5 Reasons People Leave a Church

More on closing the back door… I have been mulling over why people leave or don’t attend regularly.

Check out the post.

Photos and fencing

This past week was quite windy. Tuesday as I was driving to work, I noticed 3 huge tumbleweeds totally blocking the turn lane. Even though the wind was blowing really hard it was like they were stuck!

When I grew up in Illinois, tumbleweeds were things you only read about in books. It has been interesting seeing real live tumbleweeds in California. There also seem to be quite a number in Davis. I regularly see them rolling around in the wind.

Wednesday when I got into work, I was greeted but a big gift.

You can’t really tell from this photo, but this thing literally filled my entire office, all the way to the window! It was a huge tarp (I think it was like 120 feet long or something). They had used it at youth group the night before, then threw it into Matt’s office. When Matt arrived, they took it out of his office and put it in mine. Matt caught incriminating evidence of Keith pulling the tarp. What he didn’t catch was Glen on the other side, his partner in crime.

After we took it out of my office, it lay in the hallway all day until at the end of the day it mysteriously ended up in Alex and Kyle’s office. Wonder how it got there?

Friday, my sister texted me with a spontaneous invite to join them downtown Davis as Steven went around trick-or-treating. I was delighted to see them again so went downtown, and admired my nephew in his very cute costume. I don’t care for spiders but he can make anything look cute.

He took quite a liking to a business that handed out breadsticks. He’s too young to eat all the candy. His parents sure made a killing though.

It was also the first time I heard him talk. He kept going, “Bike!”

It was very cool to see all the kids out and about trick-or-treating and to see the businesses participating. I also earlier took a picture of some green aliens I saw at Nugget. They had ghost ones too. Very creative and cute!

Today our family headed to Berkeley for a fencing tournament. This is the first offsite tournament our family has ever gone to, and the first tournament I have watched Daniel fence in like a year!

We got up way early (to me), ate breakfast (an unusual event), piled in the car and headed to Berkeley.

The place was not particularly organized, evidenced by the fact that it started 2 hours and 20 minutes late.  But Megan and I were prepared! We had brought stuff to work on. I even started knitting a scarf (because I am always cold). I haven’t knitted since high school! It’s looking a little lumpy…

Finally registration started (see the long line in the back). Here’s Daniel, all ready to go!

Daniel did a good job fencing but he had to face off a very experienced opponent so he got eliminated pretty quickly. I was quite impressed how much he has improved. He looks like a pro!

Megan was a poser. She took Daniel’s foil and amused herself bouncing it up and down on her toes. That kid is amazingly self-amusing. A little later she walked in circles around Albert when he lay on the ground. She used to do that when she was toddler. I guess some things never change.

Then it was Albert’s turn. He fenced epee and did a good job! Even better, he had fun and was relaxed and really enjoyed himself! He said it was nice our whole family was there because he felt a lot more relaxed.

Megan and I walked like a mile to find McDonalds for some food because everyone was starving. So we got our exercise too! By the time we got back, Albert was all done and it was time to go home!

Conked out in the car… guess I was a bit tired. But it was a great day with the family!

Grace Culture Spectrum

I’m fascinated by different church cultures. Here’s one way to look at church culture: where you fall along the grace spectrum. New post at my Visual Church Leader blog.

Teaching and learning

Today was Attempt #2 to go down to the Bay Area, after my extraneous trip yesterday!

My day started out quite stressful, involving a missing video camera, missing blank video tapes, 3 minutes to run to my office and tech booth before service started, a cup of untouched chai latte calling out to me, and trying to fix a broken toilet (don’t ask).

However, it ended great. I went back to my old stomping grounds, Bridges Community Church, and taught the SHAPE (spiritual gifts) class. I used to teach the class regularly but I guess they hadn’t had it since I left three years ago. There is now a new director taking over who will be teaching the class but since she had never taken the class she asked me to go down and teach it so that the staff could get trained.

It was a total blast!!!!!! I totally love the people at this church. Great people with great hearts for God. I miss them! It was a super fun group too. People were very talkative. Best of all I got to reconnect with many dear friends, brief though the time was.

So in a previous post I said that my blogs will now focus less on what happened and more on what I learned. As a result of reading a book on leadership, I rethought how to best help people learn and adjusted the teaching of this class in hopes that people would learn better. Here is the blog that explains what I did.

