So, Facebook is going public. What does that mean for me?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

I have been infatuated by Facebook’s campaign to go public. Here are a couple of my own thoughts and the thoughts of some analysts I have read:

1. Ads in your newsfeed. I would almost rather have this, than some of the ridiculous stuff I see in my newsfeed now. For those of you that use twitter, we have already begun to see this in our timelines. The end has come to the sidebar ads you can just ignore. Although, interestingly enough Facebook made 3.2 billion dollars off of those sidebar ads last year (that no one ever clicks on).

2. Online payments through Facebook.You could begin to start paying for products or services online using your Facebook account. Effectively, this could render PayPal old news. We have already seen companies like Spotify allowing you to sign in via your Facebook account. Facebook would make money off of each transaction, playing the role of “broker”.

3. The mobile app will get better.I know most of us hate it. But, this is the future of tech startups and Facebook’s continued success. The mobile platform will greatly improve in the next year. They will continue to learn from their employees at Instagram, in how to create a functional app that is “pretty”.

Will Facebook ever cost money to use? I don’t think so. The value of the company is based on the number of users. The more users, the more money they can make from advertising.

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a youth ministry lesson from George Bennett

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

He has dined with Margaret Thatcher and was a close friend to Billy Graham, and was long-time CEO of State Street Management and Research firm in Boston. He founded a church and sat on the local school committee. He was asked under two different presidents to serve as Secretary of Treasury. He declined both offers (Boston Globe).

Last night, I got my hands on George Bennett’s Memoirs of a Long Life. It was fascinating, I read through the entire memoir before I went to bed. I was struck by the story of man who had done so much with his life. I thought to myself, what inspired him to keep such a deep faith in the midst of power, wealth and influence?

He writes, “From the time, I was seven or eight years old I went to church and Sunday school with my mother every week. It was her faith in the early years that led me to the Lord. My father, was not particularly religious though he occasionally attended church with us. A highly influential figure in our lives was my mother’s friend, Julia Perkins. Mrs. Perkins was a strong evangelical Christian who held regular Bible study classes”.

As I continued to read the memoir, George referenced Mrs. Perkins a couple more times. I reflected on how important it is for us to have people like Mrs. Perkins in our lives. Folks that have known us for most of our lives and have chosen to care for us. In the midst of George’s wildly successful career, he took the time to write about how important Mrs. Perkins was. This should be an encouragement to every Sunday school teacher and youth worker who reads this post. We may never know the full impact of our ministry with kids, but stories like this remind us that God is fully at work with the seeds that we plant.

Do you have a “Mrs. Perkins” in your life? Share a snippet of that person’s impact on your life below.

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Check out the #gathering2012!

Posted on May 3, 2012 by

Doug Fields and Duffy Robbins talk about the benefits of their speaking to teenagers seminar which they are presenting at Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA on May 19th. Click here more info and registration! Hope to see you there!

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Leadership Lessons from the Starbucks Dude!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by

This morning, I posted up in Starbucks for a couple hours. I frequent this particular store on a regular basis. Normally, I just drop in for a drink and head back to the office or have a meeting that gathers my full attention. But, today I hung out and read the newspaper. I was able to observe the manager’s leadership and found myself impressed.

Here is why:

  1. Efficiency: Throughout the morning rush, the line was moving fast. His team members were working well at their stations. If I had to guess, they were well trained.
  2. Staff Demeanor: They weren’t over the top fake-friendly. I felt like I was greeted warmly and my order was important. I think the manager models this attitude and level of professionalism
  3. Responsibility: I saw him making drinks, taking orders, cleaning up the lobby. He was filling in the gaps during the rush. You could tell this was his store and he was proud of it.
  4. Calm, Cool and Collected: During the morning rush, the power went off. He took control, cracked a joke and kept things moving. I was sitting with a friend and we both looked at each other and said, “we like this guy”.

My drink was fine and so was my breakfast sandwich. It’s pretty hard to mess up a Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte. I think I just learned a thing or two from the Starbucks dude! Don’t worry! I sent along a note about my experience to Starbucks corporate. Hoping for a gift card!

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How to make it in America

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

HBO released the television series, “How to make it in America” in 2010. The basic plot of the show is two friends who grew up in New York City try and “make it” in the NYC fashion scene. One of the greatest privileges I have by living in the USA is the opportunity to “make it”. But, that’s a different blog post for another day.

Yesterday, I blogged about kickstarter. A web service, that helps budding entrepreneurs raise funding for their projects or products. After spending some time on the site last night. I came across my favorite product thus far, Flint & Tinder. It’s a underwear product that is…wait for it….made in America. I love this for a lot of reasons.  But, mainly because it is easier to monitor working conditions in the manufacturing process and maintain integrity across the supply chain! See, nothing we purchase is innately cheap. Somebody or something pays a price for it somewhere. We need to be responsible consumers  and ask questions of their origin stories. Lately, it’s been wildly popular to do this with food, but I see this trend making it’s way into textile products as well.

Currently, there is no underwear being made in America! Should we only buy products made in America? Yes or No? What are the pros and cons of buying products only made in America? Also, be sure to chime in on the poll below.

Check out Flint & Tinder. If it catches your fancy, support them with a couple bucks and get some great underwear in return!

Posted in change, Entrepeneurship, fashion, Leadership, social/corporate responsibility | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kick Start A Business

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

I had a little more time this morning. If you are like me, mornings are usually rushed and chaotic. I could probably fix this problem by getting up earlier, but where’s the fun in that?

Ideas captivate me, I’m a dreamer. One of the texts that inspire me the most is the newspaper. Some of the best short stories are told in newspapers.

