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A Wealth Building Seminar Can Teach You The Prosperity Path To Choose (Matt Zavadil)

Attending a wealth building seminar can be an excellent way to find out which path to wealth creation to take. After you’ve been to a wealth building seminar or two, be sure to pick one strategy and stick with it.
Artipot: Finance > Wealth Building Articles

Tags: Building, Choose, Matt, Path, Prosperity, Seminar, Teach, Wealth, Zavadil

Are You Traveling The Path Of Lease Resistance?

When pastors and church members contemplate building a new church, they often think in terms of a new edifice, a glorious building with stained glass, tastefully painted walls and high ceilings. But in the rush to plan and fund four walls and a roof, some churches might overlook a key element: what to put in the new building. Quality sound, lighting and presentation equipment can make the difference in how people perceive the life-changing message you’re presenting.

In the ideal situation, the presentation technology needs of your building have been addressed from day one of the planning process. The building itself has been designed from the inside out, focusing first on the shape, size and acoustic character of the sanctuary. If you’re really on track, this emphasis on quality worship elements has led you to place a skilled sound engineer into a peer working relationship with your architect.

In a perfect world, the technical equipment has been carefully chosen and integrated into the facility to generate the optimal stimulation of the senses, creating a veritable work of sight and sound art. In this ideal scenario, your plans have included technical needs in the project budget and the equipment in question has been funded as part of the building’s overall financing package. This astute financial approach has thus accounted for lower interest rates, extended repayment times and a lower overall cost for your capital investment. The end result is a seamlessly integrated setting for pure worship and life change.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are those churches that delay planning on technical requirements until they are well into the capital campaign, then add them at a too-late point in the funding and design process. Other churches might undergo a change in leadership only to discover that their new pastor wants a higher level of quality in technical equipment. Still others might find that construction costs have stressed their finances to the point that they simply cannot afford the right quality of equipment. In these situations, buying may take a back seat to leasing.

Leasing is often more closely associated with the automotive industry, but it is gaining increasing popularity in the church world. In the old days, the major capital outlay for technology might have consisted of replacement ivories for the pipe organ or a new batch of leatherette hymnal covers. In this era of rapidly changing technology, churches are relying more frequently on unique communications technologies utilized in education, entertainment or corporate America. Video projectors, wireless transmitters, sophisticated sound mixing equipment and even smoke machines are integrated into church services designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated participants in our interactive culture. Your church may never need a smoke machine but as a teacher, you might agree that if the Word can’t be clearly heard, it may not get the job done.

Churches face growing competition from the countless recreation options that people have on a Sunday morning. They aren’t competing so much with other churches any more but with other institutions that inform, educate and entertain (e.g., television, amusement parks, movies or concerts). Although a Ricky Martin concert will never match a Billy Graham sermon for substance and eternal significance, polished shows by Martin and other entertainers set a standard for technical excellence that people then associate with “professional” organizations. Conduct a service or two with dead microphones, shrieking feedback and a bass-heavy mix that shakes the windows and see how many people come back. It pays to use the right tools.

Even if your church wants to capitalize on the available communications technology, your financial situation might keep you from touching the quality of equipment you desire. There are some churches that will squirrel away money for the day they can pay cash for a particular item. However, the rate at which your church account can accumulate dollars is often exceeded by the rate at which the technology items increase in price. Leasing can help churches get the quality equipment that they need to reach people now without crippling them financially.

Also, some technology items might add value in terms of convenience and quality to your operation, but are either difficult to maintain or too expensive to justify purchasing. An example of this outside the sanctuary is office equipment. You may need a copier to duplicate your bulletins, your ministry fliers and the endless paperwork of churches. However, your church secretary may not have the training necessary to maintain a copier and your budget might not support the price of a purchase. A lease on this type of item–with its accompanying maintenance and service features–can save endless headaches for you and your people.

Like any technology product, church presentation equipment is on a rapidly rising curve of innovation, development and change. Gizmos that elicited a “wow” in your main service a year or even six months ago may have already been relegated to your children’s service or the Tuesday bridge club. This rapid pace of change can severely impact the value of an item once the church purchases it. Depreciation is a fact of life. However, when you’re dealing with high-tech equipment, obsolescence can accelerate that depreciation to distressingly low levels. Leasing can take the edge off of this depreciation.

