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Welcome Elsie

bignorm — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:21:07 +0000

Its hard to express how crazily happy Emily and are both are right now. We are ecstatic, proud, overwhelmed, and tired all at the same time. We love Elsie Grace McCorkell! Ain’t she cute? And can you believe we are parents?

So today, this week, this blog, our lives, are forever dedicated to Elsie.

You can check out or growing album of Elsie over on Flickr.

I got a late night text two days ago from a friend who summarised part of this new, and joyous chapter of our journey.

“..Norm, now you know what those verses really mean in scripture, the ones that talk about the heart of the Father.”

Talk about hitting the sweet spot in capturing the majority of my internal processes. If you are not a Dad, or even a parent, you’ll probably not truly “get it”. Maybe someday you will.

I’ll be back soon with more on “church” and Christian issues in contemporary Ireland v soon. Meanwhile, its undivided attention and love, cuddles, snuggles, and kisses for my girls.

A “buzzing” BN.

Big, Beige and Struggling

bignorm — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:04:55 +0000

Here’s a thought:

NCC are a small church that produce BIG results, contrary to popular belief. Their staff skills-set, work-rate, and creative edge are second to none. As I listened and observed in their meetings yesterday, I noticed a macbook pro 13inch propped up against a chair. Like NCC it was small in comparison to some of it’s predecessors — those humongous sloth-like beige PC’s of the 90’s — yet it produced staggering results.

This got me thinking about how many big, beige-like church skeletons there are , struggling to compute and deal with the tasks and challenges of contemporary Christianity.

If this is a symptom of a post-industrial, post-modern age, then I’m sticking with mac.

Normster.

Guest Slot: Operation Wellfound

bignorm — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:31:51 +0000

My “What should I blog about today” tweet this afternoon got me linked up with a really cool non-profit Operation Wellfound that provides safe, clean drinking water and sanitation services to communities in the developing world.

Alex, one of their fundraisers wrote me this message for you guys when I offered him a slot:

“We’re a relatively small but rapidly growing Christian charity based in West London that provides safe, clean drinking water and sanitation services to communities in the developing world. We have worked quite extensively in Eastern Europe in the past, however, since the expansion of the EU our help is less necessary as aid and money is flowing from Brussels so now we almost solely focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. We now work in Senegal, Kenya and Guinea Bissau and, with the help of our donors, are hoping to expand in to Mali and Ghana as well as continuing projects in the other countries. We ensure our projects are sustainable and benefit the community in an economic sense by carrying out extensive test to ensure the quality and amount of water underground as well as sourcing all the parts, material and labor from the surrounding areas. We also create well committees from women and village elders to ensure the fair use and maintenance of the wells and latrines.

For my part I am very new to the Charity having been recruited in September along with someone else which meant the number of staff in office has doubled, a positive sign that we’re growing in the right direction! My role is as assistant fundraiser and over the last few months I have been working to develop a solid fundraising strategy as well as developing a means for members of the public to become engaged in raising money for us beyond simple donations. We’ve recently created a link with a sky dive company that will allow people trying to raise money for Operation WellFound by doing a jump with no cost to themselves. They simply have to raise a minimum amount (£300) and we receive £150 and the dive company takes £150 for their costs. We have done similar with ‘doitforcharity.com’ where we are now involved in; the London to Paris cycle ride, white water rafting, 5k Christmas runs, treks in Vietnam and Peru. We are also awaiting confirmation for our involvement in the Great North Run. All of these will be available on our new website, which should be running in a week or so. The current one, that you saw, does not have this facility.

We have recently finished work on a project in Guinea Bissau where we built seven water wells and eighty latrines which will change the lives of six thousand people in seven villages and one suburb of Bissau City. You can see from our website some of the other projects we’ve completed and we’re raring to go on many more; in fact we have regular letters of request of help from areas we’ve surveyed where the local populations are desperate for help. However, we need more funds to do this which means we desperately need help from supporters either by donations or getting involved in our sponsored events.”

