Friday Bag #26

March 8, 2013 — Leave a comment

The Friday Bag

10 Ways to Teach your Kids about Money - It’s”just money”, but it’s also real life money. We might as well teach our kids a little about how to use it before they abuse it.

5 Things to Stop Saying to your Kids and what to Say Instead - “Current research shows that some of the most commonly used and seemingly positive phrases we use with kids are actually quite destructive.”

Vivian Maier: Photography - This is a utterly fascinating look at photographs taken by a very private, now deceased nanny in NYC. Nobody knew what art she kept and later hoarded until long after her death. It’s like time travel at it’s finest!

The cute animals love you, but they’re disappointed in you, too -

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Consider Tomorrow

February 27, 2013 — Leave a comment

NeverFailFollowUp1

Ever think about tomorrow? Of course you do, but do you ever think about somebody else’s tomorrow? When we have families, kids, students, and anyone else visit our church it’s always worth it to think about Thursday afternoon. Why Thursday? Because that’s where real life is lived, on the lazy afternoon of a normal weekday. It’s so often overlooked, but it’s always worth looking at the entire week of those that visit our churches.

How? 

Follow a parent on Twitter, or Facebook, or LinkedIN.

Send the mother an email, and ask some questions.

Put a pen to paper and mail a postcard…to the 8 year old.

Capture your most witty and encouraging sentence and text it to the teenager that visited.

Buy them a helpful app on iTunes and email it to them.

 

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to connecting with those that visit our churches, but it’s an iceberg worth tackling. If it’s warm cookies that the purple hairs bring to the house, or the senior pastor that follows up with a phone call. It’s all fair game when we attempt to connect a Sunday experience with a Thursday afternoon.

 

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Affirm the Parent

February 25, 2013 — 2 Comments

weloveparentshead

We can create relevant environments and put our leaders in the best possible position to start relationships, but it’s imperative to remember that for all our children and many of our teenagers, it’s the parent that brings them to church. Here are 10 ways to affirm parents that attend your church each week:

    1. Tell them you’re glad they are there.
    2. Smile.
    3. Find something (anything) to encourage them with.
    4. Tell them their family is beautiful.
    5. Help them find their way around.
    6. Remember their kids name.
    7. Smile.
    8. Make everything secure and safe, but keep it friendly. (See #2 and #7)
    9. Help them look awesome in front of their kids.
    10. How about just saying, “I am so glad you chose to bring your kids to {insert church name} this weekend. I know it’s not always easy, and I appreciate what you did.”

It’s hard to get your family to church sometimes, and ALL of those parents that attend are acceptance magnets. Give them what all of us are looking for…acceptance and affirmation.

 
**Image Source:  http://weloveparents.org/ **
 
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Friday Bag #25

February 22, 2013 — Leave a comment

The Friday Bag

The Power of DuckTales - “DuckTales, the most successful show of Disney’s short-lived television-animation renaissance—and a show that kicked off a brief interest in syndicated afternoon animation from a host of media companies—has mostly disappeared from the limelight,”

 

OpenDNS - The Cliff Family is giving this a try this week. It’s a small attempt to make the Internet safer for our entire family.

How I Have Stayed in Church for 26 Years -  “I am often asked by so many people, especially ministers, “How have you stayed in one church or ‘survived in the same church’ for 26 years?” Through God’s grace and grace alone have we been able to do this.”  // Love this insightful look at longevity.

 

So proud to be a part of such a special place this past December. Be Rich 2012.

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Make Instagram and Twitter Play Nice

February 21, 2013 — 3 Comments

Let’s take a break from our regularly scheduled programming. If there is one thing that I’m all about, it’s about solving all the world’s problems. One of those crazy, out-of-whack problems recently is how Instragram (owned by Facebook) and Twitter are being jerks to each other. In fact, they’ve gotten so stubborn with each other that recently Instagram stopped allowing Twitter to embed images inside the Twitter stream. This has left us with the serious problem of having to click Instagram links within someone’s twitter feed instead of just seeing their image automatically.

IFTTT-logo

Then along comes “If THIS then THAT” and IFTTT provided the help that all of civilization has been waiting for. IFTTT is the greatest Internet thing around right now. I personally use it to make starred emails in Gmail go to Evernote, backup all my Instagram images into Dropbox, and send me a text each morning with the weather. It’s wonderful. Like a hot coffee in the morning kind of wonderful.

Here is the Twitter/Instagram workaround.

Step #1: Open an IFTTT account and tie in your Twitter and Instagram apps.

Step #2: Use this recipe below. If you click the image, it will take you to the actual recipe.

Instagram IFTTT recipe

Step #3. Then when you update Instagram, unselect the “share with Twitter” button and enjoy the automation of:

Before—–>>>>>TO THIS —–>>>>After.

You’re welcome. And if you don’t understand you can just go to IFTTT and read up on all the awesomeness that awaits you! And seriously… I know this isn’t a real-world problem. #firstworldproblems

 

 

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