Remembering Teddy and Welcoming Tootsie

Teddy was our little almost-3-year-old Yorkie.  He was always trying to run out of the house and tear across the neighbor’s yards to go bark at and play with the other dogs he would hear howling and yelping.   It was always the case that he would go up to some neighbor and befriend them, and they would call us to tell us they have him.  Or if we were quick enough, could catch up to him in the car and entice him to jump in (he loved riding in the car.)

But on one night in particular some weeks back, Teddy decided to run out when someone opened the door, and we never saw him again.  We went out to find him, but did not see him.  The fact that it was dark didn’t help.  So, we put up signs the next morning when it became apparent that he hadn’t followed his previous routines.  We got two calls – one from a woman who said she saw him around her garage door – and she shooed him away!

Note here:  If you see a harmless dog wandering around your house, PLEASE attempt to get a phone number from the collar and call the owners.  If this woman had called us the night Teddy ran out, he might still be here.

The second call was from a different neighbor tellng me he saw Teddy, and that he had been run over and killed on the main road outside our subdivision. 

Everyone was upset.  I think (I know) I was more upset than the kids.  They took it great.  We talked to them about the possibility and almost certainty of animals being in heaven (even the possibility of them talking! – Read Randy Alcorn’s book, “Heaven”), they seemed ok about it.  I, on the other hand carried the dread of grief around for days, even now it saddens me – and I am sure it will for some time.  I picked him out from amongst several dogs at the breeder.  I fell in love with him first.  Poor Teddy.

So partly to help the kids get over Teddy and party because Linda wanted one for years, we got a new German Shepherd puppy.  She is now 14 weeks old, and we named her Tootsie (thanks Cassie!) after her parent who were both named after chocolate.

She’s a sweetheart and very loving and playful.   She’s now part of the family, and though we will never forget Teddy, we all go on and understand that life ebbs and flows, as do our riches, the weather, friends, the stock market… One thing that doesn’t change is family and the love we get from each other – how that helps us to get past obstacles and to grow and live with confidence and power in our lives.

More New Features on WorshipWebSite.net

Calendar Improvements!
What is this?  Find out what the buzz is about by signing up at http://www.worshipwebsite.net

I am happy to release an updated Calendar with tons more functionality that many have been asking for.  First thing you’ll notice is that on the calendar page you have a dropdown list that makes it easy to navigate forward or back in time to any month desired!  All the rest of the improvements concern creating new or editing existing calendar events….Here’s a rundown:

Recurring Events
You can now set recurring events with a LOT of flexibilty, including every 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th week, plus same date each month (like the 5th of each month), AND the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or last occurrence of any day (like the 3rd Sunday of each month, or the last Friday.)

Recurring events are now editable!  This means you have the option of editing or deleting all events in a series (or you can edit/delete all events in the series from any point forward.) 

Messaging Options
You now have more flexibility such as being able to send SMS text messages to cell phones along with emailing your people of important calendar events.  (You’ll see in the Team/Users list who has cell phones enabled to recieve SMS text messages.)Also, you can choose email ONLY or SMS ONLY or both – however you prefer.  You’re in charge.  (this same feature is also new on the Notifications page, too!)

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As always, I am anxious to hear how you all like the new features and any comments you may have.  You can leave a comment or Contact Us! 

Many Blessings to you, your families and your congregations!

-Mark Brodsky
Owner & Developer of WorshipWebSite.net

New Year’s Day 2008

Had some oatmeal this morning with ground up walnuts and wheat germ,  some organic sugar and lactaid milk after doing 4 sets of crunches.  I meant to do much more, but got sidetracked with a long new year’s day call to my sister and my family wanting to go and get the day moving along!

Went shopping (well, actually returning and shopping) and then to see the new National Trasure movie with Nick Cage.  Very good.  Lots of action – probably too much for where we were sitting (3rd row because the theater was pretty full), and a decent plot.  There were tinges of Arnold’s ‘True Lies’, and some rehashing of similar themes found in the original National Treasure, but all in all, a good family movie (a tiny part of the oval office scene could be seen as offensive to some, so avoid that if renting the DVD), excellent acting and good suspense.

Anyway, Happy New Year, may our Lord bring you the desires of your heart this year.

New Features on WorshipWebSite.net

 Here’s a brief summary of some new features just released on WorshipWebSite.net!

Expanded Administrator Permissions 
This is amazing.  You now have the ability to set very ‘granular’ permissions for your administrators.  So instead of every administrator having access to every administrative area of the site, you can now set specific pages (and even teams and users) that they can have access to and can administer.  

