I watched a variety of programs tonight, with the news touching on terrorism, catching terror cells, and preventing an act of terror. Then they moved into the perceived racism, sexism, and the white boys network in the Oscars. In flipping channels I happened on a two hour show dedicated to dog awards... I only stayed for the beer commercial that was on as I passed by. PBS News Hour had a new segment about what's NOT trending... including global stories that don't get repeated on every news program. The un-trending segment was the most interesting.
Another report was about President Obama and the increase of paid sick leave from five days to seven days. It reminded me of my own quest to find solutions to employer-employee issues that GOD would approve of... for Working Together.
In my quest for wage solutions, I finally decided that commitment is the main issue. As a low-paid worker all my life, my concern is for fairness at the bottom of the wage equation... what is enough for a person to live on decently, how much is fair to both employer and employee -- in GOD's eyes. The ongoing controversy over minimum wage and benefits is part of my own quest.
Working Together isn't a traditional business, it was created for the preservation of the Body of Christ as the End Times increase in persecution and need. In the Body of Christ, we are all equal. It was important to me that our structure reflected that equality. After a lot of searching and praying, I eventually returned to my original plan of everyone receiving the same wages and benefit options. As I went through my search for the right amounts, I realized that Working Together needs to see their employees as a yearly support relationship, not an hourly wage provider.
Using the tithe as a basis for finding the right amount for benefits, and looking for a yearly wage that was affordable to the company and reasonable for the employee to live on, I created a five week income focus for benefit expenses. Part of this wage-benefit amount would have to include food, shelter, medical, and transportation options. It would also need to include vacation, sick days, and personal days.
Trying to figure out the best way to divide this goal into a variety of employee needs was a real challenge. I am still working on it. I have decided that this approach is really what all businesses need to consider, especially ministries and churches. I hope it will become the norm, but I know it probably won't. Leaders in many ministries see their wages as a measure of their worth, and low wages will not afford a nice house in an upscale neighborhood with great schools. I don't need other ministries to do what I think Working Together needs to do, I just need to do what I think GOD wants done to prepare for the future.
The government forces companies to do what it feels is a reasonable right of its citizens... usually because businesses (and the government) do not always do what is right willingly. Minimum wage and benefits are part of this forced relationship.
My view is that the lowest paid workers need to be able to live in decent housing and be able to afford their basic food, clothing, and transportation needs. There are other issues to consider, but basic needs come first. Minimum wage has to be an average amount because the cost of living varies greatly around the country, and around the world.
I am working on a 30% housing and 20% food budget to find the right numbers for Working Together, and our full-time hours will be at 30 per week, not 40. As GOD allows, we will create staff housing, food, and other allocations as part of the wage and benefit options. Each employee will be able to decide which benefit choices are most important to them, but all will have the same options to choose from.
Employers cannot provide everything a person wants any more than the government can provide all the health care a person wants. We need options to choose from, like being able to use our paid days off as vacation, sick, or personal days... not a forced number for each.
In my efforts to work out the wages, benefits, and other costs, I came up with the need to create at least $30,000 in profit to pay for one employee...sometimes more. Now I have to figure out how to sell enough to gather that kind of money and continue this committed work relationship "until death do us part."
Please pray for the wisdom and opportunity to accomplish this goal...
or at least get it started ! :-)
Thanks.
14 JAN 2015 :: Goals and their obstacles
I wasn't going to enter a post tonight...but here I am.
I had a "stress test" for my heart today, and it was quite an experience. I had to give up caffeine for 24 hours before the test, and also fast for four hours before the test... I was very hungry by the time it was over (way past lunchtime!).
Using the bus as my transportation is a big expense for me... usually $5 for a day pass... so I try to get as much done as I can. I think I pushed myself too much, but made it back home and later went to bed early. I really didn't care about blogs at the time.
I suppose goals are something that need help as time goes by and the initial enthusiasm goes away. Sounds like New Year's Resolutions, doesn't it. I want to keep up my goal to blog Monday through Thursday, and now to add Friday for my crafts. I guess this need to keep going on this goal is what brings me here this late in the day. :-)
Tomorrow is another day...as GOD allows, I will keep going.
