Wayne Hedlund

Category: GENERAL

  • Skype Tips

    Skype LogoI use Skype several times a week to communicate with the various pastors/leaders I provide ongoing coaching to. Once we work out the logistics it is almost always a great way to meet together without the expense and extra time necessary for travel, food and lodging. I highly recommend it. In fact, in the past year I have successfully utilized Skype not only for 1 on 1 coaching, but also for team coaching (2-10 individuals) and workshops for as many as 15 people.

    That said, I’ve also discovered a few things that new Skype users should consider and look into before setting up Skype appointments. Feel free to email me with any further questions you may have.

    Skype Tips:

    • Make sure you have the latest version of Skype.
      This is important. Skype works hard at fixing call difficulties with every upgrade. If you’re running an older version of Skype, you risk having more difficulties during your call. To check your version, select Help/Check for Update.
    • If possible, don’t use a laptop webcam.
      Laptop webcam’s are traditionally difficult to use for a myriad of reasons. The main reason I don’t recommend laptop webcam’s is the mobility issue. It can be difficult to get your image centered properly for the other skype caller as well as have the picture on the screen where you want it so you can see well. Also, often the microphone on laptop’s can be difficult to work with and will sometimes create feedback for the other user.Webcams are pretty cheap now ($30-$50) and it’s well worth the cost for even just a couple of Skype calls. Your standard webcam will come bundled with a microphone so you’re getting a quality upgrade for both audio and video at the same time.
    • Check Audio/Video settings before your Skype call.
      Go into Tools/Options before each Skype session and ensure your Audio Settings and Video Settings are set to the right webcam.
    • Make sure your computer isn’t doing stuff or using the internet during your call.
      Often, the reason a Skype call is interrupted is because your computer is trying to use the internet or doing other tasks in the background. Make sure these background tasks have been paused during the call. For example, I have both Dropbox and Carbonite backup on my computer. I make sure they are both either paused or closed so they don’t try to sync during the Skype call. Common background tasks to look for include virus scans, Microsoft Security Essentials scans, security update downloads, online backups, and synchronization services like Dropbox, Outlook sync, etc.Finally, close unnecessary programs and browser windows during your phone call. I use Microsoft Outlook a lot and will often close it down during the call so it doesn’t start looking for mail and downloading attachments during the call – taking up internet bandwidth and computer capacity.
    • If possible, don’t use wireless internet during the call.
      You won’t always have this as an option, but if it’s easy to plug in a wired internet connection during your Skype call, do so. 
    • Check your internet plan.
      If you consistently have problems with Skype calls it could be that your internet plan with your service provider needs to be upgraded. Call your Internet provider and find out what your upload/download speeds are and ensure they are fast enough for video calls.
    • If you have echo problems, check the speaker settings.
      Sometimes I’ll experience a problem with echo’s, where I can hear myself through the other user’s speakers or they can hear themselves through my speakers. Often, this is because there are several options for speakers and you must select the appropriate one for Skype to work. For instance, if you have laptop speakers but are also using separate speakers plugged into your laptop or connected to an external monitor. In these scenario’s go into Tools/Options and check Speakers in the Audio Settings.Also, sound problems can be dealt with by ensuring you are in a quiet location. Additionally, the closer your microphone is to your mouth and the further your microphone is from the speakers the better.
    • Spend the first two minutes of your call checking voice/video.
      When you first start the call, ask your caller if the can hear you and see you well. Check the quality on your end as well. If there are problems, check some of your settings on each end. You may want to quickly exchange phone numbers if there seems to be difficulties so you can call each other if the call gets dropped. On occasion, call problems can be fixed by dropping the call and making the call again.
    • Check out the short troubleshooting video’s on the Skype website.
      Skype is committed to helping it’s customers have a positive experience. Check out this page on their website to see if you can learn other tips to ensure your Skype calls work well.
    Hope that helps. Happy Skyping!

