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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

My post-Idol thoughts...


I made no secret of the fact all season that I am a huge Adam Lambert fan. I am crazy about him, and can't wait to download his album straight to my Zune. I'll probably work out to it for a long time, once it is released.
I also think Kris is an awesome singer. Very talented. I've also heard a ton of other guys who can play and sing just like him. He's a lot like John Mayer or hundreds of worship leaders across the platforms of some of the more prominent churches in America. That's not surprising as Kris is a worship leader in reality, and we've been reminded of that by Christians all season long. There has been a video circulating of Kris leading, "God of this City" in his church. It's really praiseworthy, no doubt about it. And he's cute as a button. (Are buttons cute?) Truth be told, I enjoy Kris a whole lot, I just don't think he's all that unique. I could name quite a number of my personal friends right off the top of my head who are not even famous that can sing and play as well as him. Aside from that, I'm sure Kris is going to have a huge career though, probably in worship music. I can easily see him being the next Chris Tomlin.

Adam on the other hand has amazing vocal chops like I've never heard before. I know absolutely nobody like him, personally or otherwise. I can't name anyone who even comes close to his vocal range. He's in a class by himself, and winner or not he's going to have a huge career. There's nothing for him to cry about here. He's headed for super stardom, with or without the Idol title.

I think both of these young men are great. But what I don't think is great are the deplorable actions of Christians in attacking Adam. It makes me sick what Christians have posted on their facebooks and Myspaces. Among other things I've read throughout the past few weeks have been things such as:

"It's time to make a statement and get Adam out of there!! We need a believer to win!!"

"Take a stand against freaks, America! Vote for Kris!"

"Adam needs to get saved and delivered or we need to vote him off!"

Christians filled up their facebook and myspace pages with remarks about his style of dress, and his grooming, as well as having issue with his possible lifestyle. (Rumor at this point, not fact.)Many Christians have made it clear they wanted Kris to win simply because he's a believer. . They are quick to point out he is a worship leader or that they "met his pastor one time" or that they "know the church he goes to" or that they are from the same fellowship of churches. Who cares? Is this American Idol, or American Worship Leader? American Idol or American Believer? Last time I checked, this wasn't "holiness idol." (What any oxymoron...can an "idol" be holy?") Simon Cowell reiterates again and again..."This is a singing competition..." But is it really? I'm not sure anymore.

I am embarrassed at what many of my PASTOR friends have written on facebook about this issue. One minister wrote a comment on another pastor's page that said, "hey, when they announced Kris as the winner, did you notice how tight Adam hugged him?" They insinuated he was making some sort of pass at him. How pathetic.

Anyone who has known me for longer than 5 seconds knows I'm a bible believing Christian and in fact have been a minister for 22 years.  However, I didn't realize we were electing a spiritual leader. Perhaps next time before they open the phone lines for voting they should have a pastor come and give an invocation and pray over the votes like we would if we were electing a pastor or church board members! (LOL)

To get on facebook or otherwise and make the ridiculous statements that some Christians have made about Adam vs. Kris (which has nothing to do with singing or performing but all about lifestyle and one being a believer and the other not) well it just gives reason -- good reason - to believe that many Christians are idiots who don't know their heads from a hole in the ground. If Christians supported Kris because they liked him from the beginning and they believe he is the superior singer then I think that's GREAT. Fantastic! My kids are among those who did that. And I think that's wonderful if indeed they believe he has the better performance package all around.

But if they are slamming Adam and supporting Kris solely because they thought a believer should win, then I just think it makes them look moronic. And it's no wonder why anyone would not want to follow them or their God or come to their church with such an embecilic thought process as that. Not to mention the unkind actions of calling someone a freak or worse. And we wonder why some people want absolutely nothing to do with Christians?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I agree with you that Christians should not write unkind, mean or vicious comments about anyone, anywhere or anytime. However, I disagree with you about who to vote for. I think that Adam has spectacular vocal ability and he is a wonderful entertainer, but, I believe that we should support Christians anytime it is appropriate so that we can have larger platforms to spread the gospel. It is sometimes unwise to support someone, just because he/she says they are a 'Christian' because people have different definitions of what being a Christian is. We need positive role models to succeed as much as possible, so we can show that following Christ does not mean that you have to wear long skirts and not kiss until you are married.

Keep writing your blog, I really admire your boldness and the articulate way that you discuss issues facing us today.
Anonymous said…
I got a lot of flack from fellow Christians for being an Adam Lambert fan as well. Since we're so close to Milwaukee, everyone here was on the "Danny Gokey love train" for most of the season. I pointed out that this show is not "America's Most Awesomest Christian," and I completely beleive that Adam outsang all of them week after week.

I also loved his attitude - whenever they complimented him on a great performance, he was quick to say, "We also really need to thank the band for doing an outstanding job," or "So-and-so worked really hard on this arrangement, and deserves some applause." He was well aware throughout the competition that a performance is more than just the singer - and consistently gave credit to those around him who helped make him sound good.

And why is it that just a few weeks ago, the entire Christian community was denouncing Perez Hilton for his attack on Carrie Prejean - but now seem to be content in getting their information from him? As far as I know, he's the only one who has "proof" that Adam Lambert is gay.

[And whatever the state of Adam's soul, can't we just be happy that for the past 6 months, he's been surrounded by and befriended by a bunch of Christians? Seeds have definitely been planted - we just need to give the Holy Spirit time to do what He does!!]

