Saturday mornings I do my long run with a group of runners. We meet at the Gates of Percy Warner park in Nashville, TN. Percy and Edwin Warner parks feature 2,684 acres of some of the most beautiful woods in Tennessee. Lot’s of runners make these parks their favorite running grounds along with my running group. I’ve noticed a trend lately that has me a bit miffed. Runners who are coming opposite side from our group who look us in the eye but won’t acknowledge our gregarious “good morning,” or a friendly smile followed by a wave if the runner has ear plugs in. That’s just plain rude. I haven’t seen a guide for runner etiquette but I’m sure there’s one somewhere. Here’s a few rules that should be in it: 1. If you make eye contact with another runner, smile or wave or say hello or maybe do all…

Tim Elmore’s new book “Generation iY” has messed me up lately, particularly the chapter on amending the lies we told Generation iY. According to Tim, these are well intentioned platitudes we say to our children in order to encourage them, to build their self-esteem but at their core, they are lies that will potentially wreak havoc as kids get old. According to him, “we have lied to manipulate, and often we have lied out of love. We’ve even taught young people to lie to themselves. . . in ways that will eventually sabotage them as a young adult.” Out of Dr. Elmore’s list of seven lies, the one that hit me the hardest was: You can be anything you want to be! Wait a second Tim, isn’t this part of the American Dream? Don’t people risk everything to come to America so their children can grow in a place they…

Every church movement in America, and around the world for that matter, has its share of critics. Friday morning I read a Wall Street Journal article by Brett McCracken on the perils of what he entitles “Hipster Christianity” . In this summary of his recently-released book, which I have not yet read, Mr. McCracken condemns Christian leaders for trying too hard “to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant.” He even names a few churches as examples of what he calls “cool churches,” saying at the close of his article that “as a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real.” I’m glad Mr. McCracken knows what he and his generation want, but whose job is to define what a “real” church looks like? Mr. McCracken and his generation of anti-hipsters? The Baby Boomers and their love…

Last month I spent a few days in Vienna, Austria working with the TWR’s European team. While I didn’t have a chance to enjoy much of what has to offer, I put together a quick slide show of pics I took with my iPhone. The music comes from Vienna’s own Mozart, of course. I now want to get back to Vienna to explore more of this beautiful city. Where have you been that you’ve said to yourself, “I’ve got to get back here!”?

It’s a small world after all. And I’m not talking about the never-ending, annoying Disney ride that can drive you insane. In the global economy we now live in, you’ll eventually have to work with people from different countries and cultures. This year alone I have been in Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Vienna working on projects and have seen first hand what a global economy looks like. Clear communication across the entire world has never been more important. As a communication professional, I often find well-meaning people commit grave errors because they don’t understand the cultural implications within a discussion. Most of the time, words alone fail to give you the true meaning of an international exchange. There are some lessons every business professional, pastor or even mission-bound volunteer should learn before they blow a deal, an exchange or, worst, start a war. Bad translations will derail any…

When I first began The A Group some nine years ago, it was designed to fit a need within the Christian landscape for strategic marketing solutions. Being strategy driven instead of product, we birthed The A Group Technologies as communication shifted from print to online, to social media and now into mobile platforms. We have worked with authors and publishers from early on, but over the past few years the publishing world has gone through a major transformation as more and more content providers and brands try to navigate uncharted territory. The A Group Brand Development is our answer to that need. Whether we’re working with an established brand or an emerging one, we’ll help our clients in these key areas: To find the intersection between publishing, marketing, and technology that elevates the brand To fill the gaps in a confused, changing industry To emotionally and intellectually connect mission and…

Somedays I walk into a new week with purpose, a long “to do” list and begin to knock it out. But then there are days like today. I’m sluggish, a bit unfocused, didn’t plan the week well, and I’m not sure what to tackle first. In these unplanned moments, my reaction is to find the busy work that will inevitably appear out of nowhere and fill my entire day and do that. But instead, I decided to stop and ask the one question I should ask myself most days: What should I do for my business that only I can do? I’ve been asking that questions for years now and because of it, I have stopped doing a lot of things, such as fixing copiers, designing brochures, writing checks, troubleshooting IT problems and a number of other important things that other people can do, often much better than me, and…

I’m in Brazil for a few days with my family as well as attending my brother’s wedding. I forgot to take my Flip video camera to the wedding, but I realized my new iPhone 4 shot video (my old 3G phone was not video enabled). Armed with only my iPhone, I took footage and pictures of the wedding and put together a quick video. In this short video you’ll see family, young and old, having a good time–a very good time indeed. And true to Brazilian form, when two or three are gather together, there shall be a celebration. Is your family loud? How do you describe your get togethers? Mine are extremely gregarious to the point of being obnoxious and scaring reserved people like Canadians.

I travel a lot. A whole lot. Until recently most of my travel has been within the US but this year I have been all over the globe. Right now I’m writing this post somewhere over Russia. There’s an art to traveling well, even if you can’t go first or business class as is my case right now. Here’s a few thoughts on the art of travel.  Book an exit row or bulk head  seat (some airlines charge extra for those seats). The extra leg room is really helpful on a long flight.    Board as early as possible.  Boarding early secures you the overhead bin near you. They fill up quickly specially on overseas flights.     Dress for comfort. Make sure you wear comfortable clothing and specially footwear since your feet will swell up during long flights.     Wear dark colors. You never know when you or someone next…

I have spent the last few days in Singapore listening to reports from around Asia on TWR‘s outreach efforts. There’s an amazing amount of work being done in this region of the globe for the advancement of the gospel including work in closed countries like North Korea, Myanmar and China. TWR is the largest Christian Broadcaster in the world reaching out to over 200 languages in some 160 countries through radio waves, television, print and internet. It’s truly an amazing organization. As I sat with leaders of 12 different countries/regions one common theme began to appear: mobile is our new frontier. TWR Partners of 12 different countries in Asia While radio is still the only way to reach millions in some cultures, mobile phones now make up the fastest growing communication device in the world. Even remote places in India and Africa now have affordable cell service with data plans.…