Here is a leadership idea I’ve found helpful. I facilitate a meeting twice each year for our leaders in technology from around the globe. One of the main focuses of these meetings is developing as leaders.

Our organization has adopted a leadership development framework. One of the roles of a leader is the spokesperson role.

At the conclusion of each GTL meeting, we develop talking points of our time together, developed in the language of leadership. Then each GTL member is to have a briefing meeting with their Director to talk through our GTL meeting using the talking points.

I normally write an email reminding them to meet with their Director. I include my report to my director as an example, and to show that I do what I encourage them to do.

I have found a webpage doing a very similar thing for an industry conference. I thought the conference webpage was a brilliant example of coaching conference attendees in their spokesperson role as they seek their boss’ permission. Of course, it is capitalism at work. The conference organizers aren’t really seeking to develop spokespersons as much as to get people to pay the $2300 to attend their conference! But they realize that by helping potential attendees to articulate smart outcomes from the conference, they increase the attendance, and increase their profits!

We should be doing a similar thing as we focus on the spokesperson role of those attending our meetings. Help attendees develop specific outcomes they are looking for, to communicate those with their leadership as they request permission and funding to attend.

Begin BEFORE the meeting by coaching people into developing and articulating their outcomes for the meeting, using the S.M.A.R.T. metaphor.

What do you think? What have you done to help others grow as spokespersons?

I decided to write some posts in a few blogs (including this one) using specific Bible verses,  Ephesians 2: 8 -10, as part of my text because I suspected that reference would possibly get millions of hits yesterday.

Last night, the University of Florida Gators were playing in the Sugar Bowl against undefeated Cincinnati. As he does in every game, Gators quarterback, Tim Tebow, wrote a different Bible verse  on his eye black.  I read recently that when Tim wore John 3:16 under his eyes last season, Google recorded 93 million hits that day!  To confirm this, I decided to check Google Trends for a handful of this season’s games and found that the verses I checked were number one for Google searches on game days. . . and not just number one, but “volcanic,” indicating a high volume.

So,  I was hoping that using Tim’s verses yesterday would drive more visitors to my blogs.  I tested three of my blogs.  One had the verse as the first line in the text and was posted during halftime, drawing two visitors.  Another blog’s post came after the half.  No one found that article possibly because it is not as popular a web site as the other two I tested.  The article that brought sixteen visitors to my site was posted within minutes of the start of the game as soon as I could read the Bible reference on Tim’s cheeks.   (I noticed a Cincinnati player had another Bible reference on his biceps.)  The post had several other key words that helped more people find my site (Tebow, Super Bowl, Ephesians …).

If you want some ideas for writing new posts for your blogs:

• Check Google Trends for the day you are posting,
• Look at the top ten hot topics and top ten hot searches ,
• Use as many of the key words from those lists in the first line or two of your blog posts.

Have you tried timing when and what you post, based on hot topics?  What has been successful for you.  Have you tried this idea with Twitter, too?

For those of you interested in my work with university students I wrote a guest blog post for our Eastern Winter Conference blog today.  The post summarizes and reflects on a talk by Claude Hickman of the Travelling Team.

Total abandonment :: Students as pioneers in God’s history

"I'm probably just most curious about what a campus like yours is doing and the kinds of things you're using to leverage technology to get the CCC name out on campus as well as expose students to the gospel (via technology) in relevant ways. 

So, basically, what were you doing before (the old), WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW (currently) and perhaps a little of the why behind it.  Some basic how-to's wouldn't hurt either, but we've got some pretty tech savy students that I could probably turn to for help. "

A staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ asked me this and thought it would be helpful to answer his question on my blog since I'm guessing others might have similar questions.

Then:

• Facebook group for the movement and for bible studies, event and leadership teams.
• Static website updated once or twice a YEAR
• Sporadic Facebook ads for our weekly meeting

Now:

• Facebook Fan Page for our movement: Provides a vanity url (facebook.com/chicocru) for advertising, allows for dynamic engagement amongst students, generates a variety of statistics. Does NOT allow for sending messages to members facebook inbox. Most appropriate for many to many conversations

• Facebook Group Page for sub-movement groups and activities: less dynamic than a fan page, more appropriate for one to many conversations. Allows for messages to members inbox.

• Blog-based (read dynamic and frequently updated) website: we display our facebook fan page on our site through a widget that allows someone to become a member of our fan page without having to go to facebook. The goal of our website is no longer to be an online brochure but to funnel students to the facebook fan page and expose and educate new students and parents about our ministry.

• Blog posts optimized for search engines and more particularly for those searching for our ministry: this is done primarily by using keywords and key phrases that someone looking for us would type into google: examples: "chico cru" "campus crusade chico" "christian groups at chico state"--by including these phrases into our blog posts we are increasing the chances that someone searching for us will choose one of our links, land on our page, and join our facebook fan page--which would virtually connect them to our body of students.

• A Live Broadcast of our weekly meeting via LiveStream: We've embedded the video feed and the chat on our website, and use it to expose new students to our ministry and allow members who cannot attend the chance to participate virtually.

• A Vimeo account to share videos: this is also great for search engine optimization, as our vimeo page link is on the first page of google when you search "chico cru" We've created a channel for our worship team which is highly popular among our students.

How To's (first three are screencasts, last is a podcast):

• Set up a facebook fan page
• Get a vanity/custom url for your facebook fan page
• Promoting an event or activity on facebook using a fan page
• How to use Facebook to Grow Your Brand: a podcast from Jeff Widman (Facebook expert).

photo courtesy of rptnorris

Check out this visual review of Avatar. You can find more visual reviews at www.hollywoodjesus.com

This slideshare presentation by Sacha Chua nailed what it looks like to professionally use social media in the workplace or to build one's career.

"Write and share what you learned"--slide 8

If more people in ministry wrote and shared their experiences online I believe all of us in ministry would grow in our effectiveness. Benson Hines chronicles various college ministries and issues in his blog which I've found to be extremely helpful in sharpening my skills.

"Reach Out. Help others. Find mentors. Ask Questions. Make friends."--slide 10

Those in upper levels of leadership and/or 40 years old and above could SIGNIFICANTLY increase their influence by using social media towards this end. Many ministry leaders 40 years and above jump on social media to BROADCAST, which is helpful. However I believe they would see exponential returns if instead of broadcasting they spent their time ENGAGING.