     

  • Back To Church Rap

    Check out this totally awesome Rap promoting “Back To Church Sunday”. Awesome.

    Learn more about Back To Church Sunday and all of their available resources at their website: www.backtochurch.com.

     

  • Tactical Tip: Backup Your Files!

    You’ve heard the horror stories – maybe you even have one of your own. A computer crashes and everything stored on it gets wiped out. Lost forever. In fact, this story rings true for me very recently. This past year my laptop hard-drive got corrupted and by the time I got things up and running again I discovered that my whole hard drive had been wiped clean. Thankfully, the only stress I carried was the loss of time and energy – I had a solid backup of everything.

    I have a very easy, cheap suggestion for you to backup your files. And once you’ve set it up, you’ll never think about it (unless you need it). Before I share my solution for you, I thought you might appreciate this fairly relevant and humorous clip about a time when Pixar almost lost ‘Woody’ during the creation of their hit movie “Toy Story”.

    If you can’t see this video, try clicking this link.
    Trust me. You don’t want to be caught in this scenario. I’ve discovered a great solution, but it’ll cost you $59/year. That said, the peace of mind you will receive at that cost is well worth it. I’ve successfully restored all of my files this past year alone. I’ve also been able to grab files I accidentally deleted. Even better, there have been a couple occasions when I needed to get a copy of a file from a couple ‘versions’ back – this solution even took care of that!
     
    If you balk at the cost, just consider how much time you have spent pulling together the various files you have on that computer. How much would it be worth to you to keep them safe?
     
    It’s very simple. You install a program that runs in your computer in the background all the time. You select the files you want backed up – there’s no space limit. It automatically keeps your files backed up all the time.
     
    Here’s the solution – I recommend you look into it today (Note: I’m endorsing this company solely because I believe in them, not for any personal gain). Go ahead – give it a try (click the below image).
     

    Image compliments of David Castillo Dominici on freedigitalphotos.net.

  • Turn the Volume UP!

     

    Have you ever had anyone threaten to leave the church because the volume was too LOW during worship? Believe it or not, I have. It only happened a couple of times and certainly did not compare with how many complained it was too loud. To this day, I can tell you who in our church wishes we would turn the volume up . . . and no, they aren’t deaf!

    Last week I wrote the article ‘Turn the Volume DOWN!‘ Today I would like to similarly share some reasons why people may want the volume turned UP in your Sunday services. You might experience slight deja vu.

    • It’s too quiet. (there is no energy in the room)
      Stating the obvious is always a great way to begin. The Master Volume needs to be turned up and the instruments should be remixed to the new level. When worship is too quiet it can make for a boring worship experience. I’ve been to many churches who mix their worship too quiet. I suppose it appeases a few key leaders (or the pastor), but it also puts a major damper on worship – especially for the younger generations.

    As a general rule of thumb, if I can hold a conversation with the person next to me during worship without leaning in and raising my voice to be heard, the sound is probably too soft.

    • Bad mix. (low energy in the room or we can’t hear the worship leader)
      Many times the problem isn’t volume. It’s a bad mix. The instruments are too loud and are drowning out the worship leader; or the keyboard and worship leader is mixed well but everything else is just a low hum in the background; or the drums are drowning everything so all people hear is just enough worship leader and primary instrument to be able to sing. Probably most common is when the kick bass (the deep booming sound from the drums) is turned way down. This can really squash energy in the room and may even make the difference between whether or not people ‘clap’ or not during high energy songs.
    • Hearing loss.
      Another reason why people might want the sound turned up is because they are simply half-deaf and don’t know it. I’m not joking. Unfortunately, it’s quite common for people to have hearing impairment AND to not know it. According to these statistics, people with hearing loss wait on the average of 7 years before seeking help. I better go get my ears checked.
    • Differing opinions.
      Read this same paragraph in my post ‘Turn the Volume Down!‘ That about sums it up! Everyone has different opinions on how loud they like to hear music as well as what the overall mix sounds like. The key is to determine who will be the primary driver for volume/mix (that is, who will represent the values/goals of your church best) and let that individual call the shots. Just a side note – assuming you have a passion to reach the younger generations, I recommend you err on the side of a more aggressive/loud mix than not. I’m not suggesting you drive everyone else out – but that you actively seek to find that balance.
    • Bad equipment or acoustics.
      Your equipment, speaker placement and room acoustics will make a big difference. Often, churches struggle with hot and quiet spots in the room. It’ll be loud in one area and too quiet in others. My church has this issue. I’ve used this fact to my advantage by encouraging those who tend to like it louder or quieter to sit in certain areas. It’s one reason why the young people like to sit near the front. They get both the speakers in the room as well as the stage noise coming off of people’s stage monitors. It’s also usually where the sub-woofers (where all the bass and lows come out making your body vibrate) are located.
    I will continue this short series of posts about volume in an upcoming article giving some general advice on how your church might better ensure your worship service has the best possible mix/volume to encourage maximum participation from your worshipers. Stay tuned!

