This is a great read.  Technology giants like Google rule the landscape today.  It’s a search engine for crying out loud - or is it.  It touches almost every facet of our lives. It links us to friends, ideas, products, directions, weather, and knowledge.  I don’t remember how I used to study before Google.  Now I look up words, phrases, Bible verses, maps, and other commentaries and it all starts with Google.  In his book, “What Would Google Do? Jeff Jarvis explains how Google affects business, marketing, and advertising. Jeff also gives forty rules to manage and live by. I want to share some of those rules in this blog. I am not finished with the book but I stopped at this particular chapter and made a connection to the church and leadership.

These rules can be found under the New Ethic chapter, page 91.  Let me list them for you and then make a quick application to leadership and the church.  The application will be quick because as soon as you read the rules it will be a “no-brainer” to make the application.

1) Make Mistakes Well  2)Life is beta  3) Be Honest  4) Be transparent  5) Collaborate  6) Don’t be evil

Make mistakes well.  As I write my Doctorate I am learning that one of the most detestable things about the church is hypocrisy.  When we as “believers” make a mistake we should admit it.  Admitting errors makes you believable.

Life is beta.  Life is a test. We, Christians, of all people should know this one.  Life is dress rehearsal, quit acting like you have it figured out.  Marrissa Mayers, VP of Google stated, “Innovation, not instant perfect perfection.”  That should be our message.  Sanctification, not perfection.  I have not arrived. I am still learning about faith, life, marriage, hope, joy, peace, love. Just when I think I have mastered the fruit thing, I find myself out of season. Then I have to wait for the next growth opportunity to sprout fruit.

Be Honest.  No comment on this one.  Tell the truth!

Be transparent.  Admittedly I was hesistant to blog, Twitter or Facebook.  I mean how far do you go telling everybody exactly what you are doing at every moment and how long can we post the most creative stuff for the social platform world to be amazed.  Well, soon I learned that all knowledge may be helpful but it may not be appropriate.  Point:  Let people know you struggle, hurt, or that you just don’t have it all together. Let people know you are happy, full of joy, excited and ready to tackle the world.

Collaborate. The beauty of the body is the body working together. Thank you Lord my toes don’t compete to be fingers. Can you imagine the war when it came time to type, or eat? 

Don’t be evil.  Treat others like you want to be treated. 

What would Google do?  Well, I think Google just reinforced the teachings of Christ.  I know its cheesy but…sounds to me like Google asked, “What Would Jesus Do?

Sorry, it’s the preacher in me.