Melva Gifford

There are many ways that we can teach children and adults in today’s object lesson is geared toward teens and adults. I hope this lesson can be of use to youth ministries, family counselors, families, family devotionals, and family home evenings.

Many times we as Christians can separate business from our religious lives. And it is often a very sad thing when many of us might be very active in the gospel on Sundays, but not so much during the week. I have some examples of business people that are very religious. That might be known to treating their customers unfairly. And then there are some other examples of people that merge the values of Christianity with their business ethics. So, if we were to want to teach the principles of Christ’s gospel to our brethren and sisters, how might we do it?

One interesting way might be to compare the gospel to a business plan. You would have your Sunday school class comprised of adults or perhaps teens who are familiar with the principles of business. You presented the class a blank outline of a business plan and then to discussion and Scripture, you fill out the business plan outline by using Christian principles. Now, the following may not be in your particular discussion, but it is one that I might use.

Business Plan Outline
A Comprehensive Business Plan Outline for Small Business compliments of Alyssa Gregory,
http://sbinformation.about.com/od/businessplans/a/How-To-Write-A-Business-Plan.htm

The usefulness of a business plan is to determine the why behind your business. In this example we will discuss spiritual principles versus the making of widgets. Of course this is just the beginning and skeleton ideas of such a business plan. Weeks, months and years could be devoted to this theme when expanded in full detail.

Mission statement:
God’s work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Now we can’t speak on behalf of God. So we might want to fill out the business plan as he of his employees. This could be a discussion of our interpretation of God the father’s plan and the executive officer of Jesus Christ as he executes the mission of the company through his teachings, his life, and his sacrifice at the garden of Gethsemane, as well as on the cross. The company itself might be the gospel of Jesus Christ or be ourselves living at Christianity.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is the first section of your small business plan that is typically written last. It provides an overview of all of the other sections in the business plan.

Company Description

The company description give specific details about your company such as the location, size, and what you do hope to accomplish. So, in this imaginary scenario, I might put: our goal is to live our lives as closely to Christ’s example as humanly possible. When we fail in our attempts, we participate in repentance, forgiveness, and a rededication to living righteously. We want to conduct the business of the company in our homes, our jobs, and every hour of our lives. We want to raise our children to have faith in God and to follow in Christ’s footsteps. At the conclusion of each of our lives is our intent to be reunited with God the father and his son Jesus Christ in fellowship in their presence.

Products or Services

This is where you would describe what you have to offer and why customers want. In this case the product is having happy lives in Christ. Through Christ we gain happiness and closes with our families, friends and associates. We work together in a shared goal so that we can all succeed. Some of the specific services might include daily prayer, Scripture study, being charitable and generous one another, and other principles of the gospel that you can add to the list.

Market Analysis

Market analysis is where you determine who your target audience is. In this case is the children of the world the children of God. That might mean some missionary work to some areas of the world or perhaps even missionary work with our homes. It means living our lives in such an example that others may want to what makes us so happy.

Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy talks about how your business works with other businesses. It includes how much you may sell your products. How you will promote and share your services. To me this would be how I can live a better life by not just having the label Christian, but to actually live a life that Christ to be pleased with. It would mean me being a good neighbor for the sake of interest and compassion toward others.

Management Summary

This section might touch upon the organizational structure of the business and how which ran. On a personal basis, this might mean what are the duties of the father and the mother in contributing to the righteousness of the family. How do parents teach their children? This might also include how we contribute to the success and cohesiveness of the congregation. We could then branch out to our neighbors, our communities, the nation and how we conduct ourselves in the world.

Financial Analysis

This touches upon The financial analysis section of your business plan should contain the details for and future financing as the business expands. For me this includes tithing, compassionate service, and acts of generosity. With my numerous shortcomings, it should also involve a self-analysis of why I keep dropping the ball, and finding ways to improve my behavior.

It is obvious that I have missed so much. This topic could be a book of itself. I do hope that it does begin the thought processes of how each of us could analyze our relationship with God and his mission statement. This is just an opportunity to begin the process of your own brainstorming and analysis of God’s mission statement and business plan.

On a personal note, I have to admit, that when I chose this theme, it made me realize that I’m not one of God’s best employees. At my job, my company gives us the opportunity to take some online classes. In one of those classes, I learned that there are Star employee, Average employee and the employee that Needs Improvement. I am finding that many of the lessons I share here in teaching embellishments blog, touch upon areas where I need improvement. So maybe this one like others is a reminder for me to just keep trying.

Please feel free to give any ideas you have on this topic in the comment section of this blog.

Cool!

http://music.cbc.ca/#/concerts/Chris-Hadfield-and-Barenaked-Ladies-ISS-Is-Somebody-Singing-2013-02-05

Quite a speech. http://uneditedpolitics.com/dr-benjamin-carson-speech-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast-2713/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dr-benjamin-carson-speech-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast-2713

I think of people making commitments to some higher power. In a negative way I think of all those movies where a bunch of teens foolishly submit their wills to the bad guy/gal and they end up getting wasted. They make themselves a part of a COVEN. Usually the bad guy/gal treats them bad, stepping on them like ANTS to accomplish his/her own goals. The followers are expendable.

In a positive light I think of three members of a family (the letters O, E and A) working together to live the good life and they make a cOvEnAnt with God to follow and obey him.