So for instance, your Youth worship leader – he doesn’t need to add songs, edit users or anything else, besides create orders of worship for the youth worship team.  So, you can now set his access to ONLY editing orders of worship ONLY for the youth worship team!  The best way to get a handle on it is to just do it!  And to help you get started, here’s a short video on the specifics.

Also new on the Users page: Alternate Email Address – each user can now have a second email address where they can receive notifications and calendar reminders!

Notifications Enhancements 
There are several new things on the Notifications page:

New MS Word-like Message Editor – format your text, even add images, smilies, etc…

Attachments! Yes, now you can add an attachment to your notifications!

Categories – now you can organize your notifications into meaningful categories, and the new sorting feature lets you sort by category, date or alphabetically.

Archives – now all your old notifications (whose end dates have passed) are all together in a neat dropdown box at the bottom of the notifications list. 

File Repository Enhancements
The File Respository has gotten a facelift with some much needed new functionality:

Categories – you can now assign your files into categories for easy organizing

Drag-N-Drop – move files from one category to another

Ordering – Easily change the order that files appear within each category by drag-n-drop (see picture to the right of how the categories look…)

Holiday Fitness

OK, never try and go on a fitness kick around Christmas, ok?  With my in-laws in town and not one, not two, but THREE Christmas celebrations (with family, etc.), I’m afraid that getting started has become more of a battle than I bargained for!

But in all, I have lost about 4 pounds and continue to strive to complete my workouts as often as I can.

Many blessings to you in the New Year, 2008!

“Getting Fit” – The Start of Something Shrinking….

Namely, um, that would be me.  The shrinking part.

 I need to lose weight.  So, I am starting to work out again, a bit more seriously than in these past few years, and watching what I eat.  In an effort to regain that once amazing state of mind where being fit was not just a habit, but a way of living my life….you know – when you’re in the zone – when not working out feels…weird, well, I am putting it all in writing to you, my dear friends.

In taking some cues from my friend Greg, who to date has lost an amazing amount of weight and continues, even through knee surgery (that would surely put most people out of the game) and medical issues, I am putting it ‘out there’ so as to keep me from failing on my journey. 
(Oh and stop calling me Shirley!)

 See Greg’s Blog Here.

 So I want to share my journey with you.   All my postings will be in the ‘Getting Fit’ category, if you care to read.  Actually this is fairly selfish of me – wanting to take you with me for the ride simply so I’ll be more inclined to stick with it.  But perhaps you’ll get a little perspective along the way.

So all I ask is that you let me have it (but good!) if you see me slacking (not posting good solid progress on a regular basis.)  If I boast to you here and tell you I’m planning on losing about 50 pounds, and then not follow through, I have shaken your confidence in me, and come off looking rather foolish.  So, please let me be accountable to you so I can reach my goal.  And if ever you need to do the same hopefully this might come in handy for you on that day.

My Diatribe on Spam

I’ll keep this short. 

 There is NO current solution for spam emails that works.  None at all.  Zippo.  Zilch.  Nada.

Here’s the thing:  while all these programs, and even the expensive network appliances tell you they are SO effective on spam, they are not.  Oh, they boast effectiveness percentage ranges in the high 90s.   So that means what?

I’ll tell you what it means.  It means that if even 1/2 of one percent of good emails are marked as spam (and summarily dumps them into your spam folder), YOU STILL HAVE TO LOOK AT EVERY SINGLE EMAIL to see what’s legitimate and what’s not.  And that’s with a 99.5% effectiveness!!!  (And if it deletes the email instead, you’ll never even know – THAT is bad news.)

Since the idea behind spam filters is to filter the good from the bad, if they miss even one, they are 100% useless and ineffective in my book.

One thing is for sure – the person who finds a way to build a truly 100% effective spam filter that people can afford and that’s easy to use – well, they’ll be the next Bill Gates.

100% or Nothing!  Thanks for reading.  Whew!

How To Get the ‘Gang’ Involved with your new Worship Planning Web Site

So you have subscribed to, or are thinking about subscribing to a Worship Planning web site for your church’s worship ministry.  You may be technically savvy, you may see the need right off, but what about the people who make up your ministry?  Will they take to it?  Will they like it?  Will they embrace this new technology?   What I’ve found is, YES!  But sometimes, you need to take charge.  Leading by committee is always difficult.

