TrippAtkins.com

“Discover that the most powerful way to help those you love is to lead by example – and realize you’re leading by example all of the time.”

- Joe Caruso

A post on MediaSalt.com, “Dont Wait!  Introduce new technology to your congregation” by Cleve Persinger got me thinking about how effective our church is at utilizing technology in our communications and corporate worship time.  We have not been very effective and we have lagged behind.  There are always good intentions on what needs to be done, but many times only the intentions are there – no action.  Is your church ready for the next new thing?

Where does your church stand?

Is the culture of your church such that whatever tool is new, whatever technology is hot that it is okay – encouraged even – to use on Sunday mornings for worship?  If that is you, congratulations!  But what if you are like me and find yourself at a medium sized church where the congregation is older and quite frankly, technology scares them? You press on with your call and your introduction of technology without waiting.  While you may be forced to move slowly, at least you are moving.

What can be done to get your church on board?

In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell, he states that plans fail because followers either have a fear of change, ignorance,  they are uncertain about the future, or because there is a lack of imagination.  When it comes changes in a church, and specifically those related to technology,  I believe that most of the opposition is due to ignorance and lack of imagination.  As our church has been on somewhat of a “capital campaign” to raise money for a new projection system in the sanctuary it has been met with resistance.  While the motion to begin the campaign passed with no problem there are still questions.  Some people understand PowerPoint and have an idea of what can be done with the system, but as you and I know so much more is possible through the effective use of video in a worship service than just have the pastor’s outline or some song lyrics on the big screen.  Some of the people have not gone to a worship service in another church in fifty years so they have no idea that things can be done in a different way than they are accustomed to.  They have know idea about what technology is available and what it can do to enhance the Kingdom and improve our worship and fellowship with one another.

So, when faced with the question of whether/when to move forward with introducing new technology to your church, you should.  If you are not an advocate for it, then no one will be.  Look for ways to distribute information about your project so people will understand what is going to happen.  Then, give them as many practical “tastes” of the project to increase their imagination to show them what could be done with the new technology.

I just finished reading the Kindle version of Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions that Will Help You See It and Seize It by John C. Maxwell last week.  It was a quick read and full of great quotes and anecdotes that inspired me to get things together for my “dream.”  As most John Maxwell books are, this was also a very easy read. If you are working toward something more meaningful, more fulfilling, this book will help you analyze your plan as well as whether you are personally ready to jump into your dream.

Here are some of the things that jumped out at me as I read the book:

• Sharon Hull says, “A  dream is the seed of possibility planted in the soul of a human being,  which calls him to pursue a unique path to the realization of his  purpose.
• 1. BE WILLING TO BET ON YOURSELF: You may succeed if nobody else believes in you, but you will never  succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.
• Joyce Meyer wisely states, “God will help  you be all you can be, but He will never help you be someone else.”
• Both vision and strategy are  important, but there is a priority to them. Vision always comes first.  Always. If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the  right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save  you.
• The problem is that people get  stuck on the how. They don’t see how they could accomplish more,  so they throttle back their vision, convinced that they must be realistic.   And what they expect becomes their new reality.”
• It sounds overly simple, but a primary reason that most people  don’t get what they want is that they don’t know what they want.
• It’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day process of life that  you lose sight of the big picture. However, when your dream is  clearly in sight, it helps you get your priorities straight.
• The Greek philosopher Aristotle observed, “We are what we  repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” Your
• We quickly realize that between the  dream’s inspiration and its manifestation, there’s going to be lot of  perspiration!
• Playwright George Bernard Shaw asserted, “I’m  sick of all the reasonable people: they see all the reasons for doing  nothing.” Passion makes us unreasonable.
• In other words, the conditions will never be perfect for you to go after  your dream. In fact, conditions may not seem all that favorable. Move  forward anyway. Be tenacious in your commitment to action.
• But what finally helped them turn the corner was advice from  a teacher named Scolastico, who told them, “If you would go every day  to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp ax, eventually,   no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down.”  From that advice, the authors developed what they call the “rule  of five.” Every day they did five specific things that would move them  closer to their dream of selling books.

I think you will enjoy being challenged by this book.

I read a post from @problogger titled Should Legal Blogs Be Monetized – If so…How?  The question Darren was asking was whether someone who is blogging in a legal niche should use advertising on their site such as Google Adsense to make money.

