The DUMBEST (Financial) Move I’ve Ever Made

Dancers, not all of our “moves” are related to choreography!  Regular readers of this site know that I have an interest in financial stewardship, debt reduction and personal finances.  I recently paid off my laptop and it felt great!  It was a financial weight (ok, DUMBbell) that I should have attacked and annihilated a long time ago.  I wish I could say that was my dumbest move…but that trophy goes to my 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander!

In 2002, I graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force.  I had a guaranteed job for at least the next 4 years.  With that reasoning, I bought my first brand new car…a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer (think Fast & the Furious 2 without the spoilers or ground lights).  The payments were manageable, but the damage was already done.  I was bitten by the new car bug!

Fast forward 2 ½ years and I am “itching” for a new car.  Somehow, I made up in my mind that I needed a new vehicle.  I justified the purchase of a mini-SUV by the fact that I would be moving soon and the larger vehicle would prove handy.  I started looking around and my eyes landed on the 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander.

I’ll spare you all the details of my non-existent negotiating skills.  I’m sure I was a car salesman’s dream customer.  I traded in my 2002 for a brand new car with monthly payments that were TWICE AS MUCH as my previous payments.  All this with NO MONEY DOWN.  I hope you all are seeing the red flags!

To make matters worse, exactly a week after I drove off the lot, 2-days before I was supposed to make my initial payment, I was in a 3-car accident (snow storm).  Fortunately, everyone walked away without a scratch, but my new car needed $4,000 of repairs after I paid my insurance deductable.  Also, the frame was not damaged, but it is still a black mark on the vehicle should I ever decide to sell it.  New cars depreciate fast enough as it is…certainly did not need my help!

By this point I was already starting to regret my shiny new toy purchase.  Some people actually suggested I return the car to the dealer saying I changed my mind since I haven’t paid anything yet!  I’m not sure if they were serious or not, but that would certainly be less than ethical and was not an option.

Let’s recap why this was a DUMB Financial Move:

1.       There was absolutely nothing wrong with the 2002 car I had
2.       I traded in a gently used vehicle that was almost paid off for a more expensive vehicle with higher payments and a longer loan period

The irony of the car accident and the fact that I didn’t relocate even though that was my primary justification just adds insult to injury.  The fact of the matter is a new car is rarely a wise investment.  Leased vehicles are even worse!  Since vehicles depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot, purchasing a 6-month used or even 1 year old vehicle could save you thousands.

Personal finance guru Dave Ramsey has a lot to say about debt and how to effectively purchase cars.  I believe his Drive Free – Retire Rich  scenario uses optimistic percentages, but the principal is solid – save and plan for the big purchases.

Remember, just because you can afford something, it doesn’t mean it is a good move.  This wouldn't have been such a dumb move if I actually needed reliable transportation, but that was not the case.

Why are you sharing this story?
I receive several e-mails from dance ministers that surround financial issues.  While some things cannot be helped (medical bills, lost job etc), we can mitigate unforeseen financial damage by eliminating dumb moves.  I also realize a lot of the readers are young adults / undergraduates…that seems to be when the "new car bug" hits the hardest!  I hope by sharing this story and can help someone avoid a similar mistake. 

What about you?
I’ve shared my story, I’d love you hear yours in the comments below!

Here are a few other personal finance related articles from Company Keepers Dance Ministry Talk written with ministers in mind:

Cash, Check or Charge

Don’t Break the Bank

Funny Money, Strange Change

 

Share on Facebook

What to “Where”? Praise Dance Garment Resource List

Movement Ministers,

I’m sure we’ve all been there before….you have an upcoming dance or ministry engagement but have no idea what to wear.  A Google search on "praise dance garments" or "praise dance uniforms" will bring up most commercial vendors.  But sometimes, you’re looking for more…but you’re just not sure what or where to find them.   The list below is not an all inclusive list, but it should jump start your search on a variety of garments that are being crafted for movement ministers.

