A couple churches have shared surveys they’ve given their congregations over the last couple months.
National Community Church and Granger Community Church have both shared their surveys online.
Also, Willowcreek Community Church in Chicago recently announced the findings of one of their recent surveys and admitted that they’ve been wrong in their way of thinking and doing ministry.
That’s a bit jaw dropping but can you imagine what might have happened if they never surveyed their congregation and kept doing “business as usual.”
I’m working on a survey for the community groups in our church and wondering if any other churches out there have surveyed their congregations or specific groups and ministries within their church. What have you found? What did you change? Where did it lead you?
Category: misc
Did I Steal My Daughter
KERA’s Think had a great show yesterday with the author of the Mother Jones Magazine article, “Did I Steal My Daughter?”
I thought it was a very interesting discussion and look at foreign adoptions and some of the thoughts a mother and father might have from both sides of the coin. Laurie and I have talked about possibly adopting a child from Russia or another country someday so who knows… the information could come in more handy than we realize.
From Think:
What do parents who adopt children from abroad really know about the child’s circumstances and background? Our guest this hour, journalist Elizabeth Larsen, plunged headfirst into the world of international adoption when her family adopted a young girl from Guatemala. She writes about the experience in “Did I Steal My Daughter?” which appears in the November/December issue of Mother Jones Magazine.
Alternative fueled cars not a new idea
While electric fueled and bio-diesel vehicles sound like a new technology, it’s really nothing new.
From NPR:
The desire to build vehicles that run on alternative power is nothing new. An exhibit on early hybrid, solar, and even atomic vehicles sheds light on the challenges of innovation.
Listen to the full story, including information on the alternative fuel museum.
The story suggests that the next great alternative fuel source to come down the pike may come from a 17 year old in his garage rather than one of Detroit’s big 3.
Why We Remember, Why We Forget
While waiting at CarMax yesterday to get my truck appraised I picked up a copy of National Geographic and read half of an article on memory and why we remember or forget certain things. It was a great read (at least what I got through reading) and I wish I could have finished it. But luckily KERA’s Think talked with the National Geographic author Joshua Foer about the story and I can play catch up online. From the program:
What makes memory possible and why do we forget the things that we forget? We’ll explore the realm of memory this hour with Joshua Foer, whose cover story “Remember This” appears in the November, 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine.
Kitchen painted
Kitchen painted
Originally uploaded by laurie416.
Well, despite my fears to the contrary, we painted the kitchen this weekend and it looks great. My baby was right. It does add a lot to the kitchen and it does make it feel more “homey.” (just don’t tell her how much I like it because she ready to paint every other room as well :-)).
She has pictures of the completed project on her Flickr page.
I think she has plans for the living room, dining room, our bedroom and the office… hopefully we can seal/stain the wood fence in the back as well.
Amy on her birthday
Amy on her birthday
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.
As part of sharing our testimony yesterday at encounter, we had a slide show put together to highlight different parts of our story (including some older photos from growing up). I’ve posted them and some random wedding photos on Flickr for your viewing enjoyment.