Provision

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Breaking news

August 5, 2008 in Life in General | 1 comment

I just finished my follow-up visit with the orthopedic surgeon, and the news is all good.  I’m cleared to return to driving, work and and even dinking around in the airplane factory (otherwise known as the garage).  This also means I’ll be flying to Toronto in just one week, ready to participate in our Provision Ministry Group Board Retreat. 

Thanks for the thoughts and the prayers of many.  I give my surgeon, Dr. Jon White, 5 stars and am grateful for a super team of leaders at Provision who have held a steady course through my time of absence.  Above all, I’m thankful for an understanding and patient wife who helped pave my road back to health.

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Pain free!

July 31, 2008 in Life in General | 2 comments

The title of this post says it all.  As the surgeon predicted, removing the pressure on the sciatic nerve root going down my left leg brought instantaneous relief.  I’m told that the surgery went smoothly, and before I knew what was happening I was the occupant of Room 545.  I’ve been doing laps around the patient wing of the 5th floor, escorted by my ever-present IV pole, so it appears I’ll be checking out this morning.  Maybe then I can get the sleep that is so hard to get in the hospital.  Thankfully they didn’t follow the cliched script of waking the patient to give me a sleeping pill.  For me it was more about the constantly lighted room, the noises in the hall, and the blood pressure checks every three hours, thank you.

Even though I didn’t widely broadcast my surgery, a surprising number of people and groups made special time to pray, including our Provision ministry family (in chapel yesterday) and our Board of Directors by conference call.  When I add my family members as well as friends in the church and aviation community, the size of the group is humbling.  Thanks to all of you for your prayers that God heard and answered.

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Strategic Planning Fully Underway

July 2, 2008 in Provision | No comments

A key initiative this year for the Provision Executive team is to lead each of our subsidiary ministries through the process of establishing a 3-year strategic plan.  If you know anything about the genesis and development of our ministries, you may already sense that our boldest actions were more often event-driven than strategically informed.  Through God’s providence (and organizational protection, I’m sure), we have usually moved in more or less the right direction at these intersections of opportunity.  What we’ve missed is the discipline and benefit of prayerfully mapping out an intended strategic course in advance. 

Last fall Tom McGlinchey (CFO) and I took training from The Center for Simplified Strategic Planning at Michigan State University based upon an effective but streamlined approach made popular by Robert W. Bradford and J. Peter Duncan in their book “Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!”  Even though Tom and I have both completed MBAs with practical work in strategic planning, this system gave us hope that we might actually be able to guide four business units (3 subsidiaries and the parent) through the full planning process in one year and live to tell it.

While strategy snobs might pull out their copies of Michael Porter’s weighty works on business strategy and cast condescending looks in the direction of this relatively short book and simplified approach, Tom and I were actually drawn to its bright lines and tight schedule.  In the time it might take the purists to define terms and agree on a methodology, our teams will be well down the road to a completed strategy.  Clear assignments, accountability for “homework” and a doable but agressive schedule keeps this approach from languishing.

In seven days together, divided into three sessions, we will walk this road with about 25 different key leaders drawn from our various ministries in locations of their choosing.  The latest round, from which I just returned, was with Stadia: New Church Strategies as we convened for two full days in Cincinnati.  With all the groups so far, the flow of energy and ideas has been surprising.   But then again, I guess that makes sense when people are given the chance to take out a blank sheet of paper and write history in advance. 

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Lunch Bunch Launched

May 5, 2008 in Lunch Bunch | No comments

When I began with Church Development Fund in 1993, getting to know everyone was no big task.  Pull up a chair in the lunchroom, and you were instantly networked to the entire company — all 8 of us!

(L to R) Nedra McShane, Bill Broder, Ginny Ohm, Larry Winger, Brad Dupray, Lynn MacIntosh, Bob Bell, Lynn White.

Now, nearly 15 years later, keeping up with the growing team has become a task that requires more intentionality.  One company has grown to four, and that staff of seven has expanded to 106 in eleven different states. 

This weblog chronicles my attempt to pull my chair up to as many tables, in as many places, as it takes to connect with every member of the Provision Ministry Group family in the course of the coming year.  Here’s the plan.

Every week or so I’ll grab a random assortment of Provisioneers* and we’ll enjoy a meal together.  Just like on the very best cruise ships, a wandering photographer will capture the moment for posterity.  Along with those pictures, I’ll post some trivial tidbits that you would never know without reading this blog.  

BTW, no two groups will go to the same restaurants, and with the help of my lunch companions, we’ll even provide a short restaurant review with recommendations (and warnings, as needed). 

Bon appetit as together we enjoy each other’s Good Company!

 

* DEFINITION: Provisioneer (n). anyone employed by Provision or a ministry partner.

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