Spence Smith

Today on Randy Elrod’s blog you can read “Why We Call Our Franklin Tennessee Community ‘The Campus.’” I encourage you to read it as my post today is a follow up to his post.

Why? Because we often hear “I wish I had a campus like yours.”

Well I dare say that no two campus communities would ever be alike but the common thread behind our campus is something we can all share.

That common thread is community.

Community is something I think most of us long for. It’s a group of friends we can share life with through out the year. We share meals, gather at parties, go for walks, run marathons, half marathons, 5k’s and even triathlons together. (our collective sport)

We also share in our struggles and our successes.

We share life together.

That is the essence of our Franklin Campus.

Do you see how this works? It’s not so much the location (even though downtown Franklin is pretty killer)

It is the proactive attitude of us all purposefully diving into each other’s lives.

How do you start? Look at who your friends are and start there. Dive into their lives a little deeper and start off with something you can all do every week or every other week… Like gathering for a cheap meal on a Tuesday night.

Remember when you where in college and you wanted to go do something fun or go grab a bite to eat or go for a little coffee… or a drink? Who did you call? Your buddies.. your friends.. the people you hang with. That’s your campus.

So… Does this make sense? You might already have a campus you belong to but you call it something different. If so, tell me about it…

If not, do you think you can go start your own campus now? Have a Starbucks or a coffee shop near by? It’s a great place to start.

P.S. As I re-read my post for typos and such, I’m reminded of watching Seinfeld and Friends. The common thread? They shared life with each other. They had their own campus and we tuned in to watch both every Thursday night.

Have you ever heard people say “Everyone has a book in them.” Well, I think it’s probably true which means there are probably a lot of people out there who want to know how to secure a book publishing contract but don’t know the first place to start.

Over the past few years I’ve been learning a lot about the book-publishing world. I have a few great friends who work for publishers and when I hear how their industry works, it’s not to far off from how the music industry works.

In fact the early days of popular music were based around sheet music since radio didn’t exist.

Since I am around a lot of creative people (songwriters/authors) I often get asked about where to start.

Obviously, a great story or idea is number one and key to the success of any book. If you think you have a great idea or a great story then here’s where it all begins.

The Book Proposal

Now… you may be saying to yourself “I’m going to self publish, I don’t need to do a book proposal.” That might be true but have you considered that the key elements of a book proposal could help guide you through the key elements of what makes a great idea or story a great book? A proposal can help keep you focused and on track in the writing process and help you think through how your audience will read it.

Here’s the greatest nugget of information I could ever share with you.

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, has written an easy to read document called How To Secure A Book Publishing Contract. There are actually two versions. One for non-fiction and one for fiction. Think about this for a second. This information is coming from the CEO of one of the largest book publishing companies in the world. He is giving you the answers to how publishers like to read a book proposal. You really can’t get much closer to the source than that right?

You can click on THIS LINK or on the banner to the right to take you to the page he has set up for more information on these versions. The cost is minimal and worth it. I have friends who are working on their proposals using these versions and I have to say… the way these documents are laid out takes out all the guesswork. All you have to do is provide the content. I know… easier said than done right?

Now… does this insure you to get a book publishing contract? NO… not at all.

Does it give you a better chance of getting a publisher to take you more seriously as a first time writer? Absolutely. It’s one of the very best ways to communicate your story without having any relationship to the publisher who is reading your book proposal.

And if you happen to get a literary agent along the way to help you get a publishing contract, then believe me… You just made your agent’s life a whole lot easier by being proactive and on the ball.

It’s time to start telling your story…

I’m going to start working on mine.

Do you ever hear this question from your friends, your loved ones or even… that voice in your head?

I hear it.

Honestly, I hear it more than I’m willing to admit… that voice in my head just won’t let it go!

It goes something like this… I really need to start on this project… I really need to get more committed to this idea I have… I really need to just go for it, I mean, other people are going for it and look at them. They are doing well with what they are trying to accomplish… I need to get my butt in gear.

Then that voice in my head says… So what’s holding you back?

Hmmm…

I’ll tell you what I think holds me back from going after some of my dreams and goals in life.

Committing to just get started.

That’s it. I mean… I could give about 20 other reasons but when I look at those 20 reasons all I see is an excuse as to why I’m not committing myself to getting started and following through.

