During graduate school, I had a friend who was a Presbyterian minister-in-training. He was pretty much the most WASPy fella I’ve ever met. He had a shock of impossibly golden blonde hair and always seemed like he had just finished playing a round of croquet on Martha’s Vineyard.
In our conversations and debates about theology and Church history, he would sometimes seize a pause and say, “Speaking of me…” He would then proceed to tell a personal story or share something to do with himself. It was kind of hilarious, as it disarmed the obvious turn to self-focused conversation, and so my family has kind of picked it up as a way of doing the same. Feel free to borrow it.
So, while I often take a left hand turn with DruGroup and talk about me, this time, I want to talk about you… so:
Speaking of You…
Thank you for reading.
Substack tells me that I’ve had roughly 25% more readers in the last four articles as I did for even the most read set of four in the past (which was the prior month.) As I reflect back on 2021, I want to seize this pause, and say I appreciate the time you put into reading. It always takes a little more time to read an article than to watch a YouTube clip (and way more time than a TikTok). So, thanks for reading my writings and helping others find it.
Some are sharing articles by clicking the little arrow you find at the top or bottom. It looks like this image I’m inserting here (which shows up at the bottom of the version in your inbox where you can also click the “Share DruGroup” box to refer someone to subscribe.)
It looks like this image I’m inserting below when you look at the end of the online version:
I don’t often share my articles on social media, preferring to write for my subscribers primarily, not the lurkers. So that means the most often way for others to see what I write is when you share it. The other key way is when you forward the email from the free subscription to someone else. Honestly that is one of the best ways as its so personalized and you can think of who you know that might find it applicable. There’s no better way for me to gain a reader than by the recommendation of a subscriber.
DruGroup will continue to be a free-only subscription
Speaking of subscribers, you may have read my “Input From You About DruGroup” installment where I wondered aloud about the future of DruGroup and whether I should launch a separate paid subscription version. I got a good bit of feedback with email replies and in the comments. I was able to group the thoughts into three categories:
“Yes, Dave, I think I value your writings enough that I would pay a little something for more.”
“Maybe, Dave. I’d have to think about it. I might be fine with just the free version, but I can see why you might want to do that.”
“No, Dave. No offense, but I don’t really pay for subscriptions for articles much, if at all, so I don’t think so.”
They were about evenly distributed among these three takes, although each response was unique and I interacted with each of you (I believe.)
I’ve thought about it a bit and decided not to launch a paid subscription version of DruGroup at this time. Instead, I will invite people to continue to read, for free, and perhaps take advantage of other things I do as a coach and consultant which actually, you know, pays the bills. I want to keep writing, and the other things I do make that possible. Reach out to me by replying from your inbox to this or by leaving a comment if you’d like to inquire about my leadership coaching or my consulting for organizations if we should partner together in 2022.
Questions, answers, and subsequent writings
Speaking of responses, I got a number of those to my “Your Questions” article. I was asked about dozens of things by email and in comments and even on social media. Most of the questions had more involved answers, so I’ve focused in on a few of them already, in the below three articles:
I found the question spawned this first one to be so important that it launched a series I’ll be writing toward occasionally, as it hits many different subjects with which I have an interest and expertise in human resources, hiring, staffing, etc.
This one on “Thinking Diagonally” was a fresh take offering a new way to think about the church that transcends two typical interpretations of how to categorize the church.
This last one was the first I tackled after the questions article, and these were just in response to three questions. A few other questions I haven’t gotten to yet are below. These are complied as a kind of “top ten questions” I received, in no particular order. I’m wondering which of these are most interesting to you for me to tackle next?
What is the opposite of a “microchurch network”?
How do we help the American church to become more self-reflective? If the church has been boiling in a cultural kettle, how do we get the frog out?
How do you organize your writing, projects, ideas, research, etc?
How do we spur a movement of everyday life Christ-followers into simple, sincere, authentic expressions of the kingdom?
How do you work the right amount of hours as a pastor?
How do you distinguish the voice of God or the Holy Spirit from what may be considered instinct, intuition, or common sense and any other inner voice that might guide our thoughts or actions?
How do Millennials see leading differently from Boomers?
What is the best graphic you’ve ever seen that explains a difficult concept?
Of the various levels of "Christian witness" in the public or even governmental sphere - which one(s) most appropriately reflect a biblical trajectory?
What course/class/concept did you dislike most that you now use often (or appreciate most)?
Which of these, 1 through 10, would you pick next? Reply to this from your inbox or leave a comment here. I’m interested to hear what you think and why I should hit it soon in 2022.
#4 :)
9, 8, 5, 4, 2, 7, 6, 3, 1, 10