Lasting Impression Teams - We exist to create a welcoming experience thru serving with excellence

I have been on my offical ministry vacation for a little over a week now. I would like to say that I feel completed rested, but that's not going to happen since I still have a full time job, a husband, house and two "kids" to look after! I am however, feeling refreshed. I have been enjoying reading again. I just finished Christain Reflections on the Leadership Challenge. I took several pages of notes and began to get excited about possible changes I could bring to LIT. However, I am not moving forward with any of these ideas until after my vacation as I wish to pray over these ideas. One of the chapters in the reflectiions book mentioned how two friends from college hatched a business idea and although they were both extrememly excited to begin they both thought it more important to prayerful consider their intentions. They spent the next month praying about it. They later went on to start up a very successful business.
I shared some of my ideas with Rod and was given confirmation that this rest/vacation will be the catalist to some awesome changes in LIT. "Why not take this opportuinity to shake things up a bit" was how Rod put it.
I am looking forward to the books that have been recommended to me. I have just started Holy Invitations and was loaned Heart Whispers. These are helping to confirm this is a time for me to sit, listen and learn.

Posted in: on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at at 1:27 PM 1 comments  

Today was the first day of my ministry vacation. I got to sleep in since I didn't have to be at church 30 to 45 minutes before the start of service. It was nice to walk in just as worship started. I was greeted at the door by Harry - one of the lead ushers -as he handed me a program, his heartfelt "enjoy the service" was touching. I sat with friends whom I haven't seen in a while and enjoyed worship, especially the new song. As I sat there observing things from a different perspective, I got to witness an act of kindness. A family had sat down in front of me, but there were only two open seats on the end, so one family member sat in another row. Without being asked to, the others already in the row made room. Now the family of three could sit together on Mother's Day. During offering another usher -Bob -shook my hand and wished me Happy Mother's Day. Not only did I get to hear the entire message, I got to write my own fill-ins rather than use the cheat sheet! One brief stop in the office to pick up a book and I was off campus. Nice start to my vacation.
These brief encounters may seem insignificant, and had I been serving, they would have been because I would have missed them. I look forward to meeting God in the little things over the next few weeks.

Posted in: on Sunday, May 9, 2010 at at 8:16 PM 0 comments  

I have been serving at Journey Community Church in some aspect for the past ten years. Except for the occasional vacation or illness, I have been there for at least one of our three weekend services, every weekend. This might be considered normal for someone in full time ministry, however, I am a volunteer. Up until about 6 months ago, I used to say this was the best part time job I ever had, with the greatest benefits.
Since I am an introvert, I enjoy serving behind the scenes. One roll I have is to help coordinate our Lasting Impression Teams. This "first touch" ministry consists of ushers, greeters, decorators, daily journey and guest services. Another roll I have is that of Onsite Event Manager for The Global Leadership Summit. Journey has been a host location for the past seven years. Although both rolls can be physically challenging, I gain great strength and pleasure from doing my very best to ensure our guests have a distraction free environment, so that God may meet them just where they are in their journey. It takes a great deal of coordination, planning and timing to pull this off. Because of the behind the scenes nature of my roll, I tend to miss most of the messages.
I would "fill my bucket" by listening to the messages on my ipod later on in the week, or read books on leadership, or on rare occasions go out of town for a conference. This seemed to do the trick, until about six months ago. I can't quite put my finger on the one thing that changed. It was probably little things building up over time.
Dealing with a team of volunteers has its own challenges, at times it can be quite chaotic. I kept tripping over the same stumbling blocks - leaders not showing up, or not following through. I tried to remind myself that they were volunteers, but it got tougher and tougher not to get angry. After all, I am a volunteer. I have a full time job, a husband and a house to take care of. I am there almost every week. I would spend lunch breaks or evenings preparing things for the upcoming weekend, or for an upcoming leadership meeting. I even take vacation time to fulfill some of my volunteer duties. How tough could it be for them to show up on time to a meeting, or follow through with the one thing I asked them to do??? I started to not gain as much pleasure and joy out of serving. I was loosing passion.
The last straw was something that happened in preparation for our Easter weekend services. As a volunteer who was working on Good Friday, I was having trouble getting other volunteers to commit to serving for the same reason - they were working. When I saw that I would not be able to support a portion of our service due to the lack of volunteers. I asked for help. I got met with resistance. And excuses. What ran through my head - I don't need this crap. I am a volunteer. You get paid to do this.
Journey has a ministry called New Format. This is our service for college aged people. They have weekly services and have ministries similar to our main worship service. They have a tech team and a production team and a people team. The people team is New Format's version of what I oversee - The Lasting Impression Teams.
About a year and a half ago, I was asked to mentor the people team. This would consist of meeting with them at least twice a year and share insights, encourage, inspire and be supportive. I loved these meetings. Truth be told, I get more encouragement and inspiration out of our meetings than I think I give them!
In March I was asked to again join them for their meeting in April. Just like in the past, I began to pray about what God would have me share with them. I got nothing.....
I had not been consistently reading anything dealing with leadership. I had not been excited about serving with my own team. I was still reeling from Easter. I had no idea what I was going to do. It crossed my mind to make something up and fake my way through the meeting. But I didn't. I realized that wouldn't be fair and maybe God wanted me to share that ministry isn't always roses and sunshine.
The night of the meeting we broke into small prayer circles for a few minutes before we met in teams. I thought what was prayed in prayer circles stayed in prayer circles. Wrong! I had asked God for strength and the words to share because I felt so empty and had nothing of myself to give.
I should be mad at Ja (our worship pastor) for saying something to Rod (the pastor I report to) about "my being a bit off" (I think that's how he put it) but I am not. It opened a conversation I had been avoiding.
As I opened up to Rod about ministry feeling more like a job than a passion. That I felt empty and dry. He mentioned three things that he felt could be the root of this. Sin, the need for a rebirth, or faith. I didn't tell him then, but they all struck a nerve. I am very angry with some of the team. (sin) I need to see my ministry through fresh eyes. (rebirth) I need to trust that God will bring me through this season. (faith)
Last Monday, I sent the entire LIT group an email briefly explaining my vacation. I felt so free and less stressed than I have felt in a long time. I am encouraged by the support I am getting from my fellow Journey-ites for my decision to take a step back and reconnect with my first love. I am going to continue to post my "travels" during this vacation. Hope you enjoy the ride!

