Get a Mentor!

Over the last 7 years of my life I have had a mentor. It has not been the same mentor but I have been very fortunate with the people who have agreed to such a relationship or should I say partnership. I have been given wisdom that I would not have come by without these partnerships. I have also been helped out of situations that I found very difficult. The rewards of having a mentor are absolutely amazing. It is basically putting wise counsel in your life. Believe me, everyone can use some wise counsel. So you may be asking yourself, how do I get a mentor or how do I start this process? The first thing you have to do is swallow your pride and say that you need one. Being in my 20's, that was very hard at first. I am one of these types of people who tries to take the world by storm and I don't need your help to do it. I also tend to try to impress people to much and if people found out I needed help by a mentor it may hurt my very important perception. Okay, I may not have that perception but at least let me think that I do. After you have given your pride a kick in the pants, ask someone you respect if they are willing. I know, another kick to the pride. I mean what if they say no or what if I am not good enough. By the way, I have had no one say no. That's right, not one. When I say pick someone you respect I mean someone who is the most successful person you know in their field. Don't pick someone your age. If you are in your 20's don't even pick someone in their 30's. They won't be the most successful person you know. Believe me, they are still trying to figure life out as well. Now what are you looking for in a mentor? That is the wrong question. The question should be what do you want to learn? Do you want to be a great husband, boss, or maybe even a better Christ-follower. Find someone who is the best husband, dad, manager, or Christ-follower that you can find. Notice I said nothing about money. Don't bring money into a mentor partnership. It will be the downfall of the partnership. If you are looking for someone who will help you make a lot of money or someone who will help you keep the money you have, then you need a CPA or an accountability partner. Notice that an accountability partner is different than a mentor. Don't get me wrong, accountability will happen in your partnership but learning should by your primary focus. Okay, enough about all of this. Go get a mentor.

Coleslaw Dressing

Have you ever made coleslaw? I know that if you are reading this and you live in the north you probably haven't but I did last night. Coleslaw is a poor man's salad. It is shredded cabbage and carrots with a special dressing that is made up of mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar. I will have to say after reading the ingredients I am not very impressed myself, but I am a huge fan of coleslaw. When making coleslaw you take a pound of cabbage/carrots mix and pour in, if you follow the recipe, a cup of dressing. Now I will tell you that you don't need a full cup of dressing. It should be more like 2/3 of a cup. Why? Coleslaw dressing has this supernatural phenomena reaction with the cabbage concoction. It grows. I don't mean a little but some how it doubles and then triples and by the time you are done stirring in the dressing, a pound of cabbage is swimming in a pool. Cole slaw baffles me. I don't understand it. I don't understand how I can pour in a little and it comes out a lot. Why am I writing about coleslaw dressing? It hit me, as I was stirring, that my ministry is very much like coleslaw dressing. I don't understand how God takes my lame little attempt at ministry and multiplies it. I know how much I put in, not that much, and when I turn around it has doubled, tripled, and sometimes even to the point where lives are being changed. I would have to say praise God. God does some supernatural phenomena reaction with students, volunteers, and yes sometimes even staff. So I never thought I would say this but a goal of mine in ministry is to become coleslaw dressing. I don't want to know how God does it, but I do want to put in my part and stir. This way when the results happen I can't take credit for any of it. Needless to say I believe we look at our ministries and say the same thing. We say that we have been give the poor man’s salad and we are expected to serve it at a five star restaurant. Here is the problem with that line of thinking: It is not up to you. Yes, you have to do the work of stirring, mixing, and gathering ingredients but has nothing to do with what happens after you have done your work. First you have to do your work. Gather volunteers who fit your ministry. Mix in encouragement and excitement. Stir in great Biblical teaching. God does the rest. When you look back at your bowl you will see an incredible amount of God and very little of you. So do your work and let God do his.

