Charleston, SC

It's that time again...to review another great southern city.

This one is perhaps the most SOUTHERN of all cities below the Mason-Dixon. Charleston, or Charles Towne if you really wanna go back, the accent here is a regal one, with a lovely drawl and pride that makes it proper.

It is one of the oldest continually occupied cities in the country, founded in 1670, and was one of the largest cities in the nation until surpassed in the post civil war era. It's in the first state to secede and last to rejoin the union before and after the Civil War. The capitol of the old south is also the capitol of a region which reaches up to Wilmington, NC and down to Savannah, GA, known as the "Lowcountry".

To do--Charleston is all about history. Due to the military significance of the area since before the Revolutionary war there is much to see in that genre. There is Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie where the civil war began, and also a cool exhibit of the Hunley submarine which was a part of the civil war, and the oldest surviving Aircraft Carrier is a museum in Patriot Park, the U.S.S. Yorktown. Most people come here for the history, culture, and scenery, so sports is definitely a background noise, but if you like minor league baseball you can get your fix watching the Charleston RiverDogs a NY Yankees affiliate. For family fun, there is a good aquarium and you can never go wrong with a trip to one of the area beaches from Folly to Edisto. Since this is the "Holy" city, it's worth a walk to see some of the many old churches and while you're at it you will see some of the oldest buildings in the new world. Walking tours are a popular way to see the downtown and french quarter areas including Battery park and Rainbow Row. If you're a fisherman there are many expedition options available and for shopping the downtown area has a vast array of shops from high end to low brow. Hit Market Street for a good variety, where they have been trading things since before America was a country, you can also get a great picture of the U.S. Customs House here. Of course, being in coastal South Carolina means that there are PLENTY of good Golf options as well. If you get tired of walking downtown, take a bicycle taxi.

To Eat--This is a world class food city, with everything you could want, but the specialties are seafood and "Lowcountry" originals like Shrimp and Grits and Seafood al a Wando. It's really tough to get a bad meal in downtown Charleston, but some of my favorites are the World Famous Hyman's seafood where you can get a sampler with up to 7 different items! They have the best crabcakes in town and the fried grouper might be the best fish in the world. There are many great seafood places including Hank's and Fleet Landing (has some nice views), but if you're in the mood for something that grazes, Oak is a first class steakhouse and Peninsula Grille is another great choice. As for Lowcountry, Cypress, 82 Queen, Magnolia's, and Circa 1886 all do this genre at a level not seen in other cities except for possibly Savannah, GA. When you come to Charleston, make sure you walk Battery Park and make sure you have some local cuisine!

To Stay--The picture accompanying this post is of a former military building and original home to The Citadel college, which is now an Embassy Suites hotel...if you have boys under 15 (Or act like one yourself) this is their ultimate hotel! A little closer to the heart of the action is one of America's great independent hotels, The Planters Inn and on the other end of the block is my usual launching point, the Doubletree Suites. There are also a variety of small inns and B&B's in the downtown area and if this is your first trip you should definitely stay as close to the action as possible so you can walk it all! Possibly the best hotel experience of my life was had in Summerville at The Woodlands, it's first class all the way and also home to a PHENOMENAL restaurant, it's worth the trip!

There you have it, all you need to get started enjoying one of the best cities around. Don't stay too long...you might not leave.

Quote of the Week

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within"



--Will Durant

WE can solve it!

I have always been at least mildly conscientious when it comes to the environment...I was never a big hunter, I've always resisted the urge to go buy a BIG diesel truck, and I even planted a tree once, but lately I have become increasingly concerned with my impact on the planet.

It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have a three year old son and another one on the way, it makes me think more seriously about the future of the planet and my impact on it. The thing that has been holding me back from getting fanatical about the whole thing is that it's all of a sudden "cool" to be "green". I've always enjoyed being a little different and if green isn't different it lessens my interest...

In spite of that, there are some great informative web sites to help you in your quest to start being a part of the solution rather than the problem of climate change and general destruction. My favorite place to start is the WE campaign, and not just because of their nifty commercials or Al Gore.

So get out there and BE the change...and don't eat meat, drive, or buy anything NEW.

Time Management

It's a topic we both need to discuss and avoid all to often. In the busiest seasons of my life, I'm actually decent at managing my time, it's in the times when I have the good fortune to slow down that I often end up wasting precious time.

I have had a pretty slow September and that has resulted in several projects not getting finished that I had plenty of time to work on. Now as I start looking at the months ahead, I realize just how important getting those things done while I had the time really should have been.

