Blogs - Chief of Pray Blog

I’m all business today. Even though it’s Tuesday, it’s Monday for me. I worked out of a hotel room yesterday morning and today I’m back in Chicago. I’m at my home office desk, on my exercise ball/chair, strengthening my core while I change the world. This week we set the metrics. Here’s our baseline:

# of ePrayables subscribers: 36
ePrayable open Percentage: 23
Daily Site visitors/visits: 20/29
Site user registration: 16/21
Bounce %: 38%
Avg time on site: 10.44
New Visits: 48.53%
Facebook Fans: 101
Twitter Followers: 283

Not so pretty, it’s all up from here. We must keep our eye on the prize: more women adding more pray to their day.

I have a large library of favorite business books. It’s probably equal in size to the lousy business books I’ve thrown out. The business book I’m re-reading these days is Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs by Bill Hybels.

If you don’t know much about Bill and Willow Creek, the church he founded, it’s worth your time to do some research. Bill Hybels took religion as we knew it and radically changed the way millions of people practice their faith. He created a spiritual revolution with his simple concept of “churching the un-churched.” At Willow Creek, leaders are experts at outreach. I took some classes at the campus in the spring of 1999 and I attended worship services regularly for a few months. I wanted to see if I could copy and tweak the recipe for the “secret sauce” Bill Hybels was serving to his congregation. Me and my friend Len worked on this project relentlessly. We spent months in meetings with clergy, and congregation until we were ready to launch a very unique “in-reach” program at our synagogue; Congregation Beth Shalom. Over 500 people were involved in Wednesday Night Live!, a prayer service with drama, music and a contemporary message. A volunteer network was set-up and we created Journey groups for study. It was mildly successful. Change is tough. You can have the best idea and the most brilliant minds trying to push that needle to the other side, and it will still stick to the middle.

A solid business plan is the foundation of making change happen. A visionary leader must communicate the big idea in a way that touches the heart, tickles the brain and moves bodies into action. I’m browsing through Axiom and my eye stops at page 206. The title reads: Excellence Honors God and Inspires People. I pray. Let me be excellent today.

Giving What it Takes

Today as in all days past,
and all days future-
I need your direction and wisdom
to meet the everyday challenges,  
head on.

Give me insight to find the right way,
and common sense to supply the answers.
When I rest my head for sleep at night
I will know I have given my very best.

-Jan Sydnam