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Room 3026 Live: Episode 537

2012-05-24T17:39:00.002-04:00

On today's episode of Room 3026 Live, we discussed topics ranging from the Google+ for Android to Angry Birds Friends.

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Room 3026 Live: Episode 535

2012-05-22T17:19:00.000-04:00

On today's episode of Room 3026 Live, we discussed topics ranging from the Roamz App to social television with your friends.

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Room 3026 Live: Episode 534

2012-05-21T18:34:00.000-04:00

On today's episode of Room 3026 Live, we discussed topics ranging from the CanvasDropr to Facebook's IPO Woes.

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CanvasDropr: Virtual dropbox mixed with a little Google Docs
James Bond's trailer for Skyfall is now available
New Facebook notifications and uploading files within groups
Roamz now available for the Android device
Facebook's IPO woes
Quick review of Avengers movie

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C3 Church: REALationships With Pastor Michael Murphy

2012-05-06T10:44:00.003-04:00

From Australia, C3 Church welcomes Pastor Michael Murphy as our guest speaker.

Pastor Murphy begins by talking about his 29 years in marriage. They have three kids (27, 24, and 22).

In the early years, he thought their marriage was "toast" or done. This is just after 12 months in. His wife, Valery, had a past that was different than his.

In his message, Michael will air his dirty laundry to bring resurrection to your marriage in an effort to bring hope. It's not about the other person completing you, but about helping you become a whole person who is restored. Fill your life up with God.

As a young teen, Pastor Murphy was sexually abused by a man at age 14. In the process of proving his manhood, he hurt a number of women in his life. At 18, he was drinking and having sex. This ended up in having a baby. It wasn't until years later that he finally met his daughter. It was messy and not perfect. His daughter came to destroy her father, but God intervened.

There is a big difference between what is seen on the outside and what's really happening on the inside. We, as people, are excellent mask wearers.

Because of his wife's dad, who had post traumatic syndrome from WWII, she struggled with a challenging upbringing. As explained in the book, Dancing With My Daddy, she tells a story of parents who argued all the time and an early marriage where her first husband left her for someone else.

Let God break every chain in your life.

Michael avoided arguments like his family did, while his wife turned up the volume on their arguments. [The audience laughed]

Years later, Michael and his wife went back to her house where she grew up. At home, she saw this huge tree that she planted years ago. While God was watering her life, he was also watering that tree. There is a tree like this in your life.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

In the first year of marriage, Valery and Michael asked the question, "What happens if you think you married the wrong person?"

It's not about the past or hurt. Women understand this and have been hurt by a man before. In a meeting with a ladies group, Michael confessed to them that he was "that guy" and he apologized on the behalf of all men. All of a sudden, a woman screamed from the front row. Come to find out she had been raped only 6 months earlier. She let go of that issue that day.

To the ladies in the room, he apologized for all the things men have done to them. It is up to you to make a difference moving forward.

He says that he doesn't deserve all the goodness in his life. His kids are amazing and he says that he doesn't deserve that.

There was a time that Pastor Murphy fell in love with the ministry. He was very passionate about it. In talking about Matt and Martha, Michael shares how family friendly they are.

In going to another meeting, Michael relives a "discussion" he had with his wife. She asked him, "Do you want to know what your son did?" She said, "He jumped up and wanted to you a drawing he did in school." As a result, he cried. I realized how involved into work he had become.

Do you have to a perfect parent? No. However, with the grace of God, he can break every chain. God wants to breathe new hope into your life. God's heart is for you. All you have to do is extend your withered hand and ask God for help.

God's on your case. You don't need to stay on this treadmill.

Here are a couple of principles:

See Your Marriage Renewed

In the morning, your spouse may not be all that perfect. She/he may not be the same way as when you married them.

When God created Adam, he gave him a job. This is why a business person can become a workaholic. Is the price you're earning worth the price of pain?

Do you have the guts to make a decision to make a legacy with God. God gave Eve a relationship. This is a distinct trait given to women.

This is not to say that women cannot work in the marketplace, of course they can.

God explains that the ground men till will be difficult. For women, they would have pain in birth. Those strengths can also be a vulnerability.

For men, without a job, they can worry themselves sick. It can affect the entire relationship.

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24 (NKJV)

It is a conscious decision to put off the old man (that's not your husband).

Let's remove the mask. You can have a renewed relationship. Allowed God to flow over you and your relationship. Show him your weakness and white flag.

You Can Thrive Despite Your Inadequacies

Judges 6 tells the story of Gideon.

Michael talks about Gideon. God spoke over Gideon. As a result, he delivered the children of Israel.

David was a shepherd boy. Moses couldn't talk so good. Abraham and Sarah were barren. In all cases, God used them mightily.

God sees you and your withered body, mind, and spirit. You can focus on your brokenness, dysfunction, and errors, or you can break those chains. His arms are open wide to you.

You Can Win the Good Fight of Faith

As a younger single person. God has put a word of hope in your life. By believing our inadequacies, God says "Stand for your marriage."

While in Virginia Beach, VA, Pastor Michael talks about a young guy. The boy says that his time in college got interrupted because of his sister's death. Despite the loss of his sister, he felt he was spiritually prepared.

The night before his sister died, the guys dad sent him a scripture that stuck with him. It nurtured him in the time of loss.

God is saying, "There is hope and an opportunity to thrive."

At the same time the boy received a scripture, his sister received a scripture from Revelations.

16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.[a] And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Rev. 7:17 (NKJV)

Paul said to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. By extending his withered hand, the Jailer's life turned completely around. You can have the same thing in your life.

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

If you need hope or help. God wants you to know that he loves you. Jesus died and rose from the grave. If you would like to know Jesus as your savior then pray this prayer.

Dear God, I realize I've sinned and I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross and rising from the grave. Come in to my heart and save me. Thank you for giving me eternal and abundant life. Help me to live for you, for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

To share your story, want more information about next steps, or just in need of prayer, please contact Pastor Matt Fry.

Photos From Around C3 Church

C3 Church First Wednesday: Being A Five-Star Church

2012-05-02T20:31:00.003-04:00

Do you like being treated well? Pastor Matt begins by talking about a hotel stay. Not the most expensive hotel, but they treated him like it was a five-star hotel. In a recent trip to the mountains, he stayed at a hotel that got rave reviews. He thought they under-delivered.

In talking about the church, Matt believes that the church ought to give top notch service. "If it's Christian, it ought to be better."

Sometimes, if we're not careful, we can give our best to everything else and we get lazy about the Church.

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”[a]
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[b] the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John,[c] because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[d] and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[e] will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid[f] on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit[g] on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Matthew 16:13-20 (NLT)

The idea is that the Church is progressing and advancing on the enemy's camp. Nothing can stop a thriving Church.

"The called out ones" is what Church means in the Bible. The Church is not a building, but people or assembly.

24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another,and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)

While Pastor loves technology, there is nothing like being around people. No computer (live stream) takes the place of assembling with the Church.

In the Bible, people were being persecuted for gathering together. We shouldn't let anything get in the way of getting together with the Church.

Four Thoughts Of Being a Five-Star Church

It's All About Jesus

The Church is not about one person (i.e., pastor or staff), but on Jesus. If we would get out of the way, HE will build up the Church. It's about Jesus' glory and fame.

If you're not careful, one can think it's about people. God gives the Church its leaders, but it's not about them. It's about living God's dream and vision. We need to get on board with God's passion. The Church is a place to serve and support the cause of Christ.

Pastor Matt talks about a recent conference call with some pastors. On the call, Pastor James spoke for about an hour. During the call, he said, "I've lost all my dreams to be captured by His." This means that all of his dreams are about Jesus.

It Takes A Team

The Pastor talks about many stories of member's first time visiting C3. The Church starts way before the sermon. It starts in the parking lot and with the welcome team.

The Church doesn't rise and fall based on Matt's presence. It takes a team.

Last weekend, Chris Pipes spoke. The Church survived the Pastor's absence. It's not about Matt, but Jesus.

Has One Vision

"Real Hope for Real People in a Real World" is our Church's vision.

A few weeks ago, a visiting speaker spoke with our youth and asked, "How many visions does this church have?" They answered, "One!" That was the first time, in many years, that he has ever experienced that while speaking. It brought tears of joy to Pastor's eyes.

The vision keeps us focused. It provides power to work under one goal.

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.

2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia[a]and settled there.
3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel,[b] because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world. Genesis 11:1-9 (NLT)

Pride always leads to confusion. Babel, before this, meant "Gateway to God. After this event, the word means, "Confusion."

God wants his Church to be united, humble, and speaking the same language. In the New Testament (Acts), God gave the people the Holy Spirit and allowed them to speak the same language.

Firmly Planted

A healthy Church family is one that is firmly planted. These people are not tossed around easily. Today, this means church hopping. People get offended or don't get what they want and they leave.

In a Church Family, we give some slack. If your mom serves one bad meal, does this mean you'll never eat her food again? No. Then why do we do that in Church?

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. Psalm 1:3 (NLT)

It takes time to grow a tree that bears fruit. You have to stay firmly planted in a local Church. This means come expecting and find resources. Finally, surround yourself with positive people. Don't let negative people in your circle because they can drag you down.

If you do all that, you will bear fruit. Remember, fruit brings benefit to others. People like hanging out with fruit-filled people. Fruit is a sign of health.

Do others consider themselves blessed when they hang out with you?

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:13 (NKJV)

Let's be filled with the power of God. Let's make this city, state, and country a better place by being firmly planted.

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

If you need hope or help. God wants you to know that he loves you. Jesus died and rose from the grave. If you would like to know Jesus as your savior then pray this prayer.

Dear God, I realize I've sinned and I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross and rising from the grave. Come in to my heart and save me. Thank you for giving me eternal and abundant life. Help me to live for you, for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

To share your story, want more information about next steps, or just in need of prayer, please contact Pastor Matt Fry.

Liveblogging C3 Church: Yeshua Finale'

2012-04-15T10:15:00.000-04:00

Jesus Is About A Relationship Not Religion

Religion is man's attempt to reach up to an awesome God. Christianity is about God reaching down and building a relationship through Jesus. Religion is hopeless.

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:1-6 (NLT)

What is Jesus trying to explain here? It's about having a relationship. Jesus loves you, loves children, the next generation, and people. When you go to Jesus with a humble heart, like a child, that's what it means to have a relationship with him. We need to have a teachable spirit.

Jesus is trying to get across to the Disciples that he cares for the next generation. We should be drawing kids to the cross, not into sin.

Pastor Matt challenges you to lead your kids to Jesus and the cross. He's also talking about the lost and hurting.

Matt recalls a story with Pastor Billy Hornsby before he passed. He talked about a meeting with the lead pastors. There are two things, he says. Number one: Promise me that you will love each other no matter what. Number two: Never forget the little guy. There are guys out there who need people to pour into them.

Jesus says that people look at the outward appearance, but he looks at their heart.

Jesus Is About People Not Prestige

For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man,[a] on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.” Matthew 11:18-19 (NLT)

Jesus was being criticized because he hung out with sinners. Jesus is about a relationship. He wasn't about being recognized but serving. He knew that if we were going to reach the world, we couldn't do it in our "Holy Huddles - Us four and no more (comfort zone)."

When we think about who Jesus was, we must remember that he was out there with the dirty. Stop being about titles or how people look at us. We have to get over our need for affirmation and turn to Jesus.

Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. 2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. 3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.
To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. Matthew 23:1-7 & 12 (NLT)

Jesus Cares About Life Change Not A List Of Rules

Jesus is not against rules, but man made rules go too far. Jesus cares about the heart. Christianity works from the inside out, religion works from the outside in.

Pastor Fry lists a number of crazy laws from around the country.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were about creating laws, where Jesus cared about the individual.

Jesus' strongest words were to the religious leaders.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish,[a] and then the outside will become clean, too.
27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:25-28 (NLT)

Religion leads to legalism. Legalism is more about how you look on the outside, about how people look at you, and ok with getting around religious rules if you don't get caught.

Matt talks about his youth. He mentioned that as a kid his hair had to be short. Girls couldn't wear pants and guys couldn't wear shorts. There was no mixed bathing (guys/girls swimming together).

As a kid, he was more accepted when he looked good on the outside. Legalism leads to spiritual arrogance and pride. This is why Jesus dealt severely with the religious leaders.

A relationship with Jesus is about the inside. It's not about making man happy, but making Jesus proud.

Jesus Is About You Fulfilling His Plan

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus made it real clear. Guys, I came, lived, died, and rose again. Now, it's your turn to fulfill my mission. I'm going to send you a comforter who will give you power.

Matt asks us to repeat, "It's our turn!"

Jesus saved and healed people. Now, it's your turn to continue his work.

When we show up and accept the task, our lives will change. We just need to allow Jesus to work in us and through us.

Jesus could have stayed until the mission was fulfilled, but the plan all along was to use us.

Pastor Fry talks about a recent trip to Nashville, where he grew up. He recounted the visit and shared his stop to the high school he attended. Matt talked about his old wrestling coach and the encounter he had after 10+ years (ok, a few more than 10 - crowd laughs).

As Matt and his coach parted ways, he turned and said, "Hey, Coach! Thanks for your sacrifice." His coach replied, "I'm the one who is blessed to wake up and do this everyday."

Pastor Matt explains that we can use our talents and gifts to make a difference in this world. Join Jesus in fulfilling the mission.

Jesus said that he will never leave you or forsake you.

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

If you need hope or help. God wants you to know that he loves you. Jesus died and rose from the grave. If you would like to know Jesus as your savior then pray this prayer.

Dear God, I realize I've sinned and I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross and rising from the grave. Come in to my heart and save me. Thank you for giving me eternal and abundant life. Help me to live for you, for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

To share your story, want more information about next steps, or just in need of prayer, please contact Pastor Matt Fry.

C3 Church: Easter

2012-04-08T13:58:00.001-04:00

Pastor Matt Fry, Lead Pastor at C3 Church, celebrates Easter with a message on Jesus' death and resurrection.

Opening Scripture

Early on Sunday morning,^[a] as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

²Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. ³His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

⁵Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. ⁷And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

⁸The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. ⁹And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

The Report of the Guard

¹¹As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. ¹²A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. ¹³They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ ¹⁴If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” ¹⁵So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

The Great Commission

¹⁶Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

¹⁸Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,^[b] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:1-20 (NLT)

What does Easter mean to you? As a kid, it was about getting up early, Easter eggs, baskets, and chocolate bunnies. It was also about getting dressed up in a suit, tie, and going to church.

What is Easter? Easter is about a man named Jesus who died and was raised from the grave. Easter is about what Jesus can do for us. It's a celebration. Every day is a celebration because Jesus is ALIVE!

The Resurrection Is All About Life

Jesus was dead. It looked like there was no hope, but then something happened...the power of God was stronger than death. Our God is a mighty and awesome God. He is the King of Kings.

Easter and the resurrection is about life, not death. Jesus came so that we can have life.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10 (KJV)

The Devil is a liar and thief, but Jesus wants to give you an abundant life, which can ONLY come from God.

Some people believe that God wants us to live a boring and religious life. Pastor Matt says that is not true.

Looking at paintings of Jesus, he looks robotic and boring. However, if you look at the Bible, Jesus was a radical guy. He healed people, ate with sinners, walked on water, brought people back from the dead, and made other awesome miracles happen.

Jesus came to set us free from our past.

Death Is A Reality Of Life

Death is a part of life. One out of every one person will die. (Audience laughs)

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment Hebrews 9:27 9 (NJKV)

Unless Jesus comes back first, we will all die once. Where will you go after you die?

Earlier this week, Matt received a phone call. He learned that Pastor David Foster passed away last night in his sleep. At 58 years old, he preached his normal service, went jogging, went to take a nap, and passed away.

Pastor Matt was looking forward to hanging out with David at an upcoming conference. It's sad. We miss those we lose.

There Is Life After The Grave

Just as Jesus rose from the grave, we will one day rise to have life after death. Heaven can be our home forever and ever. Life after the grave is what "resurrection" means.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 (NIV)

Because of Adam, we will all die, but through Christ, we will have eternal life.

Adam and Eve were the most handsome and beautiful people in the world (audience laughed). They were living in paradise, but because of their sin, we all were given a death penalty.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord. Roman 6:23 (NIV)

Death = No Hope BUT The Gift = Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord

In thinking about all the gifts that you have received over your lifetime, how many of those do you still have?

Real life ONLY comes through Jesus. Some of us think that we don't deserve that gift. It's true, we don't. However, through Jesus we have received that free gift.

God says, come as you are. You don't have to fix yourself before you come to Jesus. He said that if you come to him, HE will fix you.

Does this mean that I can believe in any god and go to Heaven? No.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 (NIV)

Some may think that it's narrow minded. No, it's the truth. Pastor's prayer is that you choose life.

A missionary in Brazil came across a tribe in the jungle. People were dying in the village. Across the river was a hospital, but the tribe believed that if they crossed the river, they would die.

The missionary tried to convince the people that the water was fine, but they were not convinced. They said that the water had evil spirits.

Finally, he dove in the water and swam to the other side. When he reached the other side, he said, "See, all is well!" Finally, the tribe went one by one across the water for healing.

This story is a lot like the story of Jesus. Jesus went first into the depths of Hell and conquered the grave. Trust and follow me and I'll give you LIFE.

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

If you need hope or help. God wants you to know that he loves you. Jesus died and rose from the grave. If you would like to know Jesus as your savior then pray this prayer.

Dear God, I realize I've sinned and I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross and rising from the grave. Come in to my heart and save me. Thank you for giving me eternal and abundant life. Help me to live for you, for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

To share your story, want more information about next steps, or just in need of prayer, please contact Pastor Matt Fry.

Be More Proactive Using These Four Tips

2012-04-05T06:52:00.000-04:00

"Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!" - Proverbs 14:23

Earlier this week, I had a lively discussion with a co-worker about how she was managing a project I'm involved in. It started, for me, with some ambiguities in her reports. In an effort to seek clarification, I asked her a series of questions both during and after her presentation in hopes of understanding the big picture. Somewhere in the discussion, she turned my lack of understanding back on me. "You're late!" she explained. "You have had opportunities to insert your authority but let those opportunities pass you by. I'm not going to wait for you to get it together because I have work to do and value to create."

The conversation lasted about an hour and it involved plenty of verbal arm wrestling. My goal was to uncover the "secret recipe" and better understand the rules of engagement for the project she's leading. Her goal, based on the conversation, was to get stuff done by any means necessary, even if that meant taking advantage of people's passive behavior. Not that I'm against that tactic, I just wanted her to verbalize the strategy be open about it.

By the end of our discussion, my mind raced over the conversation. Specifically, I replayed those comments that seemed to attack my actions (or in her case, my inactivity). Was she right about me? Does she see something in me that I don't or have I failed to acknowledge my own weaknesses?

Given a day to ponder over the details, I concluded that we weren't at odds with one another. In fact, her tactic is one that I've adopted many times in both my career and personal life. My line of questioning wasn't to disagree, but to understand. I imagine that she took it as an attack and retaliated with some well placed defensive shots. Many of those shots were misses and a valiant effort to ward off my passionate inquiry. However, there were a couple of comments that highlighted a known weakness. Some call it passivity, I call it procrastination. Whatever you call it, the solution in my mind is being proactive with a focus on achieving results.

How To Be More Proactive

In the following section, I share some tips on developing a proactive habit and a tool to help track your achievements.

Act decisively
If you are currently in the passenger's seat, one of the first things you can do to take control over a situation is to make a decision. Proactive people make decisions.

Sometimes, it doesn't matter if the initial decision is right or wrong but rather that a decision was made. Remember, even the smartest people make mistakes so don't be afraid to step up and insert yourself. If you are wrong, admit it and adjust.

Lesson: To take control over a situation, start by making a decision.

Act now
If you see a problem or injustice, don't wait to address it later, act now. Not every problem requires your personal attention. Often, you can delegate this task to someone more qualified than you, but failure to act on a problem means the solution will most assuredly be outside your control. It is better to address an issue when you see it versus waiting for someone else to call attention to it.

Lesson: If you wait until someone tells you what to do, you have already lost control.

Stay organized
Once you have identified the problem and delegated the task, it is important to follow up regularly. One of the easiest ways to stay organized is through the use of a calendar. By adding important items to your schedule, you remind yourself to follow up. Allowing the problem to go unnoticed or unsolved for too long can be the difference between driving or riding.

Lesson: Use a calendar to remind yourself to follow up on issues.

Think ahead
Once you have taken control of the situation, you should now have time to get in front of other problems before they happen. I call this thinking ahead.

Thinking ahead requires an active mind that seeks to improve processes and correct that which is broken. While everything cannot be done at the same time, thinking ahead provides an opportunity to prioritize what is most important before someone else does it for you.

Lesson: Stay in front of the problem. Once it gets past you, someone else may end up taking the reigns.

Note: These tips were first mentioned in Be Proactive And Take Control Of Your Life.

Follow Your Achievements With iDoneThis

It's good to think about your upcoming tasks, but the secret for success falls under your ability to actually complete them.

Just over a year ago, I found a service named iDoneThis. The free web-based tool provides a place to list all of your daily accomplishments and then uses those achievements to inspire you. At the very least, iDoneThis is an excuse to evaluate the productivity of your day. Are you doing busy work or completing meaningful tasks?

Recently, the company rolled out a shared list that you and your team can use. I have one for my web developers and another one for people trying to complete their dissertation. It's been helpful.

To get more information about iDoneThis or sign up for a free personal account, follow this link.

Closing Thought

What initially started out as a lively discussion about process turned into an opportunity for exploring my own weaknesses. As much as I hate to admit it, arguments, complaints, and personal attacks are often valuable ways to identify areas of improvements. In this article, we looked at ways to create a proactive habit and track daily achievements.

In the comment section below, I would love to hear your story. How do you stay proactive in your life? What tools do you use?

Image Credit: Wordle.net

Living The Legacy: When I’m Gone, What Else Is Going With Me?

2012-04-04T05:37:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, March 31, 2012, Brothers Lascel Webley and Bryan Burns made a presentation on leaving a legacy. The event took place at the Durham Alumni house in Durham, NC and is a part of the series Living the Legacy. While the presentation speaks to members of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. specifically, there are lessons applicable to those outside the organization as well.

In the following section, I've done my best to capture the essence of the event. During the first half, Brother Lascel Webley spoke about achievement. What is it? What are examples of it? How does it affect your legacy?