My daily schedule, in theory--when I'm not travelling, looks something like this--

7:30 a.m. wake up and spend a few minutes with my wife and son before they leave the house and I do a 15 minute devotional followed by a 35 minute workout, then shower.

8:45ish--take my coffee to the "office", which is a nice single purpose room on the lower level of our house with great double doors out to the lower deck which I often open this time of year just to feel the breeze and listen, last week a HUGE buck (male deer) was eating about ten feet from me for several minutes...awesome.

If I'm in town, I usually spend the rest of my day until around 6 p.m. in the office, with a short break for a snack two or three times. What I do in those 9 hours varies from frenzied paperwork and long phone calls to blog reading, writing, and soul searching, which is why much of my best "work" gets done when I'm not in the office. I will sometimes go portable and end up at Starbucks or Pathway.

6 p.m.--One nice part about my commute being a flight of stairs is that I am often able to just walk upstairs and start cooking dinner about the same time that my wife and son get home. We try to make this happen at least three times a week.

7 p.m.--After dinner and clean-up, it's time for some boy time, which means pretending to be super heroes or wrestling and often this all ends with my wife screaming at us to go away.

8 p.m.--Once Alexander is super hyper from this hour of power, it's time to start winding down which usually involves some books and an episode of one of the super hero shows we just reenacted or the infamous Spongebob.

9 p.m.--Within a few minutes of 9, the little man goes to bed and Erika and I get to spend about an hour together, which this time of year means I get to sit next to her while she watches all the new shows.

10 p.m.--Erika goes to bed and I plug back in to the laptop for a couple more hours of work and email answering, there is usually quite a bit sense I am three hours ahead of our HQ.

12 a.m. I go to bed thankful that I had another day to improve on the one before and hopefully pleased with the progress...

Of course, next month starts next week and it looks like this...

Next week--Multi-Site Conference at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC
Following week--Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA
Next week-- Sales meeting in Orange County, CA
Last week-- Church of God conference in Garmisch, Germany

So much for the daily routine!

Perspectives

I travel pretty regularly for work, and occasionally for fun. My whole life I've been taking planes, but I noticed something recently that got me thinking...

I was on a plane from Atlanta to Charlotte, it's one of those up and down half hour flights, so you never really get high enough for the ground to be out of sight. On this particular trip I had a window seat, which is unusual since I prefer the aisle, but I decided to take advantage of it and enjoy the view.

What I noticed was that you can see for miles, entire cities can be seen in a single glance from 20,000 feet in the air. Everything is so small. You can look down and see entire subdivisions pass in a blink with their rows of nearly identical houses with pools. Traffic patterns become obvious and you can even catch a glimpse of the fastest way around the mess.

As I was watching and admiring all this, it hit me. This is like my life. I get so caught up in the actions/problems/opportunities of the moment that it seems all consuming and way too big to handle. All I need to do is step back and get a larger perspective to see that this VERY CRUCIAL time and decision is really just a small piece of a much bigger picture.

The next time you have a decision to make, look out the window of the plane before you choose, it has implications far beyond where you are and it will be gone before you know it.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I'm a Human Being...Not a Human Doing or a Human Thinking...a Human Being."
Deepak Chopra

(In the new Microsoft commercial!)

GO

SO this is it. I've talked about all the things I want to BE. and DO. Now it's time to GO. and make it happen. It's always easier to talk about great things than to execute. In order for it to happen, you must be active, you must GO.

To that end, I try to schedule lots of GO time. Daily, weekly, monthly, annually. It's important to stay active to stay sharp, but it's also a good practice to literally GO to new places and revisit some that you've been to before. I've been trying to talk the family into getting a motor home and GOING with me as I travel for work.

Now I get to live in the tension of BEing happy where I am, but always striving to GO somewhere better, because great things don't happen on the couch...well except on Saturday's during College Football Season.

Memphis, TN ...

Is Weird! It's like many southern cities in that there is an underlying racism still present, but in Memphis, the home of the National Civil Rights museum, on the sight of MLK's assassination, it's a little more obvious than in other places. This is a city of rich and poor, healthy and sick, hip and square, young and old, black and white.


