Tips

It’s easy for me to think my way is the correct way (which is clearly linked to my impatience and pride). Obviously, my way isn’t always right, isn’t the only right way, and isn’t necessarily the best way. When you’re leading, I think the best way to empower team members is to give them clear expectations about where you’re heading and what you hope to achieve (vision) while also giving them the freedom to work how they feel best (flexibility). Sometimes people do things in ways we don’t think is best. That’s when letting them stay flexible is hard. A sudden urge to micro-manage boils up when they say things we don’t agree with. Or if they act in ways we wouldn’t act. Sometimes they are wrong. They need to be corrected. Someone (you, if you’re the leader) needs to talk with them. Other times the way they do or say something that gets under your skin. It bothers you and rubs you the wrong way. But it’s actually not fundamentally wrong or hurtful or even in need of correction. It’s just preference. ...

Email is a necessary evil and a wonderful tool for communication. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon. I wanted email to waste less of my time and be more effective. I’ve created a system that I wanted to share to help you filter your email to save time, see the important stuff and still not miss out on good but less urgent things (like sales from your favorite brands). Here’s what I do. This process is for anyone using Gmail or a Google Apps account, but I’d imagine (or hope) similar ideas could be applied to other email services. I’ll share the general guidelines first and then get into the nitty gritty.  Regaining Control of Your Inbox Through Filters and Labels ...

Leading overseas is exactly like leading in your home country. Except you don’t speak the language, know the customs or feel emotionally stable. After living in Slovenia for the last 6 months and leading a team of incredible friends as we trust God for a student-led movement following Jesus, I’ve learned a few things. This is the advice I’d give if I could give a pep-talk to my pre-departure self. 1. Acknowledge that you are under-qualified. Two weeks of training and one year of vocational ministry experience before moving to a country where you don’t speak the language is not enough to be qualified. My team of recent college grads were all as qualified as I was to lead a team. Unfortunately, everyone was completely perplexed about what it would take to build a movement of college students making disciples of Jesus. Embrace all of your inadequacies. You can’t lead on your own, but God can lead through you. ...

We all receive more email than we know what to do with. I receive a lot of email from other missionaries sharing their update letters. I love reading those letters and hearing about how the Lord is using my friends around the world. Unfortunately, my friends who send a massive BCC email have no clue how many people are actually opening their emails. Knowing who is reading about your ministry (or group, company or organization) is incredibly valuable. My favorite service for large group e-mailing is MailChimp. It simply blows normal emailing out of the water, and it’s incredibly easy to use.  Here’s why: ...

During our pre-marital counseling, our pastor shared a key question that has changed nearly every relationship in my life. The question is simple. Am I believing the best about this person? When someone shows up late to a meeting. When the dishes aren’t done. When the trash smells and hasn’t been taken out. When you haven’t heard from someone in ages. When your emails go without a response for weeks. When something is said that cuts to your core. It’s incredible what the benefit of the doubt does in a relationship. ...

Valentine’s day is fast approaching. That means a whole bunch of guys are going to propose the same day as every other guy on the planet. Please, please don’t do that. Any day but February 14th. Nevertheless, dudes are notoriously not creative when it comes to popping the question. I can’t say I have a lot of experience in proposing since it’s a one-time thing for me, but our experience was pretty spectacular. Here’s my version of our engagement to show I’m qualified to give you insight: it started with a scavenger hunt in Athens, OH and ended 30 hours later on a beach in Fort Myers, FL. If you want the full details from Niki, here’s her perspective. People we didn’t know heard about the story somehow and we would randomly overhear them talking telling their friends about it in coffee shops and college hallways. I didn’t imagine it would be that remarkable, but nonetheless, she said “Yes!” That’s the end goal, right? So, gentleman, feel free to take notes, and ladies, please feel free to pass this along to your man if he needs some tips if the P-Day is drawing near. ...

Naturally, my life is as organized as an elementary school recess: lots of frantic running around, falling down, and then calling it quits once the bell rings for the day. Since I have a tendency to forget and lose things, I’ve had to train myself to spend my time more wisely. I have by no means mastered it. Time is a wild beast that can’t ever be perfectly tamed. I’ve come up with a system to hack myself a bit and make sure I’m accomplishing the most important things, which is ultimately the goal of time management. 1. Do the most important thing first, every day. Each morning I commit to reading the Bible before anything else. I’m trying to kick the habit of catching up on 100+ tweets when I wake up since I’m 6 hours ahead of most of the people I follow. I get distracted, start reading articles, and start thinking and reading and favoriting and linking and then my morning is blown. So, I’ve started jumping out of bed, throwing a pot of coffee on and cracking open the Word. ...

I gave up on major news outlets a long time ago. I haven’t had cable in years. I am not a neanderthal. I don’t need news from traditional sources. I heard that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, about the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and that Ohio University beat Michigan in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament in 2012–all from Twitter. I think most people give up on Twitter or dismiss it all together because they think it’s best used to find out when your friends have to take a leak or to tweet pictures of omelets. I think if you use Twitter as an information gathering tool as I suggest below you’ll find it will quickly become your favorite news and resource tool. Don’t follow your “friends”. They’re the reason you hate Facebook. “Friends” online are not your friends in real life. They are acquaintances you’ve met once who post pictures of kissy faces in the mirror and complain about how school/work/their life sucks. Remember, Twitter isn’t reciprocal like Facebook is. Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you should follow them. In fact, don’t. ...