    photo credit: ckaiserca via photo pin cc

  • Feedback, The Breakfast of Champions

     

    I definitely don’t have the stomach to be a boxing champion. I’m not talking about my amazing abs of steel (stop laughing and keep reading). I’m talking about the diet some athletes insist on for breakfast. RAW EGGS. Evidently, eggs lose a lot of their nutritional value when cooked. Setting aside the obvious health risks, I just don’t think I could do it. Putting a cold, slimy, egg down my throat would probably make me gag, perhaps throw up.

    Unfortunately, many church leaders feel the same about a critical ingredient for a thriving church and growing leaders. Ken Blanchard once said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” And like raw eggs, feedback can be tough to swallow. I would like to suggest that getting great feedback can be a big key. 

    Why Feedback is Tough to Swallow
    This isn’t an exhaustive list, but here are a few reasons why we prefer our eggs cooked rather than raw.

    • People Can Be Rude.
      You know what I mean. Sometimes people will give you feedback and by the time they are done you feel like a squashed bug. Who wants that?
    • People Don’t Get It.
      Many times, when people share feedback they don’t have the bigger picture in mind. This can sometimes make their input seem irrelevant. What’s the point?
    • People Won’t Tell The Truth
      We know there are things we are doing that could use some adjusting, but we don’t know what they are (they aren’t called ‘blind spots’ for nothing). The problem is, nobody wants to tell us either. They know that raw eggs are yucky and really don’t want to be the ones feeding them to you!
    • We Don’t Want People To Think About It.
      We don’t want to ask people to focus on the negatives. It seems like we will just get them into the habit of criticizing things – in fact, we might sort of be ‘authorizing’ them to do so. Who wants yet another self-proclaimed critic?
    • It’s Emotional.
      It can be very draining to receive feedback. Even when the feedback is helpful, it usually requires some self-evaluation, internal arguments, and eventually a commitment to do things different – which also means more work. Ugh. 
    • The Truth Can Hurt.
      Just because the Bible says, ‘The truth will set you free’, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Often it’s painful and difficult walking through the valley between ‘truth’ and ‘free’. 
    • We Are Too Overwhelmed.
      Feedback usually results in more work. Since we already have several stacks of ‘things to do’ on our desks, there doesn’t seem much of a point to add to the stack.
    • We Think We Are Doing Great.
      Sometimes we don’t look for feedback because we are ‘blind’ to our need for it. Again, just read the post mentioned above. So we fail to seriously look for feedback. Why do I need people to tell me what I already know?
    • We Know We Are Doing Good.
      Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great reminds us that the reason we have ‘good’ hospitals, governments, businesses and churches is simply because we’re comfortable with ‘good enough’ and won’t pursue ‘great’. Because we are doing a ‘good’ job, there’s really no reason to rock the boat and try to do something great.