Michael Hyatt's blog is a perfect example. He certainly broadcasts but he is extremely engaging.

Did any slides make you think?

The Gen Y Guide to Web 2.0 at Work

Work can never be play. Zynga sold its soul to become profitable. A common myth many millenials believe is that they can have what they want with little to no sacrifice.

Read this quote:

"So I funded the company myself but I did every horrible thing in the book to, just to get revenues right away. I mean we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this zwinky toolbar which was like, I dont know, I downloaded it once and couldn’t get rid of it. *laughs* We did anything possible just to just get revenues so that we could grow and be a real business…So control your destiny."--Mark Pincus, Zynga CEO

Then watch at least one minute of this video:

This video certainly captured many of the values I hold (work as play, flexible hours, casual environments).

Did it speak to any of your values?

Are you afraid of sharing an idea that would help your ministry grow?

Many college ministry start-ups that I've seen fail have been because they have tried to replicate another local ministry without the leaders, resources, and support possessed by the established one.

Out of those failed start-ups every one of them possessed something that would have benefited the Christians and non-Christians of that campus.

Once again successful entrepreneur Eric Ries provides insight into this reality:

"Ries says one or two of every 10 companies he meets have what he calls a “stealth-disease”. They are too afraid to show something imperfect to the world or are afraid that a competitor will steal their idea. And they think that when they launch their product will make front-page news and grant them blockbuster success."--from a recent TechCrunch blog post

Perhaps you have an idea that you have seen work on a small scale (bible study, team meeting, missions trip) but doubt whether or not it will scale to an entire ministry. Chances are it will not look perfect if scaled to a full ministry, but that's not a good enough reason not to at least try it out.

The blog post goes on to say this:

"Learning what a customer needs is an iterative process.  You try something, get feedback.  Both you and your customer learn more and you try again. You keep doing this until you have something which is so compelling that the customer will pay money to have it—that’s when you know you have a killer product. But you can’t get feedback if you’re in stealth. You only have yourself to talk to."--same blog post as above

Next year try something you have seen work on a smaller scale on a larger scale. Don't let stealth disease keep you from innovating and producing redemptive change.

thanks to @baratunde and @the_swine_flu for the awesome image!

Are you a complainer or a competitor?

Josh alerted me to this article on people who feel perpetually overwhelmed.

A line stuck out to me near the end of the article.  “If you are continually overwhelmed, it is likely you have inefficient systems and thus, you are not solving the problem, only tolerating it.”

A good reminder to continually be solution-minded and seek improvement.

I've experienced four different kinds of time at work:

1. Extremely productive time that does not feel like work

2. Productive time that feels like work

3. Unproductive time that does not feel like work

4. Unproductive time that feels like work

I believe the most opportunity to redeem "work time" lies in number four. It's easy to do training and seminars on number two, but the margin for improvement is small.

Some examples of number four from my time in campus ministry:

• Wandering around the dorms on campus because it was "hot hours," the time when students were most available.

• Laboring for hours over a decision that ultimately gets reversed as soon as the meeting is over.

• Pretending to embrace a strategy that I do not understand and generating half-hearted tactics to appease my conscience.

• Spending most of time on that which is safe, known, and mildly effective instead of that which is unsafe, unknown, and potentially wildly effective. 

I've reoriented the way I think about work time to this:

• Make the hot hotter and cold colder--instead of seeking an even or balanced pace I find that working harder when I'm working hard and resting more intentionally when I'm "clocked out" has made me more productive.

Two YouTube videos speak to the issue of time and work extremely poignantly. At least bookmark them for a rainy day.

Colleges recently broke for Christmas and ministries often spend time evaluating the Fall and planning for the Spring.

The middle of the year presents an opportunity to refine your student leader group. Just like our bellies after too many Christmas cookies our student leadership teams can often become bloated with students who do not want to be there and may fit better either off of leadership or in a different ministry.

I'd encourage you to think about how you can trim the fat off of your leadership team.

I've noticed that every year at this time approximately 20% of my student leaders wrestle with the demands placed on them and seriously consider stepping down.

My first three years I waited until the END of the Spring to address this. FAIL!

If you have student leaders struggling with the demands NOW is the time to engage them. I've found a conversation with these elements prove very successful:

• Making them aware that you know they seem to be having a hard time.

• Exploring (not ASSUMING) the reasons behind this behavior.

• Setting CLEAR and SPECIFIC next steps to either align or remove the student from leadership.

I thought I was being nice and caring towards these students by waiting until it was absolutely clear to have a conversation like this; in reality I was doing the opposite and lowering the momentum and energy of my leadership team since these students often pulled down the rest of the group.

Why do so many ministries function with the assumption that everyone can be a leader, and once someone is a leader they have to be a leader until they graduate?

I remember involving myself in activities in high school and college for the wrong reasons, and stepping in and out of things until I found my niche. Many more college ministries would thrive if they took a more organic and process-oriented approach to developing student leaders.

Thoughts?

photo courtesy of clkao

1. Trust--every one of my student leaders revealed that they SEVERELY distrusted us during their freshmen year. None of them had a compelling reason why. This might be the most underrepresented challenge facing college ministry today.

2. Vision--it's such a waste of time to take students along for a ride that they would not want to go on if they knew the destination. i wish college ministries in general would up the level of clarity of their vision.

3. Passion--our students have stepped up in proportion to how passionate we are about the mission, vision, and values.

4. Leadership--my sense is that college students are desperate to be led somewhere, but are afraid to ask.

5. Sacrifice--I see that students are about SERVICE, but I wonder if they understand sacrifice. I sense that many students serve because they are afraid to lead sacrificially. 

photo courtesy of claudiasnell

Ministries can take form in a variety of structures but this diagram shows one way to evaluate the health of your ministry based on four different categories.

Staff: Paid or free these people have the most time to invest and the most ownership of the ministry.

Leaders: Those currently exercising power over others through roles and responsibilities.

Emerging Leaders: Lack an official title but exhibit qualities desirable of a leader

Masses: The general population of a movement. Defined mostly by their participation. 

Here's a brief evaluation of common types of college ministries filtered through this structure:

• The Too Cool for School Movement: This movement has lots of socially capable, spiritually immature people. They draw new people in easily but have a hard time retaining them. Often this problem is reduced to being "clicky." A more focused evaluation would be that this movement has a disproportionately large amount of masses relative to leaders and emerging leaders.

