swerve lab: The Idea
This weekend I had an idea for the blog. I don’t know whether it’s all that original, but I figured I’d post it for your feedback.
I spend several hours each week helping other church leaders with various challenges they’re facing in their ministries. Due to the volume of requests, I unfortunately have to limit the amount of time I can realistically invest. I really enjoy helping and will continue to do so…I’d just like to find a way to do more.
So here’s my idea: We have thousands of church and business leaders following this blog whose wisdom far exceeds mine. I’d like to provide a method for you to send us an issue you’re facing as a leader, where you’re seeking advice or input from other experienced leaders. I’ll post at least one issue a week and ask all of you to contribute by offering helpful feedback. Pretty simple. If it goes well, I’ll expand it.
I hope that two things will come from this effort:
- The person needing help will get “expert” help from our community.
- The community will benefit from the issues/feedback, as many of us face similar challenges.
So, are you interested in helping? If enough of you are, I’ll post a method to send in issues and get it started this week. Just let me know your thoughts.
Visit 
Sounds great…maybe you have it as a separate tab so all the Q&A stuff and the blog stuff doesn’t get too convoluted?
Im game.
love the idea.
how about learningcurve.lifechurch.tv
It would be nice to keep it separate from your usual nuggets of wisdom….
Sounds good to me. I would suggest that there could be several threads running through the blog that would help people connect with others that they have common issues or situations with. You might have a tech, rural pastor, worship, ministry, education threads that a person could select.
God Bless
With the D.G.E. entry, which is fantastic, a ‘Question of the week’ section would be nice.
Keep up the great work !
You could make it like Yahoo Answers maybe - then if so and so had one idea, another so and so could give alternate perspective. I am game too!
Sound great Bobby, I love it, make and happen!
Bobby,
I’m excited about this idea! Great work… again!
YES!
Love the idea! I am thinking that a “Forum” might be more appropriate than a “blog” this would allow multiple threads to develop and we could feedback on the responses as well as the original post
Dude! You are so ‘Mr. Scalability’ …… Go! Go! Go!
Based on the calls that I get and the coaching that I have done and been the benefactor of it sounds like a good idea. I like the idea that you are fielding the questions so that someone who just wants attention doesn’t monopolize the forum. Some people have the gift of bring up problems.
That sounds great, having a way for people to post anonymously would be something to consider. I know it can be a pain in some aspects, but also would free leaders minds to seek advice in an open setting like the internet. Maybe have them login so you guys can keep track of who’s posting but allow them to post it anonymously to other readers. Just a thought. Thanks for your willingness to do this!
Bobby:
The “Wisdom of the Hive” approach you outline above is a good one. You may not realize this, but honey bees actually do this kind of stuff far better than humans! :)
Keep up the great work!
Agape,
steve
I can’t wait. Sounds like a great idea!
Yep, bring it on. I’m in.
Count me in,this idea sounds great.
I’m in - sounds like an awesome idea.
I’d love something like this. I’ve got all kinds of problems I could use help with, and some I probably haven’t discovered yet.
My idea is kind of primitive — no Web 2.0 stuff. :D But I believe, just like what Dave said, that an online forum (much like that of Pastors.com), would be a great venue. Unlike in a blog, a forum can keep different threads in different categories active, meaning, people can browse topics that they feel they can relate with or can contribute to. Of course, I maybe over explaining it as I’m sure you guys have already participated in an online forum. So, I guess a simple vBulletin type of software can help us.
Hey Bobby, That sounds SUPER AWESOME!!! I would definitely love to learn more about it.
I love the idea.
I love the idea. Count me in!
Well…I guess it’s a go.
Thanks for the willingness to help and for the feedback.
I’ll get something posted today on how to begin.
Hey Bobby. I’m late to this particular party. Some guy named Craig kind of hammered me in DC recently about making sure I take a day off… and Monday is it.
Anyway… this is a fantastic idea and I’d love to help.
kdl
[...] Thank you so much for the feedback on the swerve lab idea. [...]
Bobby,
Just catching up on some blogs posts after a busy first of the week - I love this idea…I am all in!
Groovy.
[...] I received several questions for the lab in the last couple of days. Thanks to all of you who submitted one. If you’d like to submit an issue/question for the lab, you can email it to swerve@lifechurch.tv. Read more about the process. [...]
I love the idea. Back in the day I was a computer consultant I spent many hours in IBM’s community forums looking for information that I needed to get my job done. I’m sure I owe my projects’ success to the information I used to find there.
IBM’s community forum is here (http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/community/). Sure… not the prettiest of sites… but maybe a help to come up with ideas for starting…
You the man. Make it happen.