Jerry Twombly - Funding Your God Given Vision Through Relational Development

Jerry's Kids

For the last several years, individuals who had been through one of our training programs affectionately called themselves one of "Jerry's Kids."  

That has meant a lot to me.  I have taken a bit of ownership in what they are doing and they have taken core relational development principles that I have taught them into their world.   And since I've been doing this now for over 40 years,  the list of "kids" has grown in number and my level of personal and professional fulfillment exponentially increased. 

I have begun to text this group each week with a new hint, a new discovery I have made about development, a thought-provoking question, or maybe a new idea that might be used of God to enhance their work.  

If you would like to join our ever growing group of "Jerry's Kids" and receive a weekly text, simply send me a text!   Send it to: 32020.  In the message box simply type in JK.  After JK, press the space bar and then type in your name.  That's it.  

 

 

Building Relationships--One Text at a Time

If there was one thing I introduced to my life this year that has made a monumental impact upon my ministry effectiveness it has been texting.   It's hard for me not to be excited about an instrument that has brought me closer to family, friends, colleagues, and clients.  

Like most, I have a wide range of contacts with whom I want to maintain contact.  Scores of people around the world have asked me to mentor them in areas relating to organizational development, I enjoy an accountability relationship with about a dozen men, work with a number of our consulting staff,  and I am personally engaged at any given time with 15-20 clients.  My immediate family is scattered around the United States and we've not been all that good in communicating with one another.  

I was introduced to the idea of texting.   I figured out that if I emailed my children, I might not hear from them for weeks.   Calling wasn't all that effective, either.   I could leave a voice mail message and wait for days to get a reply.  But when I started texting, almost within minutes I get a reply. 

Since my life has been committed to helping others learn how to build relationships, I discovered that at a personal level I wasn't all that good at it.  With the help of some of the convenient and inexpensive texting packages offered by ITextToday.com I've been able to group my contacts into groups.  On my homepage I have these groups:  Breakfast Club Members, those with whom I have a mentoring relationship, Clients, Family, Special Friends, and Grandchildren. 

I've learned about "taps" and "touches" and how to share an encouraging word, share important news, provide some new "developmental tips" that I continue to discover, dispense some important "breaking news," and provide a word of comfort or challenge to people I deeply care about.  The response is almost immediate and relationships are growing, deeper and deeper.

I share some of these discoveries in my new free ebook:  Building Relationships: One Text at a Time.  You can download it from this site.  I'd like to encourage you to get an inexpensive "starter account" from ITextToday and begin what I began just months ago.   I think you'll find your life enriched.  

 

The Value and Power of Texting

On Monday's Breakfast Club (June 20, 2011), Dan Cook (Founder and President of Building God's Way) and Dana Simons (CEO of ITextToday.com) discussed the value and power of texting for non-profits.

This presentation was captured using technology that captured both the audio and the PowerPoint that was shown during the initial presentation.  It can be downloaded in the Podcast Section of this blog.   It takes a bit longer to download but the delivery is substantive and well worth the investment of your time.

 

 

The Most Significant Webinar Ever

I hate to be too dramatic, but I honestly feel that the webinar that I will lead on Monday morning on my weekly "Breakfast Club" is one of the most significant I have ever prepared. 

It's a free one-hour session that begins at 10:30 AM (New York Time).   You can register to attend by clicking now on this link:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/793637905.  

If you're involved in non-profit ministry and are concerned about maintaining vitality and viability, this is a program you simply can't afford to miss. 

New Series on Communication

Unlike earlier years, this year we will be continuing our weekly Breakfast Club each Monday. 

This week I'm beginning a series on communication.  I think the changing times in which we live call for better communication.   And while we often talk about it, I've discovered that most organizations with whom I work know little about how to do that as part of an overall development strategy of building life-long relationships.

So for the next couple of weeks we're going to talk about it.    I hope you'll join in the conversation.