I had a "stress test" for my heart today, and it was quite an experience. I had to give up caffeine for 24 hours before the test, and also fast for four hours before the test... I was very hungry by the time it was over (way past lunchtime!).
Using the bus as my transportation is a big expense for me... usually $5 for a day pass... so I try to get as much done as I can. I think I pushed myself too much, but made it back home and later went to bed early. I really didn't care about blogs at the time.
I suppose goals are something that need help as time goes by and the initial enthusiasm goes away. Sounds like New Year's Resolutions, doesn't it. I want to keep up my goal to blog Monday through Thursday, and now to add Friday for my crafts. I guess this need to keep going on this goal is what brings me here this late in the day. :-)
Tomorrow is another day...as GOD allows, I will keep going.
13 JAN 2015 :: Learning the Blogger system
In trying to organize my blog plans, I am learning how to use blogger.com --- it is becoming a challenge. I have been trying to gather possible names for the topics I want to cover, and can't seem to get them to register with my account. Not sure why, but I am trying to find out.
After I secured the names, I planned to delete the ones I don't want to continue with. That was the plan anyway, I'm not sure what the reality will be. :-)
In my search for answers, I have discovered I can have 100 blogs, but can't seem to get past the first five names I entered. I deleted one as an effort to replace it with one I liked better, before I found out about the 100, but that didn't work. My new name effort still didn't load. Now I have 4 live names and one in temporary delete.
Computers are wonderful, but they are very technical... you have to do exactly the right thing to get it to work the way you want it to, or that you have to do it to get the information to enter. I hope I can find a way past this problem... I am really searching for permanent blog names that are available... and should load into my account.
Otherwise, I have added some information and links about my blog efforts on my home page for Working Together. ( http://work2gather.us ) I am working toward printable forms (PDFs) and hope to find a sales avenue - finally. There are other serious problems I am dealing with, and praying about, but they are in GOD's Hands.
My health issues are also still a problem. I am working through them. Please realize I will enter my posts as long as I am able to... as often as I am able to. I believe GOD knows what is happening and is creating a path to the future. I feel my task is to meet each day the best I can, and keep moving in the direction of helping the Body of Christ to survive as long as possible.
I did manage to secure the blog title SHELTER FOR ALL. That will be a good title for shelter issues.
Now I am trying to find the best titles for food and prison and political/life issues. If I really have 100 blog options, I should be able to find some great titles, eventually. :-)
Enjoy your days, and pray for WT and for me. Working Together will help us all, once it gets the funding base it needs.
After I secured the names, I planned to delete the ones I don't want to continue with. That was the plan anyway, I'm not sure what the reality will be. :-)
In my search for answers, I have discovered I can have 100 blogs, but can't seem to get past the first five names I entered. I deleted one as an effort to replace it with one I liked better, before I found out about the 100, but that didn't work. My new name effort still didn't load. Now I have 4 live names and one in temporary delete.
Computers are wonderful, but they are very technical... you have to do exactly the right thing to get it to work the way you want it to, or that you have to do it to get the information to enter. I hope I can find a way past this problem... I am really searching for permanent blog names that are available... and should load into my account.
Otherwise, I have added some information and links about my blog efforts on my home page for Working Together. ( http://work2gather.us ) I am working toward printable forms (PDFs) and hope to find a sales avenue - finally. There are other serious problems I am dealing with, and praying about, but they are in GOD's Hands.
My health issues are also still a problem. I am working through them. Please realize I will enter my posts as long as I am able to... as often as I am able to. I believe GOD knows what is happening and is creating a path to the future. I feel my task is to meet each day the best I can, and keep moving in the direction of helping the Body of Christ to survive as long as possible.
I did manage to secure the blog title SHELTER FOR ALL. That will be a good title for shelter issues.
Now I am trying to find the best titles for food and prison and political/life issues. If I really have 100 blog options, I should be able to find some great titles, eventually. :-)
Enjoy your days, and pray for WT and for me. Working Together will help us all, once it gets the funding base it needs.
12 JAN 2015 :: Blogging updates
I think I am going to be tied to a computer for the rest of my life. :-)
As I work out my new blogging strategy, choosing the right topics and the number of blogs to work toward is my first challenge. My list of things to do is already too large, and my budget remains small.