Then, in the second half, Brother Bryan Burns talks from the heart about how to apply achievement in our every day lives. In short, it is what we do personally, professionally, and fraternally that determines what we leave behind.

The session was an intimate one and involved plenty of dialog between presenters and their audience. Enjoy!

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Everyone, to some degree, wants something of ourselves to be left behind. How do we do this? In this session, we’re going to talk about a framework and how to apply it to our lives.

We’re always talking about Achievement at all levels of the fraternity. When we have new members, we never really define what Achievement looks like. How can we achieve when it’s not defined or talked about.

What is our definition of achievement? (audience responses)

Setting goals for yourself and achieving it (getting a degree for example)
Making things better for yourself (climbing the stairs)

Lascel looked up the word in the dictionary (Merriam-Websters) and then later in the Bible (2 Chronicles 9).

In the Bible, we learn about King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. She wanted to know about him and his wisdom.

Webley came to understand that the word “Achievement” is defined in the eyes of the beholder. When we think about the word achievement, we think about our leaders and their moving us toward a goal. In the Bible, we need to go out and do good deeds.

In our own lives, we can achieve. We don’t have to look to our leaders to achieve.

Why are we looking at the elementary understanding of achievement? Because it’s the basis of our fraternity.

What are the achievements of Elder Watson Diggs?

He was a principal (from audience)
He was a teacher (from audience)
He wrote a letter to the President of the United States (Webley)

What about James E. Shepard?

He created a college (from audience)
He was a pioneer with a diverse group of supporters (Lascel)

What about Wilt Chamberlain?

He scored a lot of points (100 points in a single game) (from audience)

What about Arthur Ashe?

He was a great athlete (tennis) (from audience)

What about Johnny Cochran?

He was a very successful lawyer (from audience)
He defended O.J. Simpson, Snoop Dogg, and Puffy Combs (Lascel)

What comes to your mind when the name Eddie Long is mentioned?

His relationships with young men (from audience)
Man of God (from audience)

Some of the achievements by these men have been tarnished by other incidents. There are positive achievements and negative achievements. It depends on who is looking at the achievement. This is the basis of our “legacy.”

How are we able to know about these men, especially when many of them were dead or achieved before we even knew who they were.

Over time, people forget the negative achievements and only want to focus on the positive achievements.

What is a legacy?

What you left behind to remember you by (from audience)

From Merriam-Webster:

The dictionary breaks legacy down into two forms: Tangible and intangible

From the Bible: God supports this as well…tangible (giving land, jewelery, etc.)…intangible (birthright).

When we’re gone, what do we leave behind.

First, there are positive and negative legacies. It’s not just positive. The answer is determined by which one outweighs the other. More positive than negative or vice versa.

A legacy can be short-lived or for eternity. In the case of this fraternity, the legacy has lived for more than 100 years.

A legacy can be local, national, or international. In this fraternity, we are international.

A legacy should inspire.

If you were to leave the world today, what would be your legacy? Would your positive legacy outweigh your negative achievements?

Will you leave a story of achievement, success, love, wisdom, guidance, humor, etc?

How do you go about leaving a positive legacy?

Personally

What do you want your family (spouse, kids, etc) to remember about you? The names you give your kids says a lot about who you are as a parent. It starts with how you raise your kids. Brother Burns talks about his own life and how he was raised without a father. As brothers, we need to associate our kids with positive organizations.

A number of brothers who are fathers bring their kids to community service projects and other programs as a way to show them the positive things in life.

What are some of the things you think are most important as parents?

Morals (from audience)
Sharing life lessons in verbal and in written formats (from audience)
Positive examples as role models (from audience)

Brother Burns believes that he can provide a positive legacy as a mentor. We can mentor kids as well as the younger generation.

Another area that we can control is our interactions with the community. We can volunteer. It’s a small investment into the lives of others. To Bryan, this is another form of achievement.

In our fraternity, there are many people who say they want to help the community; however, the number of people who act on that promise are few. We need to stop talking, just do.

Achievement is personal. Everyone has something that is important to them and they should stay true to it.

Growing up, many of us were not raised in a home where there was financial IQ. Bryan talks about the mentality of Mega Million Winners. What would YOU spend your winnings on? Cars, houses, clothes, etc. some would say. Did you know that you can leave items to an organization (houses, land, money, and other property)? Consider leaving a legacy of tangibles.

Brother Leaks rises to talk about whole life insurance as a way to give $25,000 to the chapter. Leaks talked about Ben Ruffin and his intention to leave a policy to the fraternity. He died before he could do that. Young people could will a policy for something as little as $30/mo. Monies could be willed to chapter Foundations.

From the audience, Brother James says that we shouldn’t fear leaving a legacy. He hopes that what he does or what he leaves to his children, it helps someone else.

Professionally

Brother Burns learned early on in his fraternal career, that everything he does is reflected on Kappa. He’s not JUST Bryan Burns, he’s Bryan Burns the KAPPA.

At his job, he is achieving through business ownership. Does this mean that all Kappas own businesses or this successful? By growing these kinds of Kappas the perception or reflection of the organization changes to be more positive or negative.

In a reference to last week’s session, it is a must that we build a network.

Fraternally

Bryan Burns talks about the countless stories of Kappa Leaguers who later joined the organization on the undergraduate or alumni level. Many of them remember the legacy left behind to them by other members.

One of the greatest things that you can do, as a brother, is being an advisor to the undergraduate members. As men, as Kappa men, we have a greater purpose. If you have the opportunity to advise or mentor, you should.

What can we do to encourage others to be more giving?

Setting an expectation (from the audience)
Encourage younger people to share that success (from the audience)
Teach our wisdom, stories, and parables (from the audience)
Being role model (from the audience)

How To Turn A Video Blog Into A 6 Figure Business

2012-03-28T17:05:00.000-04:00

Gregory Ng Hosts Freezer Burns

At the SEO Meetup, which was hosted by Phil Buckley, Gregory Ng presented on a highly anticipated topic which he titled, "How To Turn A Video Blog Into A 6 Figure Business." Mr. Ng, the Chief Experience Officer at Brooks Bell, Inc., hosts a very popular food review show called Freezerburns.

In the following post, I've done my best to capture the essence of his dynamic presentation given at the Tir Na Nog Irish Pub in downtown Raleigh.

Step 1: Choosing A Niche

The first step in choosing a niche for your blog begins with selecting focused content. This means identifying content that you can own (dominate).

By setting your sights on a specific topic, you must also ask yourself, "Is there a big enough audience to support that topic?"

What Is The Goal Of The Show?

Having a dedicated audience is good but one must also keep the objectives at the forefront of the project.

To drive the point home about finding a niche, Greg offered the following information:

There are over 25,000 blogs related to "food"
815 of those blogs are related to "food review"
3 blogs are related to "frozen food review"
1 blog (and that's Freezer Burns) focuses on "frozen food review on video"

Is there business behind frozen food? "Yes!" In fact, Greg shows a number of companies that do support his venture, these include: Nestle, ConAgra, Kellogg's, and more.

Takeaway

Pick a category that nobody else is doing but also backed by big business, advertising, and TV commercials.

Step 2: Own The Niche

Reflecting on Episode 1, which aired in 2008, Greg explained how bad it was. It had poor lighting, reflections, cut off his head cut, and only 64 total page views (all friends and family).

While there are people with great ideas, the problem is that few ever really post their ideas LIVE. The key to success is to simply jump in.

Today, Greg gets around 200,000 page views per episode. If he wasn't willing to start with episode 1, which he cannot stand to watch, he would have never gotten to the point where he is now.

Optimize As You Go!

One important thing to remember is that you can work on the show as you go. This means that you should simply keep putting out content while also finding ways to make things better.

During the first year, Greg set a goal of 5 episodes per week. It was a "Land Grab", he explained.

In an effort to dissuade any competition (those who may have better cameras, production, or audience), he simply put out more content at a faster rate. For Greg, it was about owning the content. The plan worked.

By the end of year one, Freezerburns had 260 episodes in the can. According to Ng, the single focus resulted in a library of videos. He didn't care about marketing or even getting people to like him, it was about the number.

In 2009, someone on YouTube used the same sound byte that he was using for show's theme. It was then that he realized the importance of owning the content.

How Do You Own Your Niche?

To own the niche, you must first own your show (stake your claim). This includes, but not limited to:

Domain Name
Social Screen Names
Logo
Theme Song
Tagline
Catch Phrases
Title

In line with this, Greg recommends that companies should always look for ways to share the brand. "Put it [the brand] everywhere. It's important because when people see it, they'll think of the show." he explains.

One year later, Ng made a whopping $384 (or $0.23/hour) from the show. He says, "That's not sustainable. If you're trying to make money that's not going to do it."

Step 3: Know Your Audience

"Stoner College Kids" (44 percent) and "Grocery Shopping Moms" (41 percent) are two of the show's popular demographics. He knows his audience, what they like, and what they do. As a result, everything he does on the show is done for those two groups.

How Does He Know All That?

In response to that question, Greg shares some of his most valuable tools.

Crowd Science - A free service that allows you to ask the audience questions. For Ng, it's a starting point.

Blip.tv - Provides monetized advertizing and analytics (this service doesn't overlap where Crowd Science goes). It's important to note that there is no all in one solution. Greg uses a number of different tools.

Facebook Questions - Very unscientific, but it allows him to poll his audience.

Google Analytics - He's been using this tool since month one of the show. What he noticed is that people were clicking through to latest video through RSS. Then they would look through the tags and navigate that way. He assumed people were going to watch every episode. Some would, if serial, but for most Freezerburns visitors, it's in and out. Some people only watch pizza reviews.

Knowing this information, Greg tested out his site. As a result, he built a taxonomy where visitors could browse reviews by Rating, Brand, Type, Cooking Method, and Keyword. Once in place, people got lost in the reviews and the average time on site skyrocketed from 3:08 to 4:25.

Lesson: Use the data to change the way you enhance your site.

YouTube Analytics - Great resource! according to Ng. Did you know that you can join your YouTube Analytics into Google Analytics?

The YouTube Analytics was really important to Greg. In June of 2010, people wanted to see the nutritional information about the food (thanks to the comments). In the 336 episode (Chicken Fettuccini Frodown), he found that when he put nutritional facts on the video, the numbers dropped. He also found that when he took his first bite, the viewership also went way down. Sure enough, after weeks of testing, the message was consistent. As a result, he eventually took the nutritional information away.

Takeaway: Assuming you have enough data, consider using Video Insights.

Seevolution - This tool used to be free, but now it costs $50/mo. According to Greg, it is a really awesome hotspot analytics for click data (to see where the mouse goes). After running on his site, he learned that views and the taxonomy were pretty hot (popular).

He also found that instead of using the navigation sequentially, users did something else. When he increased the number of videos from 5 to 10, his page views moved from 2.5 to 6.32.

Takeaway: Test your data.

Visual Website Optimizer - Greg loves this tool. The Visual Website Optimizer integrates with Google Analytics (and they use at Brooks Bell, Inc.). There is a 30-day free trial.

When Ng ran a test, he used different headlines and found that one worked. "You never know what works until you try it."

Because the goal was to grow subscribers, Greg found that by using another headline his subscribers increased by 7 percent.

Takeaway: Test, test, test.

Where He Is Now

When looking back over the years, Greg explained that he really tested into the current design of his site. He thought that people wanted to go to the latest video. However, he discovered that people wanted an overview of the site (for new subscribers). What is important to them is that Freezerburns published so many reviews. It's not until the visitor scrolled down to the bottom of the page that videos show up.