I have a lot going on. My days are busy and productive and life is full and rich. But if I’m to be completely honest with myself, I’ve not hit my full stride yet and I know it.

So guess what… It’s time to get cracking on a few things I’ve been wanting to do and stop making excuse as to why I haven’t started.

Do you find yourself in the same boat as me?

Do you want to go for it too? Want to do this with me? Come on…

So what’s holding you back?

For my 40th birthday, my family got together and gave me an Apple gift card so I could go purchase a 3g iPad.

I didn’t have the greatest experience when I went to the Apple store to use this gift card because they wouldn’t let me use the gift card THEY issued to buy THEIR iPad. Don’t get me wrong… I love Apple and all of their products, but what unfolded during this experience was unbelievable for me.

When I left the store I called my family to tell them what happened… which is where we now pick up with the email my mother has sent to Steve Jobs.

Before you read this below… The reason I was told that iPads could no longer be paid for by cash or gift card was to be able to track the number of iPad’s sold per person, which is a limit of 2 per person.

Here’s what gets me.

This is the same company that gives me the ability, with an iPhone, to take a picture in the middle of Africa and geo tag where the photo was taken…. But they can’t seem to track purchases made with their own gift card? right….

This past week has been a whirlwind of travel. It actually started on Wednesday with a flight to Toronto to meet up with Michael W. Smith and his band of merry men for the start of his Canadian tour. I’ve never spent any time in Toronto or Montreal, which was day two of the tour, but I loved both cities and the French side of Montreal was awesome. The food was great and the city… WOW! clean and super efficient.

But I experienced something I know I will have a hard time truly painting the right picture with my not so grandiose use of the English language. But I will try…

During the first night of the tour I was standing near the front next to a row of people who were all confined to wheel chairs. These sweet people couldn’t talk and if they could, it was merely noises of communication. They hardly had any control over their bodies and I suspect they have been this way their whole life. They were also at the show with their families.

You know how when you observe people confined to wheel chairs – how even though they have a hard time communicating or moving around that you know they know exactly what is going on? And when it comes to their belief in God – you can sense their love for God is more pure than you could ever imagine? Well… this was exactly who I was watching.

There comes a point when Michael W. Smith goes into this worship moment and sings “I’ll stand… with arms high and heart abandoned…” and there I am… watching this whole audience transcend into this place of worship that I could only explain as holy. I don’t comment much on the corporate worship moments I see, but this one was an experience for the books. (or blog)

And then I saw it… a sister of one of the boys in a wheel chair leans in and grabs her brother (who would be about 5’8” if he could stand on his own) and lifts him up from under his arms. His legs were bent and provided absolutely no support for him to stand up so she held him up, her arms wrapped around him tight so that they both faced forward. She did this so that she and he could stand together… with arms high and heart abandoned.

He LOVED it… she gave him that moment to stand with everyone… and with every ounce of energy he had in him he worshiped…. with arms high and heart abandoned.

So that nothing could get in his way of expressing himself… with arms high and heart abandoned.

Just like everyone else in the room… with arms high and heart abandoned.

Even now as I write this I’m tearing up at the vision of pure love that was wrapped around that whole moment.

And for that moment… for me… all was right and perfect in the world.

It’s a sweet, sweet reminder that I desire a child like faith. Pure, Simple and Loving… with arms high and heart abandoned.

As you go through out your day, what are those unexpected moments you experience that remind you how sweet life is?

Every once in a while I will put together blog sites for newcomers finding their way into the blog world. Inevitably I get asked what blog templates I like to the best so I thought I would share with you my favorite blog them templates.

The first thing people learn when they get into blogging is there are a gazillion templates out there to choose from. Some are very user friendly and some aren’t. Some will give enough functionality to allow you to design it however you want and some are very limited as to how you can customize it.

I’m not a graphic designer nor would I even attempt to call myself a web-designer. But what I can do is work with a good template to get it where I want it, which is the beauty of starting your own blog. You have the complete freedom to learn as you go and do whatever you want to do.

The templates I use 95% of the time come from WooThemes. I love them. The guys who design WooTheme templates know WordPress well and they add new themes every month. The updates and support forums are very helpful and when you get stumped, there’s always a video or post to help you through your problem.

