Great Marketing

Yesterday I had the chance to go to New York City with a couple of my cousins and had a lot fun! While there I saw one of the best marketing ideas I think I've ever seen. The best marketing scheme accomplishe two things:

1. They meet a perceived need.
2. They go so over the top you cannot help but notice the product.

Charmin has done just that at Times Square. If you've ever visited NYC, you would know that after a long day of walking around it's tough to find a nice clean bathroom to use. Well, Charmin now has the coolest bathrooms I've ever seen and they're right on Times Square. As you wait in line for the bathrooms indoors, there is music playing, people dancing and an MC hyping up the crowd...to go to the bathroom! Pretty amazing. Plus they clean the bathrooms after each use. They even have a merchandise area where you can buy Charmin jackets, scarves, and hats. A toilet paper company is selling jackets!!

If they can get people that excited about toilet paper, how much more should we with the greatest product ever? How does that happen? We just need to be creative. Charmin didn't create that excitement by just doing things as they've always been done. They were creative and went over the top! Can we do the same with the gospel? I think we can!

What a Christmas!

Well, I was met with a pleasant surprise when we arrived at my cousins' house in Scranton: Turns out they now have wireless internet!! Merry Christmas to me! Here's my two favorite moments of the day:

When my mom came downstairs in the Santa outfit she made back when I was in high school.

My dad driving to my cousins' house trying to lower the arrival time on my mom's new GPS Navigator. Every time he would knock off another minute he'd notify us all in the car by yelling out the new arrival time! It was hilarious!!


I hope you all had a great day with your family as well. We're going into downtown Scranton today - I'm going to be on the lookout for Dwight! Have a great day!!

Merry Christmas

We had three great Christmas Eve services tonight at APC. It is so awesome to work at a church that is packed on Christmas Eve!! I love it! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get all you asked Santa for! :)

On a side note, just wanted to share the last and final hint leading up to my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT next Tuesday, January 1. Many of you have had some great guesses but here's your next hint:

It will require you to do something.

I'll be without internet access for the next few days so I'll catch you guys on the flip side!

Christmas Outfits

Christmas time brings a lot of good out in people: joy, a spirit of giving, love. But it also brings out some of the worst in people, and by worst I mean Christmas outfits. Well, for those of you that attend APC, tomorrow morning we are unofficially calling it "Crazy Christmas Sweater Day". There is a group of us that hit the Thrift Stores today and picked up some 'crazy sweaters'. I would invite anyone attending one of the services tomorrow morning to join in. It will be a fun way to celebrate all that is good and bad with Christmas!! :) Hope to see you there in that sweater from 1980 with Rudolph and the blinking nose on the front!!

Presence

At this time of the year as a child you live for the presents. I remember growing up, I was always the first one up Christmas morning. I would be so excited to see what presents were under the tree that morning. I'm sure many of you could relate, but as I've aged (yes, I'm an ancient 26 now!), I've realized a shift for me. The joy no longer is in the presents, but rather the presence of those I love. As all my cousins have grown and some are now married and spread all over the country, this is the one time each year I get to see most of them. I value that presence with family.

Maybe you're not blessed with a supporting family that you're looking forward to seeing this Christmas, but make it a point surround yourself with people who's presence improve your life. Whether that's at Christmas or just everyday. Those we surround ourselves with will greatly affect who we are and what we do. If you want to be more positive, be in the presence of positive people. If you want to eat better, make it a point to be in the presence of physically healthy people. As kids we learn this principle, but I think we forget it as adults: You will become like those you are around. This Christmas and in this new year, make it a priority to be in the presence of those that improve your life.

14 More Days

I know many of you probably could care less about this 'Big Announcement', but just indulge me!! :) Only 14 days until the Big Announcement. Next week I'll reveal another hint.

Here's your first hint:
It will change the way you view me.

A Great Day at BridgePoint

We had another great monthly service at BridgePoint Church yesterday in Tarentum. The threat of ice and snow affected our attendance, but we still had 59! You can read more about it here.

One cool thing that I'm watching take place is the launch team is beginning to really take ownership of what is taking place. It's not just a church they're coming to, it's their church. Let me give you an example: For our first two monthly services I've been bringing a box of donuts for those that come early to set up. Well, this month I didn't bring them because no one had really been eating them. At around 8:15 as the team starts to show up in walks one of the lady's on the launch team to set-up and she has a box of donuts in her hands! It's just cool to see this ownership taking place.