seven in six

Sunday Dwight shared seven things to pray about over the next six months:

1. The GO '08 food drive (July). Our goal is to fill 1, 500 boxes of food for our local food pantries.
2. Service Sunday (August 3). We'll shut down "church" and go out into our communities to BE the church by serving people.
3. Sports Ministry. Looking to launch this new foyer environment this Fall.
4. Small Groups push. We're doing a special groups-geared message series in September. Our goal...everybody at NewPointe in a small group for the duration of the six-week series.
5. Stewardship Campaign...we're already thinking about expansion and future ministry opportunities. Stewardship campaign begins in November.
6. Satellite Churches. We're exploring the possibilities of launching two satellite churches (Sugarcreek and Canton?) within the next six months.
7. Mission trips. Next month we're sending another team to Egypt. Our work overseas will continue throughout the year (and coming years).

top google searches

Statcounter is pretty cool. It give me all kinds of juicy information about my blog including where readers are from, how long they stay, how often the come back, just to name a few. I can also tell what kind of Google searches have led people to my blog.

So I was curious to know, What are the top Google searches that have caused folks to hit my blog. Here are the top four (these top four get hit almost every day):

5. dealing with negative people in your life

4. how to live a life of quiet desperation

3. can't shut my brain off when i go to bed (apparently I'm not the only one)

2. if i had a million dollars (why is this one so popular? I don't know!)

1. the tithe...net or gross? (this one is BY FAR the number one post on my blog. Interesting, huh?)

preaching in columbus

My old buddy, Steve Combs, called me to ask if I'd be willing to come preach at his church in Columbus on December 30. I told him I'd be honored. Steve planted a church on the south side about 10 months ago...and get this, their average attendance is about 600! In only ten months!

He told me that over 180 people have come to Christ since February of this year. I'm stoked about what God is doing in and through Pastor Steve. He's a great dude. He mentored me, hired me, and turned me loose to lead when we were at Grove City Naz together.

To all my friends in Columbus: I'd love to see you there on Sunday the 30th. Church starts at 10:30.

facebook

Apparently if you want to roll with the cool crowd, you have to be on Facebook. Are you there yet? If you are, feel free to add me to your "friends."

Here's the link to my Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=776808078

catching up with old friends

I drove to Akron today to begin a mentoring relationship with Alton Brown. Alton is the Executive VP/General Manager of the Akron Beacon Journal (a terrific newspaper by the way). I've asked Alton to mentor me on leadership.

We had lunch today and got caught up on all the "stuff." I haven't seen him since my old newspaper advertising days...over five years ago. We worked together in Columbus for Gannett.

While I was there I bumped in to another old friend, Bill Goddard. Bill and I go waaaay back. Bill hired me at the Columbus Dispatch about 12 years ago. Bill was the Classified Advertising Director. He hired me to manage the department's outside sales staff. We had some good times there.

Man, it is so much fun to get reacquainted with old friends. It's too bad we tend to let relationships slide. I've not done a good job of keeping in contact with old friends. Seeing Alton and Bill reminded me of how much I value those relationships.

I'm going to be meeting with Alton once a month to be mentored (we also talked about riding motorcycles together sometime soon).

Bill and I are going to try to get together for dinner sometime next week.

Here's a thought for you, my faithful blog readers: Which of your relationships have you let slide? Why not begin to rekindle the friendship. Call or visit an old friend and "catch up." You'll be glad you did.

making it easy to subscribe to my blog

Here's a little helpful information in case you are new to my blog. If you are running around the Internet visiting this site and then that site and then that site and so on, then you know that doing that takes lots of time.

Here's something that can help: Rather than visiting each of those sites individually, take advantage of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to let the fun come to you in one location where you can scan only the new posts and ignore the sites where I know nothing has been updated. It's easy to do.

Let me show you how you can easily subscribe to my blog:

1. Sign up for a "newsreader." You can choose from several including Bloglines or Google Reader (I use Google Reader).

2. Copy the text in red into your newsreader and subscribe to my feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/thinkingoutsidethebunn

Or, it may be just easier altogether to just click here. It'll walk you through the process.

