From our studios, in the heart of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, California, this is a CUBE Conversation. Hi, and welcome to theCUBE studios for another CUBE Conversation, where we go in-depth with thought leaders driving innovation across the tech industry. I'm your host, Peter Burris. Every enterprise has to concern themselves with how they're going to go about ensuring the appropriate access to those crucial applications that run the business. This is especially a key question in domains where the applications are a seminal feature of the operations. How can we set up IT so users see what they should see, can access what they can access, and that we have control overall about how these systems work? Now to have that conversation, we're here with Tony Ferguson, an IT infrastructure architect at Man Energy Solutions. Tony, welcome to theCUBE. Yeah, thank you. So Tony, before we get into this crucial question about the appropriate level of visibility and the need for security between people, users, and applications, tell us a little bit about Man Energy Solutions. Yeah, so we're a German-based company. I'm working out of Copenhagen, but we're part of the Volkswagen Group. We have 16,000 users globally across 100 locations. Our company, we make large diesel engines. We also make smaller versions in our German factory. And yeah, in our company, we have a course, a lot of IOT on the actual engine. And of course, we have corporate IOT. And my job is to secure it of this infrastructure. So specifically, some of these big diesel engines, as I understand it, are being placed in locations and use cases that have an absolute requirements for security. For example, driving a ship is a major feature of the way that your engines are being used within the world. Have I got that right? Yeah, yeah, that's correct. And then the scale of this, the number of engines and the number of vessels we need to access and the data we collect. It is critical infrastructure. We also have power plants. So it's really important that we secure this infrastructure. So it's an infrastructure that has very interesting physical characteristics, but also has very interesting security characteristics. As you went into thinking about how you're going to improve the applicability of the overall infrastructure that you use to drive your business use cases, what were some of the issues that you find yourself struggling with? Yeah, so yeah, a lot of issues actually. What one of the first things is that we wanted to authenticate the actual engineer and we wanted to make sure that the right people got to the right assets and we wanted to make sure that authentication was strong. So like the two factor, multi-factor authentication. And we wanted to ensure that all the data between that engineer and the vessel was encrypted. And another big problem for us is scale. We need to scale the solution and one of the things that ZScale have brought for us is name space routing. We had the ability to really scale the system without using IP addresses or actually networking. So this solved really a lot of problems for us in trying to get those engineers to all of the assets and the IoT on the engine. Now one of the things that you noted in your, as you move forward was this notion of a black cloud where you could formalize the types of relationships you wanted between your engineer users and other users and the applications you were running on a global scalable basis to actually ensure the reliability of the product you had out in the field. Tell us a little bit about this notion of black cloud. Yeah. So it ties into a little bit around zero crust but how I see black cloud and how I sort of describe it is everything is dark, right? So if there's an attacker and he bought scans in my infrastructure, he won't see anything. So basically we reduce their tech surface that means that there's no answer back. And by doing this, we remove all these vulnerabilities, all these zero day vulnerabilities, we remove this. And in the same time, we still allow that engineer to connect to the assets. Now, how does that work in an environment that is as physically constrained as integrating or networking, networking with seagoing vessels? Yeah, so of course a lot of this connectivity is over satellite and of course it's across the internet. So it is important that we encrypt end to end and it's important that we allow the right engineers to the right customers and we're able to access all these resources and to do federation and make sure there's strong authentication for our customers. We can really tell them that all this infrastructure is completely secured, dark, and it's extremely difficult to come into this black cloud. So you've got a challenge. The challenge that we've set up here is that you've got a use case that is constrained by the characteristics of the physical infrastructure where the security needs are absolutely paramount and still has to scale and very importantly be evolvable to allow you to be able to provide future classes of services that will further differentiate and improve your business. That suggests that these decisions you had to make about the characteristics of the solution was going to have an enormous impact ultimately on what you could achieve. Tell us a little bit about the thought process you went through as you chose a set of technology suppliers to help you build out this black cloud and this application set. Yeah, so we looked at a lot of different solutions but a lot of these solutions were based around the old network style, right? Around VPNs, around having firewalls and around having ACLs. And a lot of this is really network-centric and what we were looking for is something that was more application-centric, something that moved up the stack and started to look at policy around what the user would want access to. So putting those users and applications together and creating meaningful policy based on the DNS rather than on the IP layer. And this was really important for us to be able to scale and really make meaningful policy. So in many respects, it allowed you to, not to necessarily de-emphasize, but refocus your network design, engineering and management efforts from device level assets and perimeter level assets to some of the assets that are really driving new classes of value, the applications, the users and the data that these engines are streaming and the models that you're using to assure optimal performance of them. Have I got that right? Yeah, that's exactly right. It's extremely important that we don't have electrical movement. You know, we look today, there's all sorts of wormable malware attacks, ransomware, and you know, you can imagine if something got into this cloud that you wouldn't want to electrically move. So it's not just about the products, but it's also about making sure that all these assets are designed from the ground up that are dark as well, right? That even on the engines that they can't speak to each other or there's very limited connectivity there. Tony, this has been a fascinating conversation about how you've taken this notion of a black cloud and applied it to a really crucial business case within man energy. But I got to believe that this sets you up for a range of other use cases that the investments you've made here are going to offer new classes of payback in a lot of different use cases. How are you going to roll this black cloud concept using Zscaler out to the rest of the organization and the rest of the work that's being performed? Yeah, it's a good question. So when we first looked at this technology, we thought it was perfect for consultants because we could have very specific access policies and just allow them to the assets we required. But then we also saw that there were so many other user cases here, for example, we are moving our applications from our data center to AWS and to Azure. And as we move those applications, the users need to connect to this. So we're able to have this black cloud and have the connectivity to it, but we're not opening this to the internet. So as far as you're concerned, I don't even have any resources or servers in AWS because it's black, it's dark. So there's a huge amount of security that we can add to this. And then there's also a lot of other user cases like company mergers, we had to buy a company so we could use this technology to merge another company together because you don't need to worry about the network anymore. You just worry about getting applications to users. So I think there's a number of great applications for this technology. And I really see that this technology would really grow and I'm really excited about it. So moving away from a physical orientation of the network to a more logical application and user-oriented, services-orientated vision of the network has opened up a lot of strategic possibilities. What's been the cost impact? Yeah, so what's quite interesting when you move to the cloud and move to a company like Zscaler, they're a software company. So forget about all the hardware. You can imagine we have a hundred locations globally. So we don't have to install all the hardware. We don't have to have VPN concentrators. We just have to have some software on the client, some software connectors in the cloud and then Zscaler do the magic. So for the business, they really love this technology because it is very simple. It's sitting in the background. They don't have to log on to the VPN all the time. So it's very seamless for the user. And for us, we save a lot of money on buying hardware and appliances. Excellent. Tony Ferguson, I want to thank you very much for being on theCUBE. Tony Ferguson's the IT infrastructure architect at Man Energy Solutions. I'm Peter Burris. Once again, until we have another CUBE conversation.