Posted in: on at at 7:07 PM 0 comments  

On January 16th, the majority of the LIT leaders came over for dinner. After a fabulous dinner (if I say so myself since I cooked), the team gathered in the living room since it wouldn't be an LIT function without a "meeting".
This is what I shared with the team:
A few months ago I met with Ann on a Saturday morning to begin to craft my personal purpose statement - something I encourage everyone to do. My key words were "empowering value". Since then I have been playing with words and phrases to apply this term to myself, people and with God. Some of the alternate words were - commission, invest, entrust, hold in high regard, appreciate and significance. Terms that I can easily use to describe the leadership I serve with. One of the statements I came up with was "empowering value in people by entrusting them to serve with purpose". I hold each of you (my leaders) in high regard and value your contribution to the purpose of LIT. I gave each of the leaders something that they could invest in themselves, their team and their leadership. I also wrote out comments to share with them. Besides wanting to empower the leadership of LIT; I wanted LIT to empower others.
KIVA is an organization that uses micro-loans to empower entrepreneurs around the globe, start or expand their business. After reading many stories on the website I settled on 4 that really struck me because they were highly regarded in their communities. I have their names listed in the poll portion of the blog. Please read their stories and vote for your favorite. LIT will make a starting donation of $25 to the entrepreneur that is the favorite among LIT.

Posted in: on Monday, January 25, 2010 at at 7:29 PM 0 comments  

On Wednesday I flew from San Diego to Chicago. I was attending a conference in South Bend Indiana at Granger Community Church. I was looking forward to a few days on my own to read, and wander around this small town. The flight was uneventful, uncomfortably full, but uneventful. I was renting a car to drive to Granger. When I got to the rental counter I realized my current driver's license was no where to be found. Rental car company policy - can't rent without a license. All kinds of things are running through my head.....what do I do now? How do I get to the conference? Where in the world is my license? I am shaking and very frightened. The guy at the counter had no idea what to do with me. God did.....

Standing at the very next counter was a young lady who was also on her way to Granger. I asked her if she would mind giving me a ride. She graciously agreed. What an answer to prayer! Okay God, my plans have just gone out the window, what do you intend to teach me?

Over the next 2 hours I got to know Laura. Amazing person - works for Bethal Bible church in Tyler; is on Twitter, Facebook and has a blog. She dropped me off at my hotel and told me to call her if I needed a ride in the AM.

