Needed: Ideas for reorganizing church

I'm looking for help. I was tapped to help update our church bylaws. We still have an old structure from 20 years back of committees for various functions; social ministry, youth, worship and music, etc. However I've learned that there are actually very few committee members, and quite often only a council representative for these areas of ministry.

My question is, what is a better way for us to organize our church structure to better reflect the busy nature of people's schedule and their reluctance to join committees?

Is there better terminology for a committee?

How else might we manage the affairs of the church, but not tap too heavily into people's time?

Ideally I would love for most of church member's discretionary time to be utilized directly in service, versus church management. We've got a wonderful service team model to engage people to cover the Sunday worship activity (ushering, communion, greeters,etc), which if you're interested I could share.

I would love to hear what you think about ways in which we might restructure our church.

Is it a flower or a weed?

One definition of a weed is that it is simply a misplaced flower. A question then arises, would a misplaced flower then be considered a weed?

This petunia had the nerve to grow up right in the middle of our walking path.

Plants could use the sage advise of real estate brokers...it's all about location, location, location.

As to the chances of survival for this putunia, I believe they are greatly enhanced by its good looks, as any hollywood agent might advise.

Morning's beauty

I'm a HUGE fan of mornings. The morning presents a quite mystical quality. Birds herald its arrival. Colors are at their best, before the harshness by the overhead sun. Just ask this lily, it will surely tell you it much prefers to have its picture taken in the morning.

Orchid blooms again

I had been faithfully nurturing an orchid plant for the past many months after it had bloomed, hoping and longing for it to bloom again. As noted above, my patience paid off. Good things come to those who wait and continue to tend the garden ;-)

Did you notice the sunset last night?

After the storm last evening there was a really beautiful sunset. I rushed out in my barefeet, leaving the Twins game, to take pictures. The picture above is from the bike/footbridge over Hwy. 100 between Golden Valley and Crystal, Minnesota. I hope that the motorist cruising down the highway took note of the beauty!

Crossing over the line... what are we going to do about it?

I was taken aback while strolling through the mall to see in a black t-shirt with all large pink lettering… “EVERY DAMN DAY, JUST DO IT”. This was prominently displayed in the front window at the Lady Footlocker store. This was a Nike product taken to the next level to get our attention. It got mine.

Upon expressing concern to the store worker he noted a large store ad that went even further over the line. It was a photo of a woman clothed in black panties wearing Reebok athletic shoes while holding on to a vacuum cleaner. This was an ad for Reebok Reetone. The print ad is modest in comparison to Reebok’s video commercials featuring the curvy Kelly Brook.

I would encourage all to express concern when visiting stores that you feel cross over the civility line. In addition to visiting with the store manager you can drop a letter and or email to the companies that are producing provocative/offensive products or advertising.

Lady or Tramp Footlocker? I’m afraid it appears to be heading toward the latter.