Robert Pooley

Thoughts from Day 2: Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit

I did not take my laptop during the first day of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit... so to see some of my thoughts or notes... check my twitter feed  www.twitter.com/@robertpooley 

Here are my thoughts from Day 2... hope they are a blessing.

Mama Maggie Gobran -

Silence is the key… Silence your body to listen to your words…silence your words to listen to your thoughts... silence your thoughts to listen to your heart beating… and silence your heart to listen to your spirit…. silence your spirit to listen to His Spirit.

Dr. Henry Cloud

3 Categories of people that leaders work with all the time.

Truth - Reality

What does a person do when truth comes to them?  What is reality really, and how do we make that workable and engageable in the reality we are living in?  

Not everybody is the same… therefore you can't deal with everyone the same.

Wise                                                         Fools                                                Evil

Wise - When the light comes to them… they adjust themselves to match the light.  Correct a wise person and they will become wiser still.  We adjust ourselves to the truth.     Truth ----> Change.   When you correct a wise person… they thank you.   Strategy for leading a wise person - you coach them, you lead them, you resource them.  Make sure they are match for where they are serving.  Give them good feedback and coaching and you challenge them appropriately.

Fools - a fool maybe actually the brightest, most gifted person at the table.   But with a fool… when the light shows up… they try to adjust the light… they try to dim it… They try to change the truth…. they minimize it.    Or they shoot the messenger… if you would just do this…    They deny the reality.     They are not happy to hear the reality… and they get angry… and they work with others and get support.   The problem is… they don't own the problem.   With the wise person you talk to them… but with the fool, the bible says do not correct a fool, lest you pull insults on yourself.    Strategy - Stop talking.  Because they have stopped your vision… your plan.   (Instead you point out the problem… i don't know how to give you feedback that makes any difference…. and i have to protect the vision… and i have to protect the culture of the team.  So we are going to stop talking about the issues and we are going to talk about something else.   So, what i want to know is how do i talk to you in a way, that what I say to you makes a difference?  Why is it hard for you?  Why is it that what I say does not make a difference.  So how do I give you feedback that works…    Then, OK, what will we do, if we do it differently and it still doesn't work… what will the consequences be then?  Do we need to give you a chance to be successful somewhere else?  The leadership challenge here is to limit your exposure, make clear the consequences, give them choices… and then follow through.

Evil - The have destruction in their hearts… they want to inflict pain.  The bible says reject a divisive person after a second warning.  Most leaders have trouble believing that there are people like this…  Evil people will try to bring the whole thing down.

Take the leadership challenge to not let somebody else's leadership problem stop the vision that God is calling you to…

John Dickson - Author of Humilitas: The lost key to life, love and leadership

Humility is defined as the ability to hold one's power for the good of others and not personal gain.

5 reasons for cultivating humility in your personal life and public dealings.

1)  Humility is common sense.  No one is an expert at everything. Expertise in one area counts for very little in another.  Just because you know a lot about one field, does not mean that you can bring that to another field.  The expert must know that what they don't know far exceeds what they do know…  

2)  Humility is beautiful.  We are more attracted to the great who are humble, than to those who are great and want us to know it. Mark 10:43  Jesus created a humility revolution.  The cross is the example that greatness exists in willing sacrifice.  Philippians 2:3-8  The attitude of Christ - He made Himself nothing… He humbled himself.  We don't like people who pretend to be humble… but those who actually are humble… our world has been shaped by the cross of Christ. 

3)  Humility is generative.  It generates new knowledge… energy…  The proud will walk away from something with nothing, but the person who is humble and has a heart to learn will walk away full.  Humble people watch more closely and listen more careful than others.  The humble heart is open to growth.  A humble heart can learn from criticism.  

4)  Humility is persuasive.  Aristitotle   3 parts of persuasion… logos pathos and ethos….  ethos is the character of the persuader… it is the most powerful part of persuasion. We are drawn to the humble teacher… leader.  The most believable person is the person you know who has your best interest at heart.