To Do--- The sights are many and include the aforementioned National Civil Rights Museum, the Pyramid, Mud Island, Beale Street, and a great downtown ballpark for the Memphis Redbirds, the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Of course, no trip to Memphis would be complete without a trip to Graceland, it's definitely worth the trip to say you've been, but there are many other cool places in this Jewel of the Delta. I enjoy downtown, where you can shop at Peabody Place and then wonder over to Beale St. for live music seven nights a week at any number of places from Alfred's to Coyote Ugly to B.B. Kings (where he plays live a few times a year). Being a former Tennessee Banker, Memphis holds a special place in my heart as being the HQ for First Tennessee and Union Planters (now part of Regions Bank), these two employed the founders of Stax Records, which has a great museum on the history of Soul Music from Isaac Hayes to Booker T. and the MG's and my personal favorite Otis Redding, there is also Sun studios where Elvis got his start. Memphis is also home to FedEx and the new FedEx Forum which hosts world class concerts and the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, it's also located just off Beale St. in the heart of downtown. You could easily spend a couple days without getting in your car right in the Beale St/downtown area, and another MUST to check out while you're there is the Gibson Guitar Factory. The childhood home of W.C. Handy is on Beale! There is a fine array of evening activities from sports, to bowling (no, it's not a sport), to Beale street, and the Flying Saucer has a great selection of brews. Last but not least, in an ode to my younger years, when on Beale St., you must stop by Silky O' Sullivan's, it's the only place I know that has both goats and Dueling Pianos...seriously.

To Stay--AS you could tell with the things to do section, for the truly unique Memphis experience it happens downtown. This is a great city of nice suburbs, but if you want to experience IT, it is downtown, as are the best hotels to help with that. The only four diamond hotel in the city is the Legendary Peabody with their world famous ducks and it is truly the cream of the crop. In the last few years several VERY nice hotels have popped up on the fringes of Beale street. The Hampton Inn and Suites is very nice and convenient as is the new Westin. Other downtown choices are available, but those are my top three. Of course, if you're here for Elvis, then the Heartbreak Hotel is your place for at least one night.

To Eat--Memphis has its own style of Barbecue and oddly the place that is most often mentioned as the best in town, Rendezvous, does not fit the label of "Memphis" 'cue. Which is why I prefer the saucier stuff of Corky's or The Bar-B-Q- Shop. If you're looking for something more metropolitan, Automatic Slim's Tonga Club is my fave, but there are MANY "unique"(boring) places that look like something out of a magazine from--you name the urban center. If you're in the mood to be a serious carnivore, few places can top Texas de Brazil, a small chain of Churrascaria restaurants with a nice location in downtown. Memphis has a great food scene, but really...come here for the music. If you want one stop that summarizes Memphis, I'd go to The Pig.

As some of you know, I'm a huge music fan and one of my favorites is Walking in Memphis. Every time I hear it, I close my eyes, feel that thick warm air of the Mississippi and smell some BBQ, once I hear the music in the distance...I'm home. It's weird, but it also might be a little like heaven.

Silence

I started getting a little throat soreness sunday night, when I woke up monday I sounded like Barry White at the top of his game! While it was uncomfortable, it was worth is to be able to sing "Can't Get Enough of Your Love Baby!". By the time I got home monday evening it had moved from sore throat discomfort to some pretty severe ear aches...

Yesterday morning, I woke up...barely. No distinguishable voice and aches and pains all over, with some piercing ear aches. So I did what everyone should do in that case, downed some Nyquil and went back to sleep. I got up after a few hours to check email and respond to a few, then took some more Nyquil and went back down. I did not attempt vocalization from 8 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.. After getting up and hanging out with the family for a couple hours, I took some more Nyquil and went back to bed...

This morning I feel a little better, enough so in fact, that I am going to try to avoid the doctor and keep popping Vitamin C and drinking Green Tea...

Still not planning to talk much though.

End of the world?

Most of you know I'm not much for conspiracy theories or even end times prophecy. Not that they don't both have merit, I just like to spend my time in a more "happy" place and neither of those subjects really do it for me. Yesterday however, I found myself in the grip...

As you've probably heard by now, Lehman Brothers has declared Bankruptcy (the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history--more than twice as large as Worldcom and Enron combined) and my first financial services employer, Merrill Lynch, has agreed to be acquired by Bank of America. This stems from a few things, but ultimately means that when you add the already deceased Bear Stearns, 60% of the largest Investment Banks no longer exist. Leaving just Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley left of the Wall Street Titans.

In related news, AIG, the world's largest insurer, was downgraded and could make the above seem like a mild warm up...

Good times.

DO

This is part two of three on the life motto...

DO.
your best, try, love, laugh, sing, dance (but not if it's against your brand of religion).
Give... High Fives, Hugs, and smiles.
Take... Time.



Do unto others...It's actually not that as much as it is about activity. We spend so much time being passive in our society, watching not doing. This is my reminder that in order to BE. and GO., I must DO. something...anything.

Here is some inspiration.

Of course, hopefully I consider the consequences and desired results before I just DO.

The next few days

are good ones! Busily finishing up some work so I can hurry over to meet Erika for her first Ultrasound, then we pick up Alexander and head over to his first Karate class!