Step 4: Grow Your Audience

How do you grow your audience? Distribute EVERYWHERE. In an exclusive announcement, Greg revealed that Freezerburns will be on Hulu, too. While he doesn't have videos on all sites, he does have a presence. These include, but not limited to:

Youtube
iTunes
Blip (which distributes everywhere)
Break.com
AOL video
Vimeo
Tivo
Sony Bravia
Samsung
Blinkx
Boxee
Facebook
Divx.tv.
and much more...

Interestingly, Greg reveals that he doesn't get very many views on the website. Instead, the majority of views happen where the people are (social networks).

Know What Your Audience Wants

It's important to know what the audience wants. For Ng, it's important because it helps him decide which products to review.

Stay focused on what the majority wants (it's not important to do local stuff that only a few people can enjoy). "Remember what the majority of your audience wants...not just the vocal few." Greg says.

Spread The Wealth And Give Behind The Scenes Access

In every sponsorship deal, Greg tries to work in coupons. He wants to be a brand ambassador. This is where Ng takes customer feedback and then says (to the brand), "Here is an example of what people are saying about the product."

Remember, you're pushing influence.

In a normal week, Greg gets an average of three cases of food. Three cases is a lot of food and he doesn't have the time to review it all.

One way to bring viewers behind-the-scenes is by taking pictures of products he's received. He mainly posts on Facebook and Twitter, not necessarily on YouTube.

In the beginning, he was buying his products to review. After the Wall Street Journal article (in 2010), he started getting free stuff. Although, Greg makes it a point to still buy 75 percent of what he reviews. This way it's an unbiased review. He wants to stay in control.

Engage In Comments, Respond To Emails

"If you don't have comments...you're doing it wrong." Greg says. First step, enable your comments. This is how to build a rapid fan base. It takes up a lot of time but it's so very important.

When asked a question that he gets ALL THE TIME, he responds. Greg admits that sometimes he answers questions late, but he answers every one. On average, he gets 78 emails a day. Each one of those is an opportunity. "It's a pain, but it's important to respond."

Turn Your Fans Rabid

Freezerburns Tattoo

One guy has a tattoo of the Freezerburns logo on his leg.

The important thing to Greg is to let fans know that he is a real person who monitors stuff. They, in turn, become his army of advocates. It's important to invite, even encourage, creative things like pictures.

Care What Your Fans Think, But Trust Your Gut

"Haters are gonna hate." Greg says. According to the trolls, he...

...chews like a pervert
...is a lazy fat f***
...needs a job
...has a big nose

The point here is that people are going to say things that hurt. Comments hurt, but now he just eggs people on. If you get trolls, it means you're popular.

Step 5: Give Sponsors Something To Believe In

One of the biggest values for Greg and the Freezerburns show is testimonials. To Ng, testimonials are GOLD. Why? you ask. Because Greg can go to a brand and say, "People are making buying decisions based upon my reviews...now give me money." [The crowd laughs]

Action Items:

Screen shot everything - Time stamp the testimonial and put it in a folder for use later
Create a Press Kit - It's important to have kits pre-made and sending the same thing to all brands
Encourage action for brands - Promote brands so that they will promote you

Give Brands Opportunities For Exposure

Greg talked about doing a live show that Healthy Choice sponsored. He gave the brand an opportunity to participate in the event. If he hadn't reached out to the company, how else would they have known about the show?

"If you give that opportunity, you'll get that exposure back." ~ Greg Ng

Experiment But Stay Focused

To drive the point home, Mr. Ng talked about four different shows that he'll never do again (Fryerburns, Belly Busters, Review Free Stuff, and one more). While popular shows, he won't do them again because it causes a loss of focus from Freezerburns.

Tell brands you exist

Publish reviews where the brands can see it. Greg shared a story where he published his reviews on Facebook pages, for example. Companies like this idea because it gives them exposure.

Action Item: Go follow SaffronRoadFood on Twitter and Facebook. Tell them @GregoryNg sent you.

Step 6: Monetize

Video Ads

This is a very important step and there are three different types of video ads (overlay): Bottom third, pre-roll, or post roll.

With Blip.tv, there is an advertising option. "Just check, check, check, and you're done."

Note: "People and blogs" is not niche enough. If you fall in that category, Greg recommends that you get more specific.

YouTube also provides monetization options.

Note: If you're using pirated content (music, for one), it's not good. Instead, try Incompetech for free audio that's also high quality.

Make Money While You Sleep

For the time Greg spent presenting (about an hour he says - although, it was really almost an hour and a half), he made $80 bucks because his 500 YouTube videos are being viewed all day over the world.

In review of his very first video, he now has over 117k views. By monetizing every video, he's making money.

"You won't get rich off of ads." Greg explains. He only makes about 10 percent. The other 90 percent is off of endorsements.

Episode Sponsorships

One very powerful way to earn money is through sponsorships. This step can take a lot of time, but it's worth it.

Last year, Greg ran a contest with Healthy Choice (Freshen Your Freezer). The contest details involved taking a picture of the freezer and putting it on the Healthy Choice Facebook page. The winner got flown out to the Healthy Choice Headquarters where they filmed a live episode.

To Greg's advantage, he had data (Facebook Likes, Subscriptions), testimonials, and more. As a result, he was able to name his price.

In addition to that, Mr. Ng also provided a form letter. A form letter for contacting sponsors offers a positon statement (what he does), time relevance, creditability (testimonials), demographic relevance, and recent successes. He explains that he always uses this template. Furthermore, he couldn't do any of this if he didn't know his audience. You have to know this before ever approaching sponsors.

In 2011, Greg launched an iPhone app. He launched the app ~~so that he could get it up~~ [pause] as a first step toward a much longer goal. Additionally, he has a QR code scanner so that you can scan a food and get his related review.

Data is your friend. With data captured from the mobile app, Greg can use this information to approach a competitor, grocery store chain, and to share relevant coupons with his audience.

You only get money if you think outside of those ads and focus on sponors.

In Conclusion

If you cannot define your business in five words or less then you don't have enough focus (finding your niche). It only took Greg three hours to skim down to a niche. He started with three ideas for a show: Mac & cheese, cereal, and the freezer isle.

Other Closing Comments

Greg's passion was to own a category, in this case it was the frozen food category
He doesn't accept money for a positive review, only to get a review
Women will make way more money, and faster, with video
Someone should do a Lean Cuisine show (there are tons of opportunities here...and then he'll buy your show) [The crowd laughed]
He once knew a guy who would shove his mouth full of food and then sing (niche)
Knowing your audience is VERY important (once you know your audience...do checks and balances to check assumptions of who the audience really is)
Uses Google Alerts
Always brand your videos

C3 Church: Imagine Celebration Weekend

2012-03-25T10:55:00.001-04:00

This weekend, Pastor Matt Fry talks about about supporting the church vision through a two-year campaign known as Imagine.

Pastor Matt starts off with the foundational scripture:

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?[a]”

12 When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”13 Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’[b] For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” [Matthew 9:9-13 (NLT)]

The Call

The first thing you need to understand is that there is "A Call." While reading Matthew 9, Pastor Matt said that he learned about the kind of church God wanted him to start. He explains that he felt comfortable where he was, leading the youth group at his previous church, but he continues to say that he really wanted to reach out and impact people where they live today. Instead of playing church games and politics, he wanted to simply focus on Jesus. He wanted to reach out and touch the hurting and hopeless.

It's not about US but OTHERS. Let's get our eyes off ourselves and on those who need Jesus.

During this time, Tax Collectors (like Matthew) were not famous people because they were often crooked and unfairly assigned burden as they saw fit.

The Pharasees were "religious" but their hearts were not in it. It's about a relationship with God not just about following the rules.

Jesus is not looking for perfect people. He's looking for you and I...those who are willing and available.

In the Bible, we see these people of God and think they were flawless, but we learn that everyone sinned and imperfect.

Jesus doesn't see your past (you're forgiven), but sees your potential (who you can become).

Pastor Matt talks about a guy named Johnny. Johnny grew up in a broken home in North Carolina and was a high school dropout. This is a guy who was heading down the wrong road (i.e. drugs, alcohol, fighting, etc). At 23, he returned to got his GED and found Jesus. Today, Johnny Hunt is a very successful pastor in Atlanta.

Whenever you say, "Yes" to God, something good is going to happen.

The Need

We need to see the need like Jesus does. We need to get our eyes off ourselves and on the needy.

35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [Matthew 9:35-36 (NLT)]

Compassion is to be moved in your inner parts. When Jesus saw and heard the crowd's pain, he felt their needs. Pastor Fry believes that Jesus' heart broke for those people.

When was the last time you hurt for others? We have the privilege of being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Matt talks about one of his first messages at C3 Church, he says that he saw a vision of people coming into a "cafetorium" that needed hope. In the weeks that followed, people flooded that elementary school. Why? Because they needed hope.

The Vision

After Jesus saw the crowd approaching, he spoke to his disciples. He said that the need is great but the workers are few.

There are thousands that come to C3 Church during a weekend. God is calling each of us to reach out help others. It's not just a pastor's responsibility to reach people, we too need to get involved.

There is power in agreement. If God unites people, there is power in that.

19 “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three gather together as my followers,[a] I am there among them.” [Matthew 18:19-20 (NLT)]

If we can get everyone to commit to a common vision, we can do some amazing things. A good place to start at C3 Church is focused on Imagine. Let's Imagine together!

Prayer

If you need hope or help. God wants you to know that he loves you. Jesus died and rose from the grave. If you would like to know if Jesus is your savior then pray this prayer.

Dear God, I realize I've sinned and I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross and rising from the grave. Come in to my heart and save me. Thank you for giving me eternal and abundant life. Help me to live for you, for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

To share your story, want more information about next steps, or just in need of prayer, please contact Pastor Matt Fry.

Initial Thoughts On JustRetweet And Triberr As A Solution To Increase Blog Pageviews

2012-03-22T18:46:00.002-04:00

The A-Team Is An Example Of Working Together

Do you have a blog? Are you actively writing? Are you getting many visits to your site? Would you like more?

As of late, I've been following Ms. Ileane's lead as it pertains to community engagement. How has she systematically increased the number of Likes, shares, and comments on her site? While I'm sure the answer is a complex one with many moving parts, I believe one secret of success lies in the company she keeps.

In an effort to get my blog seen by more eyes, I asked the question, "What would Ms. Ileane do?"

For the remainder of this post, I would like to focus on two web sites that may help you increase pageviews and then share a couple of lessons I've learned since joining those communities.

JustRetweet

JustRetweet is a free web site that encourages retweets on Twitter. "How does that happen?" you ask. Well, it all starts with Credits.

As a new user, you receive a set number of credits. Once in possession of said credits, you can use them to motivate others into following you on Twitter, retweeting a message, or subscribing to your blog via RSS.

At first glance, it feels like you're merely buying the attention, which some may find disingenuous. However, I encourage you to be patient and try to view the bigger picture.

To motivate retweets, follows, and subscribes, you get to determine how many credits you are willing to spend each time an action is taken. I've seen people spend as little as 2 credits and as high as 60 credits for compliance. It really just depends on how serious you are about encouraging a particular behavior.