Presumably the person who is blogging in a legal niche is an attorney.  At least in my marketing plan as an attorney, my blogs are there to educate the public and to hopefully increase my exposure in the community and on the internet as an expert in my area of practice.  My goal for monetizing my blogs is this: convert visitors into readers; readers into prospective clients who will call my office and make an appointment; then turn prospects into paying clients. 

The benefits of a blog for this are several.  The first, and most important for many lawyer-bloggers is that blogging is pretty cheap.  In fact, when you compare it to traditional advertising methods like the telephone book it is almost free.  You can gain almost immediate traction with search engines which leads to more visitors and readers thus increasing your chance to get people in your office.  Finally, it lets you hone your skills.  It is really easy to explain some areas of law to another attorney.  You start talking in legal geek-speak and everyone knows what you’re talking about.  It is much more difficult to translate that so the everyday person can understand.  When writing on your blog – unless you are writing for an academic or legal audience – you will be forced to write on a level where people can understand you or people will simply not read your work.  This helps you sell to your client when they are in your office because they will be more confident in your services because you can explain even the most complex legal theory in a way they can at least get some grasp of. 

So, in saying all of that, my opinion of advertisements on a legal blog is that it is a very short-sighted way of making money from your blog.  Sure, who wouldn’t want to be a "pro-blogger" and make lots of money from the traffic you already have from your blog?  But I think you have to make sure it fits your niche – and I do not believe it fits the legal niche at all.  So you make a few bucks here and there by having people click on your ads, but you are not gaining the full value of that blog visitor because they are immediately clicking on an ad and being whisked away to another lawyer’s website who they will likely hire and pay thousands of dollars to.  So, congratulations on that quarter you just earned from the pay-per-click ad.  If that isn’t bad enough, why are you doing all of that work writing those blog posts if you are just going to let someone come to your site and then click on an ad and disappear?

Summary – have a full view of the reason for your legal blog.  This is a crock-pot, not a microwave.  It may take you some time, but don’t cheapen your legal blog by adding advertising.  Don’t pimp out your legal blog for the sake of earning a few quick bucks. Focus on your prospective clients and adding value to them – then they will add value to you in a way that advertising cannot.  

Here in Greenville, South Carolina we just had a pretty big snow.  Apparently it was one of the biggest snows in years.  At our house, we got about five inches of snow. I also have an 18 month old son who was getting to experience his first really big snow.  For two days, nearly all he said was “snow, snow, snow…”

Of course, the one day that we get snow I am scheduled to be in court for three different hearings.  I am spending most of my time checking my iPhone or the local news station to see if the court has been closed because everything else in town is closed.  And just my luck, the court says they are going to be open on a three hour delay.  That means one of my hearings is cancelled, but the two afternoon hearings are on.

I get on to my wife and friends about working all the time.  I strive to have balance.  I want to be a great daddy to my son and be there with him, especially during cool times like this when we get an extra day away from the office.  But I can’t just skip a hearing.  So we play for a little while in the snow and then I go in to shower and suit up for my hearings.  I had a little work to do at the office in preparation for the hearings so I had to leave a little early.  Once I arrived at my office I had received several voice mails from the Court stating that all of the hearings had been cancelled for the day.  Now, I was a little relieved because my mind was at home with my wife and son, but at the same time I was at the office, alone, with some quiet time where I could really get some quality work done.  With the intention of staying just a “little while” I spent nearly four hours there working.  I’m sure it was all extremely important and time sensititve (insert sarcasm).

I felt pretty convicted as I thought about it later that afternoon.  I give Steph a hard time about working crazy hours as a CPA, but when I have the chance to take off and get home I chose work.  While I “talk” the “talk” about family being one of my high priorities, when it came time to walk the walk, I failed.

Are there areas in your life you are failing at that you claim are “important” to you?  Don’t waste another minute.  Do an inventory of your life and your values and make sure everything is lined up or get a plan to get them lined up ASAP.

You can check out some of our other snow day pictures here.

