Summertime

I love my summers. Especially since I get the chance to sit outside and read whatever I want to read. Although my son has been bugging me for the last several years to read the Harry Potter series, I just can't seem to find the time to explore that area. What can I say? I'm not much for fiction.

This summer I have been focusing on the Malcolm Gladwell books, Jim Collin's, Good to Great and David Meerman Scott's, The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Having the summer off from retreats and substitute teaching gives me time to plan ahead for the next year, and boy do I have a plan.

My goal is to invigorate some of these "new" ideas into the organizations that I work with. These books are ripe with content and what to do to not only market who you are or what you do, but how to get the word out about who you are and what you do. I especially want to invigorate these ideas into many of the churches I come in contact with. Recently I had a conversation with a member of a church in my area. When I told her about some of the ideas in David Meerman Scott's book, she actually said to me, "We don't need any of that crap, we have the Holy Spirit!" I can't believe this attitude permeates in a church in the 21st century, and yet it is much too prevalent in many churches today.

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Mike Hayes, author of Googling God, speak at a luncheon to pastors and lay persons about the importance of understanding how technology affects our world today. He reminded us that this is not our parents nor our grandparents world and we need to understand and utilize social media if we are to attract the youth. So I'm digging in and embracing the challenges of teaching this old dog some new tricks. I think I have my work cut out for me, but I will have to take it one day at a time and one organization at a time.