5)  Humility is inspiring.  Humility, recognizing the gifts in others…   When leaders appear aloof and unapproachable, we admire them but do not want to emulate them… but when they are approachable… we are inspired and want to emulate them.

Humility is not just another leadership technique… it is the reality of the cross in our life.  The crucified life, the life shaped by the cross is a life shaped by reality.  

Patrick Lencioni

3 Fears that keep us from being vulnerable

1) The fear of losing the business… or the fear of rejection.   Christ experienced rejection.  So… enter the danger.  Comes from the world of improvisational theater.  The best improv comes from walking right into the middle of the wildest comments. Are we willing to say things people don't want to hear?  Speak the truth… sometimes we portray terminal niceness because we don't want to be rejected… Tell them the kind truth.

2) The fear of being embarrassed  We have to do things at times that could embarrass us.  Like when we ware in school and afraid to ask questions because we didn't want to be embarrassed.  When people know you are more interested in helping them than you are in managing your own image… they listen to you.  Celebrate your mistakes…  We all mess up.  People say, don't admit your mistakes…  No… celebrate them… learn from them.  It makes us human.

3) The fear of feeling inferior.  Show people that you are willing to do what you are asking them to do…  Chik Fila  Second mile service…  A genuine desire to serve others.   Jesus didn't allow the fear of feeling inferior to keep him from washing the disciples feet.  

Being vulnerable is attractive… it builds trust… its powerful… but its not easy.  And we are called to do it.

Erwin McManus

Chasing Daylight

We need a mind shift… a reformation of our mindset.  

Eccl. 1  Meaningless, meaningless… all things are wearisome… there is nothing new under the sun… no one remembers the former generations…      Do we just accept this?  There is nothing new under the sun?  Solomon speaking out of his discouragement.   There were lots of new things…  God walking among us…. 

Isa 43:18  God says, "I am doing a new thing… but will you be aware of it."  We have an oppressive world view that says there is nothing new under the sun.   Both are right… when you live your life outside of a relationship with Christ… then life is monotony… routine… nothing new… but a life in relationship with Christ is full of wonder, potential, possibility.  We are created in the likeness of God… but when we live outside of God we are a part of the created order… living like the animals… but a relationship in God makes us a part of the creative order… Huge distinction.    

God saved the world through Noah… but sometimes we struggle with the idea that Noah saved the world…  Noah heard from God and responded.

What is the future?  What is after the post modern world?  Whatever we choose.  We should create a world that reflects the person of God.    We need to become the stewards of human potential.  Acts 7 Stephen talks about Moses.  

Most of us die ordinary… the extraordinary nature of God dead in us….  The church needs to be the epicenter of human creativity… we need to cultivate the extraordinary nature of God in people.  

God brings out the extraordinary in us…  The church can be the agent to deliver people from the ordinary.. we can set the human spirit free.

If we do something beautiful… if we do something better than everyone else…. the world will wonder where that came from… 

The church needs to be the epicenter of human creativity!

We need to be the narrators of the human story…

Its not hard to lead people to Jesus when you tell them story which they can see themselves in…  

New Series starting August 7th

 

New Series starts this Sunday at Coast Community Church.  For info on Coast, check here.

Grow Day Three - Evening Session

These are my notes from the evening session of day three of the Grow Conference.

Chris Hodges

3 Points - What i would do to implement this stuff

1) Clarify a measurable win…   For Highlands its people joining the Dream Team… because they have been through the Journey and are now serving with their gifts and talents…  What is the win?  What are we measuring?

Questions:  What are we doing that we should stop doing?  What are we not doing that we should be doing?

Wins - when visitors and salvations happen on the weekends… when a significant part of our people are in a small group…  when people are going through the growth track 

Does everyone on your team know about it? Does everyone agree with it?

2) Measure your effectiveness.  

