Joshua's graduation party has finally come and gone. Despite some challenges with the tents, the promise of rain, and an uncertainty about the amount of food we needed, it really turned out to be quite nice.
Knowing it would cost a small fortune to rent them, we decided to purchase two tent canopies at Big Lots early on in the summer. Being an "engineeringly challenged" man who has a minimal amount of patience, the first big party challenge was consructing them. The box they came in said it was a two person job but it most definitely took three of us!
Quite honestly I was dreading this little project and wishing we didn't have to do it but we did. Amazingly enough, the first tent went up with virtually no problems in a short amount of time. Yeah! This was going much better than I anticipated, or so I thought.
Tent #2 was exactly the same as tent #1 however I think the "cloud of stupid" passed over us inbetween the contruction of the two. Everytime we lifted the poles up one or more of them would disconnect from the it's corner connector and the whole thing would come crashing to the ground. Talk about frustrating! I just kept thinking it can't be this hard.
We took the corner pieces and tried to match them up to the canopy that was already up thinking we could get it right, but by the time we walked back over to the collapsed canopy our photographic memories failed us and we forgot what we just saw. We must have looked like Larry, Moe and Curley to our neighbors. Eventually the "fog of forgetfulness" moved on and somehow we mananged to figure it out and the second tent was up. I was so glad that was over! Now if the weather just held out.
Local TV stations had been advising all week that rain and/or possible thunderstorms were going to be a threat all weekend. Only small metal anchors held the tents to the ground. As we were building them I kept looking in the sky thinking the slightest strong breeze would probably send these things flying and we'd have to relocate the party to OZ! Please God, don't let it storm!
We rose the morning of the party, not to rain, but to some pretty thick fog. I didn't hear any rain over night, but my first thought was of the tents when I got up. I went to the window and was so relieved to find both of them still standing. That was good sign.
Lori and I both have a little "Martha" (see Luke 10:41) in us and are a little anal about the house being "just so" before anyone comes over so we dove right into cleaning shortly after we got up. Since our "Martha" syndrome is pretty much an ongoing thing it didn't take too long to tidy up the house. So with time to spare, we decided to treat ourselves to a bagel for breakfast and took off for a quick trip to Panera for breakfast.
Upon returning from breakfast it was time to set up the table and chairs we'd rented. The fog was still eminient and the lawn incredibly wet, but we had to get it done. We'd rented 5 eight foot tables and there was only room enough for one table under each tent so I opted to put one table in the yard and one on the patio. I'd no more than finished putting the paper table cloths on them when it got very dark outside. Rain clouds. I freaked. I just knew it was going to rain! I heard Lori come out into the garage. I called to her to the back yard, telling her that we needed to move the tables not under the tents into the garage. So here we go, fast as we can, (as fast as you can shuffle) going around the house to the front of the garaged before the rain comes pouring down. It never rained a drop all day!
A week or so ago when we ordered food for the party I thought perhaps we were ordering on the light side but was hopeful we wouldnt run out of food. A few people started to arrive and it seemed like the food was disappearing quickly. Panic again started to set in! What if we run out of food! How embarssing would that be! We decided to call Martins and order more chicken and hope what we had held out until we could get more. About 40 minutes later I jumped in the car a drove up to Martins to pick up the chicken. I figured out, all on my own, that if we were running out of chicken we must be running out of potato salad too. I thought I'll be the hero and save the day...da da da dahhhh!!! and decided to get another 10lbs of it too. We never even opened the potato salad!
It was as if people quit eating after there was an abundance of food. We had chicken coming out our ears. As the last few family members and friends were leaving it was a "blue light" special on chicken in the garage. I don't think there was anyone we didn't ask if they were sure they didnt want to take some chicken home with them. And even after they responed "no", we followed it up with "are you sure, cuz we got more than we'll ever eat!" which was quite true because neither I nor Josh eat fried chicken.
Salesmen apparently we're not. Although we did manage to 'unload' some of the leftover chicken we still ended up with quite a lot left over. So if you know anyone who wants some fried chicken, send 'em our way!
As the last few people began to leave I started tearing down the rented tables and chairs as I was certain the rental company was coming to pick them up at 3:30 and it was already 3:15. I heard my aunt jokingly say that it must be time to leave because they're taking the chairs away. I really didnt mean to be rude nor did anyone have to leave. I just had a deadline! When there's a schedule to follow it has to be followed.
3:30 came and went and no rental company. At 4:10 I decided to call them as I didn't want to get charged even more for a late return. It was a good thing I did as they had forgotten and were there by 4:30 and I spared myself any further charges.
Despite the challenges of putting the canopies together, the pending threat of rain and storms, our panic over not having enough food and the actuality of having too much....all in all I would say the party was a success. It was a great time with family and friends with good food and decent weather. However, I am relieved that Josh was our last child to graduate high school.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Motivation
A couple of Thursdays ago Mark Waltz delivered an impactful, inciteful and enriching message at GCC surrounding Matthew 6:1-4 which says...
"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself.
The message evolved into an amazing look at what we are motivated by when our goal is to do something good for someone else. It was quite eye opening and humbling, maybe even somewhat embarassing. When I thought about some of the driving things that are motivated by selfishness that lurked behind them I was stunned.
I think it can be really difficult for people in general to not have ulterior motives at work, the major one being reward. I guess if you have a job that you really love perhaps this isn't such a huge issue because what you're doing is rewarding enough. But I think for the "average Joe" reward is the major issue surrounding the motivation to work. After all, you get a performance review once a year,and aren't you hopeful that the work that you've done will bring you recognition, praise.....and a raise! Shouldn't your goal be to do the best you can for the company without wondering what you'll reap in the end. Can a job be fulfilling enough that reward isn't the major motivator? What kind of job would enable that to happen in your life? What needs to change in a current position to change what motivates you in a current position?
"I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine." This familiar saying emits expectation. I'll be motivated to do something for you if you'll do something for me. Where do you find the "unpretentious-ness" in this. I think motivation can be seen in a myriad of life, business and political situations to name a few.