    Why We Need Feedback
    After reading the above list, no wonder we don’t pursue feedback very often! Again, referring to Jim Collin’s book, gaining and properly responding to good feedback will pave the road for us to (chapter 4) “Confront the Brutal Facts – Yet Never Lose Faith”.

    As church leaders, you understand more than most how important it is for Christians to understand the Truth of the Gospel. Paul talks quite a bit about making sure people aren’t hearing lies and distortions of the Truth. You are passionate about communicating the Truth to your congregations! You know that long-lasting change is very difficult to find without Truth being revealed first. When you equip them with what they need to know, you empower them to become who God has called them to be.

    The same holds true for your church. Until you are ‘in the know’ about every aspect of your ministry, you can’t effectively plan to improve and become all God intends for you. Example: If I were your tennis coach and I noticed that you swing the tennis racket wrong, you will probably never play in the big leagues until I share that feedback (truth) – which then empowers you to make a change.

    So why do we need feedback? Answer – to EMPOWER us to pursue meaningful, long lasting change.

    In an upcoming post I will summarize my ideas on how to ask for, receive, and utilize feedback. Stay tuned!

    Image from jsmith on istockphoto.com


    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • David Garibaldi Painting – WOW

    My sister shared this 2 minute video with me this morning, and I just had to spread the wealth. It’s from the Thrive Conference in 2011. Wow. Cool. Powerful!

     
     

  • How I Can Help Build Your Team

     “Your workshop mobilized our team to action. It was all they talked about for weeks afterwards. We’ve already implemented most of your recommended changes and are seeing great results!” 
     
    These are the very encouraging words a pastor shared with me recently about a workshop I taught for his leadership team. What I appreciated hearing him say, more than anything else, was that his team was not only equipped but they were inspired to action and saw results. One of my spiritual fathers and most recently the brand new President of Elim Bible Institute honored me with this quote about my teaching:

    “When Wayne Hedlund speaks leaders are changed. In my travels among pastors I have found repeatedly that after exposure to Wayne’s teaching on strategic planning that churches are experiencing powerful reformations. If you have a chance to hear Wayne speak or read his blog you will get the insights that you need as a leader to see your church move to that elusive ‘next level’ that we are all seeking.” Mike Cavanaugh

    I’d like to invite you to consider how I might help you and your team. I have developed several workshops which are full of practical and useful information that will help your team be a success in fulfilling your unique mission. Feel free to email or call me (585-582-2790) to discuss how we might partner together!

    Current Workshops Available

    • Strategic Planning for the Local Church
      This workshop is designed to equip your leaders in strategic planning. Strategic Planning is a broad topic. This content will specifically outline the key elements of a strategic culture, how to develop your ministry’s unique Philosophy of Ministry, and how to utilize “The Strategic Process” to work through a myriad of ministry difficulties, challenges, and new initiatives.

    This workshop is also available on DVD for $99. You can purchase it by visiting my ‘store’ page right here.

    • Ten Strategies of the Local Church
      This workshop will give you and your leaders a clear understanding of the Ten Primary Areas for which every church should develop strategies and systems. As I unpack each area, I will also share key principles & resources that will better help you strengthen each one. The Ten Strategies include: The Weekend Service Strategy, The Assimilation Strategy, The Care Strategy, The Marketing Strategy, The Small Groups Strategy, The Ministry Partner Strategy, The Stewardship Strategy, The Leadership Strategy, The Discipleship Strategy, and A Strategic Culture.
    • The Guest Friendly Workshop
      Also known as ‘The Assimilation Workshop’, this seminar will equip your team to effectively draw first time guests back again and again, until they have been ‘integrated’ into the life and ministry of your church. Topics include: Introduction to Systems, Guest Friendly Culture, Guest Friendly Impressions, Guest Friendly Greeting, Guest Friendly Weekend Service, Guest Friendly Follow-Up, Guest Friendly Next Steps, Guest Friendly Metrics.
    • Hosting Exceptional Sunday Services
      This workshop will equip you and your team to regularly and effectively host exceptional Sunday Services. I discuss the six key elements of a Sunday Service and provide valuable resources and systems that will streamline your preparation and implementation of the Sunday experience every week. Here is a testimony from a leader who heard this material and experienced almost immediate results.