First Time Visitors

Believe it or not I love going to other churches. Not because I don't like mine, but because I get to be a first time visitor. This experience is truly priceless. You are only a first time visitor once. I know the last sentence may not be profound but it does mean the world to your ministry. First impressions are made, whether good or bad. Families decide whether they are going to come back or not on their first visit. Now you have to understand that I have a 2 year old son and the nursery area can be a blessing or a curse to any church. Judgments and critiques come easily when you are at someone else's church don't get me wrong, but I try my best not to do that until I have experienced everything. After the service I sit down and answer the following questions.

1. Were the signs clear and easy to follow?

2. Was the check in process painless?

3. Did anyone greet me?

4. Was their a feeling of security and safeness for my child?

5. Did volunteers know where I should go?

6. Were there name tags on volunteers?

7. Was the facility clean?

8. Was there any thought put into the environment or was it white walls?

9. Could they tell me what belongs to my son or did I have to tell them?

10. Was the pick up process painless?

11. What could have made my experience better?

I know these are hard questions. I know right now that I wouldn't rank very high on all of these at my church. The important thing to remember is we only get one shot. We only have a brief time to convince someone that they should trust us with their kids. If our space is not creative, clean, comfortable, and does not communicate with out anyone around we are not doing well. I think we could do a lot better if we would swallow our pride and invite people to answer these questions. If you are afraid of what the answers will be then change not only needs to happen it must happen or families will leave. On a side note, if you live anywhere near the Cincinnati area and would like for me to come and be hard on your space and your environment, let me know. I would be more than willing to drive and discuss how we can make things better.

Chocolate Nachos

Friday night my wife and I went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. At first glance you would say that it is a themed restaurant and it will probably not have the best food but you will enjoy something different in the atmosphere. I mean come on, I like mine with lettuce and tomato... I will let you finish the song. When we pulled up we noticed the crowd. A wait was about to happen, but is it going to be worth it? Now I will say that a wait is worth it only when the food is great. With the number of restaurants that are out there waiting should only be a necessity for the best. So, when the hostess told me 40 minutes, I am hoping and praying for the best burger in Cincinnati. I do understand this is a chain and the best normally does not come from a chain, but I had hope. We waited. We checked out everyone as they came through the door. Made fun of the ladies in the pink hat society. Yes, it was pink and not red, they are starting their own movement. We laughed at old people on their first dates. We were amused by drunk people at the bar. These are all normal things to do while you wait. Then we sat down at a table. The menu was simple. The drink menu was more complex. I just wanted good lemonade and I got it. We both ordered burgers. My wife got the "mini's" with a toss salad and I got the "not so precise" with fries. The tossed salad came out and it was not typical. You know the typical, lettuce, carrots, one cucumber slice, and one cherry tomato with dressing on the side. This was far from typical. It was a real salad. Different types of lettuce, crumbled blue cheese, asparagus, and all around goodness. So far so good… The burgers come out and they are delicious. I will have to say the best burgers in Cincinnati. There was a salsa ketchup on my burger that was incredible. The mini's were juicy, again not typical for a mini burger. Cheeseburger in Paradise is batting 2 for 2. We look back at the menu and notice that they had something different for desert. There before us was the phrase Chocolate Nachos. Living in Texas for 5 years we knew about nachos, but not about chocolate ones. So we tried them. It was awesome. Here came a plate of homemade nacho chips that had chocolate in the batter. On top of the chips were strawberries, sprinkles, and a heavy chocolate sauce. Don't picture Hershey's, picture almost hot fudge. Next to the chips is a bowl of Ben and Jerry's for dipping. Three different flavors of ice cream for us to enjoy. Boy did we ever enjoy. We stuffed our faces to the point of no return. It should have been shared with 4 but with persistence on our side we finished it. Cheeseburger in Paradise hit a homerun for $25. Not bad for a themed chain.

I think as churches we could learn a lot from the restaurant business. I believe people will only stick around if you are serving the best. I also believe people should get more than what they expect from church. People should be blown away. They should be writing blogs about you and your ministry the same way I write about Cheeseburger in Paradise. Serve the best in town and I bet they will be. Don’t let your children’s ministry settle for second. Your menu should be that of excellence, quality, and something special that is not expected. You have more than just kids coming… You have customers, critiques, and yes even sometimes you have parents.