• The Extremely Small and Serious Movement: This movement often defines itself by "nots." Often consumed with highly divisive theological issues such as predestination or roles of men and women, their identity comes from a sense of being "smarter/more theological" than the average believer. Often times I've heard students say that they are not spiritual enough for a movement like this. The diagram illustrates that they have a disproportionate amount of emerging leaders relative to leaders and masses; often these movements have students with leadership ability and theological convictions, but lack any development or process for growing in maturity. This often causes a failure to draw new people and to develop any true leaders.

•  The Annoyingly Perfect and Massively Large Movement: Some of these movements may be superficial, but a lot of them have actually done the hard work of building a solid group of leaders and emerging leaders. I would say Mars Hill is getting to this place precisely because they are so focused and intentional on leaders and emerging leaders--Mark Driscoll is an amazing leader, but at this point his movement is running on the strength of its leadership.

Does your ministry have a disproportionate amount of any particular group? How have you gone about developing emerging leaders?

"So, the minimum viable product is that product which has just those features (and no more) that allows you to ship a product that resonates with early adopters; some of whom will pay you money or give you feedback." Eric Ries, start-up guru, from a recent blog post

In two of the ministries I started I found that the minimum viable product consisted of:

• A leadership team of at least three people with an ability to grasp the big picture and the social skills to draw others in.

• A "bar" that every member understood to be the divider between leader and follower (in our case it was participation (active or passive) in ministry-mode evangelism.)

• A commitment to proactively selecting and developing non-leaders for the future.

My favorite phrase from Ries' quote is "resonates with early adopters." The biggest mistake I see in other ministry start-ups is trying to make the ministry robust enough for the masses--the reality is that if you are starting a ministry you do not appeal to the masses.

You probably don't have the size, building, relationships, money, or a host of other things to draw a wide range of people.

Have you started a ministry? What did your minimum viable product consist of?

photo courtesy of alun

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

I got the link to this video from a few sources over the past week, and the numbers certainly are enlightening.

In our ministry we are increasingly looking at ways to use social media especially to drive our internet evangelism. In the past we have tried print ads and facebook ads, but none of them had as much impact as when we got students to post links on their walls in facebook.

This actually makes quite a bit of sense really. Whenever I ask people how many times they’ve clicked on a facebook ad they reply “once or twice” or “never”. When I then ask them how many times they click on something a friend has posted the difference is obvious. Most people will do this regularly.

All this is really is old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising or what I remember being taught in economics as “goodwill”. The only difference is that social media has transformed the speed in which this happens from horse and cart to space rocket in a few years.

Ministries are not free to join. Perhaps there's no monetary charge but I promise you it costs everyone something to join.

Here's a sample of "hidden" costs of someone joining your ministry:

• Social Status: it was humbling for me to admit that the movement I led four years ago was not as socially mature as I wanted, and much less social than the average student. Yet for new students with social skills it certainly cost them to stay involved--the cost was many awkward interactions and conversations.

• Linguistics: does your ministry have lots of insider language? or are most of your students from church backgrounds, which has its own language? one of our key target audiences at Chico State is non-believers with a limited church background. these students often spend mental energy "translating" at our events.

• Free time: as someone who manages time really well, it can drive me crazy sometimes to hear what students spend their time on. however to expect that they would manage their time the same way as me is ridiculous. often events that seem like a no-brainer for me are not for students merely because it interrupts their free time. 

So often we focus on removing financial barriers to joining but I wonder what would happen if we spent time working on these hidden costs.

Are there any other hidden costs that affect your ministry significantly? What have you done to address it?

photo courtesy of trialsanderrors

...that is the most expensive phone in the world

...it doesn't appeal to business guys

...it (a motorola Q) will do music

i love Steve Ballmer's (Microsoft CEO) response to the iPhone because it represents a common response to change--fear. even though he tried to sound confident that the iPhone did not have a chance because of price and a lack of keyboard, i certainly did not buy it, and neither did the market that he was so sure would not want it. this is a SMART and wealthy guy--43rd richest in the world, a billionaire according to Wikipedia.

the trend that i'm noticing most is that there is a new pace that many organizations are struggling to adjust--one that is quicker, has more micro-changes rather than infrequent macro-changes, and requires multiple iterations to align strategy with tactics.

it's unsettling when it appears someone knows something that you do not. i would love to see more responses of curiousness to these types of things rather than fear and apprehension.

Bing.com is a search engine from Microsoft and is advertised as a “decision engine.”  BING stands for Bing Is Not Google and does go beyond just searching for information to assisting you in your decisions.  Visit the information about bing.com on Wikipedia to learn all the ways you can use bing.

I can highly recommend bing.com next time you need to find flights and lodging.   After you go to bing.com, click on “Travel” in the left side bar.  You could then click on “Destinations” or on “Hotels” to quickly find lodging and rates.

You will want to read their information about how Bing travel works.  Rate indicators for both lodging and flights also will help you know when is the most economical time to schedule your trip and which hotel or flight has the better price break.

When searching for your flight, go to the Flight page and enter your departure and arrival information.  You do not need to check the search boxes for Expedia, Hotwire, etc.  Bing.com will pull up a lot of results, but use the sliders for times and prices on the left to narrow your search.  You can also ask for only a specific airline if you are a frequent flier member.

Hey, I’d even just visit bing.com for their photography!  Every day, the wallpaper for the home site features a beautiful photo of a new destination with some fun facts sprinkled in.  For this reason alone, you might like to make bing.com your home page.

My team at Chico State finished our Fall Semester on campus with some evaluation and planning for the upcoming Spring semester.

I made a short screencast on how to use Google Wave to lead a team meeting because it really did add some value to our time that traditional documents cannot and was fun for us as a team to try something new. Let me know what you think!

"I greatly dislike Campus Crusade for Christ, and unfortunately my sister’s experience with them was no better than my own freshman year. Besides being in-your-face obnoxious and a bit too extreme...they are absolutely failing in their representation of Christians." --from a blog post I found through my google alerts

ouch.

This person has taken the time to blog their experience. How would you respond if they were from your campus or this was your ministry they were talking about? 

I can only see more of this happening in the future as more and more students use blogs or facebook notes to communicate their experiences.