I do believe it might be the best path for separating the programs and beginning to share information that applies to each program. I had planned to do email newsletters, but this is more achievable for me at this time.
I am creating Crafts Explored as an outreach for my Etsy shop, but later, as I have to let things go, it may become a tool for Working Together's income generation for itself and members, including inmates and their families.
Working Together currently has the following planned programs ::
This blog will continue as the general corporate blog, but I had planned to create newsletters for several of the main programs, like CORD, Action Prayer and Praise, Firstfruits Ministries, and Inmate Project. I wasn't sure whether Essay 321 and Recipe Exchange needed an ongoing outreach. Bible Growth Groups is a different kind of program.
As I have stated, the blog for prison issues is being created next.
How to deal with the food, shelter, and employment issues of basic survival is not an easy decision. Each one of those topics would have enough material for its own blog. Important issues in these categories are gardening, farming, ranching, and water issues. Affordable shelter is critical, staff housing will be essential. Creating jobs for Christians is going to become more and more important as the problems we face grow.
I do hope GOD will provide the finances needed to establish and grow WT before it is my time to leave this earth, but I don't know that He will. My task is just to keep going forward to the best of my ability...and that is what I do.
Please pray for me, for WT, and for the future of the Body of Christ. Thank you for every prayer.
When I am able to create order forms in PDF formats, I will share them with you. Please consider becoming a member of Working Together. It is membership that will join us together and allow us to keep in touch as the times change, preparing resource options for as many as possible. Membership is for individuals, businesses and ministries will have CORD as an opportunity to connect and create resource options in each area.
Things are changing, and we know that we will lose the final battle, but we can prepare for the road we have to travel to reach the Antichrist.
As I work out my new blogging strategy, choosing the right topics and the number of blogs to work toward is my first challenge. My list of things to do is already too large, and my budget remains small.
I do believe it might be the best path for separating the programs and beginning to share information that applies to each program. I had planned to do email newsletters, but this is more achievable for me at this time.
I am creating Crafts Explored as an outreach for my Etsy shop, but later, as I have to let things go, it may become a tool for Working Together's income generation for itself and members, including inmates and their families.
Working Together currently has the following planned programs ::
- Working Together Inc. and its corporate programs, including publishing, manufacturing, employment, housing and outreach programs, and tithe distributions
- Membership :: Christian Community and General Public
- International CORD (Christian Online Resource Directory) :: Christian, Public, and Employment listings
- Action Prayer and Praise
- Bible Growth Groups
- Firstfruits Ministries :: Politics and Life Issues
- Inmate Project :: Prisons, Inmates, and their Families, including income options
- Essay 321 :: Weekly essay competition
- Recipe Exchange :: Yearly competition and other food issues
This blog will continue as the general corporate blog, but I had planned to create newsletters for several of the main programs, like CORD, Action Prayer and Praise, Firstfruits Ministries, and Inmate Project. I wasn't sure whether Essay 321 and Recipe Exchange needed an ongoing outreach. Bible Growth Groups is a different kind of program.
As I have stated, the blog for prison issues is being created next.
How to deal with the food, shelter, and employment issues of basic survival is not an easy decision. Each one of those topics would have enough material for its own blog. Important issues in these categories are gardening, farming, ranching, and water issues. Affordable shelter is critical, staff housing will be essential. Creating jobs for Christians is going to become more and more important as the problems we face grow.
I do hope GOD will provide the finances needed to establish and grow WT before it is my time to leave this earth, but I don't know that He will. My task is just to keep going forward to the best of my ability...and that is what I do.
Please pray for me, for WT, and for the future of the Body of Christ. Thank you for every prayer.
When I am able to create order forms in PDF formats, I will share them with you. Please consider becoming a member of Working Together. It is membership that will join us together and allow us to keep in touch as the times change, preparing resource options for as many as possible. Membership is for individuals, businesses and ministries will have CORD as an opportunity to connect and create resource options in each area.
Things are changing, and we know that we will lose the final battle, but we can prepare for the road we have to travel to reach the Antichrist.
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