Archive for 'Philosophy'
Freakonomics: Incentives (part 1)
Posted on 12. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
Last week I went to see the new documentary based on the book Freakonomics. This book is on my 2010 reading list, so I was excited to go and see it. I’ve only heard good reviews about the book. I really enjoyed the film and I’m sure it was not as great as the book. I may not get to reading it in 2010, but I still plan to read it at some point, especially around segments I saw in the film that I want to know more about.
So, I did go into this film with my “learning cap” on and there were a handful of great thoughts I walked away with.
The concept behind the book (and film) is motivation and incentives.… Read the rest
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Orange Week Day 7: Recap
Posted on 05. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
This is it, the last day or Orange Week. Here’s the recap of what was said:
Michael Bayne talks about one of his Orange memories, the talk Nancy Ortberg gave about conflict. Unfortunately, I missed her talk in 2010, but I did experience her conflict breakout in 2008 and I have to say it was one of the most powerful breakouts I’ve ever been a part of. Something else Michael said at the beginning of his posts that’s worth repeating. He said the Orange conference is the only place where your preschool, nursery, elementary, junior high and high school pastor can all come together and be on the same page. He’s right, I’ve not seen anything else like it.
Chad highlights some of his best memories from the Orange Conference last year, including a video he made while flying to Atlanta.… Read the rest
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Orange Week Day 6: Recap
Posted on 04. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
So I’m a good 12 hours late posting Day 6 of Orange Week. Not too much was said as everyone was pretty busy with services. So, here’s what I saw.
Michael Bayne shares a quick post about multi-site and his team’s excitement to bring Orange to another community.
I wrote a post about an idea we had recently in adapting one of our adult services to be inclusive of elementary aged kids. The motivation was both out of necessity as well as an effort to be Orange. Although we didn’t have many kids participating, we were pleased with how things turned out.
Over at Kidmin 1124, Wayne writes about his dreams for Kidmin. It’s an encouraging post as most of us in ministry will identify with his dreams.… Read the rest
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Orange Week Day 5: Recap
Posted on 03. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
I had a feeling that this would happen. It’s Saturday and there were only five Orange Week posts today. That’s okay for more than one reason.
- Most are off today and they shouldn’t be working.
- I wrote Friday’s recap earlier today and I’m a little happy that Saturday’s recap is only going to take a few minutes.
So, enjoy the short recap:
Michael Bayne wrote about how his Family Ministry team had a pretty big miss. For years, they avoided a large group gathering for preschoolers for a variety of reasons. Turns out that they had been wrong. Great post Michael, thanks for sharing it.
Today I wrote about ways we’ve missed it when it comes to being Orange.… Read the rest
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Ideas that didn’t work
Posted on 02. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
Today’s post during Orange Week was supposed to be about Orange ideas that didn’t work.
I had a hard time coming up with any really great “stand-out” examples.
It’s not because we don’t make mistakes, because that’s not true. It may be because we’ve not taken any big risks lately where we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to win big or fall flat on our faces. We’ve been playing it pretty safe lately, doing things that have been successful and I’m not completely satisfied with that. So, I hope that a year from now I can tell you about some really dumb ideas we tried (the focus being on the word “tried” not “dumb”).
Here are a few things that have been pretty unsuccessful:
- Take home papers like Refrigerator Cards and God Time Cards.
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Orange Week Day 4: Recap
Posted on 02. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
Well, you can tell a lot of people take Friday off, not nearly as many posts on the 4th day of Orange Week. I’m sure the 12 or so who did wrote theirs earlier in the week, huh? There were still some great posts, so let’s get into it.
We start this one off with a post from Pete Wilson’s blog, Without Wax. Pete starts off with a very strong statement, “There are few things more important to me these days than figuring out how to help our kids and students … I do know that we’ll never figure this out until the church gets more serious about partnering with parents.” The post continues with Pat Rowland (Cross Point’s Family Pastor) talking about his theory about family ministry.… Read the rest
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Orange Week Day 3: Recap
Posted on 01. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
Well, I’m a tad behind with this recap. Last night I took my family for a quick camping trip. It was absolutely wonderful, but there wasn’t any way I was writing a recap from my tent. So, here’s a catch up from what was discussed on Day 3.
Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers wrote a great post about the Orange Strategy. He defined for his many readers what the Orange Strategy is and why he plans to attend the conference this year. Great post!
Here’s a fantastic post from Carlos Whittaker, a self-declared “Orange Dad.” What a great perspective he offers, declaring that he needs all the help he can get and he relies on the Orange essentials to help him be a better dad.… Read the rest
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Deciding between Red and Yellow
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.
Several years ago I started a program at my church that was one of the more successful things I’ve ever done. I was passionate about making sure kids truly knew the Bible, what it said and even how to use it. Most churches that reach out to seekers don’t always have a good plan for this type of “discipleship.” So I started one. It was a Wednesday night program where kids systematically went through a study of the Bible. K-2nd graders learned about God through specific stories in the Bible where 3rd-5th graders learned about their Bibles, spiritual disciplines as well as a survey of the Old and New Testament. By the time I left my church, I had 1.5 years of the curriculum written.… Read the rest
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Defining the Yellow
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.
I think Sam said this very well yesterday.
In our excitement to become Orange and better engage with parents, we can easily have an identity crisis. We can forget what it means to be Yellow. We lose track of what being the church is all about, which is to proclaim the love of Christ through the power of his word.
Orange is a strategy. Being Red or Yellow is more about describing a state of being. The church needs to BE yellow! Don’t get distracted by the strategy because the strategy is simply meant to point parents to the light of Christ, which is what the Church is suposed to be.
Regardless of the curriculum we’re using, are we clearly communicating the gospel?… Read the rest
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Orange Week Day 2: Recap
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.
I think people had a busy day today, a few less posts today. However, there were still a bunch (still going to take me way too long to write this recap) and they were pretty awesome posts! So, here they are:
Michael Bayne wrote another stellar post today, this time about engaging with parents of students. He talks about how students at this phase in life are pulling away from parents, but through intentional conversations, parents can stay connected to their kids and continue to have influence. You as a ministry leader can help parents start these vital conversations.
Chad Swanzy wrote a similar post yesterday pointing to a powerful resource that he repeated today. He made a great point.… Read the rest
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