Hey, I just wanna be a blessing!

red hot sex

Did that post title grab your attention? No telling what it'll do to my google ads. I'll have to keep an eye on that. Anyway, Red Hot Sex is the title of the current sermon series at The Gathering, a church near the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. CNN did a piece about the mailer they sent out. Link to the video here. HT MMI.

I've been to this church. I've met the pastor seen on the CNN video. I know a couple of folks there. When I visited this church, I was very impressed. My initial reaction was that they seemed to have a good thing going.

But here's my question: Did they take things too far by mailing out the Red Hot Sex flyer? On one hand, Pastor Gene would say it worked (their website reports 87 salvations last Sunday). He also says that if he had it to do over again he would. In the meantime, some from the community are put-off by the mailing. They found it offensive and over-the-top.

What do you think? Can churches sometimes go too far in their efforts to grab attention and/or be relevant? Did The Gathering go too far? If NewPointe sent out a flyer like that one, what would you think?

street preachin' and disciple makin'

I had lunch with a friend in downtown New Phila yesterday. The weather was gorgeous so we decided to eat outside. We were part-way in to a very enjoyable meal when the street-corner preachers showed up and began shouting the "good news" at the top of their voices.

I told my friend, "You know, those guys make my job as a pastor more difficult."

I couldn't help but see some irony in the scene. Here I am, sitting at the street corner, having lunch--and a spiritual conversation with someone who I care about...someone I'm investing in, because I want to see him grow in his relationship with Jesus. Guy on the corner thinks the best way to share the good news is to wear signs and yell at people as they go by.

My friend asked me, "Do you think these guys really believe they're doing the right thing?" I said, "Unfortunately, I think they really believe that."

Here's a question. Who do you supposed accomplished more for the kingdom of God on the street corner yesterday? Three street preachers who hollered at a few hundred people as they passed by, or one guy (me) who spent the hour investing in a guy who's trying to figure out what it means to live out his faith?

It reminds me of this Tim Sanders quote:

You will accomplish more in the next two months developing a sincere interest in two people than you'll accomplish in the next two years, trying to get two people interested in you.

I just think the street preachers are well-intended but severely misinformed.

Agree? Disagree?

blogging NewPointers

Here are the blogs of NewPointers (the ones that I know have blogs). Thought you might be interested in checking some of them out.

• Rhonda Lowe :: Let The Song Out
• The Hamsher Family :: Hamsher Family Adventures
• Tina Lawver :: The Artful Life
• Ted Lawver :: My Ramblings
• Eric Durbin :: Durby's Politically Incorrect Insights
• Lee Ann Miller :: Stik a Fork in It
• Tricia Newsome :: Organized Confusion
• Rita Hershberger :: Java Junkie
• Lisa Troyer :: Keep It Simple Sister
• Leslie Holloway :: Music From the Heart

If you're a NewPointer and you've got a blog that I don't know about, leave a comment and I'll spread the word!

thinking outside the bunn: #1 website for...

Alec Baldwin unresolved anger.

That's right, if you Google "Alec Baldwin unresolved anger" my blog comes up #1 out of 877 sites.

I like to look at the stuff people Google in order land on my blog. Here are some more:

If you Google "Proud of my wife," out of 8,370,000 websites that come up, my blog is #4. Not bad.

If you Google "Redneck Grammar," I'm #2 out of 268,000 sites.

Google "How to live a life of quiet desperation," and I'll come up #2 out of 1,040,000 websites.

Try "can't shut my brain off." My blog is #1 out of 8,140,000 sites. That's right, #1 baby!

"Deep religious truths" gets me ranked #1 out of over 2 million sites.

"History, prophecy, Revelation" gets me a #2 out of 1,190,000 sites.

And finally, if you Google "Bubba Joe," Thinking Outside the Bunn comes up #4 in the world rankings. We'll have to work on that one.

The most frequent searches that get people to my blog are, of course, "John Bunn" or "John Bunn blog." Makes sense...I am, after all, John Bunn. Oddly, however, I'm not the #1 result on Google for "John Bunn." (I'm #2 ...you'll have to Google it yourself to see what's #1)

What's my point? None really...I'm just havin' fun. I'm glad I started blogging, though. It's given me an avenue to share my thougths, cast vision, correct myself, etc. rather than just relying on word-of-mouth or reputation. Many of you comment to me about stuff you've read here. Thanks for reading.

