What I am Reading on Google Reader

When I read a post that I like and I want to remember it or refer to it later, I star it.

Then, those starred posts are automatically posted for you to see what I'm reading.

It's like an instant magazine that I've put together for you to read!

Randy's Starred Items On Google Reader

I hope this inspires you and helps you to pick up some insights or two.

Horror of All Horrors!

This past weekend, I talked to 110 high school youth about living out their faith and beliefs.

During one of the talks, I used twitter as an illustration and quickly saw some blank stares.  I stopped mid-sentence and asked: "Do you know what twitter is?"  None of the youth raised their hands.

I thought I was old but after this weekend, I found out that I'm not....at least not yet.

If you have Twitter, follow me here.

Opportunity From Conflict

Read this great article on Conflict from the Alban Institute.  Based on Acts 6, I find many applications to church leadership, parenting, corporate systems, etc etc.

Finding the Optimal Level of Conflict

Insights I have as I interact with this article:

* "an organization's culture matters more than its structure": I've seen this play out so many times.  It doesn't matter what formal structures you have, but it's the underlying culture that rules the day.  Don't worry about changing structure; change the culture THEN change the structure to reflect the new culture.

* "start behaving as if the culture has already arrived": so don't wait to change the structure or the culture: the first person you change is yourself.

* "this passage begins and ends with ... growth": conflict is sandwiched in between Acts 6.1 and Acts 6.7 which talk about growth.  Whenever we address conflict in a healthy way, growth is a result.

* 3 learnings: Move toward conflict, the presenting issue isn't the real issue and involve the complainers in the solution - I lead with these 3 insights in mind.  In fact, whenever I try to involve the complainers in a solution, they usually bail out because it takes away their right to complain.

What's On My Google Reader

I love Google Reader.  Google Reader is great:

* if you read blogs but the feeds tie up your email

* if you forget to check the blog

* if you have a hard time managing the posts

The features I use most often:

> sort blogs in folders

> share posts easily with others

> star favs so I can go back and easily find posts that are important to me

Google reader automatically checks for updates from the blogs you subscribe to.  It's a great way to have blog posts automatically come to you.  Here's what's on my google reader:

BEYOND RELEVANCE

NELSON SEARCY

CHURCH MARKETING SUCKS

DAN ROAM

ED YOUNG

BEN ARMENT

CRAIG GROESCHEL

TODD RHOADES

PERRY NOBLE

SETH GODIN

MARK BATTERSON

VINCE ANTONUCCI

RUSS ADCOX

BILLY CHIA

ED VANCISE

SARAH GILLIAM

Do We Do Too Much?

"We are not called to do everything

We are called to do the right things"

-Randy Miller on 2/23/09 while reading Acts 

(but I'm sure someone else said it earlier and better than I did)

Staying Creative

A friend of mine put a tweet out asking the question: "what are some tricks to be creative?"

I find these tools to help me:

Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam

The Creative Leader by Ed Young

Pencil Dancing by Mari Messer

"Pencil Dancing" is a new book I picked up and has tons of little exercises to get the creative juices going.  

I also look at Tony Buzan and Michael Gelb for inspiration.

...the Bible helps too

I also believe that everyone is creative: it's written in our DNA but lost when we get into Junior High when we are forced to behave and "tow the line".

63 Days

Today, our church began a journey to grow in our walk with God. Over the next 63 days, we will be walking through the New Testament of the Bible from Matthew to the maps.

There are 3 reading plans to choose from. Here is a brief description of each one:

Step it up: great for first time readers and for people with hectic schedules
Mix and Match: perfect for those who want to bounce around the New Testament.
Git-R-Done: people who want to read 4 chapters a day, straight through, with no interruptions.

Below are the downloads for the bookmarks and prayers associate with each bookmark. The prayers are based on a theme from the New Testament that we will be walking through each week.

I hope that you would join us. (If the links below don't work, let me know @ revmiller38401@yahoo.com)

New Testament Reading Plan

Prayers Each Week

(adapted from Nelson Searcy's New Testament Challenge)

Hudson River School of "Aeronautic" or "Economic" or "Church Transformation" Miracles

Loved this image from Dan Roam, author of "The Back of the Napkin".  

Here's how I would apply this to my church:

1. Acceleration: building excitment and anticipation for change and what "could be"

2. Smash: I think hitting the "you mean these changes affect me?" with churchgoers would qualify at hitting the wall.

3. Flame out: and fallout from decisions people don't like

4. We're going to die: that's right where we're at too, but God is stretching ourselves to reach number 5...

5. Landing on a non-traditional surface: very very curious to see what this looks like for us.  Can't wait!

6. Safe and Sound: Let's take the ride all over again.