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.