The bottom line is I think WooThemes provide is the easiest and most user friendly gallery of templates to design your blog around.

My template is called Canvas by WooThemes. It has the most flexibility I have ever seen for any template. Every font, type, header, sidebars… you name it. It can all be customized with easy to use functions.

Another great theme is the Standard Theme. I recently used this template to try it out for a friend’s site. If you are looking for something that is really basic but super classy, then this is the template for you. John walks through some of the cool features of the template on his site and has a great forum for problem solving.

The beauty of the Standard Theme is the back end/SEO functions of it are very tricked out for you.

So there you go. If you want to try them out you can click on the banners in the sidebar to the right or any of the WooTheme or Standard Theme links in this post.

What templates do you like? Any pros or cons?

I was given 50 Ways To Identify Triathlon Obsession a while back and thought a few of you would really get a kick out it. I can’t tell you how true all 50 of these really are!

50. You are over 30 and there is still someone in your life that you refer to as “coach”.
49. Your last bike cost more than your first car.
48. You have peed outdoors more times in the last year than you did in your first year of university.
47. You think of mowing the lawn as a form of cross-training.
46. You’ve worn a heart-rate monitor to bed.
45. And it wasn’t when you were sleeping.
44. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.
43. When you get home from a training session at the pool, the newspaper is just being delivered to your house.
42. You have changed more flat tires this year than light bulbs.
41. The most frequently used software program on your computer is the one that keeps track of your workouts.
40. You have no idea why they call Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man” when, after all, he was a baseball player.
39. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and gels.
38. When you floss at night, it’s to get the bugs out of your teeth.
37. Your legs move in a cycling motion while you are asleep.
36. When you see a drop of blood, your first reaction is that you spilled some red Gatorade.
35. You know how far you biked and ran last year, to one-tenth of a kilometre.
34. You think the ultimate form of wallpaper is about 64 racing bibs.
33. A 19-year old kid who works in a bicycle shop know more about you than your next-door neighbour.
32. Your children are more likely to recognize you if you put your bicycle helmet.
31. You have a vanity licence plate with the word “Kona” in it.
30. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of them.
29. You don’t find the word “fartlek” in the least bit amusing.
28. When you refer to your “partner”, you mean neither your spouse nor the co-owner of your business but the person you run or bike with three times a week.
27. You shave your legs more often than your wife.
26. The closest you came to punching somebody was when they disagreed with your position on whether wearing a wetsuit amounts to cheating.
25. It doesn’t feel right that you can’t “clip “ in and out of the pedals in your car.
24. There is a group of people in your life about whom you are more likely to know how fast they can swim 100 metres than their surnames or occupations.
23. Some of the shorts you wear today are tighter than the ones you wore in high school.
22. You are frustrated with the latest Garmin Forerunner because its live readings have a margin of error of approximately three per cent.
21. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout clothes.
20. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of your wetsuit.
19. You failed high school chemistry but you could teach a course on lactic acid.
18. All you want for Christmas is something called a carbon crank set.
17. You wore a digital watch to your wedding.
16. You have to have completely separate meals from your spouse because he or she is on a low-carb diet.
15. Your bicycle is in your living room.
14. You have stocked up on a brand of cereal because it has a coupon that will save you money on your next two pairs of running shoes.
13. In order to establish a new personal best, you considered peeing without getting off your bike.
12. One of your proudest moments is when you lost a toenail.
11. When a car follows too closely behind you, you accuse the driver of “drafting”.
10. When you went for a job interview, you wrote your social insurance number on your arm in black marker.
9. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television coverage of the Hawaii Ironman.
8. You are comfortable discussing the sensitivity of your nipples with other guys.
7. Your spouse is looking forward to the day when you will slow down and just run marathons.
6. You have paused in front of the mirror in your wetsuit and thought, “Hey, I look like Spiderman.”
5. You see no issue with talking about treatments for chafing or saddle rash at the dinner table.
4. You recently asked your spouse out for dinner by asking if he or she wanted to “fuel up” together.
3. For you, “bonking” no longer has a sexual connotation.
2. The magazine secretly tucked under your mattress has pictures of really expensive bicycles in it.
And the No. 1 sign you’re obsessed:
1. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.