Also, leasing offers a certain degree of flexibility. Although a lease term may run three years or more, it can give you the chance and the incentive to upgrade your presentation technology so that you can continue to communicate in the most effective way possible. In some respects, it can be almost like a test-drive of your equipment.

Leasing is not for everyone, nor is it appropriate in every situation. Your decision will likely be based on a few pros and cons. The cons must be considered as you begin your thought process. First of all, leasing can end up costing more in the long run due to the various charges and interest that companies may charge. Secondly, a poorly- or deceptively-written contract can put you in a bind at the end of the term or if the item is damaged.

On the pro side, leasing allows you to hang onto your existing capital in the near term. Also, you get your hands on a better grade of equipment than if buying outright. In addition, leasing can inoculate you from the scourge of obsolescence that eventually diminishes the value of every technical creation. Finally, a relationship with a reputable leasing company might position you to upgrade your equipment over the course of the lease agreement as new technologies emerge, depending on your lessor’s policies.

If you believe you might be ready to lease some of your equipment, it is important to know how to choose both your equipment source and/or your leasing agent. You or your music minister may be a regular customer at your local music store. These stores are a great place to purchase lower cost items like microphones, guitars or music stands. However, when it comes to planning, obtaining, installing, calibrating and operating a 48-channel sound board or special effects lighting, you probably won’t get the best deal or advice.

For a major presentation improvement project, it is well worth retaining the services of an experienced sound consultant. A consultant who answers to you and is paid by you will enter all planning and negotiations with your vision and best interests foremost in his or her mind. They can collaborate with your architect, your music minister and other expert counsel to design the most favorable sound and light situation. Then they can represent you in dealings with equipment distributors and apply their volume discounts, industry knowledge and experience to the negotiating process.

Since you may go outside the world of church vendors to obtain your equipment, you might find yourself working with distributors who don’t share your passion for stewardship and lost people. Some vendors may see your church plans, get a whiff of your budget and then, regardless of your actual needs, try to wring maximum dollars out of you by selling you equipment you don’t really need.

When negotiating your lease, there are a few non-negotiable guidelines. First, shop around for favorable lease programs. You may not find significant differences in fees and interest, but you may find companies that offer enhanced service support and other benefits. Don’t forget to inquire about training support. Since the group that will operate this equipment during your services may be composed entirely of volunteers, you should try to find a leasing company that will train them.

As part of your research, ask these companies for the names of other satisfied customers and then contact them (hopefully churches) to get their thoughts on the company in question. You may find that a company with pretty advertisements and brand name equipment has a lousy track record on returning calls or honoring commitments.

Also, and most importantly, make sure you have a written commitment to a set price due at the end of the lease. It is not unusual for some leasing companies, whether they deal in cars or spotlights, to stick you with a huge bill at the end of the lease. As tight as church budgets are, you cannot afford to be in a spot where you are legally obligated to a huge, unexpected debt.

So, if you are committed to using technology to reach people in ways that they are used to being reached, you may want to consider the path of lease resistance.

Tags: Lease, Path, Resistance, Traveling

Corporate America’s Path to a Very Public Humbling

It became the defining image of US business in 2002 – senior executives led in handcuffs from the courts, displayed in front of the world’s television cameras as a warning to other white collar criminals.

This will be remembered as the year that corporate America was humbled. A year when reputations of celebrity businessmen and women were savaged by a public seeking revenge for the trillions of dollars they had lost on the stock market.

It was also the year when once untouchable companies collapsed at an unprecedented rate. Five of the top 10 bankruptcies in US history occurred during 2002: Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, United Airlines and, yesterday, the insurer Conseco.

The first domino fell in the dying moments of 2001: Enron in Houston, the energy firm that through a mixture of hubris and wildly creative accounting had propelled itself to number seven in the Fortune 500 list of US companies.

When it became apparent that the business had been hiding debts offshore and inflating its profits through a series of fake transactions, it collapsed in dramatic fashion.

The extraordinary downfall of Enron had the most resounding impact and the ripples are still felt today. A new phrase, “Enronitis”, was coined for the nervous condition of the markets, which suddenly felt they couldn’t trust the financial figures being published by companies.

The collapses have led to a period of deep introspection on the nature of capitalism in the US. Curbs on excessive pay have become a key theme, as has tightening the rules on corporate governance. The accounting industry has a new watchdog. Even the move by Coca-Cola to stop providing quarterly earnings forecasts can be traced to the events of last year. Why were earnings massaged at some of the companies now bust if not to feed Wall Street’s rapacious appetite for earnings growth.