	Diane Ransom / Garments Fit for King Click for website Types of garments include hanky hem overlays (pictured at left), suspender pants, various palazzo pants, ephods, tunics and dresses. These garments are durable, professionally sewn and reasonably priced. Great to wear at dance ministry workshops / conferences, they also make great rehearsal or preparation garments and of course are well suited for ministry. In addition to the garments on her site, Diane can make custom garments like the one she made for me shown at the right (sorry, this is one of a kind!)
	Diane Grant (aka Ladie Di) / Church Streetwear Click for website Ladie Di’s mission is to infiltrate the Christian dance ministry with anointed, quality, and gracious praise dance garments for the edification of God regardless of size, age, or gender.   The overlay pictured to the left is called Fire.  Below on the left is a picture of fire being worn by Ms. Patricia of the Anointed Feet Christian Dance Academy while ministering at the 2009 Equipping the Saints Dance & Worship Arts Conference.  The picture on the right is a red 2 piece called Divinity that I also wrote at Equipping the Saints.
	Tabitha McGowan / Doxa International Click for Myspace Page Tabitha makes stunning priestly robes, tunics and ephods.  Her garments are usually 1 to few of a kind.  In other words, they are not repeated.  The garment at the right is called His Glory Surrounds Me.  In the picture above, I am wearing a Doxa International original called Thy Kingdom Come over my Divinity Set.  Yes, you can mix & match!
	Rekesha Pittman / Reignaissance TM Click for Website Rekesha’s garment line exhibits royalty and excellence.  The garment pictured at the left is called a Reign Jacket.  She also produces overlays, shawls and accessories that can make an all white commericial garment look unique. Recently, she launched Classy Classwear TM to give dance ministers something modest to wear while rehearsing in the studio or evangelizing in the streets.  Let people everywhere know all about "PRAISE DANCE" with shirts, tote bags, and more accessories. Below is a picture of Reign Dance Company in their Classy Classwear Praise Dance T-Shirts and Palazzos
	Michelle Vela / Waves of Glory Click for Myspace Page   Michelle & Debbie make some of the most beautiful overlays I have ever seen!  If I need something special for a solo piece, they come to mind.  Many of their garments are made from ornate materials or delicate silks.  Some garments include hand painted art.     In addition to the overlays, they offer beautiful silk flags!   The garment pictured on the left is called One Night with the King
	Theresa Gomez / HIS Praise Click for Website   Theresa makes a variety of garments, praise hoops, flags and banners.  Including garments for children like the one pictured at the left.

Additional Garment Resources

These are resources I know of but do not own any of their products (haha…yet!)  Their garments are beautiful and on my Christmas list (smiles!).

 

 

Commercial Vendors

Below are commercial vendors that mass produce garments.  These are great resources for your "staple" items (shoes, leotards, tights, lyrical sandals etc)

Full disclosure: The vendors listed below have been a sponsor of Paneh at some time, however I am not receiving any sort of compensation for including them on this list.

There you have it!  A "what" to "where" resource guide to help you find ministry garments! 

As I mentioned above, this is not intended to be an all inclusive list, so please don’t send me requests to add names to the list.   My intention is for this to be a resource guide, not a list that I have to manually maintain…though I may visit it a few times a year to make sure the links still work!

 

 

Share on Facebook

Tips for Ministry Excellence Part 2: Appearance

 

Tips for Ministry Excellence

…because an excellent spirit was in him   - Daniel 6:3, NKJV

********************

Last Month, we discussed excellence in ministry communication.  This month we will continue with excellence in ministry appearance. 

Appearance is simply the outward aspect.  It is not a measure of beauty based on the world’s standards.  

Dance ministry is visual, therefore it is imperative that we present an excellent appearance for an Excellent God!  Our testimony of HIM does not began when we grace a platform, but with every area of our lives.   

Here are some practical tips we can implement to foster a spirit of Excellence in our movement ministries. 

Part 2: Excellence in Appearance:

Garments:
- Ministry garments should be clean and free of wrinkles

- If you are changing into your garments on location, carry your ministry garment on a hanger….preferably protected in a garment bag.  Toting garments in a grocery bag or garbage bag sends a subliminal message to anyone observing and that may not be your intention.

- Skirts and Palazzos purchased from commercial distributors are unfinished.  They are mass produced to be one size fits most.  These circle skirts and palazzos should be taken to a seamstress or alterations shop to cut to the proper length of the individual they were purchased for.

Attitude:
- Your attitude effects your appearance!  Smile more!  You are beautiful!

