• Your Church Website Sucks (And 5 Ways to Improve It)

    Browsing in the darkOver the past few weeks I’ve visited well over 1,000 individual, local church websites.

    Let me tell you: There’s a lot of truly crappy church websites out there.

    Next to word of mouth recommendations from the people in your church, your church website is the most important connection tool you have.

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  • College Football Thoughts – Week 5

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    Yesterday was my last Saturday before about 2 straight months of travel. So I did what any  good college football fan would do… watched 9 hours of ball.

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  • We Can All Overcoming Our Fears

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    Even a great, big, hard-hitting NFL player has legitimate fears to overcome in life.

    I don’t know what your fears are. But I know that when I discover one I want to work through it and overcome it. Sometimes I can do it myself. And sometimes I need the help of others. But the point is that I don’t want to live a life defined by fear. Rather, I want to live boldly into the calling God has given me.

    Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

    1 Peter 5:6-7

     The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

    John 10:10

    h/t Buzzfeed

  • The “No Drop-Off” Thing

    Sometimes I hear about a thing. And the thing is attached to such a good sound byte that it sticks. And then that thing kind of takes a life of its own before you’ve really thought about it much.

    And that’s what I think happened with the “no drop-off” thing that’s found favor in family ministry circles. (The best I can tell it started as part of the kids ministry at Northpoint and gained steam via Reggie Joiner’s book, Think Orange. But it’s also taken on a life of it’s own, you see it expressed in a lot of ways in churches who “do the Orange thing” in their churches.)

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  • Seven iOS 7 Hacks for Parents

    Seven iOS 7 Hacks for Parents

    According to the Washington Post, Apple sold 9 million iPhone devices over the weekend. We even jumped in on the fun by getting Megan (12) her very first phone.

    Last week, Apple introduced iOS 7, a brand new operating system for every iPhone, iPad, and some iPods. Meanwhile, also last week Blackberry fired half it’s worldwide employees and Microsoft finally admitted that they didn’t take mobile seriously early enough.

    Despite it taking nearly 2 days to update my iPhone 5 I really like iOS 7.

    I won’t bore you with what I like about it but I will point out some features that I think will really help your life as a parent.

    Seven iOS 7 Hacks for Parents

    Here’s how I make my iPhone work for me instead of the other way around!

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  • College Football Thoughts – Week 4

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    32,000 in attendance for SDSU versus Oregon State

    We’re 4 weeks into the season and this is my first post about college football. I guess that shows the priority I’ve been giving college football?

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  • How to Buy A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Social Media

    A Parent's Guide to Understanding Social MediaI just noticed that I was quoted in Winston Ross’s article about Snapchap at The Daily Best.

    Here’s a link to my article called, Why You Should Delete Snapchat. Now read more than 400,000 times and shared on Facebook 40,000+ times.

    If you’d like to buy the book I co-authored with Mark Oestriecher, A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Social Media you can get it here:

  • Just do the best you can, dads

    Ah, the Pinterest-ing of our society.

    pinterest-definitionYou know what I mean by Pinterest-ing, right?

    You find something ridiculously creative then pin it to your wall to remind yourself of all the stuff that you would do if you had the time, money, skills, or know how.

    I watched this video and had three thoughts.

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  • To Be Like the Postal Carrier

    138328_GrabBagNormalWorking from home reveals all the daily routines that happen around your house while you’re typically away.

    • 3 different garbage trucks come on Friday. (Garbage, recycling, yard waste. Though the later two come on a secret schedule which lives on our refrigerator.)
    • An elderly woman picks through everyone’s recycling to get cans and bottles.
    • Our neighbors gardener comes on Wednesday.
    • UPS comes in the morning and the evening.
    • FedEx comes in the afternoon.
    • Amazon.com has their own delivery service, that comes in the afternoon.
    • Once a week the Schwan truck comes.
    • One neighbor gets daily food delivery and another has a daily home healthcare visit.
    • Once a month a volunteer drops off the neighborhood newsletter.
    • Each Thursday afternoon a guy drives by and tosses the Penny Saver onto our driveway, which is conveniently timed with garbage day.
    • Utility workers read meters and check connections and all sorts of things.
    • At some point each week a utility worker climbs the power pole. Or checks it. Or parks in front of it to eat a snack.
    • Speaking of snacks, it’s normal for contractors or cops or other workers to park in front of our house to eat a snack. Our house must make people hungry. (Or a good place to hide from your supervisor.)

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  • You’re blowing it, dad

    Friday at 2:00 PM I sent my last work off and hell week ended. I don’t mean, the week from hell, I mean it was a week where a lot had to get done and the brunt of the burden rested on my shoulders. There was no other choice: To meet the commitments to authors and client projects– we had to push through.

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