• Collect the data - NCD survey available at www.churchsmart.com  Count everything Count baptisms count people in growth track etc
•  Evaluate  results - Give calendar time to evaluate stuff - Notice the trends
• Be sure to celebrate the wins.
• Confront the facts

10 things we count

1. Attendance - weekend
2. Visitors - people who turn in a connection card
3. Salvations 
4. Baptisms
5. Small Groups - leaders, number of small groups, attendance
6. Growth Track - Finding out if people go all the way through
7. Dream Team - The people who are serving… Every member a minister
8. Giving
9. Recurring Expenses
10. Staff Budget

3) Get Better - Do what you are doing better.  Question:  How can we do what we do better?  Chik Fila - If we get better, our customers will demand we get bigger.  If we don't get better we will become critics of those who are…

Principles that will help you get better

• Grow yourself 

12 Dashboards - here's what I am going to do to help myself get beth

1. Faith
2. marriage
3. Family
4. office life - right amount of time, not enough
5. Computer life
6. Ministry life
7. Financial life
8. Social life
9. Attitude
10. Writing life
11. Speaking
12. Your physical life

Great book - Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro

• Learn from proven models -

Every dept. head or staff member has to know three churches and people who are doing things better than they do

• Focus on a few key areas

When in doubt - Make Sunday's great!!  Children's, Music, and Message

• Make the tough call

• Work on it every day…  its a process, not an event  Clarification - evaluation -Get better

 

Grow Conference Day three - morning session

Chris Hodges

Culture

Don't underestimate what your environment feels like.  

The word (seed) has to be planted in good ground… we have to create the right environment.  One of the jobs of the Senior Pastor is to protect and enrich the culture…   

Life-giving - We need to have a life-giving culture. 

How to create a life-giving Culture

Mark 4:26-29  All by itself…. the soil produces grain… (not the seed)

Do we know what our soil is like?  Farmers look at the soil.  

Christian Schwartz - Natural Church Development survey

8 Qualities that all healthy churches possess

Whatever is the lowest on your survey… is the lowest slat of the bucket…  and that is where your water is running out… work on that one slat.   

Great leaders lead meetings with questions… not statements...

1) Empowered leaders - Are we empowering leaders?

Leaders of life-giving churches do not try to become all powerful… but they believe its the believers that should be empowered.

Action Steps:  Encourage Free Market thinking.    Allow people to challenge the process.   Create an atmosphere of encouragement.  Give public shout outs! Public commendations… shout out in the halls…  make people the big deal.

2) Gift oriented ministry - Are we allowing people to serve in the area of their gifts and passions?  Do away with volunteerism… let people get involved in the area they are passionate in…  Design reveals destiny…  Equip people for ministry.  Leaders need to build teams.  

3) Passionate Spirituality - Are we passionately in love with Jesus and the church?  Psalm 27… I love you God and I love your house.  Be a presence driven church…  People are looking for the presence of God.  Cultivate the anointing.  Prayer and fasting. We need to teach our people to use the spiritual disciplines.

4) Functional structures - Are we creating life-giving structures that work?  

Is it easy?  Is it obvious?  Is it strategic?

Eliminate events that aren't serving your purpose.  

5) Inspiring worship - Are we creating experiences that are inspiring?  What the people call inspiring is different than what we think it is…  For it to be inspiring it has to be fun…  Are our services fun?  Create experiences… laugh more… Enjoy yourself.  Ice cream…  Focus on excellence…. Excellence creates comfort.  Do fewer things extremely well.  How can we do what we do better?  How can we make things more comfortable.  Be generous… give everything away… 

6) Holistic small groups - Are we building real community?   Transparency, accountability, etc happens there

7)  Need oriented evangelism - Are we really focused on others?  Have we created something that allows the lost to be found… the broken to be healed?  Keep the lost as the main focus of your attention.  Stay in touch with why lost people aren't coming to church?  Make an environment that helps them to come…  Be careful of boring services… 

You must have excellent presence filled worship… and you have to take care of kids...

