Tuesday, November 30, 2010

What ministry wants

A new smartphone's ads claim that the phone is designed in such a way that you can easily check it for updates to your various social media channels and quickly get back to being a good father or husband or friend.

The idea seems to be that if only we have the right hardware, we will be able to spend more time doing what's really important.

But the thing is, we check our phones and spend more time on more devices because we like being connected to...other stuff.

So, a really good phone doesn't get us back to life quicker.  A really good phone gives us more ways to be distracted.

Kevin Kelly posits what technology wants his recent book

Technology sometimes wants us to want.  Or at least the marketers of technology seem to want us to want something else.

Jerry Seinfeld once said about a basic bit of technology, the remote control: you don't use it to see what's on TV, you use it to see what else is on TV.

Smartphones mostly don't give you time to take part in life, they give you a chance to check out what else.  Anything else.  Other than being present.

So...

What does ministry want?

For people to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves without having to make real relationships?

For people to feel better about themselves without really having to change their lives?

To be blessed?

To belong?

To matter?

To grow closer to God and the person God created them to be?

Technology sometimes seems a little disingenuous.

So...

What about ministry?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Find yourself in a conversation about religion this Thanksgiving? Employ the On Being Strategy

Against our better judgment we often slip into conversations about religion with our family and loved ones during Thanksgiving and other family gatherings.

This mine field may be more successfully negotiated with a minimum of slammed doors, early departures, and gut wrenching apologies by considering some advice from one of the best in the business in facilitating conversations about religion.

Krista Tippett is the host of a radio program on Being.  The program was formerly known as Speaking of Faith.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Ms. Tippett describes a couple of pointers she has found to keep the dialog edifying.
"On my radio show, which covers issues of faith and moral imagination, I encourage my guests to follow a couple of ground rules: No abstractions about God, and speak in the first person, not on behalf of your group or tradition (or God). This makes statements of belief much more hospitable, easier to hear. A listener might disagree with your opinion on ultimate questions but can't disagree with your experience of them. There is a profound difference between hearing someone say "this is the truth" and hearing her say "this is my truth."
Ms. Tippett brings me each and every week to at least on epiphany of "Wow, I never thought of it that way," with this mode of idea exchange.

So much of what I find frustrating about what people with other religious, political, or any type of view, really isn't so much their...wrongness.  What is frustrating is my inability to find out more about what they are saying about their beliefs and how they arrived at that point.

One question I hope to ask at least once this Thanksgiving during the small talk of family interactions is one that Ms. Tippett often asks to bring the talk on her program back to the center of discussion: "What do you mean when you say that?"

I believe this approach will cut down on how much (misguidedly) I project on what I hear people saying about their ideas of how "God works" while allowing me to better understand what they are actually trying to say.

Whether or not it's grounded in fact or not: that's the whole point of what I have always understood Thanksgiving to be about.

People understanding other people's ideas.

No matter how different they may appear.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Soup recipe makes ministry possible

The story of stone soup has a few variations.  Some play toward a slant of trickery or selfishness where others find it to be about inspiration and encouragement.

Since we about ministry we'll choose the appropriate variation to work with.

(That is the appropriate variation in terms of ministry...right?)

A fire, a cauldron, water and a stone don't make soup, but where there are hungry people: it can cause soup to happen.

Someone who is hungry and has some cabbage will soon have cabbage soup if somebody else just gets the process going.

Hot water with a stone isn't the goal.  Nutritional, filling food isn't really even the goal.  A shared meal is the goal.

We often rush to provide the food.  We often feel irrelevant or ineffective unless we provide the fire, the water, the stone, the ingredients, the bowls, the paper goods and the understanding of why we are providing the food.  The value of the meal is then determined by how many people came to eat.

So metaphor breakdown:

What is our fire, pot, water and cauldron and what is our meal?

For a habitat for humanity build for example:
The house is really a stone.

The bulletin article is just some water.

The sponsorship fee is a fire.

The abilities of the congregation is a pot.

Your job description as director of missions is some flint.

What is the shared meal?

"Wow, I never knew I liked this sense of connection.  I guess I've never had it prepared this way before."

"Man, you gotta try this.  I helped make it."

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Seeing is believing: decide what to see and believe

Close your eyes and think to yourself "green arrows pointing to the right" three times.

Now look at this image:

Now repeat the process, but this time when you close your eyes think: "yellow arrows to the left".