And thanks, Google, for sending folks my way! (Now maybe I'll be a top search result for people who Google "Google.")

no, i don't just write blogs

Some of you know this, many of you don't...in addition to writing on this blog, I write a regular column for a Christian magazine, Light & Life. It's pretty cool how I ended up becoming one of the regular writers. One day while at work, I ended up on the phone with the managing editor of L&L. She had called the church about something unrelated to me and then through the course of our conversation she found out that I was the "small groups guy."

I guess she was intrigued. NewPointe has about 100 small groups and oh, by the way, NPCC is the largest church in the Free Methodist denomination. I don't think she was impressed by that, or even thinking about that...but it probably helped. I think more to the point, she just really needed someone to write the next small groups column for the magazine. She asked me if I liked to write. I said yes. And she gave me a one-time shot. I submitted my first column. It got accepted and published. She called me a couple of weeks later to offer me three more columns. The three columns have now turned into a regular gig.

Why am I telling you this? Quite frankly, it's just top-of-mind with me right now. My next deadline is this Monday. I've got my rough draft done. The next step is for me to give it to DD for editing and feedback.

In case you're wondering, I always write about small groups. I try to tie my column to the feature article by giving practical advice, tips, or action steps for groups. This is not always easy. Feature articles have dealt with pornography addiction, suicide bombers, and homosexuality. Try tying small groups to those!

Anyway, it's fun and I'm humbled by and grateful for the opportunity.

So now you want to hurry over to the L&L website and subscribe, don't you?

Oh, one more thing...don't be surprised that if, in my next column, you read some ideas that I've shared here, in my blog.

introducing www.johnbunn.net

Maybe you've already figured it out by now...but in case you haven't noticed, this blog can now be found at www.johnbunn.net. It just makes it easier to find. So now, if say you're at another computer, or out of town, and you don't have my blog bookmarked, you can just type in www.johnbunn.net and you'll be here.

Another reason I changed it is because it's just easier to tell people (and easier to remember).

Oh, one more thing...thanks for reading my blog! Over 200 of you visited yesterday! A new one-day record! You guys are awesome!

a couple of blogs you might be interested in...

First, you may not yet realize that my homeboy, Dwight Mason, has his own blog now. I know, I know...mind-blowing. He just started and he's only a few posts into it but it's definately worth checking out. His blog has entered blog-o-sphere in a kinda stealthy way...not much introduction or fanfare. But now that it's been featured here on "Outside the Bunn," watch out! You can find his blog at www.DwightMason.com.

Also, as I was bumping around the Internet yesterday, I stumbled across this blog: Church Hopping. Fascinating. In this blog a couple of agnostics choose a church (usually in Columbus or Cincinnati) to visit and then they file a report about their experience on their blog. I'm totally intrigued. Included in their church-hopping are serveral churches I'm familiar with including this one in Cincinnati I attended as a teenager (and I still have a lot of friends who attend there).

This pair of agnostics rates churches on a 1 to 10 scale with a 1 being "I was so uncomfortable and/or offended that I did not stay to the end of service" to a 10 which means "This church was welcoming and thought-provoking. I would recommend that others experience this church." (Actually, they admit in earlier posts that a "10" is reserved for a conversion experience--one church got a 9.9 (Crossroads Community Church near Cincinnati).

Very interesting. And it's not like they're going to these churches with closed minds intended to bash them...they seem very respectful and earnest.

2,206 hits in 42 days...

It's funny...now I get emails that begin with these words: "Don't use this on your blog." Cracks me up. Come on guys, I haven't used all that many of your emails in my blog. :) Interestingly, I'm now getting several emails a week from people telling me that they're reading my blog, that they like it, that it makes them laugh, or cry, or both. I think that's really cool. Just let me say to all of you: Thanks for reading my blog.

When I started blogging (exactly one year ago), I began with this thought: I need to get some of my thoughts recorded. I'll start a blog...primarily for me...and if no one reads it, that's okay, I just wanna have a place to express myself.

