Tom Allen

Walk into any place of business, and it's not difficult to differentiate the OWNERS from the CUSTOMERS.      *The OWNERS are looking for the CUSTOMERS to serve them in any way possible      *The CUSTOMERS only look for the OWNERS when they need something      *The OWNERS are there to serve      *The CUSTOMERS are there to be served      *The CUSTOMERS loyalty to this place extends only as long as they get exactly what they want      *The OWNERS loyalty to this place is set and permanent      *The CUSTOMERS are there to see what they can get      *The OWNERS are there to see what they can do to help the CUSTOMERS get what they need Read over that list one more time, but this time, don't read it thinking about the store down the road.  This time read it with your church in mind.  Then ask yourself the question, "Am I a CUSTOMER or an OWNER?"   The answer to that question may tell you more about yourself and about the way you look at your church than you ev

OK, so if you're a golfer, that means something to you.  If you're not, it probably means nothing.  Recently, I've made the attempt, taken the time, made the effort...not sure which one of those fits...to "pick up" the game again.  CONCLUSION:  You don't just "pick golf back up".  It's a frustrating game.  But, an enticing game, all at the same time.  But, again, I digress. Back to "playing from the tips".  That's just a term that refers to hitting from the longest (hardest) tee boxes.  Why would you want to do that, you ask?  Because these are golfers, and in most cases, these are men.  Testosterone.  Nuff said.  It's basically for those who want the ultimate challenge the golf course can provide them.  It's "extreme" golf, so to speak.  It's taking it to its greatest limits. Yesterday, I played from the tips.  No, I didn't go anywhere near a golf course.  I just experienced the extremes of life.  I ma

Yep, it's now officially the Christmas season at the Allen casa'.  We got the tree.  We got all the furniture arranged where its almost impossible to watch a football game.  We got the nativity scene.  We got your little pieces of fake greenery twisted around everything that's up all year anyway to somehow mysteriously make it "Christmasy" now. Susan asked me if I was going to hang lights outside on the house.  I told her I had had a little talk with Jesus and he had told me, " Tom, for my birthday, I don't want you to hang lights.  I want you to be  the light".   (UmmUmmUmmm...wow)  And I told him, "OK, if that's what you want...I'll do it!"   Nix on the outside lights. My favorite Christmas decoration, hands down, are the stockings (well, they're actually boots...cowboy boot shaped stockings) hung on the mantle with everyone's name on them.  It started with two...just Susan and me.  Then along came Caleb Brady Allen an

I have succumbed to the dreaded CRUD.  It came upon me without warning.  The fact that " everybody's getting it"  has not provided much solace for me at this time.  I find that sickness has phases, just like anything else. Phase One:  Something's not quite right Phase Two:  Something's definitely wrong Phase Three:  I'm afraid I'm going to die! Phase Four:  I'm afraid I'm not  going to die!!! Phase Five:  I feel better, but really want you to feel sorry for me, because I certainly do Phase Six:  All better...that was no big deal! Yeah, that was a little dramatic.  Funny, but that's from a man's perspective.  I find a woman's perspective on sickness to be a little different.  Most women just have one phase... I'm sick...leave me alone!   When it comes to being sick, men revert back to being babies and need someone to hold their hand or give them a bell to ring and make them chicken soup.  Whereas, women just want you to keep

Welcome to CYBER MONDAY!   For anyone who may be lost, today is the online version of BLACK FRIDAY.   Today, those who overspent on Friday (and even on Thursday this year) will have the additional opportunity to compound the problem with the click of a mouse.  Ah, the wonderful times we live in! Someone wrote on Thanksgiving Day, "And now begins the Christmas season, when each one of us can worship at the mall of our choice".   How true is that?  How sad is that?  We celebrate the arrival of the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS who came to set the captive free by spending ourselves into bondage.  How ironic is that? Around here at the Allen house, for years we've celebrated the 12 days of Christmas.  For each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas Day, we've given some small gift to each of our children.  My wife, (she's the smart one in the family) suggested that this year we continue the tradition, but with a twist.  That instead of buying things to give to

I have a reputation.  I'm the "DRESSING GUY".  It's just not a holiday if Tom doesn't make his dressing.  You know, dressing...the kind that goes with a turkey.  I'm not totally sure if everyone really loves it, or if they just found someone dumb enough to make the stuff year after year.  It's somewhat labor-intensive.  Just one year, I'd like to be the cranberry person. People always ask me, "What's your recipe?, to which I respond, "I don't have one".  Not trying to be a smarty pants, I just don't.  I just put some of this and some of that and some of this other thing and it works out.  No recipe.  No measurements.  Just throw it all in and hope for the best.  It's probably a little different every year, but basically the same. So, how do I know what to put in?  Well, my dad made the dressing in our house growing up.  I never asked him for a recipe (not sure he had one either).  I just watched what he did and then d