Now look at the image again:

Now consider this story:

There was a landowner who sowed a field with grain.  His enemy came along and sowed weeds in among his field.

Now close you eyes and think about the good parts of you nature.  The times you came through.

Now look at that field of weeds and grain growing together.  What do you see.

Close your eyes again and think about the times you have let yourself and those who count on you down.  The parts of yourself that you wish weren't so...wrong.

Look at that same field.  What do you see now?

The quirky thing about "missions" is that it tends to interest us in people because of what's wrong with them instead of the good things about them.  We sometimes focus our interest in others based on what they don't have instead of what they do have.

We do the same thing with ourselves and to one another.  

We forget the treasure is in there, in us, and in them.

What we see sometimes depends on what we close our eyes and imagine to be.

Now close your eyes...

Monday, November 15, 2010

If your ministry was a circus act, which one would it be?

A plate spinner keeps lots up things up in the air.  The more things you can keep going, the more impressed people will be.  The downside?  Things don't really get interested until something is about to fall.  And you have to keep raising the stakes.  Poles on chins, etc.  People don't have much to say about you until something hits the floor and shatters.

The tightrope walker can be a breathtaking performer.  Standing up to the status quo or challenging the boundaries of ministry can be exhilarating.  And if you do it without the CEO's knowledge or without permission, you're like, working without a net.  Even more dramatic.  Concerns?  You mostly work alone or at best with just a couple of other talented performers.  If you are a true dare devil like Karl Wallenda, at some point, the wind will get you.

The lion tamer seems to always be pitted against the rage of the angry.  Man against beast.  It seems like there is always another lion.  Another rager to tame.

Clowns are always fun.  Nobody takes you too seriously.  It's fun to make people laugh.  And then they can get on back to their lives.  Nothing too serious.  You wear a lot of costumes and funny shoes.  At the end of the day, nothing really changes.

The barker is a role we have to play at one time or another.  Step right up folks, never gets old.  There is always the hope of another big show of the next great thing as if it's about to happen for the first time.

The circus is a nice diversion.  There's always a lot going on and people usually take home a couple nice souvenirs.

Authentic relationship maker isn't a circus act.  What if it was?  I can't think of a more death defying, center-ring act to be a part of.  You would be the talk of the town.

The greatest show on earth.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

What God responds is up to us

A youth gives a devotion in which she says, "God responds to hunger, not need, because if he responded to need there wouldn't be any."

It seemed to make lots of sense to me.  That things would be how God wants them.  If God didn't want them this way, they wouldn't be.

Free will.  I got it.  It's definitely in the mix.

There is a tension between our desires and our circumstances.

We have to as the serenity prayer indicates discern between what we can change and what we accept.

A friend was worked up about a potentially damaging situation faced by a church denomination in it's dealings with a tenant of one of it's properties.  She wanted to work through the system to bring about an equitable resolution.  After lots of efforts and prayers and some tears, CNN did the story.  My friend after it was all said and done mused, "I guess that was exactly what was supposed to happen.  Perfect."  What will come of it now is what I find myself wondering.

We probably imagine that if just a few more people had of known about a ministry opportunity or an event, they would have really benefited.

What about the one person who was there that was really moved or challenged by the activity and wants now to take another step?

Are we paying attention?  What will come of it now?

Maybe how things are--hunger or need--is exactly how they are supposed to be.

How we respond might be God's only choice.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

A three fold test from The Office for honoring dignity and sustainability

In last week's episode of The Office, Michael and Andy find themselves joining up with a church youth group on their mission trip to Mexico.  Inspired by the group's joie de vivre, they spontaneously decide to head out for a three month mission.

Forty-five minutes in, Michael starts to have his doubts about the idea.  After verifying with Andy exactly what it is they are "building down there"--is it a hospital, a school for Mexicans, a gymnasium--Michael has a few questions:

1.  Why aren't they building it themselves?

2. (Upon hearing that they don't know how) Do we know how?

3. (After sharing that Michael, himself, doesn't know how) Do you know how?

This line of questioning might provide insight into why we do what we do when it comes to missions and mission trips.  What exactly can they do and what can't they do?  What are we actually qualified to do and what are we not capable of doing?  What are the roles and expectations of our group and their community?

