THE BLOG IS MOVING!

With months of sporadic posting Always Creative, Nothing New has decided to pack up and move to Wordpress at JoshBurcham.com. We're excited for this new journey and have some great posts lined up for your enjoyment, encouragement and challenge. New and improved layout, commenting and posting sections (Ministry, Leadership, Family and Personal) we're expecting to be blown away with Josh's new blog at JoshBurcham.com (we can't promote it enough :)).

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Christmas Morning

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home and looking back on this week. It was fun to hang with the whole family (or "the original four") as we've called ourselves in the past. I think my dad said it at some point this weekend: we're blessed, some families don't like each other. We love spending time together. Here are a couple of videos from Christmas morning:

Christmas Morning (Part 1) from Joshua Burcham on Vimeo.

Christmas Morning (Part 2) from Joshua Burcham on Vimeo.

Learned a lot about my siblings yesterday when we played to truths and a lie. I thought more highly of my older siblings before that game.

Religous People

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Mark 3:4-5

Its the same today as it was 2000 years ago. When Jesus starts to move, to change hearts, to restore lives and change the world. The religious people step in and plot against it.

Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Mark 3:6

Because it's different, because it's new, because it's hard to understand, because it's biblical and not of this world. People step in and try to quote scripture to destroy it. My Prayer is constantly that I do what He asks me to even in the times I don't understand and I'm called crazy. Someone once told me that God gave me a brain for a reason, He did, but scripture tells me that on my best day with my best thoughts they are are still as far as the heavens are from the earths on God's worst day with His worst thoughts.

I'll leave you with this. Stop being religious. Stop getting in the way of God moving. If you haven't heard from God, don't do it. And if you're seeking God and He seems to not be answering. There is a heart problem and it's on your side. I would start there.

Don't be the one Jesus says this about, "He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts." Don't be the one that Jesus the Son of God is angry at.

My Christmas Present to Myself

I'm stoked. They should be here tomorrow!

Office's One-Liners

"...they don't give out black belts for things that are stupid!" - Dwight

RE: @perrynoble

Dear (Enter Your Name), I will be running the universe today & do not desire your help!
- GOD

Thanks for the reminder, @perrynoble.

Bye Bye Site Meter

I've been a stat whore. I've checked them on a daily basis and today I stop. It's been a pride thing for me and it's going to be a pride thing no more. What do you need to cut out of your life today to humble yourself to so God can use you?

My Strength Themes (2 of 5)

After taking my Strengths Finder, these were the strengths themes that described me. See this past post to learn about the workings of Strengths Finder.

My Strength Themes:
1. Responsibility
2. Adaptability
3. Connectedness
4. Strategic
5. Belief

Today's Theme, Adaptability:

Shared Theme Description
People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

What makes you stand out?
Chances are good that you now and then set aside time to appreciate the loveliness and splendor of your surroundings. Driven by your talents, you are quite comfortable letting the day's events and people's demands determine what really deserves your attention. Instinctively, you picture yourself handling situations and issues that could arise in the coming months, years, or decades. You mentally rehearse what you plan to do in various worst-case and best-case scenarios. Your forethought prepares you to deal with whatever happens. You are a flexible person. You are not easily flustered by unexpected events, problems, or opportunities. By nature, you are the group member who moves through the day handling unexpected situations as they arise. Some are important. Others are not so important. You probably have earned a reputation for changing plans to deal with surprises. Because of your strengths, you generally find it is easier to know a person when the individual understands how to take life easy. Unraveling the mystery of what makes someone unique cannot be rushed, in your estimation. This explains why you intentionally avoid people who are constantly harried, hurried, stressed, or tense.

Busting Barriers with Mind Shift Changes

BUSTING BARRIERS WITH MIND SHIFT CHANGES
notes from Dave Ferguson on Craig Groeschel

Think differently about your church culture.

• Don’t say, “Our people won’t ___________” (insert problem). Instead you should say, “We have not led our people to ____________” (insert problem).

Think differently about the mission.

• Are you about the mission or are you about guarding people’s feelings?

Think differently about people leaving the church.

• The normal mindset is “we can’t let anyone leave.”

Think differently about limitations.

• Most of the time we say, “we can’t because we don’t have _______.” Great leaders see opportunities where others see limitations.

3 ASSIGNMENTS FOR MAKING A MIND SHIFT CHANGE

1. Find someone one or two steps ahead of you and learn how they think.
2. Identify one wrong mindset and ask God to renew your mind with truth.
3. Identify one painful decision you’ve been avoiding and commit to making the right decision immediately.

Take a Minute and Watch

My Strength Themes (1 of 5)

After taking my Strengths Finder, these were the strengths themes that described me. They really know what they are doing over at Strengths Finder 2.0 to nail me so well.

My Strength Themes:
1. Responsibility
2. Adaptability
3. Connectedness
4. Strategic
5. Belief

Today's Theme, Responsibility:

Shared Theme Description
People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

What makes you stand out?
Driven by your talents, you volunteer for additional duties. You really enjoy being given authority over projects, individuals, or groups. You expect to be held accountable for the results you produce as well as your words and deeds. Instinctively, you yearn to be given additional duties. You expect to be held accountable for your productivity, profit, behavior, comments, and actions. Chances are good that you probably are the team member who wants to be held accountable for the results you produce and the obligations you assume. You can readily admit when you are wrong. You usually accept without complaining the consequences of your words and deeds. By nature, you are naturally compelled to admit the truth. If someone asked you or told you to intentionally mislead someone, you would reply, "I cannot and I will not do that!" It’s very likely that you try to finish the tasks you agreed to do. Perhaps you even overcome some unexpected problems. Occasionally you work longer hours when it is necessary. Maybe you do whatever you can to avoid breaking the promises you made to people.

