Sign Wednesday: I'm not Joking

For some reason these signs make me think of the of the current Democratic National Convention. Seriously, I'm not joking. Have a look at the signs and then I will explain.



Did you study them? What do they say to you?

First let me say that I don't care of you are a Democrat or a Republican. The point of this post is not suppose to tell you who to vote for or how to vote this November.

What do I mean when I say these signs remind me of the DNC08? The one major idea that I have gotten from the DNC08 is the importance to of inclusion. Yes, unity is important to the party and trying to prove that Obama could be the commander and chief is a highly ranked issue as well. The one thing though, that I believe they want you to hear is that you are included in changing our country. They are trying to make this election about you and not about who you are electing because you are included in the future and the hope of this country. This is pure genius. Who doesn't want things to be about them?

These signs are trying to achieve the same things. They are trying to make sure you feel included. So included that you walk into their store and of course buy something. Why else would you carry over 9,000 items and make a neon sign of all things to say it? Why else would you hand write another sign that could be misunderstood of saying, "Get your Ladies Silk Lingeries for Back to School Supplies"?

These signs of course don't achieve the part of me feeling included. They don't reach excellence in part of the imigination. These signs are not doing what the owner of the store intended. You know, I think the current DNC could be like these signs in this area as well. I know that they want me to think I am included but the more they talk the less I feel that way. Maybe it's because they have included so many people that they have excluded along the way. Even though the speeches are excellently written and delivered there is still something that comes off very empty. I look forward to seeing what Obama says for his acceptance speech. I look forward to the inclusion part.

What do you think? Do you think these signs remind you of the current DNC?

2 Minute Tuesday: After the Olympics

If you are looking for some great thoughts on the Olympics then this is not the video for you. If you are looking for 2 brothers who hit each other while their dad is talking about the Olympics then enjoy.

Ministry Monday: Think Campaign

Last week I had the honor of having breakfast with Ron Hummons. Ron has an absolutely incredible story of life change. He has been in prison, homeless, and truly lost. Ron has been through the gutters of life and wants to help people not make some of those same choices that he made. Besides owning a shoe and clothing company he has started a crime prevention program called the Think Campaign. This program is starting with a documentary style DVD and will eventually include a school curriculum. If you want to help on the school curriculum then contact Ron because this is in the early phrases of the program. I am excited about the Think Campaign. I really think it has huge potential that will lead to massive ministry.

Here is the trailer to the Think!! DVD.




The stories that are told are gripping. I can't wait to see the final product. The website just launched a couple of days ago. Stop by http://www.thinkcampaign.org.

Fantasy Football Draft Results

I had my first fantasy football draft of 2008 tonight. I drafted 5th out of an 8 team league. I know that 8 is a little bit low for the number of teams in a league but I enjoy 8 much more than 12. The competition is better and in general the teams are just better. The other great thing about 8 teams instead of 12 is that the draft doesn't take as long. This is a great thing.

So who did I get on my team? Below you will see my roster. This is not in the order I drafted them but arranged by position. We start 1 QB, 2 RB's, 2 WR, 1 Flex Position of WR/RB, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 Def. Enjoy.


Tony Romo
(Dal - QB)

Ben Roethlisberger
(Pit - QB)

Braylon Edwards
(Cle - WR)

Nate Burleson
(Sea - WR)

Calvin Johnson
(Det - WR)

Chad Johnson
(Cin - WR)

Joey Galloway
(TB - WR)

Joseph Addai
(Ind - RB)

Jamal Lewis
(Cle - RB)

Maurice Jones-Drew
(Jac - RB)

Earnest Graham
(TB - RB)

Matt Forte
(Chi - RB)

Jason Witten
(Dal - TE)

Jeremy Shockey
(NO - TE)

Adam Vinatieri
(Ind - K)

DEF
New York


So what do you think? I think I have a real shot at winning this year. I am solid at QB. I have a nice RB and maybe a nice surprise. My WR's are very good. TE are the best. Great Kicker and good Def. Watch out league!


Do you want to play in a league? I have one league with a couple of spots still open. It is an Auto Draft league on Yahoo! If you do let me know.