What's the word y'all welcome back man all-star 2022 is around the corner It's like a little over a month away And I think it's a good time to start talking about the all-star ballad and man I spent the last couple days doing this it is not easy man It's only 24 spots 12 in these conference, but I'm here to talk about it man I'm here to talk about to give you my own personal value at the end of the day I'm not predicting who I think will be in it This is like if I had a vote which I do not these are the 12 people in the east and the 12 people in the west That will get the nod from me. This is a fluid thing You know I'm saying this is hard man. I spent the last couple days and some of these people aren't set in stone You know some people might have the ability to play themselves into my 12 spots in the next month or so But as of right now, these will be my all-stars on this video I wanted to feel more of like a podcast more than just a normal video of mine So if you wanted the people that only care about who I have I'm sure there's somebody that watched this entire video that will put it in the comment section But for the people that's gonna stick around and watch the whole video and just listen to me ramble about basketball and all-star appearances Appreciate you be sure to leave a like now All-star 2022 is in Cleveland, Ohio. I've never been to Cleveland, but I will be in that joint in 2020 before the world shut down Bleach report put together this entire event that was open to the public where we had live shows. We had Performance from like quavo and a bunch of different rappers and stuff It was open to the public and they're thinking about doing it again this year I don't really know if this is public knowledge or not But I will say we're they're not completely sure if it will be open to the public because of the virus stuff But I will say if you're gonna be in the Cleveland area and all-star weekend Even if you're not going to any of the festivities, but you're in Cleveland follow me on socials man We might have a live podcast You might be able to meet me and all that stuff and I'm I'm always welcome Welcoming to meet all the new people in there and Cleveland. Hopefully y'all nice test Hopefully the weather is not absolutely dreadful. Okay, so now to my list All right, there are a few things that really bother me about the all-star ballad The first one is that there's only 12 spots It's been 12 spots for the entirety of basketball and basketball has evolved to the point now Where it's 15 players to the roster and I would like for the all-star game to be 15 v 15 It will just make it my job as making a ballot a lot easier because listen I got my 12 people that I have on the actual team and an Easter conference. I got six names That are not in the game that that deserve love. There are so many people playing at an all-star caliber level There's gonna be a lot of snubs and I apologize. It's just it's just the way things work So if you had a 15 man roster, boom, it's a lot easier But even then I'm getting three more spots means that there's three more people on the outside looking at it It's hard. It's gonna be hard. Your favorite player might get snubbed. I'm sorry. It's just it is what it is I'm the other thing. I wish it was positionless. I understand why they have positions in it They don't want it like we're talking about a league that for a long time was very guard heavy And they didn't want the all-star game to be 10 or 10 people on the court that is 6 5 and under a 6 6 and under So understand why positions are a thing but it pigeonholed me so much especially in the eastern conference Because there are not a ton of eastern conference forwards that deserve to be in there But there are a ton of guards that are playing all-star level So some of the guards that didn't make it I would rather have than some of the forwards But that's just the way the cookie crumbles y'all and the last thing is that I wish it was a East versus West anymore Because we don't even play East versus West. You know I'm saying what if the Eastern conference have 15 people that deserve it in the Eastern and the Western conference only got 10. What am I supposed to do? So those are my gripes and I know that's not an easy fix or something that they made never change But I'm just saying it made my job here a lot harder to do because of positions because it's only 12 people and because it's East versus West We do the whole drafting anyway ladies and gentlemen. So why don't we just open it up? Why don't we just open it up? All right. It's not like they plan for nothing It's not like I think it's baseball right baseball plays the all-star game and whoever wins They get home court advantage in the world series. We're not playing for anything. Are we? There's not even no a Senate. Well, some people have like contract and send us to be an all-star, but whatever, okay? So this is the way things are going to go. I'm gonna announce Some of my starters. We're gonna talk about them and give them the reasons why they are my starters Let's talk about the Eastern conference because honestly the Eastern conference was a lot harder to do than the Western conference And you know what and I think that's that's because the Eastern conference is the better conference right now at least when it comes to The way teams are winning and losing and things like that the Eastern conference is better Which just means that they they might have more talent nowadays. I'm gonna say my criteria was Wasn't as strict this year as it was in previous seasons because we have health and safety protocols and we have injuries like that I used to be a guy who's like, ah, this player is missing this many games So because of that he might not get the nod But it just feels like everybody's missing time because everybody's gonna catch this damn virus in the NBA If you are a player that plays all 82 games this season The CDC needs to take your blood and just inject it in everybody else's veins because you are the antibody to every single virus It just seems inevitable that every player is going to catch this thing So I pretty much everybody that I have on my list has missed some time with health and safety protocol So it is what it is But I will say there are players that aren't on my list because they have been injured for a long time Prime example of this is Bama to bio. He's missed over half the season right now Some of that will help take the protocol and some of that is just him being out with a legitimate injury In a Western conference Anthony Davis is gonna miss significant amount of time and he will be back before the all-star game But in between he's going to miss so many games and I know Anthony Davis is not a player that's having an amazing season But the counting stats is there if we're just going off captain's counting stats in Davis to serve some type of recognition But the fact that he will be injured and miss so much time It's a little bit difficult and there are certain players that are similar to that as well That are right now injured and we're gonna get to we're gonna cross that bridge once you get there I know I'm rambling on the all-star starting guard number one is the martyr Rosen I hate the fact that the NBA has him as a guard It makes things so much more difficult because this is a spot that I wish I can give to somebody else That was snubbed the martyr Rosen has not played guard for the Chicago Bulls this season Sure He's been a playmaker sure he brings the ball up the court every once in a while But for this season he has been a small four and a powerful that is where he has played this entire year So the fact that the NBA is still looking at the martyr Rosen like he's on the Toronto Raptors is wild to me because it's not just Chicago Bulls thing this man ain't played guard in years if you look at his his position data for his entire time of the San Antonio Spurs, he was playing small four and powerful even 2k last year changed this man's position to power forward He has been a Ford for the last four or five years But I guess since he was under the radar and with the San Antonio Spurs and nobody's really watching them They still looking him as a guard So he has to start at the guard position which again just takes away a position because there there's There's one Eastern Conference forward on my bench Then I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be there because everybody that is in the conversation deserves to be there But there is a guy that got snubbed that I think deserves it more, but he's a guard and yeah Okay, the martyr Rosen I think that is a lock he should be a lock on everybody's Eastern Conference ballots because he has been playing to that level Also, what I noticed when I was creating these lists is I'm a guy That doesn't really look at the legacy of a player when I'm thinking about the all-star appearance often Because there are some people that are perennial stars that have been all stars for seven eight year nine years That might not be an all-star this year because I think that some people that might be younger are playing better than them And honestly, I think that's the way it should be. I think we should be able to Excommunicate somebody's past when we're talking about a 2022 all-star I don't give a damn what he did in 2020 or the 2019 2020 season or 2018 2019 That shouldn't be super relevant when we're talking about this season These are all stars especially when you talk about contract incentives and stuff. This is not some haha Let's just pencil a guy in because of this. No, he has to deserve it the martyr Rosen deserves it The next God position was what's between two people and I will say I'm not a guy that cares too much about who's the starter versus who's coming off the bench Um, I know that it matters in a sense that when you get to You get to like the draft I guess it matters a little bit more because I think they draft starters and then they draft reserves I don't I don't really watch the all-star draft. I watched it the first year and that was pretty much it I watched the highlights of that and and only thing it matters deeper than that It's like you get an extra two minutes on TV in the announcements But if you look at anybody's basketball reference that's ever been an all-star it doesn't say Seven times starter three time reserve if you're an all-star you're an all-star So I think about that and I will say that Trey young is my second guard. You like Kenny Um, um, the martyr Rosen Zach Levin are the number one team in eastern conference They're both averages some crazy statistics. You're absolutely right, but I don't want people saying that I'm by you So I'm giving it to Trey young Um, I love some Zach Levin, but as long as Zach Levin is in the game I don't really care who's starting who's coming off the bench, but Trey young hit himself I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve it more than Zach Levin I think they're similar dissimilar to yours Um, Trey young has been on an absolute tear if you look at his game log over the past 10 or so games There's there's not any dukey like sometimes players just have dukey games like the other day Steph Curry had nine total points. That's a dukey game for an MVP candidate Trey young don't have those even in the loss the other night He had 56 points or 54 points or whatever it