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Well here we are, Episode 7. 7 weeks of you dialing in and listening to this Facilities Five and Dime. We're so glad that you're here. My name is Nathan Parr, I'm a Facility Specialist with Smart Church Solutions and Smart Church Solutions is presenting this podcast; Facilities Five and Dime. We know that time, time seems fleeting. It's a little precious, so we're glad that you're here with us today. We focus on your facility at Smart Church Solutions so that you can focus on your mission. So again, this one's a little different. Little more laid back, a little different music because sometimes, you know, I just feel like relaxing, chilling, just taking a little bit of a break. Many of us right now we're kind of hit that, and it's hard to know, " When do we hit the peak?" "When do we hit the end?" Because we're not sure. The finish line seems to keep changing. Things keep changing on us. We keep pushing back, shelter in place, going longer, more restrictions on travel. All that to say, we don't know what's going on. Day to day, week to week and probably month to month. It's going to be different, and we've said it here, and you probably heard it. It's all about the new normal, "When can we go back?". The reality is, we're probably never going to go back to the way it was prior to Covid-19, this pandemic that has gripped the world and I, for one, think that in some areas, that's probably okay. If you're like me, you're starting to see more families out about walking together. I'm spending more time eating meals with my family. It's hard to stay busy when it's just us at home. We're getting more projects done at home. We're planting things. I don't have a green thumb unless I am painting something green. We've planted a couple fruit trees and we've started a garden just to be able to do stuff. I'm gonna teach my youngest son, who wants to learn how to woodwork. Stuff that always seemed like we never had the time to do, we are finding the time because we're together. So in some ways that's good. So it's always about finding the Joy. It's about finding those things that we can hold on to, hold tight to. We don't need to focus on the negative. When I , uh, befoe I enlisted in the Marine Corps I was good friends with my recruiter. Not not a lot of people can always say that, but I can't very proud to have known the man a strong Christian, and he taught me a lot. One thing he taught me about joining before I went to the Marine Corps is he said, "You know what, it's all about PMA and, of course, like many of you probably going, What's P MA? It's positive mental attitude, and it sounds simple, but really, it's it's about choosing... no matter what you're facing, to search and find that positive and then to maintain that positive mental attitude, knowing and acknowledging that it's not always going to be easy it's gonna be hard at times. But we can seek better. We can choose to remain positive. That doesn't mean we don't go through life scared. It doesn't mean we don't come out hurt in some areas But, we can recognize it. We can work. And if we can't do it ourselves, you know what? We're in this together. So find a friend, talk with someone, help each other out At Smart Church Solutions, you might think "Well, you guys are facility folks", and we are. Our focus is on your facility. We want to give you the best training and the best solutions for that. But you know what? We're just like you were in this with you. So if you ever need to talk, if you ever need to reach out if you ever want to Nathan@smartchurchsolutions.com. Email me. Give me your number. I'll give you a call. We'll talk. We'll chat. If you just want to say hey, that's what we're here for. Any one of us on here, hit us up. We'll be glad to talk to you, to reach out because it's about connecting. It's about acknowledging that we are humans. We are created in His image and we are together. So, this one is gonna be a little shorter. Again, just the kind of mood I'm in, and that's kind of what happens with these podcasts. But I do want to talk a little bit about something we're seeing, that we're doing. One way to remain engaged as movement is being restricted. (Rightfully so). Trying to stop the spread. It gives you an opportunity, and most of us have access to the Internet... to online platforms, So now's a great time to really consider some, some online learning and online training. Obviously we do software that's one of the things we do. Many of use our scheduling software, our work order management software, and one of the biggest things that we see is organizations that take advantage of training, that are purposeful about it, have a much better adoption of, a much better time and use with the software. And they're able to do and learn and do some cool things. Like some of our subscribers, obviously scheduling for churches, are still able to use their events scheduling, even though they're not meeting in the facility. We're still using our calendar integration, for example, in putting on events and putting the links to the Zoom meetings and the links to the different online or Google Meet or different platforms that they're using. So instead of having a physical location, they're putting the connection link so that people can still remain connected. They know where to go, they go the the website. But they these are also churches that we're seeing do this that have gone through and done training. So, you know, while you're home, while it's getting harder and more difficult to go into your facility, if you can't go to your facility, if you winterized it like we talked about last week, (and if you haven't I encourage to go listen to that one as well as I reach out to us for that checklist that we'd be glad to provide you). But if you're at that point where you've winterized, you got something to do. Consider online training and online learning. We obviously offer different training packages, options and things that you