Checked into the hotel. No shuttle, but the church is only a mile away. I can walk or take a cab. Only one last hurdle to overcome - how to get home? Laura was only staying until Saturday. I am staying until Sunday.
Needless to say, my first night here was rough. I slept terrible for several reasons - time change being one of them, another being the fact that my best laid plans are now completely out of my control - I HATE feeling dependant on others, and stressing out on how to get back to Ohare. Somewhere around 4 AM I remember that in Granger's welcome packet there was information on transportation. I thought I recalled something about bus service from the regional hotel to Ohare.

In my quiet time this morning, God revealed to me that I need to hold His hand and trust. Oh boy, must be some lesson I need to learn!

This morning I went to the Guest Services counter and asked for a copy of the welcome packet. As I waited for a volunteer to obtain a copy for me I was explaining to another volunteer,Lisa, my situation. She commented that the bus from the regional airport to Ohare was very nice, ran every day, throughout the day, and was reasonably priced.

Just before the start of the first session, another volunteer, Lori, from Guest Services found me. She had been told by the Lisa about my situation. Lori handed me a copy of the bus schedule and ticket prices. She even offered to find me someone staying at my hotel to give me rides to/from the conference.

I am wowed, all this help from complete strangers, and they are so sincere about it, I don't feel like a burden. This group of volunteers removed what was distracting me and I was able to thoroughly enjoy the conference. I was also able to learn a bit more about myself today.

When I travel to conferences without Ken, I look forward to the alone time. As an introvert, I LOVE and NEED this to recharge. Having to rely on others for the past few days, caused me to step WAY out of my comfort zone. But in doing so, I realized how much I needed to be ministered to. Although I thought I needed to be alone, God realized I needed others to recharge me by giving and by me receiving.
I also wonder what is happening to me.....In years past, when I would attend a conference, alone, I would never talk to anyone, would not engage in conversation if we had to sit at tables, would find a way to eat alone because it was too uncomfortable. During the past two days, I have asked a total stranger for a ride, engaged in conversation at the table, struck up conversations during lunch, asked questions on a tour of the facility and found a way to "serve" with the guest services team Saturday night. Who am I?
Now I will still have to deal with the dreaded DMV when I return, but the loss of my license has been such a wonderful learning experience. It was very cool to see God take a terrible, scary situation and grow me.

Posted in: on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at at 4:50 PM 3 comments  

Last week, I was in Phoenix for a long weekend of Nascar racing. Thursday night featured the Midget Series. This is grassroots racing; a place for future Nascar drivers to get experience. As I was listening to the driver's being announced, I noticed that several of these up-and-comers were owned and/or sponsored by several major players in Nascar. (Tony Stewart owns a two-car USAC team. )
Ummm, looks alot like a leadership concept I just finished reading about.....
A seasoned Nascar driver taking interest in young drivers. Giving them opportunities to gain experience, to be encouraged and supported, to possibly fail, and to use that failure to improve, knowing that there is always another race. Then the "young" driver moves up to the next level and continues the cycle by sponsoring and encouraging another new driver.
Nancy Beach writes in Unleashing the Power of Rubberbands that " the reason we are leaders is because we had people in our lives take the time to develop us". Humm looks alot like Nascar.....

Posted in: on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at at 7:39 PM 0 comments  

Session 2 was titled "Navigating Your Leadership World". It covered self awareness, communication and managing power. My notes are all over the place from this session - almost every bit of free space had something written on it.
Self awareness - I need to be clear on who God made me to be; know how I have been gifted and use these gifts wherever I am; embrace my uniqueness; become comfortable with my brokenness; understand who I am and who I am not which will make saying yes to the right things and no to the wrong things easier; carve out my own path.
Communication/Managing Power - Find my "voice" which is my style and it comes from my core beliefs - something Bill Hybel calls "Holy Discontent"; speak up and be heard; give myself permission to make mistakes (tough for a perfectionist) so that I don't hold myself back; know my conflict style (avoid at all costs) * need to work on this*; own and collaborate power to energize teams; my team needs my voice; be prepared, be spiritual but be real; . Nancy O. sums it up from her book this way - " a women leader must develop the muscle of talking back from an inner core of strongly held values and beliefs, and a willingness to face her fears and even harness her anger in order to communicate with clarity, logic and passion."
In this session Nancy O mentioned that we each needed to find a word that would motivate and inspire us, to keep us going when things got tough. Her word was "flourish", she posted this in her office next to the team's mission statement. I am still looking for my word.
Some phrases that I need to incorporate into my life in order to become a better leader - "I am sorry", "I made a mistake", "I dropped the ball", "I need your help", and "I don't know, what do you think".
Things I will be working on - I will fight hard to be the leader God called me to be and remember that the heart of my leadership is God's vision and my gifts are from Him. I will try to better understand my brokenness, and I want to find "my word".