is I know that the team hasn't been great and that was his big knock last season But this year's so much different than I didn't I took it to consideration The standings a little bit less or maybe a lot less than I would in previous seasons because again Every single team is going through health and safety protocol And every single team might have two to three more losses on a record that they wouldn't have if they were close to fully healthy And yes, the Atlanta Hawks are struggling and they've been dealing with health and safety protocol Defense ain't looked as great because click a pelle ain't looked that great They was going ham at um at the rooster Golanari with the Portland Trailblaze regardless Trey young didn't make the all-star game last year because he was putting up good counting stats on a bad team This year they're slightly. I mean, I mean slightly better at this point that they were last year But it doesn't really matter too much to me. He gets the nod at the all-star Power of all point guard spots starting the next three are locks to me I don't need to give you um why kevin direct deserves to be an all-star starter Or why yonis deserves to be an all-star starter Oh while joll and b deserves to be an all-star starter those three are absolute locks in my opinion Who do I think is going to be the captain? I would guess is going to be yonis again I think yonis had it last year if i'm not mistaken And maybe even a year before that but kevin errant might get actually no KD had it last year because I remember him. He was sitting in this apartment I remember it was kevin errant. So I don't know who deserves to be the captain. It doesn't matter too much It's between kd and yonis Maybe it's going to be kd because he might get more fan votes, but that is my eastern conference starters I don't think there's anything too controversial now I think the might the most controversial thing might be saying that trey yon over isak livene at the end of the day It doesn't really matter because my first guard off my bench Isak livene Honestly, if we were going to give her the positions I think it matters the most when it comes to the reserves Because there's only two guard reserves and there's three forward reserves and again in the eastern conference There's not a lot of forts that I think deserve to get a ton of love And then when you get to the wildcard spots those two places don't have positions So I can have two centers. I have to I mean two forwards or two guards. They don't really matter Um, but zak livene, I don't need to give you the argument zak livene is putting up crazy Physiocy again for the second year in a row and averaging 25 plus points per game He's one of the few people in the league that are shooting 40 percent from three on like eight attempts or something crazy Like that zak livene is an absolute stud. There's no there's no if and to buts about it He has a lock on my bench and some people might have him starting which I respect to number two He's a player that started off and and people were saying that um, this guy's washed Do you remember the zames harden his wash narrative that was um the first month and a half or two months of the season Since then he said a couple 30 pieces Um, he's had a couple triple doubles that are really good and for the most part he looks close to I would Like some people sit going full and saying oh, he looks just like the old james. I I wouldn't go that far But he looks like 85 86 percent of what james harden normally is and that is enough for him to be an all star In the eastern conference. He's still on one of the best teams in the conference And a lot of that is him and kevin to rank going him Against other teams next we get to the fourths My my first forward Was jimmy butler I don't know jimmy butler hurt his ankle a couple nights ago and he had already missed a bunch of time With a buttocks injury like a tailbone injury I'm gonna just say buttocks is a lot more fun to say And I don't know what's going on with that ankle at least as I'm recording this video Maybe more stuff has come out after I'm recording this video Um because of that I think that we might need an injury replacement guy We'll talk about that once we get there. It is super unfortunate That jalen brown is a guard and not a guard slash force if we're gonna have positions I know it would get kind of murky if we have players that are guards and forwards, but Jalen brown deserves to be a forward on this list, but he's not and because of that Because of that you might understand why i'm going next with like jalen brown got snubbed off of my list Because he's a guard and I can't look at the guards that I have above him and say he deserves it more Now his teammate jason tatum is on here, but if I had to pick between jason tatum and jalen brown I probably will put jalen brown on my team But tatum is a forward and I need a forward so jason tatum is on the list now again Jason's not having a bad season He might be less efficient than he was in previous years But he's still having an all-star caliber season But this is a team that doesn't deserve to have two all-stars because they haven't been disappointing So I gave the nod to jason tatum over anybody else and my last or I guess maybe not my last But my my third forward off the bench Is the fro jared allen man Is the fro jared allen? I don't Really know how to explain how great of a player jared allen has evolved to Because everybody knew for the title of jared allen's career He has been a lob threat and I know there are some people that still look at jared allen as strictly a lob threat But he is so much more I've watched so many calves games this season And I feel like i'm getting more and more impressed with his footwork down below Um, yes, he is spoon fair, but that's about him being in good positions and everything His footwork is getting better and better and better. So I had to give him that nod He's one of the best defensive centers in the entire league Um, the the clevener cavaliers have one of the best of are one of the best Offensive teams in the league and a lot of that is him and a lot of that is the ricky evan mobily But i'm giving him the nod over any of the other forts on the team because I think he deserves it more man Um, so those are my 10 players in the eastern conference Now let's get to my wild cards because well it might get kind of wild and we're gonna have to have a Fluid conversation here. I made a tweet earlier today Why put hashtag mba y'all star hashtag fred van veleet? and The reaction was exactly what I expected. Um raptors fans like yeah, can you demand?  This is my ballot I personally do not believe that fray van veleet will make the all star parent or make an all star parents But if I was given a ballot I would have him on there He is averaging 20 points per game five rebounds 6.7 assists He's shooting 40 percent from three on nine attempts and his evan steps absolutely love fray van veleet. Here's a challenge for you Watch minutes of the raptors when fray van veleet is not on the floor against a competent team It is going to be dreadful There's a reason why he's close to leading the league or in the top three or whatever it is and minutes played Because when he is off the floor the raptors don't stand a chance He is their all star and he's putting up all star statistics in my opinion. He deserves to be in there As I said earlier, I don't care about legacies or things like that And personally I do like to see new players get all star nods and fray van veleet is one of those dudes I was I was doing a video a couple days ago And we were talking about people that were giving their bad takes that over the last three to five years And there's a raptor's fan. It was like, uh, I didn't think that fray van veleet Whatever gets to the point where he was a legitimate point guard and he has got to that point There's been a lot of progression in fray van veleet's career as far as being an off ball guy for for cal laryons Is being a guy that can go out get you buckets to now being a guy that is one of the elite playmakers in the league I'm giving him my first wild card spot. And yes, it is maybe wild It maybe I'm living up to that but he deserves it and my second wild card spot is dearest garland We're gonna talk about snuffs. I promise you but dearest garland's average of 19 points per game three rebounds on 7.3 assists He's shooting 38% from three on seven attempts His case is very similar to fray van veleet's when he is not on the court The team looks terrible Watch the cavaliers when they got kevin pankos or whatever hell his name is or they got um I guess brandon goodwin right now and rondo is getting his things together.  I'm sorry. This is not the channel where I talk like that I thought I was in my it feels like I'm on a podcast right now I'm sorry it on the podcast we kind of got no filter He just dropped a 50 piece it feels weird to have him snub But there's a team that I don't think deserve to have to They do not deserve to have to and I had to pick between tatum and brown and since brown is a guard I couldn't put them in the wild card spot because now that leaves a forward spot It's a lot of weird stuff here now again with jimmy butler being out with his injury and maybe being out for his injury Who gets the nod at the four position where you can make a you can make an argument Uh, you can make an argument for chris middleton But he's been up and down and I'll feel weird if chris middleton was in the also game because I think drew How they deserves it better and he's one of my snubs Who else is in the four position that might deserve to get a little bit of love here? You can say myles bridges. Maybe you know, I'm saying if we're talking about injury replacements But it will feel weird for him to be an injury placement if lamello not in it I think lamello might make it over freve and blea honestly Um, but like the four position is weird man. The four position is definitely weird Like maybe some bonus some bonus is a guy that maybe deserve a little bit of love I don't think julia's randall gets a lot of love this season I don't I just don't think I think that with the the next um Losing more that they were last year and him not living up to their standards. I don't think he deserves I think that subbonus would deserve it just a little bit more because he is the the focal point of that offense and everything But maybe he is the injury placement. John collins is a guy but you can argue that the ellen hawks don't deserve too because Their numbers they're not even gonna play in right now. So I don't know Another guy that is snubbed is drew holiday. Um drew holiday all the advanced stats absolutely love him And when I know that they struggled a bit when yannis was out Which makes sense yannis is one of the best players in the in the world right now So of course they're gonna struggle when he was out But I I remember that that drew holiday was stepping back up and looking great Um, the defense is still elite and all the advanced stats love drew holiday I I felt weird about not having two all stars for the bucks Um, so maybe that's another case for drew holiday just to be in there because the team is so elite If i'm looking at the standings right now, I got two bulls player and this wasn't by design By the way, I got two bulls players. I got two nets