I see posts such as these as great opportunities to extend and shape conversations that previously were impossible to have offline.

How have you engaged the issue of online transparency?

How much of your ministry is in the public view online and to what level are you engaging those who are talking about you or your ministry, both positively and negatively?

photo courtesy of flickr

LOTS to pray for this month.  Every month, our team here at the Global Technology Office conglomerates all of our critical projects, ongoing needs and specific personal requests and publishes them here:  www.mygcx.org/PrayforGTO

It’s a creative way to join us in lifting up our many requests, yet spacing them out a few days at a time.

This month, please especially note the women’s Christmas Cookie Exchange – a neighborhood outreach opportunity which we will host at our house on Tuesday, December 8th. Please pray for the Lord to show His love and redeeming power to many women who will attend.  Last December Shannon helped plan this event and it was a big success.  Several of the women who attended afterwords joined a neighborhood Bible Study.

Click below to view and print the full Prayer Calendar.

If you have yet to take a look at Colin Powell's presentation on leadership you're missing out.

I've pulled some quotes out but the entire presentation is just twenty slides long.

Here are some of my faves:

"But as companies get bigger they often forget what got them there: things like all-hands involvement, egalitarianism, informality, market intimacy, daring, risk, speed and agility."

"All the great ideas and visions in the world are worthless if they aren't implemented rapidly and efficiently."

"If you ask enough people for permission you'll inevitably come up against someone who believes its his job to say 'no.'"

Keith Davy in relation to evangelistic practices blogged about "Bait & Switch"

Matt McComas blogs a review of the book Derailed outlining some key characteristics that cause leaders to derail. 

Keith Seabourn highlights some amazing stories of social media at work. 

Steve Lutz wrote an honest post about the realities of support raising which generated a robust discussion.

have you found any great posts recently?

photo courtesy of valerianasolaris

Here’s a text (SMS) conversation with my brother from this past weekend.  He’s a senior at Brock University.

Russ: What’s up dog?

Trevor: Not too much, just watching some YouTube on atheism and also some other pastors who were recommended by some friends.

Observations

1. Discipleship happens at all hours of the day.  In this case, via YouTube, at 10am on Saturday morning.

2. My brother is actively looking for content online.  It makes me wonder what our organization has online in terms of helping students discover Jesus, comparatively evaluating religions and helping students grow in their faith.

3. My brother seems to watch YouTube just like he would TV.  His comments give me the impression that he’s surfing around YouTube for content on atheism.

4. Friends tell friends.  If you want to influence students, you better understand this.

"Value exists externally—what’s happening outside the business has more value than what’s going on inside." --Lane Becker

Lane shared this thought at Web 2.0 Expo NY during his seminar "The New Customer Landscape." This inversion of value represents one of the most significant shifts between Millenials and their predecessors. Within Campus Crusade I would say this is perhaps the second greatest challenge to leading up (leading those who have more power or a larger title) in my organization.

The previous assumption has been that what's being said/produced INSIDE the organization is dramatically more valuable than outside. Social online networks and online publishing platforms have radically changed this.

An even worse assumption to hold than value existing internally is that control is maintained through silence. That staying off channels such as facebook or blogs will someone silence or prevent conversations from going on.

With more and more new Campus Crusade staff members entering the ministry with a blog the more this reality will manifest in the next five years.

To see what I'm talking about try this experiment:

• Select a leader high up in your organization
• Google their name
• Then select a staff member who is on the field and has a blog
• Google their name

My guess is that you will see (perhaps you will need to try a few different names) a dramatic difference in what Google spits out.

A couple other great quotes I took down from the seminar:

"Organizations are just one node on a large network--it does not matter how big you are."
"Your homepage is just one node."
"But Google is the only real homepage."

Here's the slideshare presentation if you'd like to flip through and see Lane's outline:

Five Ways to Fail was one of my favorite panels during the Web 2.0 conference in New York.

The panel emphasized how significant risk and failure are to not only one's development as an entrepreneur, but also to starting a business or endeavor.

Ben Huh listed 5 "fails" :

1. Failing to try new methods, techniques, and/or strategies and expecting results to change.

2. Assuming you know everything there is to know/failing to consult with other people. This is often evidenced by a failure to test the strategy or tool with people who would actually use it.

3. Failing to love those who love you; in other words focusing on those who dislike your idea/tool/strategy and spending energy on them instead of those who appreciate/value what you're doing. **I loved this one; since campus ministry is often so personal, it's tempting for me to spend my time on "haters."

4. Failing to add diversity; the panel affirmed that when they were on teams that all thought the same, their product often suffered. One panelist also noted that a diverse team often slows the development process down in a good way, forcing the team to use metrics to make decisions rather than opinions.

5. Failing to get back up after a failure; although this one was the most cliche, the reality of this was affirmed by every single panelist. I personally have grown in this the most the last couple years; and have been grateful that I didn't give up on pursuing some "side" projects that have now turned into my full-time job. 

Photo courtesy of Huh's famous "Fail Blog"

I was trained that when people come to you asking for missional training, you know you have the beginnings of a movement.

Recently, I attended the MinistryNet conference.  It was designed to help build capacity in integrating digital strategy into our mission of helping students discover Jesus.

In an online community started after the conference, one attendee wrote,

I have more than 300 committed Christians whom I recruited from Facebook after MinistryNet to train in e-ministry. I really don’t know what to do with these many people. I want to train them… Please give me suggestions.

I’m encouraged by how the combination of vision from a physical conference and the viral-ness of social networks can mobilize people to a worthwhile cause so quickly.

Hey faithful prayer partners: we can not begin to thank God enough for you. There’s simply no way we could do what we do without you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The following is the responses from our staff during a session I helped lead on apologetics. It was a challenge for some of them to begin to think about how to answer the apologetic questions of their culture without being given the answers, but it is an important skill to learn. Moreover, it provides a good base for building an understanding of how to build an apologetic for our culture. It is interesting to see how some answers come up more than once, particularly the need for a relational component to our evangelism, and the ‘practicalness’ of the gospel. Food for thought.

How has Western thought interacted with Chinese thought in Hong Kong?

