28 great thoughts on listening

28 great thoughts on listening

  • Posted on January 27, 2017
  • /Under Listening
Jerold Panas is CEO of one of the nation’s premier campaign services and financial resource development firms, and recently wrote that listening is “the single most powerful ammunition in your arsenal of fundraising, marketing and selling skills. Best of all, it’s a talent that can be learned and acquired.” Q Place is jazzed by Panas’ insightful thoughts about listening and hope that they also will inspire you: It often shows an extraordinary command of the language to say nothing. There is no greater compliment to a person than demonstrating a keen interest in them. You do this by listening intently. We are...Read more …
On the Radio – Walk the Way

On the Radio – Walk the Way

  • Posted on January 25, 2017
  • /Under Listening
This is Walk the Way. Brought to you by Q Place. I’m Jeff Klein. And I’m Pam Klein. I could not believe all the honking in front of my house the other day! That’s when I saw two cars, nose to nose, with traffic backed up behind both of them. It was school pick-up time – the time when our already narrow street gets even narrower as parents park their cars and walk up to meet their kids. Plus, there was snow on the ground, narrowing it even more. So I went outside. I wanted to negotiate a settlement. I...Read more …
What can Lewis & Clark teach us about evangelism?

What can Lewis & Clark teach us about evangelism?

Shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his friend, Second Lieutenant William Clark, to cross what is now the western portion of the United States. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was charged with a few primary objectives: Explore and map the newly acquired territory, assess the new land’s commercial possibilities, and find a practical route across the western half of the continent that would provide easy access to the Pacific Ocean. The Expedition...Read more …
How is your world changing?

How is your world changing?

I pondered this question myself when I crossed over into the New Year—and, shortly after, celebrated another birthday. When I grew up, phones had spirally cords, we typed on typewriters, and music played on a vinyl disc called a record or on some kind of plastic tape. News came through newspapers or, in the evening, from one of our five television channels—channels that, sure, I “surfed” through, but in much more of the way an actual surfer would: by standing up! Yes, it was tough, but I did it. I would get up, stay standing, cross the room and manually switch...Read more …
On the Radio – Walk the Way

On the Radio – Walk the Way

  • Posted on January 18, 2017
  • /Under Praying
This is Walk the Way. Brought to you by Q Place. I’m Jeff Klein. And I’m Pam Klein. This fall, Jeff and I decided we had to finish re-siding our garage before the bitter winter would hit Chicago. Our boys had made a valiant effort over the summer, but it was time to get the rest of it done. Between cleaning the interior, pulling the old siding off the last side and removing an old window, it was a family effort. Was everything perfect? Could some professional contractor have done it better? Maybe. But it was good—on so many levels—to...Read more …
What one thing matters most in evangelism?

What one thing matters most in evangelism?

  • Posted on January 16, 2017
  • /Under Praying
American ingenuity and its accompanying, vigorous spirit of entrepreneurialism are both very empowering notions. But it’s interesting when the church—or the Christian—attempts to apply some of these same clear business principles to our ministry, missional, and evangelism efforts. Although there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with working hard, setting goals, and strategizing to systematically achieve even our spiritual goals, functioning this way can cause us to think we have a measure of control that we actually don’t. We exist in what appears to be a somewhat manageable and apparent visible world, but we need to look again. Our mistakes Priscilla Shirer writes this...Read more …
The incredible beauty of noticing

The incredible beauty of noticing

  • Posted on January 13, 2017
  • /Under Noticing
One morning Majora Carter went out for her daily run across the South Bronx in New York City. The backdrop? Dumpsites. One after another. Maybe it was the smell of all that good, decaying refuse that made Majora’s dog pull her toward the Bronx River. Most likely it was. Nonetheless, before she knew it, she was walking gingerly behind her dog who was leading her—straining and sniffing forward—through weeds and scattered piles of garbage. The two ended up near the river’s shore, right at the site of a massive city dump. When Majora finally looked up, she saw it: Garbage upon more garbage,...Read more …
On the Radio – Walk the Way

On the Radio – Walk the Way

  • Posted on January 11, 2017
  • /Under Noticing
This is Walk the Way. I’m Jeff Klein. No one wants me doing our household’s big food shopping, but I do stop at the market pretty often to pick up this or that on my way home from work. On one of those recent errands, as I parked my car, I noticed the roof rack of the car next to mine was packed full of stuff. So was its back seat. Then I realized that the car was still running. There was a lady at the wheel, surrounded by more stuff, eating what appeared to be her dinner. Did God...Read more …
THIS is the new, needed perspective on evangelism

THIS is the new, needed perspective on evangelism

It’s just hard to deny. We like the big stuff! The grandiose Olympic opening ceremony; the glamorous, opulent wedding of our favorite royal or celebrity; the nail-biting, Game 7, Cubs-clinching 2016 MLB World Series. (Okay. Let’s face it. That was fantastic!) We eat it up. BIG! And, we carry this perspective into our thoughts about evangelism. We like the big outreach event, the dramatic conversion, the closing deal with the all-important sinner’s prayer. The little stuff? It just doesn’t seem to matter as much to us. However, in order to share the good news about Jesus intentionally today, we need to...Read more …
One word for the New Year

One word for the New Year

I ran in the rain at noon on New Years Day. This marks my 7th #run in 7 days. I have never exercised in any capacity 7 days in a row. Now I feel lots of pressure, like I do every New Years Day: Run every day for a month! Run every day for a year! Write every day! Never yell again! Never cheat on gluten and dairy! Call gramma every week! There are so many ways I could improve my body, mind, spirit, and relationships. I hope this year I’ll practice “gentle” discipline in all these areas. Allowing that...Read more …
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