VBS
So, this past week we had Vacation Bible School at our church. And I’ve gotta say, it was a phenomenal week!
I can’t say that I remember VBS being such a focus back in Pensacola, where I’m from. Sure, there are a few churches who still do it; some even do it well. But since I’ve been in South Georgia, I’ve discovered that VBS is very much alive. In fact, it seems that every church here in Valdosta does VBS.
But I just wanted to take a second to say thanks to all those who were involved last week with VBS. There are the obvious folks: the ones who were in front where everyone could see them on a nightly basis. But there were many who spent countless hours behind the scenes preparing their designated task–many of which we may never realize.
So, thanks everyone for making VBS so much FUN!! I had a blast, and can’t wait till next year!
Review: Langdale Honda/Kia of Valdosta, GA
Well, it’s been more than 3 months now, so I guess it’s about time for a review of our experience purchasing our new van.
For several months leading up to March 2010, Amanda and I had been discussing the possibilities of purchasing either a house or a new vehicle. Financial issues put the house out of our reach. But my car (Amanda’s first car) was falling apart. And since I don’t know enough about vehicles to properly maintain or fix whatever issues there was, we were worried that at any moment it would stop working–hopefully not killing me and anyone nearby. So we decided it was time for a new vehicle. And as youth pastors at a church that doesn’t have a working church van, we were constantly having to borrow or trade vehicles to cart around teenagers. So, we decided that our new car should be a minivan (insert jokes here…).
So, I began the process of getting pre-approved for a car loan. I chose Central Credit Union of Florida because I had a loan with them before, they were good to me, and gave me a good rate.
Next, we did our research, and found that used minivans at local dealers were in short supply. We first went to Hyundai of Valdosta. After a few days of negotiating, we decided that they were unwilling to give us a reasonable price on a minivan that we had done our research on and knew that it wasn’t worth what they were asking.
Our next stop was at Langdale Honda/Kia of Valdosta. By the time of night we arrived (6:30-ish), we expected them to be closed. To our surprise, they didn’t close till 8. We were first greeted by a salesman named Jeff. Jeff at first seemed every bit a normal salesman (you know the kind…), but he treated us fairly and wasn’t particularly pushy, which, as you probably know, is unusual for a salesman.
We knew that they didn’t have any minivans listed online, but Jeff told us that they had one that hadn’t been posted yet, because it had just been traded in and cleaned-up. It was a 2005 Nissan Quest. So, within minutes of our arrival, we were test-driving a minivan.
The Quest had one previous owner. It was 5 years old, but only had 29,000 miles on it. It was in excellent condition, but it was missing the two rear-seat headrests. It drove well, and Amanda liked it, but I didn’t at first. It is a funny-looking van! Everyone who sees it likes it, but agrees that it’s a bit funny looking! The dashboard is especially unique; the general consensus is that it looks like an airplane cockpit (SPOILER–This is the van we ended up purchasing, and I really like it now for the same reasons that at first I didn’t like it: it doesn’t look like a regular minivan). But as soon as we arrived back at the dealership, Jeff started asking for the sale. He wasn’t pushy, but he did ask for the sale (as any good salesperson should do). A purchase like that isn’t one that I was ready to just jump right into without sleeping on it and praying about it.
Soon though, Jeff realized that we were about to walk, so he got his manager involved. He asked us about our pre-approval for financing and asked for a chance to beat the rate. Amanda and I decided that if they could beat the rate we had already gotten, throw in 4 brand-new tires, replace the two missing headrests for the back seat, give us a minimum of $800 for our car (we didn’t even believe it was worth $300), and still be less than $12,000, we would take it.
Surprisingly enough to us, they did all of that and more. They gave us $1000 for the car, 4.9% with a good local credit union (beating our pre-approval by an entire percentage), and agreed to all the rest. So, we agreed and began the paperwork. Soon, we were out of there with our new van. Of course, since I am ignorant with motors, we also purchased the extended warranty.
Overall, we were very happy with the transaction. Jeff went out of his way to help us. So, major kudos to Jeff.
However, Jeff had some personal issues (not work related I am told), so he is no longer with the company I am sad to say. So the follow-up fell to his manager. The follow-up consisted of the replacing of the tires with the 4 new ones they promised, and the new headrests. The new tires weren’t a problem. Within a few days, they had them ordered and installed and everything was good. However, the headrests were a completely different matter. According to the manager, they first tried to recover the original headrests from the original owners, but they couldn’t find them. So after a few weeks of waiting and no calls from the dealership, I called and pressed him into ordering some brand new headrests from Nissan. He promised they would and that they would be here in a week, and that he had my name and number written down right in front of him and would take care of it right away. It was about 3 weeks later before I got them.
