Thursday Three For All: Coaxing Volunteers, Digital Neighbors, and Shooting Macro
It’s Thursday, kiddies: the day when I roll out a few things I’ve been reading over the past week. Three of ‘em, to be exact. Enjoy. (Remember: click on the big bold print to read the entire article.)
The Mistakes of Coaxing Volunteers (and Fixes)
(via @briandodridge) Leaders, let’s confess it together: we are certified travel agents in guilt trips. Here’s a better way:
When’s the last time you volunteered your (unpaid) time to something or someone? Did you do it reluctantly? Or excitedly?
I speculate if you volunteered your time with any level of excitement it was because the person asking compelled you to serve. They presented it as a calling and did it in a compelling nature.
Recruiting volunteers is difficult work (that’s probably true of all volunteer recruiting efforts, but particularly in a church). But I think recruitment can be eased with a little work on the front end by the recruiters.
Who is My Digital Neighbor?
(via @ctmagazine) I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re not too nice online. Let’s do better.
In the Western world of 2018, there is a hard standoff on every (ideological) street corner: progressive versus populist, millennial versus baby boomer, religious versus secular, conservative versus liberal, globalist versus patriot, and so on. Our age, of course, is not unique in being riven by division. Humans have always debated competing ideals. Our period’s distinct accent is heard, rather, in the political discourse relied on to handle these differences.
In the present-day West, mass democracy is increasingly regarded as a game that separates winners and losers. The players are rivals in search of dominance, and the winner takes all. When it comes to politics, consensus-building and compromise seem to be things of the past. Although Christians are often critical of our era’s turn to post-truth politics, we should not ignore that the same politics are also post-neighborly.
A Macro Lens Shooting From a Moving Bullet
(via @laughingsquid) Uh. Whoa.
photo credit: Jason Mathis