- Be involved with the program!  It is a turn-off to see ministries only "get excited" about ministry and Jesus when it is there time to minister.  But they sit silent and inattentive while the choir is singing, during prayer, and during other ministries.

- Whenever possible, arrive early and stay until the end of the service.  If you must leave, be sure the event organizer knows in advance and position yourself so you will not be a distraction when you leave.

Hygiene:
- Carry the necessary items to freshen up after going forth in ministry.  Wet wipes, deodorant, body splash, lotion, wash cloth, soap, etc

- Keep breath mints handy…

Hair & Nails:
- Keep your hair neat, unless the piece calls for something else

- Your fingernails and toenails should not be a safety hazard (smiles) or distraction!  In other words, keep them trimmed to a length that is effective for ministry and will not be the center of attention.

We’d love to hear from you!  Can you think of any other tips that would add to a more excellent appearance?  Share your comments below!

Share on Facebook

Tips for Traveling Dance Ministers

photo credit: the mechanical turk

Air Travel

Hotels

International Travel

 

I’d love to hear from you!  Are you a frequent traveler?  What tips did I leave out?  Got questions?  Leave them in the comments section!

Share on Facebook

Tips for Ministry Excellence: Communication

 

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.   - Hebrews 8:6, NKJV

Recently, I’ve been meditating on excellence.  What exactly is it? How does one obtain and sustain it? 

During a leadership meeting at my church it was stated that the Spirit of Excellence causes the believer to aspire to the highest level of achievement in every area of their life.

Here are some practical tips we can implement to foster a spirit of Excellence in our movement ministries. 

Part 1: Excellence in Communication: All communication mediums need to be clear and professional.  In this information age, the first impression is often a website or voice mail recording.

Your Internet Presence:
- Keep your website up to date by removing past events 
- Check for dead links and images
- Watch out for misspelled words
- Your Social Networking page (Myspace, Facebook, Twitter etc) should match the message of your ministry

Telephone Excellence:
- Voicemail recordings should be clear & free of background noise.  IF you must use ring back music….let’s keep it Holy saints!  People calling you for ministry may be turned off by some secular selections.
- Answer the phone in a professional, courteous manner.  Eliminate as much background noise as possible.

E-mail Excellence:
- When communicating by E-mail, provide a relevant subject. 
- Use the same professional courtesies you would in a business letter, especially if it is the first time contacting someone. 
- If you are contacting a group, use the blind copy (BCC) feature as some people do not want their e-mail addresses shared

It is important to note that excellence does not mean perfection.  It is also a common misconception that excellence requires a large budget.  Excellence is more about your attitude that your pocketbook!  Attention to detail is the beginning of excellence in communication.

Stay tuned for part 2, an excellent appearance. 

I’d love to hear from you!  What else can we do to strive for excellence?  Leave your comments below!

Share on Facebook

The Truth about Hotel Room Blocks

 

As an eventholder, I’ve come to realize there is a delicate balance in securing a number of guest rooms for an event.  You have to do a best "guestimate" of how many people will attend.  Of those attendees, how many are local commuters?  You want to block enough rooms for your attendees, but you also don’t want to be stuck with the bill.  Here is…

The Truth about Room Blocks 

When attending an event outside of your local area, it is tempting to try to save a few dollars by booking our hotel room "outside the block", in other words at another hotel, through an Internet site, or with an employee or family discount.  While this may seem like a good idea, often there are indirect financial consequences.

 

Share on Facebook

What is RSS?

If you spend anytime browsing the Internet, you have probably seen some variation of the logo pictured above and at the right.  The logo indicates a particular website offers an RSS Feed.

What is RSS?

RSS provides a way to aggregate web content into a common place for whomever wants it.  The actually acronym for RSS is often disputed, but the common one is Really Simple Syndication.  RSS is often utilized by websites that have content that change frequently such as news sites, event-driven sites and blogs.

 

What is the Benefit?

If the sites that you visit regularly offer an RSS feed, then you can use an RSS reader .  An RSS reader will pull the information from the websites you subscribe to and publish it all in one place.

For example, instead of visiting CNN, Fox News and MSN everyday, you can read the latest stories from all 3 news sites in place.  Also, as soon as new content is added, it is pushed to your reader or emailed to you.