Posted in: on Monday, October 20, 2008 at at 6:41 PM 1 comments  

On Monday, I had the opportunity to attend a conference at Willowcreek Community Church. This conference was "Gifted to Lead" featuring Nancy Beach and Nancy Ortberg. This was an interactive forum for women in leadership. (for us introverts interactive meant I had to talk to other people!) Session One was called "Growing up a Leader". Nancy B talked about her defining moments as a leader and obstacles she has had to overcome.

Some of my take-a-way notes:

* girls are labeled as "bossy" where boys are labeled as "assertive"

* I need to allow room for my gifts to be used

* I need to be better at receiving criticism in order to allow growth

* more than 50% of church attendees are women and we can't afford not to let them use their gifts.

The interactive part of this session I was to journal about and then share 2 of my defining moments and an obstacle I needed to overcome. One defining moment was to come from my childhood, and one from later in life.

My first defining moment was listening to my mom complain that growing up she only had two choices for a career - either become a teacher or a nurse. (she became a nurse) I thought this was odd, I didn't see or understand the reasoning behind why a woman couldn't be anything she wanted to be. I took this moment to decide I wasn't going to let gender decide what I was when I grew up. ( ironically I became a nurse too but I am in management) In my journalling I wondered if the reason my mom was so angry and critical of me was that she saw something in me that she wished she had??

My second defining moment occurred on a Friday evening after service was over. I had been serving as an usher for several months at the Friday Night service. (back when a crowded night had more than 65 attendees!) Rod asked to talk to me for a few minutes. Unfortunately, I can't recall his exact words, but he mentioned that although some churches felt women didn't belong in certain leadership positions, he felt that I had leadership potential, and would I consider leading the ushers. He went onto mention that he asked another to lead who was still thinking about it, and Rod felt that I might be better suited.

I left that night thinking why can't women lead? Women should be able to do anything they were gifted to do. I was also stunned that someone saw leadership qualities in me. I didn't consider myself a leader (although I was bossy as a child). I didn't jump at that opportunity to lead, but eventually I stepped up and have never looked back with regret.

At the end of session one I had the following insight- I need to bring out the leadership gifts of those I lead by finding tools to use during my meetings to learn about the gifts my direct reports have.

Stay tuned for insights from the other sessions!

Posted in: on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at at 8:05 PM 3 comments  

This weekend I will be traveling to Chicago to attend a conference at Willowcreek. Although I have been to Willow/Chicago before, I have not had the opportunity to enjoy the city. My Google search has given me some info on the city - largest city by population Illinois; its a center of finance, industry and culture. I will have an afternoon to be a tourist and have been asking friends, family and coworkers what they suggest I go see/do.
Most common answers:
1. Retail Therapy on Michigan Ave.
2. Museums
3. Navy Pier
4. Exhibition Park
Suggestions are welcome!

Posted in: on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at at 7:08 PM 1 comments  

Posted in: on Saturday, October 4, 2008 at at 2:42 PM 0 comments  

This weekend, our Ministry and Discipleship pastor - Todd Tolson - gave the message on being significant through difference. He used packets of salt to make his point that making a difference in my world is what Jesus called "being salt".

Posted in: on Monday, August 25, 2008 at at 6:21 AM 0 comments  

I have always been jealous of people who have connections - they are friends with someone in the travel industry so they get hotels cheap and great travel offers; or they know someone in the entertainment industry so they get movie premier passes or tickets to shows and concerts.
Yesterday, I realized I was blessed to have connections in the medical field! I have worked for a large health care organization in the San Diego area for the past 10 years. I didn't realize how many "friends" I have until I needed to navigate through the system quicker than normal.
I broke my foot a few months ago and I re aggravated it a few weeks ago at the Summit. I have been limping for about 3 weeks now and I have reached my limit. I needed to have this looked at. I would have waited about 5 weeks to see the foot specialist, but thanks to connections, I only waited a week. I would have waited another 2-3 weeks for the special bone scan I need, but thanks to connects, I have my scan this morning!
It sure pays to make a positive, lasting impression upon the people I encounter every day. I am very grateful for the help they have provided me. I will remember this and "connect" them if they need anything from my area of specialty.