8)  Loving relationships - Are we in love with people?  Healthy churches display a much higher love quotient than dying church.  Make yourself available to people…  how many people did you touch?  How many necks did you hug?  Be available.  Tell stories.  Do everything as a team?  Grab people to help you make decisions.

Grow Conference Day two main session

Day Two Main session

Chris Hodges

Success is moving people from where they are to where God wants them to be… Process Weekend Services - Small Groups - Growth Track - Dream Team

87% in a recent survey of churches did not have a clue what their spiritual gifts are… so they are not functioning in them. Churches have put the whole emphasis on pastors and leaders… not on the people who serve through their giftings… this is the wrong approach. When you have people who know their spiritual gifts and are actually functioning in them… people find fulfillment. The best way to help people out of their problems is not removing their problems but helping them find a purpose bigger than their problems… The apostle Paul was a great example of that. People WANT to come out of Egypt… they are not happy… Paul says i have my eyes fixed, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen… Help people move toward their God given purpose. That is the process…and our job as pastors is to move people through the process.

3 Principles that produce momentum

Numbers 3:17 3:36:37   The Merarites - posts   The Gershonites - tent itself   Koathites - the furniture… These are the three parts

The posts - Solid Structure  

The tent - Systems

The furniture - The spiritual stuff

 A) You have to have a solid structure The posts of the tent… if you don't have posts, your tent is on the ground.

    1) Clear vision and values - people need to know what the vision and values are… Ministry comes from the overflow of our relationship with God.

2) Scriptural church government

3) Solid financial principles - Integrity of leadership, Margin Prov. 21:20, A budget is 90% of the previous year's income, Strategic Generosity, Strict ceilings in the budget 35% ceiling from salaries, 35% ceiling on facilities

4) Building and maintaining a great team - Developing leaders

 

B) You have to have functional systems that work The tent Systems deliver the vision… it is the organizations tool to get things done. In too many churches there is a disconnect between what the vision is and what people do. E-myth Great products don't make a great company… but the systems have to be good. McDonalds… not the best hamburger in the world… but their systems make them the best. There systems are the same in Birmingham as they are in Moscow… Good systems… The church needs to be the same way…

1) Strategic weekend services Intentional teaching

2) Healthy Small Groups - Free Market Small groups Iron sharpens iron - discipleship happens You pastor people here

3) A clearly defined Growth track - 4 consecutive Sundays that will change your life

4) A dream team of volunteers

 

C) God's Spirit - The presence of God - The furniture of the tent

1) A focus on the Word of God… not just taught, but getting people reading their bible

2) A focus on worship - The pastor needs to be the best worshipper in the church lead the worship

3) A focus on prayer - 2 times a year 21 days of prayer Prayer produces momentum Enlist intercessors Hezekiah sought the Lord and everything he did succeeded

4) A focus on the Holy Spirit 

Grow Conference First Session

Here are the notes from the first session of the Grow Conference at Church of the Highlands... 

Chris Hodges

 

Redefining Success,,, the process of helping people move from where they are to where they need to be…

Think Process… not programs… its a journey, not an event

Where are people…. where do they want to be… how do we get them there?

Luke 22:7-20   Exodus 6:6,7  The four I wills  The cup of sanctification  The Cup of deliverance  They were out of Egypt but Egypt was still in them

The cup of redemption  The cup of praise   Redeem - Put something back to their original intent     Praise - Hallel  clamorously foolish

Andy Stanley - Systems have to go through three tests    1- Easy  everybody can do it  2- Obvious Everyone knows about it  3- Strategic It works

Four steps of the journey

1- To bring them out  Winning lost people..  creating environments where lost people will come…  weekend services  Its not about us…  Jesus is actively looking for the lost..  Hassle free, non goofy powerful experiences…  Go for the lost…

Weekend experiences  should be a 1) Celebration  should be a party  2) Inspiration  We need the presence of God… we are toast if God doesn't show up 

1 Cor 14:24,25   3) Preparation… does the weekend experience pass the who cares test?  4) Salvation… people always gets a chance to respond…

