Does size matter?

I subscribe to a handful of blogs ranging from technology tips, to thoughts on marketing. Blogs of people I know, blogs of folks I don't know. The occasional random photography or financial blog are also on the list. Today, as I was catching up from things that were posted over the weekend, I found this article linked from Church Marketing Sucks, yet another one of my subscriptions. The article is about the "Top 50 most influential churches" (in America).

I'm really not trying to rant here. I'll be totally honest and say that when I became a Christian several years ago (woah, more like over a decade ago!!), I experienced some numbers-driven practices at what was then my home church. Those events left some bitterness, and I'm now very wary of any numbers-driven activities. Not to say that all numbers-driven activities are inherently bad. But seeing things that I saw as a 16 year-old, it kind of taints them a bit.

Click the link on the article and read it. I'll give you a few minutes....


Waiting....


Hope you're reading....


Whew! Glad you made it. Now, back to the "discussion."

So, can someone tell me when "influential" started to mean "fast growing"? Or even "huge"? I don't recall that memo from Miriam Webster. In fact, MW, in all its finery, defines "influential" as: "exerting or possessing influence"

After reading this article, it seems that every other sentence was laden with numbers. From Sunday school attendance, to growth per year, to ages of pastors, and on and on...and the point? The point, it seems, is that to be influential, you must be gargantuan.

To me, that's like saying the world's biggest cookie is the best-tasting cookie, simply because it's the biggest.

But I disagree. I'm trying to be objective about this.

Do big churches accomplish great things and influence many lives? Sure they do. All the time and in many nations. There are people attending mega-churches that are making huge strides in spreading the Gospel.

But so do smaller churches.

Does having the opportunity to influence the masses mean that you actually influence the masses? Not necessarily.

Per the article:
"It is a high privilege to be able to share these few ministries as examples of faithful churches committed to making a Great Commission kind of difference in today's world."

If so, then why not highlight some of the smaller churches that are making a difference in today's world? Heck, why not highlight individuals that are choosing to do the same?

Take my friend Kaitlan, for example. She just got back from Kenya where she spent several months living in a slum outside of Nairobi. She worked with local believers there to tell people about Jesus. Did 10,000 people attend their gatherings every Sunday? Not quite. Did they influence people in Kenya? You bet.

Or my friends Heather and Alexia. They are each choosing to spend the next months/years of their lives in foreign countries teaching kids. And in that span of time, they are hoping to get the chance to tell about their faith in Christ. Influential? Yep.

Please don't get me wrong: I'm sure the article means well. It just makes me crazy when we start focusing on quantity rather than quality. Are these churches teaching quality doctrine? I have no idea. They might be, or they might not be. But who says that numbers are a great indication of that?

Just wanted to get the ball rolling. Smack me down in the comments if you'd like to. But please be nice :)

How is this even possible?

I heard about this while I was at the gym this morning. At first, I thought that it was a joke. But no, this was an actual ruling in a U.S. court of law.

This man attacks children. This man is now getting probation because "[the judge] said she believed the 5-foot-1 [criminal] would not survive in a state prison because he was too small."

Other favorite sound bites from this story include:

"[the judge] believed the man's short stature would cause him harm in prison."

Cause him harm?!?!? Gee, wouldn't that be tragic?

Additionally, "a spokesman for the National Organization of Short Statured Adults - a group that represents men 5-foot-7 and below and women 5-foot-2 and below - applauded the ruling."

Am I missing something here? There is actually an organization that represents "short people" and they are glad that the judge is letting a person like this out on probation BECAUSE HE IS TOO SHORT TO SURVIVE IN PRISON?

...

Reality check. We have height requirements foroller coastersrs - NOT JAILS!! At this point, it seems like if I were a "short statured adult" (which I'm not), I'd be going on a crime spree right about now. I mean, heck, what is there to lose? The precedent has been set, my friend. Go, therefore, and crime away!

Short statured adults - please don't get me wrong. You are great, at least those of you who don't go out and commit crimes. And you tall people, y'all are great too! Way to go tall and short adults! I'm all for you! And no - I am not advocating that we beat up short people in prison. I'm just saying that at what point do we draw the line, folks?

I'm 5'10" which is several inches above the national average for women. Do I get out of tickets because I'm tall? Not so much.

I'm trapped

I had a party going on Tuesday night.
I had a conference going on Wednesday night.

THUS

I have not yet watched the American Idol final performance show, the American Idol final results show OR the Lost season finale.

I opted to listen to CDs on the way to the office today to avoid any potential radio mention of the winners or the plot twists. In my first meetings, I rapidly "shusshed" anyone who even mentioned either show.

