place of nathan.

He who thinketh he leadeth and has no one following him is only taking a walk.
-John Maxwell

true or not?
what about the opposite–He who thinks he’s only taking a walk and has everyone following him is leading.
is that true?

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One thought Seth Godin had in his book Small is the New Big (i do recommend this book in case you were wondering):

What Makes an idea viral?
No one sends an idea unless:
1. they understand it
2. they want to spread it
3. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their piece of mind
4. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits

No ones “get” an idea unless:
1. the first impression demands further investigation
2. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
3. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time.

so the question i have been dealing with since i read this: Is church viral? if it’s not, why not? how can we assist people to make them want to spread the idea of attending a church? how can we help people “get” it?

have we instituted barriers for entry? do we turn people off without even knowing it?

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No particular reason, but I wanted to share with you this great video, which details the proper technique behind giving a a proper man-hug.

Enjoy:

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Here is Perry’s take on some Christians, quoted today:

I am sick and tired of Christians standing around seeing who can pee the furtherest…hell is a real place…I really don’t want people to go there…and my focus is going to be on seeing people come to Christ and NOT Christians who seem to think they already have it figured out anyway.

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Last night (April 25), Bono said this (in part) on a special two-hour American Idol: Idol Gives Back:

“People say you can’t be the generation that ends brutal, stupid poverty, but we can and we will.”

“I have been in front of 70,000 people here in L.A. and its a pretty amazing feeling. I can’t think of any feeling better except perhaps the feeling that you can save somebody’s life and there is not one person watching this program tonight who cannot save a life.”

Bono is co-founder of ONE, The Campaign to Make Poverty History: Millions of Americans united in ONE voice to fight against extreme poverty.
Partners of ONE include:
world concern
world vision
plus more than 50 other partners (including several denominations)

To find out more about ONE and take action, log on to one.org.

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on Sept. 2, 2004, Bono appeared as a guest on the O’Reilly Factor. Here are selected excerpts from that conversation:

O’Reilley: You want American drug companies then to send to Africa all the drugs they can possibly…
Bono: I’m not asking drug companies to behave like philanthropists. I’m saying we, our governments, United States and Europe, have to deal with this problem. If we don’t, we will reap a very ill wind. This is — it’s not just being bleeding hearts here. The strategic implications. There’s 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa right now. There will be 20 by the end of the decade. 12 right now. This is chaos. This is a consummating (ph) havoc, and the war against terror, which you talk about every night, is bound up in the war against poverty.

---

O’Reilley: But it’s not their fault when you’ve got the war on terror so intense and so — look, if 9/11 didn’t happen, you would have a much easier time with your crusade.
Bono: Yes. I disagree. Two things happened on 9/11. There was — the one that’s reported, of course, is the attack on America. But the one that has not been reported, and reported with less disgust, is what happened in the aftermath, which was those pictures around the world of people jumping up and down, celebrating the Twin Towers turning to dust. One of the most disturbing — they were the most disturbing images for me as a fan and a person who loves America.
A lot of people and this great country went. I don’t care who you are, a politician, you stop that. How did this happen to us? How did this — and this is the America that liberated Europe? Not just liberated Europe, we built Europe with the Marshall Plan which cost, by the way, 1 percent GDP over four years. That’s when “Brand USA” was at its brightest.
Right now “Brand USA” has taken some blows and some knocks. And I’m saying there’s an opportunity here. The Marshall Plan rebuilds Europe as a bulwark against Sovietism in the Cold War. It was smart. It wasn’t just goodness of heart, which it also was. It was smart. And I’m saying in a hot war, here’s a chance now to redescribe ourselves and be a bulwark against other militarism.
O’Reilley: And you believe that the world’s negative opinion of America would change if America took the lead to save people in Africa?
Bono: One hundred percent. They are. America is taking the lead.

---

O’Reilley: You’re certainly doing God’s work. I mean, I admire you very much for what you’re doing.
Bono: God must have a great sense of humor to have me on board.
O’Reilley: No. No. We need people like you to command a worldwide audience and to get people at least thinking about this. And then we need the politicians out here in the convention, in both conventions to come up with a strategy. I do agree that if America could take the lead, it would turn public opinion around and help us in the war on terror.
Bono: It a really, really important time right now in the world. And I’m a fan of America, and my band comes here and we love it here. But it’s dangerous around the world. We travel around the world.

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Today is April 20. 4:20. National Cannabis day.

I remember several years ago i was a sophomore at University. After morning practice (starting at 6 a.m.!), i would take a nap in the union before my 9 a.m. course. following morning classes, i would walk back to my car on the other side of campus (near where my practice started).

Well, on April 20, a guy stopped me and handed me a paper flier promoting a 4:20 party at a local ‘tobacco paraphernalia’ store. I was honestly naive. i asked, ‘what is 4:20?’
The guy was taken aback and just answered, ‘it’s just a day to celebrate our freedom together.’

It was only later in the day my teammates filled me in about what 4:20 really was…
I have linked to wikipedia’s entry on 4:20, for your intake.

I’ve never used marijuana, and don’t ever plan on it. I’ve certainly been around it, been offered a puff or two on multiple occasions. i certainly don’t endorse its use.

God loves those who celebrate 4:20, too! (even if he maybe doesn’t like the behavior–he still absolutely loves the people!)

question: what did you think the first time you heard the term ‘4:20′?

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Do you remember the movie Multiplicity?

The Michael Keaton movie features Keaton’s character multiplying exact duplicates of himself to get more accomplished. Eventually, one of the duplicate clones then clones himself, and that clone likes to say ‘Hi Steve.’

It’s a rather good movie.

But this weekend at New Hope, we’ll be talking about the myth of Multiplicity. Will it be confirmed? Or Busted?
It will be pretty cool, as our resident Myth Busters Jamie and Adam tackle the myth head-on.

Don’t miss out on this one: Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 8 or 10:30 a.m.

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Google has recently announced it is offering FREE Broadband Internet via TiSP. Google TiSP is currently in BETA, but is freely available via the free installation kit.

Find out more at google.com/tisp.

Happy web surfing!

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This is a screen shot from one of the videos we’ve produced for our upcoming weekend series, Myth Busters. It will be pretty cool, i think. This weekend is themed: SUPERPASTOR. You’ll want to check out the video of Jamie and Adam busting this myth…they caught some secret footage of Pastor Diehl in action…i GUARANTEE you’ve never seen Pastor Diehl like this before!
Check it out this weekend, 6 p.m. Saturday or 8 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

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it used to be about half the time i wanted to put a file attachment on an email message, i would forget to actually attach it. you probably never forget, but thought i’d share one simple way to never forget to attach a file.
After implementing this simple tip (which i did come up with on my own!), I now forget maybe one percent of the time. The change happened overnight, and was due to just one small habit i formed:

When i type, ‘I’m attaching the file you requested.’ what actually happens is this…

‘I’m attaching’
at this point, i stop, and actually attach the file. then i continue,
‘ the file you requested.’

This has helped me a lot, and i hope you’ll find it beneficial, too.
Do you have any handy tips like this you could share?

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