A crazy trip leads to good things

So today I packed up a bunch of stuff and drove one and a half hours down to the Bay Area for a speaking engagement… only to discover once I got there that the speaking engagement is tomorrow.

Oops.

So I know I am absent-minded but that’s a bit ridiculous. I’ve never been a whole day off on a speaking engagement before. I went back and checked the emails, and sure enough they all said Oct 25 but I read Oct 24 and put it down wrong on the calendar.

However, God does work all things for the good of those who love him, and I am actually thankful that it worked out this way!

• I am at such a crazy pace so much that I do not have much extended time to pray and reflect. So I was able to do so… both directions!
• As a result, was able to process through a lot of good stuff that I am excited about.
• I also had the opportunity to spontaneously get together with a friend that I hadn’t seen in 2 years! We had an awesome time catching up and she encouraged me with things and I hopefully encouraged her too. In any case, it was a great way to reflect on how God has been working in each of our lives. Wish I had more time to catch up with all my friends!

One of the things I was thinking through as I was driving was blogging. I have been very erratic in blogging, due to a heavy workload. Unfortunately, this is a problem for me because I get mental constipation and have trouble sleeping.

Part of the reason I haven’t blogged is I think 1) I have nothing interesting to say 2) I have a hard time finding time 3) I have multiple blog sites and 4) the main site I love to blog on (Visual Church Leader) takes a lot of time because I have to create graphics every time.

However, on the long car ride today I determined that 1) I do have a lot of thoughts that need to be expressed, 2) I need to blog so I can process through stuff, and 3) maybe it will be helpful to someone in some way, so it doesn’t hurt to put it out there.

So what I have decided is that I will use this site to be the master site and if I blog anywhere else, I will link to it from here. Then I will feel like there is consistency in my attempts to be disciplined at blogging.

I will also use this site to reflect on a key idea or thought I am learning as opposed to what’s happening (though I might blog about that as well)

And because my other site takes so long, every once in a while I might just take a picture of my chicken scratchings and use those images instead of creating new nice ones that take a long time. At least the concepts will come through!

The goal is to blog every day but there will be days I won’t be able to. I’ll just give it my best shot though!

Flaming hair dryer

Well I had an exciting evening. I was drying my hair when suddenly there was a flash. At first I thought we blew a circuit. Then there was another flash and I realized a big gout of flame was coming out of my dryer!

I went, “Ack!” and dropped the dryer (it landed in the sink). Fortunately it shut off my by itself.

My husband came running and discovered a gash in the insulation where the cord attaches to the dryer. He theorized that perhaps water had gotten in there, shorting out the dryer.

There was a dark mark on my wrist. But I think it was soot or something… wiped away and I didn’t have any burns.

I am very thankful I didn’t get burned our electrocuted or set my hair on fire. However, it was the only hair dryer we had so I am walking around with a wet head.

My husband, who is an amazing mechanical engineer, can get hair clippers to work by just banging them on a counter. I, on the other hand, have set a lamp on fire by just touching it, stapled an electric stapler to its own cord, and performed other miraculous acts of destruction simply by being present.

God certainly had a sense of humor in putting us together!

Office makeover

A few weekends ago, my office had a total makeover. Our friend Glen used to be a professional painter and I learned all sorts of very interesting things about painting! Always great to work with a pro… I love seeing how skilled people work… learn so much from them! And it was  kind of a group effort things as various people helped out in various ways. I was very grateful!

This is how my office looked originally. Being a designer, I have always wanted to have a more creative environment. As you can see, this was not it. It was very “officey.” Unfortunately I forgot to take an authentic “before” picture — by this time all the decorations had been removed.

Here’s the other side of the office.

And here’s my humongous desk… which was always way too big for me!

Glen and Keith helped move my big desk into Keith’s office because his old one was falling apart.

Keith is very very happy with his new larger and improved desk!

Glen moved the shelves to the middle of the room and then used a crowbar to pry off the rubber baseboards.

While Albert used a roller, Glen cut in the paint above. He showed us the correct way to load up a roller. When painting walls, you’re supposed to load up the roller so it’s soaked with paint but not dripping. People try to spread the paint but rolling slowly helps the paint to just be laid onto the surface.

