Many of you know that I'm a big fan of all things Google.  Google.com is my home page, Google Maps is my default mapping software, and I recently bought my wife a phone with Google Android as the OS.  So, it should come as no surprise that the following blog post about how Google sets goals caught my attention.  Read and learn ... How Google sets goals and measures success Google sets impossible bodacious goals…and then achieves them. The engineering mindset of solving the impossible problem is part of the culture instilled in every group at Google. Tough engineering problems don’t have obvious answers. You need to invent the solution, not just optimize something that exists. Every quarter every group at Google sets goals, called OKRs, for the next 90 days. Most big companies set annual goals like improving or growing something by x%, and then measure performance once a…

"Can Geico really save you fifteen percent or more on your car insurance?  Is Ed 'Too Tall' Jones too tall?" That's the line from a new Geico commercial.  For years, I have loved watching Geico commercials ... the gecko, the cavemen, and now this guy who has his hair slicked back and looks a bit like Pierce Brosnan. Why can't the church be as creative as Geico?  We're not peddling insurance; we sharing the good news that Jesus Christ has come to redeem people from darkness and bring them into the light. Yet, in many churches we avoid the heavy-lifting required to be creative.  We offer up to those who find their way to our pews something we have warmed up from another church.  Or worse, we don't even bother to warm it up. God deserves better.  People's eternal destinies hang in the balance.

We had nine guys turn out for our first "Letters from Dad" workshop on Saturday.  It was an interesting mix of dads -- young dads and older dads.  The youngest kids represented were three week-old twins; the oldest, children in their mid-twenties. The common theme as to why each had attended was this: we wanted to leave a written legacy to our kids. I spent about fifteen minutes going over some background material and sharing a few passages about a father's responsibility to pass down the faith to their children.  And then we were off and writing. At the end, I asked how many would like to do it again and the response was ... how soon?

This snippet is from an interview with Craig Newmark, the man who founded Craigslist.  From a church growth perspective, I find his answer very interesting. Dan: Of that most important element, what do you think was most key in the site’s early growth? Craig: I think it had to do with the obviousness of the collaborative approach and the consistent culture of trust that grew. It has to do with the everyday practice of universal shared values like “treat people like you want to be treated” and “give the other person a break.” Now and then, we should be our brother’s keeper.