More on The Nines

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Now that I’ve had a chance to sleep on it, I’ll share a few more thoughts on yesterday’s free online leadership, The Nines. One thing that quickly became clear is that everyone has different passions, callings, and things they’re focused on. Some of those passions and focuses meshed well with my own passions while others … Read more

The Nines Marathon

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Earlier, I offered a heads-up on a free online leadership event called The Nines. The event (centered around 9-minute videos from 70+ different leaders/communicators), which took place today, ended moments ago, nearly 12 hours after it started. I’m not sure how much of it I caught. I had the live stream going on my computer … Read more

Don’t Blink

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Without a doubt, the number one thing people have said to me (us) in the last two years has been something along the lines of, “Don’t blink!” It seems like everyone warns us that children grow up so fast. The point is always: don’t miss it, make the most of the time you have with … Read more

The Nines

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This Wednesday, there will be a free leadership event that will take place online. The event, called The Nines, will begin at 9:09 am CDT, on 09/09/09, and could last around 9 hours. While the event is free, you need to pre-register. Leadership Network asked about 80 leading communicators, “If you had nine minutes to … Read more

Herding Cats

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Several years ago, the “Herding Cats” commercial (for EDS) caught my attention as a great description of leadership. The one-minute commercial is jam-packed with language and imagery about leadership and mission (see complete transcript below). Transcript: This man right here is my great grandfather. He’s the first cat herder in our family. Herdin’ cats … … Read more

Simple Church 1.0

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In July, we began meeting with our covenant groups (that are meeting together), which is a requirement in the ordination process of The United Methodist Church. Meeting every other month, we met for the second time earlier this week. First, we discussed the leadership paper we’re required to write for the Board of Ordained Ministry. … Read more

Growing Pains

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Months ago, when Ethan’s default answer to every question was “no,” we’d ask him various questions. One time, for fun, we asked him if he wanted a little sister. As expected, he said, “no.” Since then, we’ve tried to keep him in the loop without overwhelming him with news of his new/future sister. When we … Read more

The Handoff

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We try to eat as many meals together as we can, of course, but there are times when we aren’t able to. Like one day last week. Ethan usually spends a morning with each of us each week. One day, I came home in the middle of Ethan’s lunch. Ethan said, “There’s Daddy!” then immediately … Read more

Outrageous Generosity

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I recently came across a new author and speaker, Margaret Feinberg. I am currently reading one of her books, The Organic God. When I first discovered her, an audio file on her website caught my attention, entitled “Outrageously Generous.” Fienberg states that in Malachi 2.11, God says he loves the temple. In John 3.16, the … Read more

HealthFlex HealthMiles Challenge Recap

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As I wrote in mid-July, there was a big HealthMiles challenge open to the members of HealthFlex, the health insurance plan of The United Methodist Church. In all, more than 2,800 participants logged more than 709,581,760 total steps during the 29-day challenge. The challenge sponsors set a 30,000-step daily limit, and a number of us … Read more