I have my own issues with recognition motivation. Even though my best intent is to just do for others in various areas of my life, I think there lurks within me a wanting to hear "job well done." But if thats true why is my response often "oh it was nothing." What does that mean? Obviously it was "something" if deep down I wanted to be noticed for it. Do we say things like "it was nothing" because thats the time when we're finally faced with the selfishness that may have driven us to perform. Interesting concept, huh!
I think Marks message at GCC last night was as good reminder for me that I need to be aware of the things that I may unconsciously do for which I secretly expect recognition. It's not about me and when it comes down to it there's only ONE that I want to hear "job well done" from when I get to heaven.
"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself.
The message evolved into an amazing look at what we are motivated by when our goal is to do something good for someone else. It was quite eye opening and humbling, maybe even somewhat embarassing. When I thought about some of the driving things that are motivated by selfishness that lurked behind them I was stunned.
I think it can be really difficult for people in general to not have ulterior motives at work, the major one being reward. I guess if you have a job that you really love perhaps this isn't such a huge issue because what you're doing is rewarding enough. But I think for the "average Joe" reward is the major issue surrounding the motivation to work. After all, you get a performance review once a year,and aren't you hopeful that the work that you've done will bring you recognition, praise.....and a raise! Shouldn't your goal be to do the best you can for the company without wondering what you'll reap in the end. Can a job be fulfilling enough that reward isn't the major motivator? What kind of job would enable that to happen in your life? What needs to change in a current position to change what motivates you in a current position?
"I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine." This familiar saying emits expectation. I'll be motivated to do something for you if you'll do something for me. Where do you find the "unpretentious-ness" in this. I think motivation can be seen in a myriad of life, business and political situations to name a few.
I have my own issues with recognition motivation. Even though my best intent is to just do for others in various areas of my life, I think there lurks within me a wanting to hear "job well done." But if thats true why is my response often "oh it was nothing." What does that mean? Obviously it was "something" if deep down I wanted to be noticed for it. Do we say things like "it was nothing" because thats the time when we're finally faced with the selfishness that may have driven us to perform. Interesting concept, huh!
I think Marks message at GCC last night was as good reminder for me that I need to be aware of the things that I may unconsciously do for which I secretly expect recognition. It's not about me and when it comes down to it there's only ONE that I want to hear "job well done" from when I get to heaven.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Seasons and Sign On's
A while back, June to be specific, I went to the ART's conference at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. The conference was split into two parts: ACT I and ACT II. Because of my work schedule and that green stuff called money, I opted to only attend ACT II.
The first session that I attended was called "Seasons of the Soul" and it was led by Nancy Beach. The session sounded vaguely familiar, but I had decided to register for it anyway. The premise behind this breakout was the different seasons you go through in life. Winter being a season of sorrow or discontent. Perhaps a loss of a job or maybe the passing of someone dear to you occurs when you find yourself in winter. Spring depicts a season of new hope and new life. Things like starting a new job or something similar occurs when in this season. Summer, the season of fun and where life is good and you never want it to end. Life is just good. There is no dispair to be found. And lastly fall, a season of change in your life. A job relocation or moving on after a divorce are some of the things that may cause you to be in a fall season in your life.
I was logging on to my computer this morning and it occurred to me that my various passwords are reflective of the various seasons I was in when I created them. Its interesting that over the past few months I've never changed them.
Take for instance when I purchased this laptop. I had just been laid of from my job with an employer that I had been at for nearly 15 years. I was flooded with a myriad of emotions at that time. I was worried, angry, scared and somewhat depressed. I couldn't believe that I was that naive in thinking that I would never have this happen to me. When my laptop arrived of course I had to create a password for logging on. Today, ironically, it occurred to me that my password reflects that winter season of my life.
Interestingly enough, as I continued to navigate around my computer this morning I clicked on the favorite I have stored to take my to my work email. About 2 months after getting laid off I was re-hired by the parent company, or corporate office of the business I previously had been laid off from. One would have thought at the time of my re-hire I would have been in a spring season of my soul. But as I entered my logon and typed my password I realized that it too was reflective of the winter season I had been in. I wouldn't say that I'm still in that winter season now in my work but apparently getting the job wasn't enough to pull me out of it when I started.
I have an email account for personal emails as well and decided to hop on to that account as well and see if anyone had sent me anything fun there. My wife will often drop me a little email note during the weekend just for fun and I'm always delighted to get them. My personal email is where I get most of my emails from my family and friends as well. You never know what I might get and its always fun to check and see who might have emailed me and what changes they might bring.. Fittingly, my password here was reflective of spring.
Finally this morning I wanted to check the final email account that I have thats at my church. I don't get many emails here but I do get some. They usually pertain to things going on in the ARTS ministry where I serve. I love my church. I always feel at home there. It's where I want to be. The people I consider my closest friends are there. It's no big surprise that my password for my church email account is reflective of summer. It's there I have the times of my life that I never want to end.
It seems as thought I always have some type of change going on in my life but apparently one of those changes has not hit me when its been time to select a new password. Who'd thought as the seasons of my soul continue to ebb and flow that that something as simple and unconscious as setting a computer password would have been the result of that going on in my life.
The first session that I attended was called "Seasons of the Soul" and it was led by Nancy Beach. The session sounded vaguely familiar, but I had decided to register for it anyway. The premise behind this breakout was the different seasons you go through in life. Winter being a season of sorrow or discontent. Perhaps a loss of a job or maybe the passing of someone dear to you occurs when you find yourself in winter. Spring depicts a season of new hope and new life. Things like starting a new job or something similar occurs when in this season. Summer, the season of fun and where life is good and you never want it to end. Life is just good. There is no dispair to be found. And lastly fall, a season of change in your life. A job relocation or moving on after a divorce are some of the things that may cause you to be in a fall season in your life.
I was logging on to my computer this morning and it occurred to me that my various passwords are reflective of the various seasons I was in when I created them. Its interesting that over the past few months I've never changed them.
Take for instance when I purchased this laptop. I had just been laid of from my job with an employer that I had been at for nearly 15 years. I was flooded with a myriad of emotions at that time. I was worried, angry, scared and somewhat depressed. I couldn't believe that I was that naive in thinking that I would never have this happen to me. When my laptop arrived of course I had to create a password for logging on. Today, ironically, it occurred to me that my password reflects that winter season of my life.