players and the the um The bucks are right there on the same tier as them So I feel weird to just have yannis and a self But I just couldn't find a place for drew holiday. He deserves to be there But again, there's only 12 roster spots. Um, lamello is probably my biggest snub. Oh, no, you know what? There's two big really really big snubs. Um lamello is a big snub He is super entertaining to watch obviously. He is super good at what he does. Um, but it's You can make an argument for him over dg But I just feel like when dg doesn't play dares god doesn't play the cavaliers don't stand a chance to play a chance to win I think that the hornets could still potentially win some games When lamello is not there and maybe they have maybe they haven't but I vividly know that um dares god them is three games and they lost all three of those games and it was bad, you know, I'm saying um But when it comes to fun and exciting and that's what the all star game is about I think lamello is a guy that should be in there It's just hard for me to put him on my personal ballad But if you have him there, I can completely understand and then I actually I know I said this for a few people but brally bill Brally bill might be the biggest snub because he started off very very slow Even though the team was very successful at the beginning brally bill completely started off slow But if you look at his stats over the last month, it's hard for me to say he don't deserve to be there He definitely deserves to be there Especially now that special dimity is out in the last couple games. He's been the point bill I think they were calling them back stuff bill because since he got the vaccine. He's been killing the game. Um I like I can't this this is what makes the all-star bet because I will never say How do I want to work this? I can't say that garland or fred van vleet deserve it more than bill than lamello Than jur holiday, but I'm going to say on my ballot. I want to see them there. Does that make sense? It's there's not a big argument for like brally bill not making it because his counting stats are coming around in the last month or so You can make the argument that it's a full season and you need to perform for more than just a month I don't know But I think brally bill has the potential to play himself into the real game if he continues to play like this Right if he continues to play like this for the next two to three weeks I I don't see a world where he doesn't actually make the all-star game. I just don't he's a guy That was average at 35 points per game like did he make the all-star game last season? Oh my god Because I remember that there was a conversation about whether brally bill deserves to even be there He was leading the league in scorn, but the team was god awful He didn't make it last year, but the year before that he did it when he averaged 30 That was the year he averaged 30 the year before that it didn't make it but last year the world was like I guess team record don't matter Um, so the eastern conferences is interesting. It's hard. These are my ballots You can even tell I'm having second thoughts about some of the picks, but it's a fluid conversation ladies and gentlemen It is a very fluid conversation. So that is my eastern conference. I'm looking at the standage right now There are other pikao larry. I know it's counting statue trash. She can't hit a shot But the Miami he were missing bam and jimmy buller for a very long time And though kyle larry wasn't like the leading score of this team that was still good He was the quarterback. He was he was a guy that was on the court telling people where to be Still drawing a lot of charges playing good defense. He deserves some recognition at least Um, but I think I gave all the the notes to people that deserved it Let's go to the western conference Because the western conference started situation is a little bit more difficult than the eastern conference Um, I'm going to start off with the absolute locks and lock number one is stephan curry Don't need to tell you why lock number two is lebron james. I don't need to tell you why Lock number three is nicole. Okay. So those are my locks in the starter position Other than that I got to think about my other guard. I got to think about my other ford Um, and you know what dear dear two people I basically flipped the coin between these two people who deserve to start who deserve to come off the bench And the starter that came up was donovan mitchell. He just won player of the month He's been having an amazing season I don't know if the counted stats say he's better this year than he was last year But we're not when I watch him play this year. He feels better than what he was last year I know for sure that like and the previous years of donovan mitchell's career He struggled to finish at the rim and have that little floater game And this year he's doing that to like a little above league average Which is great considering before that he was torched the bottom of the league for that type of value So the fact that he's got that added to his bag just makes him and the team more dynamic We're talking about the number one offense in the league by an absolute mile and donovan mitchell Is the focal point of that offense? So I flipped the coin between him and another guy we're going to talk about and donovan mitchell got the Notch child to dono and then the other starter spot for the for the west recovery starters Was uh, what's what's uh, it was a bit tough man if we talk about a ford here Um, I ended up giving it to draymond green Is he have the best raw stats? Hell no And ain't and ain't nobody else on my list that that don't they got uh, county stats worse than draymond green But I gave him the all-star starter now I understand if you don't have him as a starter completely you understand But as an all-star player draymond green in my opinion is an absolute lock He is the defensive player of the year by a mile this season He is the on-court coach for the best team in the in the league right now Well, let's see. Do they still have the best record the best team in the league record wise Um, he's the on-court coach for that and the team struggles when he's not there I mean, what what can I say draymond green deserves to be an all-star? I just have him as a starter right now. If you don't have him as stardom. That's that's completely okay It does hurt that we have like Positions again if if I could bring a guard up I would bring a guard up to be a starter, but I cannot so I will not let's get to the bench again I think that the western conference was easier than the eastern conference Like I had a bunch of players on my list that I saw as locks. Let me read them to you jammer Ran is a lock. He was a guy That flipped the coin for who should start dot of Mitchell jammer ran and ended up on dot of Mitchell regardless jammer ran is a lock To be an all-star game. I don't need to explain to you He just won a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and we're talking about a team that has three seven footers He said he's not scared He had a game against the the nets the other night on the back This is back to back a net's the other night absolutely dominated There's nothing that jammer ran can't do when jammer ran was drafting into the league They're like ah, he reminds me of dare rose with the shot ever come around It took dare rose like 10 a decade for him to become a plus three point shooter Jammer ran has got that in his bag in year number three. He's shooting 40 percent from three on four attempts That's not like um, he's just shooting two and he's getting lucky. He's shooting four three point attempts a game and he's shooting 40 percent The most electric player when it comes to getting to the basket.  He has an argument for the most entertaining player to watch in the entire NBA the all-star game needs that and jammer ran is an absolute lock The next absolute lock for me on the bench devon booker Devon booker might not have the same counting status He did the previous years in the previous years which is funny because devon booker for the lat Let me i'm gonna look this up really quick But if i'm not mistaken devon booker the two times he has been an all-star. He was an injury replacement Um, he was a guy that wasn't an actual all-star, but somebody got injured So here you go de book you deserve it. He has the worst counting stats Since his rookie season or his secondary second season in the NBA But he's not but the the sons have got to the point now where they can win games without relying on devon booker to drop 30 There's games where he deserves. He decides that he wants to play make a little bit more the thing that the big um development and devon booker's career is he's shooting six three pointers per game and he's shooting 41.7 percent from three Devon booker is always a bucket. Don't get me wrong Now he's hitting the streets Now his two point attempts aren't looking as good as previous years But i'm just going to go out on the limb and say that devon booker a guy that has been a for the last three seasons average 54 percent from the mid-range area. He will get back to close to 50 percent I'm just I think that he will get back there But the fact that the three-point shot is looking so much better makes him an absolute lock and to add On to it. He has one of the best teams in the entire league too Devon booker lock next absolute lock rudigo bear I don't need to make an argument I saw some people have their ballots and rudigo bear wasn't there and I don't understand it He is the defense of the utah jazz now They're not one of the top five defenses like they were in previous years, but he is still the defense They don't have much perimeter defense on the entire team It is all about funneling to rudigo bear and let him do a sting This man is he might still be leading the league in total dunks And I know that I don't really say none for a guy that's 71. I don't need to do I need to give you the reason why rudigo bear is not so I don't think I do at this point That was something I was trying to pitch to y'all four years ago. You understand it now He also gets a ton of screen assists. So him and Donovan Mitchell work well together You know I'm saying him and my colleague work well together there. They're tested the limb They play a lot of minutes together. Um next guy that was a lock to me Was carl anthony towns now the minnesota timbos are 17 to 20 and they looked really good before he went to help To save the protocol now. They were able to weather the ship a little bit They're five and five in the last 10 But carl anthony towns always been a guy that's going to be able to give you the good counting stats But it was like cat he went us more games and this team has been better this year than they have in the previous however many years What is his actual averages 24 points per game? 50 percent from the field which is better than last season. Um, and then from three he's shooting 42 percent That is a career high You know and we're talking about about six attempts for your center and his defense isn't terrible anymore No, he's not rudigo bearer, but his defense ain't terrible anymore So for me, he was a lock to get his first all-star appearance since the 2018 2019 season. Wow He was 23 years old and I remember I remember when uh gms were polled if you were