Well, to my complete surprise, people actually seem interested in what I blog about. Amazing. Again, thank you. I'm humbled and honored that so many of you would take time out of your schedules to join me in "Thinking Outside the Bunn." Very cool.

I added a stats analyzer on February 5. Since that time, Thinking Outside the Bunn has been visited 2,206 times by 1,106 unique visitors (in only a month and a half). Again, I'm just amazed.

I've gotten visits from South America, China (quite often, actually), Africa, and all over Europe. Why? I have no idea. But it's cool.

So to those of you who take the time to read this blog, I again say, "Thanks." But here's my one beef...you guys don't leave comments! Afraid to put something out there into cyberspace, huh? Afraid that people might actually read what you have to say about my posts, huh? That's okay. I still love ya. But if you're ever so inclined...go ahead and leave a comment (or two). Believe it or not, just as you may be interested in my thoughts, I'm interested in yours.

the T-R gives leader's edge some love

Anybody that knows Dwight knows that the dude just oozes leadership. For those of on staff sometimes we feel like, "Yeah, yeah, we get it...leadership!"

What some of you may not know is that Dwight offers his leadership wisdom to anyone who wants it at monthly breakfast and lunch meetings. It's called Leader's Edge.

The T-R (our local newspaper) sent a reporter to the last Leader's Edge. Yesterday there was a nice, full-color spread on the front page of the business section. So, in case you missed the article, here's the link: Leader's Edge: Mason delivers ‘practical, relevant, current advice’

Props to the T-R for the coverage. And, by the way, I attend Leader's Edge every month--not because I have to (I don't) but because I always learn something. Come check it out. Bring your whole office. Good food + good advice = Leader's Edge.

how's this for an idea to get your town talking?

So I was bumping around the Internet yesterday and came across this little attention-getter that the good folks at LifeChurch.tv came up with: lifechurch.tv billboards. Read the blog I've linked and find out what the billboard companies in Las Vegas thought about the signs.

Think something like that would create a buzz in our community?

They built a website to go along with the campaign: www.satanhateslife.com.

Whether you like the idea or if you think it's too far out there, you gotta admit...people are going to be talking. And I think that's a good thing. And maybe they'll just be curious enough to visit their website and find out more.

I love to stir the pot. Guess Lifechurch.tv does too.

you might be a grammar redneck...

Probably all of us by now have received emails with photos of funny signs that really screw up the English language. I get a kick out of it. I consider the folks who actually spend money and/or receive money to make a screwed up sign to be "grammar rednecks."

And I just happen to consider myself a bit of a grammar cop. So when I see stuff like what I'm about to show you, I chuckle. And then I roll my eyes and think grammar redneck.

I will actually, on occasion, photograph the offenders' work, with the intention of posting it here (and now I have a camera phone...so watch out!).

What you are about to see is real. These are Thinking Outside the Bunn exclusives. Enjoy.

Exhibit "A"

No alcohol on premise. Hmmm. On the premise of what? I'm going to operate on the premise that whoever did this sign has alcohol on their premises.





Exhibit "B"

Gotta blow the whistle on that one. Inappropriate use of an apostrophe. Unless, of course, the door belongs to the employee.







Exhibit "C"

Oops they did it again. Wait...maybe this sign belongs to one of the contractor's. :) Yeah, that would make it possessive. And, by the way, even if resident said OK....duh...NOT OK!






Exhibit "D" (my personal fave)

That's right, folks, we only got one, count 'em, one slushie here. Better hurry...it won't be here long...and then we'll have to take our sign down dangit.








Now, if you're reading this particular post and looking at these signs and saying to yourself, "What?...I don't see anything wrong with those signs." You might be...a grammar redneck.

NewPointe staff blogs

I guess blogging is all the rage now. The fifth NewPointe staff member began blogging today (Kevin West--Director of Family Life). It adds to the blog lineup of Todd Colucy (Business Administator), Dave Mast (IT), Dave D'Angelo (Director of Communication), and me.

I think it's great. One thing is that it helps me keep up with these guys. I also think it's great that the folks each of us lead can get insights to the way we think.

So, welcome to blogdom, Kevin.

For links to each of the above mentioned blogs, see my list on the right-hand side of this page; Linking Outside the Bunn.