There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

So it is with our lives… Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

In his story the farmer did not give up his good crop or his lively hood. Neither did he support his neighbors. It is important to understand that he gave his neighbors seed corn. Seed corn is what was required to grow and good quality corn. The farmer did not plant or raise the crop for his neighbors. He did not harvest the corn. The farmer did not carry the final product to his neighbors.

What the farmer gave his neighbors was the resource needed to work themselves to produce a successful crop. It is sad in our society today that some have taken this vital principle of life and twisted it in an attempt to produce a culture of dependency and entitlement.

A successful life comes when we encourage and resource others to be independent and resourceful. But it does not happen when part of the community (culture) lives in dependency waiting on others to supply them without lending to the process of productivity.

When we live in harmony with this principle that the farmer practiced, we assist others in growing in personal development and independence. We also are aided and benefited in our own lives as our productivity matures.

You have something to share with others. It is something that will benefit and resource them throughout their lives and the cross pollination effect will benefit your life as well.

When you give of yourself to pull others up, you too, will be lifted. Don’t forget this week to share the best of your seed corn with others.

For more on this topic contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

Top of Form

The boll weevil is an insect. During the 1910s and 20s, the boll weevil devastated cotton production in the Southern states of the U.S.A. Nonetheless, in 1919, the town of Enterprise, Alabama built a monument to honor the boll weevil and what it had done to benefit the South.

Why? Because the boll weevil forced people to change, adapt and grow:

In Coffee County, almost 60 percent of the cotton production was destroyed. Farmers faced bankruptcy and the area economy was at stake. Farmers turned to peanuts and other crops to overcome the damage brought by the boll weevil.

By 1917, Coffee County produced and harvested more peanuts than any other county in the nation. Seventy-six years later, in 1993, Coffee County still ranked 4th in the state of Alabama with 128,000 acres planted in peanuts. In gratitude for the lessons taught, residents erected the world’s only monument to an agricultural pest, the boll Weevil Monument. The monument, dedicated on December 11, 1919, stands in the center of the downtown district at the intersection of Main Street and College Street. The Boll Weevil Monument is a symbol of man’s willingness and ability to adjust to adversity. Citizens continue to remind visitors and newcomers to the city the lesson of the boll weevil.

The base of the monument is inscribed: “In profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity this monument was erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama.”

What a marvelous attitude! No wonder the town is called “Enterprise.”

Has your church or organization reached such a devastated state yet? If and when it does, what will be your attitude? Will you fold up and move on? Or will you be like the people of Enterprise? Someone has said attitude isn’t a big thing, it is everything. For some reason in many devastating settings, people like to pass the blame, wallow in the mire, without any attempt to find a viable working alternative.

Perhaps it is the “working” that keeps many from seeking the alternative. Or could it be any alternative would require change, and everyone knows the only one who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.

When those times of devastation come and threaten to destroy life as we are used to, we need to welcome the opportunity to grow into something we have not yet considered. The economy from peanuts produced in Coffee County far outweighed what the cotton ever brought in. Yet, the people of Coffee County would never have known the profitability and economy had it not been for that pesky boll weevil.

When you face adversity as a family, individual, church, or organization, look to the one who created everything. He alone knows what is around the corner for your future. Trust Him. He can do more with what little is left over after adversity, than you could do with riches of bygone years. It is okay to change, adapt, and grow in a different mindset. Just ask the people of Enterprise, AL.

For more information on this or other areas of interest, contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

Have you ever walked into the aisle of a small hardware store and noticed everything covered in dust? I am talking about dust on dust on dust. I’ve seen dust so thick that you could not read the writing on the package. My first thought is, “How do they expect to sell anything in this condition?”

Have you ever been in a bowling alley or other independently owned business and noticed cracks in the floor, broken floor tiles, or torn places in carpet, and perhaps even broken window panes.  Other businesses are so cluttered and disorganized that it is difficult to shop. Perhaps like me and many others you wonder how these places can stay in business.

If we were to look at our churches and our class rooms with the same eyes we might see many of the same situations. I know you do not want to believe that about your class room, but it is true of many of our churches.

We tend to overlook what we get use to seeing. What may start out as a small stack of left over quarterlies turns into a stockpile of previous years lessons. And the posters –if we take them off the walls– start another pile in another corner of the room. That small stand at the front of the room was placed there for the teacher to place her two markers and eraser. Now on it lies three different Bibles left behind, several magazines, greeting cards, and a stack of unused napkins. Looking at the floor we might see carpet ravels, the scuffed up floors, and walls? “Oh, that light? That one hasn’t worked for three years!”