    A 1-hour, condensed version of this workshop is also available for download or on CD at my online store right here.

    • Developing Great Systems Seminar
      This seminar is designed to introduce systems to your team. I discuss the difference between effective systems and ineffective systems as well as how to evaluate & develop systems that will simplify ministry, save time, and empower people to develop their gifts and skills – which will ultimately maximize your ministry potential.
    • Culture of Trust Seminar
      This seminar will strengthen your team by outlining how to develop a culture of trust together. It includes practical insights, practices, and exercises that will equip you to maximize your ministry effectiveness with a mobilized and unified team.
    • Crucial Confrontations Seminar
      This seminar is designed to give you and your team the tools to effectively communicate together as a team as well as individually. I debunk some confrontation myths, discuss why we often refuse to engage in crucial confrontations, and outline the key steps in confronting one another. I also leave room for Q&A to discuss unique and difficult confrontations.

  • Cell Phones in Church – just for fun

    Check out this funny video made to discourage cell phone use in a local church. I love it when the church gets creative and has fun like this! Enjoy.


    If you can’t see this video, try clicking on this link.

    Thanks to my mom for sending me this great link!

  • The Daily Quiet Time – just for fun

    I ran across this clip over on faithvillage.com. I loved it and just had to share it with you.

    This clip would make a great ‘commercial’ during a morning service, pre-service, post-service, wherever.

    Enjoy!

  • Tactical Tip: Return Emails Within 24 Hours

    Recently, I sent an email to a leader in my life asking a question and making a suggestion I thought he might appreciate. I didn’t hear back from him for more than two weeks. After the first couple of days I started to wonder if perhaps I didn’t actually send it, so I double-checked. A few days later I started to wonder if I had somehow offended him. Every day thereafter I discovered a pattern whereby I would battle with imagined stories in my head regarding why my friend never responded. I didn’t really want to email or bring it up again simply because I didn’t want to be a pest. Finally, I got the anticipated response. He answered my question and expressed gratitude for my suggestion, which he had already acted on. Needless to say, I put myself through a lot of emotional trauma for no reason at all. This could very easily have been prevented by my friend. 

    I’m sure we’re all guilty of this at some point or another. Our Inbox gets inundated with every sort of email imaginable. You know some emails can be deleted, many can be dealt with in just a few seconds, a handful will only take a minute or two of your time, and then there’s the rest. Those emails will require some sort of follow up, action, research, or a lengthy response. That last category of email are the ones that will sometimes sit in the Inbox for days – even weeks.

    Today’s Tactical Tip is simply to get into the habit of returning every email within 24 hours.

    This is so simple to do, it’s actually embarrassing. Obviously, we can’t control what others might think about us on the other end, but we certainly can minimize the chance that they tell the kinds of ‘stories’ I was guilty of telling myself! Here are three simple steps that will help you build this new habit into your email ridden life.

    1. Read or scan the email and determine what you need to do (and when) in order to properly respond.
    2. Place a task in your Task List or Calendar which includes a deadline on when you believe you can reasonably respond.
    3. Reply to the email author and let them know you have received their question/request and how long it will take for you to get back to them.
    Perhaps this scripted response might help:

    Jim,

    Thanks for sending me this email. I just looked it over and realize that I won’t be able to respond to you the way I really want to right away. I’d like to take some time to process and think it through. I’m also right in the middle of a couple other projects that take precedence right now. I’ll do my best to get back to you on this in about five days.

    Thanks for your patience! 

    Wayne 

    OK. You’ve officially been armed with an easy to do challenge. Get back to everyone who emails you within 24 hours. I’m confident people will be glad you do!

    Image compliments of Salvatore Vuono on freedigitalphotos.net.