Category: Featured

  • The Evangelical Swing

    democrat republicanWith just a few months left until the general election the talking heads are busy hypothesizing about minutia. Of course the truth is that both the McCain and Obama campaigns are largely on hiatus. They are fund raising and building networks while Americans enjoy the summer.

    I think the media is doing their best to keep this race interesting. In fact, most people believe it will be a blowout. I think we’re talking Bush vs. Dukakis numbers for Obama in November. Bush won 80% of the electorate in 1988 and I think Obama may win more than that.

    Here’s why I’m predicting a landslide. (Please note, I’m not “endorsing a candidate.” Truth is, I’m voting for GW Bush. He bought my vote again!)

    • The pendulum is swinging. The more McCain tries to appeal to conservatives the more the swing voters realize he’s not their guy. Americans wants a more liberal president… McCain is pandering to the wrong people.
    • Abortion means nothing in this cycle. Pro-life people, like myself, recognize that if Bush couldn’t move legislation on abortion no one can. Plus, both candidates are pro-choice so we are left to pick the less of two evils.
    • Obama owns the green crowd. Green is the biggest marketing term of the year. McCain is big oil and Obama is big green.
    • It’s an age thing. You’ve got a young candidate talking about change and an old candidate saying “stay the course.” Which message appeals to voters under 30? Have you seen the numbers from the primaries? People under 30 will vote in 2008.
    • Obama has a recession proof message. The worse the economy looks the more he can say, “Do you want to keep doing what we’re doing? Then stay republican!“
    • Obama owns the web. I’ve long said that the candidate who masters the web in 2008 will take the White House. Look at McCain’s website and then look at Obama’s.
    • Obama owns the unions. Let’s face it. In states like Michigan, New York, and Ohio that matters.
    • Young evangelicals are disavowing the politics of James Dobson. Check out this site, jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com. In fact, I said the same thing on March 17th, 2007. He’s not my guy, hasn’t been my guy for a long time. While Dobson isn’t endorsing McCain just yet, it’s not like Dobson is going to endorse Obama!

    In 2000 and 2004, the media said that evangelicals like me elected George W. Bush as president. It’s my prediction that a massive shift will happen in 2008 as young evangelical voters decide they are ready to cease single issue voting. And the truth is, once you get to non-abortion issues that evangelicals care about… the pendulum will shift.

  • Tim Hortons Arrives in Romeo


    When they first started building on the corner of M-53 & 32 Mile Road I hoped that they would either open a Starbucks or Tim Hortons at that location. The latter was realized this week. 

    For those outside of the upper Midwest or eastern Canada, Tim Hortons is a donut and coffee chain co-founded by Toronto Maple Leaf hockey legend, Tim Horton. Tim died in a car accident in 1973, but the donut chain bearing his name lives on. 

    Let’s be honest. It’s a local thing. They don’t serve the best donuts in the world and their coffee isn’t the best. I personally prefer their sandwiches and soups more than the donuts. Nonetheless, Tim Hortons is a phenomenon as a franchise. Owned by the Wendy’s Corporation, it is slowly fanning out from Eastern Ontario and now into a bunch of places in the United States. 

    It’s a big deal to have them here in Romeo. I hope they do quite well. (So far, mediocre opening.) The Village has long been cold to franchise restaurants and I hope Tim Hortons opens the door to many other chains that would make the 32 MIle area a stopping point for visitors. Romeo is a very unique village which is struggling, like most of the area, is struggling financially. Yet if the village can figure out how to maintain the village feel while gaining some flagship retailers, it will secure Romeo’s place as a “cool city” once and for all.

  • Favorite Things: This American Life

    I love Ira Glass and his show, This American Life. The love affair goes back to early marriage days when Kristen and I would play “right or left” in the car Saturday mornings. Back in 1998-1999 gas was less than a dollar per gallon and I was off every Saturday morning.

    We’d get up early, head out for a nice breakfast, then get in the car and start driving. Any time we’d come to an intersection I’d ask Kristen… “Right or left?” Sometimes we’d end up way up in Wisconsin, sometimes in Central Illinois, sometimes in Michigan or Indiana, or sometimes we’d just explore suburbs of Chicago. Anything that interested us was an excuse to stop and smell the roses. Those adventures in our early marriage were some of the happiest days of our lives.

    And Ira Glass was a part of those rides. We love listening to NPR and right around lunch This American Life would capture our attention as we explored. When we left Chicago in 2001 we kind of lost track of the show. Then about a year ago I found out that the show was the #1 podcast on iTunes and happily subscribed.

    I love the pace of the stories. I love the segments. I love the way he tells stories. I love his voice. All of This American Life is why I happily label it one of my favorite things.

    Click here to subscribe to the podcast.

