Skip to main content

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve

Gotcha!


Wait til' I tell my blog readers about my "Gotcha" moment today. You will find it funny, I promise. First I just had to share this little cartoon I found hysterical, especially because my little practical joke had to do with a singing audition. I looked for a graphic for this post and this came up and I had such a good chuckle, just HAD to share it.

Second, ...I'll just say we had a great service today...God moving mightily in the gifts of His Spirit, and more. I was wondering just how tired folks would be from daylight savings time and if it would affect much but it was a great day. Some highlights besides the great service were see our precious Maddie again for the first time in five days. Heather and Troy and their family have had her all this time, sitting for us while we were in Orlando. They brought her to church this morning. (We keep her in her kennel in our office during church.) I couldn't wait to see her and plaster her with kisses. Her whole face had my pink lipstick all over it!

We had lunch with our dear church members & friends the Shehan's, and also the Stewarts. Great fellowship...it's always so short when you are with friends this special. (I love our people, have I mentioned that?)

This afternoon we spent some special father/son and mother/daughter time. Jordan and Larry played golf and then Savanna and I went to get our nails done. The shop was closing when we walked in. It was already five minutes past closing (I didn't know that or I wouldn't have gone but since I usually don't go on Sunday I wasn't aware.) Would you believe my nail people love me so much they said, "We'll stay for you" and they stayed for Savanna and I for TWO HOURS!!! I am not even kidding you. Seriously. They love me but I also love them tremendously because they often give me a great financial break which is a real plus since I probably wouldn't still be getting my nails done in this economy were it not for their generosity. We had fun together and both of us got the same color done -- GREEN! A light Easter-y green type color. Savanna has been into green everything lately and so we went with it. And mine has little pink designs and hers has little white whispy designs. (Yes, I know designs can be expensive but I never have to pay for them. Like I said, they give me tremendous blessings for being a loyal customer. Not that I owe anyone an explanation but I'm just sayin'... )

FINALLY NOW... on to my practical joke.......

Somebody really got one over on me today. We have a great new couple in our church...Mike & Juleen Stramiello. They have been with us about 3 months so far and are actually professional actors having done live theatre, movies, you name it they have done it. We were introduced to them quite some time ago however they have recently just come and made our church their home and given us the privilege of being their pastors. Well, they come with incredibly high accolades and I have heard much about Juleen's singing ability. I was excited to have her on our team. (I have already seen them act ~ as I've watched a movie they did. Looking forward to having them on the drama scene of our church too!) So, today I was auditioning Juleen after the service for a spot on our music team and also to do some special things for Easter. So, we go to the choir room and get set up and the sound track comes on and she begins to sing with all her heart and soul and quite seriously I might add...................

and it was AWFUL.

I mean it was one of the worst sounds I've ever heard.

Seriously. It was pathetic.

It was as bad as some of the worst American Idol auditions. And she kept going, so sincerely and it got more and more pitiful. I was trying to not show my shock while at the same time being so disappointed inside. I had such high hopes of her being a powerful addition to our team. Plus in the short time I've known her, I just adore this woman...she's amazingly sweet and helpful and has actually just helped me with a decorating project at my home. (Did I mention she's an interior designer too? What can't she do?) So I'm thinking, "how am I going to let her down easy? What nice way can I tell her, this is horrible?" I was going to do the Paula Abdul, "Okay, first of all, you look great!!!" (Because she really did! She always looks like a million bucks.) But I knew I would have to say something about her voice and I was dreading it. I mean, seriously this audition was HORRIFIC.

So suddenly she messes up the lyrics and fumbles around and then says, "Oh, I'm sorry, I need to start the track again, I forgot the words there and messed up..." (it got worse by the moment) And then...........

She restarted the track.

And she started to sing.

And it was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. She sang one line, looked at me with a huge smile and pointed and dramatically said, "Gotcha!" and continued on to sing the rest of the song with an absolutely stellar not to mention anointed performance!!! When it was over I said, "Oh my gosh, you had me! You had me!" And we laughed almost til' it hurt and then she said, "I wish you could have seen your eyes when I sang the first line. I know you were trying your best to mask it but Pastor Deanna, I could see the shock in your eyes and your angst over what in the world you were going to say when it was over... "

When we came out of the choir room her husband Mike (who is also a real jokester) and my husband and another couple who are their close friends (David & Gayle who brought them to the church in the first place) bursted out laughing at me that she got me with this joke. They all knew ahead of time that she was going to do it.

The joke was on me...and boy was it effective!



Comments

DaNella Auten said…
Lol that's awesome...
Laugh at yourself first and others are merely laughing with you... That's a quote. I said that... lol
God gives me these cool sayings sometimes.
Melissa said…
lol! Ok I love the fact that your Maddie went from white to pink with kisses! HEHE....She is such a cute pup! Want another one? JK

I would have loved to have been a fly in that room!

Popular posts from this blog

Relevant Church doing something...

incredibly RELEVANT!

I just heard some news today that really inspired me. A church here in Tampa, Relevant Church is doing a new thing this month called the "30 Days Sex Challenge." (I've never visited the church but Pastor Trinity - our children's pastor - has visited or has met some people from this church and he was very impressed.) Realizing that this is a major element missing from some marriages (the frequency factor) their lead pastor, Paul Wirth, has issued a challenge for all the married couples to have sex for 30 days in a row. At the same time he has issued a challenge for all unmarrieds to completely abstain from sex. Of course we know the Bible says that those who are unmarried should not have sex in the first place but the point is, a lot of unmarried's aren't obeying the Lord's command to abstain and this is just one pastor's way of trying to get them to see that indeed, there is a better way! (God's way!) At the same time, many married couples are not

What Verbal Abuse is Really Like, and Why We Must Care
Guest Post: Terri von Wood

In my speaking travels, I meet the most amazing people. Some are connections that go beyond just a night or a weekend of preac hing. One day on my journey, I met Terri von Wood, and we immediately clicked and have been friends ever since.  Just a reminder that all of our guest bloggers this week are available to chat with you in the comment section here on the blog or on my facebook page where the blog is also published.   *** People who have never suffered through or witnessed abuse (including pastors) often don't know how to help women in abusive situations. Knowledge is power and it is my belief that if the church understood the prevalence of abuse, help would be made available.  First, we must acknowledge that the divorce rate is the same  in the church as in the world.  Second, we must understand that the 50% divorce rate does not include all the women who are abused but stay because they do not know what else to do or do not have anyone to turn to.  If those women we

Stuff I Adore That Costs Little to Nothing...

Okay...taking a break today from writing about heavy things...like grief, loss, and bawling. Time to write about random stuff today that nobody may be interested in reading. Nevertheless here it is... Stuff I adore that costs little to nothing... Listening to playlists I make on (free) Spotify Drinking out of canning jars Reading books again that I already have on my shelf. Walking and riding my bike. Admiring crepe myrtle trees. Taking a bath in the daytime with the lights off in the room. (Natural light.) Naps. Snuggling with my husband or one of the kids and watching a movie at home. Having all noise turned off when no one is home. (No TV, no music, just silence.) Prayer.