And now I am avoiding certain areas of the web that I would normally turn to during lulls in the cubicle because they might divulge something.

But how long can this last? How long can I live in my little bubble before someone comes along and pops it? Or before I accidentally pop it myself?

(Wow...it's starting to sound like my life is a giant pimple...ick)

So please, I beg you, kind people of the internet and real life, don't spoil this for me.

Noell - I blame you for my Idol addiction. That being said, please leave it on the DVR until I can watch it :)

As always, y'all are great. That being said, I don't necessarily trust
some of you, so I won't be checking comments on this site until I've "caught up" on my shows. I'm sure you'll understand...

Why they have a store on every corner

There is a Walgreens just across the street from my office. Yesterday I had to develop some pictures, so I took a few minutes to walk over there and do just that.

I left the store with a photo claim ticket, eye makeup remover, hair bands and a bag of Lifesaver wint-o-green mints.

What the heck?

All I needed to do was drop off pictures to be developed. But instead, I wound up coming back to the office with a bag full of impulse purchases. And it's not just me. I was telling this to a co-worker of mine, and she recounted a similar story. She went into the store for flip flops and wound up leaving with a water gun.

My theory...(probably needs a little polishing): they engineer the store for impulse buying:

• Most everything in the store is about $10 or less
• People generally go to the store for random stuff anyway
• Since shoppers don't have a shopping list at Walgreens, they are less likely to stick to buying only what they originally intended to buy

Check out this list about "Why we buy" and see just how nicely Walgreens breaks about every tenet: Shopping lessons

Better luck next time...

Confessions

When you eat Nerds, do you pour out a small handful and then pick out the bigger ones and eat those first?






Um, yeah. . . . I don't either.

A rant about us

< rant >

I jumped on the bandwagon recently.

I just finished "The Da Vinci Code" about two weeks ago. And you know what? I liked it.

I also recently read CNN. And then I listened to some AM radio news snippets, and saw some newspaper articles. And frankly, I just don't get it.

I do not understand why all of this is such a big deal!!

Do I believe that some of the things in Dan Brown's book are false? Yep, sure do. Have I heard them talked about before? Yep, sure have. Have other false things been said about Christ in the last 2000 years? Yep, indeed they have.

So why are people freaking out about this? What's up with the boycotts and the riots? The combative interviews and the oddly-worded press statements?

I get that things about Jesus are being said that aren't true. I understand that we, the church, could provide proof of this both using scripture and other historical references. So why the heck are we running scared?

Seems to me that we should welcome the opportunity to talk about faith. We should welcome the opportunity to talk about Truth. People - it's OK.

I guess I'm just frustrated by the fact that it seems that some folks seem to be more scared of a work of fiction than they ought to be. Put down the picket sign and sit down and have a conversation with someone.

< /rant >

Sorry - just had to get that off my chest. And I'll probably go see the movie soon. Ooooh, scary.

Muwhahahahaha....

Corporate motivation at its finest

My company has "All Hands" meetings every so often. Today, all 200+ of us in my department gathered together for 90 minutes to see what our VP had to say. Our VP has a way of putting things, well, uh, plainly. No sugar-coating. No dancing around issues. He just comes out and says what's on his mind.

After reviewing some things with us, he moved on to the next topic by saying:

"Now here is where we truly, truly suck."

And a little part of me giggled inside.

Forgive me?

Dear internet,
I've been neglecting you. I thought maybe just posting a few words here and there might make up for it. But I know that's not good enough. You deserve more from me. You deserve more than just surfing a few sites here and there, more than just reading occasional blogs, and more than just buying stuff that I don't need.

You deserve quality, well-written posts from me. Honest, sometimes funny or even entertaining stories or thoughts. Genuine sarcasm and wit.

But I've given you none of it.

Can you ever forgive me?

I can offer no good excuses. Things like, "I'm working 40+ hours a week" or "I'm trying to plan a wedding" or even "Sometimes it's good to get more than 6 hours of sleep a night" ...none of those fully explain the extent of my neglect for you.

Humbly accept my apologies.

Sincerely,
kimmie

P.S. I read one whole book in one whole week last week. Could I be any cooler?

P.P.S. I'm reading another book this week! Woah!

P.P.P.S. Seems like I might be actually making progress on this. Wow.

Just like I was saying...

I really did think this same thing just the other day. It's a shame. Not that I'm super-huge into baseball, but you have to recognize talent. And I'm sorry, but I just can't seem to put the Babe and Barry Bonds on a level playing field.