We painted down to where the baseboards were. Notice how they lay against the wall and could catch falling paint. This photo looks really blue, but it’s actually more muted.

Another wall was painted yellow. This looks like bright yellow but in the sunlight it looks like light cream. Notice how we used old flipchart papers from previous meetings to be dropcloths! Recycling at its best!

And here’s the finished room! The blue color below is a bit more accurate…

Then it was time to glue the baseboards back on.

Gracie helped glue almost all the baseboards! The glue was kind of stinky. The paint didn’t smell at all but my office still smells like glue!!!

I got a new desk really cheap off of Craig’s List, got a set of lamps really cheap at Lowe’s, Glen put the shelves back up, Albert got nice florescent bulbs that don’t look harsh… and ta-da! New office!

Here’s the other side of the office.

Decorations-wise I have a couple more things to bring from home to balance out the arrangements but I am very grateful for the relaxing, creative environment. I totally love going to work now and feel a ton more creative and happy in the environment. I also really love it when people stop by and just hang out because they like my office!

Many thanks to Glen, Keith, Gracie and my wonderful hubby for their help and support!!!!

teenager Photoshop magic

My daughter is only 13 years old and making slides for her youth group. I must say I am quite impressed at what this girl can do! She’s doing stuff in Photoshop I didn’t even know could be possible, because she takes time to poke around. It sure is fun having a mother-daughter interest in exchanging Photoshop tips with each other! In the meantime I also give her some design tips. What great bonding time! Dad and son play video games. Mom and daughter discuss design, fonts and Photoshop.

Personality assessment

Saw this site today that shows your personality in a visual format (which, being a designer and visual person, really appeals to me!)

Here’s the top 10:

Here are all the traits:

Or go for the simple view of the factors:

So what is interesting is that these diagrams reflect the two major struggles I am having in my life right now.

The first is that I overwork and have a hard time relaxing and playing. The fact that there is not a single circle in the “Free Spirited” section doesn’t surprise me! A friend encouraged me to “play” more. That’s a big challenge! I’d rather be productive. How to play while being productive… hmmm… I guess making jewelry counts.

The second is that I have been experiencing some struggles in my leadership that comes down to the fact that I am the top dog leader and main driver for my ministries. Notice above not a single circle in the “independent” area. Hmmm….. A recent event that I had for my ministry leaders, though done with a team (which was the greatest part of the experience for me) was still done as a result of my own initiative where I was the buck-stops-here decision maker. As a result, feel majorly wiped out. Perhaps this diagram is just a reflection of my state of mind right now, or perhaps it is a reflection of who I really am and only confirms the areas that challenge me. One thing for sure — God is teaching me a lot of things and I reflect on where does the balance lie between “My grace is sufficient for you” vs. leaning into God-given gifts and strengths?

(Note: I find it a bit amusing that the diagram says I’m “assertive.” Have never in my life thought I was assertive!)

helpful tool for memory-impaired and lazy peopleIt

I have had an iPhone for almost two years but it’s only the past few months that I have really been using the camera for things other than taking pictures of things of family, friends, and interesting things I see.

Now it is an indispensable part of my life as I am prone to forgetfulness (my friends call me “Dory” from Finding Nemo). I have also discovered it is a great tool for someone who is lazy.

For example, yesterday my husband and I went to IKEA. Before, I used to get a pencil and little piece of paper and write down the aisle and bin numbers for the products where you get your item. After I got a phone, I started pulling up the note application and typing in the details.

But yesterday I realized I could just take my phone and take a picture of the entire tag!

Taking a picture was even better than writing down the details because we realized we needed to check some dimensions and details later. Plus I love how the phone has a zoom feature so I can easily zoom in and read every detail on the tag.

Other ways to use the phone camera:

• Pictures of my whiteboard after a meeting when I write notes I need to remember.
• Pictures of flipcharts and easel pads.
• Pictures of notes I write on a paper that I am too lazy to transcribe into the computer.
• Ideas of jewelry as I experiment and move beads around.
• My friend also said he uses his phone to take pictures of his parking spot (which is a great tip for me, because I can never remember what number I parked by!) and hotel room number.

The possibilities are endless!