Tuna (Brandon) Praised For Communications Work

Greetings friends. The below blog post was written by a friend and consultant, Mark Vincent.  He has been working closely with me (Tuna) on our campaign at Bethany Birches Camp to rebuild the main building at camp (Pavilion).  It's a high complement of my work.

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Capital campaign communication: 2 awesome examples

We learn so much from our clients. Occasionally we can pass the benefits along.

I have been privileged to work with Bethany Birches Camp as they ready themselves for their first big capital campaign. Their Executive Director, still in the early stages of his career, is an outstanding example of someone who knows he doesn’t know and is therefore able to learn and grow and put a lot of long-timers to shame at the excellence he is already achieving.

Most noticeable is the way he, the board and volunteers have been able to inject the organizational culture of the camp into all their campaign communication. Whenever the constituency interacts with them they are having a camp experience, not just a communication from the camp. Here are two awesome examples:

1. Their video that introduces the campaign and makes the case provides an excellent standard other organizations can aspire to reach:

2. A recent update on an unanticipated project that could have harmed momentum conveys a non-anxious, thankful, yet light-heartedly determined way forward. Anyone who participated can find themselves in the blogs/photos etc. that are linked in the note. It provides a great personal touch mixed with the benefits of social media and web. Here is the text:

Greetings friends.  I’m writing with deep joy in my heart for each of you.  As you probably remember about a year ago we received some tough news from the fire marshal: that the Bethany Birches Cabin would be shut down April 1, 2012 until we complied with numerous requirements.

One of my biggest concerns was how we’d pay for the upgrades to the building.  My second concern related to how to get the work done.  Because of you, the work was finished and paid for!  THANK YOU!

Some goodies for you:

• Here are pictures from the beginning of the project.  
• Here are some pictures from the second stage of the project.  
• Here’s a link to a blog post reviewing the project.  
• Here are all the blog posts on the topic.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of this effort and for your ongoing help in Bethany Birches’ mission to help young people develop their relationship with God.  Without you we would still be without the use of the cabin!

Brandon

 

And here is one more idea.  Why not take these examples to your development and/or communications team to view and then ask what is one step we might take to better inject our organization’s culture into our communication–especially in a capital campaign? How might our constituency have an ongoing experience and not just another communications piece?

-mark l vincent

- See more at: http://bethanybirches.org/2013/06/bethany-birches-in-the-news/#sthash.SkuhAD1y.dpuf

Pearls before swine

Perhaps you've heard the teaching from The Bible... in Matthew 7 about how you ought not to cast your pearls before swine (pigs).  Check this out - this is a good illumination of that passage:

Experts only need a couple skills

I'm struck that mastery of the basics is almost all one needs to become an expert. The other thing you need: doing it (racking up hours/experience).  I noticed this in skiing... I've only got a couple skills. But, I can apply them in different ways at different times depending on what the terrain and snow conditions require and what I'm trying to accomplish.  Knowing how to apply them and being able to apply these skills consistently is what makes it possible to be an expert skier.  I think the same is true with Basketball or cooking or supervising people.  In what are you an expert?

Lent & Fasting

Each Lent, I wonder what I should give up or take on.  I rarely feel right with God for more than a couple days in a row and so Lent often seems a time to reach out to God more fervently.  This year, I was struck by  a passage in Isaiah 58 that calls into question our individual-focused routines of giving up chocolate, coffee, etc.  I suspect those small sacrifices are very good. Our heart needs them.  Yet, there is more to look toward.  Here's the passage:

Isaiah 58:6-10 NIV “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

This video then helped me along a bit further in understanding of the type of fast that is desirable to the Lord.



May we be strengthened to loose the chains of injustice this whole year and in that process, may our addictions be transformed and lost.

Happy Feet

Happy feet

In the movie, a penguin named Mumble follows his curiosity to find what's "out there." Swept up by his passion he almost dies and is placed in a position that allows him influence. In this position he does what comes naturally to him. He is reminded of his gift by a small child. And so he starts dancing!

He leads the way for his tribe and his guides are his sense and what was already given to him (his God-given giftings).

In the end, being true to his gift and the journey this took him on, saved his tribe.

This is similar to how we follow God and lead others along the way. Not a lot of certainty. Not a lot of proof. Only what we've been given and a compass for the next step. Only the voice of the one that whispers in the wilderness.

Passion and work

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook recently. I commented:

this is a very important issue - the nature of the deeper passion - the essence of this video - what is it you like doing? I have been uncovering the importance of a 15-year-long passion in my life and finding that it lies at the heart of what I do best at camp. And I'm learning to teach our college-age staff about the importance of this underlying love and passion and to release themselves to embrace it.

Another friend commented about God's plan. I commented

I agree! God's "plan"/way/intention/expectation for us is better than our own. In this sense, God is like a manufacturer of a product and has a full understanding of what the product is capable of and how to use it best. While this analogy is pretty weak (because products don't feel things and we do), it helps me when thinking about how best to serve, as Jesus instructed. I've experienced a deep fulfillment when fulfilling my call and at times, a lack of fulfillment when running from my call.

 

Where does your passion lie?

What do the Hobbit, Sandy Hook and CCCA have in common?

We all know about The Hobbit and many of us in the USA on the East Coast know what Sandy Hook means.  CCCA, however, may not be a familiar acronym to you.  It stands for Christian Camp and Conference Center.  Bethany Birches, where I work, is a member.

So here's what the Hobbit, Sandy Hook and CCCA, especially this video, have in common: they all show us what we already know.  That life isn't safe. And furthermore, a meaningful life requires risk, challenge, struggle.

I love this section starting right here.  Take a look...

A brief history on nonviolence

A good 15 minute video on nonviolence and it's religious heritage:

Staff Recruiting Trip 2011

Every year in February we (used to be just me, Tuna) make a trek around the East-Coast and dip into the Mid-West for some staff recruiting fun.  We go to EMU, Goshen, and then usually one other school.  This year, it was Bluffton (thanks Bobbi for setting up the party!).  We'll be at Gordon on Friday.

Well, this year, there were three of us: Me, Cheeks, YoYo.  And, we had plenty of time in the car.  So, we decided to post a few video clips of our journey.  If you watch each one, you'll learn a few things and spend about 20 minutes.

What a job we have!  Visiting friends and sharing the good stuff of Jesus.

Bethany Birches Bobcat Snow Camp 2011

If you want to walk on water...

Just because Peter failed, doesn't mean humans will fail always...

More on the topic:



Seriously?



Update on 10/11/10:
Too good to be true, apparently:

Girls Weekend 2010 - Tubing!

Bobcat Snow Camp at Bethany Birches Camp 2010

What fun it is to get together with a bunch of kids in the name of Jesus and have a blast!

Are those Amish people?

This morning I came across this website - www.urbanmennonite.com - pretty cool site.  I was reading this article when I came across this video of Mennonites singing in a NYC subway station.  Classic 20th century Menno evangelism....

Tuna

Christmas with the Landis Family

Thanks be to God for the gift of relationship and family.

MOOSE!

We had a Moose in our pond summer of 2008. It walked around the edge of the pond, entered, ate all the lily pads, hung out for about 20 minutes then swam away. It got to the other side of the pond, got out, walked into the woods and we haven't seen her since. This was probably a medium sized, young moose, maybe 700 lbs.


I'm posting now because a friend and I were talking about it and I remembered I wanted to show you all this fun happening.

Bethany Mennonite Church Goes Roofing

Greetings friends.  A friend of ours at Bethany Mennonite Church wrote this on Saturday:

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Today's heavy rain/flooding will not be an issue for our place of worship, thanks to the hard work of those who donated their time and energy to replacing the roof above our heads in the sanctuary.  I thought about them all day, and am grateful that we have such devoted people in our congregation.  God bless the roofers!
Elaine
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Here are those roofers:

Hiking up and Skiing Down Mt. Washington

What a great day. Three of us hiked and skied for the entire day... in April! Gotta love the Northeast.

Tiger and Tuna go rope swinging

Dave Landis and I spent a little time on the Nitro Swing at camp today. We were roommates in college at EMU our freshman year.

Skiing Pico - extended version

Some of my friends went out to ski on a lovely day in February. It turns out that we got more than 20 inches of snow in a day! Just crazy. Check it out.

Can you find Cheeks?