Cause to Pause

I was talking to a friend recently about all things social (media, that is). Like most folks, he does not see the value in twitter for his needs. Middle aged, retired, busy. Facebook, he gets. Twitter…not so much. In his mind “I don’t need another inbox, and I don’t spend a lot of time on my phone.”
This got me to thinking about twitter usage. The vast majority of my usage does, in fact, come from my phone. Sure, I have tweetdeck on my home and portable PCs (not my company desktop), but just as often as not, I have it turned off. However, if I am moving, the phone is generally out.
Facebook, it seems is more “stationary” for me. If I am going to post there (combined twitter-facebook posts excluded), I am generally sitting a chair. I also often proof-read my posts to other people and ask questions like “Do I really need to say this? How will it be received? What kind of message am I sending?” More of a “let’s sit down at the kitchen table with some bacon and visit”.
What about you? Do you think twitter lends itself more to “moving, on the go” posts and Facebook more of a “sit down, think about what I am going to write and upload” scenario? When you think “twitter” do you think 20-something walking between coffee shops and when you think “facebook” do you somehow visualize old friends reconnecting at a more leisurely pace?

Tags: Facebook, Social media, Twitter

Recently David Sterrett of First Pres. Austin, and I have begun talking about our uses and potential uses of AccessACS. What started out as “Are you taking payments for VBS online?” turned into a “We should set up a collaboration tool so we can have an ongoing dialog about this.”
In the course of our discussions, the topic came up:

Should we invite ACS Technologies to the discussion now or wait until we are further along?

The concern was that by having them participate in the initial stages of the dialog, it might hamper some of the openness and candor we were looking for.
A quick gut check settled that question as a non-issue based on prior performance. They are known for thick skin when it comes to listening to their clients.
But it brought up another question or two:

Are all your vendors like that? When you come with a problem, do they respond or just kind of “duck, hoping you will go away”?

I used to deal with an office equipment supplier like that. When my main color MFC would act up, they kind of “ducked”. Operative words are “used to deal with”.

But more importantly, are we like this with the people we serve? Do we “duck and hope they go away”? I am not just talking about the folks who are high maintenance – but those who legitimately have needs and gripes that we should attend to. If we can’t correct it the situation, to at least offer an EXPLANATION not an EXCUSE as to why and what can be done. If someone is upset, do you want to hear it from them when you can do something about it, or from the grapevine?

I am willing to bet, the more we want to duck, the better the odds are we should take that one on the chin.

Tags: AccessACS, ACS, expectations

I am “considering” starting up a Small Group/Sunday School class at work and am soliciting recommendations for curriculum.

Here is the scenario:

• Mainline Denomination – Presbyterian
• Congregation is mostly “older”, however the target audience

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  will be 35-50

• Looking for something that is “Foundational” in nature, but not “basic” or “fluffy” so as to be an insult to anyone’s intelligence
• If this happens, there will probably not be any “seekers”, rather everyone will be “churched” but may still have missed some of the major tenets of our faith
• No DVD based curriculum
• Should require at least some homework
• Four to eight weeks in length
• Make people think like Ravi Zacharias but lively like Mark Driscoll
• Basically break the mold of that picture up there

I’d like something along the lines of  C. S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity” but not that heavy. Something in modern American English.

Hit me up with either a comment, tweet or email.

Tags: Christianity, Mark Driscoll, Presbyterian, Ravi Zacharias, Religion and Spirituality