Testing New Announcement Format

I've been toying with new ways to deliver Grace Church content to web users. It seems a lot of websites are employing RSS feeds (see Automatic Feeds in the My Favorite Browser entry) which your computer automatically downloads to your computer without you having to actually go to a website unless they have information you want to read in-depth. We use RSS for our Grace Church Sunday Messages, but we program it ourselves. For the messages, it's not that involved, but to produce all of our content by reprogramming it in RSS would be laborious. So I've manipulated a blog site to offer our weekly announcements which automatically creates an RSS feed.

If you use feeds, you can subscribe to the blog and you'll be notified when new content has been posted. I'm curious if this will make our information more accessible to our web users or not, so give me your feedback. Here's the link to the test site - http://www.lgbc.org/blogger.html

Grace Church has been Brought to You Today...

Our current message series is a study of our church's five core values, using the acronym of GRACE. While working on the bulletin covers for the series, I thought the following would be most appropriate...

Shamed by the Shema

Our Pastor's message yesterday focused on the Shema, partially quoted in Mark 12:29-30. The interpretation of the passage and it's application to my life (our lives) was convicting and powerful. Everytime I read the Shema, I feel shamed or guilt because I don't measure up.

"Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and with ALL your soul, and with ALL mind and with ALL your strength." Not some, ALL!

As I awoke this morning, I asked God to help me espouse the Shema throughout the day today. But as I drove to work, I found my mind wandering - and in an instant I had not loved the Lord my God with ALL my mind. Another failure. That's part of my problem, my personality attempts to categorize things so I can comprehend/manage them. So when it comes to commands that use the word ALL, it's either ALL or nothing. But I have to remind myself, that I am nothing. If I was more than nothing, I would not have needed a Savior. If I'm more than nothing I wouldn't need daily doses of grace. My feelings of shame are unnecessary. I'm not doomed to fail, it's through my Savior and the grace He provides that I can attain fulfilment in Christ.

In my imperfection, I have to continually come back to God, asking Him to help me make God my ALL in ALL.

Me and False Alarms

False Alarm Occurs at Eagles-Chargers Game
While watching the Eagles-Chargers game yesterday, a loud sounding woop could be heard over the announcers. The other members of our AFF (adult football fellowship) asked if we heard it. We speculated that it was the latest thing the Eagles were using to try and rile up the crowd. Then the CBS announcers reported that it was the fire alarm system and that the public address system was asking everyone to evacuate in an orderly fashion. From what we saw on TV, few people moved and play continued as if there wasn't a problem. What would I have done if I had been at the game?

The story of the boy who cried wolf was ingrained in me as a child and ever since, when I hear an alarm, out of habit I respond. The time my wife and I were away for a weekend in Washington, D.C. and the hotel fire alarm went off while I was in the middle of showering; I quickly rinsed my hair, threw on clothes and we went to get breakfast. Mind you, everyone else in the building was milling around and talking about a false alarm, but not us, we got out of there. The one time our high school actually had a fire, we evacuated as normal, in fact, it was so routine that most people didn't even realize there was an actual fire. One night while studying in my dorm room in college, the alarms went off. My roommate and I looked around, grabed our most prized possession and calmy walked out of the building. Fire drills are designed to make a real fire seem almost normal. I figure alarms sound for a reason. So when I hear an alarm, I evacuate. Though it would have been painful to walk out on a live NFL game, even with the players on the field, I would've walked out.

You may read this and think I'm kidding, along with my other posts, but I'm not making this stuff up. I really do evacuate when alarms sound and do enjoy our annual audits. I'll go ahead and say it, I'm not normal.

Independent Auditor's Report

Every year we hire an accounting firm to conduct an independent auditor's report of all the financial operations of Grace Church. This annual investment is integral to maintaining a high standard of accountability in the way we handle our money. The independent audit usually consists of a 3-4 day site visit by a team of accountants. The team randomly picks certain months of the year and exhaustively reviews the income and expense records. In addition to many other tests they perform, they check to make sure expenditures have accompanying official receipts, that expenses have the proper signatures to authorize purchases and that expenses are correctly categorized (i.e. office supplies weren't categorized as a food purchase). If you ever wonder why you are asked for so much detail when requesting a reimbursement, it's because of the auditors :)

Another aspect of the site visit is individual interviews with our HR/Finance Assistant, Karen G., the Church Treasurer, Steve L. and me. These interviews consist of a lengthy questionnaire. With their vast experience, the accountants know the key signs of fraudulent activity and mishandling of funds. They grill us with specific questions about anything questionable that we've observed over the past year and ask us if we have any concerns about anything related to our financial operations. Each interview ends with the auditors giving each of us a free chance to report anything we find remotely questionable, suspicious or fraudulent pertaining to any person in the organization or any element of our operation.