We can just as easy find ourselves a labor and funding source as a paternalistic dignity dashers if we don't do some critical thinking about why we do what we do and how the people we seek to engage understand our motivations.

A visit to a women's prison points up the fact that though some of the inmates might have considered themselves good mothers at some point, most of them don't know how to know that.
They need to be reminded that God created them to be good mothers and that is what he still has for them to be.  There are precious few of us who know that well enough to proclaim it to them.  But maybe, just maybe one of us knows that and is willing to help them to know it.

Few people come to a seminar on addiction and recovery out of curiosity.  Most in attendance know something is wrong and what they end up hearing at your addiction recovery session is that the addicted can't recover until they give in.  To the disease.  To their inability to control it.  To their ability to battle it.  They don't know how and not too many people do, but you find someone who does.  And the recovery begins.

That group of people in Peru has forgotten or maybe never knew health because they have never had clean water.  There are simple ways to purify the water.  But they don't know how to do it.  You don't know how to do it either, but somebody organizes the training up to Kentucky and a group of you learn how to do it and then go down to Peru and help the people who have the well to understand it.  And then people learn about being healthy because they have clean water.  And now that they know it...

Ultimately, few of us know about how to build meaningful relationships that don't come to us naturally (family, friends, coworkers, etc.).  They don't how, I don't how.  Do you?

And, anyway, those few of us that do: we need each other to do it.

And unfortunately that's what Michael and Andy may have never learned.

They got off the bus too soon.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The wisdom of going gnostic, purpose driven, gideon, and the experience dialog

The "down", broken position
When I first tried to get some soap from this soap dispenser (left), I thought it was broken.  I pushed down on the top and nothing happened.  There was plenty of soap in there, but for some reason the pump wouldn't work.  I was about to chalk it up to not working and of course fill out the requisite work order to replace the soap dispenser in men's room 047 when I perchance tinkered with the pump.  When I pulled up on it, I came to realize it wasn't broken, it was just in the down position (right).

The "up", working position
When I pushed down on it after pulling it up, soap came out.  It then remained in the down "broken position".  I thought about it for just a second and pulled the pump up and left the soap dispenser in the "up", working position.  For now, I haven't put in the work order to replace or repair the soap dispenser, but I am making sure that I leave the soap dispenser in the working position every time I use it.  I'm interested in the social experiment to see if other people are able to solve the riddle of "what works when it's left in the up position, but is broken when it is left down?"

Is it better to leave it in the down position?  This works to reward the people who take the time to investigate the situation and learn that it works when you pull up on the soap dispenser.  This approach increases my value as soap dispenser knowledge holder.  Or is it better to leave it up so it works for the next guy, but then he won't know about the soap dispenser code and will likely leave the soap dispenser in the broken position for the guy who comes along after him?  I guess I should really just put in the work order.  But that sure takes a lot of the fun out of it.

So, OK, enough with the soap dispenser.  At times as faith sojourners, we know the secret to how something works and hang on to it maybe for self serving reasons (perhaps some of our Gnostic friends qualify?).  At times we do our absolute best to make sure everything works to its absolute efficiency and we put in lots of work orders for the facility staff (maybe the Purpose Driven Church route?).  What about if we just hang a copy of the soap dispensers owner's manual over the top of it (my uninformed understanding of the way of the Gideons?).  At other times we try to share our knowledge in the most effective way so that others can get satisfactory results.

Maybe if I really played this out, I'd hang a sign on the soap dispenser that reads:

I have found that the best way to get soap out is to make sure the pump is pulled up before you push down on it.  Let me know how it works for you forrestcate@mariettafumc.org.

But sometimes I tend to overanalyze things.

Maybe it's just a broken soap dispenser.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

What three little brown birds taught me about All Saints Sunday

Lots of churches will recognize All Saints Sunday today.  For me, the day has always been one of those things you did because you always did it: no understanding required.

You have to make sure you know of all the members of your church that have passed away in the past year so that you can recognize them during worship.  There's usually some fact checking involved.  Were they still on the role?  They were a family member, but not actually church members.  Etc.

If you are asked to stand up when the name is read, what constitutes "knowing them"?  I mean, I know the name.  I certainly saw them in church from time to time.  Did I know them that well?

There is All Saints Day and then there is All Saints Sunday.  There is a Catholic tie in with the saints part.  They have Saints.  Do we have saints?  Is it just the official Saints?  Is someone officially a saint when they pass away.  Wouldn't there be some sort of saint background check before you can go throwing around that term, saint?  I mean, heaven forbid: what if they weren't really a Christian?