Incredible work Alex! Keep it up.
Why not encourage these innovative campaigners and find out how you can support them today?

www.operationwellfound.org

House Mission 1st

bignorm — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:19:00 +0000

Today, our ‘Christian and mission’ topic focuses inward: Church, and it’s mission to church staff and volunteers.

I couldn’t think of anything better to illustrate this than Andy Stanley recently closing the Catalyst Conference discussing how to create a healthy work culture at your church.

If there is one innovative way to redeem the image of Christians to this world and Christ-followers, its this: making ‘Church’ the most healthy working environment on the planet. Sadly it’s not.

Burnout and abuse of church staff and volunteers is pandemic. Just ‘google’ it. People have set up blogs about the matter, written books about it and have even make careers helping those who have suffered from it!

Enjoy Stanley talking about a powerful, yet not inconceivable concept – a healthy church.

I think that your church and your church culture should be the healthiest organizational culture in your city. I think that business people in your city should stop by during the week and say, “Wow! I have never seen an organization run so well!” I am not talking about on Sunday. I am talking about your church’s weekly work culture.

Think about this.

In the local church we have so much going for us culturally (if we follow the Bible… love, harmony, work as though unto the Lord) that we should have the best work cultures. Yest some of the meanest people I have met are on church staffs. Some of the laziest people I know are on church staffs. Some people think it doesn’t take much competency to work at a church because they lazy people who work at a church. And that is a shame.

Healthy people are drawn to healthy cultures. Healthy people don’t stay in unhealthy cultures. Unhealthy people thrive in unhealthy cultures.

Occasionally, there are gaps between what we expect people to do and what they actually do. As leaders, we choose what to put in this gap. And what you as a leader choose to put in that gap will shape your culture. And what you put into that gap, will also be what your staff puts in that gap. You will either assume the worst or expect the best.

There are a couple of things that determine what I put in that gap:

What I see
If someone consistently brings you poor quality, you will always assume the worst.

Who I am
Your past hurt and betrayal will influence what you put in that gap. We like certain types of people. And we dislike others.

Developing a culture of trust is critical to the health of your organization. Trust fuels productivity. The message of trust is this… I think you are smart enough to know what to do, and if you make a mistake, you will tell me then fix it.

A culture characterized by trust attracts healthy people. You will never know who you can trust until you trust them. The longer you refuse to trust people, the longer that untrustworthy people can hide in your organization. The moment you feel to tightly manage someone, you might have made a hiring mistake. And if you don’t address the hiring problem, you might create a culture where everyone distrusts each other. You will never know who you can trust until you trust them. Trusting is risky. Refusing to trust is riskier.

Trust enables an organization to move faster. In an organization of trust, the culture is fluid. When their is a high level of trust, I am going to act/email/write/communicate as if I believe the best. Teams use trust as currency. The development of trust then becomes a significant leadership strategy. It feels 100% relational and 90% emotional.

Developing a culture of trust begins with a leader. Trust and suspicion are both telegraphed from the leader throughout the organization. We must learn to choose to trust.

When you choose to trust, you must choose to confront. The moment there is suspicion in a person, everything he does is tainted. When you and I sit on our raw assumptions, and it leaks out to our family and organization, the energy makes our suspicion grows bigger and uglier. And then all of a sudden, a handful of offense gets a huge response. If you want to build a culture of trust, you must confront fairly and quickly and refuse to sit on it. Before I assume the worst, I should at least ask for the facts. The consequences of concealment are far greater than the consequences of confrontation.

To develop a culture of trust, leaders must be trustworthy. Worthy of trust does not mean perfect. It means when I create a gap where your expectations don’t line up with the experience I give you, I talk to you about it.

5 Essential Commitments of Trust

I will believe the best.

When other people assume the worst about you, I will come to your defense.

If what I experience begins to erode my trust, I will come directly to you to talk about it.

