During my flight to Hawaii, I cracked open the SkyMall.  In it, I found an advertisement for Soundview Executive Summaries.  For a yearly subscription, you can receive summaries of the best business books of the year in your choice of print, audio, CD-ROM, or online formats, covering subjects like management, leadership, strategy and more.

I know many of you read (or would like to) a large number of books.  BUT what if someone did the same thing for theology & church-related books?  People could subscribe to receive summaries of the best theology/Church titles of the year and (buy them if they like it or at least learn from the book).  I suggested it to Tim Challies for Discerning Reader (since he reads more books than 10 people combined).

What do you think, is this something you'd be interested in? 

If you haven't heard, LinkedIn continues to gain momentum as a place for people to network, find jobs and old co-workers.  Because I work in the web development industry, I've joined, (view my LinkedIn Profile ) but I don't know if pastors and other church leaders are using it. 

Since we're talking about work, Keller wrote a short but good piece on "What Kind of Work Should I do?" and here is a quote:

First, consider your affinities. This is the existential aspect to determining your calling. It is asking the question: “What people-needs do I vibrate to?” Second, consider your abilities. This is the empirical aspect to determining your calling. It is asking the question: “What kinds of tasks am I good at doing?” Third, consider your opportunities. This is the ‘providential’ aspect to determining your calling. It is asking the question: “What actual doors are opening for me? What needs to be done?” 

Read the full article, “God’s Work; Our Work” in January 2007’s Redeemer Report (PDF).  (HT: djchuang )

Today I experienced the dangers of a catch-all address (eg. *@sermoncloud.com).  I received 6,000+ email spam messages that were over 150 MB worth of downloading (they had attachments) in a short period to a Sermon Cloud address.  I deleted the catch-all account so emails now must be real.  Just a warning for those who own domains.

The year 2006 has been a full year for our family.   Some of the events that shaped us were:

• Our family grew with the adoption of Roman in January.
• Gideon, our 3 year old spent two months in a full body cast February through March.
• Monk Development doubled in size, including 100's of churches now using Ekklesia 360 Church CMS and the launch of Sermon Cloud, with 1000's of users and sermon downloads.
• Kaleo Church doubled as well.  We launched Kaleo SDSU in the Fall and are preparing to launch a 3rd location in El Cajon beginning in 2007.

We are excited to go into 2007, many of the above events will still impact the new year. I look forward to learning from you the blogging community, sharing more insights and getting feedback and building relationships with many of you in my virtual community.

Have a great New Years and for now, here are a few Goodmanson December photos to wrap up 2006.  (Images include Christmas, Disneyland, my Birthday, friends & family.)

A few bloggers I respect were part of the 9rules Network, so I decided to apply.  Goodmanson.com was accepted. About 9rules:

9rules is a community of the best weblogs in the world on a variety of topics. We started 9rules to give passionate writers more exposure and to help readers find great blogs on their favorite subjects. It’s difficult to find sites worth returning to, so 9rules brings together the very best of the independent web all under one roof. [source: 9rules About]

My blog tends to be both about 'religion' and web/technology so it seems a good fit.  Other 'religion/tech' blogs I enjoy include: Godbit, SonSpring, Open Switch amongst others… Some of the general blogs are: Wisdump, Ordered List and others. 

A few years ago I considered ways that Christians could evangelize even in a secular workplace.  One of the ways I thought this could be done is through interviewing and/or promotion situations.  (This idea came years ago when I started Sano Bioscience International an executive recruiting company focused on biotechs entering the FDA approval process). Here is what I came up with:

Situation - You are in a position of interviewing, considering someone for promotion or otherwise assessing them.  In this position you ask them questions (always recommend behavioral based interviewing).  After the period of interviewing, you end with one final assignment.  

Assignment - In order to see their skills in logic, writing, creative thinking and ability to form persuasive discourse you ask them to present a 2 page argument for Where Morality Comes From. You'd let them know they are not being evaluated on their 'position' but presentation, thought and articulation.

Evangelism Opportunity - To assist them, you hand them three 'examples'.  Two are from secular positions that are common worldviews, eg. social contract ethics, etc.  The third is a solid Biblical position that addresses the previous two and presents a presuppositional apologetic for the God of the Bible.