The site visit is an intense scrutiny of everything we do. Though site visits normally carry a negative stigma, I actually look forward to the week. I recognize the value of being scrutinized by outsiders and look forward to learning how we can improve in our operations. Fortunately, all of the previous auditor's reports have come back positive with few, if any, qualifications. The report from the site visit in July 2005 was another positive report. As I usually do, I learned some new things we need to put in place and we're methodically working to get those implemented. I hope there is always something new for us to learn, something new to pursue.

Much of our success is due to the diligent work of the people who handle our finances. They often have to fill the role of communicating messages we don't want to hear - that my documentation was incorrect, I forgot a signature, I need my receipt, or my check was not written correctly. Their tenacity in insisting in having these details is what keeps us above reproach. I deeply appreciate their sacrificing their personal popularity for the sake of upholding our stringent processes. Without their sacrifice our systems are compromised.

Copies of the Independent Auditor's Report for the years ended June 20, 2005 and 2004 are available at the church office. Though not interesting reading to most, the document affirms that our financial reports are a fair representation of the church's financial position and found our operations to conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

My Favorite Browser

For the time being, my favorite internet browser is Mozilla's Firefox (version 1.0.7). I've found Firefox extremely effective at minimizing the number of pop-ups and advertisements on webpages. Beyond that, Mozilla can up with some great enhancements to web-browsing that they incorporated into Firefox that made Microsoft's Internet Explorer obselete:

• Tabbed-browsing - this may seem like a minor enhancement, but being able to open multiple webpages in tabs as opposed to opening them in separate windows is a huge help. This is especially when I'm researching a topic and want to have multiple sources open simultaneously. It's great to be able to tab back and forth between the pages.

• Automatic Feeds - RSS feeds, the ability for programs to tell my computer when there's new information on a webpage, has overtaken the internet. A built-in Firefox feature automatically senses which webpages have RSS feeds and gives you the option of subscribing to them automatically. We use RSS feeds on the Grace Church website as does this blog. When you go to those pages the Firefox browser places a special orange icon in the lower right corner of the browser window. Clicking on that icon automatically subscribes you to the RSS feed which is placed along with your other Bookmarks.

I find these tools greatly enhance my web browsing and I commend Mozilla for their ingenuity. Microsoft is working on their next version of Internet Explorer and it's sure to incorporate these same features. But for now, Firefox is my favorite browser until another company can produce a better browser.

Feedback, any kind of feedback

One of the concepts covered in the Master's program I completed a few years ago was the relationship between leadership and followership. The premise is that leading often involves a lot of following. To be a good follower and thus a good leader, one must have a good understanding of the group they are trying to follow/lead. Having that good understanding requires feedback.

I yearn for feedback. Positive or negative, I want to know what people are thinking. Take the land purchase, since we sent out Pastor Scott's letter, we haven't received any feedback. I've assumed that if anyone had an objection that they would have voiced it, but that's not always a safe assumption. I want to know what people are thinking. That's one of the reasons you can leave comments in response to my blog entries.

In some ways this is new for us, we haven't been known to ask for feedback or input. Being new, here's what you can expect from me. In return for your input, I commit to listen to what you have to say. I'm human, so I may struggle at times to listen when the message isn't one I want to hear, but I need to hear it anyway. Granted, I have to weigh the information I receive and discern which to heed. For example, I was working on a document last week and asked multiple staff to review it for content and typos. The document included the following sentence:

Throughout the week, the Pastors and staff pray for anyone who needs strength to make it through the day, the wisdom to make a tough decision or relief from an unendurable situation.