Do you have them?  Pet peeves?  Those certain things that effect you like fingernails on a chalkboard?  I started to write this and realized I have TOO MANY!  Here is a very shortened, annotated, Cliffs Notes version of my PET PEEVES: 1.  People who drive northbound in a parking lot on a lane where all the parking spaces are obviously southbound (really?) 2.  People who can take a 30 second explanation or question and turn it into a 5 minute experience (I'll never get those 5 minutes of my life back) 3.  People who call your cell phone, don't leave a message, and get mad when you don't call them back 4.  The extensive overuse of emojicons (translation: any use of smiley faces in emails) 5.  Stupid people who aren't aware they are stupid (it's SO HARD not to tell them!) 6.  People who use the turning lane as their own personal HOV lane 7.  Christmas decorations prior to Thanksgiving and past Valentine's Day Trust me, this is a very abbreviated list, but

I read this, and thought it was a wonderfully honest and insightful look inside a pastor's head (scary, right), and thought I'd share it: These are their top responses: 1. To Protect my Family. Sometimes, the pastor’s family will sacrifice in ways that make the pastor want to give it up for an easier or, frankly, more lucrative job.  One pastor, discouraged by his young church’s inability to pay him a decent salary, responded that he feels like he is being a “terrible provider.” Another friend who has moved into a difficult neighborhood to be an incarnational presence there cited drug dealers in his neighborhood as a reason he’s wanted to quit. Difficult days can make you question your call to take the Gospel to the hard places. 2. Criticism. Often, pastors feel attacked on all sides. One friend of mine replied to my question with simply the words “sinful criticism,” which he later described as “criticism that is nit-picky and comes from a consumeristic

These two things are rarely the same.  Remember your wedding?  The anticipation of it (especially if you're a chick...guys really anticipate the honeymoon more) captivated you for months.  For some of you, it was more like years....some decades, long before you ever met your husband-to-be.  You were in love with the idea of being in love and being a bride and having your knight in shining armor sweep you off your feet and meet you at the altar and.....blah, blah, blah...  Then you get married and don't even remember half the wedding.  THAT'S why they take pictures...so you can see everything you missed. We've anticipated growing as a church and reaching people for Christ and, yes, building to make that growth a possibility.  We didn't think it would work at our Old Alvin location, so we moved to a school.  Who goes from a permanent location to a school?  NOBODY!  But, we did.  Then God, (yes, I truly believe it was an act of God directly in response to our faith t

As most of you know, I was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident a few years back.  After a lot of time and healing, I'm pretty much back to as normal as I can get (with me, normal is a relative term).  There are a few things that are lasting from the accident.  I have a few scars here and there to remind me of my exploits.  Also, I have a couple of places on my body where there is no feeling.  No pain...just, nothing. Pretty weird to rub your fingers over an area of your body and feel them...then suddenly, nothing.  Takes some getting used to.  But, it's been several years and, to be honest, it's still weird. Numbness isn't normal.  It's a state many people actually seek out.  When the pain of life is too overwhelming, some people actually opt for numbness over reality.  They seek it through drugs or alcohol or some other addiction.  Call it what you like, it's just seeking emotional numbness above the reality of the emotional pain that it replaces.  It's

Checklists are wonderful things.  They let us know exactly what we need to do.  They help us remember what's important.  They put things in the order in which they need to be accomplished.  They give us, not only the items that need to be accomplished, but also the dates by which they need to be completed. Recently, our staff did what staffs often do...we retreated.  We thought and prayed and strategized and planned and made lists and looked at calendars and drew flow charts and re-drew flow charts...all the stuff you do on retreats.  That's often where it all ends.  Right there.  GREAT RETREAT!  Now, it's back to business as normal.  Six months later, someone...some over-achiever...asks " Didn't we decide to do such-and -such on the retreat last year?"   Don't you just hate those guys?! Not this year, Mr. Smarty-Pants.  We wrote it down AND we wrote out Action Items AND we assigned people to each Action Item AND we gave a "Due By" (not Dubai

I never see bills.  In our house, my wife is the bill payer.  At least, I assume she does.  OK, she does.  Anyway, that's not what this is about.  The other day I picked up one of the credit card bills and looked it over.  (Just wanted to see what I was buying)  I saw a charge on there from Netflix.com.  I asked Susan, "What's this for?".  Of course, she didn't know, so I decided to play junior detective and find out.  First to the website, then finding the number to call and, finally, getting to the bottom of case.  (OK, case is a strong word, I know, but I felt like one of those guys on CSI anyway) The BIG BREAK IN THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS NETFLIX CHARGE:  The man said, "Yes, Mr. Allen, you have an account with us...you've had it since May".  Are you kidding me?!  I could have been watching bad movies for 6 months now and didn't even know it?!  Wonder what else I'm missing out on?  Do you think there's a long-lost relative out there

Yesterday, I talked about 5 things that God uses to build your faith.  In case you missed, or dozed off, let me recap: 1.  Practical Teaching 2.  Private Disciplines 3.  Personal Ministry 4.  Providential Relationships 5.  Pivotal Circumstances I'm interested.  Which one of these 5 has God used to grow your faith?  For me, as I look back over the last 40 years or so, I can see examples of all 5 that jump out at me at a particular juncture of my life where God drilled down deep in me through one of these. As a Junior High student, I built relationships that have challenged and changed me to this very day.  As a young pastor, I traveled to the Yucatan jungles on a church-planting adventure where I was challenged to do ministry way outside my comfort zone.  I remember my first pastorate.  I thought I knew pretty much everything a pastor should know.  But, I sat glued to the radio for 30 minutes every morning listening to every word that Chuck Swindoll had to say.  I began my

