is this thing on?

i had this discussion with a co-worker at the end of the day today. i guess it shows how overworked we are.

we could not come to a conclusion so i’m throwing it out (not up) to the blog world.

do you think Jesus ever thought about punching someone in the face? and if he did, is that a sin? not the actual punching someone in the face because that is causing bodily harm in a vengeful way against someone else and that is probably not a good idea - but just thinking, “man, I’d really like to punch this guy in the face.” maybe the punch-recipient was just a moron and said something stupid. maybe they didn’t get something Jesus was trying to say and the only thing that was going to resonate with them was a punch in the face. who knows? but would thinking about punching someone in the face be a sin? because if it’s a sin, we can rationalize that Jesus Christ never thought it because He would not and could not sin.

so, let the discussion begin…

JR said in staff meeting the other night that when you have nothing to blog about, normally people will post just a quick list of stuff that’s on their mind.

i’m not going to do that.

no, not throw up - that would be disgusting. this is a throw out. as in, i’m throwing out a question to all of you who read my blog. (which by the way - we have had our highest month in the short-lived history of this blog. there were 733 more views this month than last month and we eclipsed 5,500 hits total. the best day ever in the history of this blog was this month as well - April 25 - so THANK YOU to everyone who is a constant reader or casual reader. you read good.)

last night in staff meeting, we brought up the issue of the difficulty of communication between me as producer on Sunday morning and my team. i need to be able to talk to them all at the same time to make sure we hit our cues and everything. it has been pretty easy in the early going but now, as we start getting more volunteers, the need for effective and constant communication is vital.

in the television broadcast world, they use a clear-com system. the director is able to communicate with the floor director, camera operators, technical director, audio people, and any talent onstage. we need something like that but not that extensive or involved. we need something that has the capability to be expanded as the team and talents of the team grow.

do you have any ideas? what do you use for communication? any help or ideas you have will be accepted… no idea is a bad idea. bring it…

as i sit here typing this, i’m on hold with hewlet-packard (or hp for those of us “in the know”) and i’m pretty frustrated.

here’s why:

last monday we received a brand new hp laptop at work for one of our partners (he originally wanted a mac, but someone above me told him “no” - bummer). when we received it, it already had Microsoft Office 2007 installed on it, which we purchased from hp to be installed on the computer. well, we were not given any indication of a product key when we received the computer. no disks, no stickers, nothing. well, i got on the phone with hp and told them my situation last monday. they told me they would have an answer for me in 24-48 hours. it was Thursday before anybody at work heard from them. and our case manager at hp was out on Friday.

well, today it all came crashing down for them. they told us that they could not give us a product key or ship us a new copy of Office 2007 because they didn’t have the Small Business Edition in stock (it’s not a standalone product like Student/Teacher Edition is…). so, in order to fix their error, we now have to ship the new laptop, that the attorney already has, back to hp so they can ship us a new laptop.

just now, when i have tried to contact my case manager, i get routed to the wrong extension and the guy at “extension 19″ tells me he can’t transfer me to my case manager and that i have to call back.

i hope things aren’t like this in the church world. i hope people who desperately need God don’t have to fish through all the channels to finally find someone who will help them, only to be told they’re helpless.

i love being a part of a church who realizes that there are 90,000 people in Acworth who need to be directed and guided toward God. i love being a part of a church that makes it easy for people to draw closer to God. i love being a part of a church that has a better “customer service” system than some companies in the business world. i love knowing i’ve got staff meeting tonight and that i can go surround myself with a group of people who want to make it easy for people who are far from God be closer to Him. i love working with people who want to see 90,000 people have a relationship with Christ and want to make it easy for them. i love having a pastor and staff who sit in meetings coming up with creative ways to make people comfortable and feel at home. i love knowing that while church may not ever be “easy”, it will never be as difficult as dealing with hp phone support.

i don’t ever want someone to think about Freedom Church in the way i’m thinking of hp right now. hp makes a great computer. i’ve had an hp, my dad has an hp, my friends have had hp’s. my girlfriend’s dad works for hp. but, the customer service is brutal. i don’t want Freedom Church to become a great product and then have horrible “customer” service. every person that walks through the door of Freedom Church is a potential “customer”. statistics tell us that people make a decision of whether they will come back to your church or not in the first 3-7 minutes they are there. we don’t have much time.

we’ve got to let people know we care about them and that we will bend over backwards to bring them closer to God. they need help, let’s help them as much as we can.

“Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” - Luke 6:30-31 (NIV)

i’m beginning a new series today. it’s called “the friday four”. why the friday four? well, mainly because i’m not cool enough to have a friday five and i wanted to stick with the alliteration but didn’t feel like putting up fifteen things every friday. so there you have it. and thus begins, the friday four.

1. yesterday, i took a day off of work - my real job. i was falling asleep while eating breakfast at my house and i decided that was not a good sign. especially as i was about to get in my truck and drive to work. so i took a “preventative sick day” because staying home and sleeping and resting would prevent me from having more sick days later in the year. right?

2. this makes me smile big time. i’m sure JR and Dawn would like it too. can you imagine the conversation between this CVS employee and Mr. Bowden? i imagine it would go something like this…

CVS dude: “Excuse me, aren’t you Bobby Bowden?”

CVS dude: “BOOYAH! GO CANES!”

3. made steaks last night for me and Callie. i’m getting better everytime. i’ve almost got my marinade perfected. and trust me, with my steaks, you don’t need any steak sauce. they’re that good.

4. big announcement coming this Sunday at Freedom! don’t miss it!