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 i...
Post a Comment

3 Ingredients In a Family You Wanna Be Part Of

Last night was the Celebration Church Thanksgiving dinner. It's one of the highlights of the year. After we shared a fabulous meal together, our worship team rocked the place and then people had opportunity to share what they are grateful for.

Our son Jordan was one of the first people to come to the microphone and speak. Before sharing about his new job he pointed to Larry and me and said: "I'd like to thank God for these two people, for the privilege of growing up in their home, and having them as parents." Shortly after, our son Dustin (who is now the youth pastor at our church) got up and the first words out of his mouth were, "I'd just like to thank God for my family..."

Wow. So, of course no matter how many times I hear stuff like this it just makes my buttons bust. (Well, that and all the weight I've gained...)

After the boys spoke, I began thinking: what makes a family great to be part of? What makes a house a home you can't wait to get back to?

We don't have a perfect home. And we've never claimed to.

That's not what this post is about, but I would like to share a few things that make our family one we all love to be part of:



We laugh a lot.

Boy do we love to laugh! Whether it's sharing memories at dinner time until we cry-laugh or watching our favorite shows that we pre-record and watch together, there's a lot of ha-ha's happening in this house. 

We have special traditions.

We have so many of them, I don't know where to start in listing them. We've got a lot of them at Christmas time and all through the year.

I learn just how much traditions mean to Dustin, Jordan and Savanna when we suggest making even a slight tweak to what we normally do. They are usually not happy at all!   A sense of familiarity bring stability. Think of this - the word familiar derives from the word family.


 We say we're sorry.

 Owning up to mistakes is important. Kids learn this importance of this by observing their parents. I've had to apologize a lot. Let's be real, nobody wants to be around somebody who never humbles themselves and apologizes.

 Come to think of it, these three ingredients aren't found only in households, but in any healthy church family.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sisterhood Rises Up To Change Lives Forever

God is in the business of preserving families. It is His heart. It's my heart too. And, I'll unabashedly say here that I believe it should be everyone's heart. Everyone likes good news and I've got some for you today. If you are in doubt that God still speaks today and that He uses people to accomplish His work, I pray this will speak to you. Last night I was sitting in service at Celebration Church where we are pastors, and my husband was preaching. His message was about what we want to be remembered for in life, and he made the statement that we can't change our past but we can change the future.  In that moment, God spoke to me. He began to give me my next post for Lost Daughters, where I'm also a blogger. To be honest it's more than just another place where I blog. It's a sisterhood. A lifeline. A place that has come to mean a great deal to me, because of the amazing women who are there. During the service I basically had this entire post...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lost Daughters & Me

Last month I wrote my very first adoption related post here on my blog, and said it would probably be my first and last. I was aware of the controversy it would probably bring, as well as the hurtful feelings that would result if those who are not adoptees rose up to disagree.  Although everyone wasn't totally happy, the positive response was overwhelming. I received a lot of private mail that was encouraging, and it outweighed the negative reactions. A few people literally begged me to write more. I wrote a follow up post here , about what I planned to do next. After prayer and consideration, I know I am supposed to start a separate blog about adoption, in addition to writing here at deannashrodes.net.  I am working on this new blog (though it is not live yet), as well as launching a Tampa support group for adult adoptees. However, I believe the best way for me to get my feet wet as I start the blog and support group is to begin by joining others. I need to learn, gr...
Post a Comment
Read more