My Last Post...

...on this site!
Ha, got ya!

I have a new and improving blogger site.

georgesaylor.blogspot.com

Please go there, subscribe and follow my blog!
All these old posts have been imported, so everything you need is there!

Thanks,
George

I just read a review of All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin. I may be picking this one up at it has some very interesting insights. These are from a discussion board of other church leaders. This is what they said...

• “Either you’re going to tell stories that spread, or you will become irrelevant.”
  
• “Stories are shortcuts we use because we’re too overwhelmed by data to discover all the details.” [Think about the parables of Jesus.]
• “People pick and choose. Everyone will not listen to everything.” [So don't try to be everything for everyone.]
• “You can no longer force people to pay attention.” [Why do we even have bulletin announcements?]
• “The best marketing techniques are the simple stories that are the most likely to break through, the most likely to be understood and the most likely to spread.” [People don't talk about Connections, they talk to me about the people who have been changed at Connections.]
• “When we encounter something for the first time, we compare it to the status quo. If it’s now new, we ignore it.” [New is better. Different is better.]
• “If a consumer figures something out or discovers it on her own, she’s a thousand times more likely to believe it than if it’s just something you claim.” [This resonates with my own experience, and is why I continually resist neat and tidy "pre-packaged" Christian growth/ discipleship programs. This is counter to the discipleship strategy of almost every church.]
• “If you want to grow, make something worth talking about. Not the hype, not the ads, but the thing. If your idea is good, it’ll spread.” [If it requires an announcement from the platform and a bulletin insert to succeed, then it's probably not "worth talking about" and it probably won't grow.]
• “Your goal should not be to create a story that is quick, involves no risks and is without controversy. Boredom will not help you grow.” [One "secular" article on public speaking gave this recommendation that has really stuck with me: if you have to choose between information and entertainment, pick entertainment. But if you can communicate your information in an entertaining way, even better!]
• “It’s hard to be remarkable when you and your organization insist on not changing the status quo.”

Interesting things to ponder as we move into our second year and feel a growing confidence in the mission of our church. More and more people want to "promote" Connections. The question isn't that we need to do it (we do need to share the story of Jesus with the world),

the question is how we do it.

Sometimes my wife's blog is just too good not to pass along. Like today...

Sometimes my wife's blog is just too good not to pass along. Like today...

Go, Go Google Gadgets

Once again it's confession time, time to let the real me show.
Here it is ... I confess that I am a GEEK. I love my computer. I get excited when Picasa/Google introduces cool new updates. I'm a freak for anything that claims to help organize my day (Google calendar being my favorite!). And more recently, I go goo-goo for iGoogle gadgets.

My latest iGoogle gadget find is "verse-a-week memorization". It picks a verse for the week. On Monday you get to see all the words. On Tuesday they cover up a few. On Wednesday they block out a few more. And, well you get the picture. By Sunday the whole verse is hidden and you should know the verse by heart. Clever. Effective. It worked for me.

With Yana's surgery, Gram in the hospital and me sick with a cold I have had a less than pleasant week that just ended with Justin throwing up on me during church (yeah, it was as disgusting as it sounds). Here's where the truth of God's word meets with reality of my life through the technology of Google gadgets. The verse-a-week for this past week was Philippians 4:6,7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

God knew just how to speak to my heart. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Everyday as I opened my computer I was greeted with this word of assurance "don't be anxious" "the peace of God will gaurd your heart". Thank you.

You can see the original post at http://robinsaylor.blogspot.com/2009/01/go-go-google-gadgets.html

Why Students Need a Soul Revolution

I'm so excited about this Soul Revolution series and how God is changing me. He's drawing me closer, and pushing me to grow in some great ways.

As I've been preparing for our "REORIENT" service tomorrow, I'm particularly struck by the relevance of this series, and this message, for our students.

There are certain stages of life where we are in phases of radical re-orientation. In many ways, and for many young people, life up through age 18 is a pretty steady course. Yes, you have the ups and downs of growing up and maturing and hitting puberty and stuff like that. Perhaps your parents separated so you have had to deal with that radical re-orientation. But for many, their lives are very packaged and protected during that phase.

Then they hit the college or university years. They have to reorient almost everything in their lives- location, finances, relationships, life goals and dreams. They are told, "these are the best years of your life- live it up and have a blast." And that pressure only adds to the fact that they are miserable and stressed out and messed up and can’t pull it together.

Who are you, where are you, what are you going to do with your life? You are disoriented and you need to figure some things out that are going to re-orient your life and get you to a place where you can hold some ideas and believes that are going to make sense, be truthful, and help you navigate life.

The student years are perhaps the most challenging years of dis-orientation. (Why else would they have so many freshmen orientation courses?) But the real goal should not be to orient our lives to the university, but to God. And when we are oriented to God, he will navigate our way through our studies, relationships, career plans, etc.

So students, get on board with the Soul Revolution Train!

Dis-oriented and Re-oriented

Just a few thoughts as I'm preparing my message for Sunday...

When we talk about our orientation in life we are talking about our integrated set of ideas and beliefs.

When we talk about re-orientation, we are talking about doing something that is very difficult.


We are talking about stepping out of ourselves, examining our ideas and beliefs which guide and ground our lives, and making fundamental changes. To literally say- "This idea, this belief, this conviction which has guided me, perhaps for a life time, perhaps in very powerful ways, needs changed, or even removed. It is wrong, it is misleading, it is even a lie, in opposition to the truth."