Posted in: on Friday, August 22, 2008 at at 6:53 AM 0 comments  

This is from Rachelle Kimberling, who serves on the Daily Journey Ministry.

Fire Up The Salsa: revised for LIT

In a day, I devoured “Just Courage” by Gary Haugen of IJM and listened to his CD twice; in obedience to a riskier ministry God had fired up my heart almost 2 years ago. Thank you, Laurie for your obedience to SWAT retreats……God shook me there. I didn’t know exactly what, whom, or where this adventure would be…………….so I waited, prayed, researched, sought counsel, and waited. I didn’t want to be impulsive, and jump into something ridiculously risky, unsuccessful, and look like a fool. Yes, pride speaking.

According to Gary Haugen, significance is found in transforming peoples’ lives through love. Amen, he must have been reading my mind. Worship is deed, not merely singing about it. I enjoy using my God given gifts in community and I do my imperfect best in love: creating a decorative haven for meditation retreats, or vocal worship for women’s ministry, facilitating a small group, cooking a hopefully delicious potluck meal. It is all unto the Lord………..but it’s safely dull. God wants to transform me through a steeper climb or by firing up the salsa. I’m a Puerto Rican that prefers medium salsa, thank you very much. I’m petrified of heights (God made me height challenged), but I have no choice except to look up and get involved.

Prayer welcomed,

Rachelle Kimberling

Posted in: on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at at 5:23 PM 0 comments  

I enlisted the help of several LIT leaders who attended the Leadership Summit 2008 to send me their "take aways" - things that moved them and they were willing to share. This is from David Youngblood - Leader of the 10:45 Greeters.

Kingdom Matters Matter Enough To put your ALL IN in.Personal vision for the Kingdom is powerful and essential as a leader. In order to get the most out of what God is doing in us, we need to put everything we have into doing what God is doing. Good works, nice ministries, even socially necessary service is ‘good,’ but they are not always what God wants to see done in the world – right now! “What does the LORD require, but that we seek/do justice, love loving (Mercy), and walk humbly with our God.”Most of the summit called on leaders to take it not to a higher level, but the highest level. For team leadership within/under the larger Kingdom mission, I was most moved to find my pastoral gifts again, specifically in the arena of helping those with whom I serve by encourage them to be creative and contributors to the ministry we are leading.
Team Goal: invest in the lives of our greeters and challenge them to come up with more ways to make the ‘howdy’ welcoming and unique.
Personal Goal: connect with Daily Journey, the Worship Band, or the prayer team to add on what is missing in my heart’s desire to serve – I’ve used the excuse that, ‘while we were greeter leaders, there was no time.’ Now I sense that there will never be enough time to serve where my passion is, I must find the way and pray with the Lord to make it so, not neglecting the gifts or ministries to which I (we) have been called, but giving the very best of what I have.

Posted in: on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at at 10:24 AM 1 comments  

Memories of Willie:

Willie Massie was an angel in more ways than he’d ever claim or probably know. He joined the greeter’s ministry on the very same day in July `07 when three of the four regular greeters went on vacation. Together with John Goldthwaite, he faithfully greeted folks on the Paint Store corner every week that he wasn’t singing in the choir. The deep sense of joy that Willie brought to the greeters and choir was from the new found well of his new relationship in Christ. Despite the grace of his gentle demeanor and great love Willie had for the greeters, choir, and men’s fellowship, Willie’s past was not one of graceful blessing. Meeting Willie’s mom at the LIT Christmas gathering was more than testimony to this grace of his redemption and freedom in the Lord, she could not stop talking about what a change had come about in her son. That his contagious smile & “hello brother/sister” came from a life redeemed from habits and fates worse than many of us will ever know, is one of the deepest graces we will miss when we gather to pray and bless the ministries of Journey Community Church. Thank you Lord Jesus for the time we were given to know you through this saint of yours, our friend and fellow greeter.
Written by Kim and David Youngblood Leaders of the Second Service Greeters

