Vital Posts

Will your Goals Make a Difference?

by Miguel Angel Escobar on April 17, 2012

The large whiteboard in my office is full of goals. 

At some point in January, my colleagues and I thought it would be a great idea to write down in large scrawl ECF's yearly goals on that whiteboard. As the months have gone by, we've been able to check off a few of the easier ones. They were low hanging fruit. Now that we are in the middle of April, it's getting harder to add checkmarks to the list. 

Yesterday I realized that it's going to take a lot of time, energy, and perhaps a bit of luck to achieve every goal on that list. There are one or two that are just plain tough. Thinking about this, I found myself wondering about the difference those goals will actually make.

Goals are important. As individuals and as organizations, they help us stretch toward new heights. But there's a real difference between “goals” and “impacts.”

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Cha Cha Slide

by Richelle Thompson on April 16, 2012

It’s time to add the slide to our pew-aerobics repertoire.

We all know the rule of real estate: location, location, location.

Of course, this is true in the pew as well. Prime spots tend to be about a halfway back, close enough to be noticed but not so close that the priest can tell if you’re playing Words with Friends during the sermon.

I noticed yesterday another spot that is held dear by many parishioners: the aisle seats. As I walked into the nave, I saw that the pews looked like the hairline of a middle-aged man – full on the sides and empty down the middle. 

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Desperate for Discernment

by Jeremiah Sierra on April 16, 2012

I bought an Apple computer because I’d spent too much time in Best Buy overwhelmed by the array of PC’s – Toshiba or IBM or Sony? So many screen sizes, processors, features, and colors. Once I decided to buy an Apple, I had the choice of three types and three sizes. Easy (though a little more expensive).

Having more choices, it turns out, does not make our lives easier, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing. Which brings me to discernment. From the time we graduate college, most of us face a wide array choices for which is it impossible to fully prepare.

I have a couple of friends who are considering changing their careers or attending graduate school. Should they stay near family or move to another city? Should they get married and have kids or postpone that and pursue a career? What tools do they have to help make our way through these decisions?

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Stuck in a Rut?

by Chris Yaw on April 13, 2012

Ever wonder why we can’t get out of this rut?

Maybe it’s a question you’ve asked as you went to the same job, in the same place, after leaving the same house and the same family so often it feels like life has no more zest. Why do I feel stuck, wedged, and jammed into a slot that’s getting more and more uncomfortable?

Feeling stuck is often an ironic result of lives constructed to help us feel the opposite. We crave freedom and fulfillment, often as a product of our deepest fears around security, abandonment, and acceptance. These fears can often be at the heart of the big choices we make surrounding work, home, and family. And as we construct lifestyles to assuage these feelings we build frameworks, habits, and traditions that form ruts.

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Who Should be at the Table?

by Miguel Angel Escobar on April 12, 2012

There are many tables within an Episcopal Church. There is, of course, the altar. This table is at the center of our liturgical life and serves as a reminder of the table around which Jesus and his disciples shared a final meal.

But in most churches there are other tables too. For instance, there’s oftentimes at least one large meeting table around which key decisions about the life of the congregation are made. Who should be present there?

In every church there are major decisions that require input from the wider congregation. Those who help to facilitate these major decisions will have to make hard decisions about who should be present at those meetings and who shouldn’t. This can be a fraught task. We all know of instances where people have been hurt and projects have been derailed because no one thought to get input from a key stakeholder.

Who needs to be at the table?

While there’s no hard and fast rule for this sort of decision, collaborative leaders keep key stakeholders in mind. Generally speaking, the following categories of people need to be brought into the decision-making process in some form or fashion, whether through in-person meetings, surveys, or other feedback mechanisms.*

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