A few years ago, I walked around a church building on a Saturday snapping pictures of broken floor tiles, burned out light bulbs, cluttered rooms, and even holes in the wall. That morning I snapped forty-seven photos. A couple of weeks later when I projected those pictures on the screen – on a Sunday evening – all present were embarrassed. Some were shocked and did not know many of these areas of need were in their own church.

I have been in many of our churches and seen these and other circumstances including broken windows covered with cardboard and plastic, yet none of the members could remember how long the window had been in this state of disrepair.

It is easy to overlook these things because we are use to seeing them this way. We may see the disrepair at first, but after walking past it for a time it becomes natural to us and we tend to overlook the obvious need to repair. However, to a guest this is like walking into a hardware store with dust so thick they want to ask, “How can you as a church stay in business?” or “If this is the way you do not take care of your building, how do you treat one another and me, your guest?” What message are we sending to our guests and new members?

It is time to take a walk-thru (with the eyes of a guest) and see what can be discarded and what can be cleaned up to make your room more appropriate for a teaching/learning environment.

For information on avoiding this type situation or recognizing these areas in your church, contact George Yates & visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

I felt a shockwave of distress and stunned surprise come over me as I rounded the corner to the kitchen that Wednesday afternoon. Water covered 90% of the kitchen floor. My first thoughts were it must be a busted pipe under the kitchen sink. I opened the cabinet doors to find everything dry. That is when I looked over the counter to see water standing on the dining area, living room, and hallway floors – a half inch of water. At the same moment I heard the washing machine running. Well, I heard water running to fill the washing machine (which had been running for about an hour). That is when the second shockwave ran over me.

While this experience was a shock and surprise, it cannot compare to the shock and surprise of the women who headed out early one morning to anoint the body of their dearly beloved friend who had died two days earlier. When the women rounded the corner, they did not see a floor full of water. They found an empty tomb. Shock and distress had to be two of the many emotions experienced by these women on this Spring morning.

However, their shock and surprises for the day were only beginning. To their greater surprise, the empty tomb that morning was the first indicator of a resurrection from the dead. Their friend, their loved one whom they had watched die, was now, three days later, alive and living in his resurrected body.

This week people and cultures around the globe celebrate this same resurrection. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the long awaited Messiah. In the United States Easter has become more about bunnies and chocolate. There is no shock or surprise in chocolate and bunnies – except perhaps when you look in the mirror two weeks later.

Mohammed died and he is still dead. No surprise there. Buddha died and he is still dead. No surprise.  John Smith died and he is still dead. Confucius died and he is still dead. People die and they remain dead. There are no surprises in this. I do not trust my life and my eternity in one who is dead. Jesus died but He did not stay in the tomb. He died and now He lives. I trust in the living Savior. The only one who has risen from the dead. And He arose from the dead after a horrible beating and crucifixion.

My excitement comes from the shock and surprise of the empty tomb found on that long ago Easter – resurrection morning. When was the last time you experienced shock and surprise? Was there a pleasant surprise awaiting you around the corner? There can be. Even in the hard times. No matter what shock life seems to throw at you, there is an empty tomb around the corner. It is not yours, but the empty tomb of the Savior of the God of all creation. And He wants to walk with you around all the unknown corners in your life.

 This week how will you celebrate Easter? Will it be more about chocolate and bunnies or celebrating with the women who found the empty tomb on Resurrection Day? Hosanna! Glory to God in the Highest! For He has risen from the dead.

May God have a prominent place in your life this Holy week and beyond. God bless you!

In many churches when asked a question you can answer Yes, No, or Jesus and be assured you have the correct answer. The reason is the most used type of question used in the church and often in other leadership circles is a Closed Ended Question. Closed Ended Questions very rarely if ever create a learning experience. Closed Ended questions are not learning initiators and employ only static recall – reciting a simple piece of information from one’s brain storage. Most Closed Ended Questions call for simple one word, or one statement answers of recall from our memory bank.

What day of the week is today? This is an example of a closed ended question. It employs no learning technique and only asks for recall of known information – static recall. When used in a group setting, as soon as one person gives the correct answer, “Wednesday,” the thinking of everyone in the room is shut off. There is no longer a need to engage thought processes. Closed Ended Questions requiring only static recall, do nothing to engage the Higher Order Thought processes as we wrote about in our last blog post. Static recall is a very basic use of the brain and cannot produce learning.

To encourage true learning that will bring about behavioral change in one’s life, (which is what all true learning does) we must engage his/her higher order thought processes. Questions is one of God’s greatest gifts to us in leadership for engaging these higher order thought processes and fostering learning. The challenge is to learn to develop the proper type of question to engage these higher order thought processes which will promote a learning experience.

