Big News for the Reeves family

For those of you that have been praying for me and my family since July, I can never say thank you enough. God has been faithful and has shown us our next step. On March 2nd, I will become the Pastor of Congregational Development for Crossroads Church in Norwalk, Iowa (Norwalk is a suburb of Des Moines). I've believed this was going to be the case for quite a while, but my friend, Pastor Glen Blumer and I were determined to insure that this was God's will... not just a fun thing for us. So we've taken baby steps and trusted the decision to the leadership of this three-year old congregation, and it has been one confirmation after another.

There's just a good vibe at this place and I'm excited to jump in and serve with my new family.

The road to Des Moines still has a few obstacles... our house in Morris has not sold and this seems to be just about the worst time in my lifetime to sell a house. We're trusting that God's got it under control, though. Plus, Tricia and I want to let the kids finish out the school year if at all possible. So beginning in March, I'll be commuting to Norwalk on Thursdays, staying the weekend and coming back to Morris on Sunday afternoon. Our family will all move to Norwalk in June.

The next few months may seem like a hard time for our family, but the truth is, I'll see my family more than I do now. And the 9 hour roundtrip commute every week... it's shorter than my current 10 hours a week drive to and from work in Lemont.

Leaving Morris will be bitter sweet; most of our best friends are here. Leaving Timberline Knolls will also be a somewhat sad day, as I've grown to love the young ladies that we're helping get their lives back on track.

But to be right in the middle of God's will and see the awesome things that he's going to do... that I can't wait to see. I hope we can go there together, even. I'll try to keep you all in the loop via my blog, so if you talk to someone and they ask what we're up to, be sure and send them to corbettreeves.com.

Thanks! Peace,
Corbett

What does your marketing tell about you?

I don't really want to get into the argument about whether or not churches should be involved in marketing. For the purpose of this post, understand that I believe marketing is anything you do to affect the way others perceive you or your organization. For example, I don't want my neighbors to think I'm a lazy, bad person to live by, so I cut my grass, conduct general upkeep on the outside of the house and keep trash and toys picked up out of the yard. I don't want our friends to think we generally live in a pig sty, so I straighten the living room and close all other doors before someone comes over. It's all marketing -- affecting the way others perceive us.

So what it your organization communicating to others?

• If you're are a church, do you claim to be focused on impacting your community, but program exclusively for those who come through your doors?
  
• If you're a business, do you claim to be focused on customer service, but reward your employees for profit and not for how satisfied customers are?

By the way, I'm trying to sell my house...
Maybe you're like me and it's time to revisit what your marketing is really saying?

5 Reasons Why Consensus Sucks

I read this today from Tony Morgan's blog and thought it was definitely worthy of passing on. Enjoy!

I’m growing more and more convinced that the worst thing an organization can do is try to reach a consenus about something. Think government. Think church committee meetings. Think declining big business.

On the surface, reaching a consensus seems like a positive thing because it means people have agreed to move in the same direction. That’s a good thing isn’t it?

Actually, I’m not convinced that’s the case. For example, here are:

5 Reasons Why Consensus Sucks

1. It embraces the status quo. Change, whether positive or not, is not human nature. We would prefer for things to remain the way they are today. So, when people get together to discuss the possibility of doing something a little different in the future, it’s normal for the majority to avoid making changes.
2. It gives the malcontents an equal voice in your decision. Reaching consensus gives everyone a voice at the table. When that happens, even the negative, bitter folks that don’t really embrace the vision have the opportunity to pull the rest of the group away from what could really be the most desirable outcome.
3. It short circuits the radical ideas that lead to the biggest breakthroughs. The big, bold ideas won’t see the light of day. Yet those are the ideas that could potentially lead to the best innovations. Consensus brings people back to the middle where the majority approves but mediocrity reigns.
4. It leaves unresolved conflict on the table. At the opposite ends of a decision are distinct opinions which, if left unresolved, could potentially lead to division. Consensus prevents tough conversations from happening. It gives people the freedom to jump to compromise without engaging a healthy debate.
5. It discourages people from dreaming big dreams. Want to neuter the creative-thinkers and entrepreneurs and visionaries in your organization? Force them to reach consensus with the rest of the crowd. These are the people that make you uncomfortable. They can drive you crazy. That’s OK. They’ll just go work someplace else if you keep forcing them to compromise their dreams.

What do you think? Do you agree? Or, have you actually seen consensus work? What would you add or delete from the list?

Let’s try to reach a consensus on whether or not consensus sucks.

Again, that was from tonymorganlive.com. If you don't subscribe to his blog, you probably should.

Peace,
Corbett

Facebook and iPhones

So for my wife's birthday I got an iPhone. (don't ask how that
happened...I don't understand it either but I'm not asking silly
questions.)

Toward the end of December, my wife talked me into a Facebook
account. I can't really say I jumped at the idea but it's been fun
catching up with some old peeps.

Between the two, I've never been more aware of how small the world
is. I am now reaquainted with friends from every stage of my life
thus far. And it is all literally at my fingertips, 24/7. I'm
feeling quite the technophile.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not ready to start Twittering just yet, but
who knows?

Peace,
Corbett

Sent from my iPhone