When I am convinced I will not be able to deliver on a promise, I will come to you ahead of time.

When you confront me about the gaps I’ve created, I will tell you the truth.

The gaps are the opportunities… the gaps are the litmus test… for you to choose what culture you will have.

Questions to Ask

Are there people in your organization you have a hard time trusting.

Is it your issue or is it theirs? (if you have never chosen to trust it is still your issue)

What can you do about your part?

What do you need to address with them about their part?

Who do you sense having a difficult time trusting you?

Why?

What can you do about it?

If you choose to trust, you will create an organization that is more nimble and effective.

~ Why does the church fail in it’s initial mission to it core staff and volunteers? ~

Man In The Arena

bignorm — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:42:11 +0000

Consider this page a ‘Sticky’.

Let’s set the record straight and the tone for bignorm.net.

The posts that contain petty jibes and scathing criticism’s just make me look like a big fat sideline scoffer. Please forgive me, ‘cos often I am just that. My passion’s – pure as they are – and my pain’s often manifest in unnecessary over-criticism. Again, sorry.

Credit goes only to all the brave men and women out there having a go. Not mwah, sitting here blabbering away about stuff that I am too scared or under-qualified to tackle. Its easy to sit here and blog about these things, ‘cos everyone is an expert on their own blog. There’s no reporting structures, no accountability, no guidelines – just pure rant and pot-shots from the hip.

The people who are sweating to make real changes in this world don’t have time to blog.

They just humbly get on with the important stuff. Not like us ‘bloggers’ who spend way too much time posting feeble misinformed moans and daring opinions that cleverly provoke replies to stroke our bulging egos, or ideas that we have copied from people who we wish we were. What a shame.

My head hangs. Guilty As Charged.

Theodore Roosevelt summarised the essence of both my viewpoint and my message to you in his famous Man In the Arena speech. Let this be the tone of bignorm.net.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat

MMMM

bignorm — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:25:32 +0000

My ‘Pop-in-law’ Rick asked me to guest write for his this weeks MMMM or Monday Morning Music Ministry. In case you are not fortunate enough to subscribe to it, here it is, just for you:

Good Morning Email Community!

When ‘Poppa’ Marschall asked me to present this weeks edition of MMMM (Monday Morning Music Ministry), I could not think of anything better than to share of the marvelous evening that I spent with my wife in Dublin last night. Enjoy:

Jason Upton - live in concert was our date of choice last night. And he was simply superb!

During his set, Upton, talked about many profound things including freedom, child-like faith, and, finding rest in God – which is the theme that I want us to ponder on this morning.

“The most humble thing that we can do for our Lord is to let him write our future.”~ Jason Upton

So often we try to dictate, manipulate and control our own future, rather than simply trusting in his perfect promises and gentle directions.

When we recall the precious moments leading up to our moment of conversion, Jesus wasn’t there luring us with a glossy road map of the future or a scintillating theological plan with all the answers. He simply asked us to trust in him, or in His own words – “Follow me”.

Heart first, head second.

So often we get so consumed with the head stuff. The BIG picture, planning for the day that never actually happens, and worrying about questions that ONLY God can answer. Unfortunately, all-too-often, we forget that we are primarily called to a life of FAITH.

Should I go on?

Ok then, let me finish this by illustrating with the perfect concomitant from the book of Genesis:

When we study the creation account in Genesis 2, specifically the seventh day (the day God RESTED), we will find that God does not call the day to an end like the other previous six. Which means that God is still resting. Thus, in Gods presence today, and this morning, we are still guaranteed to find REST.

To conclude then, before our day begins, let us throw off any anxiety that comes from needing to know exactly where we are going and what the ‘next step’ is. Living in a nervous state of worry and angst robs us from the very thing that God wants us to dwell within – HIS PRESENCE, or put another way, his sovereign, wonderful, and everlasting REST!

So WHY worry?