After that it's time to feed the craving the wife has had for KFC and then home to do a little more work and then watch Baby's Mama....

Tomorrow is the day for packing and finishing up last minute tasks before we have dinner with my parents who are coming into town for a conference and then we will head out to DC for the weekend where Erika is in a friends' wedding and we'll also have a birthday party with her family for Alex.

When we turn around for home, I will drop them off and head on down to Warner Robbins, GA for the NEXT conference.

It always seems to happen like this, but it's fun!

BE.

A few weeks ago I shared my life motto, BE.GO.DO., now I'm going to start unpacking it a little further. I'll go in order, though as I've thought through it, the order could be mixed up and argued from all sides, but here we go...

I want to BE-- positive, strong, transparent, supportive, helpful, consistent, tenacious. A great Dad, loving Husband, good Son, true Friend, follower of Christ.

In order to do anything well with any consistency, we must have a goal, a target, an objective...begin with the end in mind. So as I move on to the GO and DO of my life, I should always be framing those with the BE, if they don't line up I need to drop it and go on to something more productive/better aligned. The goal of all this is a life well lived that has a positive impact beyond myself. To hear "well done" (Matthew 25).

Maybe Shakespeare was right...To BE or not to BE??

Church Names

I deal with a lot of churches, probably corresponding with 20-30 different ones every week. Church names are interesting...


They can be very descriptive of location Lake, Bridge, Shady Hollow, Uptown/Downtown, etc.
They can give you insight into the ethinc makeup like African Methodist, Korean Presbyterian, Haitian Alliance, etc. (Although I don't run into many with Caucasian in the name...but I probably wouldn't want to work with them).
They can give you a clue as to when they were formed FIRST Baptist, Second united Methodist, etc. In the 80's and 90's it became popular to make the names proactive like Journey or Praise or Love and Kindness and the most recent trend has been to take that further with catchy names like Revolution, Elevation, Passion, Life, Gathering, Rock, etc... I like the recent wave of names, probably because I'm in their "target market", of 20 and 30 somethings...


I go to Lifepoint Community Church in Cleveland, TN, and immediately can think of several other cool churches with VERY similar names... LifePoint, Life Church.tv, and Life Church, Charlotte. I wonder what God would call his church if he started one?

Atlanta, GA

Inspired by the announcement yesterday that Atlanta has been voted the best city for singles, I have decided to go ahead with my city review for the capitol of the south.

Atlanta, is truly a world-class destination. It is now the 9th largest metropolitan area in the nation and it is growing faster than any of the metro areas that are larger, so it will continue to move up the list. Upon examination it is easy to see why Atlanta has grown so large so quickly. It is headquarters to iconic brands Coca-Cola and Home Depot, has a large regional bank in Suntrust, and most Fortune 500 companies have some presence in the area. Atlanta does have a vibrant and growing inner city, but the charm of this southern metropolis is really in the many small towns that make up the metro area from Marietta to Locust Grove and Social Circle to Douglasville.

Traffic can be brutal as this city of over 5,000,000 with roads for about 2,000,000 and water shortages have been an issue of late, but overall this city does many things well.

Things to do-- If variety is the spice of life then Atlanta is the spice rack. If you're a history buff the Margaret Mitchell house, Ebenezer Baptist Church (MLK), and the Cyclorama--next to the Zoo are all must see spots. With the family, it's tough to beat the Georgia Aquarium and other Centennial Olympic park attractions-The World of Coke and CNN Center, as well as Phillips Arena and the Tabernacle where LOTS of good concerts happen. In the 'burbs Gwinnett Center is home to Hockey and many performers and Stone Mountain has a great evening light show on the largest piece of exposed granite in the world(It's also the only place I know that has a memorial to the Confederacy and a statue of Tupac Shakur). Six Flags over Georgia is fun for all ages and nothing beats a summer day in Georgia like White Water adventure park in Marietta. For shopping there are lots of options from trendy in Buckhead and Atlantic Station in Midtown to the great suburban malls, the biggest of which is the Mall of Georgia in Buford. If you are a sports fan Atlanta has it all from participating in some great golf that Bobby Jones would envy to watching the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, Thrashers, NASCAR, or even the Ramblin' Wreck of Georgia Tech.