to start Your franchise with any player in the league right now We're talking about 2018 majority of them said carl anthony towns and then I think this year or the year before He didn't get a single vote He's back to being an all-star carl play now. He had always been an all-star talent for sure But he's winning more games and that that like I said, it shouldn't matter, but it shouldn't matter. You know what I'm saying Um, but he does get the nod here. Okay, great. Now after that I don't have any more absolute locks Absolute locks. You can make an argument against some of the people that I haven't here and replacing them 100 Percent, but let me read you the rest of the people that I have here paul george paul george has missed some time Dillon outside of health state the protocol, but because of injury. I don't know his timetable. He might not even get back in time to make another Um, like push for the all-star game and because of that He might not actually get in it because if I'm not mistaken the media has to get their votes in in the next week or so Which matters, but I don't know when um, like the coaches or whoever does the reserves I don't know when they have to do there So paul george is a ford the forward position in the western conferences a little bit Like luster kind of similar to these the four position This is a guard centric league and I understand that. Um, but the four position is kind of weird So like if I was going to take paul george out because he's injured What forward do I put there? I already said that that um, anthony davis is injured So he not if anthony davis is back, he'll be the forward I slide in there But if he's not back, who is the other forward you have like chris. That's where zingas has an argument He's averaging good stats. Um, and he was able to continue to let the team be okay While poor um, well, uh, luka was out. Who was the other forward I have on my lids brandon ingram deserves some type of recognition I don't know if injury replacements have to fit the position. That is something I don't know But if they don't great if they do, I don't know Um, let's talk about my two wildcard spots Wildcard spot number one is christopher emmanuel paul I think he should be a lot, but I can understand if you're saying that he is he isn't He's not having the same statistical season that he had in the recent years But he still the the quarterback or one of the best teams in the league His counted stats look like 14 points per game nine assists for rebounds 48 percent from the field and only 31 percent from three, which is absolutely terrible for chris paul who's been a career Um, 37 percent three point shooter. So this is a down year from three It's like devin booker took the three point shooting at a chris paul Um, but I would assume that that's going to go up his free throw percent is even down I never really even noticed that. Um, but chris paul Has an argument to be an all star placement or not all star placement all star wildcard spot And then the last guy's a guy that has also missed time But I think that he is similar to bradley bill in the sense that he's going to play his way back into it And as luka doncha since he came back from his injury He had a double double in the first game Oh, he had a double double in both games one of them being like a 15 assist game luka donchas is Is an all star talent It just sucks that he missed so much time and that the dallas maverick started off kind of slow Because usually a guy that will be a starter But since he missed time and since he started off out of the gate kind of out of shape and slow He's more of a wild card for me this season, but regardless he is an all star Talk about the snubs because there are many as you can see I did not add damien lilor to my all star ballad and if he wasn't y'all so game If you have many also game, I'm not saying you're wrong Um, because he started off very and I mean very very slow, but in the last month or so He's completely gathered together the only problem is I guess i'm kind of picking and choosing when this matters as i'm talking about it But the team being so damn bad Is a knock on damien lilor because honestly the team Came out the gate struggling and if he was playing better I don't think they're in the place that they are right now I know that the defense has got off who imparted that is damien lilor for sure I mean, he's a focal point guy.  But if he was an all star, i'm not saying that they're wrong for having him You know i'm saying um, but he's not on my ballad man It's tough to say damien's one of my favorite players to watch for sure But it's tough to not have him on his ballad even somebody on twitter It was like hey if damien on your ballad it's going to be a problem And i said hey get ready for some problems man Get ready for some problems I think that every every guard that i had over him Have had a better season have had a better season than him right now Every guard that i named over him has had a better season He might be the first one off the list when it comes to replacements of a guard where to get injured but Yeah, everyone has had a better year another guy that got snubbed and i really and i mean really really really wanted to put this guy on my Ballad it was the jante murray And i know they're going to be spurs fans like man we get snubbed again and i honestly i think you will and not just from my Ballad i think from the overall mba i think the jante murray is going to get snubbed He's averaging about 18 points per game about nine assists i'm rounding up for him a little bit in eight rebounds 44 percent from the field 34 percent from three he is fun to watch You know his defense is maybe not at all defensive caliber like it was early in his career but he's still a good defender and I The spurs are a weird team because even though they're sitting at the 11th seat They're in a three game lose streak right now, but the last time i checked they had a positive point differential So they should be winning more games of what they're they are um, but they're just not And it's not a knock for the jante to not have him but again seeming to what i said about lillard I just think the other guards on the list deserve it more at this point And then another guy that was snubbed was shake yield just alexander Yeah, she's been hoping man She's been hoping My boy cone asked if i was pushing the sga agenda unfortunately I'm not it's hard for me to have him over the other guards in the league Now if i'm looking across the league some other people that might deserve to get some nods um It's not many man It's not many the kings don't have a player that deserves to have it. I gave it to lebron I don't think the lakers other than anthony davis deserve another one Um, I already said that brennan ingram is in conversations the rockets don't deserve one shea got his nod It's tough man It's tough Those are my 12 players Those are my 12 players on each conference to make it I gave y'all some snubs that I absolutely hate but again everybody can't get in there I'll be in there. I mean, I won't be in the games, but I'll be in the arena. You feel me? I wouldn't be surprised if this is a year where some people to opt not to Not to make it and as far as like injury replacement without having a real injury Um, and I wouldn't even blame people, you know, I actually I actually I kind of thought that last year nobody actually did it um I wouldn't blame people though You know, there's a real world a weird world we're living in right now where Maybe making that extra trip ain't really worth it Maybe you're a player that would rather just be at the crib with the family in these this weekend I want to rejuvenate on your body. That's what jimmy butler did a few years ago. He's like, ah, I'm an all star I'm I don't feel like playing though. I don't feel like playing. I would rather rejuvenate on my body and I think that I think it was an option last year that if you were Invited you could opt not to go and previous season before the virus that was an option If you were an all-star you had to beat up my boy Whether you wanted to or not But last year they gave them an option because of all the stuff that's going on around the league and around the world That if you wanted to opt out it's okay. You can and I would be I wouldn't be surprised if more people did that Um Yeah, man, this is this is tough man. I spent the last couple days doing it It's not the perfect list at all by any means Um, but it's my list let me know in the comment section what you think Who are some people that I miss that that you have there? And who do you think? You know, we'll just wait to see who actually makes it. You know what I'm saying? I'm appreciate y'all. Oh, who's the guy? This is a good question, too Who's the guy that you think might make it who doesn't deserve to make it? There it is All right, and I'll be looking in the comment section. Um, and I see y'all soon. Enjoy basketball y'all


Okay. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to BC 310, a class on Church and Ministry Administration. Let's take a moment to pray and then we will start. Could one of us in the class please pray? Father, we want to thank you for this morning and we humble ourselves in your presence. We pray to God as we learn from your word today that your voice would speak to us especially regarding administration. Oh God, we pray that you would help us understand the importance of it and also to work out this in our practical life, Lord God. We thank you for this time of learning. We humble ourselves once again before your presence. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. All right. So last week we were talking about culture, how just turning on setting the understanding of culture both from an organization perspective, that means there is the culture of an organization and also there is culture of the congregation of the church. And in this lesson we are going to focus on the culture of the organization of the ministries from that site and the things we learn of course can also apply to the culture of the community, the church community of the church organization. It's the same principles will apply but our focus is on the culture of the organization. So let's me go ahead and share the PDF and then we can begin our lecture. So just to quickly review when we say culture we're talking about the environments within in an organization. We're talking about a church ministry or a church organization. We're talking about the culture. So and the culture is shaped by the values, what people hold as important, shaped by the practices, the behavior, the traditions that are observed in that group of people in that organization. So and culture can change over time. We may start right but we could end up wrong. We may start with a very nice happy environment, a nice culture and if we are not careful the culture could become bad. And that I think has happened in a lot of Christian organizations. I think last time I mentioned when you read Christian magazines like Christian Aid Today or other outlets that report on Christian organizations and when you read about the culture in a certain church or a certain organization where it has gone wrong we must understand that they didn't start wrong. Most almost almost every church, every Christian organization started right. They started