The purpose is to confront non-Biblical worldviews, hoping that people are forced to re-consider their stance.  And then to present a Biblical worldview as the only viable option. 

Getting Things Done is a giant method of how to be productive and efficient, without being stressed out.  The goal is 1) to get all of the stuff you need to do and remember out of your head and into an external system that you can rely on, so your head isn’t trying to always do the remembering (namely, organized lists—a key value of this book), and 2) to get you to make decisions about your work right away.  Here is a link to Word document summary of Getting Things Done: getting-things-done-summary.doc

NOTE: The Getting Things Done Summary document was created by Leah Hardwick for David Fairchild at Kaleo Church.  (So if it mentions creating a 'Grace' file, etc. that is his wife.)

Addressing the big “E” on the eye chart: do I think this would be helpful for you?  Yes.  If nothing else, you can walk away from this with a few nifty “tricks” about how to get things done more efficiently, with less stress, etc., if you don’t adapt the whole method.  I have outlined the major points and methods of the book so you can determine what would be helpful for you to implement on a day-to-day basis.

Basic requirements of managing commitments:

1. If something is on your mind, it must be captured into a trusted system outside your mind that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through
2. Clarify exactly what your commitment is, and what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it.
3. Once you’ve decided on an action, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you’ll review regularly.

A few key points:

-         If your organization efforts are to be successful, you need to gather everything that requires thinking, and then do that thinking.

-         The key to managing all your stuff is managing all your actions.

Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life

Based on Allen's highly popular e-newsletter, Principles of Productivity, Ready for Anything offers fifty-two principles to clear your head, focus productively, create structures that work, and get in motion, including:
* stability on one level opens creativity on another
* you can't win a game you haven't defined
* the value of a future goal is the present change it fosters

With wit, motivational insights, and inspiring quotes, Ready for Anything shows readers how to make things happen with less effort, stress, and ineffectiveness, and lots more energy, creativity, and clarity. This is the perfect book for anyone wanting to work and live at their very best.

Welcome to Goodmanson.com .  If you are new(er) here, I began this blog in July of 2004 and today I've posted for the 500th time.  I got out my calculator and discovered that over these 825 days, I've made a post every 1.65 days.  Over the years I've posted a lot on church planting, technology, churches, leadership and culture.  Here are some posts I'd recommend if you haven't been here the whole time.

CHURCH PLANTING 

Five Trends for the Future of Church Planting 26Aug06

The State of the American Church - Why Church Planting is Critical to the Future of American Christianity 16May06

CHURCH

A Partnership of Externally Focused Churches 11Aug06

Emerging From Church De-Construction to Church Kingdom Building 19Sep05

Fun with Angry, Yelling, Legalistic Christians who Know Everything 03Apr05

Is the Twelve Tribes a Cult? 02Nov05 (From my year-plus stint as a weekly Sheep & Goat column for the San Diego Reader)

LEADERSHIP

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself 26Oct06

Deacon Training & Development 02Jun06

Triperspectival Ministry Assessment 12Oct06

The Dangers of Confession while in the Pulpit 20Oct06

TECHNOLOGY

Why God is more glorified by Web 2.0 09Oct06

Technology and the Mission: Conference Session 25Sep06

List of Church Technology & Website Blogs & Resources 27Sep06

CULTURE

My own ‘Sin City’ 18Apr05

The role of the Christian artist in the secular world 20Aug04

FAMILY

New Son Roman! 30Jan06

Gideon Turns 2 Years Old 26Mar05

The 2007 National New Church Conference website has launched.  This years theme: Exponential:  Moving Beyond Addition

It was Jesus that cast the vision for this emerging, seeker-targeted house church that would soon exponentially grow to impact the world.  As Jesus spoke it was very clear that this church had an unlimited potential – the potential to alter eternities and to change the world.   In the midst of the resulting chaos, the church experienced explosive growth; growth well beyond addition, and even beyond multiplication.  Exponential growth characterized by a spirit-led, missional, and reproducing DNA.  The conference experience is designed to inspire, encourage, train, equip, and connect church planting leaders.

Speakers include: Bill Hybels, Wayne Cordeiro, Ed Stetzer, Dave Ferguson, Bob Roberts, Bil Cornelius, Mark Batterson, Jim Putman, Rick Rusaw, Matt Chandler, Darrin Patrick, Shawn Lovejoy, Vince Antonucci, Bob Logan, David Putman, and more. 