I received two conflicting responses, one that stated that the word, needs should be singular and one that felt it should be plural (having learned Tagalog when I was 4-years old, English has never been my strong suit). I had to weigh both responses and decide which to follow, so I can't promise that I'll act on every piece of feedback I receive. But I'll listen. I want to know.

If I don't know, I'll be ineffective as a follower and if I can't follow, I can't lead.

Denial - a defense mechanism that denies painful thoughts

At around 7:17 p.m. on Saturday, October 15th, I realized that I am in denial about my enjoyment of competition. I like to portray that though I enjoy sports and competition, I don't let it affect my day or my outlook on life. The fact of the matter is, when I get rooting for my team, it affects me. And that was evident Saturday evening as Penn State battled Michigan. Somewhere around 7:17 p.m. as Chad Henne found Mario Manningham in the end zone for the game winning touchdown, I had to leave the TV, my heart sank and my blood boiled. I didn't realize how much it would impact me.

The pessimist that I am, I didn't expect PSU to come away with the victory and with Michigan leading, my lack of faith appeared justified. But then the blue & white game me hope and drawing me in with them only to have it dashed in the end. Maybe it was because I had a Penn State t-shirt and hat on all day? Maybe it was because I was following the game (I didn't see or hear any of the games against Minnesota and Ohio State)?

Yeah, I've been in denial, I take it seriously.
I've got to stop kidding myself.

The Pros and Cons of Moving Route 772

Link to Lititz Record article
I had heard rumors several years ago that the local officials were looking to re-route 772 to remove truck traffic out of downtown Lititz. That's why I thought Penn Township has invested so much into Lexington Road between Doe Run and West Newport in the past several years. Apparently, the discussion is ongoing and a final decision has not been made, but the change could have positive and negative impacts on Grace Church.


If Route 772 is moved to enter Lititz on Doe Run and West Lincoln Avenue, there is the potential advantage of more traffic passing by Grace Church, giving us higher visibility. Being located on a State Route could also make it easier to give people directions in finding Grace (Go North on 501, turn left onto 772 West and go 8-tenths of a mile. Grace Church is on your right). I think that would be ideal for Grace Church.

The increase in traffic could have a negative impact on Grace Church. Pulling out of our parking lot could be more difficult depending on the time of day. During our large events, we might need to work closely with the Warwick Township Police to help with traffic flow. Though a nuisance, I think the increased visibility for the church outweighs the negative impacts.

From the Lititz Borough perspective, I don't see the benefit to bringing 772 through Lititz that way. Moving 772 from Orange to West Lincoln still requires trucks to make hard turns in Lititz Borough, in essence the problem is moved north by a couple of blocks. Why not run 772 completely north of town and keep it out of the Borough alltogether? Unfortunately, the other re-routing options all involve hard turns as well. Fortunately, those intersections are outside of town, so there's space to widen intersections and clear sight lines.

I found out about the October 6 meeting after my schedule was already set for that week, but I hope to attend future meetings as a representative of Grace. I encourage all residents of the areas that would potentially be affected to actively participate in the process.

Link

Effective Bulletin Communication

Have you ever viewed our weekly bulletin through the lens of someone who's unfamiliar with the Grace Brethren, has never been to our or any church before? I'm convinced that we do not communicate effectively with that audience. I found the following excerpt online and it made me feel the way I would guess our bulletin makes some people feel...

Hey ppl whats up ? not much here really just
hangin out and stuf im whachin the football game yeaa..... so ya my
friends are thier they r so lucky bt ya im @ home rite now im just chillen my
bro went to the store and im here whachin teh game its great bt ya . Ppl if u
wana do sumthin plezzzz call me im so bored i have no life ya no lol bt ya
i gess.....im doing ok bt ya anyway no biggy so ya im just
reallyyyy...........ya anyway ......well leave me sum 2 cum back 2

Though I've reread those sentences several times, I have very little comprehension of what the writer is trying to communicate - I need an interpreter. But how often does the bulletin contain jargon and acronyms that are specific to us and foreign to others? BNYC, FGBC, CE National, The Chateau, Alpha Lobby, Threefold Communion, Trine Immersion... the list can go on and on. We're accustomed to them and we know what they mean, but many have no clue. Of course to explain each item each time we talk about them can get tedious, is time consuming and takes up printed space. But we have to weigh those concerns against the effectiveness of the message.