The reforms would not have happened without WorldCom, the telecoms firm that handles half the world’s internet traffic, and became the largest ever bankruptcy in July after being discovered operating the largest alleged fraud.

Before the WorldCom bombshell the momentum for reform had been slowing. Enron could have been a rogue company rather than an exemplar of corporate America during the go-go 1990s. WorldCom proved Enron was not an isolated case and made reform inevitable.

At WorldCom $9bn (£5.6bn) of ordinary expenses was wrongly recorded as capital investment. Three people have so far pleaded guilty.

WorldCom wasn’t the only US telecoms firm to go under, weighed down by overinvestment and acquisitions as the market deregulated. Global Crossing, a company with a name that smacked of ambition, filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of the year – at the time it was the biggest filing by a telecoms company and the fourth largest in history. Its former chief executive Gary Winnick managed to cash in $734m in shares before the collapse.

In other cases – the conglomerate Tyco, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the drug store chain Rite-Aid – the companies have survived but, with allegations of misdeeds, reputations have not.

Many touched by scandal including Qwest Communications, Dynegy, Williams and Rite-Aid only narrowly averted bankruptcy. Kmart, the discount retailer losing the battle against Wal-Mart, wasn’t so lucky. It filed for bankruptcy in January with debts of $4.7bn and has been forced into a number of financial restatements.

There were of course other bankruptcies, unrelated to the scandals of 2002. The most notable came in the airline industry, suffering twin black eyes from the slowing economy and the terrorist attacks of September 11.

US Airways, the sixth largest carrier in the US, filed for bankruptcy in August followed by United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, last month. A handful of smaller airlines have gone out of business entirely.

But it is the self-inflicted bankruptcies of 2002 that will be the most keenly remembered.

Tags: America's, Corporate, Humbling, Path, Public, Very

Are You Traveling The Path Of Lease Resistance?

When pastors and church members contemplate building a new church, they often think in terms of a new edifice, a glorious building with stained glass, tastefully painted walls and high ceilings. But in the rush to plan and fund four walls and a roof, some churches might overlook a key element: what to put in the new building. Quality sound, lighting and presentation equipment can make the difference in how people perceive the life-changing message you’re presenting.

In the ideal situation, the presentation technology needs of your building have been addressed from day one of the planning process. The building itself has been designed from the inside out, focusing first on the shape, size and acoustic character of the sanctuary. If you’re really on track, this emphasis on quality worship elements has led you to place a skilled sound engineer into a peer working relationship with your architect.

In a perfect world, the technical equipment has been carefully chosen and integrated into the facility to generate the optimal stimulation of the senses, creating a veritable work of sight and sound art. In this ideal scenario, your plans have included technical needs in the project budget and the equipment in question has been funded as part of the building’s overall financing package. This astute financial approach has thus accounted for lower interest rates, extended repayment times and a lower overall cost for your capital investment. The end result is a seamlessly integrated setting for pure worship and life change.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are those churches that delay planning on technical requirements until they are well into the capital campaign, then add them at a too-late point in the funding and design process. Other churches might undergo a change in leadership only to discover that their new pastor wants a higher level of quality in technical equipment. Still others might find that construction costs have stressed their finances to the point that they simply cannot afford the right quality of equipment. In these situations, buying may take a back seat to leasing.

Leasing is often more closely associated with the automotive industry, but it is gaining increasing popularity in the church world. In the old days, the major capital outlay for technology might have consisted of replacement ivories for the pipe organ or a new batch of leatherette hymnal covers. In this era of rapidly changing technology, churches are relying more frequently on unique communications technologies utilized in education, entertainment or corporate America. Video projectors, wireless transmitters, sophisticated sound mixing equipment and even smoke machines are integrated into church services designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated participants in our interactive culture. Your church may never need a smoke machine but as a teacher, you might agree that if the Word can’t be clearly heard, it may not get the job done.

Churches face growing competition from the countless recreation options that people have on a Sunday morning. They aren’t competing so much with other churches any more but with other institutions that inform, educate and entertain (e.g., television, amusement parks, movies or concerts). Although a Ricky Martin concert will never match a Billy Graham sermon for substance and eternal significance, polished shows by Martin and other entertainers set a standard for technical excellence that people then associate with “professional” organizations. Conduct a service or two with dead microphones, shrieking feedback and a bass-heavy mix that shakes the windows and see how many people come back. It pays to use the right tools.

