Personal Matketing

"Just about everything you do, depends on teamwork." - John C. Maxwell

You need to know your backyard businesses in order to expand your potential lists for sponsors and advertisers.  Have you ever walked into the cleaners around the corner? Have you ever introduced yourself to the store manager at the local grocery store? Do you know the manager at the local community bank by name? Better yet, do they know you? Or, do they even know that you exist? If not, you have a real problem.

Your problem is that you have not invested in "personal marketing."  I am not talking about marketing yourself.  If you are the face of of your business, nonprofit or church, you need to create some personalized and face-to-face introductions.  You can do so with social networking likeFacebook, LinkedIn and Yelp along with other sites.  You may want to get in touch with people and check their Twitter page and start following them just to stay informed and keep interacting.

 For instance, a local pastor who writes books and Bible lessons needs to develop some kind of relationships with the local librarian and area bookstore owners and operators for carrying his books and hosting a reading and book-signing.  The Little League coach should at least see if the community's pizzeria is will to offer a discount to the team's families if they frequent the establishment every Saturday afternoon after their games.  The Christian businesswoman needs to know if there are other Christians in business in her area and how to connect with them.
Armed with newfound relationships, you need to maintain your relationships with potential business partners, vendors and others. Use email marketing such as Mail Chimp or Cosntant Contact.  Start posting in the blogosphere.  Set up a frequent gathering of those who work in your local area at your site or a community venue. You don't have to host it by yourself.  Partner with your local Christian business network or chamber of commerce.  Get the word out to others with your tweets and status updates on social networks.

This is not a major "trade secret." In fact, for many of us, it should be more obvious to us.  Let's take advantage of what exists, even if we haven't noticed it up until now.

Inspire Inclusion

How do you inspire inclusion?

Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors. (The tag line of the United Methodists)

Is that it?

It's like that nursery rhyme with all of the hand and finger images that goes like: "Here's the church, and here's the steeple. Open the door and see all the people."

Could there be more to it than that?

It does not come about purely by motivation.  Motivation is enough to get us sparked and started. It is enough for us to get ignited and initiated.  Motivation is a starting point.  It is not the end-all of our efforts and endeavors.

Inclusion requires us to see the situation from a multicultural perspective.  You can't include people that you do not consider to be worthy of being included.  In an effort to grow more multicultural, Christian leaders need to understand the tendencies of those they are seeking to include.  Get familiar with Latinos and their culture if you seek to include Latinos.  By doing so, you get yourself and your ministry team prepared for reaching a different demographic.  You should minister to the makeup of your community, not simply remain who you are because of who you have always been.  That deals with church tradition, not modern demographic trends.

In essence, you need to open more than your doors.  You need to get in a position of readiness.  Open your hearts and minds to other people.  Okay, I'll run with it.  Open doors and open arms help, too.  You have to be open.

We have an obligation to remain open to new experiences with new people.  We have to encounter new people.  We have to engage new people.  We have to embrace new people.  The onus is on us.  Let us not become negligent or reluctant with this.  Pray that God breaks up and shakes up fertile ground for planting the seed both inside and outside of the church for growth and expansion through diversity and multiculturalism.

I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.- John 10:16 (NLT)

Christ-Like CEO

In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.- Philippians 2:5 (NCV)

Think like Christ.

Act like Christ.


Become more and more like Christ.
 
Jesus held staff meetings.  He trained His followers. He offered on-the-job training, too.  He shared the importance of a retreat.  He provided an example for His disciples. 
 
The Lord intends for us to be more than average corporate leaders and entrepreneurs.  He wants us to serve as Christian leaders in the modern-day marketplace.  His desire is for us to lead the way of change by living out our lives as changed beings, new creations in Christ Jesus.  God wants witnesses in the workplace.  God seeks to save souls that will lead to servant-leadership. 
 
Here are some titles that I suggest for the Christ-like CEO:

• Ken Blanchard's Servant Leader
• Larry Burkett's Business by the Book
• Myron Rush's Management: A Biblical Approach
• Blanchard and Hodges' Lead like Jesus
• Bob Briner's The Management Methods of Jesus

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.- Proverbs 16:3 (ESV)

Pray at the Polls

Election day is upon us again.

In California, we don't know if it'll be Meg or Jerry.  We're certain that Arnold is done, though.  Could Barbara Boxer be unseated after all of these years? Who knows but God? That's about all that we are certain of in this election.

There are numerous laws and ordinances that prohibit many actions at the polls.  These make certain acts illegal.  Some sit and wait, watching to see who will slip up and break one of these sacred political rules.  These political watch dogs usually straddle one side of the fence or the other, rather simply leaning to the left or the right.

Yet, the Christian still has an alternative that outweighs man's laws and remains legal.*

Pray at the polls today.

You don't have to walk up and ask anyone for their prayer request.  You don't have to ask the neighborhood poll captain or the registar of voters can you pray a short prayer.  Simply pray at the polls without disturbing anyone or distracting anyone.  Truly, God knows your heart.

Pray individually or collectively.  Pray by yourself or with others.  Pray all alone or altogether.  Pray.

Pray for our nation.  Pray for Congress, the Senate and the House, even the Speaker of the House.  Pray for the government as a whole, state and local government, even down to the propositions on the ballot.  Pray for the Democrats, the Republicans, the write-ins, the independents, and all candidates.  Pray for the Tea Party and other conservatives as well as the League of Women Voters and other advocates and activists.  Pray for the voters.  Pray for all involved in the political process.

Pray prior to going to polls.  Pray while in line at the polls.  Pray when you receive and read over your ballot.  Pray prior to submitting your ballot.  Say a little prayer when you get handed that patriotic "I Voted" sticker that they give out as you walk away from the polls.  Pray at the polls.

Pray openly.
Pray privately.
Pray out loud.
Pray silently.
Pray long.
Pray short.
Pray.
Pray at the polls.
Pray about the polls.
Pray about the results.
Pray about each and every election and its impact from that day forward.

Pray for change.
Pray for integrity.
Pray for democracy.
Pray about our freedoms.
Pray for America.

Don't proposition.
Don't petition.
Don't protest.
Just pray.
Simply pray.
All that I ask of you, as a Christian brother or sister today, is to pray.

Pray about the elections.
Pray for the elections.
Pray for safety at the polls.
Pray for those serving at the polls.
Pray for all of those involved.
Pray for all of those who will be impacted by every vote.
Pray that the elections make a difference in the way that we all live in America...
The Land of the free. . .
The Home of the brave. . .

Pray to God.
Pray today.
Pray with all of your heart.
Pray.
Pray.
Pray.
Again, I say, pray.


*This is still legal until someone decides that prayer, even in its simplicity and serenity, is so offensive that they rally and petition enough others to shut down the freedom to pray openly and publicly just in case that it may unduly influence or impact someone who doesn't have the ability to resist the power of prayer.  Then, when that time comes, we must still pray as Daniel did three times a day, even with his window opened towards Jerusalem while in captivity.  God's decrees are not constrained by man's laws.