McKee Boys Rap Video

Seriously, this is what happens when Jessica is busy and the boys and I sit down at the computer. I hope you enjoy it.

Sign Wednesday: Skyline Chili

Sometimes I am just amazed by what makes it on a sign. Below is a basic triangle table top sign. You see them all over the place. There is one thing though about this sign that I hadn't noticed before. Here is the way the sign was sitting when we sat down.





I took a closer picture of the sign to make sure that you see what I am talking about. Look at the randomness that makes the sign.





Do you think it is necessary for the arrows pointing up and down? Is it fragile cargo that doesn't need to be placed upside down?





Of course the sign geek in me had to turn it to its proper position.


Somethings to think about when making your next sign: Does the information that I am about to put on this sign really need to be there? Am I putting info on my sign that is for the printer or the consumer? If I am going to put strange information on my sign should it match the rest of my sign?

I think you know what I think of the questions above but what do you think?

Sign Wednesday: What do you see?

I love the simplicity of this sign. It is a great use of a mirror but not the best use of the sign above. The question though is thought provoking and I am sure it gets a lot of traffic.

(Hat Tip to Jeremy Jackson of Fellowship Technologies for sending this to me.)

Enjoy.




By the way, the fake trees next to the sign are horrible. There is a whole other lesson in the additions to a sign but I won't go there for this post.

2 Min. Tuesday: Random Elephant Talk

Seriously, this is really random but I think you will enjoy.

Ministry Monday: Losing Staff is a Good Thing?!?

Today I was sad, happy, excited, disappointed, and jazzed all at the same time. You see, Andrea Goslee, now a former staff member of mine, said goodbye today. We worked together for 3 years at Horizon Community Church. She was the Music Director for the Children's Department all 3 of those years. She is now the Children's Director at Rivers Crossing Community Church. I can say that I am truly proud of her. While at Horizon she pushed, pulled, and challenged me. She brought a level of excellence to the table that I appreciated very much. Even if I didn't agree with it all of the time.

My Senior Pastor, Chad Hovind, said, "Staff leave for 3 reasons and Andrea left for the only good one." I would have to agree.

It is not easy losing staff but I find that it can be a good thing. It is great to see God give more leadership and responsibility to people. It is great to see God expand His church even if it wasn't apart of my plan at the time. It is great to see people care about a community so much that they can't help but think about how great it would be to minister in that community. It is great to see friends succeed.

Andrea Goslee will be great as a Children's Director. She will take and lead Rivers Crossings in an incredible way. Someday I will probably be going to a Children's Ministry conference and she will be speaking at it and I will say that I knew her when. Watch out for Andrea Goslee, you have been warned.

Tech Thursday: The Conversation Prism

Are you having trouble keeping up with the Tech World and all of the services out there? I know that I read about technology and use technology like crazy and I feel like I am behind most of the time. In my efforts to keep up I came across this excellent graph called the The Conversation Prism. Check it out:



Now of course this is not all of the services but I think you will find many that you didn't know about. There are many that are being created today and some that just didn't make the list but overall this is an incredible start.

Why is this important?

1. You have to know where the conversation is going on to be able to join in.
2. You have to be willing to share on multiple platforms to get the full picture (at least today you do.)
3. You have to be able to digest information quickly to stay up to date.

I hope this at least gives you an idea of where to look today for something new. The more people we have in the conversation the better we will all be in the end. I just can't wait for someone to condense the platform so that the conversation can be changed more efficiently and effectively.

(Hat Tip to Robert Scoble's FriendFeed and to Brian Solis and Jess3)

Sign Wednesday: Autographs and Memorabilia

I went to the Bengals Training camp tonight with my family including the in-laws. I came back with this football thanks to my wife who stood at the fence at got most of these autographs:







In the past I have said that you should never have a hand written sign. Well there is an exception to every rule and I think I finally found the exception to the hand written sign rule. By the way, Chad Johnson, Marvin Lewis, Ben Utecht, Jordan Palmer, and many others as you can see signed the ball. Of course I would have loved Carson Palmer to sign it but he ran off the field very quickly and I don't blame him one bit.

You see some signs just have more value than others and this one might not be worth a lot but the value is very high.

