Foundry Lighting 04.13.10
4 Day Work Week
Last week I was reading Justin Wise’s blog on “Why a Four-Day Work Week Will Be the Norm”. He referred to Time Magazine’s article on how the state of Utah implemented it and is saving money and winning over people.
While I don’t work in Utah, I love having a 4-day work week. The transition happened a month ago after trading my Sunday duties at the 901 for some creative contribution to the college group. Instead of Sunday through Thursday, it’s now Monday through Thursday.
Monday 8hrs, Tuesday 14hrs, Wednesday 8hrs, Thursday 8hrs, 3 day weekend.
It helps that Foundry, our young adults service, meets mid-week and that all of my face-to-face meetings are packed into Tuesdays & Thursdays. And having that extra day actually makes me eager to get back into the office the following Monday.
But really in this age of connectedness, work emails on the iPhone, Twitter updates, and Facebook messages, are we really taking those days off?
5th Annual Friendsgiving
Each year my roommates & I host the “Friendsgiving” feast at our house. A big pot luck meal where we invite all of our friends & neighbors. Or as one of our friends jokingly calls it “A soup-kitchen for yuppies…”
It’s gotten bigger every year and this time we’re expecting around 150 peeps. We’re making two 22 lb. turkeys. Six other friends are also making turkeys and bringing them over later.
The best way to make a turkey? The short explanation – Make a brine bath and then cook the bird upside-down for the first 2 hours. The long explanation – Here’s a photo gallery explaining the steps:
Is There Room for Twitter in Church?
I wonder if this is similar to a question asked a long time ago: “Is there room for ‘musical instruments’ in church?”
We’ve integrated a live Twitter feed into our young adults service (foundryLA.org) beforehand, during meet & greet time, and sometimes afterwards. Live on the “Presbytron” and coordinated with the lighting design. People seem to have embraced it pretty well.
What Does it Do for Us?
Announcements – Obviously this is a great way for us to send out reminders to sign up for events & service projects. It’s also a great way for folks to post their prayer requests, roommate openings, and invitations to events, etc…
Connects New People – Being new in a group of several hundred people can be intimidating. This allows connections to be made. “Are you new? Text it up. We’d like to meet you…”
Real Time Interaction – Sometimes we’ll ask a question of the week. Or announce the “After Hours” location to hang out afterwards. Or get feedback on the evening’s topic before our speaker’s talk.
A Continuing Conversation – The service doesn’t end when everyone leaves. Folks are encourages to continue the connections online and throughout the week.
It’s becoming a great tool for folks to connect. The goal us that connecting online would lead to physical face to face interaction.
So What’s Next?
How can we better utilize this tool? Have anyone of you all executed or experienced anything similar? Would love to hear your feedback!
.
Moved the Blog…
Hey all, I’ve redesigned the blog and moved it here. I took an existing template and played around with css and the design elements.
The old one:
http://chumdinger.wordpress.com/
Thoughts or suggestions?
Time to start writing again.
