The Church of Greater Lansing Project
Dec 18, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
On Christmas Eve, Riv is going to team up with 20 or so area churches to do something really cool!
But I get ahead of myself…
Due to the economic crisis in Michigan, a 32% increased need has been reported by Lansing Food Banks in the past month. In outlying areas (where a lot of our people live), first time families requesting help is up by 18%. Many food banks are unable to meet demands and are turning families away.
Here’s the cool part: Lansing Mayor Bernero has asked pastors in the Lansing area to get involved in this crisis. Phil, the Lead Pastor at Trinity Church called me last week to see if we wanted to help. I told him to sign us up, because this cause reminded me of this verse:
2 Corinthians 8:14
Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it.
Many of us are still in a season of plenty. This is our opportunity to help those who are in need. We are going to collect an offering on Christmas Eve that is dedicated to feeding the needy in Lansing. We are purchasing semi-trucks of food from the Greater Lansing Food Bank and will receive food boxes to feed an entire family for a week or an individual for 4 weeks.
Our goal is to “Stomp out Hunger” for the month of January (which is traditionally a real tough month and this year will be worse). To do this, we need to feed 2,000 families. Our goal for this project is to raise $40,000 between all the churches.
I think this is totally doable. Please be praying about what you may be able to do to help on Christmas Eve. Also, we are going to need volunteers to help deliver food to the 2000 families in January. More info on that will be coming soon.
Tags: Lansing
Wal-Mart Love
Dec 15, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
I know it’s cool with you kids to hate Wal-Mart and all, but I thought this was interesting (via CARPE DIEM):
According to Forbes, Wal-Mart was the most generous corporation in America in 2007, giving away $301 million in cash gifts to the Children’s Miracle Network, Feeding America, The Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, the United Way of America, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Wal-Mart was almost twice as generous as the most profitable company in the world, Exxon, which gave “only” $173 million in 2007, and was #3 in the Forbes ranking.
Art Open House at Riv
Dec 12, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Kristie has put the finishing touches on Riv’s first full art installation in our new Corridor Gallery. It’s so cool to see we have so many talented artists around Riv.
If you have a chance tonight, head over to the Holt Venue between 7:00ish and 9:00ish to check it out. We’re hosting a little Open House and of course there will be coffee and munchies.
Just don’t spill them on the art.
Reading on the Cheap
Dec 11, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Thanks to Brad for this quote:
“The man who never reads will never be read;
he who never quotes will never be quoted.
He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains,
proves that he has no brains of his own.”-Charles H. Spurgeon
I love to read, but I don’t get to read as much as I want. My favorite books are theology books, practical leadership books (both Christian and secular), and novels. Unfortunately, when I am in a teaching season I don’t have time to read which totally bums me out.
So I pile the books up. You can see my current pile in my office tour. Then, when I am not teaching I try to rock through as many books as I can. I also try to knock them out on planes when I am traveling.
Lots of people have asked me, “how do you afford all those books?” Well, Riv has a small book budget (but it’s not that big and I am real cheap). So here’s my system for reading, without spending a ton of money.
1) Check the library. It’s surprising how many books you can find in that magical place. For those of you in the Lansing area, go to CADL’s website first to save yourself the drive if the book you want is not in.
2) If the book is not in the library, but it’s short or you just want to skim it, go to Barnes and Noble and read it in the store.
3) Next, go to PaperBackSwap.com. This is one of my favorite sites. Basically, for every book you send someone, you can pick any book from any member to have sent to you. The average book takes $2.50 to mail, so you are basically buying books for that price. If I can find the book there, I do. With 2.6 million books available, I can often find what I want.
4) Finally, order books from Amazon.com. They always have a little discount on all books and you can score free shipping if you spend over $25. I have a wishlist there with books I want to read but are not essential reads right now. Then, whenever there is a book I need, I add a book or two from the wishlist to take my total over $25.00. At that point, the shipping is free. This makes them almost as cheap as buying them used from Amazon’s used service.