I admit that it's hard to think beyond ourselves in this way, but I that's our challenge. As we create the bulletin each week, we've got to keep our audience in mind, with whom are we trying to communicate and what's the most effective way to communicate with them.

The bulletin for Sunday, October 16 is unlike any bulletin we've published in my time at Grace. We changed it because the entire morning this Sunday is aimed at reaching unbelievers. The normal weekly bulletin will return next week, but I hope to keep pressing us to use language that's understandable to the masses in our announcements.

Weekend Update

The Curse of Distler
Our fearless Senior Pastor predicted the Ohio State Buckeyes would blow-out Penn State this past weekend (There is no joy in Happy Valley); fortunately, his prediction was off. But I got to thinking, Ohio State has two losses this year. Both games have at least one common denominator, Pastor Scott was in attendance at both games. Coincidence or curse?

SALT Water Taffy 2005
Due to the inordinate amount of rain our SALT2005 community service turned into Salt Water Taffy. Actually, I figure God did the community service by sending the much needed rain.

Latest Web Development
We rolled out our newest addition to the Grace Church webpage last week, weekly audio previews of the upcoming messages. The previews augment the weekly messages which we've been publishing for about a year now. The weekly messages are also available in a podcast; I've contemplated broadcasting the previews as a podcast too, but I can't make up my mind. Is it worth podcasting them? Should they be combined with the message podcast or separate?

An Inside Perspective on the Land Purchase

Hopefully you've received the letter Pastor mailed to the congregation on Wednesday. If you didn't stop by the Diligence Update bulletin board in the lobby on Sunday - it has copies of this week's letter, the Diligence Update that was published in July and the original letter announcing the land deal that was distributed last Spring. You need to read all three documents to get up to speed. In addition to the formal communication, I wanted to share my inside perspective on the whole process...

I’ve been completely amazed at how God has been leading us over the past year or more, particularly with future expansion possibilities. I have been honored to be at the table in multiple meetings and have walked away laughing hysterically at how God’s hand was evident.

The current agreement for purchasing the land across the street is an interesting story. We initially contacted the owners and asked if they would be interested in selling their property to us. We had an initial meeting with the joint owners, both respected businessmen, where Pastor Scott shared our dreams for reaching the greater-Lititz area. They were interested in what God was doing and particularly about what role we thought their property could play in achieving our dreams. We were floored to learn that though they had owned the property for 10+ years, they had not even driven by the property in more than 5 years (I think if I owned property, I’d at least drive by it occasionally). The meeting concluded with them asking us to make an offer.

So here are two very successful businessmen who own a tract of land they haven’t seen in some time. They made an investment 10+ years ago. Their plan was to expand their business into Lancaster County only to be thwarted by a zoning change. The zoning change not only halted their expansion plans but also significantly devalued their investment. They’ve been sitting on it for years and apparently have not pursued selling it off. We knock on their door and they ask us to make an offer.

We were confident the property would sell for about $250,000, but the Elders had a good debate about our deal-strategy and timing. I’m a plan guy, I like to have plans and follow them, an idea of the direction in which I’m headed. The whole way this thing was unfolding was a little scary since we didn’t have a plan. We had no idea of how we would use the land other than it would be for expansion. My instinct plus everything I’ve heard and read told me that it would be difficult to garner public support for any proposal to buy property without a comprehensive plan. Nevertheless, it was coming together before we had a comprehensive plan in place.

On the surface, it seemed like the owners were ready to accept our initial offer of $125,000 with no diligence period, but their accountants advised them that they needed an official appraisal so they could accurately book their gain/loss on the sale for tax purposes. When the appraisal came back at $250,000, the owners made it clear they would not accept any less.

There was activity on other fronts too. We started receiving gifts toward future expansion for sources we never expected. Some gifts came from former attenders who no longer live in the area and other gifts came from people who God has blessed recently.

As we pursued our due-diligence research of the land, other opportunities were seemingly dropping in our laps. In one meeting, unexpectedly an individual made us aware of some additional property that might be available. We inquired of two other property owners as to their interest in talking with us about the church purchasing the property. These other developments have had me laughing hysterically as God just keeps putting things in our lap. That’s what has impressed me most over the past year or so, we haven’t been following our plan, we’ve merely been following and walking through opportunities that God has been putting at our feet. These other opportunities have yet to develop; we’ve pursued each appropriately but not in an aggressive forceful approach. We are confident that God will open the doors and lead us in His time.