can do. But really, it's just about learning, about taking advantage of and having something to focus on. If we're not focusing on something, not finding something that we can do to better prepare for the next storm, if you will, or the next pandemic, it's gonna always give us that sense of dread, that feeling of unease, knowing that, "What are we gonna do?" Well, let's train, let's do that. Let's train with our teams. Maybe you're not using products with us. That's fine. You could still meet with your team's, your facility teams, and meet with them and train and go over stuff. Check in with them. These are the things that we are encouraging you to do, to take advantage of, to consider doing meeting up and again, now is the time to do it. I don't have much time to do anything else, right? We also, just like we talked about last week. Find your joy, find your humor, find the fun things to do. What skills skills can we get better at what new things can we learn? I mentioned earlier. You know, I'm gardening, not my favorite thing in the world, but I get to do with family. It's kind of fun, and eventually we'll have some food that we're gonna eat. We're gonna have a lot of fun... um... talking about why we can't eat it. One thing I do like is, I do enjoy baking. So made banana nut bread with my kiddo today my youngest, first time he's made something like that. Now he won't eat it because he's a very picky eater, but he enjoyed making. We'll enjoy giving it away to those we can, to those who might need it. So again, as we go through these things and we look for these things were just encouraging you to to stay positive and to focus on those things that can make a difference. Now is also a great time to consider software , different applications that can make your life easier when you come back and we start getting into the newest swing of things. we our facilities start coming online. We're working on a process for you to develop, you know, bringing your facility back online just as a checklist of things to help. But before that, if you never calculated your life cycle for all of your system components. If you've never gathered that data together, now is the time, right. If you've got some different things you want to learn, or maybe a masterclass on leadership or something like that, it's out there. There are so many companies right now offering free or reduced training sessions, teaching and webinars and how to... it is it is time for you to take advantage of all this out there. If we don't, then we're sitting around and we're starting to go and stare off into the abyss. And the problem is when that abyss starts staring back, that's not what we want to be. We want to be staying positive, staying focused and learning. So a little more again about the company Smart Church Solutions like I mentioned, you know, if you're interested in checking out some software, interested in training , some one on one sessions, let us know. We would be glad to meet with you to talk with you, to show what we got to share with you. If you just want to talk. If you just need someone to give you a call, maybe drop you an email, text message something. Look, we'll be glad to do that, too, because again, we're in this. We don't get a chance to travel right now as much, obviously as we normally do. So we'd love to talk with you. Reach out, connect with you. If you haven't joined our Facebook group or reached out to us on the web site we encourage you to do that. Take advantage. Look for those things that will positively impact your work as a facility steward. That will positively impact what you need to do to grow. That's what we're here for, we want to support you in that. Like we like to do ( again, we are Smart Church Solutions group, Church Facility Management Solutions). We do like to focus on the main thing. Keep the main thing the main thing, and that is, you know, scripture. And what does scripture tell us in a lot of things. Well, this one thing comes from Psalms on a lot of us are spending a lot of time and Psalms right now as we go through this time. So Psalm 34 verses four through 10 CSB Translation says: "I sought the Lord and He answered me and rescued me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant with joy their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles. The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and rescues them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in Him. You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord for those who fear him lack nothing. Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing." It's a verse, a section of verse that brought some peace and joy some comfort to me. I wanted to share it with you all, and again, as you go out today remember, you're not alone. You're never alone in this as we go through If you can hear the podcast, if you can see are blogs if you could reach out, connect with us, if you are one of our subscribers. We're there for you. We want to be there for you. And anybody else that hears or this gets shared to. We're here for you. We're in this together and we just want to I want to let you know that. So again, we're praying for you, praying for the organizations, we're praying for the country way. Hope that you're taking advantage of this time either a) taking care of your facility, getting some things done or taking advantage of maybe training opportunities, online stuff. Again, stay positive, keep that positive mental attitude. We hope and we know that we'll see you bigger, better, bigger, stronger, on the other side. Thank you. Have a great time and we'll see for next episode. Facilities Five and Dime podcast is presented by Smart Church Solutions. For more information, head on over and check us out at Smartchurchsolutions.com. We appreciate your time with us on this episode. You can subscribe to receive notifications when the newest content drops and again we're here for you and you can always reach us At info@smartchurchsolutions.com.