Interestingly enough, as I continued to navigate around my computer this morning I clicked on the favorite I have stored to take my to my work email. About 2 months after getting laid off I was re-hired by the parent company, or corporate office of the business I previously had been laid off from. One would have thought at the time of my re-hire I would have been in a spring season of my soul. But as I entered my logon and typed my password I realized that it too was reflective of the winter season I had been in. I wouldn't say that I'm still in that winter season now in my work but apparently getting the job wasn't enough to pull me out of it when I started.
I have an email account for personal emails as well and decided to hop on to that account as well and see if anyone had sent me anything fun there. My wife will often drop me a little email note during the weekend just for fun and I'm always delighted to get them. My personal email is where I get most of my emails from my family and friends as well. You never know what I might get and its always fun to check and see who might have emailed me and what changes they might bring.. Fittingly, my password here was reflective of spring.
Finally this morning I wanted to check the final email account that I have thats at my church. I don't get many emails here but I do get some. They usually pertain to things going on in the ARTS ministry where I serve. I love my church. I always feel at home there. It's where I want to be. The people I consider my closest friends are there. It's no big surprise that my password for my church email account is reflective of summer. It's there I have the times of my life that I never want to end.
It seems as thought I always have some type of change going on in my life but apparently one of those changes has not hit me when its been time to select a new password. Who'd thought as the seasons of my soul continue to ebb and flow that that something as simple and unconscious as setting a computer password would have been the result of that going on in my life.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt 2)
I don't think that every speaker at a conference is going to appeal to every participant and I had my favorites. Among my favorites were of course Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, Jim Collins, BONO and Wayne Cordiero.
Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek is and has always been one of my favorite speakers. Bill speaks from his heart and it is conveyed in the words that come from his lips. Although I've previously heard some of what Bill had to say in the sessions he led, there is always something, even if just a nugget, that impacts me tremendously.
I've read some of Andy Stanley's books and I think I've seen him speak, perhaps once or twice before. Much of what he said has resonated with me either now or at some point in my life. It reminded me once again of being true to the things that are most important in life and not letting the combination of progress and fear to drive us away from those things. We definitely need to press forward but not because we driven by the fear that someone else may pass us up.
I think I took most of my notes during the Jim Collins session. I was captivated by much of what he had to offer. Some of his worthwhile and memorable comments to me were...."the moment you think you're great, you're not!", "when you're captured by the vision, you wake up motivated every day" and "If you can't be passionate about it, you're never going to be great at it". These comments and this session gave me much to contemplate about myself and I anticipate some lengthy journaling to flow from it.
BONO, what can I say about this interview. I have a good friend who was, and might still be for all I know, very into U2. She would try to get me to listen to their cd's but I just wasn't interested. One thing in particular that resontated with me from BONO was his statement about churches today and how they need to meet the needs of their immediate communities. He said "if they need a clinic, then be the clinic!"
Isn't that what Jesus is about. He meets people where their at. I think sometimes church as an institution gets caught up in being just that. Often finger pointing to what's wrong instead of reaching out to the need. I admire BONO for his efforts. Oh yeah, I bought a U2 cd this weekend. Not bad.
Wayne Cordeiro brought a fresh perspective on getting burnt out. His analogy on what fills and drains our tanks caused me to once again revisit that in my own personal life. I think its easy to set that aside and just let the draining process continue to happen without considering what it will take to get refueled. I can easily identify the things that drain the very life out of me but I cannot so easily identify the things that refuel me. My goal is to consciously identify those over the next few weeks so that I can be better prepared the next time my tank starts to run dry. One of the things that stuck with me from Waynes session was his statement "..sometimes only radical change happens through radical pain." I think I've seen this in action more often than I'd like over the past few years, but despite the pain, good things have always seemed to evolve. Wayne also noted that "we mess up not becuase we're evil, but because we're frail." Once again the need for God in my life was affirmed.
There you have it. My list of favorite 2006 Leadership Summit speakers.
Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek is and has always been one of my favorite speakers. Bill speaks from his heart and it is conveyed in the words that come from his lips. Although I've previously heard some of what Bill had to say in the sessions he led, there is always something, even if just a nugget, that impacts me tremendously.
I've read some of Andy Stanley's books and I think I've seen him speak, perhaps once or twice before. Much of what he said has resonated with me either now or at some point in my life. It reminded me once again of being true to the things that are most important in life and not letting the combination of progress and fear to drive us away from those things. We definitely need to press forward but not because we driven by the fear that someone else may pass us up.
I think I took most of my notes during the Jim Collins session. I was captivated by much of what he had to offer. Some of his worthwhile and memorable comments to me were...."the moment you think you're great, you're not!", "when you're captured by the vision, you wake up motivated every day" and "If you can't be passionate about it, you're never going to be great at it". These comments and this session gave me much to contemplate about myself and I anticipate some lengthy journaling to flow from it.
BONO, what can I say about this interview. I have a good friend who was, and might still be for all I know, very into U2. She would try to get me to listen to their cd's but I just wasn't interested. One thing in particular that resontated with me from BONO was his statement about churches today and how they need to meet the needs of their immediate communities. He said "if they need a clinic, then be the clinic!"
Isn't that what Jesus is about. He meets people where their at. I think sometimes church as an institution gets caught up in being just that. Often finger pointing to what's wrong instead of reaching out to the need. I admire BONO for his efforts. Oh yeah, I bought a U2 cd this weekend. Not bad.
Wayne Cordeiro brought a fresh perspective on getting burnt out. His analogy on what fills and drains our tanks caused me to once again revisit that in my own personal life. I think its easy to set that aside and just let the draining process continue to happen without considering what it will take to get refueled. I can easily identify the things that drain the very life out of me but I cannot so easily identify the things that refuel me. My goal is to consciously identify those over the next few weeks so that I can be better prepared the next time my tank starts to run dry. One of the things that stuck with me from Waynes session was his statement "..sometimes only radical change happens through radical pain." I think I've seen this in action more often than I'd like over the past few years, but despite the pain, good things have always seemed to evolve. Wayne also noted that "we mess up not becuase we're evil, but because we're frail." Once again the need for God in my life was affirmed.