This year their will be several different 'tracks' for people to choose between:

• pre-launch track - If you are considering planting or you've already decided to take the plunge, this track is for you. You will learn Biblical principles that will shape the way you think about church planting and how you shape the DNA of your new church. As leaders and influencers for the work of the coming harvest, it is crucial that we prepare well. Regardless of the church planting model you pursue, the next generation of church plants needs healthy DNA.
• post-launch track - You survived the stresses of launching a new church and now you face a whole new set of challenges. In seeking to establish traction and momentum, you experience a range of emotions including joy, anxiety, frustration, fatigue, peace, humility, rejection, encouragement, discouragement, and fear.
• reproducing churches track -The Reproducing Churches Track is all about expanding your influence to help more people find their way back to God! This track will inspire and equip you in whatever stage of church life you now find yourself. You will discover the basics and innovations in Reproducing Leaders and Artists which will revolutionize your local outreach and is foundational to reproducing at a macro level.
• networking track - The National New Church Conference is like a reunion for many church planting leaders. It's a great networking opportunity, a chance to catch up with friends, and to take care of a little business. Recognizing that up to 25% of conference attenders may choose to spend their time networking rather than participating in other tracks, we've added a networking track. Although attendees selecting this track are in charge of their own schedule, there will be several special optional sessions of interest to people taking the networking track.

Their is a Super Early Bird Registration Special for $99 for those who sign-up now.  This is a great gathering of church planters, those who are considering church planting and churches looking to grow in their ability to plant churches.

How would you like: (1) Access to capital and entrepreneurship networks. (2) Theological foundations. (3) Professional consulting services.  These are three of the components of Redeemer's Entrepreneur Incubator.  Here is a church leading the way in thinking through how to connect 'capitalism' with 'Kingdom'.  Keller connects how investment banking can be Kingdom minded in his seminar Cultural Renewal: The Role of the Intrapreneur and the Entrepreneur.  He argues that God is keenly interested in this world and restoring it from the fall.  We are called to bring about this change, but ultimately, it will be fulfilled when Jesus returns.  He goes so far as to say, "the purpose of salvation is to make this world a great place.  Salvation is only a temporary means to an end."

This thinking is most certainly novel.  Are there Christian venture capitalist who desire to seek both earthly and spiritual returns?  A search for "christian venture capitalist" brought only one 'venture capitalist' organization, Kingom Ventures, that "is a philanthropic venture capital firm focused on supporting emerging Christian ministries around the world."  The search also brought an article (Venture Capital and God: Commentary on Kingdom-Based Investing ) by Ken Eldred, who has founded many successful companies including Ariba Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ARBA) the leader in the Internet Business-to-Business industry and which has reached a market valuation as high as $40 Billion. He was also Founder, Chairman and CEO of Inmac a company which he took Public in 1987 and grew to $400 million in yearly revenues as the first business to sell computer products, supplies, and accessories by direct mail and later merged with MicroWarehouse.  I searched for 'Ken Eldred ' and found his own venture capital company, Parakletos Ventures.  Ken served as co-editor of the book, On Kingdom Business: Transforming Missions Through Entrepreneurial Strategies.

On Kingdom Business proposes a new model for using business in missions: kingdom entrepreneurship. Kingdom entrepreneurs are "job-makers," starting for-profit businesses of all sizes–real businesses that meet real needs. This book provides a conceptual foundation for kingdom entrepreneurship and explores its contemporary development using case studies of kingdom businesses and reflecting on the lessons kingdom entrepreneurs have already learned.

I don't know why there aren't more Christians rallying behind the physical expression of God's restorative plan.  It is encouraging to see Al Weiss form Vision USA, with the aim to raise $300 million over the next 10 years for aggressive church planting in 50 of the country's most influential cities.  Weiss is reaching out to business leaders to invest in this necessary plan.  But…

how great would it be to login to a site like Kiva to provide funding support to Kingdom-minded entrepreneurs, church planters, missionaries and the lot.  