• HK people’s focus: Is that practical?
• HK has a mixed culture.
• Our parents still emphasis the value of a family, the virtue of respect. HK academic institutions value how to develop critical thinking, independence and profession.
• When we consider doing operation, we’ll find western way, but for nurturing a good health, we think Chinese medicine is more effective.
• Universities in HK also very practical, so more and more departments need placement/intern as an assessment of their academic performance.
• In the course evaluation of the universities, the evaluation on whether there is an all-round development is depends on whether one is living up to the standard of the employers, which is very practical.
• HK is very practical and focus on money. People don’t care much about whether the society is a closed one, but personal prosperity. There is a contradiction between democracy and harmony in HK.
• The concept of “family” may not be that of ancient China, who favors for “Big family”(many family members), but the importance of a family in a person’s life is still unchanged.
• For the food in HK, we can also see the mixture of different cultures, like cha-siu spaghetti.

What is a good apologetic for Hong Kong?

• People is fear about the loneliness and shame after they are converted. So they may need to know more about the identity in Christ, being the daughter and son of God.
• People always ask: Is it useful to believe in Jesus? Can I have a better living (materially)? They are fear / wonder if conversion is valuable.
• As HK people concern practical much, they regard the Gospel as something, which is academic, separated from their daily lives. They may need more really life testimonies, especially those telling about inter-personal relationship, to let them relate the Gospel to real life.
• Chinese always need to be praised, confirmed. We always care about the expectation of others. So maybe we need to honor and please them.
• Many people always saying that Gospel is only for the inferiors, together with materialism and feeling-oriented, how can we do apologetics? Feeling? Thinking?
• For guilt, shame and fear, these are inaccessible for Chinese because of self-esteem (“face”). Chinese need acceptance and have difficulty in trusting others. But that is their need. So how can we access to that part of a person? Is internet a good tool to express and respond? It seems that we need to do good through relational network.

Over the years I have wandered amongst a number of the different views on Creation and Evolution, although now I would probably say that the theological and scientific problems posed by theistic evolution are less than those encountered by the other views. The most disturbing thing for me though, is where the issue is raised to the level where it is considered to be a key article of our faith. Science and the Sacred (The blog of Biologos - the organization started by Francis Collins) has published a link to a survey of seminary professors on their perceived barriers to evolution. By far the largest barrier was the perceived contradiction between a literal reading of Genesis 1-2 and evolution, making up 44% of respondents. However 46% of respondents had no problem accepting evolution.

When paired with a recent survey showing 51% of scientists believe in God or a higher being, it becomes apparent that the drumbeating on both sides of the issue is not representative of a “faith vs science” conflict, given that about half of the people on both sides see no such conflict.

Does social media work? How can social media be harnessed for the Great Commission?

I just read an amazing story from two weeks ago.

November 9th: Jon Acuff, a copy writer in an IT department in Atlanta, explains how it began here in this original blogpost. God led him to start a project to raise $30,000 by 31 December for a kindergarten in Vietnam.

November 9th: Abraham Piper interviewed Jon as the project started here in this blog post.

November 9th (15 hours later): Jon Acuff blogs how the project has reached $24,000 on the first day.

November 10th: Jon Acuff explains how $30,000 for a kindergarten school in Vietnam was fully funded in 18 hours.

"The IDF is deliberately understaffed at senior levels. It means that there are fewer senior officers to issue commands," says Edward Luttwak, a military historian.

This comes from a recent Newsweek article on the Israeli military culture and its uncanny ability to foster innovative and entrepreneurial leaders. 

Here's my favorite sentence from the article:

"Fewer senior officials means more individual initiative at the lower ranks."

What if leaders at every level of Campus Crusade intentionally became dumber and allowed space for greater initiative with those below? The most common response I have heard from staff who have failed to take initiative in a critical area of ministry---"I'm not trained/experienced in ________" 

I would love to see the expert culture break down and sincerely hold those below us accountable for iteration, trial and error, and guerilla/bootstrap methods.

One more gem:

"Israeli soldiers are not defined by rank; they are defined by what they are good at."

The proof of the IDF's methods is in the people it produces--successful entrepreneurs who frequently come up with innovative and creative solutions to problems that have long gone unsolved.

Have you solved a problem creatively in the last three months?

I was in a meeting recently where the leaders got really excited about creating a laminated card to share our vision.  As the excitement grew, I think I slumped further and further in my chair.  I felt like running for the hills.  I spoke up, caused a bit of a stir, and thankfully we can all now laugh about the incident.

Granted, a laminated card is simply a tool.  Different tools are needed for different jobs.  I get that.  What I’m processing is what Marshall McLuhan expressed as “the medium is the message.”

My organization works with students.  Students, in my opinion, will not lay down their lives for a vision expressed by a laminated card.  Of course, the person using the card (the tool) is key to expressing the vision.  How they interact with the card, the stories they tell, how they explain and use it affects how the vision is passed on.  I get that.  I can see how a laminated card could be useful.

My concern is deeper.  By passing our vision on using a laminated card, I think we risk exposing ourselves as behind the times and irrelevant.  Instead, what if I sat down with a student to share the vision, took out my smartphone and showed a 90 second video clip describing our vision.  What if I could then pull up a social media site and show the student five ways they could get involved in our cause today?  What if the tool that I used to share our vision could instantly be tapped into by the student who could then pass along the vision to his friends right there in a viral way?

I want to be a part of something cutting-edge and world changing.  A laminated card doesn’t communicate that for me.

Check out the notes from a talk by Shane Hipps at the Catalyst ‘09 conference (let me know if you find video of this).  Shane, who used to market for Porshe, agrues that how you say something matters as much or more than what you say.  In other words, by using a laminated card, we are actually saying something different that if we show you a video on a smartphone.  Here’s a video clip of Shane sharing some of his ideas in a different context.  (Yes, I know he’s friends with Rob Bell, but let’s not make this the focus of the discussion.)

My point.  I think if we want students to get the vision, we need to move beyond laminated cards.  They send a certain message.

What do you think?  Is the medium really the message?

The Love Languages of Blogging

Posted by Susie Thomas of Susie Here Only

To love people in cyber-world, it helps to learn the love languages of blogging. Just as we learn in real-world relationships to love people in a way that they feel love, it is important to learn the same lessons in our online relationships. Here is what I’ve learned so far:

First, comment. Comments are how bloggers feel the love. Comments are how you encourage them, say “I hear you,” and “I understand.” On another level, comments help to increase their blog’s popularity, drive up their traffic, and earn them more readers. Bloggers love comments, and comments are how blogging relationships begin.