Even if your church wants to capitalize on the available communications technology, your financial situation might keep you from touching the quality of equipment you desire. There are some churches that will squirrel away money for the day they can pay cash for a particular item. However, the rate at which your church account can accumulate dollars is often exceeded by the rate at which the technology items increase in price. Leasing can help churches get the quality equipment that they need to reach people now without crippling them financially.

Also, some technology items might add value in terms of convenience and quality to your operation, but are either difficult to maintain or too expensive to justify purchasing. An example of this outside the sanctuary is office equipment. You may need a copier to duplicate your bulletins, your ministry fliers and the endless paperwork of churches. However, your church secretary may not have the training necessary to maintain a copier and your budget might not support the price of a purchase. A lease on this type of item–with its accompanying maintenance and service features–can save endless headaches for you and your people.

Like any technology product, church presentation equipment is on a rapidly rising curve of innovation, development and change. Gizmos that elicited a “wow” in your main service a year or even six months ago may have already been relegated to your children’s service or the Tuesday bridge club. This rapid pace of change can severely impact the value of an item once the church purchases it. Depreciation is a fact of life. However, when you’re dealing with high-tech equipment, obsolescence can accelerate that depreciation to distressingly low levels. Leasing can take the edge off of this depreciation.

Also, leasing offers a certain degree of flexibility. Although a lease term may run three years or more, it can give you the chance and the incentive to upgrade your presentation technology so that you can continue to communicate in the most effective way possible. In some respects, it can be almost like a test-drive of your equipment.

Leasing is not for everyone, nor is it appropriate in every situation. Your decision will likely be based on a few pros and cons. The cons must be considered as you begin your thought process. First of all, leasing can end up costing more in the long run due to the various charges and interest that companies may charge. Secondly, a poorly- or deceptively-written contract can put you in a bind at the end of the term or if the item is damaged.

On the pro side, leasing allows you to hang onto your existing capital in the near term. Also, you get your hands on a better grade of equipment than if buying outright. In addition, leasing can inoculate you from the scourge of obsolescence that eventually diminishes the value of every technical creation. Finally, a relationship with a reputable leasing company might position you to upgrade your equipment over the course of the lease agreement as new technologies emerge, depending on your lessor’s policies.

If you believe you might be ready to lease some of your equipment, it is important to know how to choose both your equipment source and/or your leasing agent. You or your music minister may be a regular customer at your local music store. These stores are a great place to purchase lower cost items like microphones, guitars or music stands. However, when it comes to planning, obtaining, installing, calibrating and operating a 48-channel sound board or special effects lighting, you probably won’t get the best deal or advice.

For a major presentation improvement project, it is well worth retaining the services of an experienced sound consultant. A consultant who answers to you and is paid by you will enter all planning and negotiations with your vision and best interests foremost in his or her mind. They can collaborate with your architect, your music minister and other expert counsel to design the most favorable sound and light situation. Then they can represent you in dealings with equipment distributors and apply their volume discounts, industry knowledge and experience to the negotiating process.

Since you may go outside the world of church vendors to obtain your equipment, you might find yourself working with distributors who don’t share your passion for stewardship and lost people. Some vendors may see your church plans, get a whiff of your budget and then, regardless of your actual needs, try to wring maximum dollars out of you by selling you equipment you don’t really need.

When negotiating your lease, there are a few non-negotiable guidelines. First, shop around for favorable lease programs. You may not find significant differences in fees and interest, but you may find companies that offer enhanced service support and other benefits. Don’t forget to inquire about training support. Since the group that will operate this equipment during your services may be composed entirely of volunteers, you should try to find a leasing company that will train them.

As part of your research, ask these companies for the names of other satisfied customers and then contact them (hopefully churches) to get their thoughts on the company in question. You may find that a company with pretty advertisements and brand name equipment has a lousy track record on returning calls or honoring commitments.

Also, and most importantly, make sure you have a written commitment to a set price due at the end of the lease. It is not unusual for some leasing companies, whether they deal in cars or spotlights, to stick you with a huge bill at the end of the lease. As tight as church budgets are, you cannot afford to be in a spot where you are legally obligated to a huge, unexpected debt.

So, if you are committed to using technology to reach people in ways that they are used to being reached, you may want to consider the path of lease resistance.