In the meantime - I'm with you - I will totally be buying his album once it comes out :o).
I like Danny Gokey as well -- he has a smooth voice and I'll download his album onto my Zune too. However, I felt some people supported him simply because his wife died and his story struck a chord with them. I felt other people supported Scott simply because he was blind and the "underdog" in some ways with being disabled. I view people supporting the two of them because of that just as strange as supporting any of them solely because they are Christians. It is clouded judgment in my view and exactly what it's so hard to find "impartial" judges for any competition. This is why the judges sometimes ask, "Did America get it wrong/right this time?" Sometimes America does get it wrong in either case but it is what it is. Why do most people love Simon and believe the show would be dead without him? He's gut level honest and is right 99.9 % of the time. He clears all the fluff out of there and could care less whose wife died, who's disabled, who's saved, who's not, or whose pastor somebody might know. He just cares about whether the person is an absolutely incomparable performer. There are very few people who are really capable of making that judgment because of some type of partiality. There are a lot of people on AI who should have never gone home when they did (thus the reason they did that "one save" they gave the judges this time) and a lot of people who went home too early. And some years...the winner was not really the stellar performer.

One person who drove me crazy this season was Scott. There were weeks he was excruciatingly painful to listen to and I literally covered my ears at times or told the family, "please forward that on the TIVO..." but America just kept voting him right on in...I am sure the disability activitists, homeschoolers, and Christians and then just people in general who felt sorry for him kept him in the running for quite a few more weeks than he ever should have been on there...it sure wasn't teenyboppers voting him in and dailing a bazillion times.

I have told my husband maybe he should try out for AI. He can't really sing, but he is a true man of God so evidently this might qualify him to win.
dialing, not dailing...sorry...typo! hate those...
Anonymous said…
Make no mistake about it - I liked Danny, too!

There were some nights I couldn't decide between Adam and Danny or Adam and Kris, and so I voted for both [once from my land line and once from my cell phone - no time to spend 2 hours texting, lol!!].

Anonymous - I understand where you're coming from. BUT...I think it's important for Christian artists to perform their art with excellence. We have seen way too much acceptance of mediocrity simply because it's packaged under the word "Christian." Not saying that Kris and Danny did a horrible or mediocre job by any means...but since they were competing, they needed to be judged by the standards of the competition.

Kris himself stated that he hoped he wouldn't win simply because he is a Christian and got the evangelical vote. He wanted to be judged according to his talent and merit as an artist.

[For a more detailed explanation of my views on Christians and art, read:

"Roaring Lambs" by Bob Briner
"Walking on Water" by Madeline L'Engle]
Interesting interview...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/23/larry.king.idol.finalists/?iref=mpstoryview
LAURIE said…
Deanna,
Very interesting topic and comments. I am not a huge AI fan but I do like to watch the last few weeks. I am from Arkansas and in fact my daughter in law went to school with Kris. I did not base my opinion on that...personally I thought that both Adam and Kris were very talented musicians. What strikes me interesting about the AI thing is ... if Christians would get on the bandwagon of witnessing with the same enthusiasm and gusto as they do AI ... the pews would be full in our churches. For those that called and voted every minute for hours for their favorite singer ... just think of the people we could have encouraged if we picked up the phone and called the homebound, the sick and the elderly with such dedication. My thoughts on this is...Lets place our eyes on the spiritual things. -blessings, Laurie
Laurie,

I do see where you are coming from. By what I am about to share please don't think I believe I should be exempt from keeping my eyes on spiritual things any more than the next person. Far too often we do not have our eyes on the things of God. I do find though, that I need a recreational activity now and again.

For many years I never even watched an hour of TV a week. Aside from time in the Word or prayer, etc. I had my head and my heart into church work almost 24/7. My family watched many shows without me and would often beg me to sit down and watch a show with them, just for 30 min or an hour and for many years, I did not. I always said I was too busy and had too much to do to watch TV. A few years ago i could not even tell you any major shows that were on TV beyond maybe the news, Larry King or obvious ones like Oprah though I did not watch them.

After a serious crash and burn (literal burnout) in ministry and counseling I learned that I was just wrapped too tight, working too much and everything was God/church/yada yada 24/7 with absolutely no time to just let down and laugh or watch a show that really didn't have anything to do with work or church but just was something purely for fun. At that time at a Christian counselor's suggestion I started incorporating a few hours of fun into each week including watching at least one, maybe two shows a week with my family. AI is one, and we also watch LOST. My kids really appreciate that I slow down enough now to do this with them, and it's a fun time each week while we pop popcorn and snuggle under the blankets and watch it and root for our favorite person. I was outnumbered in my household...my kids are Kris fans...my son plays guitar and is much like Kris's style so he is just crazy about him.

I am not disagreeing with you that people do need to evangelize more or have their focus more on the things of God and perhaps some Christians who are into AI are in fact not in the Word or prayer nor do they share the gospel. Just saying I don't think there's anything wrong with a little recreation without a serious "purpose" now and then.

Which is a whole other point in itself...(on another subject) AI is a reality show on TV, not a ministry crusade, a service, a presidential election, a spiritual rally, etc., and I think some believers thought they were launching Kris into some kind of a ministry by voting for him. Truth is he would have a ministry (and just as broad of one) had they not voted for him as the ultimate AI winner. Some runners up have done better than winners, case in point Chris Daughtry (who went home WAY too early) or Jennifer Hudson (also went home too early) or even Constantine Morales. They are all bigger now than some of the winners such as Taylor Hicks who just lost his recording contract and is not doing well at all. Jordin Sparks definitely wasn't the best in the competition on her season but again, just because America votes that way in the end doesn't mean they are necessarily going to be the one that does the best in the long run once the current AI season is over. At this point Kris will have to stand on his own and do well without a facebook campaign for Christians to keep dialing his number repeatedly. They are going to have to do something else -- go out and spend their $$ and BUY HIS ALBUM which doesn't come as easy for them as a lot of Christians don't want to actually have to pay for something. (Did I just say that? lol)

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