As sometimes will happen, Creation was able to explain to me better than Wikipedia or the about 7,860,000 results from the Google search could probably explain it.

It seems there were three little brown birds.  I overheard the screeching of one little brown bird in the general direction of another little brown bird.  It was pretty intense.  The screeching promptly drove the screech-ee flying away from the screecher.

Instantaneously, it seemed, another little brown bird appeared on the scene.  It began to sing its song.

The screecher had hardly stopped screeching when it picked right back up again.

The one little brown bird singing into the screeching and the one little brown bird screeching into the singing.

This went on for some time.  It got real intense.  And after what seemed like a really long time,  the one little brown bird stopped screeching and the other one stopped singing and the two of them (probably just my imagination here) flew off.  Together.

Wow, I thought: that's it.  All Saints Sunday is about the people in our lives that sing into the screeching. The ones who patiently sing, sing, sing.  Until we give up our screeching and fly off with them.

But then again, maybe the lesson is that All Saints Sunday is about the singers, the screechers, and the ones that fly off alone and afraid.

I'm sure thankful for the singers: don't get me wrong.  But I also realize that the screechers and the fainthearted flyers are part of the "plan" too.  God created them all.  And going out on a limb here: God needs them all.

So to the singers who have sung into my screeching: God bless you in your rest.

For the screechers and the ones who flew away from my screeching: God bless you in your rest.

Surely this day is for all of you saints.

In honor of the all the saints that have lived their lives before me:  I hope to spend more time today singing into the screeching than I do screeching into the singing.

But you never know, it's still early.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

If you're not as happy as a citizen of the third world, shop at ALDI

If you've ever been on a mission trip to a community within a culture of poverty or talked to people who have, you might of heard something along the lines of, "They have nothing, but they are so happy."  And then, "They are so clean, though."

This could be true or it could just be that they just seem happy when the gringos come to play.  Maybe they aren't so full of joy during the day to day grind of the survival/exist existence.

But if they are so happy in spite of their miserable material condition, it might have to do with their limited choices.

If you can't quite follow the logic, try shopping at the grocery store ALDI.

A few things you might pick up on:
*They have most everything you need, just not so many choices.
*There's for the most part just one brand of the item you are looking for, and it's a brand you probably don't find in other stores, so you don't have to worry that some other store has it cheaper.
*You don't have to worry about feeling bad that the products you buy there don't fulfill your expectations, because if they don't it's not like it's your fault.  It was the only choice you had!
*The products you buy at ALDI work just fine.  If they don't make you happy, it's pretty clear it's not because of the product's lack of value.  Shopping at ALDI forces you to confront what is really making you unhappy.
*You also learn that shopping carts have value, but they don't have to cost you anything.  You have to pay a quarter to get one, but as long as you bring it back to where it goes, you'll get your quarter back.
*You have to buy shopping bags, so you plan ahead and bring in reusable bags or you use old boxes to haul your groceries.  Where you quarters go affects your behavior.

In alot of ways shopping at ALDI is a return to simpler times.  The days when there was less choice and more...happiness.  (Or so it goes in our those were the good old days memories.)

I suppose we can fall into the same trap of offering more stuff and causing more unhappiness.  That wild game dinner you are planning for the men's group: Is that an ALDI offering or a Wal-mart super store inventory item?

Chasing after another worship style or a new fitness program or new way of attracting community members without a clear understanding that really the one brand of church commodity we carry is meaningful relationships is likely to leave us all a little more less happy.

Maybe what our ministries and programs need from time to time is a trip to ALDI and some time spent in a culture of poverty.


You can learn more about the paradox of choice from this video of Barry Schwartz at a 2005 TEDTalk:

Friday, November 5, 2010

Imagine if you will: Fletcher Reede (from the movie Liar, Liar) answering questions from prospective ministry team members

Fletcher Reede is the character played by Jim Carrey in the 1997 movie.  His son's birthday wish leads to his inability to lie.  Fletcher Reede is an attorney and he finds this 24 hour sentence to the truth and nothing but the truth a most inconvenient one.  A sample of dialog between the truthful lawyer and the judge in a case he is trying:


Fletcher: Your honor, I object! 
Judge: Why? 
Fletcher: Because it's devastating to my case! 
Judge: Overruled. 
Fletcher: Good call!