Posted in: on Monday, July 28, 2008 at at 6:43 AM 5 comments  

If I believed in putting bumper stickers on my car, they would probably say things like "I'm not tailgating, I'm drafting" or "I'm not speeding, I'm qualifying". For you non-Nascar types - it means I like to drive 80 in the fast lane.
That was until I spent over $65 filling up my 13 gallon tank
I was going to try an experiment. "Experts" say that driving 55 will net you at least 10 -20 more miles per tank. I started driving in the slow lane-at 60 miles per hr - there was no way I could drop from 80 to 55. My first week, I got an extra 15 miles out of the tank. The next week was closer to 20. Now it's a game to me. How far can I stretch that tank of gas?! I started doing other things - more right hand turns, and no putting the pedal down when the light changes to green. My goal is 350 miles per tank. I'm at 305 with a quarter of a tank to go!
See you in the slow lane and not at the pump!

Posted in: on Friday, July 25, 2008 at at 2:13 PM 1 comments  

Posted in: on Monday, July 21, 2008 at at 12:40 PM 1 comments  

I love to read. One summer (I was probably 14) my mom challenged my bother, sister and I to a reading contest. I loved that summer and I blew the competition away! I devoured about 2 books a week over the 6 weeks or so of vacation. I think my mom was sorry she gave such a challenge having to take me to the library at least once a week.
As I have gotten older, my reading tastes have changed. I used to read things like Judy Bloom, and Nancy Drew books, as well as The Little House on the Prairie series. Moved up to Sidney Sheldon, David Eddings and even Danielle Steele. After I got into management, I primarily read books to further those skills - leadership, teamwork, ect. (some may say BORING) Not so! Since my time is limited, I do enjoy settling in and reading those types of books and learning new tools. However, due to my limited reading time, it takes me what feels like forever to finish a book. I received "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" by Marshall Goldsmith for my birthday. My birthday was in March and I just finished this book last night. Sad, but true.
The entire book is about stopping things you are doing that are hindering you from even greater success. The author included a list of 20 transactional flaws. As I got to about half way in the book I began to put one of the tools suggested into practice. One flaw listed was "not listening". Marshall had some great examples of improving listening skills. Since I feel I am a pretty good listener, I decided to put these suggestions to use at work as practice before I got into my real flaws. (according to the book)
I work in the medical field as many of you know. In this field you need to be able to multi-task. It is very common for us to be looking down at a chart taking notes, while the patient continues to talk. (a good listener faces the person speaking) Fellow coworkers are not bothered by the fact that they are talking to me and I am busy entering labs or such into the computer.
After reading some suggestions from the book, I made a few changes. I face my patient and let them explain their problems or concerns; then I ask them to give me a moment to write a few notes, then I ask a few clarifying questions to make sure I remembered correctly all they had explained. As for my coworkers, I began to stop what I was going, actually put down my pen and face them when they talked to me.
I have no idea if I am making a difference with how the patients perceive me as a good listener or not. What really surprised me was the response from my coworkers. I got comments such as, "are you okay?", "what's wrong?", and my favorite was "why are you looking at me?"
I am not quite sure what to make of that!
As for my real flaws (again according to this book) are 1. Adding too much value, which is the overwhelming desire to add my two cents to every discussion, and 2. Passing judgement, which is the need to rate others and impose my standards on them. How I am going to work on these will be the subject of another post!

Posted in: on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at at 7:49 PM 1 comments  

Yesterday I attended a leadership development session put on by my employer. Sharp holds these sessions 3 times per year for supervisors and above. At every session we have a guest speaker to motivate and/or reinforce one of the principles that Sharp stands for. Charles "Chic" Thompson was the guest speaker.
Chic spoke on innovation - finding ways to creatively turn a negative into a positive, and to tap into our creative side to problem solve. We always receive "homework" after these sessions. We have to complete a project to help "hardwire" the new ideas presented into our day to day work. I should have been taking notes for that, however, I found myself jotting down ideas to apply to LIT and also to the upcoming Leadership Summit.