Misguided and misleading orientations need removed and replaced. But the truth is we all need to be engaged in this process as a spiritual discipline. I need to re-orient my life around God, and all that is true.

For example. Perhaps your whole life has been oriented around the conviction that a good education leads to a good job which leads to good money which leads to comfort which removes stress and worry, which leads to happiness, and leads to retirement, which leads to a condo in Arizona, which leads to ultimate joy, which leads to death. None of that is necessarily wrong or misleading.

But what if on that path you get a great education, but your education is void of a moral framework. SO you take a job that pays you vast amounts of money. But in that work, since you are guided simply but the highest return, you legitimize all sorts of lying, cheating, and basically stepping on or over other people. You need to re-orient your life.

Or say along that line you discover more money actually leads to more stress, because just following the stats, you are becoming one of those unhappy, medicated and messed up successful people. You need to re-orient your life.

Reorienting our lives to point us toward God is not always easy, and is often difficult. But it is always best, and ultimately leads to the best way of living. Re-orienting our lives toward God gets our nose up and out of the daily grind, and points us towards a better horizon.

Is your live oriented towards God? Are you on course? Or are you deep in uncharted territory?

The Importance of Prayer

OK, this one is a bit personal, again. (So much for my blog being a more academic exploration of church planting.)

Yesterday our niece, Yana, had her third open heart surgery. She's only 2 1/2. The surgery went well. I opened my email this morning eagerly waiting another good report (the first 24 hours post surgery are very critical).

While we are still waiting the report on Yana, I found out this morning that my Grandmother has been admitted to the hospital. She's in pretty critial condition.

I'm finding it a bit hard to focus on anything but prayer right now. It feels like half my heart is in Edmonton, and the other half in Florida, and I'm stuck here in between.

I have no profound insight right now. I have some hope. I have a lot concern. I don't really know what to ask for beyond the most basic prayer- Father, bring them both through this.

For now that will be enough. And if you believe in prayer, ask God to put His hand on a two beautiful girls; one at the start of life, the other who has lived a wonderful and full life. Both of whom mean a lot to me.

Soul Revolution: RENEW

...Over and over again the people of God were called to remember who God is, what God had done for them, and what God promised to do for them. It was a way or remembering God’s faithfulness in the past to build faith for what He do in the future. On these occasions the people would renew their vows to God. Abraham renewed the covenant with God when his son was born after 20 years of waiting, at 100 years of age. Moses renewed the covenant before the people took possession of the Promised Land. Joshua renewed the covenant when it was time for him to pass on the torch of leadership to the next generation. Over and over again we see this as a essential part of worshiping God and being his people. It wasn’t that God forget, it is that we do. We need these occasions.

At one point in the history of God’s people they had forgotten the covenant for so long that the book of Deuteronomy, ironically the covenant renewal document Moses wrote, had actually been lost! A young king named Josiah took the throne and when, in a building project, the scroll of the law was discovered, he said this…

1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. 2 kings 23:1-3

Listen to the message at connectionschurch.ca or read the manuscript at cccsermons.blogspot.com

Wii are family!

Sorry, I couldn't resist making that the title. I have to give a big thanks to my gram, and to my friend James.
Gram gave us money to get something special for the kids.
James called on Saturday morning to tell me the store where he works had one Wii come in.

By lunch the kids were hooked and the rest is history.

So when did my family go from a bunch of little kids learning to walk and read, to 1 girl that has her own blog and website, 2 girls hooked on email and chat rooms, and all 3 kids better at Wii and DS than their dad?

Time marches on, and they are changing very fast. I would not have guessed that we'd be here this fast. But I guess that because I hadn't really thought about it.

But I'm very confident that Robin and I, and the kids, can navigate this pretty well. We'll have to monitor time and create the boundaries and blocks, but I'm encouraged by their ability to discern already. Well, not Justin so much- he still operates on primal instincts.

I'm not concerned because as fun as these things are, and as much time as they can consume without proper monitoring, by kids are still kids at heart. And I hope they are for a long time.

I know this doesn't have much to do with church. I'm just feeling rather fatherly tonight.

January Series: Soul Revolution

What is the human soul? What do people mean when they say they want to be “spiritual?”
This January we are going to revolutionize what it means to be spiritual.
Join us as we get in touch with our soul and the One who meets us there.

This Sunday at Connections Community Church,
9:30am Cafe
10am Experience
SilverCity Movie Theatre, Masonville Mall

Bible Reading in 2009

Over the years I've used may different bible reading tools and plans. All of them have had two things in common:

1. The got me reading the bible in a structured fashion;
2. They were hard-copy.

More and more I find I've transitioned to the electronic age. I don;t need to print things out to really read them. And while most time online is spent scanning, I can actually focus on things that matter.

So, this leads me to my bible reading plan for 2009- online! I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes. I've picked an ambitious one- through the whole bible in a year. Even at a quick reading pace it will require about 15 minutes each day.

Here my KEY IDEA to make this happen:

I've set the plan as my homepage so each day it will be the first thing I see.

So I'll be waking up, brewing some coffee, starting my computer, and sitting down to read before anything else.

If you are interested in such a plan you can check it out yourself.
http://www.youversion.com/one-year-bible#