with a very kingdom, vital base, God-fearing, God-loving culture where everybody said okay we want to glorify God, we want to follow what God was saying and so on. So everybody started right but somewhere along the way inside the organization things are changing. The culture drifted from what the Bible tells us we should maintain and for various reasons and then it became very toxic, it became very difficult, hurtful, harmful for the people working in the church or organization. So we have to constantly watch over this whole thing, what is the environment like, what is the culture like and we have to keep monitoring just like how we monitor our own health. If the temperature is going up, you know something is wrong, if I'm getting a fever, something is wrong because it has to be within a normal healthy range and if it goes wrong we have to address it. So we said culture and this reviewing what we did last time, it affects the organization, how people work, how people you know the productivity, can people be free to do what they can, how we serve the congregation and also if you have a healthy culture it can protect from negative influences. Of course there are negative influences to not correct but then if you have a healthy culture it tends to self-correct, you know like just like our body, you know, we can go out, we are going out and around us there may be germs and this and that but if it comes here, so about the difference, it puts up a difference, it's a difference mechanism. So like that a healthy culture can help protect the organization and we covered one point last time on what shapes the organization culture and when I said and we said this that this is very important which is it starts with the leadership. Leaders at all levels must model the culture that we want to see in the organization because people are going to imitate the leaders, they are watching and they say hey the leader behaves like this, I will also behave like that. If the leader does this, I will also do this. The leader says that is okay, I will also say it's okay, the leader says not okay. So I'm not saying that you know the leader is solely responsible but it is a very important influence, the leadership influences the culture and leadership at all levels because example if there's a team of people and there's a team leader, that team leader is the closest point of contact for that team member, for those team members. You know he's the one who's directly influencing that team so at his level that team leader must you know embody kingdom culture. He must demonstrate or he or she must demonstrate and that level okay this is what it means and then people around that will follow. So we need to understand how this is again so important about leadership and some of the things we just mentioned you know we should avoid celebrating culture where people are celebrating the individual. We're not gathering around the individual. We're gathering around the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our chief shepherd. The leadership should model servant leadership. What does it mean to serve? What does it mean to go to live sacrificially like we heard earlier this morning? So the leadership should model that. The leadership should listen to feedback and people should not feel threatened that hey if I give feedback the leader will take revenge or retaliate. They should feel like that. They should have the understanding that if I give feedback the leadership will listen and you know if my feedback is valid they will definitely take it into account. So people should have that opportunity and the leadership should let people know that they are welcome to come and talk and share their thoughts and give feedback. So that's the first but that's not the only thing. There are other things that also influence organizational culture and the second thing that we will talk about is stories. So when we talk about hey this is our journey. This is how we started. This is how we have journeyed. These are the things we have faced in the past and overcome. This is in a church context or in a Christian organization context. We can say you know this is how God has provided for us. These are the things God has helped us do. These are the ways God has worked in our journey. So as we share these stories, it really inspires people and they say hey don't can do it again. God can do bigger than the past. He can do greater than the past and so these stories inspire people and it inspires the behavior and it motivates the people and so on. So telling and retelling the good stories. I'm not saying we should you know talk about all the bad things now but the good things of course we can talk about the lessons we've learned from mistakes but to talk about you know the victories that may God has led and the way God has helped us navigate difficult situations it will encourage people and it will inspire and shape the culture. Also to rituals and practices that means things that we do repeatedly. They shape the thinking and the behavior of people. Things that we do repeatedly practice so that's what we call as rituals or practices. Things that we do repeatedly it shapes the thinking and behavior and I just give you know for example how to be handled when a staff leaves. Now for us at ABC we do have people joining us new people joining us and from time to time we also have people leaving us as staff. Now how do we handle that? It will affect the thinking and the behavior of the other people especially when you think of you know when staff are leaving it can actually bring the morale down. You know people will be wondering why is that person leaving why is that person why is that person not staying and working here why are they going but if we celebrate their movement we say hey they're going for better times and they're going for a greater opportunity and be celebrated then you know it shapes the thinking and behavior that it is fine if people have to leave and they're going to go for something better maybe a bigger opportunity and we are celebrating it we're not it's not pulling us down so what we do and what we have been doing is you know and people leave for various reasons like this year our one person left because he was going to do higher studies he went abroad to higher studies another person just left because you know his family is moving abroad so I can at this moment I can pick up two people who left so just as an example what we always do is on the last day or the day before they leave we have like a little small fable big cupcake we have snacks we let them share talk to talk to everybody about their journey and if you see so example the past religion they left he was with us from for almost you know 12 or 13 years so that's a long journey he had with us but now he's moving abroad so he blessed him he celebrate that transition he hey he's he's got you know he's got his blessed him and his family with a nice opportunity abroad so he's going and we send him with blessing so then the staff leaving does not become a demoralizing thing on everybody else but it becomes a celebratory thing that hey this bus is going for a better opportunity of going for something you know different and and so and this is a ritual and a practice we have all the time you know whenever that is we celebrate the birthdays we celebrate the special things that are happening we celebrate the departure somebody leaving us they're going to something else and he celebrates this so like that these rituals these things that we do repeatedly it shapes the thinking of people yeah we should think positive on on on situations that helps a culture another thing is orientation and repeatedly communicating the values right so these we constantly repeat and before people are comfortable two values so if we find somebody deviated from our core value then I will call them whoever's responsible problems hey you know this is we need to stay aligned to this right we need to follow it's example integrity if somebody is not you know being truthful or honest problem it's a you know supposed to be truthful as opposed to be honest we have to maintain integrity so keeping people aligned to the core values helps us make sure the culture is maintained and it's not getting diluted or corrupted by what some people need to do sometimes they do it unknowingly sometimes they may not do it knowingly and so we have to hold them accountable and get people back so the constant training repeating the values helps in maintaining the culture and also affirming and rewarding behavior that's aligned to the culture there's somebody does something that's aligned to the culture you know of course everybody is doing things aligned to the culture but when somebody goes out of the way to do something very exceptional in order to you know maintain the cut then you recognize that you reward it then it affirms that people say yeah that's the way I must behave that's that's what's important for us as an organization you know and then they it really strengthens the culture so these are things that we we must be aware of that help us you know affirm or shape the culture within the organization now one thing that it helps is to clearly spell out to clearly communicate what are our values and what are our values and then to use those values when you're making decisions you know especially within the staff within the people so we have put this in a little picture like this and of course this was done many many years ago in the early part of our journey I don't know exactly when we did this but we put it in a little picture like this and we said look these are our core values so when it comes to ministry our theme is Jesus it just means everything we do should be communicating Jesus now we don't want to talk about ABC we want to talk about Jesus and so our theme is Jesus our content is the word of God and that's very important we have to speak preach teach trouble word of God the method is Holy Spirit yes we will use a lot of tools but we are depending on the power of Holy Spirit our passion is people that means we are focused on building people helping people transforming people people and then our goal is to help everybody become like Jesus so this is it you know that's what we are doing and we need to keep affirming yes keep talking about keep emphasizing and we have to monitor that yeah you know in the in the way we are doing ministry in the way we are going about our work these core values are being taken and then surrounding it practically there are some other things very important for us one is we want to give opportunity for everybody right so we don't say okay the opportunity is only for you know certain kinds of people so everyone can participate in what's happening in the church of course in certain areas you know you have certain skills that are required for example people who are worship chief they should be able to sing or play some instruments that's obviously a requirement so yeah those things will be there and therefore you know there may be some requirements or there may be some you know you know like auditions that happen but otherwise in general anybody who has that skill of course can apply or can conserve that if they meet that requirement they can definitely serve but the opportunity is open second unity we want to go on the stage together