Although Jesus said that people would know that we are His by our love for one another, one thing that the Church (as a whole) is incredibly bad at is investing in people. Over the last three-and-a-half years that my husband has been without a pastorate, we have visited a number of churches. We have filled out visitor cards at every one of these churches. Never once have we been invited to share a meal with a church member. Never once have we been invited to Bible study or even informed about the schedules for other, more “small group” meetings of the church, such as men’s or women’s ministry meetings (although most churches have been quite eager to take our children). The fellowship we have been attending over the last two or three weeks is the first one to have sent someone to visit us. In anticipation of that visit, I got to thinking about all of this, and here’s where that thinking led…

I believe that every single person who fills out a visitor card should get a home visit (unless he specifically asks that he not be visited – and I doubt even these folks would object to a nice, personally-written card). Moreover (and here’s where churches who do have active visitation programs often err), the purpose of the visit should not be to “get him saved.” Certainly, if the visitor is not a believer, and the opportunity presents itself, take it – share the gospel! But it’s a rare person who will truly repent to follow the Lord because some stranger who couldn’t even take the time to get to know him asked him to repeat a prayer. Unfortunately, we probably give many of these people false security, because many people will either figure that going along will get the pushy “church guy” off of their backs, or feel “on the spot” and go along because they’re too embarrassed to give the opposite of the answer we’re obviously aiming for. They “pray the prayer” and we tell them they’re saved, but no heart change was made. Instead, we have to “earn the opportunity” to share the Good News with most people, by showing them that we love them. Nobody likes to feel like a number or an accomplishment; they want to know we love them as people.

So what’s the purpose of the visit? I think it should be two-fold. First, the “church representative” should make sure that the visitor is made familiar with the church. He should make sure that the visitor knows what the fellowship believes and teaches, and what resources it has to offer, and that any questions the visitor may have about the church are answered. Second, he should seek to get to know the visitor and learn how we can meet his needs. This is the key thing that most modern churches are lacking. It isn’t difficult; the “trick” is to stop thinking “programs” and just think “life.” If your fellowship has programs that are likely to appeal to the individual or family you’re talking to, of course you want to let him know about them. More importantly, though, try to find out how you and other church members can invest in his life. If the person is a believer, the relationship will be mutually edifying, and will help show the world that the people involved belong to Christ. If the person is an unbeliever, it will show the love of Christ and perhaps open doors for the sharing of the gospel.

These investment opportunities should make themselves obvious when we begin to look at people’s lives and, especially, their families (or lack thereof). Families are the building blocks of both the Church and society at large, and any opportunity to strengthen a family is an opportunity to invest love in someone’s life. If the visitor is an older couple who don’t get around well anymore, we could send a family or a youth to care for their yard or run errands for them. A mother of young children might appreciate a few hours of babysitting so she can go out, or someone to care for her children while she cleans her house – or to clean her house so she can play with her children! A stay-at-home mom who is without a car during the week might like company, or someone to pick her and her children up and take them to the park. A military man who is frequently deployed or away for training would likely appreciate someone’s checking on his wife and children while he’s away. A college student away from home would probably enjoy an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. Nearly anyone, for that matter, would enjoy a simple invitation to share dinner or dessert. A single mom might need for her car to be taken care of, or for a godly man to spend some time with her son.

The possibilities are endless, but you get the point (I hope). We, as the Church, need to expect to invest in people’s lives this way. We need to stop worrying about how to develop new programs to “get people” into the church, and simply start asking ourselves how we can bless them – as people, not prospects. It will spill over; there is always a return on God’s investments. What investments can you make this week?

Filed under: Deep Thinking, Hard Topics, The Church by Rachel
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Right after I began my Day Planner series, I read David Allen’s Getting Things Done. It caused me to immediately revamp the way I was doing certain things. I thought I should finish describing the way I had been using my day planner so as to avoid leaving anyone hanging , but now that I’ve covered all the basics, I want to talk about this book and how it affected my thinking.

Since it’s so closely related to the last post, I’m going to start with to-do lists. (Although Mr. Allen does not use the term “to-do” list in describing any part of his system, I will stick with that term simply because it’s familiar.) After reading the book I made two major changes to the way I use to-do lists, one in my daily lists and one in my long-term lists.

Mr. Allen recommends against putting anything on a daily to-do list that does not have to be done that day. In other words, nothing goes on the to-do list that can be rescheduled for a later date. (That is not an absolute truth, as in you could call this person back and reschedule an appointment, so you can’t write it down; it refers to items you could potentially keep putting off, as opposed to tasks applicable specifically to that day.) The reasoning is that it “dilutes” this list, because you know you don’t really have to do everything on the list, so it’s easy to overlook things that really are pressing.

The change to the long-term to-do list was more radical (and it is much less “long-term,” due to both changes). It is now multiple lists. Initially, this sounds more complicated, but it actually simplifies things. Each “context” has its own list, and a “context” is defined by what resources I need to have available to complete the task. This allows for looking over only those tasks I am currently able to complete and avoiding being bogged down with others. Everyone’s set of contexts will be a little different, but right now I have: Anywhere (doesn’t require any special resources or equipment), Home, Online, Computer (doesn’t require an internet connection), Calls (telephone), Errands (for when I’m out), $$$ (items to buy; requires money, obviously), Michael (need to talk about/do with hubby), Ariel (need to talk about/do with Ariel), Sophia (need to do with Sophia).

