Musings - Ministry teams, CMN, my post count...

[LeAnn B]

Not me! I'm a down arrow key pusher

Originally Posted by tedanderson

Oh my! You just said something very profound right there! I bet 90% of the media workers are space bar pushers.

[tedanderson]

I don't think that anyone has a problem with the 100th post in a week's time frame asking "How can I reduce the distortion on my audio recordings" but I can sympathize with the veterans on here who read "lazy" questions that ask things like, "Can someone design an audio/video package for my church with an itemized price list and a side-by-side comparison of comparable equipment?" and I can sympathize even more when questions with unrealistic expectations come up like, "What kind of video camera should we get? Picture quality is paramount and our pastor won't settle for anything less than High Def but we barely have enough money to keep the lights on."

I don't think that it is unreasonable to expect a newbie to do his homework ahead of time and have some idea of what his ministry needs/desires and what is realistically attainable. But I also believe that we should develop ways of tactfully addressing these kinds of questions so that we do not come off as being angry or harsh as a result of an undesireable question.

But to piggyback on a couple of things that have been said, I think that repetitive questions fosters the opportunity to get acquainted with like-minded people. I think that eventually CMN will get to the point where every single issue that can be thought of will already be addressed somewhere in the forums and if we banish everyone to the "search" function, there will be nothing left to talk about.

[Creonus]

Originally Posted by LeAnn B

Not me! I'm a down arrow key pusher

Then there's those with two left hand fingers on the up and down arrows and the right hand on the mouse.


I think the answer, at least for me, is stagnation. (Or in Chinese: old fried dough)

I've been "musing" about CMN since I started visiting again after about a 5 month hiatus... and I honestly wish I could stop. I can't speak to forums from 25+ years ago (I was 13 -- 1983 --, using a Commodore VIC-20 and I had no idea that you could talk to anyone else through a computer), but I can tell you about the evolution of CMN's forum. At first, that's all it was -- a forum. I honestly created it without any aspirations of it becoming so popular. In fact, I "made" myself do it so that I didn't have to answer so many email questions. I figured I could save myself time by having other people answer questions so I could focus on the seminars, writing and e-commerce aspects of CMN. I had been a member of the first big media ministry forum, Ginghamsburg, for a couple of years. It was an email forum. I learned a lot from being on that forum. I decided on a web-based forum and "just did it" in 1999.

Before I knew it the forum started to take on a life of its own. As CMN really started to take off in all areas, I realized that we had outgrown the free, poorly written software for the forum and moved to a new forum software, which is still in use today. Ginghamsburg moved to a web-based system and without Len and Jason carefully watching the forum (they left Ginghamsburg) it quickly started to die. CMN's forum exploded and started to become a central focus of the ministry. After a few years of talking about it, I launched the MXC and CMN grew even more. At its height, it was in the top 20,000 websites in the world (according to Alexa). There were two things that changed CMN from an average forum to what it became. One was the software change. Just having a more robust program being coded by a team of professionals made a huge difference. But the main thing that made CMN special is that it became less of a forum and became a community.

I can't take credit for its growth or say that it was something I intended. God and the people who understood what CMN was about was what really made things click. But I DO know that my part in making CMN more than a mere forum and more of a family had to do with rules, generosity, love and purposely fostering a safe and caring atmosphere that anyone could become a part of. That took a LOT of work on my part. I read pretty much every post, which was the only way to know how healthy CMN was. I looked out for newbies. I demanded that you had to be nice and helpful when you posted. I banned plenty of rude and arrogant people over the years - and I paid the price for some of those bans. That was really emotionally painful, especially when going through health problems that were emotionally trying; but it takes a "father" to keep a family together. That means paying attention to details and making tough decisions. I made decisions that weren't always popular, but I did it for the good of the "family."

I endeavored to constantly evolve the site and keep that family atmosphere. Over the past couple of years it became pretty hard to do as my health became worse and the strain of running CMN became too much. I found that CMN was only as healthy (in its heart and soul) as I was at times. A factor beyond my control was simply that the 'Net is becoming so huge and there is so much information out there -- the posting levels were bound to drop. But the "family" aspect of CMN.... that's what concerned me most.

Seeing that I wasn't devoting as much time to maintaining the community and that I couldn't keep up the work I realized that my "time" was coming to an end. I had sacrificed so much to CMN (time, money, health) that I started calling it "she." CMN had become like a person to me -- and still is, really. When it was time to let go I had a couple of choices. I could look at the monetary value of the business and cash out -- taking the chance that a company wouldn't understand the family aspect of CMN's community.... or leave it in the hands of a couple of CMN's community members, trusting that they could take CMN beyond what I had done and ensure that "she" didn't die. For the benefit of the "work" and the Kingdom, I chose the latter.

Coming back after staying away for "so long" I'm able to look at CMN with fresh eyes. That family aspect to CMN was starting to fade during my last year of running CMN. In the past several weeks of checking CMN almost every day I have to say I just don't really see the camaraderie that used to be here - and it does hurt. One way to really check the pulse of the heart and soul of CMN is in the member chit-chat and prayer request sections. They used to be swarming with activity. There are hardly any posts there anymore.