In order to create a more perfect ministry team, board, committee, or task force: let's pretend an invitation from the church has gone out to a church member to participate in a leadership role.


You get a call from the perspective team member, but due to some cosmic mixup, the call is transferred to Fletcher Reed instead of you:


Prospective Leader in Discipleship (PLID): I wanted to know when and where the ministry team meets?
Fletcher: When and where can you be?


PLID:  What does the team do?
Fletcher: Rubber stamp decisions made by the staff, stay "informed" on what is already happening, try to determine how much of each meeting could be replaced by an email.


PLID:  Do I have to attend the meetings and participate regularly?
Fletcher: Why should you be different from anybody else?


PLID: What should I do if I start to feel as if I am "not doing anything" as a team member?
Fletcher: Schedule a meeting with the ministry team chair.  Talk about what your expectations were when you agreed to take the position as Leader In Discipleship.  Explain how you feel like what you are actually doing or not doing is in contrast to these expectations.  Work with the ministry team chair and staff leader for your team to develop an informal plan for how you will help the ministry team move in the direction that you feel will best serve the overall organization and your discipleship growth.
PLID:...really?
Fletcher: Naw.  Just quit coming to meetings and responding to emails.


PLID: I want to talk to the senior minister and make sure I understand how this group fits in with the overall vision of our faith community.
Fletcher: OK, well, once she fills you in on that, will you call me back and let me know?


PLIDWhat do you think is the most important thing I'll learn from this experience?
Fletcher:  The reason it took Moses 40 years to move people 40 miles.


OK, OK, so Fletcher would be exaggerating the situation...right?  


Does this tip more toward cynicism or transparency?


We know that the church with its ministry teams, committees, beauracray, and yes cynicism and lack of transparency is after all about all we have in our desire to know and grow in our love and grace of God.


The reason, after all, it took 40 years for Moses to go so few miles is because he had to take all those people with him.


And as a LID, we are expected to do the same.


Without spoiling the movie: because of all the hijinks and awkwardness of total transparency, Fletcher Reede discovers meaning.


And so the most important question that any PLID could ask Fletcher Reede:


PLID: If I do this, will it help me discover meaning by the time it's over?
Fletcher:






Thursday, November 4, 2010

Netflix is afflicted by the same thing you struggle with***

 study of online DVD rental habits shows that what we should watch (documentaries, educational, "high brow" shows) sits in our queue for longer periods of time than what we want to watch (action films, "fun" shows).  Let's call this form of procrastination transformation dread.

I came across the study in the thoroughly fascinating blog called You Are Not So Smart.  (Side note: this blog has the best tagline of all time: "A Celebration of Self Delusion".)

I'm not sure why this concept is so encouraging to me:
Misery loves company?  It's not just little ole me that is frustrated by people who don't know what's good for them!
There is a way to actually prove this type of stuff?  Basically I told you so.  See, these people can actually measure this stuff.  That's why people fall all over themselves getting their seller number for the consignment sale, but let me try to hold a 32 week Bible study and see how many people will line up for a number for that.
It gives me an alibi?  Let's be honest.  I can coast on stuff and say- "Yeah, but what about that online dvd rental study?  They won't put my excellent program in their queue anyway."
It explains why I never watched Mississippi Burning?  I know this is an important movie, but I could never bring myself to rent and watch it.  Now I feel less guilty.

But wait.  There's more.

The study also indicates that the more comfortable people get with the online rental system, the more they begin to understand this bias within themselves.

And you know what happens?

The length of time Netflix users hold should films in comparison to want films decreases.

People learn to curb the influence of want over should.

And then, they start watching stuff that will...change them (maybe?)...more often.

So the question for us maybe: Does our ministry have a system that people can learn and grow to understand, trust, and eventually be transformed by?

If not, we may continue to be afflicted and struggle.

While Netflix will keep growing in it's ability to transform people through great stories and ideas.

***Thesis is based upon the fact that the purpose of Netflix is to create opportunities for people to view and be transformed by great stories through the media of movies and tv shows.  If this is not the purpose of Netflix, they probably are not afflicted by transformation dread.  Come to think of it: if your purpose is not to create opportunities for people to experience and be transformed by the various mission and ministry opportunities you and your team offer maybe you aren't struggling...or afflicted either.