Strengths?

Too often we spend to much of our time trying to develop our weakness and not our strengths. What happens if we start focusing and improving those things that God has naturally talented us with. Those that God has gifted us with. Strengths Finder 2.0 is a business tool to help you find your strengths and improve on them. (Re-Post from Brad Ruggles)

The Path of Most Resistance
As kids, when we came home with a report card that was all A’s and B’s with one D which did we spend the most time on? Right, we tried to fix that D so that we could be a good, “well-rounded” student.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we just ignore our areas of weakness or tell our children that it’s ok to fail classes they’re not good at. The problem arises when we spend so much time working on fixing our shortcomings that we neglect to invest time into improving our strengths.

Overcoming deficits is an essential part of the fabric of our culture. Our books, movies and folklore are filled with stories of the underdog who beats one-in-a-million odds. And this leads us to celebrate those who triumph over their lack of natural ability even more than we recognize those who capitalize on their innate talents.

Tom Rath, Strengths Finder 2.0

Climb Every Mountain
Have you ever been told by a well-meaning parent or teacher, You can be anything you want to be as long as you try hard enough! This flawed maxim of personal development may sound good but is usually a recipe for frustration and discouragement. No matter how hard I try or how much I practice I’ll probably never be much of a singer because I just wasn’t blessed with a singing voice. I can set my mind to becoming the best CPA but let me tell you, you definitely wouldn’t want me preparing your tax return (I suck at numbers). Here’s a simple formula from Strengths Finder 2.0 to illustrate:

So in my case, let’s say on a scale of 1 to 5 that I am a 2 when it comes to my singing ability (I’m sure if you heard me you may choose a negative number but that’s beside the point). Even if I score a perfect 5 for investment (the time spent practicing and building my knowledge and skills) the most I’ll I can ever hope to attain in this area is a 10 (5 x 2).

The inverse is also true. When I place the maximum investment into the areas in which I have the most natural talent and ability, the results are far greater.

Be A Better Version of Who You Already Are
The idea that we can create perfectly well-rounded individuals in our schools and universities is a myth. There is no such thing as a perfectly balanced individual. We’re all going to have areas where we excel and areas where we fall short.

The truth of the matter is this: you cannot be anything you want to be - but you can be a lot more of who you already are.

So let’s turn this into a practical discussion.

What Are Your Strengths?
List your top 3 strengths. There’s a time and place for modesty but this isn’t it. I want you to list your natural talents and abilities, the things that make you come alive.

Broken Glass

Mark Batterson brings up a very true and interesting point in his Broken Glass post. A point we in the church should listen to and learn from:

I've blogged about trojan horses and purple cows. Here's what I mean by broken windows.

In the March 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly, James Wilson and George Kelling wrote a piece titled Broken Windows. They argued that something as insignificant and innocuous as a broken window sends a subliminal message. If the window is left unrepaired it communicates that crime is ok. So Wilson and Kelling argued that the way to fight serious crime is by cracking down on small infractions.

That is precisely what happened in New York City when Rudolph Giuliani was elected mayor in 1994. He cracked down on squeegee pests; arrested fare jumpers; and cleaned up the graffiti on subway cars. Critics said it was a waste of time and a waste of money. Statistics would suggest otherwise. The murder rate was more than cut in half.

In his book, Broken Windows Broken Business, Michael Levine applies the broken window theory to business.

A broken window can be a sloppy counter, a poorly located sale item, a randomly organized menu, or an employee with a bad attitude. It can be physical, like a faded paint job, or symbolic, like a policy that requires customers to pay for customer service. When the waiter at a Chinese restaurant is named Billy Bob, that’s a broken window.

Can I share two of my pastoral pet peeves? Unevenly folded bulletins and misspelled words on worship slides! I know those things aren't apocalyptic! But everything says something about everything. Or to put it another way, little things are big things. We need to strive for excellence in everything we do. One of the things that brings me the greatest joy is when we do something really small really well. I think it honors God.

Gabriel "Picachu" Iglesias

Two Great Apps

These are just that good. Both written in Adobe AIR. Phil recommended one and found the other. I'm running them both on desktops and like the flow and design. Pretty stoked about Action Methods being online from Behance. I've used Behance products for a good amount of time now and now that they have moved online, I can't wait to get my hands dirty:

Action Method Online TweetDeck

Action Method Online (AMO):
There are too many ideas in the world, and not enough action. Without organization and productivity, brilliant ideas never happen. Action Method Online is a radically different approach to productivity, designed to simplify project management and life. All of life can be divided into "projects" - the categories we use in our minds to separate and make sense of what we need to accomplish (e.g. "the party I'm planning," "client X," "event Y," "finances"). The Action Method helps you manage your projects starting with the most basic elements - always with an emphasis on action.

TweetDeck:
TweetDeck enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets. To do this All Tweets are saved to a local database. The far left column will always contain All Tweets. The GROUP, SEARCH and REPLIES buttons then allow the user to make up additional columns populated from the database. Once created these additional columns will automatically update allowing the user to keep track of a twitter threads far easier.