“Fire bullets, then fire cannonballs. First, you fire bullets to figure out what’ll work. Then once you have empirical confidence based on the bullets, you concentrate your resources and fire a cannonball. After the cannonball hits, you keep 20 Mile Marching to make the most of your big success.” Jim Collins, Great By Choice.

I’ve been a fan of Jim Collins ever since he wrote “Good to Great” and I heard him speak at Catalyst in 2008. Although his material is considered “business”, I have found his research to be incredibly relative to church work. So much so, it’s one of the books I require when I mentor someone hired from the pew into professional ministry.

Collins’ book, “Great By Choice,” came out at last year’s Catalyst and I was intrigued by his comment, “Fire bullets before cannonballs.” So I put it to the test when the church I serve decided to offer mid-week ministry fall of 2011.

I am responsible for the children’s part, so we began to “fire bullets.” Bullet qualifications: low cost, low risk, low distraction. 

Low cost: By talking to folks who are faithful to being at church every time the door opened (or better, yet…had keys) we discovered there are many hobbies and skills they were involved with. A fellow KidMin Director was doing this on a much grander scale at her larger church and offered multiple skills at the same time.  I thank her for her creative genius.  We made a list of hobbies/skills that could be taught to little people who would use it for someone else (ministry/mission).  We then recruited folks to take on one month from November through April to teach their skill. I would arrange the opportunity to use it in ministry/mission. We taught Sign Language, Cake Decorating, Liturgical Dance, Beginning Spanish, Kids & Money, and Watercolor Painting. The instructors we recruited were already in our church, most already had supplies, and we offered a beginning and ending date by serving for a month of Wednesdays.

Low risk:  We offered the classes at different times from month to month (5-6pm, 5:15-6:15pm, 6:30-7:30pm, 7-8pm) at the discretion of the instructor.  This gave us insight to when the greatest number of kids would regularly come.  It would also give us a chance to build up a group of “regulars.”  By offering a different class each month at a different time, we were able to keep the kid’s interest for the skill being taught.  Faithful attendance would be an indicator that the kids really liked what was being taught and the timing either worked for families or it didn’t.  It also allowed us to affirm our intention that skills and hobbies can be used to honor the Lord.  We consistently offered good teaching and good “product.”

Low Distraction:  By working around the schedule of the new Wednesday night dinners and youth group, which was already in place, all the focus wasn’t on the programming offered to the children.  The Wednesday night dinners gave us an inter-generational meeting place to come and go, before and after the meals, which made for great relationship building.

Taking a whole season to fire bullets worked.  By the time we began planning to “fire the cannonball”  fall of 2012, we had fired enough bullets since last fall to give us an idea of what would be successful, when it would be successful, and the expectation that all we learn and do should be used for the glory of God.  So we came up with a name, decorated the space, and began talking it up.   Then we fired the cannonball in September 2012.

We are now focused on tweeking the programming to include more of what the kids enjoy, but we have fired enough bullets to know the best time, the best space, the most faithful, and new DNA of learning skills for ministry/mission has been woven into what we do.  We also recruited the music director to take on a 15 minute block of time and our kids are preparing to serve the Lord in various creative capacities in the contemporary worship service.

Are you firing bullets?  I’d love to hear about it.

I have a pair of running shoes, but you won’t find me running in them.

We have a family membership at the local BodyPlex, but it seems every time that I decide to AGAIN get in a regular work out, I notice there have been upgrades and renovations that I missed.  Now we have to scan our membership key ring card to unlock the door as they no longer have a front desk attendant.  Which means that I have to be sure I have the right set of keys when I go.  One more thing I have to remember.

The voice in my head tells me that I need to make this choice if I intend on living a long, long time.  Now that Mr. Yummy has arrived I’m thinking of hanging around a really, really long time.

Self-control is the voice of personal discipline.  How is it that there are some areas in our lives when self-control is intense and actually increases.  And then there are others that a mere change in the wind, would have me toss my hands up in the air and ignore what needs to be done.

Gaining self-control has much more to do with going with what I know rather than with what I feel.  I never feel like getting dressed to work out, then having to take another shower, and again fixing my hair.  If I could ready myself within 30 minutes, I’d be more motivated to cut out a chunk of the day to go through the “getting ready” process again.  Or, if I just had someone to do this with, it’d be so much easier.

Self-control means we draw healthy boundaries for our behavior and choices.

It’s not like I eat bonbons in front of the TV, but carving out some time to take a walk…or stretch…or move to some of the 1980s exercise videos I still have in my basement, is something.  But mediocrity in any part of a life is, well, mediocre.  And what kind of testimony is that?

I’m grateful the Holy Spirit is our personal trainer, offering counsel and enabling us in the areas of our weakness.  Some days I need it more than others.

I’m headed to the health club this morning.  Not because I want to, but because it’s part of “walking properly.”  I will be the one lip-sincing to some Mandisa and Jamie Grace.

Romans 13:13-14 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

There is no better way to add the snuggle factor to a blustery, cold, fall, windy day, than to go for the slippers.

Just seeing them in the closet, I begin to relax.

Slippers aren’t restrictive and their expectations are minimal.

Slippers are generally devoid of shoestrings, buckles, heavy heels, and metal.

They have a gentle design.

I have friends like that.  They have a gentle design. And by their mere presence, I feel warm, comfortable, free of expectation, and nurtured.

My friend Sheila is like that…….she is generous and gentle.  She offers a hand, an encouraging word, clicks a photo, celebrates the good fortune of others, and prays for needs. She decorated for Baby Girl’s wedding and she’s taken our first Team Reilly Family photos.  She was the gentle one who was the first to pull me out of my house in fellowship after my Daddy passed away.  In her presence, I am in the company of a nurturing soul with a delightful voice.

These gentle friends enter our lives like a welcome breeze and leave without slamming the door.

I pray you have a gentle friend.  I pray there are times when YOU are the gentle friend.

Ephesians 4:1-3I, therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I have had the worst time with my back lately.  I don’t know if I picked up something I shouldn’t have or if I slept on it wrong…for a month.   This has been a huge distraction as I’m in the midst of workshop and training season which means long car rides and standing for extended periods of time.

It has really affected my choice of shoes.

Hoping folks look at my face and not my shoes as I speak, I’ve long discarded the thought of wearing high-heeled shoes that make my legs look longer and would make Stacey and Clinton proud. Regardless, I know that the LORD is aware and He will bring me comfort from my aches and my pains.

He who is high and lifted up is faithful….to each of His own.  He has sent me friends who have offered suggestions, helped me carry all my stuff to and from my car, and even lent me a TENS unit.  I’ve already replaced the 9volt battery in the TENS unit and gone through 2 packs of IcyHot Medicated patches.

In the midst of our struggles, we feel as if the pain will be eternal, but in truth most situations are fleeting.

When I Googled “lower back pain” it tells me to keep moving and it should pass within a couple of months.  And take Advil along with all the other things I have already been doing.  Now that the season is slowing down, I should be able to address the pain and distraction more diligently, more faithfully. 

He is faithful to lift me out of my misery.

Again and again the LORD lifts my sagging spirit with lanterns of truth and sets me on solid ground.

Psalm 40:2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.