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
Post a Comment

Traditions are a splendid thing

Traditions!  Love 'em!

We have several the day after Thanksgiving.  More recently Savanna and I have been getting up at 5:00 AM and going out shopping for black Friday.  First we shopped, then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then shopped again and got home at about 10:00 am.  Vanna and I are serious bargain hunters and we got 70% off on most of our merchandise.  Believe it or not we spent the most time at Salvation Army.  That's our favorite store.  Seriously!  And yes, they had black friday sales!

Things took off like a rocket when we got home because the main thing we do on this day is the Christmas decorating of our home.  We decorated the  church with a team of amazing folks from Celebration this past Monday - Wednesday and now it was time to focus on our home.  Our house is the gathering spot for a lot of things during this season for the church.  I have a women's gathering here, we have our leadership and their families here (about 70-80 people), and in a few weeks we'll also have our newcomer's over.  Each year I've also had a huge New Year's Eve party, probably about 100 people, and we have our decor up for that too.

We have a lot of Christmas trees.  Last year there were 8.  We're not quite there yet this year -- we had  one tree break last year and I had to throw it away and I'll be looking for a bargain at the end of the season to add to our collection.  I still don't have the tree in our bedroom up yet.  By the way there's a reason I have all these trees.  Go here to read about it.  Get some tissues first.   This is one of my blog posts that has gotten the most feedback, the most e-mail and tears, and well...it's just real special.

Here's what my house looks like so far:

The entry way to the house.  In hindsight I should have turned some lights on before I took the photo so you could see the wreaths on my doors, but oh well!  Those are poinsettias by the door to the left.   Tomorrow Larry and Jordan will hang the icicle lights around the frame of the house.  Love that!
Tree as you walk in our front door.  This is our family history tree.  I didn't buy anything on it but the lights.  Everything was either a gift from special people in the church or our family down through the years or our kids made the ornaments.  There are lots of milestones ("Our first Christmas", "Baby's first Christmas") and stuff like that.  When Larry and I got married I knew I wanted to do a tree like this and the first few years it was bare and we just kept adding to it year after year.  Today Savanna said, "Mom, we need a bigger tree!  We've got a lot of family history!"
As you come into the family room you can see a smaller tree that has blue lights and silver decorations.  It's mainly decorated with the Martha Stewart "snowflake" collection.  I think it's peaceful.  You can see Max and Maddie there, getting in the Christmas spirit.
Just another photo of the same...
This tree is in our kitchen ~ it's my sugared fruit tree.  It reminds me of the importance of the fruit of the spirit.  Sometimes I use red lights - this year we used clear.  It's got a lot of sugared fruit and leaves and stuff like that.  Excuse the pile of laundry on the table.  Just keepin' it real!

 I am just getting around to blogging tonight because I've been so busy today.  Now it's time for me to make a tall glass of iced tea and go get in my tub and soak.  I need all the sleep I can get -- tomorrow it's my day to clean my house from top to bottom.  For all of you who think Deanna does nothing but sit around and write all day...are you on crack??? :)

Have a most blessed evening, my friends...
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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
29 comments
Read more

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
12 comments
Read more

Excellent teaching on Criticism

My friend Pastor Leanne posted this today on her Myspace blog and I thought it was excellent and so timely. It's a blog post from Pastor Perry Noble , about criticism. I think it's perfect for the pastors at Relevant Church right now, as well as any other person going through this. I would like to note that when he says, "when God begins to move" it wouldn't necessarily just pertain to your church but to your life, your family, your marriage, anything that concerns you. I have found that the greater God does things in my life and the more He blessed me the more I should expect it. This teaching is good, so good I was almost wavin' a hanky in my office. Okay, here we go... You Will Be Criticized When God Begins To Move–Expect It And Get Over It. (Pastor Perry Noble at http://www.perrynoble.com/ ) I've never met a devil worshiper–to my knowledge that is. When I first became a Christian I was convinced that I needed to do all that I could to be ready to comba
3 comments
Read more