I’m taking the same approach on the zoning clarification. Yes, it was disappointing to hear the Township Manager clarify that we will not be able to build a large facility on the property under the current zoning. Nevertheless, my disappointment was overshadowed by the Township’s willingness to work with us on other solutions. That the Township Manager sees churches as an important factor in the community should not be taken for granted. I previously worked at a church where the Township viewed churches almost as a nuisance to the community. That church has been unable to expand it’s facility in some 30 years – in part because of the Township. We are fortunate and we should thank God for the climate in which we find ourselves.

So the general course we have followed during the land purchase process is not how I would have scripted it. And while I don’t fully understand why God has brought us along this course to this point, I’m also befuddled by the following questions:

• Why the property owners, who are so successful in business, are giving us the offer when they could probably reap a higher return on their investment if they opened it up to other potential buyers?
• Why the congregation was on board with the land purchase without a plan in place?
• Why people have contributed sacrificially when we don’t have a plan and we haven’t pushed it?
• Why the township is so willing to work with us to solve our needs?

None of these factors makes sense; in some ways, it’s backwards. I don’t know where God is leading us specifically in regards to facility expansion, but I’m confident this is an opportunity He has orchestrated. As good stewards we’ve researched just about all we could about the land itself and have found it to be clean. The funds needed to buy the land have been coming in, above and beyond our regular giving, (in fact our regular giving has increased over last year), putting us in a position where we will likely be able to purchase the property without having to use any money out of the General Fund. In my experience, when factors align in that manner on an issue, I've proceeded with faith, trusting that God will direct step-by-step. I think He's doing the same for Grace.

Some Like it Hot; Some Like it Cold

Setting the temperature in the Auditorium at a level that is comfortable for everyone in a service is a monumental task. I'm not sure who I'd rather be, the worship leader who picks the songs we sing on Sunday or Jay Hall who sets the temperature - both can be lose-lose positions. I don't expect to make you feel more comfortable in the Auditorium through this entry, I just hope to shed some light on how things transpire.

The Auditorium is served by five air conditioning/heat pump units. I'm not a HVAC specialist, so if you want details of how they work, you'll need to contact your local HVAC provider. But from the little I know, heat pumps run off electricity and blow air. Heat pumps heat adequately, but have a reputation for pumping air that is cooler to the touch than comparable gas or oil systems. In our experience, the heat pumps struggle with the outdoor temperature fluctuations common to the spring and fall months.

The thermostats are set around 68-70 degrees throughout the year.

During a service ushers monitor the temperature of the Auditorium and request Jay Hall or myself to adjust the thermostat for that day. If you ever see Jay answer his mobile phone while playing the drums during a worship service you'll have an idea of what might be occurring. :)

Divine Cancellations

Divine Cancellations
Pastor Scott has introduced us to the concept of divine appointments, God-made run-ins with people who need to experience God's love in some way shape or form. Unfortunately, Pastor Scott failed to teach us about divine cancellations, but we're a team around here so I'll pick up the slack.

I had a meeting scheduled for first thing this morning, but due to operator error I awoke 2 hours later than I had originally planned. In fact, I awoke 10 minutes after I was scheduled to be at the meeting. I was really upset with myself and convinced this would destroy my entire day. I calmed myself down enough to accept that while I don't want to make a habit of missing appointments, I didn't have to let it wreck my whole day. Instead, I viewed it as a divine cancellation, for some reason I guess I wasn't supposed to or wasn't going to be at that meeting.

There is a second definition for divine cancellations - this would be the appointment you grudingly scheduled but for reasons beyond your control you are unable to make; often resulting in celebration. But let me stress here that my meeting this morning does not fit this second definition.


Weekend Fragments - It took me a while to defragment, but here's what I could piece together from the weekend...

