Economy May Help Churches?

A colleague, Mark Willie, shared a thought about one the effects of the current economy that could be helpful for young churches. He observed that the closing of many automobile dealerships may provide an opportunity for churches looking for new facilities! He suggested a few reasons why closed automobile dealership locations may be good for churches to consider:

• They are currently well priced for lease or purchase
• Lots of parking
• Large building for services
• Offices above the open space for church staff
• Well located near freeways
• Typically on a busy street with good visibility for evangelism

Those are all great reasons! A few observations I would add:

• Most dealerships are in areas that are zoned in such a way to make it easy for churches to qualify for use without running into lots of neighborhood opposition
• Be cautious about the zoning requirements that may require significant building upgrades to qualify for assembly usage
• Be sure to check for soil contamination that could be costly to resolve

Maybe, as Mark said, this is a gift from God that can help many newer churches!

Some Store Managers Just Don't Get It!

I went to a store today to return a defective product they manufacture and sell. This is a chain that spends millions to get folks like me to buy from them. I like the chain, and I shop there often, so their marketing worked on me!

The store manager today insisted on negotiating with me. He only wanted to give me credit for 75% of what I spent on the defective item. Even though I had a receipt! I had to verbally wrestle with him for some time to convince him that his strategy was unwise and could cost them a customer.

In the end he agreed to give me full store credit (remember that I had my receipt!), but I couldn't help wondering why so many store managers and customer service people don't get it. Their supposed heroics cost their company so much in lost sales and lost customers.

Star Trek Movie-- A Must See!

We saw the Star Trek movie today, and it was great! The movie has enough ties to the original TV show to make it interesting for those of us who grew up watching the original show, but not so many that it became corny. The story was terrific, as were the effects. This movie is a must see!

New Article on Cloud Computing

I just released a new article on cloud computing for publication. You can get a free advance copy of it in PDF format by clicking here!

Is the U.S. a Christian or a Muslim Country? President Obama Weighs In!

While on his last trip to the Middle East President Obama told the world the U.S. is not a Christian country. That surprised many in the U.S. because our roots are definitely Christian. Then in an interview yesterday with French television's Canal Plus, President Obama said:

"...one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

So, I'm trying to understand his message. It almost sounds like he's saying we're not a Christian country, we're a Muslim country! Can I possibly be understanding this correctly? What do you think?