These were my take aways that got me thinking about Journey:
1. Things to engage the left or creative side of my brain - wear my watch on the other wrist, use my computer mouse with the other hand (I already do this for carpal tunnel reasons), listen to a new radio station, flip through a magazine you would never subscribe to - backwards, and drive to work a completely different way.
2. If you need to write a vision statement - engage the creative side by putting together a collage of pictures from magazines, then write the statement after studying the pictures. Could this help LIT create their statements?
3. If you need to "sell" and idea - always have your "elevator talk" ready. This is essentially a commercial about yourself and your passions - you never know who you may encounter in an elevator! Use the 4 word Hollywood pitch - Minute Clinic's slogan is "Your sick, we're quick". Or if I said what movie do you think of if I said "Flashdance with a guy"? (Dirty Dancing) By just using 4 words you get a point across quickly and efficiently. But to do so takes creativity.
4. Think in opposites - the great reversal. Ask yourself "what would I never do?" then flip that "never" into a really cool idea.

It was this last point that really got me thinking about the Summit and LIT. Chic was talking about things you should start doing and things you should stop doing. His slide was an example of a room with 4 large post-its (one on each wall) you or your team was to brainstorm things to do, things to stop doing, things you would never do, and things you are doing right now. I thought this would be an interesting way to set up our conference rooms for those teams who gather together after the sessions to talk about what they got out of the sessions. It might also be useful in brainstorming new ways to take our teams to a higher level.

Another example he used was of an entrepreneur that started a company called Cereality, "Where it's Saturday morning every day". This is a cereal bar where for about $3.99 you can have any type of cereal you want for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here is someone thinking out of the (cereal) box, because someone told him it would "never" work. It's now franchising across the country.

My favorite exercise yesterday was when everyone was asked to brainstorm with the people at your table to create a new road-side experience by combining AAA and Nascar. We were told that when you brainstorm do not think about how much it's going to cost to make the idea work - restrictions like that stifle creativity. Ideas that were tossed around were: paint the tow trucks like Nascars; besides repairing the problem you were called for (flat tie) do a few extras just like a pit crew - add gas, clean the windshield; stay in constant communication with the stranded motorist similar to the way the crewchief talks to the driver.

Our all day session ended with something I "never" thought my employer would do - we enjoyed a cocktail reception! It was Sharp's thank you and congratulations for receiving the Baldridge Award.
Basically, being innovative is all about the experience you create.
Yes, besides working on this post, I did start on my "homework" and used some of these ideas to brainstorm ways to improve our patients' experience at the doctor's office.

Posted in: on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at at 7:38 PM 1 comments  

WARNING - This is a rambling post!
I am sure it isn't hard to guess that with my personality type I like things neat, orderly and predictable. I forgot to read the fine print when I joined God's team that life becomes messy, disorganized and very unpredictable. After receiving an email earlier today, announcing a change that I have been well aware of I began to reflect on how much things have changed since I started serving in 1999.
I went from hiding in the back row on Friday night service (this was tough to do when our attendance back then was about 45 people) to helping usher on Friday nights, to leading Friday nights, to leading 8:30 to now leading the Lasting Impression Teams.
Since assuming the roll of LIT coordinator I have dealt with my share of messes, disorganization and unpredictable events. I wouldn't change it for the world! God has taught me some valuable lessons. (flexibility, grace, passion, friendships) I have also learned some lessons from the person who replaced me.
I met Evonn when she joined the ushers after we held a Ministry Fair to recruit new team members. (I've since forgiven her for mistaking the ushers for greeters) I found her to be an amazing woman. She was juggling family, work and ministry; as well as bravely handing her mom's terminal illness. It was no surprise to me when I told the team that I was moving to a new ministry that within a few weeks Evonn mentioned she was interested in assuming my previous leadership roll with the 8:30 team. Since assuming the 8:30 roll, Evonn has taken the ushers to a new level of excellence!
Our bonding time happened over a true Journey meeting place - Starbucks. As I supported her in her new roll, she was a huge support to me in mine. She continues to remind me that life is chaotic and working with volunteers can be challenging at times. She has always there to pray with and for me and offer encouragement and remind me that change happens.
I am sure she will blog about all she has gone through to come her decision. I tried many things to keep Evonn as part of LIT. (my need to keep things orderly and organized) It wasn't until she asked me to advise her as her friend and not her "boss" that I realized I was selfishly trying to hold her back from what she believes God has planned for her. I am in total support of her next move; I will miss serving with her. (she doesn't know it yet, but I have her signed up to usher at Christmas)
Evonn, thank you for showing me changes are good things. Can't wait to see what changes God does next.

Posted in: on Monday, May 19, 2008 at at 7:19 PM 1 comments