There you have it. My list of favorite 2006 Leadership Summit speakers.
Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt 1)
Just finished up 2.5 days of an awesome leadership conference that was put on by the Willow Creek Community Church (www.willowcreek.com) My church, Granger Community Church, aka GCC, (www.gccwired.com)is and has been a satellite church for this conference for the last 4 years. We're just one of many churches worldwide that provides a satellite connection to this incredible conference. It's focus appeals to not only church leaders but has application for business leaders as well. The list of speakers at the Summit includes not only well known people from churchs across the world but also leaders well known in business and acedemia.
I have been the producer at GCC for the Summit for the last 4 years. What does that mean? In some aspects its like being a project leader. Pre Summit responsibilites include a myriad of administrative tasks including a retreat at Willow Creek, lining up technical people at our site, ensuring that we have vocalists for live worship, printing and distributing copies of the order of events among others. Additionally, I am in ongoing email contact with the lead technical person for the Summit, Shana, to ensure that this variety of tasks are done our side I'm one of many "go to" people for GCC on the satellite side of things.
During the Summit my role transitions from the administrative to more of the producer side of things. I call cues to lighting people to ensure that the lighting effects match the mood of the current conference activity. For instance, when Willow Creek is showing a media we want our shades down (which I control anyway) and lights to be minimal in our auditorium so that the picture is clearly visible. But when a speaker is on we want house lights up, not full, but enough so that participants can take notes. I also am in contact with media operator and cue them for things like powerpoint slides that go up on our screens directing people to break areas at the designated break times throughout the conference. Because most of the sound is coming directly from Willow Creek I don't have much direction to relay to our audio board. I am periodically in contact with them when our host needs to be on the stage to ensure that the host's microphone is functioning as it should.
In conjunction with performing all of what I just mentioned above, during the Summit I am also in constant contact with Willow Creek. We're required to be on a confernce call with Willow 10 minutes prior to the start of every session. I think there were nearly 100 satellite sites for the conference this year...talk about a confernce call! During the call we're walked through the elements of the session (intro music, medias, speaker introducitons...etc) and advised of any schedule changes to that session. During the sessions we are also required to be on Instant Messenger to Willow Creek so that any unexpected events can be communicated.
What unexpected events could possibly happen you may wonder..............W E A T H E R! A wide band of severe storms worked its way across the midwest the first day of the conference this year. I believe at one point there were 8 midwestern satellite sites that had gone down because of weather. One site on the Indiana/Illinois line was even preparing themselves for a tornado evacuation. Instant messaging allows us to have quick communication with Willow in just these situations. Fortunately there is a back up plan, web downstreaming, for the times when the satellite does go out. And although it is delayed it still permits those people who paid for the conference to continue to reap the benefits of it until the satellite comes back up.
I'm not much of an instant messenger at home. But when you get people from around the country in a chat room the conversations seem to be unending, including mine. This year, and I think last year as well, Willow instituted another chat room 'summitchat' so that the representatives from churches around the country could talk to each other without clogging up the 'summitcues' chat where important things needed to be communicated.
About 2 years ago, I made some friends while chatting during the Summit who were from a church in Grand Rapids. We've stayed in contact during the year and often will meet for dinner or just infrequently email. I always gear up with Gail and Paul a few weeks before the Summit via email. We always have a ton of fun instant messaging back and forth. Because 'summitchat' can get so conjested with chats going on from around the country, we always make our own chat room so that we can talk and discuss the Summit while its happening.
So this year I had two screens atached to the laptop on the producers desk, with at times, 4 different chat rooms scrolling down the pages. I had to pay attention to 'summitcues' for any vital information that may come through from Willow. 'Summitchat' is often very entertaining and catches my eye. And, I'm always watching for a update from my friends in Grand Rapids. This year I had yet another individual chat going on with a person from a church in Ohio who had questions about how we do church at GCC and was talking with him about that. All of this in addition to calling the cues when needed, being on a the phone when required and trying to get value from the speaker who was currently on the screen.
On Saturday, the final day of the conference I arrived much earlier that I needed to mostly because I am a morning person. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless blue sky. I went and got some coffee from our cafe and came back to the production booth to get my chats logged on and my service order laid out for the morning. I got 'summitcues' and 'summitchat' up and running fine. Not much later I got my chatroom invite from my friends in Grand Rapids and when I brought up the window for their chat I lost 'summitchat' and couldnt get it back. I decided that the best thing to do was to re-boot the laptop I was using and start over. However, it was almost time for the first conference call so I elected to wait until that was over and then clean things up. (Take note that the laptop on my producers desk is, I'm fully convinced, the SLOWEST laptop ever made.) We were released from our call so I started my re-boot procedure. I had no more than just clicked on restart when our satellite feed went out. "Whats going on!" I thought, theres no bad weather. Of course, now I had no instant message to Willow because the laptop was only crawling its way back to being fully functional. One of the things we're suppose to do is immediately let Willow Creek know if we lose our satellite feed and the most efficient way is to instant message. Not for me now! I picked up the phone and scrambled through the papers I had laying on my desk for the emergency phone numbers to Willow. I never thought I'd need to use them so I didnt have them in a convenient place. I finally found them and dialed with desperation. In the meanwhile, our AMAZING tech guys has sprung into action, and about the same time that Willow answered my call web downstreaming was on our screen. Willow advised that it was a glitch on their side and at that all sites had gone down. "Didn't you see the message in 'summitcues?" the Willow rep inquired. Sheepishly, I replied that I was re-booting my laptop because I couldn't get into 'summitchat' an essentially non-essential chat room. It was all good though as moments later the satellite feed was up and all systems were go.
Temptations to chat and all the other things that you have going on when you're
a satellite Summit producer can often make gleaning things from the speakers a
real challenge. I know for me, I have to be intentional about doing that as I can be easily drawn away into cyber chat land. I enjoyed many of this years Summit
speakers and you can see my comments about them in my post entitled "Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt2).