Learning to use Open Ended Questions is a key in life-changing leadership. An Open Ended Question is one that prompts the listener to use his own knowledge base and life experiences applying these to the new information being shared. Relating the new information to something he already has knowledge of creates a connection to the new information. This connection is the handle for the new tool (information, truth, expectation). Without a handle a tool is useless. However, with the proper handle a tool is a valuable resource.

What does Wednesday mean to you? This is an example of an Open Ended Question. Whether speaking with one person or 1,000, everyone in the room must engage his or her higher order thought processes to consider this question. The leader may call for some to answer verbally. As one person speaks, each person in the room will consider what is being shared, weighing it with their own experience. Perhaps adding to or taking away from their knowledge of the topic. Not everyone will answer verbally. But everyone will continue the thought process until the leader says it is time to move on.

Open Ended Questions engage every person’s higher order thought processes and causes them to recall from memory past experiences, knowledge, and information. Unlike static recall where the thinking shuts down, in this higher order thinking, the new information is attached to the old so it can be stored into the memory bank. Learning builds upon learning.

Learn to use questions properly and watch your team soar and true behavioral change take place.

For more information on engaging higher thought processes and proper use of questions in leadership and teaching contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries. Purchase your copy of Teaching That Bears Fruit and Turnaround Journey as both books share some about this topic.

Gary walked out of the meeting with his team discouraged. The team functions well, but team meetings are a drag. Most of these weekly team meetings are the same. Everyone leaves discouraged and often frustrated. Team meetings are a low point of the week for team members. Gary is frustrated as well. He cannot understand why. His team works together well. They accomplish tasks in a timely manner and with high standards. But coming out of team meetings, the valley of morale is obvious to even Gary.

Perhaps you can relate to Gary and his team members. Many organizations, for profit and non-profit alike, have similar responses to team meetings. There are several topics we could address for this. But for this post I want to look at a couple factors to assist in improving the participation and morale of team meetings, communication at home, or any volunteer organization you are involved with.

People will not learn if we cannot engage their higher order thought processes. There are proper ways to do this and leaders must be willing to step out and implement some of these. Learn to use leadership techniques that engage the higher order thought processes leading to healthy discussion. Then as a leader, you must be ready to accept and welcome the discussion.

Within the first sixty seconds of speaking to another person or group of people, your listener’s attention will drift from your speech at least twice. You are the same. When listening to someone else you will drift away briefly from what is being said. This drifting is not from outside distractions. Rather it is due to memory focus. As a speaker, teacher, or leader shares, our minds have a tendency to pick up on certain words or phrases and we begin thinking about an event or experience in our own personal lives. In most cases the listener will quickly pull himself back into the current discussion.

We should remember that learning builds upon learning. As we speak, the new material is being processed and attached to something similar in our listener’s memory bank. This is what creates the learning experience and causes new information to be added into our memory bank. Since it is happening to our listeners every time we speak, why not take advantage of this natural occurrence and use it to produce learning experiences that produce results.

In certain conferences I will pull a plastic circular disc out of a book bag. I never have to tell anyone what it is. They know it is a Frisbee disc. I can proceed to relate new information to what the conferees already know about a Frisbee. Within a few short minutes, the conferees tell me the truth of the lesson. They have attached the new material to something they already know. And the lesson sticks. The new information is now in their memory bank. Learning builds upon learning.

Learning to use statements and objects that employ the higher order thought processes can be vital to your team remembering and carrying out the details of the project ahead. Planning and using these type statements requires discipline on the speaker’s part. Like a question, if you issue a thought provoking statement, be certain to allow time for your listeners to process the information. These can be great discussion starters and can bring out great and creative ideas and enthusiasm from your team members. A good leader knows it is not only a good practice but vital in the learning process to not give all the answers, but to lead your people in discovering answers for themselves. Jesus used this type statement in various places including John 14: 2 and 4.

Drop a small stone in the water and what happens? That one small splash creates a ripple effect of concentric circles widening out from where the stone broke the surface of the water.

This past Sunday I spoke to our congregation about Living for the Ripple Effect. I want to share a small portion of that with you in this week’s blog. The ripple effect is the nature of leadership. It is the nature of influence, and it is what you and I as believers in Christ have been called to do.

As Saul, later the Apostle Paul, demonstrated in his life, we should be living to make ripples in the spiritual waters around us. No matter where you are, or in what circumstances you find yourself, you have an opportunity to make ripples in the spiritual waters around you. All it takes is to drop a pebble, a small stone, into the water and it will always leave a ripple effect.