Teach every member to accept the personal responsibility…  Build a personal relationship  Share your personal story…  Give a personal invitation… if you aren't comfortable trying to lead them to Christ… then bring them to church…  Will you come to the church this Sunday… we will meet at the cafe and sit together

2- Set them free -  the confrontational part of the journey  Get egypt out of them…  the best way to do that is in the safety of a small group… where you are with people where you are building a relationship…  Small groups…  Its the cup of deliverance   4 aspects of a persons life… the arena… i know, you know… how you doing…  fine and you?  The mask  I know but you don't know   We all have masks… does it ever come off?  If you don't have someone who knows, you are in trouble…  Third aspect is the blind spot… i don't know, but you know… i don't see it….  The potential  I don't know and you don't know… God knows…    Church (the weekend experience) does only the first one…. but small groups do the last three…  1 john 1:9   James 5:16  God uses people for us to find healing

3- We are going to restore them back to their original intent… we are going to redeem them…  The tool is our growth track  We help people identify their potential… we believe that God always had that redemptive purpose for people's life…  Every thing we need is in our church… we just have to get people back to their redemptive purpose…  we don't recruit… we discover… its a liberating, life-giving process  We believe that design reveals destiny… if you look at how a person is made it reveals what they are supposed to be doing…   Psalm 139  - we are fearfully and wonderfully made… he designed us

4- The cup of praise  We enable them to live their dream… we are going to create empowering environments where people can live out their dreams… The system is the dream team… the servants where people are using their gifts and talents…  

Its a journey… a process!

What are you reading?

What are you currently reading?  Right now I am reading a group of diversely different books... Here is my current book list that I am reading. (BTW, the Bible is a given.)

1)  Face to Face with God: The Ultimate Quest to experience His presence  by Bill Johnson.   This book is rocking my world... I have been reading a lot of stuff from Bethel lately... they have such a sustained culture of going after God. And Bill will make you think.  I recently finished Bill's book, "Dreaming with God"  and Danny Silk's book, "Culture of Honor."  I am seeing that these are books that will be on my list to read not only once, but multiple times.  

2) Weird by Craig Groeschel.  Craig just has a way of looking at things that intrigue me... indeed we are not called to be normal. Because God's ways are higher than the ways of the world around us... when we start living in God's way, our life becomes weird to the world around us.  

3)  The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter.  I have wrestled and struggled as I have watched the debate concerning whether churches should be attractional or missional.  I am part of a group who believe it is not "or" but instead it is "and."  I am trying to read and grow and stretch my thinking... and Hugh has a way of doing that to me.

4)  Pearls of the King: Keys to God's Sustained Blessing by Lee Domingue.  I had a chance to meet Lee earlier this year... and he gave me a copy of his book.  It is well written and well thought out.  God wants us to walk in his blessing so that we can be a blessing.

5) Jesus Culture: Living a Life that Transforms the World by Banning Liebscher.  Another book from one of the Bethel folks.  The truth is we are to be the hands and feet of Christ in this world and Banning gets that.  How do we live lives that bring the power of Christ to the world around us?  Warning:  This one will knock you out of your comfort zone.

Now having shared that... there are several other books laying around, as well as a supply of newspapers, magazines and such at any given time.  I really do believe that "Reader's are leaders."  What are you currently reading that you would recommend?

New Tech stuff I am enjoying

I thought I would post a couple of things of I am enjoying tech wise...  I am traditionally not an early adopter, so for some of you this will be nothing new... but others of you will enjoy this...

Spotify... a very cool new music tool.  You can have your music playlists, and even the playlists of your friends available on your devices...  very cool.  

Free Spotify accounts are by invitation only through Klout … but I have good news.  I’ve got a special link to get you in.  (Get a Klout and Spotify Account Here!)