I know that I have written about purpose and passion on this blog in the past.  Sometimes it seems easier than others to focus on what is important in life.  Other times, however, seem to be so busy and full of "stuff" that the important things get covered up or washed out.  It is during these times when having a vision for our lives is most important.  During those times you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and decide what you are going to focus on and that you are not going to let life get in your way.  The hard part about this is the things that keep us busy are not usually "bad" things.  They are good things, sometimes extremely important things.  And they somehow distort your vision.  You can lose your focus and clarity. 

"If You Chase Two Rabbits, Both Will Escape"  (Author Unknown)

For me, I have a lot of ideas.  I have a lot of dreams.  And, I have a lot of responsibilities.  Many times, the responsibilities require me to hold off on an idea or they make me overly cautious or scared to proceed with a dream.  Even though it may align perfectly with my life vision. 

Here is a peek at the stream of thoughts that are constantly going through my head in some form or another: I like my job, do I like my job, am I a good lawyer, and I a good dad, I like parts of practicing law, can a Christian be a divorce attorney, should I go into full-time ministry of some sort, what kind of business can I open on the side, I need to spend time with my family tonight, I need to work on my business plan, marketing and strategy…  On and on my brain is constantly thinking and working.  I follow nearly 100 blogs and RSS feeds, I listen to about 10 podcasts each week, I read books on business, ministry, parenting, leadership, and personal development all the time.  I can’t turn my brain off.  At least not easily. 

It is in this moment that I realize – somehow it has been brought immediately to my attention – that I need to "be still and know that [He] is God" (Psalm 46:10).  It is in this stillness, this time with God, this focused attention on the Source of the call and vision for my life that I will be directed in the right direction. 

Should a Church Blog and Tweet?

Many churches are out on the edge of technology these days, and in my opinion that is a good thing.  Culture is telling people that all kinds of things are available for them to use and enjoy, but many churches are still providing the same type of “services” as they were twenty years ago.  While blogging and services like Twitter may not be bleeding edge, they are still new to most people and will still be “new” for a long time as people pick up on them.  Young people, however, are already into blogging and tweeting, Facebook, MySpace, Ning and other social networks.  Churches are losing ground with a younger generation because they are trying to communicate to them the wrong way.

There are many benefits to ministry blogging that include immediate dispersion of the information, more open communication, a conversation with your blog readers, getting to know the author and commenters on a deeper level, high quality marketing and publicity for you and the church, and many more.

I think most churches  have good intentions.  They feel a burden to reach out to a younger generation, but maybe they just don’t get into worshipping with up tempo music or a fancy light show.  They like a piano and organ.  There’s definitely nothing wrong with that!  The research will bear out that most young adults don’t weigh worship style as highly as everyone thinks.  I mean, it seems like that is the obvioius reason for church growth. But in fact, a feeling of community, belonging to something greater than yourself, authenticity and service to the world are what young adults crave and are what draw young adults into any organization (including a church).

Lowering Barriers

So, back to blogging and social media for churches.  These exercises are important because they lower the barriers of entry for someone that may be considering coming to your church.  Some people have never met a stranger and don’t have any problems showing up to a new group or meeting for the first time and just getting involved.  I’m not like that.  I like to have a soft introduction into a new group.  The first day of school was always rough for me if I didn’t know anyone in the class.  I can’t imagine walking into a new church “blind” and having no idea what to expect.

How does blogging lower barriers?  A blog is a window into the church.  You can get a whole new view on the mind, thoughts and passions of a person by following their blog.  When blogging is done properly by a pastor and his staff then you get a wide angle view of the church as a whole.  You get the opportunity to have a constant flow of information from the church then just on Sunday mornings through the bulletin and announcements and the monthly newsletter.  I follow many pastors’ on their blogs and feel like I know them and know what is going on at their church.  I could almost feel like if I attended their church that weekend, it would be like I have been going there for months.

Twitter also gives you a picture into the lives of the staff.  While a blog allows the staff to take time to throughly communicate to you about what is going on in their lives, what they are hearing from God, what is happening at the church and so on, Twitter allows you to see what is going on in 140 character snipits of other people’s day.  Relationships and conversations are formed on Twitter in ways that can’t otherwise be done.

Stepping Outside the Box

Many churches already record their services on video or at least record the audio on CD or some other format.  This data can be used in the social media context to lower the barriers, give more people information about the church and style, and expand the reach and ministry of the church from just your local area to an unlimited reach on the internet.  YouTube, Itunes, Vimeo, Viddler and many other services will let you host video and audio of your services or portions of your services for free.  These videos can become “viral” and spread around the internet.