At some point, your credits will dwindle and you'll need more. While there is an option to buy credits, I prefer to return the love shown me. Just as people are following, retweeting, and subscribing, you can do the same for them. With each action, you replenish the credit bank that will ultimately be spent on promoting your own messages. It's a self-sustaining ecosystem that promotes sharing. Neat idea, huh?

Triberr

The second web site, Triberr, doesn't use credits to reward good behavior. Instead, good behavior begets good behavior.

To begin, users join tribes. Like JustRetweet, the service runs on credits. Instead of the term credits, Triberr refers to currency as Bones. As a Tribe Chief (creator/owner of a tribe), it costs 15 Bones to invite new members. Initially, I only had enough bones to invite four or five members. While it is possible to earn bones, it sounds like a rare event. Therefore, the preferred method is through a real financial transaction.

The purpose of Triberr is to organize yourself in groups of like-minded individuals who blog about similar topics. As you write new blog posts, your tribe members are encouraged to share your post with their networks via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn. In turn, you should also share their contributions.

This constant exchange of goodwill is what makes the service so successful, at least in my humble opinion.

Lessons Learned

For the period of time that I've been exposed to both services, I've noticed my own blogging behaviors begin to change. Below are just a few observations:

Giving is the name of the game - While people may initially support you, if you're not willing to give of yourself then it won't work. To receive comments, retweets, and shares, you must first comment on other people's blog, retweet their posts, and actively share their work with your networks. When in doubt, give more!
What starts as an exchange is really the beginning of a relationship - Earlier, I mentioned how disingenuous this all felt. Well, if there is one thing I've come to understand it's that sharing other people's work has a way of bringing you closer. We're really a band of bloggers trying to accomplish similar goals. Alone we fall, but together we succeed.
Be selective - Just because we are encouraged to support each other doesn't mean you have to share everything others write. Think about your network, what would be of value to them? If the content works, share it. If not, look for something that will. There have been occasions where the newest post didn't work for me, but I found an older article that I LOVED. Be selective and reward well written articles.
Don't just share, engage! - One of the weaknesses of this model is that some people just retweet or share. Sure, it's cool to say that you've had 100 retweets, but how effective is that strategy when people simply ignore the tweet? Don't just be a conduit of posts, take time to engage with your networks; ask questions, respond to posts, or share personal observations every once in a while.

Overall, I'm pleased with both JustRetweet and Triberr. As a result, I've already found some very talented bloggers with amazing stories and perspectives to share. If you would like to join JustRetweet follow this link. To join Triberr, you can find me here.

In the comment section below, let's talk about your experience with either service. What questions do you have? How can I be of service.

Catching The Little Things

2012-03-21T11:12:00.003-04:00

I just left a meeting with consultants who have been contracted to help design the University's web strategy and governance model. As they prepare for a special meeting this afternoon, they ran through their PowerPoint presentation with a select few.

My first observation is that they've captured a lot of the little things that easily go unnoticed; however, when you put all of those little things together, it quickly adds up to something more substantial.

This caused me to think about how easy it is to catch the little things in life, but save them somewhere for later use.

In the case of the consultants, they used the small discoveries to tell a story about the University's current state of affairs. For the rest of us, we can follow suit and apply it in a number of areas. Consider using your blog, video, audio, or camera to capture the small ideas. Then, as time goes on, build on those ideas to construct a more comprehensive body of work.

What Are Examples Of Small Ideas?

Quote you heard someone say
A thought initiated from a book, movie, podcast, or blog
A picture perfect view
An outfit you see someone wearing
An interior design from a friend's house

Let these, and other small ideas, be the seed that helps you grow a more complete product.

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Kappa Alpha Psi Celebrates Silver Anniversary With A Rededication To Objectives

2012-03-15T00:19:00.002-04:00

Elder Watson Diggs, Founder

By January 5, 1936, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. would celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. Founding members and brothers alike shared their varied perspectives on the Fraternity's progress.

Founder Elder Watson Diggs wrote:

Although proud of having made some progress, I cannot escape a feeling of disappointment at the meager objectives our organization has thus far achieved. Perhaps it is difficult for me to see clearly and judge accurately. At any rate, I venture to hope that the next twenty-five years will (provide us) with clearer understanding of the purposes of (Greek letter organizations), and fuller realization of (those purposes).

Founder Ezra D. Alexander said:

Kappa Alpha Psi has been a great inspiration to me...As a student during the first years of its existence, I can readily realize the important part it played in urging me forward to obtain a higher education that in turn molded my character and made of me a better citizen.

In an address titled, "New Gods for Olympus; Shall Kappa Meet the Challenge?" Dr. Horace Mann Bond, Dean at Dillard University, described the environment during the Fraternity's founding. With nine million blacks in the United States, less than three thousand were enrolled at institutions of higher learning. It took a courageous individual to make it through a college career because of all the challenges faced. Additionally, an undergraduate degree in 1911 was used to better the living situation of the people, not the individual.

By the 1930's, there were more than 35,000 blacks enrolled in colleges/universities. As a result, a divide between the educated and uneducated became apparent. Criticisms toward the educated included arrogance and "snobbishness." Dr. Bond continued with his address and focused on the rededication to the organization's objectives. More specifically, Bond emphasized the importance of college fraternities in aiding the resolution of problems affecting the people. Education should help bridge the various classes of people, not divide them.

By the twenty-fifth year, the Fraternity successfully established four national programs: Guide Right, Housing, Scholarship, and Research. Looking toward the future, the organization kept these programs at the forefront of its effort.

How Do You Increase Loyal Listeners To Your Podcast?

2012-03-14T19:48:00.000-04:00

Why do people listen to the podcast? That's the question I've been asking our loyal Room 3026 Live listeners.

In response, I've heard them say variations of the following:

Real-time interaction between hosts and listeners
Good information
Interesting guests
The news
The chat room

While this list is not exhaustive, it was enough to get my brain thinking. How can we, as hosts, continue to build on the core group of listeners?

Three Levels Of Listeners

In a post-show discussion, we identified three levels of listeners:

Potential Listeners
Casual Listeners
Core Listeners

Potential Listeners

The first group of listeners holds the most members and represents individuals who have not yet listened to the show.

Casual Listeners

These listeners have heard the podcast before, but are not regular listeners.

Core Listeners

This group represents those listeners who are there practically every day.

Based upon my observation, listeners move through the various circles. Those that are considered Core Listeners were once Potential Listeners that progressed through each ring until they reached the core group. In the same way, a Core Listener can move away from the center circle and become less active.

With that established, how does one attract listeners toward the core like a magnet attracts metal?

What Are The Benefits Of Listening?

As hosts, we believe there are benefits of listening. For example, we listed a few items:

Support for listener's blog (Blog Roll)
Promote a listener's event (Announcements)
Engaging audience (Chat room, Daily Booth, and live interaction with hosts)
Guests (Interviews)

In review, I don't think there is one silver bullet that encourages loyal listeners; it's a combination of all the various segments. For those that stay, I believe it's because they are getting a need fulfilled.

How To Increase Core Level Listeners

This is the million dollar question, right? From where I sit, the answer lies in keeping loyal listeners satisfied while moving casual and potential listeners closer to the middle. Below are a few ideas to consider at each level.

Potential Listeners (To move from potential to casual)

Invite them to listen
Encourage special guests to bring their listeners/fans/supporters
Conduct live podcasts on-location

Casual Listeners (To move from casual to core)

Encourage them to join the show's email list
Invite them to connect on social networks
Follow their blog, podcast, vodcast, and comment often

Core Listeners (To keep satisfied as a core listener)

Host special on/offline events that encourages engagement and camaraderie
Showcase and bring attention to something they are doing through interviews or on-air announcements
Engage them in the show and use their name or feedback
Provide relevant content that is somewhat personalized

These are just a few ideas that seem to work for us. Although, I am always looking for other creative and effective strategies to increase listener's return on investment (ROI). In the comment section below, let's talk about ideas that you have.

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Empire Avenue To Unveil New Design And Seeks To Become Your Social Media Rocket Fuel

2012-03-09T18:47:00.005-05:00

Tonight, the folks at Empire Avenue are planning to announce their new and improved website design and user interface LIVE at SXSW. The event will be available online starting at 7 pm CST.

In an effort to whet your whistle, Mr. Michael Grills developed this teaser video (see below). It doesn't give you many details on what's to come, but it continues to push the Social Media Rocket Fuel: Expand, Engage, and Evaluate message.

If you're unable to view the video, click here.

What's New With Empire Avenue?

Many people have been asking, "What's going on with Empire Avenue (EA) tonight?" I admit, the details have been a little vague, but I think you will enjoy what the team has been working tirelessly to provide. In the following sections, I'd like to give you a quick look at what's behind the curtain. Are you ready?

Engage: Talk To Your Followers

Once you log into the website, the first place you end up is under a tab called, Engage.

The page immediately reminds me of the trendy service we call Pinterest. Built with square boxes, users can find their friend's latest updates from networks like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, Instagram, Flickr, and more.

Not only can users read updates, but they can also interact with them. As an example, Twitter users can retweet or reply directly within Empire Avenue. Replying is also available for Facebook updates.

What I do not see is a way to like or share; although, I imagine that feature is probably in the works.

Other notable features on the Engage tab include:

Recent mentions
Recent shareholders
Recent arrivals
Post shouts to Empire Avenue, Twitter, and Facebook

Expand: Get More Followers

The next tab, Expand, serves as a place to find new people. From this single page, you can see Recommended, Recent Arrivals, Site Wide Leaders (based on Share Price, Wealth, Portfolio Wealth, Dividend/Share, and more), Social Network Leaders, and EA Communities.

Evaluate: Measure Your Success

The third tab, Evaluate, is where you can follow your social media score across the Internet. From Facebook to LinkedIn, users will see all of their pertinent information on a single page. In addition, it's easy to move from one network to the other.

Other Enhancements: Scoring Google+ and Missions

Another exciting enhancement in the new release involves the scoring of Google+. Yes, many of you have been asking for it, but now it will become a reality. In the image below, you can see the option available. Reports should start rolling out as early as next week.

One of the most popular additions to Empire Avenue was the Missions feature. Missions provide users with creative options to earn extra Eaves (e). Today, the company wants to actively encourage meaningful engagement through content and user-built missions.

Final Thought and Free Gift

As I look back over the number of enhancements and features listed above, it's clear to me that the EA team is looking to be apart of our everyday lives. The company is working diligently to build an ecosystem where people can engage, follow, and evaluate their social media effort.

Is the new Empire Avenue an all-in-one solution? Not yet. Does it give influence-based sites like Klout a run for its money? You better believe it. Will it cause you to spend more time following and engaging with your friends? Absolutely!

In closing, I would like to congratulate the hard work and dedication the whole team invested into this new product. I think they did a fabulous job and even deserve a few hours of sleep before storming off toward the next big project.

When can users expect the new changes to roll out? According to my source within the company, new members can expect immediate access AFTER the announcement tonight. For existing users, the ability to "Opt-In" begins next week.

Finally, as a gift to my valued readers, I have been authorized to give the first 10 people to retweet this article FREE (and early) access to the new web site. Make sure you include @damondnollan in your message to get credit.

In the comment section below, let me know what you think about the new Empire Avenue.

