Becoming Legendary Don't drown in the Quo

Regrettable Decisions?

Looking back on life it is difficult not to see poor decision-making that leads to positions in life, which cause regret. It also leads me to compare myself with people who made better decisions, which put them in enviable positions. I hate to be a wish-maker, but I think I am one.

I lie in bed and just stare at the ceiling and wonder why I didn’t do what my friend Pax did when he was in college. Pax is a super nice guy and he chose to go the extra year to become a church architect. As a Christian, he took his love of building and combined it with his training to become a wealthy man who spends his time doing exactly what he wants to do. I wanted to get out of school quickly so I went the four year route and got out of school (with a useless double major) as fast as possible. My meaningless degrees took me to interesting places for a good fifteen years but then I couldn’t do it anymore. As well, what I was doing was not lucrative and any one who says that don’t want wealth is crazy. Don’t believe them. Having money is bad if you love it and crave it above all else. But having money to pay your bills, get you onto fun vacations and lead you into ease when it comes to monthly bills is wonderful. As a man who lives paycheck to paycheck, I can assure you Pax is much happier than I am.

As I stare at that blank ceiling of mine, I also think of a friend of mine named Linda who went the Higher Education route, with all of its student teaching and extra work. She did more then (Masters and PhD.) and now she is making plenty of money leading one of the best colleges in Texas to great places in the ranks of education. She made wise decisions from the start and now she is wealthy and a woman of great respect.   I wonder why I didn’t do that.

Even my friend who does landscaping in Lubbock as well as installing holiday lights at Christmas loves what he does and makes a really good living at it – He just got some capital together and started his own business years ago and is now a well-respected leader of a fantastic company.

I hear that voice in my head that says, “Stop wishing and stop comparing your life to others.” I hear that voice loud and clear but I cannot say it is easy to follow it. I will say that I never expected to have the nervous breakdown I had and that I never expected to have my vocational identity taken away from me. That was unfortunate and I still have not recovered. But I keep thinking that if I had gone another direction in life I wouldn’t have allowed that overwhelming pressure crush me.

As I take my eyes off that night ceiling, I think this: “Your life is not over. You can make new decisions now that will lead to better ends.”

Is that true?

Is being 43 years old too late to erase some of those old decisions and make new ones?

I’d love some comments on this. Anyone out there find themselves in similar situations? Anyone out there turn their lives around and get back to a place of good? I hope you will share with me what happened to you and how you made it back to good.

Capital Campaigns: Going Virtual?

This post comes from the poolside of my Lubbock Corporate Housing space – nice place.

If you are a church leader who has decided to do a church capital campaign, what have you decided to focus on? What sort of help do you need inside of your church? What sort of help do you need from the outside of your church? Are you sure you really want to do this? Are you sure you really want to do this? These are key questions for any church team that has decided to embark on what can be a really tough journey. Many a church has divided over capital campaigns for the following reasons:

1. What is deemed to be manipulative marketing

2. A call for everyone to give a lot more money when money is tight

3. Guilt trips given out from the pulpit

4. No use of internal influencers

5. No effective change agency methods

6. Poor overall communication

7. Refusal to use virtual imaging to get people to see what they are giving to

8. No use of stages (everything is thrown at the congregation at one time)

9. Hiring capital campaign “experts” who don’t follow through with what they promise (usually hired because they are cheaper)

10. Strong personalities (dominators) who hijack important budgetary meetings

11. Use of Scripture that is taken out of context to fit the pitches

12. The simple fact that most of the congregation does not think new buildings are needed

13. A church that has a history of factions and splits over small things

With all that being said, there are a lot of churches, which need to run a capital campaign and they need as much internal and external support as possible. Yes. That’s right. Sometimes churches actually do need to expand their spaces so that more ministry can be done. The rooms are packed with congregants and church growth is being stymied for that reason. Who wants to turn away people from the sanctuary doors because people are packed in like sardines. And even if new buildings or new space is not needed, there are always needs for renovations. So, I’m recommending a company who I think can really help you navigate this church design process. I know that over the years, Gone Virtual Studios has strategically evolved into a one-stop shop for the 4 most common and needed communication services in every capital campaign (video, visualization, print design, and web design) which helps streamline the process and improves quality and effectiveness throughout. You can see more at Gonevirtual.com but I have worked with them and think they can really help you Capital Campaigners. No matter who you choose, I want you to look back over the thirteen reasons why churches divide and try to avoid them. Good luck and God bless!