• Hello Candy

    topcampaigns_skittles

    On New Year’s Eve we stood around our little kitchen butcher block talking to the kids about 2013. We shared some plans we knew about, some things we were hoping for in the new year, and then we turned it on them.

    “What’s your new year’s resolution going to be?” 

    Our kids aren’t exactly forward-looking. I think it’s a combination of developmental appropriateness and just being chilled out kids who live in the moment.

    After a few minutes of talking Paul piped out his idea. “I’d give up candy for a whole year for $50.”

    We went with it. $50 for no candy for a year? We shortened it to 6 months then made it inclusive. Anyone in the house who wanted to give up candy for 6 months gets $50 cash on July 1st.

    Megan tapped out right away. Part of our routine in going to SDSU basketball games is stopping at 7-11 to get candy. There’s no way she was going to give that up, not even for $50. 

    But Paul was into it. Mom and dad joined in out of solidarity.

    And here we are… July 1st.

    Resolution complete.

    Totally Survivable

    This wasn’t that hard of a challenge. Megan was right, the basketball games were the worst part. I love getting Mike & Ike’s for the games and I never really found a good substitute. (Coffee was the next best thing, I guess.) But outside of that and the occasional, daily, gnawing craving to stuff my face with candy at 2:00 PM, it was easy. 

    It’s not like I missed Skittles at all. Or a frozen Snicker bar. Or Hot Tamales. And it’s not like SDSU didn’t make it to the Sweet 16 or win a conference championship simply because I didn’t get to eat Mike & Ike’s after the Star Spangled Banner. Didn’t miss it at all. Kind of like giving up breathing. 

    It was totally survivable.

    So What’s Next?

    I have no idea. But it’ll involve Skittles.

  • If you stop dreaming, you start dying

    Michael Jackson and Bubbles

    Jackson may be the only human ever to go two months without REM — rapid eye movement — sleep, which is vital to keep the brain and body alive. The 60 nights of propofol infusions Dr. Conrad Murray said he gave Jackson to treat his insomnia is something a sleep expert says no one had ever undergone.

    …

    Lab rats die after five weeks of getting no REM sleep, he said. It was never tried on a human until Murray gave Jackson nightly propofol infusions for two months

    Source:Expert: Michael Jackson went 60 days without real sleep

    When you stop dreaming

    What’s this got to do with you and me? A lot of people sleepwalk through life having no real dreams. Somewhere along the line we’ve lied to ourselves and believed a lie that chasing dreams is for kids, that we’re grown-ups now, that we need to make the best with what we have, just get through this day and forget about tomorrow.

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  • Migrate to Feedly Now!

    If you use Google Reader you’ve seen this every day for weeks.

    Google Reader is Dead
    Google Reader’s death certificate.

    So, if you read my blog via Google Reader, and about a thousand people do, you need to act now.

    Here’s how you fix it in about 60 seconds. You just move to Feedly. It’s a free service that’s filling the void left behind by Google Reader, and one that I think is actually a nicer product than the old standby.

    Here’s how you do it.

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  • 5 Reasons We Can’t Forget About Haiti

    IMG_0907“Hello. This is Berthan, have you forgotten me?” 

    “What? Who is this?” I replied into my office phone. It never rang. Why now? It must be a wrong number.

    “Berthan. It is me. Have you forgotten me?” It was said so fast, with a powerful accent, and I was in the middle of something that I couldn’t think.

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  • Speaking & Training Opportunities

    Adam and Morgan Schmidt at the Inhabit Conference
    Adam and Morgan Schmidt at the Inhabit Conference

    This year I’ve ramped up the amount of speaking, training, and consulting that I’m doing with organizations, churches, and individuals. 

    Not to sound cheesy– but it’s fun seeing how God mashes up my skills and passions to help people practically.

    And not to sound self-promotional– but this is my blog and I don’t know any other way to do it.

    Here are some examples of what I’ve been doing or have cooking.

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  • 4 Ways Churches Can Hire Like The Google

    Hiring Like The Google

    Hiring a staff member is not Moneyball. That’s what Google has learned. Adam Bryant of the New York Times sat down with Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operations and asked what they’ve learned at the Goog about hiring people. (source)

    • The ability to hire well is random.
    • Forget brain-teasers. Focus on behavioral questions in interviews, rather than hypotheticals.
    • Consistency matters for leaders.
    • GPAs don’t predict anything about who is going to be a successful employee.

    Let’s infer a couple of learnings from this for churches in the hiring process

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  • Why Blog Comments are Necessary

    Uncle_Sam_BW“I don’t comment on blogs anymore. I don’t see the point.”

    This has sadly become more the norm. To put it politely, engaging with blog content has morphed from leaving comments and engaging with the author to liking or sharing on social media and only engaging with your own self-cultivated audience.

    And the world is worse off as a result.

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  • Actually, Failure is an Option

    Wait a minute...
    Wait a minute…

    The most common thing

    “I love what you guys are doing.”

    This is a phrase I hear today about our work at The Youth Cartel. It’s a compliment. I say thank you. But I hear it so much– usually 3-4 times per day in one form or another — that I’m not even sure what it means anymore.

    I just know it’s a whole lot better than,  “So, have you thought about looking for a job?” Yep, I heard that a couple times per week when I had another job. No one has said that to me in a long time. And for that I’m grateful.

    The second most common thing

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  • The Early Bird Deadline for the Campference is June 30th

    Let’s hang out at the Campference.

    Yes, there will be skeet shooting.

    Middle school pastors and shotguns. A perfect combo.

  • Feeling Weak and Scared? Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That

    Be Strong and Courageous…

    • for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. – Deuteronomy 31:6
    • or you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. Deuteronomy 31:7
    • for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you. Deuteronomy 31:23
    • because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Joshua 1:6
    • Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Joshua 1:7
    • Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
    • Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Joshua 1:18
    • This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight. Then Joshua put the kings to death and exposed their bodies on five poles, and they were left hanging on the poles until evening. Joshua 10:25-26
    • Do not be afraid or discouraged. 1 Chronicles 22:13
    • and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. 1 Chronicles 28:20
    • Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 2 Chronicles 32:7

    Feeling Weak and Scared Today?

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