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I Pin, You Pin, We All Pin for Pinterest

2012-03-08T18:09:00.001-05:00

I've heard about it, I even used it once or twice, but it wasn't until a blogger explained it to me that I finally saw it's value. Yes, I'm talking about this growing service called, Pinterest. In this article, I would like to introduce you to Pinterest and explain why a content creator should even care about it.

What Is Pinterest?

Ok, let me start at the beginning. Pinterest, as described on their website, is a Virtual Pinboard. The web-based service provides a place to pin pictures and videos of your favorite things. Think of Pinterest as a virtual shoe box of images related to clothes, food, houses, cars, art, books, people, or places you like. In the image below, you can see tons of interesting things.

In addition to pinning pictures and video, you can create boards, which are specific categories where individual pictures are stored.

Lastly, you can also follow your friends, which helps populate your home screen (see above).

Why Content Creators Should Care About Pinterest

Even though I jumped on the service early, I didn't initially see the value. Yes, I can store pictures, but why waste my time? This is where you should pay attention...because it can help increase your pageviews.

To my Bloggers, Vloggers, Photographers, Graphic Designers, Beauticians, Barbers, Make-Up Artists, Web Developers, Painters, Home Decorators, Fashion Designers, and the like... you can greatly benefit from this service. Let me explain how.

Step One: Get The Pin It Button

While there are a number of ways to pin something, let's start with the Pin It button. You can add it as a browser bookmark or add a browser extension.

Step Two: Pin A Picture

Now that you have the tool, it's time to start pinning your favorite pictures. Simply visit a web site and click on the Pin It button. At this point, you should see the picture in a gallery similar to the one displayed below.

To proceed, click on the image you want to pin and click on the Pin This button. Select the Board you want the image to rest in, write up a 500 character (or less) description, and click Pin It. It's that easy!

As a contributing member of the Pinterest community, your role is to curate interesting material. However, as a content creator, your job is to also share some of the goodness from your own site, gallery, or archive. The more interesting the picture, the greater your chances of being seen and clicked on.

As a blogger, for example, this means placing colorful and relevant images in your blog posts. Personally, I get tons of traffic from Google because of the pictures I use. Why not do the same with Pinterest?

In addition to your efforts, other members of the community can Repin your items (and vice versa), which helps to further your pictures (and blog posts).

Tips For Getting Started

It's Not All About You - While Pinterest is a great way to market your own content, remember to actively engage with other people's work. When you're reading an article with an outstanding image, Pin It.
Follow Interesting People And Boards - Part of the fun is reviewing what other people pin. Don't do it alone, follow friends and other interesting people. If you don't want to follow everything a person pins, follow just a particular board of interest.
Give Love Often - Just like you, people enjoy a good compliment. If you see something you like, let them know. Start by giving them a Repin, Comment, Like, or Tweet.

So, what do you think? Let's discuss the value of Pinterest and how you use it in the comment section below.

If You Want More [Fill In The Blank], Then Do More

2012-03-05T09:24:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had a message that kept showing up in different places? It's as if you're going to keep hearing it until you actually listen. For me, that message turned out to be the law of GIVING.

Jimmy Evans
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of listening to Jimmy Evans talk about this very thing. In a sermon titled "How Much Do You Want?," Mr. Evans provides a Biblical perspective on God's promise.

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” [Luke 6:38 (NKJV)]

This verse provides two important points: 1) Give and it will be given to you 2) Give a little, receive a little. Give a lot, receive a lot. Therefore, your measure of blessings is determined by your measure of giving.

Bruce Sallan
In another example, my Twitter friend, Ann Tran, shared a link to a blog written by Bruce Sallan. The name of the article is "Why I Comment All The Time" and it outlines the best way to increase interaction, learning, and friendship.

The takeaway: Comment on other people's blog and you will get comments on yours. At the time of this post, he had 61 comments and counting.

Ileane Smith
One final example of someone who is putting the law of giving into practice is my friend Ileane Smith. Ms. Ileane is known for her comment love, retweets, and guest posts. She gives, gives, and gives some more. In return, she receives tons of support, comments, and retweets.

In an interview with Tom Shivers, Ileane shared her winning strategy on getting blog comments and building relationships. In short, comment on other people's blogs and be a friend to others.

Closing Thought
As I prepare to end this post, I want to stress how life changing this one truth can be and challenge you to give it a try for one week. Give more [fill in the blank] and see if you don't get more in return. My guess is that you cannot out give the Giver. Once you do, come back and let me know the results in the comment section below.

Remember:
If you want more followers in your social network, then follow more.
If you want more money in your wallet, then give more.
If you want more comments on your blog, then comment more.
If you want more friends in your life, then be a friend more.
If you want more likes on Facebook, then like more.
If you want more respect, then respect more.
If you want more love, then love more.
If you want more listeners to your podcast, then listen more.
If you want more subscribers to your newsletter, then subscribe more.
If you want more engagement on or offline, then engage more.

Jimmy Evans Speaks At C3 Church: How Much Do You Want?

2012-03-03T19:23:00.002-05:00

Speaker: Jimmy Evans

How Much Do You Want?
Jimmy didn't grow up in poverty, but he grew up next to it. Each Saturday, he would go buy doughnuts and sell them in his red wagon. Later, he worked at a car wash.

He got married to his wife in 1973 and one Sunday he went to church with his family. At this point, he was making around $600 a month. The Pastor talked about giving and Jimmy said I cannot believe that the Pastor asked for his money. "I'm never coming back!" he says. His wife said that she liked the message and wanted to give $40 to the church.

At this point, he had two options: 1) Give and go bankrupt or 2) Don't give and God strikes him dead [crowd laughs]. Finally, he gave in.

He continues to explain that giving that money scared him tremendously. He says that he had a spirit of poverty. At this point, his plan was to give ONCE he got a lot of money. The family was in poverty, he stressed.

Over the next two weeks, after he gave tithes, he explained that they had extra money in the bank. This NEVER happens. Jimmy's wife, Karen, asked again if they could give. Pastor Evans said, "Wait, we made it through two weeks, let's not push it." Karen continued to give Sunday after Sunday and the family was blessed.

The original message about tithing changed his life. If he had known the power of tithing earlier, things may have been different.

How many people believe the Bible? he asks. [Hands go up] Pastor Jimmy reads from the Bible:

28 Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[a] or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. [Mark 10:28-30 (NKJV)]

In the context of money, Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to walk through an eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

As a child, Jimmy says that he gave up friends but later earned many friends throughout the globe. When young, he left his parent's business to work for the church. He was scared, but God reassured him that he wouldn't lose anything. Later on, his Dad and Mother came to the Lord.

Houses, land, relationships, or whatever you give up in this life, you will get 100 fold in the next life.

38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” [Luke 6:38 (NKJV)]

If you want friends, be a friend. If you want encouragement, encourage other people. Do you want a lake or an eyedropper of blessing? God uses the measuring cup you hand to him? How much do you want?

According to your standard of measure, that is the amount of blessings you will receive in return.

Give and it will be given back to you in your standard of measure. What is your standard of measure?

Looking back to 1975, Jimmy felt sorry for himself (Boo hoo!) because he was in poverty, but God wanted to help him.

35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” [Acts 20:35 (NKJV)]

Jesus said, "You're more blessed if you give then when you receive."

Jimmy referenced a book that researched giving. In the study, done over a course of 50 years, they learned that those who give will live longer. Giving reduces depression.

This one doctor was very materialistic. His kids were spoiled. Another family, a doctor, the man's children worked for what they got, work the mission field, and volunteer at church. When you compare both children, the happier kids were the ones that gave.

Receiving doesn't make you live longer. It's when you give. Even the simple act of praying for others in old age reduce depression.

Jimmy talks about an old guy at his church. This man, in his mid-eighties, brings his wife to the front of the church and prays for others each Sunday. This man, who can barely walk, is happy.

If you're a giver, you will live longer.

18 The wicked man does deceptive work,But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. [Proverbs 11:18]

24 There is one who scatters, yet increases more;And there is one who withholds more than is right,But it leads to poverty. [Proverbs 11:24]

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.

11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts; [Malachi 3:10-11]

5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: [2 Corinthians 9:5-8]

Even in this economy, the principle of GIVING will change your life. Giving will affect your life, health, and wealth. How much do you want?

Why Does God Bless Giving?

Like any good parent, God awards behavior they are trying to encourage.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. [Hebrews 11:6]

9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; [2 Corinthians 9:9-13]

God wants us to be givers.
For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten son. Jimmy talks about waiters at restaurants where they hate Sundays at lunch because Christians are cheap with their tips. Jimmy gives a minimum of 20%.

Because it keeps us close to God.
Givers don't backslide. Money promises you the same thing God promises. You cannot serve two masters (God or Money).

Giving allows us to bless others through us
God wants to bless the world. God wants to work through generous people. He's looking for people who have compassion for others, have a heart for others. You are either a river or a dam. God gives to rivers, not dams.

Jimmy talks about growing up poor. He thought his wife, Karen, was rich. She wasn't. Karen's father worked in the insurance business and he promised God that he would give 50% of anything he earned. As a result, God gave him millions upon millions of dollars.

When you are a giver, you live guilt free. God is looking for a river. If you are a dam, all you're going to do is lock it up. You'll put security in that money.

Jimmy prayed years ago, "If you'll help us, we'll help others."

His marriage, early on, was horrible. People came to him for marriage counseling. He never understood why, but he took the job. Years later, God has provided him a television show that will reach millions.

Three powerful truths about giving

Giving tells God in absolute terms what we will do with more!
Giving tells God how much more we can handle and be obedient with it.
Giving allows God to prove his power in love like nothing else.

Jimmy talks about a time where he gave EVERYTHING. He sold stocks and the like. He didn't sell the house or car, but everything else. It was scary, but unbelievable. Two years later, he got his dream house for free. Give and it will be given back to you. If you build God's house, he will build your house.

Closing Prayer

Father we come tonight and commit to being givers of love, encourage, money, and health. We want to be a river and not a dam. We'll always use it for your kingdom. I pray over a spirit of poverty and greed. I pray for this church.

If you are ready to commit your life to Jesus. Say that I repent and fully surrender to you. Lord Jesus, I confess you as my Lord. I believe God raised you from the dead. I believe you paid for my sins. I'm forgiven and I'm on my way to Heaven. I repent. I come to you right now and I commit my entire life to you. I pray that you would use me and show my purpose in life. Show me your Holy Spirit, the power to change, and to do the right thing. This moment forward my life is yours. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Forever Conference At C3 Church: Jimmy Evans

2012-03-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

Speaker: Pastor Jimmy Evans

Tips
To get the most out of a marriage conference, listen for yourself and not for your spouse.

Remember that God created a marriage in Eden (paradise).

Four Elements of Paradise

Beauty
Abundance
Sensual Pleasure
Peace

When Jimmy and his wife got married, they didn't have a peaceful marriage. Early on, people came to him for marriage counseling, but what they didn't know is that he and his wife were on the brink of divorce.

God wants you and your wife to have peace.

Foundations of Peace in a Marriage

1. Prior Agreement

Every couple that gets married does so to live a happy life together.

One thing that he learned in his pre-marriage counseling, is that many people never had those deeper conversations. What he did in his 4-5 sessions is facilitate those discussions. In one of the sessions, "Marriage Expectations," he asked questions about how many kids they wanted, a stay at home wife, whose family would you spend the holiday's with, who would do the housework, who will initiate sex, and how the money would be spent.

You would never believe how many people never had those kinds of discussions. Can two people walk together if they don't agree? No!