There were a few other things that really jumped out at me and have been a great help. The first is the concept of “next actions.” (What I am calling “long-term to-do lists,” David Allen calls “next action lists.”) This is a very simple concept, but it did wonders for my productivity! The basic gist is this: nothing gets added to a to-do list except for a “next action.” Many things we put on to-do lists aren’t actually actions; they’re projects. (A project is anything requiring at least two steps, not necessarily a large complex series of tasks requiring lots of planning.) An example he offered that really clicked for me was making a telephone call. If I need to call the vet’s office, chances are that to-do item is going to get copied over and over and over and I am going to drag my feet about doing it. Why? It isn’t the next action! The next action is “get the telephone number for the vet’s office.” (This will, of course, not always be the case with a telephone call.) This is true for a lot of things, and is almost certainly true of any to-do item you have repeatedly put off. So how do we handle this with the GTD system? Keep a “projects” list, and put the projects on that list. Write down only the next action on the appropriate context list, and regularly review to see if there is a new “next action” to be added to the context lists (as items are completed). Personally, I like to handle these three different ways. If there are literally only two simple steps (like with the telephone call example), I will simply write the first action down. When I complete that action and cross it off the list, that reminds me to write down the next action (for example, making the call). Other projects go onto one of two separate project lists. One is for the complex types of projects we think of as projects – those requiring on-paper planning. The other is for “projects” which are not just two simple steps, but which are still very simple and don’t really require conscious planning. For some people, that would be over-thinking, but it helps me to separate those I think of as projects from those I wouldn’t have even thought to call “projects” if I hadn’t read this book.

Another key concept is review. The only way a system like this will work (especially with projects, as mentioned above) is if it is reviewed regularly. This is much easier than it may sound. Context lists are reviewed on an ongoing basis. For example, when I sit down at the computer, I glance over the “Computer” list. This only takes a matter of seconds, because I don’t have to weed through a long list of unrelated tasks. On a weekly basis, all lists are reviewed, including the projects list, and any incoming “stuff” (paperwork, emails, notes about ideas, etc.) is dealt with and added to lists where needed. If it’s kept up with, this shouldn’t be too time-consuming, either. I think that this would probably take me anywhere from about half an hour to an hour if I were actually consistent. (This is a habit I have not yet fully developed. Reading a productivity book days after having a new baby is not very conducive to putting the new skills into practice! )

Two other lists Mr. Allen recommends (which would also be gone over during the weekly review) are the Someday/Maybe list and the Waiting list. The Someday/Maybe list is where you write down every idea that comes to mind for something you want to do eventually, or which you might like to do sometime. These are generally pretty low-priority in the present, so they aren’t currently in the works, but you don’t want to forget about them. My list includes things like, “visit local Dexter cattle farm,” “learn Java,” “build a genealogy website,” and, “learn Spanish.” The Waiting list is for those items which have been delegated to someone else, or which are pending and will need to be checked on (such as an order you placed online or through the mail). You don’t want them constantly clogging your to-do lists and bogging down your mind, but you do need a periodic reminder to check their status.

How do I fit this stuff into my pocket Day-Timer? Well, I’m still working on it. For a while, I used the self-adhesive to-do list sheets, stuck onto the pages of a Day-Timer work booklet. (The work booklet provided an anchor for the self-adhesive lists, while the self-adhesive lists could be thrown away or rearranged much more readily than the work booklets – plus they’re cheaper.) This worked okay, and I might go back to it, but I found that the pages were a little awkward to turn. (The top-adhesive notes might work better than the side-adhesive ones I’ve been using.) The self-adhesive notes also have smaller lines for writing on than the regular pages, so I’d like to find a better solution.

Another option I’m checking out is an “hPDA.” hPDA is a name given to a stack of 3×5 cards, usually held together with a binder clip. (Do a web search for “hpda” and you will find a wealth of sites discussing variants of this system.) I like to be able to flip through my lists, so I’m not crazy about the idea of a binder clip, but the 3×5 cards should fit into my Day-Timer case just fine, and they’re very versatile (and cheap!). I am experimenting with cards placed on a binder ring using holes punched in the corner.

I highly recommend this book, by the way (Getting Things Done). I have read a lot of organizational and time management books, including some unconventional ones for more “right-brain” thinkers, and have never seen anything new and rarely seen anything especially helpful – until this book. It was truly worth the investment (although many libraries should have it).

Filed under: Book Reviews - Other, Organization & Time Management by Rachel
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Well, I thought this post had already been done; I’m not sure what happened. (Browser crash, perhaps.) Anyway…

Previous posts talked about my daily pages and my monthly pages. This post will describe my “long-term” to-do list.

For these lists, I use some self-adhesive to-do list sheets from Day-Timer. These can easily be moved around as needed, and I don’t mind throwing them out when one gets really marked up and needs to be replaced. I stick the sheet to the first page in my daily booklet (the one with the “if found, please return to…” section at the top), so I can refer to it easily. “Long-term” is a loose term, because some of the list items are things which need to be taken care of very soon. What this really is, is a list of things I need to do which have not yet been scheduled for a particular day. When I schedule one onto a day’s page, I check it off of this “long-term” list.

To add a few details about my marking:

-If an item requires two lines, I shade in the “check mark” column for the second line.  This just helps me to see at a glance that it isn’t two separate items.

-If an item requires a purchase, I put a dollar sign in the margin, so I can see at a glance that it requires money.  I know I can just overlook these items when no extra cash is available.

-If an item involves a telephone call, when possible, I jot down the telephone number, as well.

Filed under: Organization & Time Management by Rachel
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