False Advertising
I know corporations are held to high standards when it comes to false advertising, but does that apply to TV shows? I'm convinced that the TV networks are sensationalizing, if not falsely advertising their upcoming episodes. Take The West Wing for example: the previews for the episode that aired on Sunday, 10/02 advertised that one of the character's career was going to end. That didn't happen in that episode! I thought I observed the same trend with several shows last season, but never documented it to know for sure. I also observed it on the NFL post-game shows Sunday night as well. They all referenced the "controversial ending in Tampa." We watched (check that, they watched, I napped) through the ending of the Tampa/Detroit game in our AFF and there wasn't anything we would classify as "controversial". So we watched the post game report thinking that maybe something occurred after the broadcast, but they were just referring to a touchdown that was called back. I still don't think it deserved a "controversial" billing.

NASCAR @ Talladega
Sunday's NASCAR race was a shame, too many drivers eliminated way to early in the race. With the new safety improvements, why doesn't NASCAR look at removing the restrictor plates and letting the cars run flat out? Watching three, sometimes four lanes of bumper to bumper traffic racing around a track at 180-190 miles an hour isn't racing when half the field is eliminated in accidents. And though it was great to see Dale Jarrett in victory lane for the first time in several years, it was even better to see Kyle Petty crabwalk the 45 across the finish line after he wrecked on the last lap and put the exclamation point by doing a burn out as the sheet metal was falling off of the car frame.

Big Ten Football
Except for Ohio State and Iowa, I guess the Big Ten has pretty much eliminated itself from sending a candidate for the National Championship as they keep beating each other. Makes for a good Big Ten season, but not for the overall rankings. I'm trying to contain my excitement over Penn State's resounding win against Minnesota. Though they'll have momentum going into the game, Ohio State's going to be a different story. Pastor Scott informed me that his OSU jersey is already for Sunday, if PSU pulls the upset, are we up for returning the favor?

College Soccer
Marc Myers (Lititz Christian alum) had an assist in Saturday's match between Philadelphia Biblical University and Polytechnic University. Philadelphia Biblical went on to win 3-0.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

On Saturday, my wife Beth and me went to 20-some homes in our neighborhood (we are new to the neighbood, having moved in June) to let them know that our church would have groups of 4-5 stopping by their houses next week for about 10 minutes to do free community service (clean windows, yardwork, wash the car, etc. see Pastor Scott's blog entry for 9/30/2005). I never realized how intimidating it is to walk up to a strangers house. It was as if each house was surrounded by a moat and the sidewalk that lead to the front door was a drawbridge. It was really tough!

It helped that we could introduce ourselves as being new to the neighborhood and we were able to make some instant connections. One home had Rusty Wallace memorabilia hanging in the garage so we talked about NASCAR. Being new to the neighborhood, those who have lived in the neighborhood since it was first built engaged in conversation about the changes they've seen over the years. My Dad was another natural connection point.

It was actually a role reversal between my Dad and me. My parents were church-planters in the Philippines beginning when I was 3-years old. We moved every four years and in most of the towns in which we lived, being an active and only blonde-haired, blue-eyed child, I stuck out from everyone else and gained instant recognition in the town. This provided instant connections for my parents to begin building relationships throughout town. Now the opposite is occurring. My Dad lives with us so we can care for him and he regulalry walks around our neighborhood for exercise. As we talked to our neighbors on Saturday several mentioned that they had seen or talked with my Dad on his walks and he provided an instant connection.

It was fascinating to observe the diverse receptions we received. One neighbor, who had gotten married the week before, walked away saying to himself, "Wow, I can't believe how everything in my life is going great!" Others were floored that someone would help them out for free. Others were slightly more skeptical and weren't sure if they'd be home next Saturday. One house we visited were cold in their response and didn't give any feedback - that was awkward. Out of the 20-some homes, only 6 weren't home. Though it took more than two hours (and I had to give up watching the Penn State/Minnesota game), it was a good afternoon.

HINT: If you can't remember your neighbor's names, or to count the number of homes in your neighborhood, use the Lancaster County Geographic Information System to help remind you. Just locate your property, then select your neighbor's property.

Anniversario

Today Beth and me celebrate our 7th anniversary of moving to Lititz and my joining the staff at Grace Church. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to serve here and I enjoy my job immensely. Soon after moving to Lititz, I realized that unconciously I had continued a pattern dating back to my birth - I had relocated at least every four years. I'm pleased to have broken the pattern and proven to myself that I can put down roots.