In fact the more you exercise this practice, the stronger the ripple effect. Scripture from Acts chapter 9 tells us, “Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”

This same man, Saul, who had only weeks before been persecuting people who believed in Christ, was now proclaiming Him to be the Messiah. And this verse (22) tells us the more Saul shared, the stronger his witness became. It is his spiritual strength this verse is speaking of. Saul had become “a voice to be heard.” His conviction of who Christ is and his compelling speech and actions was baffling the Jews who heard him speak.

Just as in physical exercise gives us strength to our bodies, likewise studying God’s word and spending time with God strengthens our spiritual being. The world today tells us to build bigger bank accounts, stronger financial portfolios, and to accumulate more “stuff.” God and His people on the other hands pursue people. Our stuff will not outlast this world.

The moment you die, your stuff will be owned by someone else. However, every human being has a soul that lives on forever in one of two places. You will either spend eternity (a very long time) with God in heaven, a place full of happiness and joy. A city that knows no suffering. Or you will spend forever in Hell referred to as a lake of ever burning fire, rendering constant pain and suffering.

As Christians, believers in Christ, it is our duty to make ripples for Christ for the many souls around us. Jesus Christ Himself began those ripples more than two thousand years ago to His Apostles. They in turn continued those ripples creating the earliest of the New testament churches in Jerusalem. Those followers in turn carried the spiritual ripples into the world, and they continued throughout the centuries until one of those ripples intersected your life. Your life was impacted by one of these ripples. It is now your turn. How will you make ripples for God this week? Into whose life has given you the opportunity to continue this ripple effect?

Once a stone is dropped into the water you can no longer see it. But the ripple effect carries on long after the stone has disappeared. You have one opportunity to make a splash. One splash makes many ripples. What will be seen after your life is over? What will be said of the ripples you leave behind?

Will you live this week and every week to create a ripple effect for God?

According to scientists, the bumblebee’s body is too heavy and its wing span too small. Aerodynamically, the bumblebee cannot fly. But the bumblebee doesn’t know this and it keeps flying.

When you do not know your limitations, you can go out and surprise yourself. In hindsight, you wonder if you had any limitations to begin with. The only limitations a person has are those that are self-imposed. Why let education, time, or the opinion of others put limitations on you.

God has created you for greatness and you should daily strive for that greatness. You have what it takes to succeed at the purpose you were created for. God planned that purpose before you were born and you can be certain He will see you through life to accomplish that purpose.

Too often today we settle for good. Yet, you were not created for good. You were created for greatness. I believe when we settle for good the only person we are pleasing is Satan. He knows as long as you settle for good, you will never strive for the greatness of which you were created.

When people tell you that you are not good enough, smart enough, strong enough, or wealthy enough, do not settle for good. Remember, the one who created you is perfect (good enough), All knowing (smart enough), Almighty (strong enough), created everything on earth (owns everything). He not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10), He owns the hills and the taters under those hills.

You get the point, don’t you? God is all you need to succeed and fulfill your life purpose. Do not listen to the world. Pay attention to God and His word (The Holy Bible). Be like the bumblebee and fly even when others say it is impossible. With God, nothing is impossible.

To learn more about how you can find your way to fulfilling God’s planned purpose for your life contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

Leaders often ask what is a good size team to use in strategic planning and oversight of ministries. With the right number of people on a team you receive quality input from all, members will ask questions about topics, and better decisions will be made. When that number exceeds seven people on a team, individual discussion lessens and members tend to advocate more than they inquire.

The number of people to serve on a team may be more important than you realize. The success of a team can largely depend on the size of the team. Bigger is not always better. First, ask what are the objective and goals of this team? In most scenarios, regardless of the objectives, the number of members on a team will not need to exceed seven. The fact is most teams will function more effectively with five to seven members.

With too few members on the team, discussion may not be as diverse as needed, not allowing all avenues to be explored and perhaps overlooking the best possible decision. Another downside of not having enough members on your committee or team is members can be stretched too thin leading to burnout or at least ineffective preparation and implementation.

In larger team settings people rarely take the opportunity to probe for understanding and clarity but instead pile opinion on opinion, leading to misunderstanding and poor decision making. Larger teams may come up with two or three possibilities. The difficulty is these two or three get discussed to death, while the best possibility may never get voiced. The larger the group, the fewer people speak to offer thoughtful ideas. Instead, team members buy into consensus.

With the right number of members on your strategic planning team you will receive quality input from all members. Members will be more inquisitive and ask more probing questions into the subject matter providing more definite solutions toward the objective and goals.

