Archive for June, 2003
Yet another book…
Sunday, June 29th, 2003
This weekend I got my copy of Please Don’t Just Do What I Tell You! Do What Needs To Be Done, by Bob Nelson from Amazon.com’s used book dealers. It’s a great, and quick, read. I literally finished it in about two hours.
And just for the record, I have yet to finish Marketing the Church, by George Barna, Designing with Web Standards, by Jeffrey Zeldman (who got married this weekend! Congrats!), or Don’t Waste Your Life, by John Piper — all of which I’m presently reading on and off. I actually digested another chapter of Barna’s book last night. I hope to finish it in the next week. I’m sure I’ll keep it on my desk for reference on occasion.
I digress, though…
Don’t Just Do What I Tell You… shouldn’t have too confusing a premise. Nelson encourages readers to challenge themselves in their workplace, doing more than needs to be done, volunteering for difficult projects, basically “going the extra mile” in everything, not only to advance their career, but in order to make work more enjoyable.
While his insights were refreshing and motivational, one of the strengths of the book are his great and plentiful stories about people who rose above their positions to do great things for their company — interesting stories that put his theories into perspective.
One such story recounted a Starbucks employee, Dina Campion, who started making coffee drinks with crushed ice, calling them “Frappaccinos.” Her manager ordered her to stop serving them, but she ignored the command, and the drink quickly became the store’s most popular. Later, the CEO of the company personally thanked her for her innovation, and an American addiction was born!
I was impressed by how this echoed our calling as Christians to be diligent in our work and “go the extra mile,” a phrase really coined by one of Jesus’ teachings. I know that I’m so quick to wait for someone to ask me to sing a song in church, or help the church with it’s website, or preach or teach a class. It’s like I’m waiting for God Himself to say…yeah…you should do that (when of course, He already has said so in His Word). I want so much to make sure that at my new position in Canada I’m not just creating brochures and print materials, or even interactive CD’s and the like, I want to go beyond that and reinvent the way I do my job…not simply because I want to be innovative, which can be good at times, but because I want to be a good steward of what God has given me in this job and in the challenge facing Canada. I know I’ll be held responsible for that, so I want to be diligent in what I do.
I think this is a book that every employee could use, but it’s also a great book to give out to church leaders, deacons, Sunday School teachers and laity alike. Everyone can benefit from making their work more rewarding, whether it’s in the office or in the church. And remember that Jesus told us about obedience not only that His joy would be in us, but because He wanted our joy to be full!
Grab a copy…it won’t each up much time to read and it might change the way you think about work and service.
A quick funny…
There are some really cute church bulletin bloopers on Netscape.com.
One of my personal favorites: “Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.”
Folks, this is why grammar is important.
Updated favorite: Announcement in a church bulletin for a national Prayer and Fasting Conference: “The cost for attending the Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.”
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