so if anything that is disrupting unity we'll address it by anybody if somebody even in the pastoral team if somebody in the pastoral team is doing something that's disturbing unity we'll address it if there is somebody congregation who's doing something that's disturbing unity we'll address so unity is like I mentioned earlier integrity or excellence pioneering that is trying out new things it's okay go ahead do something new maybe it's not done before it's okay go ahead try it out it's okay to fail you know it's okay to try it out and then say that yeah it didn't work out that's okay yeah at least we try at least we experimented we saw what can happen and now of course we're thinking we're not just blindly doing things we think we plan we research but yet we are open to pioneering to experimenting to being to being on the leading edge of things and also relationships people relationships with people these are all very important so when we are making decisions when you're going about our work we can emphasize these things example there was a time I would say maybe at least till about two years ago then there used to be mistakes in the power points in the in the in the projections that happened you know and I used to get very upset but it'll happen in the middle of the service because they're putting the songs up on the screen and then you'll see one spelling mistake some word is spelled wrong or some problem the lyrics or something like that and then one thing I used to do was but I will notice it and then I'll send an email on Monday I'll send it to a mediator hey this thing was spelled or the worship team what was responsible for example so hey I'll give feedback on soon I give feedback you know I won't just let it go and it was almost like I was pushing then again we have to get this right we have when we project something on the screen on Sunday when we are showing some or you know any for that matter any service or any event when you're putting up our lyrics when they are putting up our you know our content or when you're doing our Sunday video announcements it has to be shouldn't be any mistakes so kept pushing kept pushing keep giving feedback not in a condemning big but just to highlight hey that was a mistake that was not right so then you know and then we trust okay how do we make sure that you know our lyrics are correct how do we check how do we double check because we want excellence you know we don't want people sitting in the congregation then they're looking up on the screen and you know a word is spelled wrong or the lyrics is not you know it's wrong it's like hey people will feel bad what is this so we have to keep pushing pushing pushing and finally right you know I think I'm not I don't I can't say we are 100% perfect but at least we from what I've seen the last one year or maybe like the recent two years things have been fairly good like you know I don't think I noticed hardly any mistakes and so on so but it took us a while to come to that click so constantly pushing so like this in every area now but if you see books they're still working on how to make every book free from mistakes you don't want a single spelling mistake you don't want a single grammar mistake they don't want a single you know type setting in sometimes the type setting to grow on you want everything to be good we have to work at it work at it and because when we when we do something let's try to do it better I'm not saying you're 100% perfect but it's part of our culture so keep working towards it and eventually you know we will get there so like that there's so many different things you know we can talk about each of these values the point is that we should we have defined our values we've described it now we have to make sure that people are following right if anything goes out of line in you bring them back in like hey that decision did not that decision affected relationship it you know also was that decision the right decision because for us relationship is important and we don't want to make decisions that are hurting people disturbing relationships we have to think you know so all these things we can you know in practical ways we can hold people responsible accountable for these things so it's good to put down these are not covalent these are things that are important to us and so we're going to pursue these these things in a in a practical in a day-to-day day so we kind of explain this a little bit here so let me pause here and see there any questions here on covalence and how to practically help maintain culture all right okay i see a question in the chat what if someone leaves for some bitter reasons or because they got offended by something or the past ends of this it's remained in some grounds how will a pastor then explain his departure yeah so this also has happened right so let's i'm talking about our church staff right there are times when people have been released because they've not been performing for example or maybe they were doing things that were harmful to the culture where example if somebody you know was affecting relationships right they were disturbing relationships the dynamic in church they were getting into strife with people so those you know and like this so this happens typically you know in a ministry if somebody's not performing they're not doing their work like i had mentioned earlier you know we have a three strike rule that means we give them one morning second morning third morning they still are not performing we'll try to put them in a different role if that doesn't work out still they still don't perform then at some point if they're not performing well they'll have to you know let them go now in such situations and i'll talk about the offended part separately but i'm just talking about this part where we have to remove somebody because you know maybe they perform us not good or they're affecting relationship or something to that in such situations things are done at a very personal level that means the only people who know are the people who are involved so i will have a common example if i make that decision i will have a conversation with this person and it would have gone on over a few months right it's not something you just wake up one day and distance somebody no it's because over over months we have been talking about their performance example and we've been telling them we give them feedback we've helped them maybe change the role we put them in a different role they're still not performed there is some you know real proof that they're not being performing but finally it comes to a point where we have to let them go so it'll be a conversation between me and that person and only the people who need to be involved which is usually which will be the HR person and the accountants so usually only these people need to know what is happening right that this person is being released because of a lack of performance because the HR will be involved they will know they will be involved through the process and the accountant needs to know because we need to settle all the you know any outstanding views or what are all those things to be dealt with they don't the accountant doesn't need to know all the reasons but they need to know that hey this person is being terminated and their last table usually we give them 30 days notice so the last days 30 days from now please make sure that all you know all the details are taken care of before so they need to know so it's done at a very personal level and we also do the same thing farewell is done we just bless them we send them out but we don't talk about their reasons in public so we don't we don't explain the lack of performance all that we don't talk about it in public we just say so and so is moving on to something else and hopefully by the time they're about another job or something else they've had a plan and so they talk about what they're going to be next but we don't we don't talk about that in public so only the people who need to know sometimes there's another team leader who is involved because maybe they're reporting to somebody else so that person is involved I am involved HR is involved accountant is informed so only those people know others will not know and we don't need to talk about it to other people the first part of your question which is if somebody leaves for bitter reasons they got funded now of course they will initiate the action they will come and tell us I'm leaving because of some such and then we always hand little grace that means it's a fine you know we respect your decision we will again we will not talk about that we will not discuss that matter in public it's all kept only between the people who need to know because we want to you know we we don't want the negative things we don't want to talk about that they may have been offended there there may be some misunderstanding and so on but it's the people who need to know who would be informed and if it is a very important person like somebody who's holding responsibility then I need to inform the pastoral team sometimes I have to inform our board of trustees as why this person is leading this depends on you know the situation but again the same thing applies which is only the people who need to know will be informed and that's how we handle it is that okay did I answer your question rosen all right thank you any other questions on culture on buster one question yes in that congregate with it's a multicultural setting I think it is quite possible that people from same culture spend more time together is it okay or as a church do we need to work around anything I think we mentioned one thing regarding this I think during signing volunteers we can combine people from different culture together so that they can gel alone but I'm asking specifically about the congregation people from same culture tends to stick along together even after the service during fellowship time and all that so is it okay or should we do anything about it yeah so we have it's a very very good question very good question we have to look at it from two perspectives one is people are comfortable being with or among people of their own culture right that's just normal just natural you know it's like they tend to move among the same crowd so that is a positive side which is yeah it is their community it is their it is their safe space it is their very comfortable place so that's a good thing but the other side is that that will result in formation of yeah or we could say clicks if you're not careful and which will leave other people out so that is the other side the negative side of it so there is a positive side yeah we want people to feel comfortable and and by default we all feel comfortable with people of our own who are like us so that we are comfortable talking to them it's it's normal but the negative side is it may result in forming of many many many groups and it also may need other people out and this has happened and it keeps on happening actually in fact just I think maybe one or one month back I think we had to address that one one back one or two months back we had to address that with our youths here in Bangalore right we noticed that happening that you know of course we have a good youth group and all that but even among the youths what we started noticing was certain people certain youths were