Read the post from You Are Not So Smart Here

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

What might happen if you're the first instead of the only

B.F. Goodrich is the first street tire, apparently, to pull a 1G turn.

I have no idea what that means or why it's important when considering a tire purchase.

I guess the people who know the value of a tire that can pull a 1G turn are the people B.F. Goodrich is trying to appeal to.

I do know that by claiming to be the first at this, B.F. Goodrich earned my respect, admiration, and curiosity.

Because they are telling me they are innovators and not monopolizers.

I would normally buy tires based on price and maybe how long they are supposed to last.

But all things being equal, I'd rather buy a tire from an innovative company.

There is a buzz that being first creates.  Something new has happened.

First tends to encourage others to try.

Only seems to say: you missed out again.

By claiming to be the first, B.F. Goodrich is clearly letting us know that this thing is so important that others will be striving to achieve this standard as well.  That's how important it is.  Don't you want to join them?

The next thing you know, B.F. Goodrich will probably be figuring out ways to help other organizations (maybe not Firestone, but..) and collaborative entities put this idea to good use in other fields of endeavor.  Then, they will really win me over and make me want to seek out their product and maybe even pay a little more for it.

The point is, we can fall into the trap of exclusive patent holder or we can be catalytic agents for positive life change.

We can go through our faith journey as gnostic brokers of salvation and information-is-power-ladder-climbers along the halls of religious goods and services purveyor-ship.

But probably we won't spark the imagination, creative force, and faith community loyalty that B.F. Goodrich has allowed me to discover.

To paraphrase the little poem from Edwin Markham:

Only drew a circle that shut me out...;  First drew a circle that took us in.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Attempts

Brett Favre, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, reached a significant milestone on Sunday.

You might not have heard about it.  It happend during the game, but it wasn't like game was stopped to commenmorate the event or anything.

There was hardly a mention of it, really.

Favre is now on record as attempting 10,000 passes.

It wasn't widely covered today in the recap of the games.

How many times you attempt passes doesn't really seem too significant in the NFL.

Attempts might be more important for us.

It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up that matters.

But of course the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

You got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.

Etc.

Maybe sometimes it's not so much the hope of the elusive championship or the roar of the crowd that lures you out of retirement or drives you to suit it up one more time.

Maybe it's just the chance to attempt again.

How will the next try lead you to something different?

One of my favorite scenes in a sports movie is the closing one of 8 Men Out.

There is a mysterious outfielder on a small time minor league team.

Long after the humiliation of the Black Sox scandal.

Is that him out there?

Is that Shoeless Joe?

Far from the limelight and the thrill of the World Series:

Is that him?

Attempting again?

Is there anyway to prove the inherent value in the attempts?

Here's to trying.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Spreading ideas, sharing stories, and lucky charms

Mondays are typically thick with scrambling to get bulletin articles and e-mail blurbs to the appropriate bulletin and e-mail editors.

'long about Wednesday, it's important to make sure the Wednesday night announcements are in order for announcing.

By Friday you have to make sure your nominations for "most important pulpit announcements" make it to the senior pastor, so hopefully, oh hopefully she'll pick one or two of your things to mention before service starts--during announcement time.  (If you are really lucky, you'll get a chance to have your lay leader make the announcement.  Of course the holy grail is having the senior minister work your thing into the sermon.  Poignant, and it always gets a comment or two!)

There's good communications.  Scheduling, target audience identification, graphics, vison, mission and messaging.  And now with social media...  Due diligence is called for.

But there is also the concept Hugh Macleod posts about around his object-idea idea.

The talisman.

How many annoucements are talismans (talismen?).

People can sometimes be quite obsessive (and possessive) about them.

Like if only we could have gotten that annoucement in there sooner or if only the senior minister had of pushed the toy drive more or if only the pancake supper had better posters, it would have really taken off.

We have to respect that many of the announcements for our events are for the benefit of the people who know about the event already.  It's more about affirming the event organizers than it is about getting the word out.

People like their favorite pair of jeans, the "usual" order at the diner, and their bulletin announcement for their event.

Unless there is some pretty intense tribe building, social object-ing, or effective selling attached to it; that bulletin announcement your are struggling to get more space for isn't much different than a rabbit's foot.

When it comes to getting the word out about an event or a campaign that nobody cares about:

Good Luck!