In my consulting work, there are a lot of diseases I deal with on a daily basis that have infected the church, but one of the most serious is shallow thinking. When pastors and Christian leaders don't have a deep intellectual bench, the options they offer end up being shallow, simplistic, and weak. When I grew up in the South, pastors actually made jokes about those who attended seminary. They felt that the intellectual study of the Bible kept people away from the authentic experience of the Holy Spirit. Of course today we know ... read more

There is so much news time spent on the subject of "jobs," and yet I see a government that knows remarkably little about how jobs are actually created. But worse - and something you don't see discussed so much is the role of colleges and universities in training people for the real world. Author Camille Paglia wrote on the subject in The Chronicle Review of higher education last April. This excerpt is worth reading, and I'd love to know your response: ... read more

Generation after generation pastors and Christian leaders get it wrong. They believe our only responsibility is sharing the message. But we also have a responsibility to do our best to make sure that message is received. To be honest, this new two-way conversation is remarkably similar to the method of worship during the days of the early church. Frank Viola and George Barna, writing in their book, Pagan Christianity: Exploring The Roots Of Our Church Practices, reveal some of the most common practices of worship in the early church, including: ... read more

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill attended a reception during a speaking tour in Canada, and found himself seated next to a stiff-necked Methodist bishop. It was still early in the day, but the host knew Churchill liked his whiskey, so a young waitress appeared with a tray of glasses. She offered one to Churchill, which he of course took, the other guests also graciously accepted, but then she came to the Methodist bishop. The bishop pulled himself up to his full height, and with a very spiritual sounding voice said: ... read more

I've had numerous conversations with direct marketer and donor development expert Mary Hutchison about what happens right after a person sends your church, ministry, or non-profit organization their first donation. Like most things in life, first steps matter. Mary responded with what she calls "The First 90 Days" - it's an interesting look at how important your follow up really is. If you have a humanitarian or non-profit organization, pass this around to your team and discuss. Here's Mary's thoughts: ... read more

1. Understand the pastor or CEO's vision.

2. Learn as much as you can about every position.

3. Ultimately - it's not about technical equipment - it's about connecting.

4. Understand the culture

5. Learn to work under ... read more

One of the biggest reasons people fail is because they have no idea what success would be for that partiular project. In other words, they haven't taken time to really consider what victory would look like. The next time you start a project, sit down with the team, and discuss the questions: "If this project works, what would change? How would it look? What would be the (hopefully measureable) outcome? First - make sure you all agree on the answers. And second, keep that picture in front of the team at all times. That old saying is true: "How do you know you've arrived if you don't know where you're going?" What are you working on ... read more

London's Times reported in a rare statement, that Malcolm Pearson, head of the UK Independence Party, which advocates withdrawing Britain from the European Union, said he had stepped down. His reason? "I'm terrible at this, I quit." I have to hand it to him for his complete honesty, and wish more leaders understood themselves as well as Mr. Pearson. The old saying that "Quitters never win and winners never quit" couldn't be more false, and in my opinion has led to ... read more

I received this note from a friend recently: "I'd love to see you comment on how to give feedback to creative types. I just had a client give me an hour to write a script with no direction. Two days later, I heard that it was "terrible and to rewrite it." My friend's note hit home, because I've certainly worked for difficult clients. Nothing could be more counter productive to getting creative results than slapping down your writer, designer, media director, or other creative staff member. How should you respond? If you know someone having trouble supervising creative employees, pass these tips along: ... read more

Last year, Nielsen Research reported that teens, on the average, each send 1,742 text messages a month. Just few months later the number had grown to 2,272. That averages a more than 75 per day. Think about that for a minute. At the same time, the National School Boards Association estimated that middle and high school students spent an average of nine hours a week engaged in social networking. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when you ... read more

I love teams. I'm a people person and love to get a crowd in the room kicking around ideas. But at the same time, I also know when to clear the room and get down to business. Sometimes I think whoever invented the "open door policy" was an idiot, because sooner or later, you have to shut the door and start thinking. Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, writers of "I Hate People" discuss the issue in their book based on the difficulties of working in the modern office. In the book, they insist that contemporary corporate America puts too much emphasis on teamwork. ... read more

As Multichannel News reports, it's way too early to ring the death knell for traditional television, especially as a new report shows TV viewing increased in the first half of 2010, Multichannel News reports. Average weekly viewing per person reached 34.3 hours in the first half of the year, up from 34.1 hours in the same period a year earlier and representing two more hours than in 2006, according to a Turner Research analysis of Nielsen data, the story says. Still, while ... read more

Over and over, I meet frustrated people who feel that somehow, they've become a "scapegoat" - and it's usually in the office. I can understand their feeling, because far too many times I've personally seen offices where a particular person seems to be picked on, blamed, or takes the heat for most of what goes wrong. The truth is, life isn't fair, and your co-workers - even in the best of situations - will sometimes treat you unfairly. ... read more

Mary Hutchinson, direct response maven from "Inspired Direct" outside Boston sent me this most excellent post that you should forward to anyone considering going on TV or starting a non-profit or religious media ministry: ... read more

Check out the article "Bono: Grace Over Karma." It's a fascinating interview with U2 lead singer Bono a few years ago from the new book "Bono" by Michka Assayas. The interview took place just bef ... read more

OK - I know they look cool - those weird shaped business cards. Squares, skinny thin ones, or shapes like TV sets, cameras, books, or houses (if you're a real estate agent.) But the truth is - they're a real pain. They don't fit into a business card folder, don't play well with other cards in a stack, and generally are difficult to deal with. I know - you're going to say, "But Phil, you always tell us to be different and stand out from the crowd." Yes, that's important - but in a GOOD way. Being annoying doesn't help. What do you think? ... read more

This past weekend, the legendary Mitch Miller died at age 99. He was a very successful music producer, but will probably be best known for hosting the musical program "Sing Along with Mitch." All of us Baby Boomers grew up with it. Along with major stars he produced in his lifetime, one of the most interesting stories is about Johnny Mathis. After numerous best selling albums with Johnny, he had to fulfill a last contract but as the deadline approached, he had no material for the album. ... read more

By now, nearly everyone on the planet knows about the remarkable success of the movie "The Passion of the Christ." As of this writing, the film has made almost $700 million worldwide and is one of the most watched movies of all time. But one of the little known facts about the movie is that a significant part of it's success came from ... read more

Everyday, people are watching you. They're watching how you perform, how you react, and how you relate. It may be your boss, a potential employer or investor, a friend, a peer, or your children. It could be a million different types of people, but they're all watching. You don't notice them, but they're looking to see how do you handle setbacks and failures. Or how you handle success. They're watching and learning, hoping to glean something from the experience. The fact is, ... read more