A couple of my current comments on an article at Church Communications Pro regarding open source products or "freeware" got me thinking about a situation with churches I have encountered personally.  The situation has to do with some churches or their leaders that feel as though they should receive free stuff just for being a church or pastor.

I believe that there is nothing wrong with a church receiving any type of gift when a person wants to give it from the heart or in a worshipful response to God.  I do believe it is wrong for churches to expect or guilt people (knowingly or unknowingly) into giving to their church by using the "Kingdom building" excuse.  

Let me share an example from my business life.

My professional work focuses on helping churches communicate their message.  I do this because I love God and want to give back with the talents He has blessed me with and am passionate about seeing the Church grow.  This is the way that I provide everything from a home to food to education for my family.  The Bible says "a worker deserves their wages" Luke 10:7.  The sad thing is that there have been so many churches during the last six years who have tried to get my services for free or for a huge discount because "I am a Christian and I should give to the Kingdom building movement."  This is absolutely wrong and not Biblical! 

What some church leaders don't seem to understand is that, like them, I too have had to pay my dues for education, training, expensive software, and computers. They forget this is how I feed my family and probably don't know that there aren't benefits like being on a church staff.  Sometimes I have to work when I am really sick and I don't get yearly vacation times.  Please understand this is not a gripe about my choice and lifestyle but that there are many things in the background that can easily be forgotten.

This brings me to my comments at Church Communications Pro.

If a business charges for their services which take time, money, and experience, shouldn't they have the right to earn a profit and make a living from their talents?  Is it right for a church to feel as though everything should be provided for free or at a discount?  Wouldn't you feel horrible by taking the blessing from another person or food from a child's mouth?  And to those wealthier churches who have played the "Kingdom" card - are you not sinning against the person or business by pretending to have no money?

I wish I could give it all away but my priority is providing for the people in my household - and it's that way for other businesses and individuals too!  My hope is that churches will understand this and remember that no one can just work for free...unless you're independently wealthy. 

A worker deserves their wages and churches should be the first to willingly pay Christians who are using their hands to make a living instead of always giving to the people who refuse to work and expect a handout.

The reality is that a consumer or visitor is going to make an assumption about your church that may or may not be totally correct.  This is why their experience with you must be great and your connection points (website, receptionist, brochure, servant evangelism) must be right on.  Please note that I am not saying to be perfect or flawless but whatever connection they might make with your church first (and even second or third) it should be great enough to leave the right impression.

If you are promoting the friendliest church in town and your receptionist gets hateful answering the phone, you have just made a huge disconnection!  If your website communicates a youthful and emerging worship and it's an oldschool, traditional service - you have just dropped the ball.  In the past, mistakes could easily be overlooked by visitors but in our finicky culture of today, it's more difficult to unscrew our screw ups.  

My advice is to invest in branding your church.  This doesn't necessarily mean a logo or a website, and it doesn't even mean spending any money.  Just make sure that you do your best to communicate a positive and accurate impression through all possible entry/connection points into your church and if a person does connects the dots, it forms the right picture. 

This is what real branding is all about!

Another interesting article by CNN talks about how the Saudi's cannot understand why our prices have jumped up so high and that there should be curb on the oil prices.

Unfortunately I think the reality is as long as we can get screwed and not do anything about it, we will continue to see gasoline go up and people losing their jobs and homes because of American greed.  Wait a minute, I forgot!  We got that stimulus package to make everything better.  Makes me feel like someone has made so much money on this oil price deal that it's like a little gift of hush money.

Here's a quote I got from a friend a while back: 

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price has been forgotten.

Nuff said. 

On the flip side, I just returned from four awesome days in Dallas celebrating my 17th anniversary with my beautiful wife!  We stayed at a hotel and just spent time hanging out with each other with no agenda or plans and had one of the best times of our lives!  We wondered why we hadn't done that more often.  I recommend that married couples go take off and spend a few days away from home and their responsibilities and just enjoy doing nothing in particular.  It works wonders and you won't regret it.

OK...I gotta get back to reality and get my "to-do" list done!

"Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else."  - Chuck Noll 

Are you doing the ordinary things better than anyone else?

For those of you who don't live in Oklahoma, we are the crazy kind of people who grab video cameras and go outside when it's best to go in your shelter.  That is totally me!  I have been fascinated with tornadoes since I was a child and can still vividly remember seeing several as a kid.  Once I was looking up through our storm cellar door as we were closing it to see the center of some rotation much like the eye of a hurricane.  It's weird, I know, but it is totally exciting to me.

If you are ever in Oklahoma during the spring or early summer, let me know and maybe with a little luck I'll be able to take you tornado chasing!

I am so excited for her and she is and will always be my little princess.  The sad thing is that it is a reminder that she has grown up so fast and that it seems like only yesterday when I was playing "Super Baby" with her or my son and now I couldn't even lift them up in the air with my legs.  I miss those days but truly enjoy the time I have with them now as well.

The other sad thing is that we have to do the driving lessons!  The goodness out of this all is that she is smart and calm so I won't have the experience that some parents have had, and once she gets the hang of it, she will be the one making the run for Taco Bueno.

Congratulations Princess, I am very proud of you!  And no, you can't drive the '66 Oldsmobile.  Of course without a working radio I know I am safe for now...

I apologize to all of you who have come here and noticed these mistakes. I will be hiring my proof-reader (a.k.a. my wife) to make sure everything is right by tomorrow.  I guess my excuse is that I color for a living and don't teach grammar.