  • Newspapers are Dinosaurs

    This morning I opened my hotel room to discover today’s edition of USA Today. My first thought was, “I’ll put it on the pile next to the Monday edition” since I never opened it or ever read the headline.

    It wasn’t very long ago that I loved the newspaper. Each morning I would head to the grocery store and pick up some juice and the Chicago Tribune. I’d sit in the break room and read the entire thing from cover to cover. But picking up the paper this morning I realized that its been several years since I had done that. 

    Here are a few reasons I think the age of the newspaper is rapidly ending:

    • Newspapers are about yesterdays news in a world that demands up to the second news. 
    • Other than the “Letter to the editor” there is no way to respond to the news.
    • A blogger has nearly the same credibility as his/her local newspaper, maybe much more if they live where the news is happening. (I can attest to that)
    • People are suspicious of media sources as more and more people understand the spin that happens. 
    • Our attention spans are shorter. I remember in high school my english teacher I had “maybe” the first paragraph to win someone’s attention. Now, you better have a great headline and a picture or I’m scanning right by.
    • It’s printed on paper. Why would I want a newspaper when I can read the news on my mobile phone? Heck, I want them to start pushing the nightly news to my phone so I won’t need a TV!
    • Craigslist is killing the need or classifieds.
    • Why do they even print the weather in the paper?
    I’ve got a lot more reasons I think newspapers are headed to the land of dinosaurs. But here’s the thing. People like dinosaurs. There will always be room in our hearts for the nostalgia of the newspaper. 

    Question: Do you still get a local newspaper? If so, which one?

  • New sidewalk

    This isn’t the greatest picture, but it does show something very cool here at la casa de McLane. Our front walkway was a bit of a hazard. The concrete had shifted and was more of a hill than a nice entry point. 

    Well, some friends from church came over and hooked us up. I got to be the “unskilled labor” and mix concrete while they expertly poured us a new sidewalk. It looks 1000 times better now. Looks better and is safer… I only wish we’d done it before. 

    Last night I took Stoney (our 4 year old yellow lab) for a walk. Since I had our walkway on my mind I started noticing that we were one of the few houses in our neighborhood making improvements. It could be that people just haven’t started yet… but it could also be that people just aren’t going to be making many improvements in 2008. 

    Speaking of the house. Here’s our listing. 

  • Striving for Perfection…

    Perfection

    I am one of those people that wants everything I do to be perfect. And I know a lot of people are like me and set lofty goals for themselves. In fact, at the core of a lot of my “problems” is a desire for everything I do to be “perfect.” Even though I spiritualize it and say I strive for excellence, there is a microthin line between excellence and perfection.

    That’s why I was intruiged when I read a post from Ray Pritchard warning about what you strive for. 

    Here’s his list: Signs for recognizing when striving is bad. 

    1. When our personal agenda consumes us morning, noon and night.

    2. When we get angry if our plans are questioned or criticized.

    3. When we interrupt others to talk about what interests us.

    4. When we try to manipulate circumstances to get our desired result.

    5. When we are nervous and fretful about things we can’t control.

    6. When we use sarcasm to keep others from questioning our views.

    7. When we get angry over little things that normally wouldn’t bother us.

    8. When it has to be “our way or the highway.”

    9. When we justify unkindness because, after all, we’re serving the Lord and his work comes first.

    10. When we can’t relax, can’t let go, can’t rest, can’t laugh, and can’t enjoy life because we have taken ourselves too seriously.

    A read a bunch of those and went… “oops.” How about you?

  • Our Big Move

    our big moveThe last few weeks have been a whirlwind… literally. First, there was the crazy phone call that started it all. Then there was a lot of prayer. Then there was the trip out there. Then there was a lot more prayer. This was followed by some very tough conversations, more prayer, and a decision. Then some waiting, some finalizing details and finally here we are.

    What’s the scoop? A week and a half ago I met with the deacons of our church to formally tell them that we are leaving our beloved ministry in Romeo to accept a new calling on our life at Youth Specialties.

    Following that, we told our students and parents followed by an announcement to the congregation on May 11th. I’ll talk more about this later… but the people here in Romeo have been amazing to Kristen and I for the last 5 years. They are either truly excited for us or are really good liars. I’d like to think they are excited for us. If they aren’t, please let me believe they are!

    In the coming days I’ll begin to share a little bit more about my time here in Romeo and describe a little more about what I’ll be doing in San Diego.

    Kristen and I are just a mashed potatoes of emotion. We are sad to leave a place we love. We are thrilled by this door God has opened for us. We don’t want to move. We do want to live in San Diego. We don’t want to leave the security of our life here. We love a little adventure.