When selecting the right people for your team, pray first and foremost. Then list those in your organization who meet the following requirements: 1) open minded, 2) forward thinking, 3) willing to speak his/her thoughts and concerns, 4) Willing to listen to everyone else’s, 5) not a yes man/woman (no rubber stampers). Build your team on people with these quality traits and let everyone know they have an equal voice and each one’s thoughts need to be heard by all. Decide if you realistically need 5,6,or 7 people on your team. This will give you the team that you need to fulfill your strategic planning needs and objectives.

For more information on this subject and Organizational Health contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

“The key ingredient for improvement and success is not knowledge or resources. The key ingredient is the health of the organizational environment.”[i]

Bryan Houser, was called to consult with a small non-profit organization named Helping Hands. Helping Hands was organized to assist people of all cultures, ages, and income levels in their region. However, it seemed they were only reaching one segment of the population and very few of those. The organization had hired and dismissed three leaders in the last six years. The board of directors for Helping Hands decided to call Bryan Houser when one board member had heard of Bryan’s experience with a similar organization.

Bryan had requested and studied the history and financial records for Helping Hands prior to his first meeting with the board of directors. In the first meeting Bryan listened as various board members recanted their version of the Helping Hands story. Some painted a wonderful portrait of the early days of the organization, only to have fallen in the last three to four years. While others focused on the recent troubled years of the organization.

According to board members, six years ago, they had hired Ron Settles, who came highly recommended with a doctorate degree and a successful track record. Well, actually, he had only been with one company but it was a success in its field of business. “Ron brought great leadership skills,” said one board member. A couple other board members nodded, but several grimaced, as if to say, “not really.” Twenty-two months into his time with Helping Hands, the company not only was not making progress, it had actually lost revenue and clientele – greater losses than the organization had ever experienced. The board dismissed Ron Settles from his duties and began the search for a new president to run the organization.

Three months later Larry ToDegrees was hired to fill the position. Larry had two Master’s degrees, in Business Management. The board members recanted how Mr. ToDegrees was very well educated, he was not a people person. “He very seldom came out of his office and was somewhat difficult to work with.” The organization continued its downhill roll. Larry ToDegrees was dismissed within ten months of his hire date.

The third man hired to run the organization was Billy Noseright. This candidate came with both education and experience. Mr. Noseright had a Master’s degree in Business and had been with five companies, similar in concept to Helping Hands. As president of Helping Hands, Billy Noseright attempted to install similar practices he had employed in some of his previous positions. The major difference was this was a non-profit organization that operated mainly with volunteers and a slim budget. “Mr. Noseright just did not know as much as he thought – at least about non-profits.” Quipped one of the board members.

Bryan Houser listened as various board members passionately spoke, sometimes on top of each other, about the organization. After forty-five minutes of conversation the chairman of the board looked to Bryan and said, “Well, you’ve heard quite a bit.” To which Bryan nodded once then tilted his head right to left in a slight upward fashion. “Yes, I have.” He stated.

“What are your first impressions, or your thoughts at this point?” Queried the chairman.

Bryan sat quietly for ten very long seconds with his eyes focused on the pad in front of him on which he had been taking notes. Raising his head slowly, Bryan panned the room making eye contact with each man individually before moving on to the next. Fixing his gaze momentarily on the chairman, Bryan stated, “I’ve studied your history before today, and I’ve talked to people in your community. What I have learned studying those materials and what you have shared today,” his gaze now begins to pan the room again. He continued, “I do not believe yours is a leadership issue so much as an organizational health issue. Could the reason your last three choices of leaders have not been successful be because you have not lined up the leader’s strengths with the health of the organization?”

Several of the men in the room looked perplexed. The chairman asked, “I’m not sure we understand.” Several men in the room nodded in agreement.

Bryan attempted to explain, “It sounds like you pride yourself on getting well educated men, some with successful experience, some not. Those requisites are fine, but if they do not line up with the health inside your organization, it is not likely to improve the health of the organization. Copying practices from one organization to another rarely works well. Helping Hands has seen declining trends for nearly ten years. You need not focus so much on education in a leader as you do someone with compassionate people skills and the desire to get in the trenches with your volunteers to rebuild a healthy organization.”

Most organizations, churches included, focus on intelligence rather than health of the organization. – A healthy organization will inevitably gain intelligence over time.

People in a healthy organization learn from one another. Healthy organizations learn to identify critical issues and recover quickly from mistakes. Healthy organizations cycle through issues and situations and rally around solutions much faster than their dysfunctional counterparts.[ii]

For more information on Organizational Health for your church or other organization, contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

[i] Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage, 2012,

[ii] Adapted from The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni, 2012