I could be a hard-nose about people that I thought were detrimental to CMN's core being and it made me less than popular sometimes, but looking back I think it was worth it for the years that CMN was a tight body -- constantly looking out for each other -- raising money for each other -- answering simple questions with grace -- taking on the hard questions with civility -- welcoming people with open arms -- getting to really know each other -- having fun together. It takes a lot of work to make that happen.... not just from whomever is running the site, but from YOU.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll only get out of CMN what you put into it. I know it from experience. I can't stress this enough... The CMN community is about service. If you really CARE about the people who post here, then take the time and effort to show it. Try to solve problems -- the easy ones and the hard ones. Keep out the arrogance and people who only post to make themselves feel smarter. Get rid of negativity and figure out how to make the best of every thread. Humility, empathy and a Christ-like attitude are keys. There are real people who come here for answers. Real people with real feelings. Keep CMN a safe place.

My question to all of you is -- Do you want CMN to be a forum or a community (in every sense of the word)? That's totally up to you as those who post and up to your new leadership as those responsible for fostering a family atmosphere.

The choice is yours. It takes time, effort and, above all.... heart. I don't want to see the CMN become just a forum, so -- everyone -- old timers -- newbies -- mods and admins -- put your heart into it and "she" will beat strong. I know you can do it! Just be a servant.

Love,

"Grandpa"

[JLR]

Originally Posted by tedanderson

I don't think that it is unreasonable to expect a newbie to do his homework ahead of time and have some idea of what his ministry needs/desires and what is realistically attainable.

The problem with this is the fact that the newby asking the question may be like myself four years ago... I was looking for answers and stumbled on CMN, I don't have a clue what I was looking for at the time but I know I really had very little idea of what I was doing and the biggest problem I remember is I did not know what anything was called. Then to compound the problem, the church leadership didn't really have any idea of where we needed to go either, just lofty ideas of looking like a mega church.

Here is an example ~ Trying to google for a wigget thingy with a pointy end and a wire doesn't give you much in the way of a solution in understanding how a stereo 1/4" phono plug works... Very basic, very simple... but if you have never had someone tell you or your not mechanical or intrigued enough to dissect one apart... well you may just simply not know.

I think CMN is a great place to do your homework, a great answer to the common questions or overly simple may be to provide the link to a search or the link to the best thread on the subject. At the same time encouragement should be offered as well. How many people get frustrated and believe they can't? Allowing a ministry to sit idle and stagnate until another person stumbles in wanting to help without a clue where to start?

As for realistic, wow, I'm glad you have never had a pastor look you in the eyes and tell you that he wants to have a live conversation with a missions team on the phone and he wants to talk to them using his microphone and the conversation be heard over the PA... oh and the service is just 12 hours away... and you don't even have a phone line run to the booth!

No body wants to feel the part of a fool and when ignorance is what caused you to Google, Yahoo, or whatever, and you stumble into CMN I would hope we could give the same time and care to that individual as we do to our long term CMN buddy who is in the middle of a new $100K install. Both questions are important and both questions may effect not only a ministry but how someone hears, sees, or experiences the gospel.

JLR

[tedanderson]

Those are some very good points JLR but when you ask about the "wigget thingy", you actually did your homework. In this example you are bringing something to the table for us to work with compared to a situation if you were asking something like, "What do I need to connect the sound system in my church" and you have not even taken time to look at the equipment to see what you have. It does not take a technical person to ask "What is this big heavy block of steel on the floor that has wires coming out of it and going to the speakers?"

As for realistic, wow, I'm glad you have never had a pastor look you in the eyes and tell you that he wants to have a live conversation with a missions team on the phone and he wants to talk to them using his microphone and the conversation be heard over the PA... oh and the service is just 12 hours away... and you don't even have a phone line run to the booth!

This also is a question that I believe most of us wouldn't mind addressing 10 times in a week because this comes from someone who knows exactly what they want to accomplish and the desired result.

[Paris MkVI]

Originally Posted by danroth

While I certainly understand the impatience of youth in the repetition of questions (I complained about it all the time when I was in my late teens and my twenties), I also know where the church ends up (or where I end up) when tired of answering questions about salvation, or tired of reading the Bible, or tired of praying.

Our pastor has shared with me all too many times that just about the 1000th repetition of something, when he thinks he will scream if he says it again, someone goes, "Oh, is THAT what you mean?" Then he realizes once again the value of staying the course the Lord has set before him.

I answer the same questions over and over in our church family, and I know I will for a long time to come. It's part of the package of loving, serving and forgiving.

As for the more seemingly insane posts on here, those are teachable moments, opportunities to speak truth gently into lives. We can share instead our own processes and workflows, and help them learn to fish instead of fishing for them.

I try to read at least ten posts for any one I might post myself. An extension of the "two ears, one mouth" concept of listening. I like to read stuff I don't even need. Heck, I might need it another day (though for some of it I sure hope not!).

I think figuring out what a church needs is part of why CMN exists. Asking CMN is doing their homework. Some people just don't know where to start at all. Someone like my Mom should be able to ask something here without feeling like she has stepped on some elitist's toes (and never come back).

[kbob]

some things I need to get back to doing-congratulating a poster on their first post, thanking those that help others when I can't, or even when I could have...

Above all, be more patient with those that don't know, and help them to know.

[tedanderson]

Above all, be more patient with those that don't know, and help them to know.

That's right. Before you knew, there was a time when you didn't. You have to put yourself in their shoes before you can get impatient with them.