Wild! - a good youth group activity

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Can a church be too congregational?

Greg Gilbert has a great discussion of things that need congregational approval and things that don’t.
HT: Ben Wright

Devotional thought

I was reading in 2 Samuel today nearing the end of the book. David has become king, conquered many, failed as a king, overcome a revolt by his own son as well as by Sheba, and regained control of the country. 2 Samuel (2 Samuel 22) ends basically with two songs or poetic pieces written by David. As a king, he celebrates God’s working in his life. When we achieve victory, do we celebrate before God or do we just celebrate?

Napoleon’s Project Management #3

Well, it’s been awhile since I posted on Napoleon.  We’ve had a good week of VBS as well as vacation but I’ve still been reading.  Also some of you didn’t get the book until recently, I guess.  Anyway, I’ve gotten into chapter 4.

 Two things I’ve observed from chapters 2 & 3. First, in chapter 2 he talks about a compelling vision. One of the keys seems to be identifying the problem.  In working on a project, identifying the problem both the proposed problem and the one seen by what Manas calls “stakeholders” is essential to being able to clearly work on a solution.  It seems we often are guilty of fuzzy or weak thinking in regards to what clearly is the problem and discussing this with others.

 The essential things in chapter 3 is diplomacy which seems to be mostly about communication and communicating with the right people.   Anybody ever used the tools he mentions on communication? 

 I’d be interested in people’s comments about how this works in their situations. As a pastor, my greatest “stakeholder” is God.  This is difficult at the same time because it’s easy to make my wishes God’s.  Any thoughts?

Quote of the week

“We don’t have needs…we only have masters.” - C.J. Mahaney at the New Attitude Conference: http://www.newattitude.org/

Napoleon’s Project Management #2

I know several of you guys are just getting the book so I’ll continue to comment mostly on chapter 1.  Jonathan had some interesting questions in his comment about #1. 

What is the proper balance? It is true that a leader who does not project confidence is not a good leader. And it is also true that often times God is glorified through our weakness.

My question would be: who is the leader projecting confidence in? how is he doing that? If he’s not projecting confidence in God by pointing to His Word then ultimately we’re going to be in trouble. Of course, in a work environment that’s somewhat different. People want confidence projected in order to get what they want accomplished. There’s a danger in making unqualified promises as a project manager in my opinion. I think in a work environment it would be really tempting to promise things we’re not sure we can deliver on. To quote Napoleon:

To win them, you must do them good.

Often we define good in the short term, what will please people now rather than long term what will be good for them throughout. Often it’s a battle in how you get them to think about the issue (and how you are as well). Again as we get into chapter 2, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Whose hope are you dealing?