Some tips on relationship-building commenting:

• Don’t one-up the post. It’s tempting to say things like, “You think your kid’s story is bad? The other day, my kid…”
• Easy on the advice. The person who posted their kid’s horrible story is NOT looking for ideas on how to discipline her child. She’s looking for understanding, affirmation, laughter, and encouragement.
• Do comment. Even if you can’t think of anything witty to say. Just say, “I hear you” or “Thanks for posting this.”

The second love language of blogging is the link. Links to another blog drives up her traffic, which helps your fellow blogger out. If she writes something interesting, talk about it on your blog, and link to her post. If a bloggy friend has a birthday or is starting a new project, link to her and invite your readers to hop over to their site and comment. In the blog world, nothing says I love you like a hyperlink.

A third love language of blogging is the guest post. This is not something I’ve done much, but inviting another blogger to write on your site is a great way to invite others into your conversations, while at the same time giving them more publicity and increasing their readership.

Even if you don’t have a blog, you can build relationships through your comments and encouragement.

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Do you remember the days when decisions were made by a minority of people? When "brainstorming" times were a half-hearted attempt to involve your "team" in the process even though you or someone else had made the decision long before?

Maybe that's the present :) if so I'm sorry.

Hopefully that's the past.

I believe your ministry's future can be more innovative, vibrant and effective by becoming less of a wall and more of a sponge.

1. Allow more people to be a part of the CREATION process; not everyone will want to and some may not be as good as you, but more of your team will be bought in with the decisions being made and someone may surprise you by their insight.
2. PUSH more of "the why's" into the public view; students are more skeptical and distrusting of authority than ever before; as a leader you are not going to get away with a "need to know basis" style for much longer.
3. EXPAND expertise beyond your organization; someone from another ministry or field of expertise may be a lot smarter than you; it would be good to learn from them. 
4. REVEAL more of yourself on the channels that matter to those you lead--yeah my blog is cool but when I am highly intentional about revealing the day to day stuff on Facebook because that's how my students get to know me.
5. CLARIFY what kind of sponge you are; all of the others are useless if you are drawing people that do not reflect your mission, vision and values.

Getting Out of My Bubble

Posted by Susie Thomas of Susie Here Only

My ministry assignment is to be a mother while we serve at AIA’s headquarters in Midwestern America. When you hear about the proverbial “bubble” of Christian community, I live right in the middle of it. Sure, I see non-believers in my daily life, but as a mom with small kids, any conversation we have is usually interrupted every three seconds by “Mom, I need you NOW.”

My blog has become my way out of the bubble – it has provided me with real, ongoing relationships with women who don’t know Jesus. Through blogging, we have become friends, and for me that is important.

Because my blogging purpose is to get out of the bubble and build relationships with non-believers, I have been intentionally careful in how I talk about my faith on my blog. I talk about it, yes, but I try to avoid anything that can be identified with cultural Christianity. I have learned that every post can be a path out of the bubble, or can slam the bubble door shut – with me on the inside.

To clarify, I don’t think there is anything wrong with blogs that provide Christian encouragement and community. I have learned, however, to stay true to MY purpose as a blogger – which is to relate to those who don’t automatically believe the same things I do.

So, if my blogging ministry is not explicitly in my posts, where is it? To be honest, I still have a long way to go. In all ministry settings, I still struggle with fear in turning casual friendships into conversations of spiritual significance. But, I have learned that for blogging to be a relationship with meaning, it has to be reciprocal. Otherwise, my blog is just a narcissistic soapbox.

If you do want to start a blog, here are a few more tips:

• Use your voice to give a voice to others. Ask questions in your posts to encourage comments and welcome others’ thoughts.
• Talk about controversial things, but don’t assume your readers share your views.
• Bare your soul, not the details of your day. Like in any relationship, it’s good to be vulnerable. Of course, this is the internet, so you want to go easy on the over-sharing, but be real. Your blog is not interesting if it is full of “this is what I did today” posts. Now, “this is how I feel today” is another story!
• Get off your blog and join the party! Remember, blogging should be reciprocal. If someone leaves you a comment, go read their blog and comment on their post. Read others’ blogs, and look for new people to bloggy befriend.

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"The first thing you would design for is handles (profiles) the user can invest in"--Clay Shirky, from A Group is Its Own Worst Enemy

Shirky talks about online communities but this design principle applies to building movements. He says a group that lacks a meaningful identity will not last. I wonder how many movements either wither or never get off the ground because the "ideal profile" is not worth investing in.

The "ideal profile" in a Campus Crusade movement is that of the student leader. Some ways a student leader can be "unideal"

• Does not participate in evangelism

Although there are many student leader qualities this one is really the only one that I have seen matter. I see a direct relationship between the quantity and quality of evangelism amongst the student leaders and the health of the overall movement.

Shirky goes on to say this:

"Three, you need barriers to participation... You have to have some cost to either join or participate, if not at the lowest level, then at higher levels. There needs to be some kind of segmentation of capabilities."

If I were to start a movement I would have only one cost to join (for believers):

• Participate in evangelism

You do not have to be "good" or "gifted" in evangelism; you do not even have to say anything (assuming you can go with a partner. I have been amazed at how many people this one requirement weeds out (in a good way).

If you had to pick one requirement for your "ideal profile" what would it be?

photo courtesy of danielygo

Finding My Blog’s Purpose

Posted by Susie Thomas of Susie Here Only

Since I started casually, identifying a purpose for my blog was a long time coming for me. At first, my objective was to stay in touch from a distance, and then it became to give perspective from the other side of the world, and it has only recently evolved to its current state: I blog to build relationships with non-Christians. I’ll elaborate on that more later, but first I’ll share about the purposes that have tempted me along the way.

The first comment I got from someone I didn’t know scared me out of my pants. I was totally freaked out that someone other than my mom found me on the internet. The second comment I got from a stranger gave me a rush of excitement – I have a voice!

As I got further involved in the world of blogging – both reading and writing – I realized that the more people who read your blog, the cooler you are. And, just like that, I was tempted down a path of blogging for acceptance/recognition/fame…. Call it what you want, but I think it all boils down to the mother of all: PRIDE.

Then I started to notice that there were people who were making money of their blogs. No, not a lot, but enough to take the kids out for frozen yogurt or buy the new tall boots I need for fall. And so arose the temptation to blog for money.