Tags: Lease, Path, Resistance, Traveling

Are You Traveling The Path Of Lease Resistance?

When pastors and church members contemplate building a new church, they often think in terms of a new edifice, a glorious building with stained glass, tastefully painted walls and high ceilings. But in the rush to plan and fund four walls and a roof, some churches might overlook a key element: what to put in the new building. Quality sound, lighting and presentation equipment can make the difference in how people perceive the life-changing message you’re presenting.

In the ideal situation, the presentation technology needs of your building have been addressed from day one of the planning process. The building itself has been designed from the inside out, focusing first on the shape, size and acoustic character of the sanctuary. If you’re really on track, this emphasis on quality worship elements has led you to place a skilled sound engineer into a peer working relationship with your architect.

In a perfect world, the technical equipment has been carefully chosen and integrated into the facility to generate the optimal stimulation of the senses, creating a veritable work of sight and sound art. In this ideal scenario, your plans have included technical needs in the project budget and the equipment in question has been funded as part of the building’s overall financing package. This astute financial approach has thus accounted for lower interest rates, extended repayment times and a lower overall cost for your capital investment. The end result is a seamlessly integrated setting for pure worship and life change.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are those churches that delay planning on technical requirements until they are well into the capital campaign, then add them at a too-late point in the funding and design process. Other churches might undergo a change in leadership only to discover that their new pastor wants a higher level of quality in technical equipment. Still others might find that construction costs have stressed their finances to the point that they simply cannot afford the right quality of equipment. In these situations, buying may take a back seat to leasing.

Leasing is often more closely associated with the automotive industry, but it is gaining increasing popularity in the church world. In the old days, the major capital outlay for technology might have consisted of replacement ivories for the pipe organ or a new batch of leatherette hymnal covers. In this era of rapidly changing technology, churches are relying more frequently on unique communications technologies utilized in education, entertainment or corporate America. Video projectors, wireless transmitters, sophisticated sound mixing equipment and even smoke machines are integrated into church services designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated participants in our interactive culture. Your church may never need a smoke machine but as a teacher, you might agree that if the Word can’t be clearly heard, it may not get the job done.

Churches face growing competition from the countless recreation options that people have on a Sunday morning. They aren’t competing so much with other churches any more but with other institutions that inform, educate and entertain (e.g., television, amusement parks, movies or concerts). Although a Ricky Martin concert will never match a Billy Graham sermon for substance and eternal significance, polished shows by Martin and other entertainers set a standard for technical excellence that people then associate with “professional” organizations. Conduct a service or two with dead microphones, shrieking feedback and a bass-heavy mix that shakes the windows and see how many people come back. It pays to use the right tools.

Even if your church wants to capitalize on the available communications technology, your financial situation might keep you from touching the quality of equipment you desire. There are some churches that will squirrel away money for the day they can pay cash for a particular item. However, the rate at which your church account can accumulate dollars is often exceeded by the rate at which the technology items increase in price. Leasing can help churches get the quality equipment that they need to reach people now without crippling them financially.

Also, some technology items might add value in terms of convenience and quality to your operation, but are either difficult to maintain or too expensive to justify purchasing. An example of this outside the sanctuary is office equipment. You may need a copier to duplicate your bulletins, your ministry fliers and the endless paperwork of churches. However, your church secretary may not have the training necessary to maintain a copier and your budget might not support the price of a purchase. A lease on this type of item–with its accompanying maintenance and service features–can save endless headaches for you and your people.

Like any technology product, church presentation equipment is on a rapidly rising curve of innovation, development and change. Gizmos that elicited a “wow” in your main service a year or even six months ago may have already been relegated to your children’s service or the Tuesday bridge club. This rapid pace of change can severely impact the value of an item once the church purchases it. Depreciation is a fact of life. However, when you’re dealing with high-tech equipment, obsolescence can accelerate that depreciation to distressingly low levels. Leasing can take the edge off of this depreciation.

Also, leasing offers a certain degree of flexibility. Although a lease term may run three years or more, it can give you the chance and the incentive to upgrade your presentation technology so that you can continue to communicate in the most effective way possible. In some respects, it can be almost like a test-drive of your equipment.