I have been the producer at GCC for the Summit for the last 4 years. What does that mean? In some aspects its like being a project leader. Pre Summit responsibilites include a myriad of administrative tasks including a retreat at Willow Creek, lining up technical people at our site, ensuring that we have vocalists for live worship, printing and distributing copies of the order of events among others. Additionally, I am in ongoing email contact with the lead technical person for the Summit, Shana, to ensure that this variety of tasks are done our side I'm one of many "go to" people for GCC on the satellite side of things.
During the Summit my role transitions from the administrative to more of the producer side of things. I call cues to lighting people to ensure that the lighting effects match the mood of the current conference activity. For instance, when Willow Creek is showing a media we want our shades down (which I control anyway) and lights to be minimal in our auditorium so that the picture is clearly visible. But when a speaker is on we want house lights up, not full, but enough so that participants can take notes. I also am in contact with media operator and cue them for things like powerpoint slides that go up on our screens directing people to break areas at the designated break times throughout the conference. Because most of the sound is coming directly from Willow Creek I don't have much direction to relay to our audio board. I am periodically in contact with them when our host needs to be on the stage to ensure that the host's microphone is functioning as it should.
In conjunction with performing all of what I just mentioned above, during the Summit I am also in constant contact with Willow Creek. We're required to be on a confernce call with Willow 10 minutes prior to the start of every session. I think there were nearly 100 satellite sites for the conference this year...talk about a confernce call! During the call we're walked through the elements of the session (intro music, medias, speaker introducitons...etc) and advised of any schedule changes to that session. During the sessions we are also required to be on Instant Messenger to Willow Creek so that any unexpected events can be communicated.
What unexpected events could possibly happen you may wonder..............W E A T H E R! A wide band of severe storms worked its way across the midwest the first day of the conference this year. I believe at one point there were 8 midwestern satellite sites that had gone down because of weather. One site on the Indiana/Illinois line was even preparing themselves for a tornado evacuation. Instant messaging allows us to have quick communication with Willow in just these situations. Fortunately there is a back up plan, web downstreaming, for the times when the satellite does go out. And although it is delayed it still permits those people who paid for the conference to continue to reap the benefits of it until the satellite comes back up.
I'm not much of an instant messenger at home. But when you get people from around the country in a chat room the conversations seem to be unending, including mine. This year, and I think last year as well, Willow instituted another chat room 'summitchat' so that the representatives from churches around the country could talk to each other without clogging up the 'summitcues' chat where important things needed to be communicated.
About 2 years ago, I made some friends while chatting during the Summit who were from a church in Grand Rapids. We've stayed in contact during the year and often will meet for dinner or just infrequently email. I always gear up with Gail and Paul a few weeks before the Summit via email. We always have a ton of fun instant messaging back and forth. Because 'summitchat' can get so conjested with chats going on from around the country, we always make our own chat room so that we can talk and discuss the Summit while its happening.
So this year I had two screens atached to the laptop on the producers desk, with at times, 4 different chat rooms scrolling down the pages. I had to pay attention to 'summitcues' for any vital information that may come through from Willow. 'Summitchat' is often very entertaining and catches my eye. And, I'm always watching for a update from my friends in Grand Rapids. This year I had yet another individual chat going on with a person from a church in Ohio who had questions about how we do church at GCC and was talking with him about that. All of this in addition to calling the cues when needed, being on a the phone when required and trying to get value from the speaker who was currently on the screen.
On Saturday, the final day of the conference I arrived much earlier that I needed to mostly because I am a morning person. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless blue sky. I went and got some coffee from our cafe and came back to the production booth to get my chats logged on and my service order laid out for the morning. I got 'summitcues' and 'summitchat' up and running fine. Not much later I got my chatroom invite from my friends in Grand Rapids and when I brought up the window for their chat I lost 'summitchat' and couldnt get it back. I decided that the best thing to do was to re-boot the laptop I was using and start over. However, it was almost time for the first conference call so I elected to wait until that was over and then clean things up. (Take note that the laptop on my producers desk is, I'm fully convinced, the SLOWEST laptop ever made.) We were released from our call so I started my re-boot procedure. I had no more than just clicked on restart when our satellite feed went out. "Whats going on!" I thought, theres no bad weather. Of course, now I had no instant message to Willow because the laptop was only crawling its way back to being fully functional. One of the things we're suppose to do is immediately let Willow Creek know if we lose our satellite feed and the most efficient way is to instant message. Not for me now! I picked up the phone and scrambled through the papers I had laying on my desk for the emergency phone numbers to Willow. I never thought I'd need to use them so I didnt have them in a convenient place. I finally found them and dialed with desperation. In the meanwhile, our AMAZING tech guys has sprung into action, and about the same time that Willow answered my call web downstreaming was on our screen. Willow advised that it was a glitch on their side and at that all sites had gone down. "Didn't you see the message in 'summitcues?" the Willow rep inquired. Sheepishly, I replied that I was re-booting my laptop because I couldn't get into 'summitchat' an essentially non-essential chat room. It was all good though as moments later the satellite feed was up and all systems were go.
Temptations to chat and all the other things that you have going on when you're
a satellite Summit producer can often make gleaning things from the speakers a
real challenge. I know for me, I have to be intentional about doing that as I can be easily drawn away into cyber chat land. I enjoyed many of this years Summit
speakers and you can see my comments about them in my post entitled "Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt2).
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Ground Hog Day meets Tough Love
Have you ever seen that movie "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murray. In the movie Bill keeps repeating the same day over and over and over. Humor was the premise behind "Ground Hog Day." Not so much in the 'over and over and over' surrounding the repetition of destructive behaviors.
Our senior pastor has said time and time again, when your feet are pointed in the wrong direction and you keep going that way, you're never going to find yourself going the right direction. I think that when your feet are constantly pointed in the wrong direction, not only will you continue to make bad decisions in your life but you likely to repeat your bad decisions over and over.
Just yesterday I, well my wife and I, were faced with making one of those 'do the next right thing' decisions concerning one of our adult children. And like the deciding punch in a boxing match, it just knocked us flat.
