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Prevention - the best "cure" for addiction
An Unusual Day of Joy
Shepherds Ministries Offers First Of Its Kind College
To Save Our Banks
How Will Your Business Survive?
Tomorrow is for you
Little Things Do Make Big Differences
It's a new world order all right
Is he marriage material?
The beginning of the . . .
Will Your Bank Survive the Financial Crisis? Here's How to Find Out
The game has changed
Barnewall on the bailout
Now, About Your Schedule
Driving your salary
But Wait, There’s More... Have Dominion Two
Champions Produce Champions
Don’t Take People For Granted
But Wait, There's More: Have Dominion Too?
Dominate Your Sphere
Ugly car, but does it matter?
Massive Investment Banking Failures Spotlight a Lesson on Main Street
Fill the Earth
Moving Up In Life
Multiplication is Better
Vision Forecasting
Be Fruitful First - Then Multiply
Prevention - the best "cure" for addiction
Former drug czar William Bennett says there are some things we can do to prevent our kids from ever experimenting with drugs. He says that children who have good lines of communication with their parents, who attend church regularly and engage in extracurricular activities (sports, band, debating team, etc.) seldom try drugs. He also encourages us to keep the kids busy and to remind them that they are moral and spiritual beings. He says to tell them that drug abuse is a degradation of character and the spirit, something not worthy of them.... read the story
An Unusual Day of Joy
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing." James 1:2 – 4
I am writing this blog on the flight from Charlotte to Atlanta where I change planes for Sarasota, Florida. As I was reflecting on this most unusual day, the Scripture above came to mind that we are to count the trials and temptations we face as sheer joy. To say that runs counterintuitive to everything in me today would be a big understatement!... read the story
Shepherds Ministries Offers First Of Its Kind College
Click here to learn more about our unique and unprecedented College for Adults with Developmental Disabilities
To Save Our Banks
How would you like to save the American economy without having to pass Treasury Secretary Paulson's $700 billion (now $850 billion since the Senate added pork to it) bailout package?
Since I wrote my last article, I received a copy of a letter from a bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. His is a bank with well over $100 billion in assets and 1,500 branches... definitely not small potatoes. Further, his bank is healthy, not sick. I've always thought it best to get advice from the successful rather than the failures.... read the story
How Will Your Business Survive?
The Way Our Country Got Into This $700 Billion Dollar Mess
Is Not The Way We'll Get Out Of It!
The Rules Have Changed!
How Will Your Business Survive?... read the story
Tomorrow is for you
I feel like I have a network of friends and prayer warriors in you, who value the work I do on your behalf and for this I am most grateful. It may seem strange to you, but I often check the blog comments just to see if some of you I've gotten to know by reading your posts have commented. You add richness and substance and value to the discussion and help give my efforts meaning.... read the story
Little Things Do Make Big Differences
If my watch is four minutes slow and I show up for a noon flight at 12:04 p.m., you know what will happen. I have an arrangement with the airlines that says if I'm not there when my flight is scheduled to leave, they leave without me. They have always lived up to their end of the agreement.... read the story
It's a new world order all right
Listen. Government as we want to believe it exists, died a long time ago or at least became terribly anemic and somewhat parasitic. We only have the façade of being "for the people". Not that there aren't good people in government. It's just that they can all fit into a single school bus! OK. So I am overstating the obvious but government is less controlled by the people it governs than by the corporate, sometimes international corporate interests it really serves. As bad as that is, there is a piece of good news you've got to read again.... read the story
Is he marriage material?
My boyfriend has a lot of debt. The other day a creditor called, and he wouldn’t answer the phone. Then, he told me it would be easier for him to pay off his debts if we were married because I could act as his accountability partner. I don’t want to be the money cop, and I wonder if he would truly be more motivated. What do you think?... read the story
The beginning of the . . .
In the context of our current financial crisis, how would you finish the title of this blog? What concerns me most about the crisis is what we are not being told! If in fact, we the taxpayer are footing the bill, shouldn't we be allowed to see the agreement that we are being committed to pay? We get sound bytes from reporters who are fed only what the insiders want us to know.... read the story
Will Your Bank Survive the Financial Crisis? Here's How to Find Out
I've been getting so many questions from people about how they can check on the soundness of their banks and what they need to do to ride out this storm, I've decided to put what I'm telling my friends into an article.
The first thing you need to know is that I am not into "hoarding." I am, however, into advance planning. When I suggest to my friends that they pick up some additional "necessaries" for their homes, I do not mean get a year's supply.... read the story
The game has changed
A new reality is upon us. The economic world as we know it has shifted in a big way and there’s more to come. Soon. But life will continue. So will business, but it will require different skills or at the very least, additional or new skills. Are you prepared?... read the story
Barnewall on the bailout
Let's say the Ford Motor Company needs to raise some money, so it creates new stock and offers it to investors. That dilutes the value of existing stock. Before the new shares of stock were made available, each share of your stock was worth $15. Now, it's only worth $10. Your value was diluted per share by a third. It got "diluted" when new shares of stock were printed.
