Archive for June, 2007
Ok, so by now you’re probably sick of this whole Mad Church thing…sorry. As my husband and dear friend Andrew will tell you, it has been consuming every waking moment I have to get this site up and running correctly by July 2! They have been most tolerant of me and my “excuse me, I have take this call/email/whatever from my ‘database guy’” escapes from our outing tonight.
Anyway, this weekend I have about 50 people testing the three surveys and they are all really complicated surveys as far as database stuff is concerned. A few prayer requests…
-Please pray we can work through the errors we get and that this will be ready to go with no problems on Monday! Some are going through great but for some reason, others aren’t.
-My database guy is working tirelessly on this so he needs your prayers too. It keeps storming here so that has also been affecting connectivity.
-Please pray for the healing that will come from this book and for those who will take the surveys.
Other than that, I appreciate your feedback and support! I am going to take a blogging break this weekend to rest and organize some things. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I know your prayers will cover and protect this project!
alright, so a few times in the last week, i mentioned i am working on a little project and was planning on telling you about it on friday. well, i can’t wait to tell you anymore!
there is one condition – and that is that YOU must keep it a secret (via means of blogging and email) until July 2, and then that is where i’ll need your help.
deal? … okay.
i am writing a book. not “oh, i want to write a book” but in the sense that things are already written, interviews are being scheduled and conducted with people, some art direction is complete, i am in some very early discussions with a couple of publishers, and there’s even a website that will be launching on july 2.
the book is (currently) titled mad church disease, and discusses the ministry burnout epidemic that is killing church staff, volunteers and their families left and right.
(why is it called mad church disease? read here.)
it will also have insights from pastors (and not just “famous” ones), but volunteers, families, and stories of redemption and healing. THIS EPIDEMIC HAS TO BE STOPPED!
as i mentioned earlier, the website will be publicly launched july 2. but what i am really looking forward to, and WHAT I NEED YOUR HELP WITH is this…
a big part of the book is research. there have not been any comprehensive, indepth studies that take the temperature of “ministry burnout” for all three groups: church staff, families/spouses of church staff, and volunteers.
on the mad church disease website, these three surveys will go live and it is my goal to get 5000 respondants to the surveys.
(you can read more about the surveys here.)
what god brought to my attention the other night (here) about getting the “right people” to help drive people to the survey site on july 2 was that although there may be some made up “A LIST” of bloggers and leaders – how BLIND i was for not telling you guys about this project.
why would a pastor of some top 100 listed “well known” church who doesn’t know me get involved (and why should i care if he doesn’t care?) when right in front of me i have YOU…you who have prayed for me, laughed with me, challenged me, encouarged me? YOU are MY “A LIST” people. so i apologize to you for being blinded by my own desires!
this is the deal. i am asking anyone that would like to fight mad church disease, to sign up as what i call a “trailblazer” – pretty much these trailblazers are people who are committing to blitzing their universe (by posting a link to the site/survey on their blog on july 2, emailing their friends, etc.).
to read more about becoming a trailblazer, you can go here to this link and if you want to, sign up.
on sunday, i will send everyone who’s signed up some graphics, text, and links to use (as much or as little of) so you can help direct people to take the surveys. it would me SO much to me if I had your help!
i know that’s a lot of information, and i do ask you wait until monday, july 2 to post anything or write anything but if you have questions or comments, i’d love to discuss them with you so feel free to comment below on this post.
and for your quick reference:
Trailblazer Page (it’s hidden)
phew! now that it’s off my chest, i really look forward to your feedback.
today, chris and i celebrate our fourth anniversary. june 27, 2003 we were married at 6:30 pm and spent the following days in a huge cabin in green mountain falls, colorado playing xbox, watching harry potter, and white water rafting. and duh, other stuff too…
i still get picked on by some of our friends on my OCD wedding planning – color coded schedules for everyone involved, timed out to the half minute. no joking. but i knew things wouldn’t go perfectly, and they didn’t…
-i felt a little athletic during the rehearsal and jumped down all the stairs at the front of the church and sprained my ankle. walking in 4″ heels the next day was not fun.
-i refused to start the wedding until my friends from oklahoma arrived. so we started probably closer to 7 pm.
-we accidentally blew out our unity candle. so while we were supposed to be praying, we were doing our best not to bust out laughing. our pastor kindly relit it.
-the wrong song was played as our recessional song. ironically, the wrong song was also played the night before. however, the rehearsal song talked about drinking and getting lit up. the one played at the wedding was at least a love song (both were frank sinatra.) the correct song, was “here goes” by frank.
-on the way to colorado, we almost got sucked up in a tornado and had to take shelter in the back of a random gas station somewhere in west kansas.
love is not perfect. marriage is not perfect. these four years have been anything but perfect. but i wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.
i am learning how fickle i am. how easy it is to sing praise and rejoice when an email filled with good news arrives; and then how only hours later, with the news of a road block, my heart crumbles and i allow all the joy to be replaced with despair.
like getting an oil change; only backwards. i drain out all the clean oil, the oil that makes my engine run smoothly – with dirty oil, which will only clog all those moving parts and cause them to freeze up.
some people take things as they come and can keep a great attitude about them. i can…but it is really hard for me to do that. each time one of these obstacles leaps in my path, i choose to pour in some more dirty oil.
god, give me the faith to understand the trials which face me now, and will continue to come…and help me keep my eyes focused on you, your blessings…and to consider it pure joy.
some of my favorite people over at lifechurch.tv announced an amazing thing today!
one of the greatest things i love about lifechurch.tv is their vision for the global church, not only the local church. they see far beyond the walls of their campuses and out into the borderless world wide web, already with things like their internet campus (which i’ve attended three out of the last five weeks) and their island in second life.
well, their latest endeavour is called YouVersion.com. briefly…
YouVersion is a revolutionary online Bible that enables community and collaboration like never before. Choose from various translations and read Scripture in a fresh, new way. Take personal study notes, and discover and contribute audio, video, text and images. With YouVersion, you will find communities of people exploring and interacting with God’s Word.
