Failure - Childrens Ministry Online

Failing as a parent

by Kenny Conley | Jun 2, 2014 | Family | 0

Are you ready for a full dose of reality?

Failure as a parent in inevitable. Stop living in a dream world, you’re not as great of a parent as you think you are. Okay, enough with the negativity.

Recently I’ve become aware of several parenting “misses.” I’ve encountered multiple people who have experienced total parenting failures, either as parents or as kids of parents. You’re probably thinking, “why is this such a surprise? Just take a walk around your block and you’ll find more parenting failures than you can count.”

No, what has raised my awareness of this issue is that in every case, the parenting disasters (or near disasters) have happened in incredibly loving, Christ-centered homes. From my limited viewpoint, I didn’t see any blatant sin or negative behaviors that would lead to these incidents, but they happened anyway.

I think that these situations are very challenging for us Christians. When stuff happens, we start to look for the cause. We try to justify what behaviors happened that caused this. We try to sniff out the dysfunction. As a result, we end up hurting rather than healing and we make the situation worse, even in our sincere efforts to “help.”

When you suck: Paying the price

by Kenny Conley | Sep 4, 2013 | Leadership | 0

If you’re jumping into this series a little late, be sure to check out the first two posts (When you Suck: Owning it and When you Suck: Expecting it). Today I want to explore the price we pay in regard to this issue.

What I’ve found is that there’s a price to pay either way you go. When you suck, you’re going to lose a customer, upset a family or create some other kind of negative experience. However, to build the system to prevent failure, well, that’s going to cost you as well. It’s going to cost you time, energy or money. Let me explain about a few recent experiences with bathrooms.

When you suck: Expecting it

by Kenny Conley | Sep 3, 2013 | Leadership | 0

Yesterday I started the most unusual series about when we suck. It happens to the best of us. Step one is just owning it. Sometimes we fail and the best thing we can do is to just own it and move on. Today I’d like to address the other side of when we suck… expecting it.

This one is personal because like many of you, I’m an optimistic idealist. I always see the cup half-full and I can’t fathom failure. Sure I’ve failed, but it really takes me by surprise. It’s not something I planned for because failure goes against everything I stand for. However, one of the best lessons we can learn is that we have to know that failure is coming and be ready for it. Expect it. When it happens, don’t act shocked and surprised, just initiate the plan you prepared for and move forward.

I was at Starbucks last week. I came through and ordered a Venti Mocha Frappuccino. It’s my summer drink. I sat down and started working and before I knew it, 20 minutes had passed and I was still thirsty. Did they call my name and I didn’t hear them? Did they forget about me? I went up to the counter and they were very apologetic and said they’d have it right up. Three minutes later they came and found me and delivered my drink and a coupon for a free drink the next time I came. They made it right and that’s what I like about companies that fail me, when they’re willing to make it right and earn my business.

However, they didn’t just give me a standard coupon for a free drink.

Orange Week Day 5: Recap

by Kenny Conley | Oct 3, 2010 | Family, Ideas | 0

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...

Success, Failure and Courage

by Kenny Conley | Jul 27, 2009 | Leadership | 4

My friend and co-worker Michael Warden wrote a post last week interacting with this quote from Winston Churchill. What a great quote that’s been stirring me up lately. “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal....

HTC Fuze: Epic Fail

by Kenny Conley | Jul 18, 2009 | Geek, Ideas | 0

Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. Now that I’m not longer a Fuze user, I’ll share my own little review of the product. For over two years I used the Cingular 8125. It was a Windows Mobile phone and I genuinely...