How are you suppose to respond to another (the 4th to be exact) call of desperation when you haven't seen any change in the behaviors that have repeatedly led to the same results....especially when its your own child!
It's so hard when the decision, the right decision, isn't the most easy and accomodating choice when it comes to your children. Where as a parent do you draw the line? When do you know its time to say "I love you" but I not going to enable you and let continue down the track that you can't seem get off. How many times do you fix them? Tough love is not easy love.
Over the course of a year or more we worked side by side and made countless attempts to help rectify the habits that inevitably led to his path of destruction. Regular appointments were kept and accountability was in place. However tenacious our efforts may have been, they weren't enough to cause a change that would carry over into his living on his own..
There are a rollercoaster of emotions flowing through me today. I peak with hope and plummet with dismay. What twist will the next corner bring? He's my son. I want no more than the absolute best for him. I'm sad. I'm terrified. I'm worried. I'm angry. Emotions, however, can no longer rule what I know in my heart is the right thing to do.
Other parents we know have had to deal with situations very similar to ours. We've consulted and we've prayed. We knew we had to make one of those decisions where your head is telling you to do one thing but your heart is telling you to do the exact opposite. As difficult as it was we weren't bailing him out this time. It hurt, but it was right.
Feet pointed in the wrong direction and make the associated habits with that direction hard to break. We'll be there if he wants to discuss his issues. We'll be there for guidance and direction. But, no longer will we enable to travel the the path he continues to follow.
We haven't heard from him in days. I don't know what his plans are for the future. I have no idea how he feels about us. My heart aches for him. But most of all I love him.
Our senior pastor has said time and time again, when your feet are pointed in the wrong direction and you keep going that way, you're never going to find yourself going the right direction. I think that when your feet are constantly pointed in the wrong direction, not only will you continue to make bad decisions in your life but you likely to repeat your bad decisions over and over.
Just yesterday I, well my wife and I, were faced with making one of those 'do the next right thing' decisions concerning one of our adult children. And like the deciding punch in a boxing match, it just knocked us flat.
How are you suppose to respond to another (the 4th to be exact) call of desperation when you haven't seen any change in the behaviors that have repeatedly led to the same results....especially when its your own child!
It's so hard when the decision, the right decision, isn't the most easy and accomodating choice when it comes to your children. Where as a parent do you draw the line? When do you know its time to say "I love you" but I not going to enable you and let continue down the track that you can't seem get off. How many times do you fix them? Tough love is not easy love.
Over the course of a year or more we worked side by side and made countless attempts to help rectify the habits that inevitably led to his path of destruction. Regular appointments were kept and accountability was in place. However tenacious our efforts may have been, they weren't enough to cause a change that would carry over into his living on his own..
There are a rollercoaster of emotions flowing through me today. I peak with hope and plummet with dismay. What twist will the next corner bring? He's my son. I want no more than the absolute best for him. I'm sad. I'm terrified. I'm worried. I'm angry. Emotions, however, can no longer rule what I know in my heart is the right thing to do.
Other parents we know have had to deal with situations very similar to ours. We've consulted and we've prayed. We knew we had to make one of those decisions where your head is telling you to do one thing but your heart is telling you to do the exact opposite. As difficult as it was we weren't bailing him out this time. It hurt, but it was right.
Feet pointed in the wrong direction and make the associated habits with that direction hard to break. We'll be there if he wants to discuss his issues. We'll be there for guidance and direction. But, no longer will we enable to travel the the path he continues to follow.
We haven't heard from him in days. I don't know what his plans are for the future. I have no idea how he feels about us. My heart aches for him. But most of all I love him.
Friday, August 04, 2006
No Plates but still driving
Monday I found out about a used car for sale that I thought would be perfect for Josh, especially since Josh has been with out wheels since May when his Jimmy bit the big one. Tuesday I took Josh to see the car. It was in great shape and had been given great care by the owner.
Of course we wanted to drive it as well. The owner was a small woman and had the driver seat forward as far as it could possibly go. When Josh got in she mentioned that there was one problem. The seat seemed to be stuck in that position and wouldnt move back. She said that it had been in that position for 7 years it must have just gotten use to it. Both Josh and I tried to move it but it wouldnt budge. It would definitely have to be repaired. By reclining the seat somewhat I could sit in the drivers seat. It was 5 speed stick, and though Josh could drive a stick he hadn't for quite a sometime so I got behind the wheel first. Have you ever driven with your knees in your chest. Thats what it felt like at first but once I got use to the limited space it was ok. We drove up Main Street to GCC to show it to Lori. Josh got brave enought to drive it in parking lot and tooled around while Lori and chatted.
On the way back I asked Josh what he thought and he said he really liked it and was interested in purchasing it. We made an offer when we returned the car and she countered back. I countered back again. She asked if we couldnt come up to her first countered back offer. I told her that I would if she would see that the drivers side seat got fixed. She didn't want the fuss so she accepted our offer and Josh had a car.
All of this transpired on Tuesday. There just hasn't been anytime this week to go to the license branch to get the care titled and plated so its been sitting on the street in front of our house. Josh has had a couple of his friends stop by and he's asked if he can drive to the corner and back to take them for a ride but that the extent to which its been driven since it came home with us.
Fast forward to today, Friday. We had just returned from going out to dinner and were sitting in the living room chatting with Josh. I was sitting near the front window flipping through the TV guide when movement outside caught my eye. Josh's car was going up and down the driveway over and over. I cracked up and told Lori what he was doing. She said he must want to drive it awfully bad. Then it occurred to me what he was doing. When I was driving him back home Tuesday morning after we made the offer on the car he said he was concerned about having to stop on a hill because it was a stick. Our driveway is on a slight incline. I'm pretty sure he was hill testing..over and over and over and over and over!!!
I decided that I was to take advantage of the nice weather and go sit out on the patio and enjoy it. I had taken my laptop out to check emails as we'd all left the office early today to go to a co-workers house for a pool party and I wanted to check my emails. Again, out of the corner of my eye I sensed some movement. Josh was now driving down to the corner and then backing up all the way to our house. Again over and over and over and over!!! You have to know that someone is pretty hard up to drive their car when the resort to going back and forth in front of their own house. The next time I looked he went forward but he never backed up. Ok maybe a little to adventurous for a car with no plates now. I'm so paranoid! I said to Lori, "where did he go?" I just hoped he hadn't gone far.
