Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Tired

So tired. I don't know how single pastor churches manage. I'm soloing while the Sr. pastor is gone away for a week. And as if on cue, everyone goes to the hospital, new people show up on your doorstep needing an ear, every other committee meets... oh yeah, and something's supposed to be happening Sunday morning right?

So it was really my wife who was reading my magazines and journals in an off moment, and she found this bit in a column by Steve Case.

The seven last words, the very last seven words spoken aloud by someone in a vanishing religion would be: "We've never done it that way before."

Oh that phrase, that idea-killing phrase, the committee-where-great-ideas-go-to-die-phrase--we've never done it that way before.



Case goes on to ask why. Why haven't you ever done it that way before? And I think that's appropriate. I think the next time I hear those seven deadly words, specifically or in meaning, I'm going to ask the same thing...

Why?
Why what?
Why have you never done it that way before?
Well, because.
Because why?
Because we've never done it that way before.
Why?
Because we've never done it that way before.
So who's on first?
What?
Never mind.


Hehe, thank you, Steve Case.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Along the same lines...the last company I worked for was famous for "This is what we did last year". My question is "And????"

Rev. Josh said...

Yeah, it's good to learn from what you did last year, but to simply state "This is what we did last year," and leave it at that, as if that explained everything... not helpful!