Best Practices Video
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To the Point:
Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary. - Evan EsarI write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. - Beryl PfizerComing home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether
from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the
sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
- John le Carre
"If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for 10 years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people."
- Chinese Proverb
"If your coworkers, employees, clients, suppliers, family, or others you come in contact with have valid reason to doubt your word, it negates all the other good work you do, and it puts you at a constant disadvantage from multiple respects. The basis of great long-term business and family relationships is trusting that all parties will stand by their word and do what they promise. Bottom line: always endeavor to do what you say you are going to do. Make your word your bond, and take pride in the fact that you can be trusted. Insist that those you deal with adopt the same philosophy, and make it an understood requirement to do business with you."
- Tim O'Leary
Got a favorite quote? Send it to BestPractices@ameritech.net. |
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 Effective Ministry:
Give 'em the Pickle!
by John Howells, Iowa-Missouri Conference
Perhaps you've read Robert E. Farrell's book, Give 'em the Pickle and They'll Be Back! At Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours, that phrase became the metaphor for full customer service: "The customer is the boss and we are here to make them happy!"
After a recent prayer meeting, our church was convicted that we need to make each other and our guests as happy as Bob Farrell made his customers.
We decided that each Sabbath we would bless seven individuals with a "pickle": a card, a loaf of bread or some token of love. These individuals may be guests or members, and our church clerk volunteered to coordinate by arranging each week for someone to be the giver, making or buying the gifts and distributing them to seven recipients. It has been a huge success! Like a wife getting flowers for no reason or a father getting a picture colored by his child that says, "I love you," this church pickle is brightening smiles all over our congregation.
A couple of Sabbaths ago, I took the church pickle week and gave out $3 flashlights I'd picked up at AutoZone. I attached a card to each with 2 Peter 1:19 written on it: "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." I included a couple of our young people and children in my list of recipients. One young boy was as excited as if he had received a treasure of gold and silver. That simple gift endeared him to me as though I had counted him as my own child!
Another church pickle we came up with was to find five people to pray with each week. Our Sabbath School Coordinator took charge of this ministry. Our hope is that each week someone will be able to show up on a member's or guest's door step, or reach them on the phone and say, "I just want to pray for you." Because of that brief two-minute prayer asking God for His blessings for that individual, we are expecting those blessings to come and for our church body to become connected more deeply than by just a friendly smile on Sabbath.
We're just trying to give good customer service to he church and the community.
Thoughts on the customer service in the church? Write BestPractices@ameritech.net. |
 The Vervent Innovative Church of the Year
Vervent is accepting nominations for the 2008 NAD Innovative Church of the Year. We're looking for a church that has successfully taken advantage of opportunities in a changing society with new ways of doing ministry. We'll award to the winning congregation a cash prize of $2000 and an all expense paid trip for three individuals to the National Conference on Innovation. We invite conference administrators, pastors, and lay leaders to submit nominations. Write Dave Gemmell (dave@vervent.org) for an application. The deadline for nominations is August 15.
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Reading for Pastors
by Best Practices Editor, Loren Seibold
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