The thing is, it’s easy enough to figure out how to do these things. But, for me, I had to remind myself that as a Campus Crusade staff member, ALL of my income comes from support, and ALL of my “work” has one purpose: to point other people to Christ. It was time for me to figure out a new blogging purpose.

It has taken a lot of intentionality to stay on track – and has become an issue of integrity for me before the Lord. Not all of us will arrive at the same answer on this, but for me, this has been very important. I do not want to do anything for income, traffic, or “followers”. My focus has shifted to blogging for relationships.

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"If you are voice centric the Droid already is better than the iPhone" --Robert Scoble from a recent blog post

In one glance I realized why the iPhone is not just a cool device but an expression of a new value system--one that focuses more on pull communication than push.

If Scoble is not voice-centric then what is he?

"I’m web and Twitter centric," he goes on to say.

Wow.

So many people tell me that Verizon has better coverage. Honestly I do not care. I do not like talking on the phone in the first place, so people are actually persuading me to keep my iPhone rather than switch when they say this to me.

I do not think that the value of face to face or even personal interaction (like a phone call) will decrease. I do think that more and more people (millenials and below) will make a decision about their technology based more on what they can PULL IN over what they can PUSH OUT.

My three most used apps on my iPhone:

• Tweetie (for twitter)
• Byline (for my RSS feeds)
• Mail (for email)

My next three most used apps:

• SMS
• Facebook
• Safari

The phone app would come after that. 7th in terms of time spent.

Anyone else out there value pull over push?

photo courtesy of markybon

Have you ever beat your head against a wall trying to help someone change a critical component of strategy or tactics, and then speak with someone else and almost fall over from the lack of resistance?

Charlene Li, author of Groundswell, click here to follow her on Twitter, outlined four archetypes that exist within every group. I found this extremely helpful in speaking with the right people to bring about change.

These are her four archetypes:

The Fearful Skeptic--highly critical of any kind of change, and weary that things will 'get messed up' if any pieces shift.

The Realist/Optimist--Understands the realities of the organization, and is upbeat and willing to sponsor change.

Transparent Evangelist--Sees the light but doesn't know the organization well enough to make appropriate changes

Li noted the following:

• Often times we talk to fearful skeptic to no avail but if/when a change agent can connect them to a transparent evangelist or realist/optimist they can dip into the cautious tester role.
  

• Change Agents need to respect the fact that all of these archetypes exist, and that none are "better" than the other (thank you Cloud/Townsend).
  

• Look for and take advantage of times (regional conferences for ccc staff) when various archetypes are in the same room.

Which archetype most closely describes you? Have you seen these work out in your context?

photo courtesy of gogdog

Getting Started

Post by Susie Thomas of Susie Here Only

When I was serving overseas, I started a blog. It was intended to be just a little thing to share pictures of my baby with people back home, and to shock and entertain them with stories of life in India. The first time I hit “publish,” I was a little nervous about sending my thoughts out into the cyber-world – who would read it? What would they think? Am I just talking to myself? And then, I reminded myself, my mom and dad will read this, and they will always think I’m a superstar.

That was three years ago.

Since then, my blog has evolved a bit. More people read it, and I am always shocked to realize that many people I don’t even know read it. I’ve grown to love my blog and the relationships it has given me.

Over the past year, I have given blogging some more intentional thought: Why am I doing this? How can I serve God doing this? Can blogging be a ministry?

Well, of course, when you’re with Campus Crusade, anything can be a ministry, right?

I’ll be posting my thoughts in a series of posts:

• Getting Started
• Finding My Blog’s Purpose
• Getting Out of My Bubble
• The Love Language of Blogging

I’d love if you would share your comments. Every blogger is different, each of us with varying purpose and perspective, and each of us with the potential to be used for eternity.

So, get out there and blog! Decide what your blog’s purpose will be, and stick to it. Get to know people who don’t know Jesus, and love them well. I am figuring this out as I go, and I have a lot to learn. So, please, leave your comments and share how you use blogging as a ministry.

And, please, give me some pointers on how to turn my bloggy friendships towards spiritual conversations.

If you do want to start a blog, here are a few more tips:

• Keep security in mind. DO NOT blog about your ministry if it will cause security concerns. On my blog, I do not mention who I work for or what I do. When I wrote about our trip for India, I did not describe what we did there. DO NOT post pictures and names of missionaries you work with overseas without their permission.
• Keep your personal security in mind. Be general about where you live. Decide if you want to use your last name, or even your real name. Decide if you want to use your kids’ real names. The answer is different for everyone. I use my kids’ names, but if I had put more thought into that, I might have chosen something different. Think long and hard about the “I’m going out of town tomorrow” post.

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The end of year ball is a well established tradition for Student Life at Auckland University. It’s a way to celebrate the year in style with the students who have been involved with us. This year’s theme was “Cultures of the World”, 80+ students dressed as someone from a different culture, the staff dressed in Indian theme and composed our own bollywood dance! It was a bit crazy but fun! I was in charge of food for the event, we went with foods from 12 different cultures. I spent 4 days in the kitchen preparing, which was a challenge I enjoyed! (Although slept through most of the following day). The evening went really well; some students commented that it was the best ball they had been to!

Photos are available online.

FYI--I've realized many people write or blog ABOUT Millenials but are not ones themselves. As this blog has evolved I hope to explore what it means to be a Millenial leader in a Boomer-led organization.

The ability to translate the meaning and intention of a person above and below is a critical piece of millenial leadership.

When I interact with boomers I'm having to translate many facets of their communication styles. In Christian culture I notice that boomers LOVE exhortation--Millenials STRUGGLE with exhortation.

Regardless of intention exhortation can feel impersonal and inauthentic. I've noticed that socially immature millenials can completely check out at the hint of an exhortative boomer.

In the context of leading this dynamic can SIGNIFICANTLY hinder interactions even though both sides are not intentionally trying to frustrate each other.

If a Millenial expects those above him or her to do the translating they usually experience FRUSTRATION, DISCOURAGEMENT, and with our nature to take things extremely personal, can lead to major ineffectiveness.

My best advice: ASSUME authenticity when exhorted by a Boomer. TRANSLATE that exhortation into a more specific conversation about giftings, passions, or strengths. Exhortation is often hard for me to take because it can be so general: "we should always be keeping our heart set on the Lord."