 

Did you know…

There are RSS feeds for a huge variety of information, including praise dance & worship arts!  Here are some sites you can subscribe to:

• Paneh Praise Dance & Mime Ministry (this site)
• Company Keepers: Dance Ministry Talk
• The Praise Dance Life with Jocelyn Richard
• Dawn Churchill’s Desktop
• Dancing Aunties

But before you’ll subscribe, you’ll need a reader.  My personal favorite is Google Reader.  Set up your FREE Google account and start subscribing to your favorite sites!

 

Share on Facebook

Raising the Standard

Even though I am no longer an active duty United States Air Force officer, I still work full-time on a military base and continue to receive revelation about the nature of God through every day events.

Recently I was walking to my car after a long day at work, somewhat unconscious of the time, I heard a loud trumpet over the radio.  I continued walking knowing I wasn’t going to make it to my car in time.  I was tired and mildly frustrated by the inevitable delay.  The trumpet that I heard is a familiar sound to those who have spent any time on a military installation.  It is a 12-measure introduction to the Star-Spangled Banner.  Once the National Anthem begins, civilian pedestrians that are outside are to face the nearest flag and either place their hand over their heart or at their side as a sign of respect, while those in uniform are to render a salute towards the flag, and those in their car are to come to a full stop.  For the duration of the song all traffic rules on the base are abandoned!  Green lights don’t matter, if you are in the middle of the intersection it doesn’t matter.  Where will you be when the trumpet sounds?

As I stood there looking at the flag that represents America, I heard the Lord say “I am raising the standard”.  I began to analyze the actions that took place.  First, the trumpet sounds.  Trumpets, or shofars are often used in the bible as a precursor to another action: coming together in unity, preparing for war or an awakening.  There is a unity that comes over the entire military installation during the Anthem.  Conversations cease and all activity stops while the anthem plays over the “giant voice” (a public address system that can be heard over the entire base and several miles off base).

The Lord is speaking to His people!  To all the ministry leaders….remember the Word of the Lord as recorded in Luke 12:48: to whom much is given, much is required.  Teachers and leaders ARE held to a higher standard.  Those that are moving into the area of teaching and leadership WILL be held to a higher standard! 

As I begin to meditate on this message, I realized this is a “relative elevation”.  In other words, the standard is being raised for those which the Lord is elevating.  Please understand that Godly promotion comes with another level of consecration, prayer, fasting, and studying.  Too often we operate in today’s promotion with yesterday’s anointing.  THE "GRACE PERIOD" IS COMING TO AN END.  Do an evaluation!  Were you recently promoted, given a new position or larger scope of responsibility?  The trumpet has sounded, the standard has been raised…are you ready?

 

photo credit: kevygee

Share on Facebook

Spiritual Dance Techniques Pt 1: Balance

The Importance of Balance

As dance ministers some of you may be thinking this article has to do with poise and posture.  The type of balance discussed within this article is far more important than dance techniques – or the ability to maintain bodily equilibrium.  This is the ability to put all aspects of our life into a harmonious arrangement that allows God to fully use us (His willing vessels) to get the glory.

We need balance!  It takes direction from the Holy Spirit to be able to juggle responsibilities such as work / school, rest, recreation, church duties / ministry.  I submit to you “3 Ps” to gaining and maintaining balance in your life.

“A basketball in my hands is worth about $19. A basketball in Michael Jordan’s hands is worth about $33 million. It depends whose hands it’s in. A baseball in my hands is worth about $6. A baseball in Mark McGuire’s hands is worth $19 million. It depends whose hands it’s in. A tennis racket is useless in my hands. A tennis racket in Pete Sampras’ hands is a Wimbledon Championship. It depends whose hands it’s in. A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy. A sling shot in David’s hand is a mighty weapon that brings down giants. It depends whose hands it’s in. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God’s hands will feed thousands. It depends whose hands it’s in. Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse. Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands will produce salvation for the entire world. It depends whose hands it’s in.” Your life in your hands is a mess, but your life in God’s hands will produce a miracle. It all depends on whose hands it’s in.

 photo credit: bike queen

 

Share on Facebook

How to Plan Events

I host Christian worship arts events, however, many of these tips can be applied to other events.  Many of the items deserve their own post so I can go into more detail.  Subscribe to my RSS feed if you would like to be notified when information is posted

 

Share on Facebook

Next Page »