Remember that series?  It was a few series back, but not so long ago.  Done anything about it?  Me...well, I have good intentions.  But this weekend....whoa.  I've got some MARGIN.  How'd I do it?  I ADDED one thing to my life.  Sounds really backwards doesn't it?  MARGIN isn't about adding, it's about deleting,...prioritizing. OK, here's what I added.  NO.  That's it.  I added it to my vocabulary.  Yes, it was tough, but I persevered, even if it only lasts one weekend.  I said NO to a trip out of town.  I said NO to two great days of golf. (ouch!)  I said NO to a lot a smaller things.  WHY?  Because I promised my wife I would.  Made it a lot easier. We've had nothing but one thing after another thing after another thing.  No down time.  No together time.  Lot's of DOING time.  No BEING time. Wanna do something?  Here's my number...call me maybe...Just not this weekend.  I'm getting some MARGIN in my life.

Anyone notice it?  ACORNS.  Millions...Billions...Trillions of ACORNS.  Everywhere.  I don't even have any Oak trees (sometimes referred to by me as Acorn trees, but again, I digress), but it's hard not to notice the massive amounts of acorns being created this year.  They're everywhere. Anyone know why?  (Oh, oh, my hands up...pick me!!!)  In the life-cycle of trees there is something called a "Mast Year".  That's when the tree produces about 5 times it's usual amount of "fruit".  In this case, acorns.  It's the way God designed trees.  It's to assure that the trees not only produce a substantial amount of fruit, but assure that other trees will be produced in the process as well. This year is a Mast Year. However, the previous year followed a drought, which saw little production, and this season follows a good wet season.  That's resulted in about a 3x greater crop than usual, to make up for the previous year.  3x5=15.  Yep, we&

The election is in the books.  Some of you are happy.  Some of you are sad.  OK, let's be honest, most of you who are reading this are sad.  It is what it is.  Might as well admit it. I had a conversation with a young Christian man the other day.  He was very high on the current direction of our country (thought the government should be the supplier of healthcare, pay for college, pay his electric bill, and provide a litany of other things).  I asked him how he rectified his faith with the stance on social issues (federally funded abortion, redefining marriage, etc.).  His response was "I don't think social issues have a place in government".  That's kind of like saying, "I don't think noses have a place on faces", or "I don't think the sun has a place in the sky".  I could go on and on and on, but I think you get the picture.  The head is inserted totally in the sand. So, now what?  What is the Church's response to this?  Do we

Sunday, I basically shamed all the Christians who don't vote, especially those who don't even register to vote.  My reasoning wasn't just to make you feel bad (although, I must admit, initially, you should....OK, now you can come out of Time-Out), but to move you to proper godly action.  Get registered if you're not.  Go vote, even if you didn't plan to. OK, that's great.  But, what if you're not registered and can't vote.  What do you do about this election? Is your punishment just to feel really bad for the next 4 years?  Of course not.  Just because it's too late for you to vote doesn't mean you have to sit on the sidelines this time.  There are other ways to get in the game. 1.  Encourage others to vote (You can even tell them, if you feel like it, "I made the mistake of not registering to vote, so my voice can't be heard.  I just don't want to see you make the same mistake as me". 2.  Make some phone calls and encourag

I don't know about you, but I'm in countdown mode.  I've got my calendar circled and I'm marking off the days till SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2013.   That's the day when DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME returns.   Yes, I'm aware that we're only one day into the countdown, but that's one day closer to the sun reappearing past 5:00PM and possibly me not feeling I should put on my PJs at 8:00. In case you don't have your own 2013 calendar yet, I'll try to keep you updated.  I actually started a hunger strike yesterday to bring back the sun, but when it started getting dark at 5:00, I got depressed and needed comfort food.  I may be 300 lb. before the light returns.  Just consider it a "hibernation period".  I'm storing up for the winter.  (wink, wink) So, apparently, this is going to continue, despite my rantings and protests.  (Who knew?)  So, how do we make the most of it?      *Read more      *Spend more time with the family (actually learn your

OK, that's my grandson from OKC.  Blog or Cash?  No contest.  See ya!

The great theologian, Barbara Streisand once sang, " People who need people are the luckiest people in the world".   She has a point...but then, she missed the point entirely.  People who need people...are just people.  In essence, all people need people.  Obviously, some people have never figured that out.  Some people live in complete denial.  Some people are just clueless.  But, the truth is ALL PEOPLE need people. Some live their lives and never realize it.  Some people never realize it until something traumatic happens, and for some that's a wake-up call and for others, it's just the realization that they've missed out on the most important part of life. The fact is, we were designed for relationships.  That's how God made us.  Simon and Garfunkel sang, " I am a rock...I am an island", but in reality, none of us were designed to be rocks or islands.   We were designed for community.  We were designed to love and be loved.  To care and be car