As for successfully getting folks to use the system, get involved, etc., here’s what my worship leader said when we introduced the prototype for WorshipWebSite.net:

He basically said, “Folks, this is the new way I will be organizing our worship ministry.  To help minimize unnecessary photocopying, burning of cds, hand-offs of materials, etc., and to maximize your access to the music, information and the schedule, we are going to be using this web site exclusively.  Everything will be on the web, so if you need a chart, or need an audio track for a song, or need to know if you are playing next week, check the worship web site.“

It’s easy to use, but like anything new, takes some getting used to.  One of the things many worship leaders must help their people get past is the ‘feed me’ mentality that many worship volunteers have.  Oftentimes there is someone at the church making the photocopies of the music/song list/schedule, burning CDs, etc, and then finding the people in church, and giving them the packet of info.  It is not the volunteer seeking the information, but rather them expecting to be ‘fed’ this information.

A worship planning site takes the onus off the worship leadership of the church, and puts the responsibility back on the people. 

It’s not hard, just different.  It’s not a technical issue, believe me.  Some folks might tell you it’s just too hard for them, but in reality, they just don’t want to do it.  Given a desire to go find that hot new MP3 player online, and they’ll be king of the internet.  It the old ‘change is hard’ thing.  Some embrace it while others fear it.  Please, please don’t allow your ministry to suffer but for the fears of a few.

Of course, some people just don’t have access to a computer.  I would say probably about 2 in a hundred.  Most have at least one computer in their home. 

Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel like this should be ‘forced’ upon anyone, but I have had much experience in worship ministry to know that sometimes, you have to read between the lines.  This new technology is something that will help you and your people to become more effective for God, and that’s what it’s all about anyway.  Given that as the goal, who would complain?

Abraham and Noah both did some incredibly difficult things – going into the unknown – simply to please and honor God by following His desire.  We all (as worship leaders – which means YOU if you take any part in your church’s worship ministry) can take a cue from their leadership.  Venture into the unknown for what?  If it’s pointing to Him, then it’s pointed in the right direction.  Amen!  Let’s go!

Remembering David Lo Piccolo

We just heard today that our long ago friend from New York has passed away.  He had been struggling with a rare disease that for 8 weeks kept him in and out of intensive care (mostly in), multiple surgeries, and LOTS of prayers for him and his family.

One of the hardest things to come to terms with, though, is his age.  Just 27 years old.  Dave was as youthful a 20-something as I’ll ever remember.  This picture was taken 7 years ago at the Creation East 2000 festival on a trip I chaperoned for our youth group.  But Dave was a chaperone too, you see – he was 20.

David played guitar with us on the church worship team.  I remember fondly the times we practiced together and worshipped our Lord with our music.  I remember Dave’s working at a local italian restaurant/pizza place.  Always a smile on his face, and a warm greeting on his lips.

My daughters liked him, thought he was cute.  My baby girl who was then about 6, used to draw pictures and give them to David after church.  He was an incredibly helpful young man, but modest as anyone could be.

One thing I know is that losing a child isn’t right.  There’s some unwritten law in the human makup that doesn’t allow for any kind of justification for the loss of a child.  Your child.  The one you cared for since birth, held closely, dreamed about and worried about and prayed for till you couldn’t pray any more. 

Even being born again followers of Jesus Christ and learned children of God’s Word, even the idea that God will be glorifed in his death doesn’t seem to fit or sit right.  I remember when we lost our baby girl Isabella when Linda was just 26 weeks along.  It hit us like a train.  And we are so thankful for all the love and caring people poured forth.  We couldn’t have made it without the love.  But it didn’t change the hurt.  It didn’t help the hurt.  It didn’t make any more sense because of the knowledge of God’s caring and provision for us.

But, and I am writing this specifically for Dave’s parents, Joe and Lynette, and his brother Brian and his family – He does get us through.  He does, dear Lo Piccolo family.  Believe it.  It’s like he is holding us in his arms.  Though we may not feel the comfort, we are being protected and cared for and….preserved.

The words of Natalie Grant’s ‘Held’:

..To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling…

Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It’s unfair.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held…

Yes, we will survive.  YOU will survive this, and someday, you will think of David and smile a slight smile.  You’ll know where he is and that he’s waiting for you …… In paradise.

…Or the Dog Gets It….

So my quandry is – do I post this ridiculous picture on WorshipWebSite.net?

I think Worship Leaders have a sense of humor – what do YOU think?

 -Mark