I've turned some of these initially frustrating exhortations redeemed by following up with something specific: "as much as I try to set my heart on the Lord, I find that ______can trip me up. Do you have any suggestions as to how to grow in that area?" It seems like pursuing specifics is an effective form of translation between boomers and millenials.

If you are a millenial or younger, how are your translation skills? Do you feel the same way about exhortation from those older than you?

photo courtesy of morfina

If you’re a non-profit operational leader, keep your eye on Compassion.  Especially watch how they use their @compassion Twitter feed.

In my opinion, they provide a textbook example of how to use social media to mobilize to their cause.

• They are casting a global vision
• They are sharing stories
• They are resourcing volunteers
• They are raising money
• They are using SMS
• They are using Facebook
• They are having a conversation

… They are using social media to accelerate their mission of eliminating child poverty.  Take note.

If you have a website or a blog, chances are you want to increase the traffic to your site.

I just tried the free service, Website Grader, offered by HubSpot.  In less than a minute I received a graded and detailed report on each of my various blogs (both as a link in an email as well as the actual web page for the report).  After a quick look at the reports, I immediately made some changes to help Google and other search engines find my blogs more easily.

HubSpot even saved the links to my reports so I can go back and make additional changes when I have time later on for making more improvements to my sites.

• I will read all of your tweets on my TweetDeck.
• I will skim all of your blog posts on my Google Reader.
• Foursquare will tell me where you are so I can come join you.
• I’ll keep my eye on your Facebook status via TweetDeck.
• If you notify me of a link to a video that’s less than three minutes I’ll start watching it.
• If you send me an email, I will likely file it for action unless it takes less than two minutes to deal with.
• If you send me mail, I’ll likely read it next Saturday alongside the pizza coupons.

Want to lead and influence me.  I’ve just told you how.

I work at helping students invest their lives in good causes.  I’m told, on average, worldwide, students spend six hours a day online.  I’ve been invigorated today by four conversations about using new mediums to reshape the way we are delivering our message.

Help your organization influence better by knowing what methods your audience is most influenced by.

(Note: I’m not a student, I’m not saying these are the best ways to reach students, I’m just telling you the world I live in).

post from Curt Fenz

I became a volunteer last August.

For months I’d heard statistics about how many people found Jesus on the internet.  Then, I got an email from a friend whom I taught how to play “Freecell.”   He had won an extraordinary number of games and I thought, “Wow, what if a fraction of that time was used to follow up new Christians?”

Then God said:  “Curt, How many games have you won?”

I got the hint.

I emailed a friend who pointed me to Global Media Outreach.  I clicked the sign up button and filled out the form.   Surprise!  They wanted to check me out and asked for references!

“Isn’t my email address enough?” I thought.  “I’ve worked pretty hard to get a Campus Crusade address.”

Then I realized of course they want to verify that I’m okay.  I added the email address of my pastor to the form.   After a few days, I received a welcome letter and some training.

Three times a week, I received email saying “You got Mail.”  I click on the link, put in my passwords and there is a message waiting for me.   Most of the time it takes me just a couple of minutes to respond.   I press the reply button and add a few comments to the automatically generated reply.  (More if it is from an email source, less if it was from a cell phone.)

So far, about 10% have written back. I’m not sure if that is statistically good or bad.  My reply to “Jane Doe” included several links to becoming free from bitterness and depression that were easy to find on the Global Media Outreach (GMO) website and the linked website www.gotquestions.org (Very user friendly!)

YOU CAN VOLUNTEER TOO!

They took me didn’t they?  And I am celebrating my 55th birthday.

NOTE: read some sample changed lives stories

After receiving an email encouraging me to promote Campus Crusade Summer Projects (which are unbelievable awesome) through videos, I was eager to go to the site and share them.

However I noticed that the videos are only available for download.

I wondered...

If these videos were on YouTube how many more times would they be viewed? Perhaps 16x more as suggested by my previous post?

Rather than sit in wonder I wanted to do something about it.

Here's the question I would love for you to answer in ONE WORD (yes or no) in the comment section of this post:

Do you think that it posting the summer project videos on YouTube would generate a significant amount of exposures?

My hope is that this meager blog could generate enough affirmation in this reality that the powers that be would post them on YouTube.

Please Tweet or Share this post in other places if you're so inclined. There is a Tweet This button right below.

If you're reading this on Facebook, please go to the blog link to comment so that they are all in one place.

Why do so many settle for commonness?

I was reading in 1 Samuel 8 this morning and came across this thought:

“We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

We want to be like everyone else. We want someone else to fight our battles. We want to be led.

I dug out an old poster given to me by Larry Poland in 1976. It has marked my life for many years.

I Do Not Choose to be a “Common” Christian

I cannot separate my faith in Jesus of Nazareth from my everyday life, conduct and speech.

I cannot justify loving only those who love me, aiding only my friends, and praying only for fellow Christians.

I have no desire to carry the name of the Son of God to the level of my own base intentions.

I aspire to be like Him, to live on unseen resources by faith, to tap the unlimited supply of His love through the life of His indwelling Holy Spirit, to emerge from my moral conflicts “more than a conqueror” through His power, and to rise above all earthly standards to the completeness of His perfection.

I acknowledge that this is an impossible quest but accept the challenge of its impossibility in the knowledge that its pursuit will force me to rest on Him.

I desire no little challenges, expect no unrippled seas, and abandon all personal “rights.”

My present failure to fulfill these intentions merely proves that God isn’t finished reshaping my raw materials.

What about you? Will you join me today in choosing to be uncommon?

"Data suggests that unlocking content at AIIM means more than a sixteen-fold increase in the number of downloads."--from a recent blog post by David Merriman Scott

What would happen if 16x the number of people had access to your ministry's best content (bible studies, leadership development articles, evangelistic resources, etc)? It literally could happen with the click of a button--or rather removing that extra click that people have to make to access information.

David Merriman Scott posted an insightful analysis of whether or not to "gate" your content. 

The concerns of giving away content or making content available to the public are legitimate. Yet the blog article goes on to say...

"However making the content totally free with no registration required means many more people will download and spread your content via email, Twitter, blogs, and the like."

Do you have any hard statistics that affirm or contradict this principle? What specific areas in the church or ministry could be unlocked?

photo courtesy of cardopoli