We’ll see if either of these two ways will help me remember the word a little bit better.

What suggestions do you have?

Several years ago I took a writing course of business writing and three students and I wrote a book on what to look for when buying a home. I remember interviewing a lot of people. So we get a lot of testimonials and personal experiences of where they got burned. It is my hope to someday transfer my contribution of that book to become a new and unique book. As I began to collect new material. These are a few things I want to remember when I buy another home or build a home. More will be added to the list as a comeuppance them or learn about them from experienced homeowners.

1. When you’re buying a home that has a fence. Talk to your neighbors and see what they say about who has what ownership of the fence.
2. It’s always a good idea to test all the faucets, the light fixtures and plugs before buying a home.
3. It’s also a good idea to interview neighbors about what it’s like to live in the neighborhood. For example, in certain towns. It may stink really bad because a business needs to clean out their chicken coops. That’s make the smell for several months while the rest of the year. It smells okay.
4. If you have a chance to be in the house during a windy day and you have the windows closed. You may want to use a burning candle or lighter to devote close to the Windows to see if air comes in. The same might be said for the doorways.
5. Take the smell of the house do you smell mold or do you see signs of water damage?
6. As you look around inside the cupboards and closets and outside the house do you see signs of repair or damage? This might be important because if you have some boards that open to the interior part of the house, your pipes might freeze during hard winters.
7. If you have trees and plants around the house. Write down what kind they are and asked about the history.
8. As you walk around the floors and go up and down the steps. Pay attention to what my Creek or something needs be lubricated when you try to open a door, etc.
9. Check the outside. Pressure head against the fence to have stable areas. Use a hose and spray water on the driveway, the steps, the porch and see where the water flows.
10. You might want to look up city sites that list criminals and child molesters and cedar might be the community.

These are just a few ideas of what you might look for when buying a home. More will be added once I devote my full attention to this particular book.

I have to admit, that when I went how shopping, I don’t have much of an artistic eye. I was fortunate that the former homeowners of my house decorated the front room walls in an artistic manner. I would’ve had the foresight to do such myself. Another nice thing about buying a whole can somebody else is when you buy a home from someone that has done a lot of work on their yard or has started growing a garden and you can read the benefits of all their hard labor. Those are some wonderful things to consider when buying a home. One of the things I really appreciate about my home is that there is a storage shed in my back yard.

If you have purchased a home or if you rent an apartment or condo, what advice would you give? Have you learned something the hard way? What advice would you give to people of what should they look for when buying or renting a home? Please feel free to share your ideas and experiences in the comment section this blog. Thank you.

This object lesson is borrowed from somebody else. I found it in the book, Quiet by Susan Cain on page 251. A fifth grade teacher thought that she would teach the important concept of the three branches of government by making the topic real to her students. She found that the classroom was often quite messy and she thought that by dividing the group up into three groups, like the government. They could come up with a solution as if they were the three separate components of government.

The legislative group would determine the laws of how the students would respond to the trash in the classroom. The executive group would determine how the laws determined by the legislative would be executed. And the third branch, the judicial, would determine the cost for breaking the law.

She had the students come up with the rules, how to determine when one was guilty, and how they would be punished. I was very pleased to see this wonderful little object lesson within the pages of this book. The book itself was an interesting read as a discussed the characteristics of introverts and extroverts. I recommend that you take a look at it.

On a personal note, I am working to make my blogs a little bit more of my insights in addition to insights of others. I remember being a staff member of a patriot camp that was presented locally. I volunteered to host the Boston tea party and raiding a ship, they had on-site. It was one cool ship, miniature but still cool that they had it on-site…. Let’s just say a lot of yelling and hooting. Anyway, another one of the classes was dedicated to teaching the three branches of government. When I teach, I have to admit, I often don’t have an excessive amount of pictures and text, to illustrate a lesson except when I enact a specific object lesson. Often times my audiences are adults, and at the times that I taught children, I was usually a substitute.

Many of the teachers at the patriot camp, gave their presentations with pictures, charts and clearly defined diagrams and sometimes games. Their pictures and charts were wonderful aids in teaching. If I ever have more opportunity to teach children, and adults, I need to remember this important aid.

The fifth grade teacher reference in the book, Quiet, made the theme of her lesson relevant by her having her students respond to a real life scenario. Kudos to that teacher.

If you have taught a lesson on the three branches of American government, how did you present the information? Please feel free to share your response in the comment section this blog. Thank you.

current story telling event:

1. My story telling is going to be on the radio tomorrow. Sunday Feb 3rd.
2. I hit over a hundred hits on my web site this week.

Here is the radio stuff

Cathy and I finished putting together tomorrows program which will feature your Snakes in the bed story and our dialog about the camp cook blasting holes in the floor of her cabin.

Let your friends know it will be on KPCW tomorrow morning at 8:30

Dave and Cathy

neat!
I don’t have much time to advertise, but I’ll see who I can tell.

Hopefully I can listen to it at http://kpcw.org/the-station/listen/

It looks like such an easy word. Yet I consistently spell it with an e instead of an O.

How to remember…. how to remember.

Ahha! When there is a knock on the door, you don’t know if it is a man OR a woman. Therefor you are receiving visitORs.

We’ll see if that helps me ummmm?

What tricks do you have for spelling?