Dropbox... drop box is a tool you can use when you want to transfer info from your computer to another computer or device... its really easy and free.  If you sign up for drop box please use this link as I get more storage space when you do.  Click here

Google+  Its taking a little bit of an adjustment... but I am digging it so far... It is still in development phase but I have a limited # of invites if you are interested. Let me know and leave me your email address.

If you run across any that you think might be great to find let me know...

Pearl Harbor Mistakes

This will bless you today... my friend Keith Shealy sent me this...

You will be blessed by the profound insight that *Admiral Chester Nimitz* had into the "Mistakes" the Japanese made when they bombed Pearl Harbor. If you go there today tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes. If you go to into the small gift shop there you will find a small book entitled, *"Reflections on Pearl Harbor"* by *Admiral Chester Nimitz.* It is a must read! 
 
In the book, much to your surprise, you will read this. On Sunday, December 7th, 1941--Admiral Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone. He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair,dejection and defeat--you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war. 
 
On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?" Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?" Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?" Nimitz explained. 
 
*Mistake number one:* the Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we 
would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800. 
 
*Mistake number two:* when the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow everyone of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships. 
 
*Mistake number three*: every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply. That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or God was taking care of America. 
 
Admiral Nimitz was able to see God's hand in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism. I pray that God grants you today with eyes that do not just look, but eyes that see! 
 
Keith 

Dreaming of Growth

I have never been one to really remember my dreams... I might wake up with a hint of what I was dreaming, but in just a few minutes of waking, the dreams are all washed away by the reality of my day. So when I do wake up remembering a dream, I try to really prayerfully consider it, in case God is trying to speak to me in the dream.  

Side note: If the concept of God speaking to someone in a dream sounds weird to you, consider Jacob, or Joseph in the bible, just to name a couple.

It was actually two dreams...  In both dreams I was standing in the sanctuary of our church. In the first dream I was there and the walls were being knocked down...  and I was alarmed at the speed in which it was all happening.

In the second dream, there was a structure in the building that was growing so fast that it began to go through the ceiling of the building.  Again, I was alarmed by how fast it was happening... I was saying, "Its going too fast, we are going through the roof."

Vicki and I talked briefly this morning, and this is what I think the Lord is saying to me.  First of all, God has been doing something amazing at Coast.  His presence has been so real in our services, and there is a great hunger in us for God .  Our people are excited each week because God is showing up.  We have seen people healed and God working miraculously in people's lives.  The stories that we are hearing are the type that can only happen when God shows up on the scene.  

1st Corinthians 3:7 tells us clearly that it is God who gives the increase. I believe God is definitely doing something fresh at Coast.

Also, we have recently began to work with Church of the Highlands as part of their Grow Initiative.  They are working with a select group of churches to help them grow. The first goal is to break the "1000 in attendance" barrier.  Church of the Highlands is one of the largest churches in the United States and has been, at one time, the fastest growing church in the United States.

Quick growth can be exciting, but also a little unnerving.  In our building we are already in two services.  Adding a service always has challenges... and if you are adding them quickly it can be fun and frightening at the same time.

I believe in the first dream, the significance of the walls bursting out, is that God is going to cause us to grow through our reaching out to our community. Our people will literally be going out to get others to bring them in. I believe that our Coast family, excited about the presence of God in our services, will not be able to contain their excitement as they talk to the people around them about what God is doing.  We have always had outreach, but there are times when outreach reaches a critical mass and the growth is explosive even from just word of mouth.

In the second dream, we bust through the ceiling.  We have felt for some time that there is a ceiling, a barrier that we have been hitting.  It is one of the reasons we looked outside of our church for wisdom and counsel. Church of the Highlands is known for doing things right.  Their systems and structures are amazing, and we are learning a lot from them. I believe in this second dream, the systems and structures we are building into Coast will facilitate and help sustain growth so that  we will bust through the ceiling, or barrier we have been experiencing.  And it will be almost alarming because of how fast it happens.

Growth involves change... and change involves a lot of work. I am excited to see what God is going to do.

So those are my two dreams... your thoughts?