I hope this quick post gives you a taste of what you can do with blogging and social media and you see the benefits that blogs can have for businesses, ministries and churches if they are used correctly.  There are many reasons for using social media – even in the ministry context – and those reasons will direct the methods, technology, and ethics used in a successful strategy.

Blogging works.  That’s pretty simple huh?  I have been blogging on this site for a few months, but much longer on one of my law practice sites, The South Carolina Tax Attorney. Specifically, on that blog we talk about what people can do when they owe the IRS and don’t know their options as well as highlight news from the IRS and popular cases.  That blog has done several things for my business that anyone would desire, here’s my top 5:

1. Prospect Generation: I have recieved many prospective clients from the blog.  This is mainly because of the search-engine friendliness of a blog in general.  I couldn’t help but smile when I showed my boss that I was coming up on the search engine results pages for all of the search terms that he was wanting to come up for on our general firm web site, but he is a little older and didn’t initially beilieve in the power of the blog.  My prospects can really be from around the world (at least around the U.S. because the IRS practice is federal and you don’t have to be in South Carolina to hire us to help with those types of problems).  Once I get the client to call it is my responsibility to convert them from a prospect to a paying client.
2. Held Out as an Expert: I have been quoted on other blogs and sites around the internet regarding tax and other legal issues I discussed on the blog.  This blog has also been picked up my local news outlets for some of my posts that commented on national events and lawsuits.
3. Income Generation: While the blogs do generate prospect calls and actual clients for my law practice I have also sold information products and reports from my blog.  We have also done surveys to try to figure out what people want to know on a certain topic.  I know there are many untapped income generation sources and applications from the blogs.
4. “Cheap” Advertising: Blogging can be done extremely cheap.  You can get a free account at Blogspot or WordPress.com or you can self host your blog to have a little more freedom.   The costs associated with operating a blog are generally minimal.  You need to purchase a domain name (about $10 per year), hosting (which you can get cheap – we use HostGator and it costs about $10 per month).  You can spend some money on a custom blog design or you can use of the zillion free WordPress themes available online.   The power of the blog is in your content and how often you contribute – not like in other types of advertising where people think the more money you throw at the advertising the more money you will make in return.  That is pretty old-school.  Whie it may have worked at one time or another in the past, today (to me at least) it seems to be a bad model.  Especially in times of economic hardship like today.  I work at a firm who likes to advertise in all of the traditional ways like the Yellowpages, local newspaper, classifieds, etc.  But the blog is great becaues after you put in some diligent work to create the content and get a readership, the internet will bless you because it will bring readers to you from search engines, links from other blogs, social media sites like Twitter (follow me, I’m @trippatkins).
5. Defines Your Internet Reputation: What comes up when you type your name into Google?  You may not want to know, but you need to know.  Your customers are going to be googling you to find out more about you.  I do this for everything I do now.  If I am going to a new restaurant or staying at a new hotel I want to find out about it.  I check out information about opposing counsel i my cases that I have.  People are doing the same thing about you and me.  In fact, one of the search terms that leads people to my site most often is Tripp Atkins Attorney.  People want to know more about me before they show up and start telling me about their life.  When I googled my name I found that there is apparently another guy named Tripp Atkins who is included in the Rip Off Report website because he scammed a lot of people.  **That Tripp Atkins is not me!! **  Anyway, that would not be good publicity for me if that were the number one position on Google for my name.  While he still shows up on the front page he is not the number 1, 2, or 3 listing and all of the rest are mine from my various sites to make sure people know that actual Tripp Atkins they are searching for.

Those are just a few of the benefits of blogging.  It is much more than an online diary and a way for the small business person to market their services that is becoming much more effective than traditional advertising methods.

You’ve heard about people living out in the sticks.  There’s nothing around – just country and pasture.  Mayberry – if you will.  Life is simple.  The area where we live used to be like that.  All people used to do was work, take time with their family and go to church.  Life is a little different now and so is our neighborhood.  Now it is a suburban jungle.  Houses and neighborhoods sprawled out all over the place where farms and forests used to live.  Businesses and grocery stores are at our front door.  Life is hectic.  We don’t just have to work, there’s the soccer games, lots of church programs, work overtime to get that project done, exercise, the kid’s have homework, then they have another practice or game.  Life is pretty complicated now.

