Cause to Pause

As a rule, I like things that work and play well with together. It’s no secret we are an ACS shop. A big part of that is the support department, the other is the tie in between their online member offering (AccessACS) and their web CMS (siteExtend). As a CMS, siteExtend is the easiest I have worked with because of the way the back end is laid out. Everything is listed in a series of “cabinets” or “managers”. There’s one for content, one for media, one for channels, etc. The handling of local and global CSS and JS files is the easiest I have worked with so far. It’s a nice piece, but where they really shine is in the linkage with AccessACS. You can read about how we used that to streamline our Elder meetings and reduce paper costs here.

This is all driven from your local database. If you have a group, it doesn’t matter what the group is, you can create a private “channel” on your website that you can then populate with various information. How does it look? It looks like this:

As you can see, it is pretty easy to set up the private channel. Once you create a new small group, activity, class, etc. and do an upload, it will automatically become available within Extend. In this case, anyone who is a member of the Activity Group Leadership>Current Elders and Staff can log into the private channel. Once they are removed from that group, such as an elder rolling off their term, their login will no longer work for that channel. You can go all the way down to the “fourth element” in an activity group, which in this example would have been Leadership>Current Elders and Staff>Hospitality Commission>Fall Festival Committee>Chairperson. Yes, you can get that “granular”. You can also create a channel that is as wide as available to anyone with an AccessACS login. No matter what group they are in – or not in.

When churches talk about integration between our websites and our groups, we generally think “How can I get a list of groups on my site.” which results in some type of iframe or “finder” device. But, if you are going to use your site as more than a “digital brochure”, and there are content pieces that you don’t want to  out and around….or worse yet – PRINT. How are you going to do that? There is some information that your members or regular attenders may want to see, but it really wouldn’t be appropriate for a visitor or someone checking your church out. How would you do that? Could you set up a channel or a whole group of channels tied to logins in less than a minute?

ps. We did set up a wiki site for our budget and controlled the login via Extend.

OK, well maybe I am sometimes. Truth is, we all are. If you don’t feel fear, you are either dead or a fool. Of the three, I’ll admit to being afraid. Sometimes.

The real question is not “Should we feel fear?” but rather “When fear comes, then what?” This question and a host of others are addressed in Max Lucado’s new book – Fearless out today from Thomas Nelson publishers. In typical Lucado style, he takes a complex issue and breaks it down into small chunks you can deal with. Here’s a 60 second spot from the author.
The very topic of fear is overwhelming. Just thinking of it can paralyze you. However, if you look just at some of the more common “fear factors” they begin to seem less overwhelming, manageable even:

• Fear of not mattering
• Fear of disappointing God (personal one for me)
• Fear of overwhelming challenges (another one for me)
• Fear of not being able to protect one’s kids
• Fear of global calamity

Each one worth taking time to meditate on and find out what God has to say about it in scripture. All that is laced throughout the book:

“Why are you frightened?” He (Jesus) asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?” Luke 24:37-38
(Don’t hurry past Christ’s casual connection between fright and doubt. Unanswered qualms make for quivering disciples.)   Page 142

“Jesus doesn’t want you to be afraid, nor do you.”   Page 12

If the Fear of What is Next is what grips you “Make friends with what is next.”   Page 132

Also laced throughout the book are subtle reminders of the time it which it is written. Right now as we are in the midst of – if you believe the media – “the worst economic time in history”. Max Lucado references this, however the message in this book will apply long after we are out of this present ditch.

You can read this book in a single, rainy afternoon and walk away feeling encouraged. Or you can take your time, look up the scripture references upon which he bases his arguments, meditate on them and ask God what He would have you learn.

“Somewhere between Pollyanna and Chicken Little, between blind denial and blatant panic, stands the levelheaded, clear-thinking, still-believing follower of Christ.”   Page 158

Probably going to get yelled at by the Blasphemy Police on this one. I could argue my case, but I won’t.

Jesus was asked “In all the law, what is the most important commandment?” Jesus’ answer was “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” Then He said “The second one is like it “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

People ask, “How can I succeed in work/business?” The same principle applies.

The first and greatest commandment is this: “Add value to the brand”.
The second is like unto it “Make the corporation money”.

On this rests all the laws of the Marketing and HR departments.

Truth be told, just like that incident 2000 years ago, it really is that simple. You can’t do one without the other and they both have to come from a genuine place in your heart.

“But what if I work for a church?”

Seems to me like whenever anyone asked Jesus a follow-up question, the real question they asked was “How can I do an end-run without following what you just said?”

Add value to the brand.
Make the corporation money (or, if you must, in the church world, steward the resources well).

Or, again to paraphrase Jesus “Don’t think about yourself all the time. Think about others and how you can serve them.”