2 Min. Tuesday: The Dark Knight

I hope you enjoyed another 2 Minute Tuesday.

Ministry Monday: Mary Kay, Estrogen Overload, and Priorities

About 4 months ago my wife, Jessica, came home and told me that she was going to sign up and sell Mary Kay. It is not that we needed the money, even though who couldn't use some extra cash, but she wanted to do something. I said great and didn't know exactly what this meant. Last week I spent most of the week in Dallas, TX at the Mary Kay National Seminar with her. Yes, I went to a Mary Kay event and after attending I am proud to say that my wife sells Mary Kay products. Going into the conference I was not sure about the whole thing. You know, the whole business opportunity thing and the idea that Jessica would be told "No" more than should would be told "Yes". So what changed my mind?

Was it seeing the pink Cadillacs in person? No, but I would drive one if I had too.
Was it seeing ladies win diamond rings? No I am not a big jewelry fan
Was it being surrounded by 10,000 ladies? a big NO there
Was it the amount of money that I saw ladies making? another big NO

So what was it?

First it was the companies priorities. Did you know that Mary Kay is a Christian business that believes in God first, Family second, and Career third? Believe it or not it is very true. Almost everyone who stepped foot on stage and spoke somehow quoted scripture. Some churches have a hard time doing this. Seriously, what businesses do you know of that teach these priorities? This was not a passing thing either but one that was quoted over and over and over. I want my wife to have these priorities, in fact I want myself to have these priorities. That being said I want my 2 boys to grow up and have these as well.

The second reason my mind was changed was the level of excellence that I saw everywhere in the organization. Now I know that they had their best foot forward and they were trying their hardest to impress everyone who was there, but again I have been to many companies and churches that even at their best couldn't reach the level I experienced last week. The stage design was incredible, the signs were very, very good, the videos were professional, and the cameras shots were remarkable for being live. Again few places reach this level of excellence even trying their best.

The third reason my mind was changed was the message that I heard from one of the husbands. He was asked, "How do you deal with your wife being so successful?" Now I know that he has had to answer this many times but his answer was incredible and I will steal it in the future. He opened up his Bible and read Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 if you are not familiar is the chapter in the Bible that talks about the characteristics of a Godly woman. After reading this chapter he said as her husband it is his job to help her become more Godly and that her Mary Kay business is helping them both do that. He went on to preach some more. Believe me when I say it was impressive.

Now don't get me wrong, I did hear of woman making over 8 million dollars and going on trips to Rome and everywhere else in the world. I heard ladies talk about their vacation homes all over the place. I heard a lot about how much money could be made with Mary Kay. Then I heard it explained that if you were there for the money that you weren't going to make it in the business. I heard the most successful lady in the company say that if you aren't willing to be a servant than you should just go ahead and leave. They talked more about helping people than making money. I truly couldn't believe it.

I went into this conference very skeptical looking for all the negatives. I came out thanking God that my wife gets to stay home with the boys, do something that she enjoys, and is told that God must be first. So for all you Mary Kay haters out there, I looked for all the negatives and came up short. The only major problem I saw this past week was that I got Estrogen Overload. Other than that, if you or your wife would like to buy some Mary Kay, I am proud to say that you can go to http://www.marykay.com/jessica.mckee/default.aspx.

Yes, believe it or not I saw ministry happen this past week, tons of ministry. Ministry that was targeted to ladies and somehow even hit me.

Last one from Fellowship Church

A great lighted sign gets noticed and read. Remember that when choosing what to do with your next sign.

More from Fellowship Church

Imagine having 4 plasma and 4 stations of info for kids and parents and that is what you are looking at in this picture. Again this is very impressive and well done.

At Fellowship Church

I went back to Fellowship Church this past week and they had their new decorations up for the year. Impressive is not a good enough word. If you are in the Dallas area you have to stop by and check out their facility.

By the way, the mountain above is carved by hand out of foam by the head Children's Pastor, Mike Johnson. Incredible work as always Mike.

Also using a new App from the App store to post this. it is called Shozu. we will see how it comes out.

update: I tried posting through Shozu multiple times and it went to another blog that I have shut down. I will pull them over and try and fix the problem because I really like their UI.