Giving Thought to Planning

Ah…’Tis the season for giving. So far I have been given a pounding headache and a bad attitude. It stems mostly from the “YOUR poor planning becomes MY problem” department. Everyone has some kind of Christmas production they want to present. Some put a lot of hard work in planning and preparation and even let me in on it to practice with them. Others do not plan, prepare, practice or let anyone know what they are thinking until it is too late to present a program with excellence. Everything we do is for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When are Christians going to realize that? I have come across some excellent posts on other blogs that I want to share that speak to hard work, planning, practice and excellence.

Practice Makes Better
By Tony Morgan
I read a fascinating quote from K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, in the November issue of Fast Company. He was talking about the importance of practice.
"Successful people spontaneously do things differently from those individuals who stagnate. They have different practice histories. Elite performers engage in what we call "deliberate practice"--an effortful activity designed to improve individual target performance. There has to be some way they're innovating in the way they do things."
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Do It Right The First Time
By Jim Walton, Church Tech Matters

Creating An Experience
By Perry Noble
From time to time we will have a pastor/church leader call NewSpring & want to know what in the world we are doing to reach so many people.
I have had this conversation with many people…and I have seen many walk away from that conversation either discouraged or disappointed because I could not give them a magic formula or a program.
The bottom line is that if a church wants to impact a community–IT TAKES WORK.
For far too long the church has been lazy…that’s right…LAZY. We have sat back on our butt and done nothing, asking God to “do it all” and claiming to be “led by the Spirit.” And then people walk into our boring, lifeless and predictable services and we give “God all the glory” (or the blame!)
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