tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27409338095550863912024-03-18T19:41:25.860-07:00Renewing Mindrenewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-52719377415532800992014-12-22T13:48:00.003-08:002014-12-22T13:48:33.557-08:00Time - The most precious non-renewable resource
Time. We all have a limited amount of it to spend on this planet, and none of us know exactly how much we have.
This thinking, good thinking, is why we invest so much money in time saving products and services. But is that a good idea? Consider:
Rather than build our own furniture, we buy it. Sure, some things are better this way, but more often then not the furniture we buy is a renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-26639698990203152672014-12-22T13:26:00.002-08:002014-12-22T13:27:35.325-08:00Why is this blog seemingly abandoned?It's pretty obvious I don't blog anymore. The question is....why not?
Two reasons, really. The first is that I don't have the time to make it part of my weekly or monthly routine in the office. The second is that I don't find I often have something to say that I simply must share with the small portion of the online world that finds their way to this blog.
When I was knee deep in church renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-16894214099412289922013-11-11T06:46:00.003-08:002013-11-11T06:46:42.870-08:00The Three Signs of a Miserable JobMy most recent read is The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni. I picked this book up at the library book sale, and after completing my bookshelves I sat down to read this. As with his other books, Lencioni writes a parable that illustrates the business principle he is trying to communicate.
The three signs of a miserable job are:
(1) Anonymity: Managers need to know their renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-19701559439556889412013-11-07T07:18:00.000-08:002013-11-07T07:18:10.722-08:00Of new jobs, new homes, and abandoned blogs...
After a LOT of work, my library shelves are all built, my books are unpacked, and I finally have a place to read again. I read a book the first night this was all completed, and I'm anxious to review it, but it made me realize just how neglected my blog has been...
Thoughts on my new role:
- It's interesting how different it is being a technically minded executive pastor vs. renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-82627113517067508862013-01-29T05:42:00.004-08:002013-01-29T05:42:47.825-08:00The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary ExecutiveThe hardest part of moving is getting your rhythms back (for example, I update this blog once every few months whether it needs it or not...). I used to read a lot, but after moving I've found it quite difficult. I am looking forward to getting fully moved in to our home (all our stuff is there, but there are boxes everywhere) and being able to create a space to read again.
Last night I got a renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-43678459929024196942012-10-04T05:21:00.000-07:002012-10-04T05:21:03.793-07:00SiriSiri is one of those things that you either use a lot or not at all. I am on the new phone cycle for Apple, meaning I had a 4 before upgrading to a 5, and am a year late to the Siri party because I didn't own a 4S. I started using the 5 this week, but have been extremely busy and have spent almost no time just playing with the phone.
Yesterday Patty and I were driving around, and we needed to renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-91265922829353272142012-09-24T06:06:00.003-07:002012-09-24T06:06:33.693-07:00Facetime & elevating baptismI've been quiet for the last few months. Starting a new job tends to take up a lot of time, making things like blogging take a back seat for a while. And being an executive pastor means I'm not as immersed in technology as I was at HDC, but it doesn't mean I've stopped caring or paying attention to what is going on in the tech world.
LEFC does not own a baptisty. Instead of doing baptisms in therenewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-77398342779139781762012-06-26T12:58:00.003-07:002012-06-26T12:58:47.737-07:00Stress is deadlyRecently we packed up our life, got in our van, and moved to Lititz Pennsylvania where I have taken the role of Executive Pastor at the Lancaster Evangelical Free Church. Generally I am a guy who does not "stress out" and is, in fact, pretty good at knowing when to shut down and blow off stress to keep my life balanced.
A quick google search of the top five causes of stress led me to this renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-20630258828976905542012-05-18T19:34:00.000-07:002012-05-18T19:44:04.141-07:00Why does baseball hate it's fans?First it was the DH
Then 7 game league championship series
Then interleague play
Now more playoff games to add to an already overcrowded off season
The latest apostasy is even more interleague games??? What is the commissioner's office smoking?
Bring back baseball!
We want an end to the half-a-skillset DH.
We want playoffs that end before thanksgiving.
We want an end to the renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-2813111436552818362012-04-08T09:18:00.000-07:002012-04-08T09:18:19.195-07:0090 Days of ScriptureOn Christmas Eve I was talking to my friend Kyle about his year overseas. One thing he told me that struck me was that he had read through the bible something like 5 times during the year. I was blown away. One year reading plans are pretty common, but I was intrigued by the prospect of reading the bible at an accelerated pace. So on January 1 I started a 90 day read through the bible plan.
I renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-16105830284780581242012-03-15T09:27:00.001-07:002012-03-15T09:27:26.327-07:00Wagons East!In 1983 my family packed up the house and made the move from western New York to California. My dad was helping to start the School of Intercultural Studies and World Missions at Biola University. As a kid, I wasn't amused to leave my friends and move to crazy California. It took a while, but I've made the most of living in California for the last 29 years.
In 1987 my wife Patty decided to leaverenewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-24276539811675812622012-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:002012-02-10T09:14:31.226-08:00Mac OSX Lion - Safe for networks at last?Back in July we installed Mac OSX Lion on the machines of the IT staff to evaluate for use at HDC. It didn't take long before we discovered an absolute show stopper: Using files on network volumes almost guaranteed dataloss with Lion. Read my first report, and then the followup (with video) if you need a refresher on what was happening.
