Big Is The New Small

Mi Thoughts: Just doodling some random thoughts on my iPad.  What do you think?

As a self-proclaimed Apple enthusiast, I’m always looking forward to the latest greatest products and updates.  My entire family including kids own either a MacBook Pro, iPad or iPhone.  I totally digg the iPad and I’m looking forward to the rumored iPad 2.  The new features are supposed to include: front and rear facing camera, faster processor, more memory, usb and a thinner more MacBook.

I’m not sure if the iPad 2 rumors, name or specs are true, but I can guarantee you this, “I Want One!” It’s not necessarily about the specs, as those are natural bonuses.  Apple is simply the worlds best at creating new candy that makes everyone say, “I Want One!” The older versions are simply passed down, sold on Craigslist or eBay or held onto as a backup.  Having an iPhone, iPad or MacBook is as much bout being in the in-crowd, as it is having a great product.

Apple users will even strike up conversations with strangers, simply because they both tote devices with the forbidden fruit logo.  This would never happen with a PC or Blackberry user. Although both are great products, one has simply mastered the in-crowd appeal.  Many of you are reading this post, because you want to know the latest greatest happenings with the in-crowd.

I think The North Face line of jackets fall into a similar category.  I’m sure they keep you warm, but spending the bucks for a North Face jacket is as much about The North Face logo on the front and back as it is the product.  I don’t have a North Face jacket, but “I Want One!”

What do you think?  Do you want one?

This “Think Different” commercial is simply the best Apple commercial ever and it was created back in the late 1990′s. The “Think Different” campaign was a huge success and this commercial won an Emmy in 1998 for best commercial.

This epitomizes dream BIG. think BIGGER.

This is Seth Godin LinchPin kind of stuff and should inspire you to “Think Different.”

Go Change The World!

Share your thoughts!

It’s time for some BIG News as in BigIsTheNewSmall.com kinda BIG News.  I have been thinking through some BIG Ideas for BigIsTheNewSmall.com for 2011 and I have a few working.

Let me share a couple of the BIG Ideas with you and we will get them kicked off today.

• BIG Idea #1.  BIG GiveBack - I am going to give away a months worth of FREE advertising on BigIsTheNewSmall.com.  1 FREE 125×125 Advertising Spot $200 value.  My thought is to help promote some businesses, ideas, blogs, books, CD’s, causes, charities or whatever else you share, that I agree to promote.  The concept is simple, I’ll share a blogpost about the Big Giveback and anyone can share why I should choose their endeavor.  I’ll choose one, you provide the graphic for the advertisement and we will do again the next month.

• Consider this post as your opportunity to begin sharing this month.  I’ll select the winner on Thurs. January 20th. I’ll announce the Winner on January 21st and the ad will go up on Feb. 1st.  Once you share simply Tweet or share on your facebook status that you just shared a BIG Idea for the #BigGiveBack at BigIsTheNewSmall.com.  I encourage readers, to comment or give feedback on any of the ideas that you like.

• BIG Idea #2. BigGiveAway – Last month I did a #BigGiveAway of an iPad in conjunction with promoting my man Wayne Elsey’s new book, Almost Isn’t Good Enough.  This #BigGiveAway received thousands upon thousands of hits on the link provided and many more hits in general.  We had over 700 comments, 700 Retweets from the site and many more RT’s and Facebook postings. To top it all off Sonny Lemmons won an iPad. Check Out the Post Here. My thought is that I’m going to offer this as another advertising opportunity. Here are the details, you provide an item that you want to promote in conjunction with a #BigGiveAway with a value of at-least $600 and you give me one of the things that you’re giving away.

• For instance an iPad to give away and an iPad for me to have.  You could give away a branding, logo, design package or website package and you give me one of the same.  I will either keep what you give me for personal use or I might decide to #GiveBack and bless someone else.  This promotion will feature a blogpost on Friday and the promo will run from Friday until Monday with full promotion.  Everyone will have a chance to win and the winners will be randomly selected.  This will happen once a month, with the first opportunity kicking off in February.  Only 11 slots left for the year.  Of course I have to agree with what you are wanting to give away.  If you are interested in doing the #BigGiveAway shoot me an email above.

If You would like to be considered for the #BigGiveBack leave a comment below and share it on your Facebook or Twitter.  Consider the 3C’s: Be Convincing, Creative and Compelling.

If you are interested in the #BigGiveAway click on the email link at the top of the blog.

The Winner Of The iPad and Books are as follow…  Watch The Video!

I know who won the iPad, if someone will tell me who the other winners are, I will hook them up with a FREE copy of Wayne’s book.  I need to get my blog comment system changed, to include numbers next to each comment — Counting Is For The Birds.  The winners in the 600′s are better off counting from 700 down!

Click here to go back to the original post.

Thanks again for reading and participating, sorry you have to count!  Merry Christmas.

UPDATE – The Winners Are as Follows:

• 328 – Tiffany Anderson
• 686 – Maria December
• 443 – Colby Brown
• 289 – Victor Cabe
• 668 – Paul Steinbrueck
• 157 — Sonny Lemmons (iPad Winner)

Christmas is just a couple of days away and it’s not only “The most wonderful time of the year…” its the busiest day for application downloads on smart phones and smart devices.  Share The Bible Day will help people engage with the Bible, as well as increase the number of FREE applications being downloaded on iPhones, iPads, Android Devices, Blackberry’s and smart phones of your choice.

My personal favorite Bible app is the FREE YouVersion Bible app that has been downloaded by millions and millions of people.  Those millions of people have engaged in reading the Bible for Billions of minutes.  The App has been in the Top 10 FREE iTunes applications in recent days. (Currently #11 as I type this post.)  How cool would it be for the App to be #1 on Christmas Day when people around the globe open up their new devices and download their application of choice.

Share The Bible:

• Post it to your Blog, Twitter & Facebook (Use #Bible hashtag)
• Share scripture through your YouVersion account via connecting to Twitter and Facebook
• Tell a friend, take a few minutes on Christmas and do your part to Share The Bible

Note: As a little “extra” incentive to get the word out, my friends at YouVersion are giving a few lucky winners who post it online their choice between an iPad, an iPhone 4, or a Nexus S! (Click here for details.)

Read The Bible:

2011 can be your year to get a fresh start reading the Bible. Check out the Reading Plans online at our website, or directly in the Bible App on your device. All you need to get started is the Bible App and a free YouVersion account. Want a little extra support in meeting your goal? When you’re at YouVersion.com, sign up for progress update emails for yourself or an accountability partner.

What are you waiting on Start Your Plan and Get Ready To Share The Bible!

Will you share the Bible on Christmas Day?  Leave a comment and say “I’m In!”

Can you believe Christmas is just a week away and it’s almost here.  The problem with almost is this — “Almost Isn’t Good Enough.” If you almost win a million dollars, if your team almost won the game, if you almost took that step towards doing the right thing, if you are almost saved…  The bottom line is almost just isn’t good enough.

I had the opportunity to read a great book, by a great leader, with a great story, leading a great organization and all for a great cause.  Wayne Elsey is the Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls, a non-profit that has given away 13 million pairs of shoes in 6 years.  Wayne was a game changer in the footwear industry for more than 30 years, and was the youngest Vice President of Stride-Rite at 22 (with only a high school education).  @WayneElsey is a simple guy who cares about others and gave it all up for a dream to change the world.

That’s what his new book Almost Isn’t Good Enough is all about, It’s about challenging us to realize we only have one chance at this thing we call life.  Wayne does an excellent job of weaving real life stories with practical insights that will challenge and inspire you to look at you life, purpose and decisions differently.  As Wayne puts it in Almost Isn’t Good Enough, “Each of us has a brand. We reinforce this by the decisions we make and the actions we take.”  In other words we are what we do and not the lip service of what we say.

We all have the ability to change the world deep down inside of us.  It takes courage, inspiration, faith and those God moments to bring the world changer out of us.  Wayne draws everything back to the day he saw a shoe washup on shore after the Asian tsunami. Something inside of him made him want to do something instead of just ignore the pain of others. He didnʼt know what it was at the time but he knew he had to take action.

We can only realize our World Changing potential if we take action.  One of my sayings about potential is this, “Potential Unrealized Is Just Potential.” “When we know we have the potential to make a lasting difference with whatever we have, wherever we are, and in whatever ways we can, Almost Isn’t Good Enough.” ~Wayne Elsey

If you want to release your world changing potential, get off the couch and stop settling for almost.  Almost Isn’t Good Enough is a great read to kick off your 2011.  The official release of the book is December 26th. The cool thing is I am going to be giving away some copies to some random BigIsTheNewSmall.com readers.

100% of The Proceeds from Almost Isn’t Good Enough benefits Soles4Souls.  That’s called a Win-Win!  Where else can you buy a book, 10 pair of shoes be delivered to someone in need and you get to pick where the shoes go.  Spread the word and buy the book to help Soles4Souls reach their God-Sized goal of giving away 200,000 pairs of shoes to people in need through this book in 2011.

The BIG Give-Away:

In 2010 I had been thinking about doing a BIG giveaway right here at BigIsTheNewSmall.com and almost gave away an iPad.  I recently realized that Almost Isn’t Good Enough, so I decided to go ahead and make it happen. That’s Right… I’m giving away an iPad right before Christmas and everyone has a chance to win.  I will be giving away a nice stack of these Almost Isn’t Good Enough books before you can buy them as well. Here is how you enter to win the books and iPad.  Please pay close attention to the details.

Winning is easy as 1 – 2 – 3

• 1. Leave  comment stating that you would like to win a copy of the book and iPad in your own words of course.
• 2. Re-Tweet my tweet about winning a copy, or simply copy and paste this tweet info. to your Facebook status if your aren’t on Twitter.  If you don’t have Twitter or Facebook, simply leave a comment an we will pray for you to move into the new media generation.  :-)  Seriously leave a comment and let me know that you don’t have either Facebook or Twitter.  Here is the tweet or you can simply find @scottwilliams on twitter and re-tweet it.  Win A FREE iPad & Copies of @WayneElsey’s new book “Almost Isn’t Good Enough” http://bit.ly/200kShoes #200kShoes
• 3. Go browse around the WayneElsey.com and check out more details about the book.
• Note: Winners will be selected from the BigIsTheNewSmall.com comment section.  You can leave one comment each additional day that you follow steps 1 & 2.  I will post a new tweet each morning to be retweeted for that day.  An individual could have 7 entries if they tweeted and commented each day. Increase your odds, participate daily!

I will randomly choose 5 Names to win the copies of the book and 1 with the help of random.org or another random means from those who complete the above steps by 11:59 pm central time 12/23/10.  I will announce the winners on Christmas Eve Dec. 24th and I will ship your items Mon. December 27th.  Good luck and share this info. with your friends.

dream BIG. think BIGGER.

This is a great story of a man using MobileMe to track down his iPad that came up missing from the Super-Market.  Technology is amazing, as there are a number of great iPhone and iPad locating devices.  Find My iPhone, Stealth and MobileMe.

Do you have a tracking device on your phone or iPad?  Would you have done what this guy did?

I am an Apple fan, for too many reasons to name and not enough reasons to complain.  My entire family has the iPhone including my Wife, 11yo and 7yo.  My 7yo.’s is an iPod touch for all intents and purposes, because it’s not activated.  I have a MacBook Pro, which definitely thinks like I think.

I debated for weeks and tried to talk myself into getting the latest addition to the Forbidden Fruit Family, the iPad.  I was getting close to talking myself into it, when my amazing wife and children surprised me with an iPad on Father’s Day.  They also got me the wireless keyboard and a Dodo Case. I have come to really like my iPad and I will share 10 brief reasons why.

10 Reasons I Like My iPad

• 1.  It looks and feels amazing.
• 2.  The Internet processing is really fast.
• 3.  The apps are more robust and quite enlarged.
• 4.  My kids think its cool and playing Angry Birds for them is twice the fun.
• 5.  It is combining my computer, phone, moleskin, doodling paper, sticky notes… into 1 place.
• 6.  I can do my writing with a good sized virtual keyboard and transfer word documents w/ Pages app.
• 7.  I can record the audio of any meeting and take random typewritten notes.  I can later go back and click that typewritten portion of the notes and it will take me to that audio portion of the meeting with the SoundPaper app.
• 8.  I can use it for preaching, weddings, leadership talks etc.
• 9.  Dodo Case makes it look professional and like I’m carrying a moleskin notebook. (see pic above)
• 10.  The ebook reader is amazing, the iPad is quick and handy, it’s replacing me carrying around my laptop, it’s cool, it’s practical, it’s a conversation starter, reading the Bible is awesome, the games are better…  I could go on and on!

What are the reasons you like your iPad?  If you don’t have one are you debating getting one?  Do you simply say, I’d never get one.

The local church is such a beacon of hope for every local community, It doesn’t get much better than being connected to your local church.  The local church has tremendous responsibility and I believe Pastor Bill Hybels says it best when he said this, “The local church is the hope of the world and it’s future primarily rests in the hands of its leaders.”  That is such a true statement and it also demands a great deal of responsibility for the local church.

Ministry leaders must understand that The LifeLine Of The Church is engaging the people and the entire family.  By engaging the entire family, the church can ensure that generations of Christ follower will continue to be raised up.  The church can also ensure the church will be a growing thriving place of hope for the lost and the community at-large.

Ministry leaders not only have the responsibility of leading, discipleing, shepherding, teaching and developing their congregants, they must also put the proper systems in place to steward the people and financial resources that God has placed in their care.

For church leaders to adequately serve the families and individuals that call their church home they need an accurate and complete picture of the people and their involvement in the church. If the information is incomplete, inaccurate, or stored in several different systems, it makes it nearly impossible to customize your care based on their needs.

A comprehensive church management system like Fellowship One provides a comprehensive, 360 degree view of the families and individuals involved in your church. You will have up-to-date information just one click away including their name, age, and contact details; the names and ages of their children; the latest notes and communications between them and the church; a graphical view of their involvement as a participant or volunteer in the church’s activities; and with the proper security, their donation history.

As a Ministry Leader, I personally love having Fellowship One not only available on my computer but also on my iPad and iPhone.  Fellowship One is the foundational system that helps us to stay connected with our volunteers, small groups, children, students and attenders.  It’s a simple solution that just makes sense.  My boys have even learned to appreciate the system, last time we went on vacation in Florida, we attended another church that also used Fellowship One.  My youngest son said, “Dad, their check-in system is just like the one at home.  Look, they even have the same name tag stickers.”

You are called to serve the people, it doesn’t matter whether you are a church plant or a church with a huge congregation, Fellowship One has a comprehensive management system for you.  The People and The Families are The LifeLine Of The Church… Ministry Leaders have a responsibility to manage them.

Share your thoughts and experiences with Fellowship One and the importance of a church management system.