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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

True Church Stories #40

Years ago here at the church we now pastor we hosted an event for women that specifically focused on married love. As the women came in there were mannequins dressed in wedding gowns, and a beautiful wedding cake at the center of the room, and bridal bouquets were the centerpieces. It was a lovely night and the place was packed with women eager to hear my message about what the Bible says about the blessings of married love.

After the message we featured a panel discussion/question and answer session. The ladies asked a lot of candid questions and we did our best to answer them.

I was delighted by how some of the older, even elderly women, contributed with their advice.

One lady who was in her eighties (we'll call her Sis. Blanche), shared a memory with the women from the early days of marriage. She said, "Girls, back in the day we would go to the beauty shop once a week to get our hair done. We'd get our hair teased and styled up and sprayed real good. Then we'd carefully maintain it each day til' the next week when we'd go to the beauty shop. Part of maintaining it was wrapping it in toilet paper each night, taking great care to not mess it up while sleeping. Well, you can imagine my husband was a little surprised on our wedding night when I came out of the bathroom with my head wrapped in toilet paper. But he got used to it alright, once I explained the purpose..."  [much laughter here]

Never one to shy away from asking questions (I assume if I'm wondering, other people probably are too!) I said, "Sister Blanche, what you've shared with us is really some fascinating insight into the world of women years ago. In the spirit of what we're talking about tonight, I'd like to follow up by asking how in the world a lady back in the day would manage to keep the toilet paper intact on her head while being intimate with her husband?"

Sis. Blanche smiled sweetly and said, "Oh, the truth is, in those days we didn't move around much. We just kind of laid there real still..."

[Hysterical laughter here from the ladies]

Again, I ask what other people think but are too afraid to ask...

Me: "Well Sis. Blanche, what about if a lady was on top?"

Sis. Blanche: [laughing] "Oh PD...in those days, we were never on top!"

And the laughter didn't end for a lonnnnnng time after that comment.

I wrapped up the evening by saying, "Ladies, we've come a long way! Sis. Blanche has just shared priceless information with us about one reason we can be grateful we live in these days and times."

Never a dull moment in pastoring a church, especially if you're gonna talk about real issues.

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