So, my overall experience with Langdale Honda/Kia of Valdosta was pleasant. They met and exceeded our financial expectations. The service was great, with the notable exception of the follow-up. I feel that after I left, they were pretty much done with me, and the only reason I got any follow-up at all was because I initiated it.
I would recommend anyone that asks to Langdale, but would recommend that they deal a little more shrewdly than I am capable of with the manager to get the service and follow-up they deserve. If Jeff, our original salesman were still there, I would send folks his way without hesitation.
Beta
It’s no secret that I’m a Google fanboy. I follow them around like a puppy. I even listen to a show called This Week In Google on the TWiT network–yeah, I’m that geeky. And while listening to TWiG and using Google products, I have discovered a concept called “Beta”.
For those out there a little less geeky, Beta is a stage of project development (usually software) where the design team is comfortable enough with what they have so far that they open it up for testing to regular people–the key words there being so far. The development team understands that the product is not yet finished, and it still has bugs to work out. And the people testing the product understand this as well. This Beta testing is what helps the developers perfect the product for mainstream release.
Microsoft has released the greatest OS they have ever made in Windows 7, and much of that has to do with the Beta testing they did for more than a year before releasing the final product (especially after such a miserable excuse for an OS that Vista was…). Google understands this as well, and many of their products take years to lose the Beta tag. That’s because they are continuously improving their products. It’s a work-in-progress.
All that said, I read a fantastic blog post from Tony Morgan this morning challenging churches to understand this concept and to put it into practice. Hit the link, because it’s a fantastic read for church leaders. And I have to say, I am challenged, excited, and scared stupid at the thought of functioning like this.
Everyone that knows me knows that I despise most traditions–especially those in the church. I say bring on the change and innovation! The part in this that scares me though is launching a new project that isn’t fully fleshed out yet, because one thing I despise more than stupid traditions is lack of excellence. I strongly believe if you’re going to do something, do it well. And that’s a good habit to be in.
But I’ll be the first to admit that it’s holding me back. Trying to do new things in my Youth Ministry or in my church without feeling that it’s perfect goes against everything I believe, so I am slow to act on new things. But I am beginning to understand the truth of the Beta concept: it doesn’t have to be perfect to get it started. And of course the second part of the Beta concept is that you continuously change, tweak, and move things around until it’s just right (of course by the time you have it right, it’s time to change it up again… but that’s another blog post entirely…).
So I consider myself challenged today to not let the pursuit of perfection hold me back from testing new ideas and projects in my ministry, which is also an exercise in listening to the Holy Spirit. Oh boy, here we go…
Today’s Geek
I’ve been wanting to do a podcast of a livestream for a while now. And this is for several reasons. First, I think we should meet people today where they are, and most of them are on the internet somewhere or have an iPod or mp3 ready device to download stuff. Second, because there are these great digital and web tools out there now, many of them for free, and I want to play with them! There’s some really cool stuff, and as a geek, I must find a way to try them out.
The problem is, I’m not that interesting. I don’t really have that many things to say. Don’t get me wrong, I have my passions, and there are plenty of things that I want to say to people. But none of them are things that people would make the time to actually listen to.
Last week I discovered that the team from Azalea City Church of God were kicking off a livestream. So I tuned in. And you know what I found? A group of guys who had no agenda (not to be confused with the netcast No Agenda) and no extra-technical expertise (Wow, that really sounds insulting, and I don’t mean it that way. What I really mean is that they have the gift of geekiness, but little professional training and therefore little experience in this area), but they saw all this cool stuff you can do online and decided to jump in and figure it out on the way.
Well of course I had to get in on it! So I messaged the youth pastor and he invited me over today for the second episode. Again, they had no agenda (well, they did have a little one), and it took about an hour just to get the camera to interface with the computer to take the video. But here’s the thing, I had a great time just watching and learning and hanging out with these guys, and I’m totally looking forward to another show. And once we put our heads together and figure this thing out, I’m excited about where it can possibly go! (Even if I’m not invited back for the third episode…)
So there’s my geekout for the day. See you next time!
Update: You can find the show here if you’re interested.
TRC Spring 2010 Picnic
I just wanted to take a sec to write about how much fun I had at our church’s Spring Picnic this past Sunday. There were much more people there than I expected–especially considering the fact that we passed two other church picnics on the way to ours, and both of them were very large. We had old people, young people, little kids, and everyone in between show up. We played volleyball, softball, football, and played in the bounce house. We ate till we were sick, and then sat around laughing and having a great time.
So why is this important? Why is this different from any other church picnic?
It wasn’t. But we should definitely do more of it. I’ve heard our Pastor say on several occasions that Christians don’t celebrate enough. And I agree. Wee need to take more occasions to celebrate, have fun, and be silly together.