Three Levels of Communication

Proactive Communication - Talk about things before it happens.
Reactive Communication - Talk about things after it happens.
Radioactive Communication - Because you don't proactively communicate and you are reactive, this leads to a radioactive communication (aka Someone is going to get hurt).

Four Steps To Agreeing Beforehand

One of the first things you need to know about marriage is that we are ALL messed up. Isn't that good news? Everyone is struggling with something, so join the club.

So how do you get to that peaceful place?

2. Clear Out The Radioactive Issues

Tip: You have to give your spouse the room to complain.

Jimmy talks about a time that he complained about a broken tool. When he went to the store, they told him to simply pick out another one. He loved that store.

Pastor Evans talks about going to another store and returning a shirt that didn't fit. When he returned the shirt, they said they wouldn't take it back because it was worn. Jimmy then asked to speak with the manager. The manager comes and smells the armpit of the shirt and said, "Give him another shirt." Why would anyone go to that store?

Four predictors of Divorce

The University of Washington found that there are four predictors of divorce. They are:

Criticism
Defensiveness
Contempt
Stonewalling

"You are not a good spouse until your

mate tells you that you are"

Both spouses are the problem in a relationship.

Giving your spouse the right to complain does not mean the right to criticize. That's damaging. Complaining is about ME, but criticizing is about the other person and what they're not doing right.

"Yesterday you were angry at me and I felt bad because I didn't know what I did." Pastor explains. As a result, his wife didn't feel attacked and explained the back story.

If you feel like I'm disrespecting you then you have the right to complain. You can say whatever is on your mind and you will not pay a price. If you ignore a problem it sits, it doesn't evaporate.

The most important thing is pleasing Jesus and the second most important thing is my wife. Therefore to clear out the radioactive issues, you have to sit down and talk. You may have to go outside the house to receive help. Not your parents or your buddies, but with a pastor or counselor.

"Stop Reacting to Issues!"

Have a Vision and Plan Retreat at Least Once a Year

Pastor Evans talks about a guy named David who had a better marriage than him. While playing golf, David told him about a vision retreat. A vision retreat is where the couples go away for a weekend and pray for the issues in their life until God gives them a vision. During this weekend, they would pray for their kids (individually and by name), money, and the like. By the time Noon came around, they would go outside and have fun. As a result of this, they didn't fight for months. They felt like they were in sync with one another.

Jimmy talks about a resource called Mountaintop of Marriage: A Vision Retreat Guidebook.

The Devil doesn't want you and your spouse to agree.

Have a Regular Time of Communicating Face to Face Without any Distractions
Jimmy talks about a time without cellphones. In a marriage, there is a time and a place for technology; however, couples need time alone without distractions. Jimmy and his wife take an hour and a half to talk on a daily basis.

"We come first!"

If you feel like you don't have enough time in your day, then prioritize your calendar to include alone time. In his house, they talk before they watch TV. Jimmy knows their conversation is done when his wife turns on the television.

3. Purpose Brings Peace
Sometimes we get caught up in the smaller issues of life and fail to focus on the bigger picture. We exist as a couple to produce Godly offspring.

There will be a time when you're going to ask why you're still in that relationship. The right answer is because of God.

A 41 year old teacher left his family for an 18 year old student. His family was devastated. The couple said, "We know a lot people will be hurt by this but we are following our heart." Jimmy says he's not following his heart [crowd laughs].

Reason 1: God
Our marriage is about God. It's not about me or my needs being met. Look at what God has done in our marriage. "If you'll help us, we'll help others." Jimmy prayed. He never knew God would take him up on that offer [crowd laughs].

Reason 2: Local Church
Another reason for your marriage is to provide your gifts to the local church. Jimmy believes the local church is the hope of the world. If he got out of fellowship with the church, he would have fallen. Your friends are whom you will be like. Therefore, friends in the church, while not perfect, will help you. Church will keep you centered. The further he gets from church, the more unsaved he feels.

Reason 3: To Help Others
Another reason for your marriage is the grace. Nobody can help a person like a person who has been helped. God wants to help you so that you can help others.

4. Secret to Peace and Marriage is Partnership
Marriage is about the law of possession. Couples share everything.

Jimmy talks about a rich man who got married. His wife said that the only place that's comfortable in that house is the kitchen. He talked to the husband and said that marriage is about sharing. Everything we do, we do together. When he wanted to get a pilot's license, he asked his wife first. She said, "Yes."

He doesn't talk about who is the boss in the family because Jesus is the boss. Together they share children, grandchildren, and even money.

How Dominant People Dominate Others

Dominance
Intimidation
Manipulation

Jimmy asked the audience by a show of hands, how many of you were raised in a household where one parent was more dominant than the other? [70% raised their hands]

How many of you think that dominant relationship negatively affected the marriage? [Majority of hands raise again]

Two dominant people cannot marry because there would be a homicide. Two passive people cannot marry because they would starve.

People tend to marry to the degree that they're dominant/passive.

In his marriage, neither of the two dominate the other. They do everything together. When a passive person begins to demand respect, it rocks the other person's world. Stand up for yourself. If you're the dominant person, sit down.

As Karen (his wife) began to speak her mind, he wore her out. God took her side and his blinders fell off his eyes. He realized how poorly he treated her.

You read other books, the Bible reads YOU!

Grace without truth is meaningless, truth without grace is mean.

Prior Hurts/ Inner Vows

When we're hurting, we comfort ourselves. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. As kids, when we're hurt, we tend to make inner vows. "I'll never let a woman treat me like that again!" That's a destructive way to think.

Your father may be weak and you've become a monster (or vice versa). We go to the extremes in trying to protect ourselves.

Jimmy tells a couple of stories about guys that go to the extreme in their marriages because of something their parents did (dominating mothers) or didn't allow (soda in the house).

An inner vow is evil and it makes it hard to change (or listen). We've all done it. Marriage is a partnership. You cannot dominate the other. If you have pain, give it over to God. Ask God for help.

Partnership

We're going to do everything together.

Prayer

Your worry list is your prayer list. With prayer and more prayer, give it to God. Guard your heart and your mind. When you pray, the promises will guard your heart.

Stress robs you of your inner energy. When you have stress and anxiety, you will fight more. If two of you on Earth will agree together (and pray), it will be done for you.

You can have peace in your marriage. By God's grace, he and his family have seen God move in a powerful way. If he can do it, so can you.

Closing Prayer

Lord we agree to agree. We've been reacting to issues. Give us the grace to be proactive and never again react the way we have. We commit. Show us the reasons you've put us together. We pray that we become partners. We're going to share every decision. We're not going to dominate or bully each other. We 're going to pray about every issue in our family. We're going to trust you. There are so many things we cannot do, but we trust you. Amen.

A Four-Step Plan To Blogging A Long-Form Piece Of Work

2012-03-01T19:27:00.000-05:00

In this article, I would like to explore the idea of writing a more comprehensive article based on past work. For years, I have played around with the idea of writing my dissertation through blogs. If I can write a dissertation, then I may even be able to write a book. The possibilities are endless.

For weeks, I've been writing about the history of Kappa Alpha Psi and I'm wondering how I'm going to start combining them into a more unified entry. What's the process for doing that? Below, I've outlined my plan for achieving that goal.

Chunking
So far the work has been in short increments. I spend about an hour in the morning reading and then writing a few paragraphs. According to Roger Parker, this step is called Chunking.

Blogs help authors write books because they break big tasks–i.e., writing books–into a series of short, easy-to-complete tasks (i.e., weekly blogposts.) It’s hard to sit down and write a chapter containing, perhaps, 5,000 words. But, it’s relatively easy to commit to writing 350 to 500 words once or twice a week

Tagging
Here on Blogger the word is "Label," but the idea is to group the post by keywords. This is a neat way to organize my writing into similar buckets of information. As I prepare to write a new article, I can quickly review past work and build on it. Additionally, by allowing the system to count the number of articles I have in each topic, I can see where I have amassed content and where I may need some attention (see my "Topics" drop box for an example) --->.

Building
Once I have numerous posts on a similar topic, I'd like to begin combining them somehow. In a previous post, I thought about creating a 'Top 10 List' or "Best Of" series, but that doesn't work so well in a dissertation style project. Instead, I need to write a new post that builds on my previous writing. This strategy allows me to take the best parts of each past article and add something new.

I still struggle with the idea that I should be working on a single document (i.e. Book, white paper, dissertation, etc.) versus recreating duplicate work with additions (i.e. blog articles). However, I can see with each iteration, the latest document should be much better than it's predecessor or individual parts.

Publishing
While I haven't experienced this step yet, I imagine a few comprehensive blog articles that has been built upon solid writing should provide me with enough content to actually publish a single document.

In my head, I see this as a step process. Once I finish my research on the history of Kappa Alpha Psi, I can put it together as a single document on my page. I can see it becoming a PDF document that eventually gets stored under a "Library" tab.

With each new published document, I am essentially writing the first draft of a section or chapter. Neat, huh?

What Makes Each Product Different?
I've asked myself that very question. If I write a blog article on damondnollan.com, why would anyone want to read them in a combined state?

In my mind, each time I transfer past work into a new format, I have the opportunity to rewrite it. As an example, I've borrowed from a couple of my older posts, but I changed the wording to better fit this project. The same would be true when transferring blogs into published documents and again from published documents into ebooks (..and so on and so forth).

Additionally, I can see some readers would prefer to own a single product versus trying to sort through 30 individual posts. Isn't that why we buy books to begin with, it's convenient.

Final Thought
Well, that's it! That's my game plan for moving forward with the dissertation. I continue to chunk, tag, build, and then publish.

What do you think? Does it sound doable? Have any experience writing long-form documents through a blog? If so, I'd love to hear your story in the comment section below.

1934 Was Not An Easy Year For Kappa Alpha Psi

2012-03-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

Elder Watson Diggs

The Great Depression continued to affect members of Kappa Alpha Psi. By 1934, the Fraternity initiated over three thousand men through sixty-nine chapters; however, only twenty percent of the membership were active. One explanation for inactivity is due to the high unemployment rate within the country, which made survival the highest priority.

On college campuses, the problem was no different. Fraternity members that lived within active chapter houses could not pay their rent.

The Alpha Chapter is a good example. While it looked good, fixed and fully furnished, occupants had not paid rent in over two years.

I can only imagine the challenges everyone faced during this tough time in our history. As a leader, how does one maintain an organization when everyone seems to be suffering? The Grand Chapter, while trying to determine the status of its chapters, found communicating with Province and Chapter Polemarchs difficult because individuals wouldn't respond.

At the local level, morale had sunk so low that some chapters, like Wilberforce Alumni, talked about divorcing the Grand Chapter. The frustration and confusion among members resulted in a loss of confidence in the Fraternity's ability to recover.

In response to the growing problems, the Grand Polemarch, Jesse Jerome Peters, instituted a rehabilitation program dedicated to stressing the basic principles of the Fraternity. Using a quote from Elder Watson Diggs, "A Kappaman must be good; upright, moral and manly," Peters wanted to stress that these characteristics were only given to those members who practiced them. This meant aligning oneself idealistically and financially. Without both, the Fraternity could not survive.