I have kicked around the idea of getting an Amazon Kindle, but I can’t quite justify the start-up costs. Once the new ones come out, I may explore that option because I like the idea of getting books for $9.99.
And that is how I read as much as I do on the cheap. Any other tips from you readers out there?
Want a Free 1GB Flash Drive?
Dec 10, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
OK, here’s the deal. I lost the above pictured USB 1GB Flash Drive for over a month.
I finally gave up hope and bought myself a 4GB replacement. And then that very day, I found it.
Dang.
I was going to keep it, then I thought, “am I really going to use 2 drives?” The answer is “no.”
So, here’s the deal. If you need one, you can have it. And I mean free…I won’t even charge you postage. I will mail it to you today.
Here’s the fine-print:
- Offer only good to people living in the United States. I don’t want to pay to ship it overseas.
- You have to actually need it. That means you don’t already have a flash drive, but would like one. You’re on the honor system here.
- The first person to post a comment on this post wins. Make sure you use your real email address because I need to email you to get your mailing address.
That’s it.
Merry Christmas.
My Flight Tomorrow
Dec 10, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
I’m flying out for a quick one day trip tomorrow. Wonder if my flight will be like this one.
2 Thoughts on 2 Customer Service Moments
Dec 9, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
I had two different experiences last week in the arena of Customer Service.
The first was terrible. It was with our church’s Health Insurance company. Basically, I have faxed the same receipts and paperwork to them twice and they still say they have not received it. This is after I was told on the phone last February that everything was all set. So, I called them to see if I could clear it up (again). The auto-attendant told me to punch a number. I did and the response was “that number is invalid.”
I did this three times. No go. So I hit “0,” assuming I would get an operator. Nope. “That number is invalid.”
So I have listen to the entire message, which ends by telling me to hit “*” to talk to an operator. Weird, but I do it.
I am finally connected with someone who tells me that the website has wrong information about my account but it can’t be cleared up until I fax the information in (again).
Basically, I wasted a long time (and my assistant wasted more time faxing stuff because the fax number they gave me didn’t work). And as of Saturday, it still wasn’t cleared up because they mailed me a form-letter that made that very clear.
Grrr…
The second customer service experience I encountered was awesome. It was with DailyMugshot.com. They basically sent me a note to see if there was a reason I wasn’t using their service anymore. It was a simple email, that concluded with “let us know if you have any feedback on our service.” Awesome, I am always happy to oblige — I emailed them with a technical problem I was having.
The founder of the site emailed me back personally with a solution to my problem 6 minutes later. 6 minutes! That was shorter than the time it took me to navigate the phone system of the insurance company.
I am now happily using this service again.
Why do I tell these long stories?
Because I immediately thought of two completely different applications.
1) How we do our jobs matters. I can’t help but remember Paul’s admonition to slaves:
Titus 2:9-10 Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.
If you are a Christ-follower, how you do your job (even if it is being a slave) reflects on how people see Jesus.
2) As our church grows, we must seek to have the same responsiveness as when we were a small start-up church.
It gets harder and harder to do this. I get tons of email from people inside and outside of the church. My Facebook and MySpace accounts keep me cooking. It’s tough to stay on top of it all! But I must find ways to do so. I may not be able to respond the same way I did in the past, but I can do my best to create systems that help. I have to watch out, lest these systems become a hinderance (like the Customer Service of the Insurance Company).
Birthday Love
Dec 8, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Yup. It’s true. It’s my birthday. I’m 37 today and that makes me feel pretty old.
But I’m also feeling loved. I’ve received lots of birthday greetings via email, text message, and voicemail. But the big one is Facebook. Now I know that most people only remembered my birthday because Facebook told them, but that doesn’t change the feeling of love.
Thanks all. Now I have to stop reading birthday greetings and go back to work.
Oh Christmas Tree
Dec 4, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
I love this picture Grace took at the Christmas tree farm last week.