As Christians, we need to be concerned with the needs of the people in the city. The Bible is greatly concerned with the economics of the poor and their well being.  I believe one powerful way for Christians to represent the already/not yet establishment of God's plan for earth is to be entrepreneurial, starting companies rooted in our desire to see the gospel transform the city for the common good.  (I preached a sermon dealing with some of this, entitled, The Christian Social Revolution based on much of Keller's/Clowney's influence.)  In fact, Redeemer already is doing this:

Redeemer’s vision is to cause cultural renewal in all the institutions and professions that comprise New York City and impact the world around us. As part of this vision, we hope to not only empower intra-preneurs, who create change within existing companies and organizations, but also support entrepreneurs, whose new ventures challenge or augment the services of existing institutions and help advance both the private and public sectors.

The Entrepreneurship Initiative is designed to equip, connect, and mobilize entrepreneurs within Redeemer’s congregation to create new ventures that bring about gospel-centered transformation for the common good.  The Entrepreneurship Initiative plans to form a community that will support entrepreneurship through workshops, conferences, mentoring relationships, and The Redeemer Incubator.

I'd encourage you to visit Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work. Or listen to a few of their presentation on how the gospel impacts the creation of business:  (Their Entrepreneurship Forum lists a few add'l presentations on this.)

Cultural Renewal: The Role of the Intrapreneur and the Entrepreneur (click on title to listen)
Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Gospel-Based Leadership: Total Integration of Faith and Work (click on title to listen)
Dennis Bakke, Co-founder of AES Corporation and Founder of Imagine Schools 

Principles for Action (click on title to listen)
Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church 

If this is a topic that interests you,  I spoke with Justin Browne @ Redeemer, who said the next forum will be on March 10th, 2007.  Redeemer is planning a Business Plan Competition within their church to select, fund and become incubators for companies & non-profits.  It is similiar to Urbana's Business Plan Competition:

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is sponsoring a business plan competition for triple-bottom-line businesses: businesses that have financial, social, and spiritual impact. A total pool of $40,000 is available to winning business plans! Two-page Executive Summaries are due October 27, 2006.

There are many opportunities for Christians to impact society, for churches to find catalystic leaders who are missional in their field, but also seek to redeem their area of expertise.  Don't just reach the accountant seek to change the accounting industry by the gospel.

Question - How is your church going to equip and send business leaders that seek to redeem your city's industries? 

The Acts 29 Network launched their new website.  The previous site, while very sexy, wasn't as functional being an all-flash website.  The new site takes the old look and moves it to web standards (design/content done by Church Plant Media) using Ekklesia 360 CMS as the backend.  There should be a lot more content, media and even a regional focus for those wanting to explore the new site.

There are more tweaks coming, but enjoy!

Congrats to The Rock, Ames Iowa , a branch of Stonebrook Community Church launched on Ekklesia 360 Church CMS. Matt Heerema at Direct Steps developed the site, end-to-end, (planning, design, integration into the CMS) the logo is by Relevant Solutions and the CMS is Ekklesia.  

Features

• Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict, CSS 2
• Custom Planet integration for blog aggregation.
• Powered by the Ekklesia system.
• Blog, Podcast, RSS
• A Flash featured announcement banner powered by SWFObject
• Photo gallery using phpFlickr and the Flickr API to integrate members’ Flickr photos.

I know many people have moved to Gmail as their primary email client.  I've stuck with Outlook because it integrates with other systems, my pda and such.  Many people are not satisfied with Outlook because of the SPAM filtering.  I've found one product very helpful, Cloudmark.  It is unique because over 2,000,000 people contribute to what email is considered spam.  This brilliant way of handling spam means when people mark a message as spam, your inbox is automatically protected.  Or as they say it:

Only Cloudmark has the power to apply human feedback in real time to block spam, phishing, and additionally many viruses and spyware. Leveraging a highly sophisticated Trust Evaluation System™ (TeS) and groundbreaking technology, feedback is corroborated in real time, so that only a few people ever have to see a spam email before it is blocked for everyone. Cloudmark Desktop is entirely transparent and requires no configuration, making it powerful, yet simple and easy to use.

Try a FREE trial of Cloudmark.

Launched my new site design here at Goodmanson.com. Hopefully you all have a much more pleasant experience as you lurk click around the site. I added a new Church Planters Resources section to list some of the things I’m involved with to help church planters. You’ll probably see some changes as I add/edit things over the next few days…