worker Book of Hope
Back in January 2008 I was asked to participate in something out of character. Tim Baker, a well-established youth ministry author, emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in submitting a chapter to a book he was working on. My first few reactions were simple…– I don’t want to write a book. (Kind of weird for a guy who works for a publisher, eh? Just not my dream.)
– I don’t have anything important to say.
– I don’t have time. (Besides running YMX and a ministry in Romeo, I had just dropped out of grad school because I was too busy.)
When I talked to Kristen about it she read through the concept of the project and gave me the look and said, “You need to do this.” As I looked at the project once again it became clear to me that I had to participate in this project, I did have something important to say, and I needed to make time. If there is one thing I want my ministry to youth workers to say over and over again it is that youth ministry matters, it changes lives, and no matter how bad it is, there is hope!
At this point, 16 months later, I am stoked to see this book come out in August. I don’t often get Perry Noble-stoked about stuff… but I am getting close with this one. There is a mega-pile of fresh authors, each sharing their unique story of finding hope when bad things happen. But let me be completely selfish here… I think you need to buy this book simply to read my chapter. My particular chapter is on, “How do I find hope for tommorow when the crap hits the fan?” And how many people in ministry haven’t had a moment when everything hit the fan?
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Customer Service Matters
When it comes to customer service, it matters. It is one of those things that I have always been quick to notice… and lately I’ve come across some amazing examples of it.
In the past 30 days I’ve received remarkable, incredible, stellar…. unbelievable service from several companies I have new relationships with. Stunning!
Observation: Start-ups have better customer service because they have to. They see the connection between a happy customer and their bottom line. They know that a happy customer will tell their friends about a fantastic experience. Conversely, they know that a bad customer experience will spread like wildfire. Incredible customer service is a cheap marketing strategy!
But start-ups aren’t the only ones with great customer service. That’s what makes AT&T and Apple such a crazy combination for the iPhone! AT&T has has had horrible customer service for decades and they are so big they don’t care one ounce. They know for every 10 customers they lose to bad customer service there are 10 more who will create a new account. And Apple has created a culture of stellar customer service to the point where people will spend an extra 1000 for a laptop just because they know if they ever have a problem they can take it back to the store.
Southwest Airlines is another long-standing company with stellar customer service. I’ve purchased tickets with them before, not read the rules, and had to call to ask a refund… even though I didn’t deserve one. Not only have they given it to me, they’ve always done it happily even though it was my mistake!
Why does stellar customer service matter? In today’s marketplace a purchase is all about the experience. If you go the extra mile your customers will love you forever. They will wear your t-shirts and brag to their friends that they are your client.
Customer experience is the next great wave of marketing.
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What’s Good About the Recession?
Our culture is inundated with the negative news of the recession. News outlets struggle to find fresh ways to accurately describe the words “the economy sucks” each hour of the day.
The church has followed right along with the negative news. A lot of blogs have cited a report that church participation is on a steep decline. Of course, people won’t admit that there is a tie between the recession and people leaving the church. Perhaps churches should have responded to help sooner? That’s another rant for another day.
Here are three good things the recession has done for my family:
– A huge emphasis to live in the black. As I’ve documented before, we are working hard to get out of debt and build a little savings.
– A huge emphasis on what is important. Tough times lead people back to their roots and we are no different. A major focus for us has been on “cheap family fun.” We’ve kept the value of family time but re-tooled it to focus on the time and not the activity. There are lots of other areas where we are making values-based decisions as opposed to having little rhyme or reason as to why we do things.
– A huge emphasis on sustainability. Scaling things back and focusing just a tad more on thrift allows us to live within a sustainable budget. While we can’t predict the future (no one can) we can manage our house in a way that would allow us to sustain in thin times and thrive in good times.
I think these three things… live in the black, focus on your values, and practice sustainability are three things that every family, church, business, and institution should be learning during this recession. Without a doubt, these are tough times. But there is great good to come from it if we’ll learn hard lessons and apply them in the future!
Those who are hit hardest by this economy should resolve a “never again” attitude. We all made fun of our grandparents for saving everything and compulsive frugality. Who is laughing now?