just spending more time with each other for whatever things yeah but then that resulted in this almost like groups from within the bigger group you know and we saw that hey that's not good that's not what we want yes we want people to feel comfortable but we don't want because then it will leave other people out and it has happened some people will leave that it's oh I don't feel like I fit in you know like I'm not in this group I'm not in that group I'm left out and it happens and it has happened so the moment we noticed it I know I know it happened within the recent two months so you know we discussed it and then our youth master said okay the best thing to do just address it to everybody so at one of the meetings they talked about it openly they said hey guys we are seeing this happen is it true or not and if the youth themselves agree yeah it's happening you know that these people are together these people line up together others are left out so the youth themselves recognized hey this is what's happening amongst us and then they said okay we should not let this happen we should all mingle together we should you know be welcoming to everybody so to answer your question there is the positive side but our goal must be to encourage people to really be a community where everyone is welcome which especially in the city like Bangalore we have people from all over India different states different cultures different languages different customs but the church must be a community where everybody feels part of it so we have to consciously move people towards that yes they can be comfortable with some of their own but when they come together and we have church events and we have services when they're doing things together we should encourage and mixing and intensely create activities or you know the way they the way we do the service or the event we should intensely mix people so that they will make new friends new people will become will feel comfortable so that's from our perspective from the people's perspective yeah by default they will go with those who they are comfortable but we are intentionally moving them to you know to mix and I hope that answers your question yes pastor just to have a follow up question on that so as we mentioned about different language groups as well like people from different languages are coming and I just wanted to know pastor like would the would it be okay if let's say I'm considering my example so we have some very less though but some Malayalees in our church but they like to talk in Malayalam with me so would it would it be okay if if me as a leader talk to them in Malayalam or should I should I follow the common language but especially when I talk to them personally because they find it very comfortable to talk to us in Malayalam so so I just wanted to know if it is right to speak to us through the language which they are comfortable especially when we talk in private yeah so my response to that would be if you're talking to them in private yeah by all means use the language that they are comfortable you can speak to them in Malayalam but when we're talking to them in a group setting like you know maybe in a Sunday service and then always use the common language you know speak in English so then people don't feel that you're giving them a special preference you're speaking only them you speak so in a group setting there are other people are there always speak in English everybody understands and speaking them privately personally yeah you can talk to them in Malayalam they feel comfortable it's their language they can express they can say that's perfectly fine that's how I would approach that yes thank you any other questions we're talking about culture how do we you know try to establish culture and you know keep that together within the organization or within the choice setting any questions oh yes sorry one more question so in in in manglow culture I'm just taking this as an example so let's say one group of community they like certain type of meat during their food food yeah and when we when they arrange lunch and they prefer that kind of meat like especially when they are you know want to celebrate something in the church they prefer that kind of meat and but some other part of India they don't take that meat so would that be okay to to have because we've been doing that for quite some time now because of the culture difference some people might not take that meat but they they will still eat food with all of us that's not an issue but should be at any point of time because it's it's regarding food and some culture does not so is there anything that we need to be careful about yeah yeah I know this this is a small thing but yet it is it is very important thing because it's for the congregation you know I would I would I would try to do something that's especially when it's a common setting right like if it's like you're in a church setting after service or at some event you're having a meal together everybody's there together I would try to create a menu that would be accepted by everybody and if somebody on their own wants to bring a special dish and that dish happens to be something that only few people would eat that is okay but what is you know put forward by the church as part of the meal should be something that is for everyone everyone will enjoy it so then what happens is people see that the church is not giving any kind of preferential treatment to any particular group but the meal that is provided by the church is for everyone who are part of the congregation and you know if some people prefer certain kind of dish and they bring it to their own to this said that say who wants to take it take it that's okay that's okay that's that's so that's how I would approach it there because by doing that we are communicating that the church is neutral that as a congregation we want to serve everybody equally and at the same time there is freedom for people to enjoy the food of their own taste or their own preference that is okay if they want to come and do it and share it with others that's perfectly fine so that's how I would approach it and I think that you know we will not offend anyone or give any preference to anyone by doing that yes but yeah thank you but interesting questions but I think there's already practical things that should affect the culture of congregation community yeah all right so we will um yeah this fine moment is for break and then all right let's just see let's introduce the next section and then we can go forward in the next five minutes so I just want to ask a contrast healthy culture and toxic culture and there's something you just think about you know and and we can say you know see this is healthy this is not healthy this is toxic this is uh this will impact affect people in a negative way right so among leaders if a leader is consultative that means he's saying let us discuss you know I'd like to know everybody what are your thoughts on this that's a good thing and that's a healthy thing that gives people opportunity to share their ideas but it is dictatorial very unilaterally okay only one sided do what I say that's dictatorial that that is that that will that will results in a toxic culture if a leader is encouraging supportive versus abuse overpowering suppressor so no you have to follow what I say I am in charge that is that will result in the very toxic and uh if a leader encourages teamwork and let us do it as a team you know why don't five of you get together and do it that is a healthy culture if the leader is the leader themselves is creating competition between people let me put this person against the other then it is going to become a toxic thing because now people are going to compete with each other the leader is making them compete with each other that is not the leader is direct and straightforward that means you say what you have to say but say it nicely say it lovingly it all means words don't you know say something people don't understand well say directly this is right this is wrong this is truth this is not truth so we're direct we're straightforward but we speak the truth in love uh whereas the leader is manipulated uh you know just trying to control people there is that's very toxic freedom versus controlling transparent versus being secretive sharing success versus you know it's about me I am the branch we did it together it's about all of us versus it's all because of me fairness that is everybody's rewarded based on what they're actually doing versus entitlement I deserve this you know accountability the leader is also answerable to others versus autocratic I'm not answerable to anybody that will create a toxic culture we celebrate each one strength and if the leader recognizes that there are a lot of people around him and each one has certain sets of strengths which God has given so the leader doesn't have all everything other people around them have those strengths but the leader says I have everything I know I'm better that's going to create very toxic culture the leader wants a mutual submission right he also follows the same rules that everybody else follows or if the leader says the rules of everybody else not for me they're going to result in a toxic culture and same thing about the staff people feel you know I will give my best but if people say no I just need to hold on to a job that's a toxic culture people want to do excellent work versus I just do mind your fire to be feel like we must succeed versus I just my job I don't care what happens to that this is this this kind of thing among the staff will be you know a bad workout let's pause here we'll go for a break we'll come back in five minutes and then sorry 10 minutes and then we'll discuss to other yeah thank you let's go


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The final pieces to this reaction puzzle, Gator, Martin, and Cooley have discovered my agonomenal contingency plans. Think carefully before you react. What's happening, y'all? So, I really didn't expect this to get around to all the reactors when I made it. I never expected anybody to react to this. But I guess all the magnet sites loved it and sent it to all of y'all. Also, I have been reacting to all y'all reactions. So let's get a little bit of reaction on and check this out. And by the way, yesterday, few y'all all thought that I was missing a certain person. I was not. I just know how to put together the proper clips for the guile thing. Just cause other people were in it.  Let's do this. Sup. Sup. Thank you, Cooley. Y'all all liked him. I appreciate that. I said it took me like 35, 40 minutes to write it. It's like, it was all in the bottom. It will be. Why did it cut off like that? Why did it cut off? I guess it was only five minutes. I guess that was it. That's all he had, I guess. You see something? Yeah, that was it. Okay. Awesome. Okay. His cut off like that, so did Ryan's. Did I just not get the end of the video or what? But anyway, yeah, it would be really cool if we all got the movie and shit. Yeah, that was it. All right. Yeah. If you enjoyed the reaction, hit the like button, share, subscribe. If you didn't like it, hit the like button, share and subscribe. All right. Glad I could please everyone. That's part of the fan. I'm sorry that a react has to stick for it. One million subscribers.