The mosquitoes were horrible on the patio so we decided to retreat back inside. I walked past the dining room windows and his car was sitting in front of the house. Ok Houdini, how'd you do that? I never saw him come back yet the car was there and he was standing in the drive way talking on his phone.
We're scheduled to go to the BMV at 8am tomorrow moring. Once we get through the wait there he'll be free to drive beyond the front of the house. I'm not sure I can take watching him go up and down the driveway and back and forth in front of the house another day!
Of course we wanted to drive it as well. The owner was a small woman and had the driver seat forward as far as it could possibly go. When Josh got in she mentioned that there was one problem. The seat seemed to be stuck in that position and wouldnt move back. She said that it had been in that position for 7 years it must have just gotten use to it. Both Josh and I tried to move it but it wouldnt budge. It would definitely have to be repaired. By reclining the seat somewhat I could sit in the drivers seat. It was 5 speed stick, and though Josh could drive a stick he hadn't for quite a sometime so I got behind the wheel first. Have you ever driven with your knees in your chest. Thats what it felt like at first but once I got use to the limited space it was ok. We drove up Main Street to GCC to show it to Lori. Josh got brave enought to drive it in parking lot and tooled around while Lori and chatted.
On the way back I asked Josh what he thought and he said he really liked it and was interested in purchasing it. We made an offer when we returned the car and she countered back. I countered back again. She asked if we couldnt come up to her first countered back offer. I told her that I would if she would see that the drivers side seat got fixed. She didn't want the fuss so she accepted our offer and Josh had a car.
All of this transpired on Tuesday. There just hasn't been anytime this week to go to the license branch to get the care titled and plated so its been sitting on the street in front of our house. Josh has had a couple of his friends stop by and he's asked if he can drive to the corner and back to take them for a ride but that the extent to which its been driven since it came home with us.
Fast forward to today, Friday. We had just returned from going out to dinner and were sitting in the living room chatting with Josh. I was sitting near the front window flipping through the TV guide when movement outside caught my eye. Josh's car was going up and down the driveway over and over. I cracked up and told Lori what he was doing. She said he must want to drive it awfully bad. Then it occurred to me what he was doing. When I was driving him back home Tuesday morning after we made the offer on the car he said he was concerned about having to stop on a hill because it was a stick. Our driveway is on a slight incline. I'm pretty sure he was hill testing..over and over and over and over and over!!!
I decided that I was to take advantage of the nice weather and go sit out on the patio and enjoy it. I had taken my laptop out to check emails as we'd all left the office early today to go to a co-workers house for a pool party and I wanted to check my emails. Again, out of the corner of my eye I sensed some movement. Josh was now driving down to the corner and then backing up all the way to our house. Again over and over and over and over!!! You have to know that someone is pretty hard up to drive their car when the resort to going back and forth in front of their own house. The next time I looked he went forward but he never backed up. Ok maybe a little to adventurous for a car with no plates now. I'm so paranoid! I said to Lori, "where did he go?" I just hoped he hadn't gone far.
The mosquitoes were horrible on the patio so we decided to retreat back inside. I walked past the dining room windows and his car was sitting in front of the house. Ok Houdini, how'd you do that? I never saw him come back yet the car was there and he was standing in the drive way talking on his phone.
We're scheduled to go to the BMV at 8am tomorrow moring. Once we get through the wait there he'll be free to drive beyond the front of the house. I'm not sure I can take watching him go up and down the driveway and back and forth in front of the house another day!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
A Light in the Neighborhood
There are times that I get extremely frustrated with my boys and I'm sure they get extremely frustrated with me. I find myself always wanting to protect them from all the things that I already know the outcome of because I've experience it at some point in my life. But it always seems as though they have to find out the answer themselves.
It's rare that I'm content just doing nothing. I usually get pretty restless pretty fast. I like to be going somewhere or doing something. I believe this gene was passed off, especially to my youngest son. Sometimes it seems as though the only time he's home is when he's sleeping, and sometimes he doesn't even do that here.
I find myself often getting upset when he's rarely home. Maybe its jealousy, maybe its envy, I'm not sure. It's not that I expect him to be here 'round the clock. We all need our space. It just seems like, as his parents, we're often pretty low on his priority list.
There's one particular friend that he's spends a lot of time with. At times I wonder if the family is going to claim on their taxes as he's with them that much. This past weekend the grandmother in this family passed away. Josh was at the hospital with the family and spend much of the weekend with them afterwards. He ran errands for them, created a DVD of photos that could be played at the funeral home, and was there for general support for his friend and his family.
When Lori and I learned of her passing we drove down to their house with some food to help feed all of the family that had arrived. The parents couldn't say enough nice things about how Josh had helped them out. In my own mind I thought Josh should probably come home so they could mourn as a family but kept my thoughts to myself. Josh came home later to get a change of clothes and said that he wasn't going to be going to work until Thursday and the funeral was over. Again I was a bit surprised but refrained from commenting.
Tuesday Lori and went to the funeral home after dinner to pay our respects. It was packed. Josh was introducing us to various family members and everyone of them said what a good kid he was and how much they enjoyed him and appreciated his support and help. We watched the DVD he made and it was an awesome tribute to the grandmother and something the family could treasure after the funeral was said and done.
It wasn't until this morning that it was finally clear to me and I think the jealousy and envy, if it was that, has departed from me. I realized that Josh was being Jesus to this family. He was compassionate. He spent hours, no days by their side, just being there for them. He stayed up until the early hours of the morning creating a DVD of memories that the family would have to cherish long after the funeral was over. He arranged for thier lawn to be mowed. He ran countless errands for them. But mostly he was just there for them, demanding nothing in return.
Josh was, or is the true friend and loyal friend that everyone wants to have. I admire him for who he was to this family and only hope that I could be that kind of friend to someone in my life. Whether Josh realized it or not I think he was a reflection of Jesus to this family.