    The byline of my blog and subplot of my life is: Crazy enough to want to change the world. The last few weeks God has gotten up in my devotions and said, “Oh really? Wanna prove it?” I don’t know about the changing the world part… but this is the most exciting and craziest thing God has ever asked us to do.

    More to come…

  • I could do that, it’s easy

    innovationThis week I’ve had a couple of people approach me about YMX. One said, “I thought about doing that but you just got to it first.” The other person said, “I thought about doing that but I just didn’t have the time.”

    Really, both are saying the same thing. I’ve heard it hundreds of times before. What I translate that to mean is… “I wish I had thought of that.”

    We’ve all done it. We’ve watched Donny Deutsch or 60 Minutes and we’ve thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Then when we meet someone who invented something or started their own business (and succeeded) we think to those moments and jealousy swells. Then we say something really odd like, “If only I had the capital I could have done the same thing.” They just smile and nod.

    It’s time to let you in on a secret… 99% of the best innovations in the world come out of the same formula. So if you’ve got a great idea. If you think you’ve got the next Google. If you think you’re ready to be the one who answers the innovation questions instead of asks them. Are you ready to see if you’ve got what it takes? Here’s the formula.

    Innovation = hunger + brains + guts

    Innovation: You know it when you see it. It’s a hot seller or a great idea or that little thing that makes life easier somehow. The best ones are the most obvious. But how do I get there?

    1. Hunger: As I’ve said before, 90% of the population is lazy. They strive to be mediocre. But a small percentage of people wake up one day and say… “I’m just not making it the lazy way. I want something else in my life.” Maybe it’s a bill that has to be paid and you don’t have the money? Maybe its that you live in a small house and you are having a kid and need a bigger one? Maybe you need a raise and the only way the boss will take notice is if you come up with a great money saver? Hunger… either literal or figurative… is the root of most innovation. I’d even add a healthy dose of desperation to show you how important hunger is. Very few fat cat companies invent the iPod or Google or Berkshire Hathaway or Facebook. If a company has to hire research and development people, paying them a fat salary, to invent something… that company is not hungry. (Prime example: The auto industry) But when your company CEO and a core group of people have an “oh crap, we’re all going to go bankrupt” meeting… then you’re hungry enough to invent the iPod.

    2. Brains. Let’s face it. There is a reason why most innovations never make it to the marketplace. They may be good ideas. But the person who is hungry enough to innovate something may not have the brain power to see if its a market-worthy idea, know how to capitalize the idea, or even how to make the idea a reality.
    In actuality, the best thing most innovators can do is find the right people to pitch the idea to. YMX would have never gotten past a proposal on a Word document if I hadn’t bounced the idea around with some really smart youth ministry folks, technology folks, marketing folks, and business folks. All of that bouncing around is totally free… and totally made the difference between YMX being a good idea and YMX being just another failed start-up. Trust me when I say those people saved YMX from my incomplete thoughts. The reason we are alive as a company today isn’t luck… it was hunger + brains + guts. Sometimes “brains” also means recognizing that your innovation may be cool, but it isn’t profitable enough to make it. Having brains means knowing the difference between a great idea and a great idea I can live off of. And having brains is getting the right people on the bus before you leave the station.

    3. Guts. When I get those people who come up to me at the booth or IM me or talk to me after church… I can tell they don’t have it in them. They may be hungry enough to innovate. They may have a MENSA mind. But they are wimps when it comes to making their ideas a reality. The last component is the differentiator. If you want to take your great idea to market. If you’ve bounced that idea around and gotten a million thumbs up. You have to pull the trigger and go after it with all you’ve got. It takes guts. Don’t have guts? Innovation isn’t for you.

    I love watching Donny Deutsch because there is a common thread with his guests. At some point most of them marched into their bosses offices and said, “I’m leaving to go do this, I quit.” Most of them had no income to fall back on! They were hungry enough for that innovation that they were willing to be more hungry to make it happen. They were smart enough to know that they couldn’t really innovate at night after a hard days work. And they knew that to make their idea a big idea worth a lot of money… they’d have to put their life on the line. It takes guts to do that. Do you have what it takes?

    So, if you’ve got the next great idea… and I think you do… now you know. It doesn’t happen by mistake. It isn’t an accident. It isn’t “dumb luck” or “good timing” and it’s never handed to you on a platter.

    Innovation = hunger + brains + guts. Get it done. The world is waiting.

  • My prayer for Romeo

    God of this cityI thought it would be good to let everyone know my prayer for Romeo. I know this isn’t a new song or a new twist or even a new video for anyone in the Romeo family. But I’ve been listening to this song and watching this video a lot lately. Will you join me in praying for our community? Greater things are yet to come here in our city. I believe it, do you?

  • Children of the 90s reunite

    Stop. Hammertime.