I am reading through a one-year Bible right now and today I landed in Matthew 13 – “The Parable of the Sower.”  This is one of the good parables where Jesus really takes the time to explain himself and what he means to the disciples.  Remember, Jesus picked ordinary guys to do his work and they need help sometimes.  I need help understanding Him most of the time as well.  Anyway, what really stood out was the passage in verse 7, “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.”

When I first read that  I just glossed over and kept reading, but when I got down to Jesus’ explanation in verse 22 I had a “lightbulb” moment.  Jesus explains this part of the parable like this, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”

My life has become so full of stuff that time gets away from me.  The speed of life is ever increasing and technology causes everything to affect everything.  We are never “off duty.”

I seem to be living in the weeds and thorns of life.  The thing about thorns are once you get into a thorny bush the bush digs into your skin and holds onto you.  The thorns dig into your skin and cause you pain if you pull back.  I try to study my Bible every day, but that seems to be the first thing to get the boot if something “important” comes up.  I guess fortunately, I have been a Christian for a long time and have had a chance to grow my relationship with my Savior.  However, the way everyone’s life is today they are all going so fast and staying so busy that it doesn’t take much for things to get in your way and to clutter up your mind.  Whether you are a new believer or a long-time believer you have to deal with the thorn bushes in your life.

I would encourage you to get the weed-eater out today and start cutting back some of the weeds and thorny bushes that clutter your mind and your life and keep you from blossoming into the person that you were created to be.  Don’t let life get in the way and choke out the beautiful fruit that you were created to produce.

My mind is always in overdrive.  I am constantly thinking.  Thinking of ways to be more efficient, thinking of new business ventures or avenues to look into, thinking of new systems for my current business, and on and on.  My mind doesn’t stop.  I usually always have a pen and paper handy so I can write my ideas down and look into them more later.  Currently I follow 74 rss feeds to keep up with the information I am interested in.  I love to read and I have a bookshelf full of my “next up” books.  My handy iPhone (with the help of iTunes) keeps my iPod full of new podcasts that I want to listen to as I commute to the office or work out not to mention fingertip access to my e-mail and rss reader.  I am constantly checking out what is going on over at Twitter and Facebook because I would hate to miss something.

Dilemma enters here.  With all of these new ideas and things that I am interested in pursuing I severely limit what I can do because of the limited time that we all have to live with.  For me, it has always been paralysis by analysis.  I get bogged down in the details because I am always coming up with new details in the plan and not following through with the things I am interested in doing. I guess you could say it is a problem of focus.  Rather than being a directed beam, I have been diffused into a lot of different areas lately.  While that cheap dollar store flashlight works alright it is no steel-cutting laser.

This year I have set several goals – which is not altogether different from other years except that I am doing some things to hold myself accountable.  One of the things I am doing is going on a media diet.  Diet?  I know some people go on media fasts and head for the mountains where there is no cell phone service and no internet.  With a one year old and a busy life I can’t abandon ship for a few days to just get away.  So what I have tried to do is go on a media diet and drastically limit my media intake.

So what have I been doing.  First, I still do my daily Bible study and reading every morning.  During the times I am driving around in my car I do not plug the iPod or iPhone in or listen to the radio.  I have been trying to meditate and let my mind go a little so I can clear out some of the jumble.  I have also heard of people doing a brain dump and writing on a piece of paper everything that comes to their mind as an exercise to get it out of your head and on paper so you don’t feel like you have to remember everything.  I haven’t tried this yet but I am considering it.  So far this has helped me because it is more time for me to get my thoughts together before I get home and things get put into overdrive as we try to go all out when we have family time at night.

I am trying to limit the rss feeds that I am actually reading to only a specific few and I am spending a lot less time “playing” on the internet.

As with any diet you want to do well, I think having an effective media diet  requires you getting a plan together and sticking with it.  Just think, when you want to diet to lose weight you set some goals and some parameters to be able to keep up with what you are doing.  If you don’t then that extra slice of pizza or one more Mountain Dew doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

I will keep you updated on some of the things I am doing and results I am getting.  What are you doing to increase focus and cut out some of the clutter in your head?