You can read more about YouVersion on Bobby’s post today on the Swerve blog.
usually, I am really cynical when churches try “new” stuff – because 9 times out of 10, it isn’t new- it’s just rebranded or redesigned. YouVersion is completely revolutionary and I can’t wait until the full site launches!
every once in a while, i check my stats to see what people are searching for and how they end up on flowerdust.net. my husband and i sorted through all the recent key phrases, we decided these were our ten favorite searches.
-levitation pills
-disposing of cremated remains
-taboo story about a hesitant aunt
-i got rid of my bleeding ulcer myself
-anne jackson cakes
-porn cake toppers
-athletic butt
-how to take all the crap out of heroin
-flickr women hairy armpits
-anne jackson dead or alive
WOW. that is some interesting searching. and just in case you’re wondering…i’m alive. thanks for checking.
five days away from my normal routine, meeting a bunch of really cool people, and having a lot of alone time has inspired me to do one thing.
simplify.
chris always says i need to slow down, but i never agree with him. removing myself from my normal activities for a few days really does show me how much i have overcomplicated my time.
i have a full time job, and at current time, i am working on four websites with two on hold. i am screening 1-2 films a week for movie reviews. i am consulting with four churches on some level in regard to communication or identity. i have three books which zondervan has asked me to read and review, as well as interview the authors within the next few weeks. i have another three books i just want to read. on top of this, i am working on the project i mentioned below, which as faithful flowerdust readers, i have decided to come clean on this friday…so you all will know before the rest of the world. oh, and then there’s being a wife. doing laundry. and sleeping.
listed out, my stomach tightens up a little bit (or perhaps my nachos from taco cabana aren’t sitting well?), but more than likely, it is proof-positive that my husband is correct. i don’t know how to say no.
all of this i have decided, has got to change. the biggest part of this change will come by saying no to some current and potential clients. by saying no to opportunities which distract me from my passion (writing). what’s difficult for me in all of this is i hate letting people down; disappointing them. and i know that i am going to have some very hard conversations this week. i am going to have to start budgeting our finances without the extra freelance coming in. i am really going to have to manage my free time more effectively.
for the last three days, i’ve been trying to find words to confess to you that i, anne jackson, am a sell out.
naturally an introvert (although as of late, i’m beginning to question that) and easily embarrassed, i’m usually the last one who would volunteer to speak up in a room or have attention drawn to me. i turn bright red on many occasions, so it would seem logical that i am a behind the scenes, don’t need any kind of recognition kind of girl.
i tell you the truth my friends. that is a complete lie.
although i’m not the life-of-the-party type, i am very passive-aggressive and strategic about popularity. a small but ongoing example is the reason behind why i don’t have a blogroll. it became to be a popularity contest and people would be upset to not be on it. yet when i’m not on someone’s, i get upset about it.
most recently, i’ve been working on a project (which some of you may know about already and for those of you who don’t, keep watching for a big announcement on july 2). anyway, i’ve been trying to keep it kind of under wraps on a public scale, but privately have been working behind the scenes to make sure the “right” people know about it so they can use their “influence” to help promote it.
now, some of these connections that have been made have been great, and i have no doubt that some relationships have either been established or strengthened because of god’s timing and his plan. however, initially i was honestly a little pissed that some of these “influential” people haven’t responded in a way that i expected.
then i asked myself, why am i upset about this? i prayed about it and yesterday morning in the silence of my hotel room i realized that IT DOESN’T FREAKING MATTER.
yes, the business world is the business world and it is “all about who you know,” and by no means am i lessening the help, advice, and encouragement that some people have given me over the course of the last month.
i realized i have absolutely NO control over this project – that it is COMPLETELY in god’s hands, and i discovered how my own intentions of getting the “right” people “on my side” in order to help me further this is a completely man-made and futile effort, not to mention selfish and inconsiderate of them. i doubt any of these people even read my blog, but if by chance any of you do, i am sorry for wanting to use you to get ahead.
and to those of you who do read my blog, i am sorry for being a hyprocrite. for not living what i preach. it was a big realization yesterday for me, and it actually makes me sick to discover how in my most hidden places, i do exactly those things i despise.
always in progress…thanks for baring with me.
i had lunch with a very good friend today and over the biggest chicken taco salad (ever, really), we discussed different aspects of our history with various churches and the search for community.
during our talk, we compared some notes: we both have been in “forced” small groups, we both have had trust broken in extremely close relationships (who hasn’t?), but mainly we both wondered whether it was our own hang ups that stop us from getting in really authentic relationships, or if it was the way most churches today have small groups or fellowships structured, or perhaps a combination of the two?
on the drive back, we went a little farther with the thoughts of true, raw relationships. we wondered if each one of us is part of a tribe. you know when you have that very rare connection with someone; it’s like you’ve known them for years. sometimes they live near you geographically, and sometimes they don’t. our train of questioning even went down to wondering if we should search for our tribe – like a lost soldier separated from his battalion, he tries desperately to locate them. he is a part of something – something beyond himself – intertwined with others…others he MUST rely on, who rely on him…for life.
i realize the “christian walk” isn’t all about finding happiness and an easy road to easy relationships. that isn’t the focus here, but, i do believe personally, i am finally realizing that i do need a tribe…and somewhere out there, a tribe is needing me.
i guess i’m just not sure what that looks like.