With the release of 10.7.3 it is now safe to allow people renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-68859865947762130992012-02-02T16:16:00.000-08:002012-02-02T16:16:12.771-08:00How will you be remembered?I am reading through the bible right now on a 90 day reading plan. I have never had so much fun reading the scriptures before. Today I was reading in 2 Chronicles, and something really struck me:“Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-84157934305551437372012-01-03T10:22:00.000-08:002012-01-03T10:23:02.379-08:00Multi-Campus, Multi-Cultural
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” - Acts 1:8 ESV
This is a picture of a hitching post. Most of you reading this blog have probably never seen one. What is remarkable about this hitching post is that it is installed at our Phelan campus, and these renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-82526184693285989372011-12-19T15:41:00.000-08:002011-12-19T15:41:45.827-08:00Mac OSX Lion - Apple loses the storyI have been a fan of Apple for a long, long time. I have been running Mac OS X since March 24, 2001, in other words I installed it the day it was released. It ran slowly on my 400Mhz G3 (state of the art for the day) but it was worth it to be running the future, not the past. With every release, Mac OS X has gotten consistently better until 10.7. With Lion, Apple lost the story of what makes a renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-50068605090471299452011-12-05T11:18:00.001-08:002011-12-05T13:06:51.669-08:00What have we done to thanksgiving?
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,” - Psalms 92:1–2 ESV
In September of 1620 the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. What followed was a brutal winter in which about half of them died. The remaining people set about making a colony, and after a successful harvest renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-10821514203988710692011-11-25T08:37:00.001-08:002011-11-25T08:56:24.559-08:00Smart TV is really dumb
A friend of mine asked me to help him buy a tv this week. We went to Best Buy and to Costco to learn what we could and find the right choice in his budget. After talking with people and looking at the various choices, we settled on an LG tv from costco.
We talked with an incredibly informative guy at costco who had great information on all of the TV's, but he was partial to LG's. He made a bigrenewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-88570900272321494772011-11-02T10:27:00.000-07:002011-11-02T10:27:28.311-07:00TV Experiment 2.0A couple of years ago we pulled the plug on the tv for the month of November. It was a great month. I read more than I had in the six months prior, listened to more music and found that life was just better. The kids discovered other hobbies and passions, and by and large it was a good thing.
Last time we did it we wanted to see what life was like with no television at all. It was good. This renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-44785728629962291052011-10-25T14:32:00.000-07:002011-10-25T14:53:46.994-07:00Anthem vs. 1 Cor 12I have a few friends who have been reading Atlas Shrugged and I realized that I've never read anything by Ayn Rand.
I was in a used bookstore and I found a copy of Anthem
for $2 and decided to pick it up to see what all of the fuss was about.
It's an earlier work and rather short, but I quite enjoyed the first 90 pages or so. Basically the story is set in a post apocalyptic society that is allrenewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-21971880912864877692011-10-14T11:12:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:13:34.260-07:00ChMS - BVCMSAlthough RefreshCache is generally a meeting of Arena developers, this year two guys that work on BVCMS were invited to present as well. This provided me with a great opportunity to see bvcms and ask questions of Dave Carroll who is the primary driver behind bvcms and the owner of bvcms.com, an organization offering hosting, service and support for bvcms.
BVCMS was the internal database project renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-86121742583302336842011-10-11T23:32:00.000-07:002011-10-11T23:32:59.396-07:00RefreshCache ReflectionsIt's almost midnight on Tuesday, and RefreshCache is officially over. RefreshCache was an opportunity to rub shoulders with and learn from the collective wisdom of over 30 individuals representing eighteen of the finest churches in the country.
When we talked about making it a requirement that you had to present to attend, we wondered if it would put a drag on attendance, and if people would renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-54327415912881276672011-10-10T15:04:00.000-07:002011-10-10T15:36:28.968-07:00ChMS - RefreshCache 2011We are in Gilbert, AZ for refreshcache 2011. This is the third year for this gathering, put on by our friends at Central Christian Church. The purpose of refreshcache is to encourage and motivate developers in the area of Church Management Software, mostly centered around Arena. We also had a presentation from David Carroll on bvcms, a product that I have not yet written up on this site. More to renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-5740928539596166142011-10-05T17:01:00.000-07:002011-10-05T17:01:04.091-07:00Steve Jobs Died TodayIn 1981 or so I used a computer for the first time. It was an Apple ][. Soon thereafter I was exposed to the TI 99/4a, the Atari 800 and even the cheapest computer of the era, the Timex Sinclair 1000. At the time it was just exciting to use a computer, any computer at all. I had no idea that thirty years later I would still be using Apple products.
The Apple II was the product of the genius of renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-21682016595258368612011-09-30T09:36:00.000-07:002011-09-30T09:37:53.409-07:00ChMS - Charging all of those iPads
If you are using iPads for check-in or in other manners in your church, there is a good chance you have lots of them that you need to keep charged. This device can make that job a lot simpler.
In our case, one of our staff members maintains our iPads every week, cleaning them and plugging them in to be sure they are fully charged. We rarely sync them because they only use safari, but renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-75080743188672227762011-09-12T08:43:00.000-07:002011-09-12T10:27:13.184-07:00Love Wins & Erasing HellEven before the book was released (?) people were asking me what I thought about Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. There was a lot of controversy about this book, and people who know I like Rob continually tried to engage me in conversation about the book. I declined to engage until I'd actually read it. Weirdly, after the book was released, peoplerenewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com4