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

Are You Preparing Your Child for the REAL World?


If we're not careful, we can go from being our child's advocate to exerting undue interference that renders them unprepared for adult life.

Yes...this REALLY happened...

Years ago at our church, we had a pastoral staff member in their late twenties whose mother from out of state contacted my husband and me -- TWICE -- to tell us how she thought her son's work issues should be handled. Apparently she didn't agree with some of our decisions. We were absolutely dumbfounded.  Needless to say, the interference on the part of the staffer's mother only made things go from bad to worse.

Opportunities for Growth...


Giving children opportunity to gain experience in solving problems of all kinds begins not when they turn 18 or 21, but all throughout their growing up years. Living in the era of helicopter parenting, many children and teens miss opportunities to learn problem solving skills.

During the course of my children's school years we have had relatively few problems with teachers.  I'm a huge fan of teachers, in general. But there were rare times when we didn't agree with something -- times when something may have been unjust or unwise.


One day a teacher I'll refer to as Mrs. K, called me, and she was literally IN TEARS over the fact that Jordan was tapping on his desk, usually with a pencil. When Jordan finished his work and had nothing to do he would sit there tapping. Jordan doesn't do well when bored or with nothing to do.

I suggested to Mrs. K that she give him a task to do, or send him to the library if his work was finished. She didn't like those suggestions. Her preference was to ask the kids to put their heads down on the desk and rest if they were done with their work. (Something Jordan doesn't do, readily.)

 Did I mention, when she called she was CRYING about the tapping?? Profusely?  I felt it was overly dramatic to say the least.

When I got off the phone, I told Jordan how upset his teacher was over his tapping, and asked him to stop doing it. He said, "See, I told you she was crazy, Mom. What kind of teacher bursts out crying about tapping?"

So I had a choice...


I could have called the principal and suggest that Mrs. K may need therapy.
I could have requested he be pulled out of Mrs. K's class.
I could have told Mrs. K she was a drama queen and ignored her from there on out.

But I did none of that.

I said, "Jordan, in life you're going to have to learn how to get along with all kinds of people. Chances are someone like Mrs. K is going to be on staff wherever you work some day. He or she may even be your boss.  Mrs. K. is the authority in your classroom. And you need to learn how to respond to authority. For the rest of this year it's your job to obey Mrs. K and win her over."

"MOM....ARE. YOU. SERIOUS?????????????????"

He was not a happy camper.

"Yep, serious as a heart attack, Jordan."

"But she's crazy, Mom..."


"Well, you're gonna deal with a lot of crazy people in life, Jordan. So consider your relationship with Mrs. K part of your education."

Larry and I made him work it out. He had to learn to deal with real life because real life was what was ahead, ready or not.

What was the outcome?

The years have passed since that phone call with Mrs. K.

Both boys (now young men)  have been quickly promoted, wherever they have worked. Their responsibilities increase all the time, as does their oversight of more people and projects.

They know how to get along with all different people and personalities.
Because they've had to.

We didn't swoop in to take over every time they had a problem.

Neither would fathom me calling their workplace to interfere about anything.

They have been equipped to deal with everything from meltdowns to injustice.


Don't prepare the path for your child.
Prepare your child for the path.

 

Comments

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

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