That is what has happened to the "stock" of the U.S. government. Its "stock" is its currency. When government needs to raise money, instead of offering stock to investors, the government prints too much money... which dilutes the value of existing currency. That is why the dollar has lost so much of its value in the marketplace, foreign and domestic. The dollar has been over-printed.... read the story
Now, About Your Schedule
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." Gen 1:28
Just when you thought you had an easy to use, sure fire business plan from the first half of Genesis 1:28, then came the "AND". AND have dominion over the fish of the sea (your lower nature), the fowl of the air (your thought life) and lastly upon every living thing that moves upon the earth.... read the story
Driving your salary
I'm a pastor. I make $24,000 a year, and my wife and I live rent-free in the church parsonage. We've also got two kids, about $19,000 in credit card debt and we owe $13,000 on a van loan. The book value of the van is $23,700, but we got a good deal with our trade-in. Do you think we should sell the van?... read the story
But Wait, There’s More... Have Dominion Two
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." Gen 1:28
For this to make sense to you, you really need to read the previous blog. We've already discussed the basic 4 step business plan in the first half of this verse. We could write a book about taking dominion over our lower nature as pictured by the fish of the sea. Now I want to show you a second critical factor for succeeding at the 4 step plan...... read the story
Champions Produce Champions
Every football fan in America knows the name and many accomplishments of Lou Holtz, former Head Football Coach at Notre Dame University. Lou was at Notre Dame for ten years. He produced one national championship team and came within a whisper of repeating on several other occasions. During his tenure, at least eight of his assistant coaches went on to head coaching jobs at other universities. Many people probably think that Lou had "given up his best and brightest" coaches. They must wonder how he continued to turn out such marvelous teams, despite losing his best coaches.... read the story
Don’t Take People For Granted
Head to your local book store or magazine rack, and there you'll find books and articles on the high cost of employee turn-over. I came out of the trucking industry where 100 percent turn-over was the norm. Sadly, many in the trucking industry as well as others believe that such turn-over rates are unchangeable. For example, the cost for a lost employee in the trucking industry was last estimated at $6,000; an extremely conservative estimate. No matter the cost of turn-over in your company, it is too high. The best news is that it is changeable. And there are some simple things that can be done to start that change rolling.... read the story
But Wait, There's More: Have Dominion Too?
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." Gen 1:28
OK. The basic business model is laid out in four parts...... read the story
Dominate Your Sphere
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it:" Gen 1:28
You've just read the best summary of a business model I've ever read. I know some of you got hung up on literalism as if I were somehow suggesting otherwise. Let me be clear, I take the Scripture literally where intended to be literal and allegorical where we are told the text is allegorical as in many of the parables Jesus told.... read the story
Ugly car, but does it matter?
I'm a new doctor, and I drive a car that's nine years old, has over 200,000 miles on it and a few dings in the doors. I've heard image is everything when you're a doctor, but I like not having a car payment. Should I just get over being self-conscious about the fact that my car is surrounded by fancy doctor's cars everyday in the parking lot?... read the story
Massive Investment Banking Failures Spotlight a Lesson on Main Street
The current insolvency of some of the largest and oldest financial institutions has been caused by massive leveraging of assets. In simple terms, for every dollar these institutions possessed in hard assets, they borrowed 30, 40, 50 or even 60 times that amount. Once any business, large or small becomes that leveraged, trouble is brewing.... read the story
Fill the Earth
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it:" Gen 1:28... read the story
Moving Up In Life
It has been accurately stated that when you hire somebody smarter than yourself, you prove you are smarter than they are. We can apply that to all areas of ability. The sales manager should strive diligently to hire sales people who are better at selling than he or she is. That way they can share information and they will both be even more effective. Also, by continuing to learn from each sales person, the manager will stay one step ahead of all of them. Exactly the same thing applies in coaching. A good head coach seeks assistant coaches who know more about their specialty than he does and he learns from them. Ditto for managers in manufacturing, engineering, architecture, etc.... read the story
Multiplication is Better
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it:" Gen 1:28
Four things. Simple, yet profoundly important for succeeding in business. Rule number one was to be fruitful. Create something of excellence, worthy of duplication. Create something others would want. The better you are at step one, the more important step two becomes.... read the story
Vision Forecasting
It's a scenario many of us have experienced at one time or another. Someone doesn't do what you expected them to do, and their reply is, "Well, I didn't know you wanted me to do that. You never told me."... read the story
Be Fruitful First - Then Multiply
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it:" Gen 1:28... read the story