It's rare that I'm content just doing nothing. I usually get pretty restless pretty fast. I like to be going somewhere or doing something. I believe this gene was passed off, especially to my youngest son. Sometimes it seems as though the only time he's home is when he's sleeping, and sometimes he doesn't even do that here.
I find myself often getting upset when he's rarely home. Maybe its jealousy, maybe its envy, I'm not sure. It's not that I expect him to be here 'round the clock. We all need our space. It just seems like, as his parents, we're often pretty low on his priority list.
There's one particular friend that he's spends a lot of time with. At times I wonder if the family is going to claim on their taxes as he's with them that much. This past weekend the grandmother in this family passed away. Josh was at the hospital with the family and spend much of the weekend with them afterwards. He ran errands for them, created a DVD of photos that could be played at the funeral home, and was there for general support for his friend and his family.
When Lori and I learned of her passing we drove down to their house with some food to help feed all of the family that had arrived. The parents couldn't say enough nice things about how Josh had helped them out. In my own mind I thought Josh should probably come home so they could mourn as a family but kept my thoughts to myself. Josh came home later to get a change of clothes and said that he wasn't going to be going to work until Thursday and the funeral was over. Again I was a bit surprised but refrained from commenting.
Tuesday Lori and went to the funeral home after dinner to pay our respects. It was packed. Josh was introducing us to various family members and everyone of them said what a good kid he was and how much they enjoyed him and appreciated his support and help. We watched the DVD he made and it was an awesome tribute to the grandmother and something the family could treasure after the funeral was said and done.
It wasn't until this morning that it was finally clear to me and I think the jealousy and envy, if it was that, has departed from me. I realized that Josh was being Jesus to this family. He was compassionate. He spent hours, no days by their side, just being there for them. He stayed up until the early hours of the morning creating a DVD of memories that the family would have to cherish long after the funeral was over. He arranged for thier lawn to be mowed. He ran countless errands for them. But mostly he was just there for them, demanding nothing in return.
Josh was, or is the true friend and loyal friend that everyone wants to have. I admire him for who he was to this family and only hope that I could be that kind of friend to someone in my life. Whether Josh realized it or not I think he was a reflection of Jesus to this family.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Technology....can't live with it, can't live without it
The company I work for is very pro 'flex hour' working. When I was hired I was told that if I prefered coming in early and leaving early, or coming in later and leaving later either was fine as long as I put in my time. Another flex time perk is the fob I received about at month ago. It goes on my key chain just like the fobs that I have for my car and my wifes car. My work fob allows me to access the software and files I can access at my desk from anywhere that I have access to the internet. So basically I can work anywhere.
I have wireless internet at home which is pretty cool in itself. I can sit on my patio in the back yard and surf. Acutally, just this past weekend I sat on the patio and used my fob to do a couple of things for work that I knew needed to be done that I hadn't had time to get to at the office. Its kinda nice to be able to have your morning coffee, feel the summer breeze and hear the birds chirping while working away on creating a report for a user.
We needed to play some car tag this morning so I made arrangements with my supervisor to work from home until about 9am this morning. I got up at my usual 4:45 and got ready for work. At 6 am I brought my laptop down to the kitchen table and and logged on. I had some miscellaneous banking to do so I got that taken care of and then logged on to the website where I can access work with my fob. I pressed the button on my fob to get the code for logging on and the fob was blank. Nothing happened. I pressed the button again. Still nothing. I pressed again, and again and again. Blank. I walked to another room and pressed the button. Nothing. How could this be? I just used only 2 days ago.
Lori was upstairs getting ready for work and so I walked upstairs to lament to her about the fob. The one time I really needed to use it and I couldn't. I told Lori that just yesterday my supervisor had asked if I'd received my fob and I told her yes and that it worked like a charm. I guess not a LUCKY charm!
Whenever we have technical issues at the office we have a central location we have to call called the RC (for Resolution Center). Its kind of ironic that the RC is in Farmington, Michigan and the tech people that I need to talk to are here in my office in South Bend. Protocol is protocol I guess. Unfortunately, I don't have the RC's phone number at home.
I emailed everyone that I could think of who may be in the office early to get the RC's number and finally received a reply. As I suspected, the RC couldn't help and advised that it was probaby a bad fob. Not what I wanted to hear.
Looks like the anticipated productivity I anticipated for this morning has gone out the window.
Technology, can't live with it, can't work with out it!
I have wireless internet at home which is pretty cool in itself. I can sit on my patio in the back yard and surf. Acutally, just this past weekend I sat on the patio and used my fob to do a couple of things for work that I knew needed to be done that I hadn't had time to get to at the office. Its kinda nice to be able to have your morning coffee, feel the summer breeze and hear the birds chirping while working away on creating a report for a user.
We needed to play some car tag this morning so I made arrangements with my supervisor to work from home until about 9am this morning. I got up at my usual 4:45 and got ready for work. At 6 am I brought my laptop down to the kitchen table and and logged on. I had some miscellaneous banking to do so I got that taken care of and then logged on to the website where I can access work with my fob. I pressed the button on my fob to get the code for logging on and the fob was blank. Nothing happened. I pressed the button again. Still nothing. I pressed again, and again and again. Blank. I walked to another room and pressed the button. Nothing. How could this be? I just used only 2 days ago.
Lori was upstairs getting ready for work and so I walked upstairs to lament to her about the fob. The one time I really needed to use it and I couldn't. I told Lori that just yesterday my supervisor had asked if I'd received my fob and I told her yes and that it worked like a charm. I guess not a LUCKY charm!
Whenever we have technical issues at the office we have a central location we have to call called the RC (for Resolution Center). Its kind of ironic that the RC is in Farmington, Michigan and the tech people that I need to talk to are here in my office in South Bend. Protocol is protocol I guess. Unfortunately, I don't have the RC's phone number at home.
I emailed everyone that I could think of who may be in the office early to get the RC's number and finally received a reply. As I suspected, the RC couldn't help and advised that it was probaby a bad fob. Not what I wanted to hear.
Looks like the anticipated productivity I anticipated for this morning has gone out the window.
Technology, can't live with it, can't work with out it!
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