Lastly, no matter what your have planned for this week, stop for just a few minutes and enjoy Jason leading you into HIS rest right now.

Your Wiki Page

bignorm — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:15:37 +0000

Suppose for a second that you have your own personal Wikipedia page. And, imagine that you will have the opportunity to edit your own page posthumously (after you have died).

Which of the highs and lows of your life would you want to be listed? What would you want to list as your best achievements, finest awards, or even greatest moments? How would you want people to remember you? and, what content would you NOT want people to view?

That’s got your thinking, eh?

Life IS short. Live well, live full, live right, and, “Livestrong” like Lance if you are really game.

Have a GREAT weekend!

See you next week.

An ‘Ideal’ Purchase

bignorm — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:08:46 +0000

OK, don’t laugh.. in what seemed like a reckless moment last night – and at only 5 euro – I purchased an Irish Classic on DVD. Set in the West of Ireland, in the idyllic village of Innisfree, yesss, you’ve guessed it, John Wayne is The Quiet Man.

20 minutes later I was strew across my couch, frenzied feeding on my large white and blue value box of Jaffa cakes, grinning and marveling at the antiquated ideals and the simplistic lifestyles portrayed in this legendary Hollywood film.

Why was I so impressed? At first, I thought maybe it was because of my Irish roots and my distant memories of the rural settings that my forefathers came from? Or, maybe the Irish tranquility of Innisfree reminds me of our semi-rural home here at the stables in Kildare. My avidness is probably a mixture of both of these things, but more-so, I really loved the ideals and uncomplicated lifestyles being portrayed by the actors.

Living simply as a ‘human being‘, as opposed to a utilitarian ‘human doing’, is an ideal I never want to lose sight off. Sadly, life is not like this ignorant bliss anymore, and neither are people. As a society, we just seem obsessed with speed, technology, consuming and frankly ourselves more than anything else, and, of course not forgetting, keeping everything very ‘PC.’

The BIG question is though: is there any way back to this lifestyle? or, are we bound for more hasty, cold consumption with more mutations of political correctness in the future?

Oh, and by the way, I think that I could have a good shot at taking the big ‘yank’ John Thorton. He’d be a handful though.

Now, for just a minute, take yourself off to tense Innisfree and enjoy the famous finale-scrap of Thorton Vs Danagher - HERE.

Nazareen Leadership Principals

bignorm — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:16:53 +0000

“Leadership” is not a buzzword that really gets my juices flowing.

However, today I will discuss a gem from that ‘All-Americanised’ gum-chewing, green-tea drinkin’ leadership world that the western church has grown to idolise:

The “Good to Great” leadership model.

Researcher Jim Collins, author of best-seller Good to Great, seems to have found proof that the ancient model of Leadership used by the Master himself- Jesus still works! Let me quickly give you some context:

In Good to Great, Collins presents imperial evidence that he and his 21 research associates gathered over a period of 15000 working hours, spanning over 5 years. His deep analysis on the business world primarily focused on established companies that achieved GREAT results, over 15 years, instead of just good results. Why did he bother? Well, from what I read, the purpose of his studies were to conclude IF there were similar or decisive factors practised within all of GREAT companies, that gave them marketplace dominance over their competitors.

When you examine the results diagram below, it wreaks of the ‘leadership’ model that Jesus displayed:

1. Disciplined People: Jesus exuded humility but stoic resolve. Before strategy, he found the right people – His Disciples.

2. Disciplined Thought: Jesus taught the brutal facts: Eternal life, the cost of Sin, the cost of following Him, and the purpose of His Kingdom.

3. Disciplined Action: Jesus went all the way innocently to the cross.He seen it through no matter what the cost.

Today’s point? As the writer of Ecclesiastes says (1.9),

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun”

My Shortest Blog (Ever)

bignorm — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:02:21 +0000

The trouble with Christianity is the Christians. N Related posts:pops blog About Blog Enterprise USA Related posts: