John TV: Episode #27

Maybe we should have left this on the “cutting room” floor.  But then again, maybe not!

John TV: Episode #24

Sometimes you have  to face your own message.  After experiencing my second detached retina in seven years … I have been reminded of the vital importance of attitude.  It can change how you see things!

First Day of the Rest of the Journey

Today is the beginning of the rest of the journey.  I guess that is true of every day … but today is really special!  In working with Jimi Allen Productions we are excited to launch a completely new fully integrated online experience for Keynote Concepts!

We have a completely new look, but I hope you will find this relaunch goes way beyond new looks.  We hope you will find it to be a entirely new experience.  And we are just getting started.

We have moved-on from my original blog “Lessons in the Silence” to incorporate the “Front Porch” mantra for both the blog and e-newsletter.  This change was partially because “Silence” didn’t seem to fit our brand new blog that will incorporate audio and video blogs along with the regular narrative postings.  It also allows us to integrate all prior Front Porch newsletter articles for retrieval within the new blog.

This new Front Porch Blog also pulls together all of the elements of our Social Networking sites.  Simplicty with substance might be a good way to describe our intentions with this new online experience.  We hope you find it to be both simple and useful.

We also hope you will allow technology to bring current updates directly to you by clicking either th  EMAIL BLOG UPDATES or RSS BLOG FEED in the column to the right.  Either of these will provide you automatic notice of updates in a way most useful to you.

We look forward to visiting with you in new and refreshed ways on “The Front Porch!”

Not what you might expect!

I was attending our National Speaker Association - Illinois Chapter meeting about a week ago.  It was the best meeting I have attended in over 2 years.  It wasn’t that I had any predetermined expectations of the main program of the day.  I’m not sure what I was expecting … but whatever I was expecting … well, it wasn’t what I got!

Meet Rory Vaden.  He is 26.   And he is not probably delivering the message you might think he is delivering either.  Tell Rory that his generation is filled with a sense of entitlement and wants it all and wants it now … he might just agree with you.  He might also not limit it to his own generation.  His message for success comes from a place of discipline and sacrifice.  It is a refreshing wake-up call that is hard to ignore. While Rory delivers his message with a spoon full of sugar … you find it hard to walk away and hit the snooze on what you have just heard.

To reinforce his message he is on a national mission he has branded as “Take the Stairs“.  And he isn’t asking you to do something he isn’t willing to do.  In fact, while in Chicago he climbed all the stairs of the Sears Tower … and he is going coast to coast climbing the stairs of the 10 Tallest Buildings!  As I traveled last week, I noticed Rory was right.  No one takes the stairs … they prefer the effortless escalators.  I’m taking the stairs … and seeing things just a little more clearly with each step I climb!

Rory … thanks for a great message … delivered in an exceptional way!  Thanks for helping people see the realities of life and helping them wake-up … rather than roll over and hit the snooze.

Thankful for the Unexpected

Last week was a GREAT week!  First, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year.  I love the concept of the Thanksgiving Holiday.  No expectations … other than just giving THANKS! 

But it was also a great week because I was given the privelge to deliver the weekend message for all the services at Good Shepherd Church in Naperville IL.  Last summer, I was invited to deliver a message on the concept of Silent Alarm to their Contemporary Service.  Shortly after, they decided they wanted their whole church to hear a version of the same message.  Each of their four services, on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, had its own genre of worship and it was fun to experience each of them.  The Message of Silent Alarms (John Blumberg 11-18-07) was designed to be a challenge to wake-up to the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) alarms that are ringing in our lives.  Good Shepherd Church’s motto is Welcome-Grow-Serve.  I certainly got a huge dose of the first part of that motto and appreciated them welcoming me into their community with such a warm sense of hospitality.

I never dreamed when I wrote Silent Alarm I would have the opportunity to speak at weekend church services!  After all, I spend all week speaking to corporations, professional associations and universities across America.  And Silent Alarm is a business book written as a parable of hope for busy professionals.  My great buddies Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson, co-founding pastors of Community Christian Church in Naperville IL, were the first to take the Silent Alarm concept and  build it into a full-length 5-week series this past Spring.  They too gave me the privelege to speak in-person at their Yellow-Box Naperville Campus and through videocast at several of their other locations on the opening weekend of the series.  My friend Dan Carlton, Senior Pastor of Springhill Baptist Church in Ruckersville VA, was really the first to even suggest the idea of using my book, Silent Alarm, as the inspiration to develop a series of weekend messages. His church just completed their own version of a "Silent Alarm" series last month.  Thank you Dan … for opening up a whole new dimension to this adventure.  You are one of my newest heroes!  I look forward to sharing the Silent Alarm message as the featured speaker for the Annual Parish Mission at St. John the Baptist Church in Winfield IL this next February 2008.

I continue to be amazed at what happens along this journey.  And I am very thankful … on Thanksgiving and each and every day of the year!

With Strangers on the Front Porch

Today’s post is the monthly reflection from the November 2003 issue of  The Front Porch Newsletter.  If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

Last week I was all ready to sit on my front porch. Except this time, my front porch was to be in the back seat of a shuttle van making its way from the Maui Hyatt to the airport. I had just completed a presentation for the Annual Meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. I thought the van ride would offer some quite solitude as I prepared for the long flight to my next keynote in Philadelphia. The one-hour ride would make for the perfect virtual front porch. I was prepared to be alone mentally, if not physically. I had settled into the van’s back bench when I realized that the two elderly ladies in the row in front of me had different expectations.

Those who know me would say that I will talk to most anyone. But I am not one for striking up two-hour airplane conversations with seatmates. I knew immediately, two strangers had arrived at my front porch and were planning to stick around. Although they were strangers, the warmth of their greeting made me feel like I had just joined up with two life- long friends. I have to admit that I was pleased they were there. They were sisters and had been for at least 80 years. They were on their way to different homes after an 8-day reunion for two in Maui. Their life stories were simple, yet fascinating. Their wit, spirit and love of life, seemed almost misplaced in their more fragile bodies. Having lost their mother, as tender young girls, they knew of the harder side of life. The years and responsibilities of their own families had taken their lives thousands of miles apart. But not on this night. They were together — again. Our conversation was spiced with their memories of years past, that I’m sure they had repeatedly shared with each other throughout the past week. They were grown-up little girls laughing again. One widowed and one caring for her husband in a nursing home. Grandparents of adult grandchildren. Insightful and kind. And curious about my life. I learned enough about their lives to give me insight and they learned enough about mine to give me some advice!

The van ride to the airport was a continual conversation. Except for some brief quite moments. I used these to catch my thoughts. I thought about what they chose to remember and share. I thought about family. I thought about friendship. I thought about the various chapters of life. And now, as I reflect on that van ride, the thing I remember most is what they had ultimately gathered from the good and bad experiences of their journey. They had found what we all need to find on the front porch. Perspective. And a genuine ability to count our blessings!

As I entered that van I saw two elderly ladies. Along the ride I saw family, memories, love and friendship. And when we departed I knew they were no strangers. I had met them before. For they were the angels of Thanksgiving.