Anyways, I came across this  new york times article this morning highlighting a company named kickstarter. As a self-described entrepreneur with no good ideas (yet), this gives me hope. Kickstarter is a web service that allows you to raise money for a project or product. There are built-in incentives for the donor according to the dollar amount they pledge. For example, if a band is raising money to produce an album, you could pledge $250 toward the album and receive a steak dinner with the whole band in return.

I love kickstarter for a couple of reasons.

1. You find out very quickly, with little money invested, whether or not your idea can gain any traction. It is kind of like free market research. There is no cost to opening a project on kickstarter.

2. It’s an easy way to get your friends involved at an affordable price. I love doing things with people. We succeed together, we fail together. There is a good story in there somewhere.

3. Contrary to working with a venture capital firm. You own 100% of the company even after the money is raised.

If you got a good idea, try kickstarter out.

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Personal Invite

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

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I get too many emails. I think we could all agree with that statement. We are over communicated with. When I receive an email at work, I receive three different notifications. My iPad, DROID and work computer will all ding within 30 seconds of one another. Do I care? Am I jumping to see who has emailed me? Not really.

A couple weeks ago, one of my volunteers shared a “revolutionary” way of communicating with the students in his small group. He wrote personal notes to each of them and mailed them via the USPS (not to be confused with Gmail). All he used was a pen and a sticky note. He posted the personalized note on the flyer for the football party he was hosting and dropped it in the mail. Many of the kids in his group showed up. Even a couple of students who he had not seen in awhile came.

His initiative inspired me. I challenged our entire volunteer team to write personal notes to the kids in their small group and invite them to our winter retreat. The picture above represents what we gave each volunteer. We provided them with copies of the retreat brochure, mailing labels with addresses printed on them and envelopes with postage. I am hoping we will see a big relational return on investment with this approach. Sometimes, you just gotta go back to the old school. Pens and paper.

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Two Things I Value in a Mentor

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

Challenge- Mentors should challenge you in all aspects of your life. Recently, I had a mentor challenge me with 2 disciplines. The first he said, “Andrew, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be as jacked as Ben Affleck in The Town”. While it stung a little bit, he was right. Being young and single, the only thing preventing myself from getting to the gym is my own laziness. I needed to hear that good word. Now in all honesty, I have become a little lackadaisical in the last two weeks in going to the gym. So, today a great friend of mine is going to go with me to help me get back into the routine.

Another mentor of mine wrote a book named Jumping the S-Curve. Inside the front cover, he writes “Andrew, I have watched you S-Curve with joy, keep growing and learning!”. These couple lines he expanded on during a conversation when he gave me the book. He challenged me to read more and watch less TV. Again, it stung a bit…but it was words I needed to hear.

Encouragement-  There are a couple people in my life with whom I might spend an hour with and literally walk out the door and feel like I can conquer the world. I am not talking about over-inflated meaningless words of encouragement, I am talking about people who speak words into my life who know me. They know my giftings, talents and skill sets. They have perspective. They help me imagine what could be!

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Inside Out 2012

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

This is new for us. We are going to host our winter retreat in our church building. No traveling to a retreat center this season. This idea birthed out of some collaborative discussion with our youth ministry team. Here is what we came up with:

1. Hosting the retreat at our church significantly reduced the cost. The retreat costs $24 this year opposed to $135 last year per student. It is shorter this year, it only runs through saturday night. But, $24 for 24 hours seems like a good deal for our families.

2. Hosting the retreat at our church allowed for it to be more accessible. More of our volunteer leaders are attending. Parents will be engaged in behind the scene serving roles. Hopefully, more students will attend. For newer students, its a lot more comfortable to spend 24 hours at a place you are familiar with than to drive two hours to a place you have never seen.

3. The last thing we are pumped about is that students are going to hopefully(praying!) experience God within the walls of their own church. So many times in youth ministry I hear students share testimonies of what God has done in their lives on retreats and missions trips, seldom do I hear them talk about things that actually happened at church. So, in a lot of ways this is an experiment. We just felt this year was the year to try something new.

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3 principles of humility

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

Humility is to hold your power in service to others. 

3 principles for cultivating humility in your life from John Dickson. These are some of John’s main points from his talk at the leadership summit. I posted a teaser video above, so you can get a feel for who John is.

Humility is common sense.- None of us are are an expert in everything. Expertise in one area counts for very little in another. A true expert would know this. The expert must know that what he or she doesn’t know far exceeds what they can know and can do. For example, just because I am an “expert” in youth ministry doesn’t mean I understand public school education. (fyi: I don’t think I am an expert in youth ministry) This is called competency extrapolation, when I presume my youth ministry knowledge will immediately translate and allow me to be an expert in public education.

Humility is beautiful.- We are attracted to great people who are humble. Presumption and pride diminish greatness. Humility has not always been seen as a virtuous characteristic. In ancient Rome, humility as a character trait was only connected with the lower class. Humility had a negative connotation. So, how have we come to appreciate the humility in western culture thousands of years later? The humility revolution started with Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ crucifixion changed societies’ view of humility. Paul writes in the Bible, “consider others better than yourselves”. The attraction of humility in western culture has been massively influenced by the Christian tradition. The cross changed everything.

Humility is generative- The humble person is able to learn and create more than the proud person. Peter Andersen believed that the finiteness of man actually created the field of science. We don’t know all truth, but God did create us as curious and intelligent beings. In essence, the study of science is an exercise of humility. Scientists spend their lives pursuing things they do not understand. Their humility generates new research and understanding. In another example, accurate criticism should be your best friend, it is the fast track to generating change and improvement. But, we can only hear criticism well when we exercise humility.


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