Live Blogging Triangle AMA Digital Marketing Training Camp: Converting Existing Visitors To Customers

2012-02-29T15:57:00.002-05:00

Gregory Ng

Speaker: Gregory Ng

Agenda

Unicorns
3 First Steps to Start Testing
10 Things you can do this year

Bonus: Book Givaways

E-commerce websites report an average conversion rate of 2.2%. Anything you want your customer to do on your website is considered a conversion.

The issue is that nobody ever things about the other 97.8%.

Companies on average spend more money on traffice acquisition than optimization (88:1). This is the wrong ratio.

If we had a budget of 100,000 the majority of that would be used on advertising and the remaining percentage was used on thinking about the business. This is so wrong.

A Case for Optimization
As companies, we spend more money on getting more people into the funnel instead of taking care of those already in the funnel.

C = M+rV+rO/F+A=>1

Conversion, Motivation, Relevance of value Prop, Revl of Offer, Friction, and Anxiety

Relevance = The right message to the right customer at the right time.

3 First Steps

Believe in Data (this includes everyone in the company...hunches never trumps real data)
You must Learn (Have/build the culture and always learning about your customer)
Stay on Target (Know the keys for success and stay on that path. Know the metrics.)

10 Ideas To Use in 2012

Don't treat everyone like it's their first visit (what you look for the second visit isn't the same as if it were you're first time)
Create ways for visitors to self-select (track usage and optimize)
Use geo-targeting to deliver relevant messages
Speak their language (use the data to determine what's going on)
Use online behavior to trigger marketing messages (should be built into CRM strategy)
Use the weather (use weather widgets to offer specific items)
Use dayparting in your Paid Search (if not, you should be. Hire data analysts!)
Don't assume what works for others works for you (start with assumptions, but use data to prove it)
Consider the device...and your data
Use "relevant messaging" to meet goals

5 T's Of Testing

Team (that's committed to testing)
Trust (in the data and in the tests)
Technology (have the right technology)
Traffic (you have to have the volume to test)
Time (give time to test)

Live Blogging Triangle AMA Digital Marketing Training Camp 2012: Search Engine and Landing Page Optimization

2012-02-29T14:14:00.000-05:00

Speaker: Jenny Halasz

Jenny Halasz

The question is how do we get in front of the search engines? Jenny says that's not as important and we'll talk about that today.

What is SEO?
Mrs. Halasz starts with a story. She talks about going into the doctor's office. Knowing that she would be at bed rest after the procedure, she stopped by Blockbuster. They were closed.

Her sister told her about Redbox, which she never used before. While waiting at the doctors office, she jumped online via the mobile device. Step-by-step, she goes from visiting the web site to downloading the mobile app. Once she finished that step, she walked through renting a movie from the app to picking it up at the kiosk.

Must Haves of SEO

Must be seen
Must be relevant
Must motivate a click

By using the Triangle AMA web site as a reference, Jenny points out things that could be done better. The first thing is starting with meta description. This will allow you to control what shows up in the Google search result.

Keyword Research
While logged into Google, you can personalize search results. If you're doing business under the old model, then you're doing it wrong.

Fundamentals of Usability
Jacob Neilson is the "father of usability testing." What we've learned is that we read web pages from top to bottom, left to right.

Looking at Walmart's web site. They have a top bar and left navigation bar. This is done right.

Keep It Short And Sweet
We don't consume web sites in the same way we consume books. The average user only reads 8 words before they decide to read. Tip: Get to the point quickly!

Make Your Page Load Quickly
When you look at how fast your page loads, this can determine how your page ranks in search engines.

Conflicting Information (Friction)
Similar to road signs that say merge left, but instruct user to turn right. Our web pages should provide instructions on where you want people to go. Tip: Tell the customer where you need them to go.

Persona
Use to identify what your customer needs. This allows you to understand your customers.

Motivation and Value Proposition
Using FreeCreditReport.com as an example, they provide a reason for you to order the report and they then provide the value. "Look, you can protect yourself for only $2.99"

Motivation - What problem are you trying to solve? What are we at risk of losing if we don't buy this product.

Value Proposition - What will it take to solve that problem? How much?

Call to Action
It's important to have a call to action.

Remember - "User-Centered Design is ROI"

R = Reduce friction and unsupervised thought

O = Obvious motivation

I = Interact with clear call to action

Closing Thought

Take a look at your current web site. What is it that you want your customer to do? The truth is 90% instinct.

Live Blogging Trianagle AMA Digital Marketing Training Camp 2012: Deliver Amazing Customer Service With Social Media

2012-02-29T09:18:00.001-05:00

Speaker: Peter Shankman

Peter starts by talking about his story. He studied fashion and photography in Santa Barbra, California. What he learned early on was that humor is important. Therefore, feel free to share on Twitter or Facebook anything he says. He's ok with that. His Twitter handle is @petershankman.

One of his first jobs was working for AOL.com. He was an editor back in 2005 for News Today, but he had no clue as to what he was doing. After a couple of years at AOL, he went back to New York.

In the summer of 1998, he lived in New York City with no money. He talks about how he started his business. Using his rent money, bought and sold 500 t-shirts to people that hated the movie The Titanic. The t-shirt read, "It Sunk. Get Over It!" He ended up making a profitable return on that investment.

In response to the popularity of the t-shirt, he sold over 10,000 items at $15. He ended up making over $100,000, which he used to build his marketing firm. The sheer number of sales put a strain on his web servers. In addition, he was later called to talk with a national radio host.

Lesson: You have to own what you do and make sure you brand the heck out of it. If you don't someone else will take the idea.

Everyone tells you to have a backup plan when you fail. Instead, Peter says that you should have a backup plan for when you succeed. He shares a story about how he created a video (shown below) that got really popular online. Unfortunately, he never branded the video. As a result, he could have furthered his companies brand.

If you cannot see the video, click here.

Another lesson is that nobody cares how awesome you are if YOU are the one telling them. However, if you let someone else say that your awesome, then it carries much more weight.

"I'm So Adjective, I Verb Nouns!!!"

In 2005, Peter created a website that allows people to choose their airline partners. The service is called Airtroductions. Not long after he built it, he talks about a producer of a reality television show that wanted to use his services to hook up people on the show. He agreed.

After the show aired, he earned 50,000 new members. So, what started as a business networking site quickly changed into a dating site. As a result, he changed the logos and branding to better align with customers.

"You are not in control of your company. Not your board of directors. The ones that control your company is the customer." Peter Shankman. Amazon learned this lesson and so should you.

Helpreporter.com is another website that held a mailing list for PR people. Similar to previous stories, the web site took off and it made considerable amount of money. It was later acquired in 2010. It's still a free web site.

Transparency

Peter changes topics and talks about Senator Obama during his race for the White House. The point is being transparent. During a number of talk show interviews, he owned the conversation because of his transparency. It's not a question of if you'll screw up, but when. However, if you own it and get in front of it, you will be loved.

An example of this is Weiner. Instead of waiting three weeks denying, he should have admitted to it and moved on.

Sometimes, when you're trying to be transparent, you have to go outside of your comfort zone. Peter talks about a guy that took a nude picture of himself to sell a product. He created a large ad that amassed huge amounts of attention.

Relevance
How many of you get your news from newspapers, tv, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, or podcasts? We are in a world that is media fractured. The average age Nightly News today is "Dead." In the 50's, the average age was in the 30's.

The problem is this, how do we reach our audience when they're fractured? Ask them. The more you know about them, the better you can serve them. Know how to market to your audience.

In the mid-west, Peter worked for a nonprofit. One of the organizers sent him a coffee table book? He says that he doesn't even own a coffee table. So he calls the organization and says why did you send me a book instead of an online version? According to research...blah, blah, blah.

They took a year to ask every customer about what they wanted. They found that by offering an online solution, they increased their donations even in a down economy.

Brevity
MTV brought entertainment in the 1980's via music videos down to 3 minute increments. Peter would give his right arm to talk with an audience with a 3 minute attention span. Today, our attention span is only 2.6 seconds. The length of attention in a written form is 140 characters, this is the length of a text message.

If Twitter is not careful, they can become the next Pets.com. They have to make money.

"Embrace the concept, not the brand"

Text messaging became popular because September 1911 and American Idol. Even Peter's parents have adopted the text message, but they haven't grasped the concept of Twitter. Just because we think it is a good idea, doesn't mean it is. We live in a bubble.

How do you reach an audience when they're attention span is so short? The answer is "Learn to Write." Bad writing is destroying our country. It's not our attention span, but our writing skills.

"Good writing is brevity. Brevity is social media."

Be Top Of Mind
He talks about an executive that goes through his Roladex and says, "Hi!" In 3 months, he had gone through his entire list of friends. Four times a year, he talks with everyone in his list.

How many of you say "Happy Birthday?" We are doing a horrible job of managing our social network. Reach out to people on your network that you haven't spoken too in 6 months. If you cannot reach out to them at least every 4 months, then you need to disconnect with them because it will destroy your network. Reach out to your people when you don't want anything.

Peter believes that Facebook will win out over Google+. Last year, he earned a great deal of new customers because of his friend's friend.

When he first meets someone, he gets their phone number and puts it in their phone. Touch point 2 and 3 is when Peter text's the new contact and asks them to go out to get a drink. Touch point 4 and 5 is when Facebook realizes you have met in person. Touch point 6 and 7 is when you say thank you for hanging out. Touch point 8 and 9 is when they begin to hang out more. Touch point 10 and 11 is when Peter and this new contact start dating.

He says all this to say that Facebook recognizes the number of touch points people have with one another. While we may still be friends online, the Network notices the changes in relationships. It all comes back to customer service. Your relationship with someone affects your relationship with their connections. It's all connected.

The concept of customer service is doing the things that nobody notices. It's called social media but Peter wants us to call it social udia. That means it is not about YOU but them. Take out the letter "I" from your updates.

If you are not shaking things up (having haters) than you are not doing enough to change the status quo.

Final Thoughts
Have fun and live in the moment. Use basic common sense. Most of us expected to be mistreated. If you treat your customers one level better than crap and people will remember you. Treat your customers well and they will do your PR for you. That is the new PR. It is getting others to tell everyone how great YOU are. That is social media.

damondnollan.com

Room 3026 Live: Episode 537

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Room 3026 Live: Episode 535

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C3 Church: REALationships With Pastor Michael Murphy

See Your Marriage Renewed

You Can Thrive Despite Your Inadequacies

You Can Win the Good Fight of Faith

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

Photos From Around C3 Church

C3 Church First Wednesday: Being A Five-Star Church

Four Thoughts Of Being a Five-Star Church

It's All About Jesus

It Takes A Team

Has One Vision

Firmly Planted

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

Liveblogging C3 Church: Yeshua Finale'

Jesus Is About A Relationship Not Religion

Jesus Is About People Not Prestige

Jesus Cares About Life Change Not A List Of Rules

Jesus Is About You Fulfilling His Plan

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

C3 Church: Easter

The Resurrection Is All About Life

Death Is A Reality Of Life

There Is Life After The Grave

Do You Need A Fresh Start?

Be More Proactive Using These Four Tips

How To Be More Proactive

Closing Thought

Living The Legacy: When I’m Gone, What Else Is Going With Me?

How do you go about leaving a positive legacy?

How To Turn A Video Blog Into A 6 Figure Business

Step 1: Choosing A Niche

Step 2: Own The Niche

Step 3: Know Your Audience

Step 4: Grow Your Audience

Step 5: Give Sponsors Something To Believe In

Step 6: Monetize

In Conclusion

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