Places to Eat--Atlanta has no shortage of quantity or quality in the restaurant scene. The world's largest drive in is right downtown near Georgia Tech, and has been visited by everyone from Neal Diamond to Bill Clinton, The Varsity is a must, though you may regret it later. For fine dining, choices include Ray's on the River and In the City as well as my personal favorite Two Urban Licks. Buckhead is the NYC/Beverly Hills of the south and has every trendy idea you could think of. If it's down home you're looking for Pitty Pats Porch is a reasonable choice right downtown, but Paschal's is a can't miss and was home to many meetings of the civil rights movement leaders in the sixties. This is also the home of Chick-Fil-A and if you're a fan, it's worth the drive to the original Dwarf House for the one of a kind southern Chicken sandwich. I'm not normally a big fan of hotel Restaurants, but Atlanta has several worth mentioning, the Sundial at the top of the Westin (which was once the tallest hotel in the world) is a great place for good food and a view that is unmatched as it rotates while you dine giving a great vista of the entire metro. On the other side of Peachtree st and back down on street level, the Atlanta Grill at the Ritz Carlton is a GREAT place for a great steak. We can't end our discussion of food in a southern city without mentioning some BBQ, my local favorite is Williamson Bros. with three locations in the metro, my favorite chain Jim'N'Nicks also has a healthy presence throughout the area and it makes my mouth water just thinking about their ridiculously good biscuits.

Where to stay--Being a HUGE metro area, there are lots of choices. Downtown the aforementioned Westin is iconic and convenient, you'll also get a great view from the room and be within walking distance of all the downtown sights. If money is no object its tough to beat the Ritz, of which there are two in Atlanta, Downtown and Buckhead. If you have an independent streak The Georgian Terrace is great as are the hip and new Twelve hotels in Atlantic Station and Centennial Park. For the family, it's tough to beat the Embassy Suites in Centennial Park. If its a romantic retreat you're looking for Chateau Elan in Braselton is great and offers golf, cooking, and spa packages as well.

So there you have it. A summary guide to a great southern city which has recovered nicely from Sherman's March to the Sea and the burning of Atlanta. Ya'll come back now...

It's a Race...

Looks like this election could get interesting after all...below is a link to one very possible scenario. One thing is for sure, history will be made!

http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard?name=content=111101000110101011100000111110010111100011111010101

Church Budgets...

Are on my mind at the moment. Since this is a topic I deal with almost daily, I though it warranted a post. While there are MANY philosophies on how to create a budget, they basically break down into two groups. Those who budget with the expectation that growth will come to help them meet the budgeted expenses and those who prepare forward budgets based on historical actual results, to do either, it is nice to start with an understanding of where the church is and what the vision and goals of the ministry are for the short and long term. I like to do both, create a budget using a flat line and also a "hope/wish/faith budget" relying on growth. With both of these expenses can pretty much be broken down into three BROAD categories before breaking down further. I will list them in their order of importance and percentage of the total budget they should consume (my opinion, of course)--

1. People/Staff(40%)- Without Vision the people perish, but without people, there can really be no sustainable vision. This is vital, and generally people also pay for themselves in increased attendance and involvement of the congregation.

2. Programs/Facilities/Overhead(30%)- This is earmarked for things like the weekly coffee, rent/mortgage, light bill, insurance, phones, signage, etc...

3. Missions/Savings/Growth(30%)- I really like to earmark each of these three as 10% of the total budget, 10% to missions (whether that is for Habitat for Humanity, an orphan, or water in Africa, etc.), 10% savings allows for financial stability and sets a good example for the members, and 10% for growth is usually used for special events/projects, future building or marketing, etc.

Of course, it's much easier to create such a budget than live it, but it can be done, and most churches that are successful for the long term have come up with a financial budgeting process that enables ministry.

There is still time

Well I missed it by a day, but it's time to write down some goals for the last third of the year. For me, setting some goals with very short time horizons can be more effective than having annual and longer goals, though it is certainly important to have those too...So here it is...

Be in better shape by the end of the year--How's that for vague! OK, here is a breakdown--

Do daily devotions and join a men's group- spiritual health
Start EVERY day with one hour of alone time with God reading and praying, followed by journaling. Go to bed at more consistent times to ensure consistency. Look for/start a men's group that meets at least monthly.

Payoff any remaining credit card debt by redirecting bonuses to them- financial health
Revisit budget with Erika to ensure that spending stays in line with plan. Sell apartment building to further reduce total debt.

Have monthly date night with wife, boys night with son, call friends- relationship health
Date night first Friday of every month, arrange baby sitter. Call friends while I'm driving on work trips. Get Alexander into Karate classes and possibly soccer.

Lose thirty pounds by improving diet and exercising- physical health
Play basketball weekly, possibly join a league.
Run three times a week, increase mileage every time.
Ab lounger and push ups daily
Eat at home at least four nights a week and snack healthy with more fruits, veggies, grains and nuts. ELIMINATE BEER COMPLETELY FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR.