Crazy day

Today started at 2:15am. I didn't intend it that way... I was supposed to get up early... just not that early (that's crazy). I got all ready and made it downstairs thinking my coffee would be brewing, but it wasn't. Something wasn't right... oh yeah... it was 2:45am!

After a LONG day finally ended, I sat down to chill for a bit before a rockin' spaghetti dinner that my wife made. As I was chillin (checking blogs) I ran across a loswhit post about a free scoop from Ben & Jerry's. Sure enough it was Ben & Jerry's 30th birthday and they were celebrating by giving out a free single scoop cone. It was a nice treat to take the kids and get ice cream.

My favorite quote of the night... from a Ben & Jerry's employee, she turned to a co-worker and exclaimed "It's so hectic in here... what's the deal?"

Hectic ice cream store and all, the kid's and I had a great time. As we drove home the free ice cream made me think about who all uses the "free incentives". Churches seem to us it a lot. The Ben & Jerry's "free cone day" made me a believer in incentives, especially when they are done right. Churches are guilty of overusing the incentive as an attractor. It was kinda the first time that I was on the receiving end of a "free incentive". This experience validated the free incentive event. It's amazing the benefit of a single scoop of ice cream. It was a good reminder that simple, little, seemingly ordinary things can add large amounts of value, especially when done with strategic intentions.

Coldplay song

Thanks to a timely Deadly Viper post and a lightening fast reaction time by me... I just downloaded the latest song by Coldplay. What's best about it... the song was free. Want it too? Get the song here.

This is genius marketing... free stuff + fans + tons of downloads + lots of buzz = big win

Time Bandit

Last week I was driving past the fisherman's terminal, I spotted a familiar looking vessel.   The Time Bandit from the TV show, Deadliest Catch.  It's not a great picture, but it was cool getting to get to see it.  I love the danger and risk involved in fishing the bering sea.  

LOL=

Ice Ice Baby

While I was out and about with my family today a few cultural morsels caught my attention... the positioning of a hat, the neon pink and green high-top Nikes... are the 80's coming back in style?

Later this evening I was driving and my wife was the dj of the ipod; she treated us to a feast of old and new from Paul McCartney to the Beatles to Vanilla Ice... so I thought I'd share.

This also somewhat commemorates 300+ posts... wow. Quite an interesting 300.

(warning: serious 80's fashion issues, don't watch if you have issues)

McManus @ Awaken

There are a lot of great churches out there that are reaching people like Mary and Martha and Peter in the Scriptures, but there aren’t enough which reach out to Dionysius and Damaris (Acts 17).

It’s better to be alienated by the Christian world if that is what it takes to reach the alienated.

Thanks to Eric for keeping us updated on Awaken.

Risk

A while back I had a shirt that had RISK boldly printed across the front of the shirt. I like taking risks. Steven and Seth post some thoughts about risk and how it has an effect in our lives. They compare: boldly take risks when we have nothing to loose vs. how we aren't as bold with our risk taking when we have more to loose. When we have more to loose...

"There is now a strong temptation to mistake risk aversion for maturity.
Sometimes, under the guise of getting wiser, growing deeper, or waiting on God, we let our audacity atrophy and set the stuff that made us special on the shelf.

That must really insult God. After we’ve already seen Him part seas, kill giants, and multiply fish and loaves, we should be more inclined to push our chips to the center of the table, not less!

Otherwise, we’ll eventually find ourselves building altars in honor of where God was."