Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Tom Sawyer is the master marketeer
Tom was being punished and a giant fence needing whitewashed was his task. Could he get any help at all with hiring his fellows? No, the price for this miserable work was too high and he was broke. Solution? Yes! Enjoy this chapter to find the keys to marketing.
in reference to: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (view on Google Sidewiki)Monday, September 28, 2009
A book well worn and used before you even finish it. Rarely does a book spawn immediate desire for action and produce instant results. This one does.
Rosemond is sarcastic and I love it. Being helped and encouraged in parenting never hurt so good. My copy of this book is already well worn and I've only had it for a few hours. My wife and I loved his syndicated column until the local paper snuffed it out because it didn't fit their liberal, psychobabble agenda. I am so thankful I obtained this book. Still raising five children often puts me at wit's end and Rosemond has been such a breath of fresh air. I love his format with such an easy going writing style that makes you laugh and think at the same time. Parenting books are a dime a dozen and I have read at least ten to twenty in my day. This one goes down in the top three. You'll be hard pressed to read a better written one any time soon. Parenting and politics are two subject that are sure to start an argument at any cocktail party and this one won't disappoint. He is wonderfully irreverent to the established experts on parenting. You won't disagree with too much but if you do I hope its because you recognize that some of his practical tips are not very biblical such as the whole "The doctor is in routine." Essentially its lying to your child that you talked to a doctor who has prescribed such and such treatment for a certain bad behavior. I have no doubt that the trick would work but lets not lie to our children to accomplish a good end result. This tip can easily be tweaked, however, by just stating what you believe to be facts on a certain behavior issue. "Son I believe you are not eating your meal tonight because you might are not getting enough sleep so we will cure that right now by putting you to bed early." In other words, Rosemond suggests that a child suffer agony over his misbehavior which will give him some excellent self motivated reasons for living rightly. If the discerning reader will over look some of the minors and focus on his majors you are in for a feast of usable tips that cut to the chase and expose the heart of a child. I wish he would have used more scripture to back up most of his points which are certainly common sense from good theology. I found the chapter on strategy much more helpful than the practical tips section. His 'leadership parenting' concept was very beneficial and hardly anyone has really addressed this in parenting circles like he does. I highly recommend this book to any parent or grandparent and will hope for a subsequent study guide containing more bible verses to help flesh out his unique parenting viewpoint. Five Stars and I will be using his tips and in fact already put two of his tips to work within hours of reading the book. I think my 17 year old has actually cleaned his room because I offered a 'deal he can't refuse'. Thanks for the tip. The godfather of parenting has written a deal you shouldn't refuse either.
in reference to:- The Well-Behaved Child Customer Reviews - Barnes & Noble (view on Google Sidewiki)
Become a famous marketing blogger
Here is a publisher that is doing a great job with viral marketing. Don't just give away free copies to folks that will never read the books. I hope other publishers will learn from Thomas Nelson and get books into bloggers hands to get the word out.
in reference to: Book Review Bloggers at Thomas Nelson (view on Google Sidewiki)Danger: Don't ever stray from the total sufficiency of Scripture
While I don't agree with all this critic's assessments, the fundamental issue with Wilkinson is sloppy hermeneutics and a shift away from the clarity and sufficiency of Scripture. Dobson and other pop culture Christian gurus fall into the same trap.
in reference to: Who is the Dream Giver? (view on Google Sidewiki)video gospel for kids?
This very interesting Gospel message does a pretty good job actually of explaining our true state before God as sinners. (Could do a better job explaining what being dead in sin is all about.) Also nice was the role Christ plays as the great exchange on the cross: my sins in exchange for His righteousness. Two possible pitfalls of the presentation need to be addressed however: 1. Repentance is described in the sinner's prayer portion which I liked: "I don't want to sin any more.", but repentance and belief need to be fleshed out a bit more and how they are related. Most modern gospel messages don't show the relationship between the two and certainly don't express that these two are also part of God's gracious gift to us. Salvation is a gift but so in the ability to obtain the gift which clearly also comes from God. (Its your kindness that leads us to repentance, Rom. 2:4. Even belief or faith is also given to us by God and not self generated or inherent in us: Heb. 12:1-2. Jesus is the captain, author and perfecter of our faith.)
2. Having a sinner's prayer for kids can lead to false professions of faith that look great on the 'how many conversions this month' report. I certainly think we should lead children in prayer for salvation and do it often. Yes, we are saved at a specific point in time and space when the Holy Spirit applies salvation upon us but with kids,we can manipulate them into a prayer when they are not saved. They respond to "Just as I am", the song and leave "just as they were" the unrepentant, unsaved kid who prayed a prayer but now have a false, 'easy believism' religion that everyone will use to help prop him us during his life. "Of course your saved son, don't you remember when you prayed that prayer in church back when you were 6." I have seen this over and over again and it is shocking, hurtful, unbiblical and not where we want to end. I always pray with kids and my own kids that God would continue to show them these gospel truths and that he would open their heart to respond to the gospel just like Lydia was enabled by God during Paul's message in Acts 16:14.
With some tweaks this can really be a nice tool in the ministry arsenal. Even though I personally am not a huge fan of fake characters teaching real truth which I think sends a mixed message but I can't say that it is sinful for others to do it either. So, keep up the good work of working with kids and sharing the gospel with them.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Customized Memory Verses on your computer
For all of us who should have been memorizing the bible all along we now have a great new tool. Verse Minder flat out works! Why? because it jumps out at me while I'm on my computer which these days is 24-7. I personally use the AWANA version because I am an AWANA leader and wanted to memorize along with the kids I work with.
Top new resource.