Leasing is not for everyone, nor is it appropriate in every situation. Your decision will likely be based on a few pros and cons. The cons must be considered as you begin your thought process. First of all, leasing can end up costing more in the long run due to the various charges and interest that companies may charge. Secondly, a poorly- or deceptively-written contract can put you in a bind at the end of the term or if the item is damaged.

On the pro side, leasing allows you to hang onto your existing capital in the near term. Also, you get your hands on a better grade of equipment than if buying outright. In addition, leasing can inoculate you from the scourge of obsolescence that eventually diminishes the value of every technical creation. Finally, a relationship with a reputable leasing company might position you to upgrade your equipment over the course of the lease agreement as new technologies emerge, depending on your lessor’s policies.

If you believe you might be ready to lease some of your equipment, it is important to know how to choose both your equipment source and/or your leasing agent. You or your music minister may be a regular customer at your local music store. These stores are a great place to purchase lower cost items like microphones, guitars or music stands. However, when it comes to planning, obtaining, installing, calibrating and operating a 48-channel sound board or special effects lighting, you probably won’t get the best deal or advice.

For a major presentation improvement project, it is well worth retaining the services of an experienced sound consultant. A consultant who answers to you and is paid by you will enter all planning and negotiations with your vision and best interests foremost in his or her mind. They can collaborate with your architect, your music minister and other expert counsel to design the most favorable sound and light situation. Then they can represent you in dealings with equipment distributors and apply their volume discounts, industry knowledge and experience to the negotiating process.

Since you may go outside the world of church vendors to obtain your equipment, you might find yourself working with distributors who don’t share your passion for stewardship and lost people. Some vendors may see your church plans, get a whiff of your budget and then, regardless of your actual needs, try to wring maximum dollars out of you by selling you equipment you don’t really need.

When negotiating your lease, there are a few non-negotiable guidelines. First, shop around for favorable lease programs. You may not find significant differences in fees and interest, but you may find companies that offer enhanced service support and other benefits. Don’t forget to inquire about training support. Since the group that will operate this equipment during your services may be composed entirely of volunteers, you should try to find a leasing company that will train them.

As part of your research, ask these companies for the names of other satisfied customers and then contact them (hopefully churches) to get their thoughts on the company in question. You may find that a company with pretty advertisements and brand name equipment has a lousy track record on returning calls or honoring commitments.

Also, and most importantly, make sure you have a written commitment to a set price due at the end of the lease. It is not unusual for some leasing companies, whether they deal in cars or spotlights, to stick you with a huge bill at the end of the lease. As tight as church budgets are, you cannot afford to be in a spot where you are legally obligated to a huge, unexpected debt.

So, if you are committed to using technology to reach people in ways that they are used to being reached, you may want to consider the path of lease resistance.

Tags: Lease, Path, Resistance, Traveling

Are You Traveling The Path Of Lease Resistance?

When pastors and church members contemplate building a new church, they often think in terms of a new edifice, a glorious building with stained glass, tastefully painted walls and high ceilings. But in the rush to plan and fund four walls and a roof, some churches might overlook a key element: what to put in the new building. Quality sound, lighting and presentation equipment can make the difference in how people perceive the life-changing message you’re presenting.

In the ideal situation, the presentation technology needs of your building have been addressed from day one of the planning process. The building itself has been designed from the inside out, focusing first on the shape, size and acoustic character of the sanctuary. If you’re really on track, this emphasis on quality worship elements has led you to place a skilled sound engineer into a peer working relationship with your architect.

In a perfect world, the technical equipment has been carefully chosen and integrated into the facility to generate the optimal stimulation of the senses, creating a veritable work of sight and sound art. In this ideal scenario, your plans have included technical needs in the project budget and the equipment in question has been funded as part of the building’s overall financing package. This astute financial approach has thus accounted for lower interest rates, extended repayment times and a lower overall cost for your capital investment. The end result is a seamlessly integrated setting for pure worship and life change.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are those churches that delay planning on technical requirements until they are well into the capital campaign, then add them at a too-late point in the funding and design process. Other churches might undergo a change in leadership only to discover that their new pastor wants a higher level of quality in technical equipment. Still others might find that construction costs have stressed their finances to the point that they simply cannot afford the right quality of equipment. In these situations, buying may take a back seat to leasing.

Leasing is often more closely associated with the automotive industry, but it is gaining increasing popularity in the church world. In the old days, the major capital outlay for technology might have consisted of replacement ivories for the pipe organ or a new batch of leatherette hymnal covers. In this era of rapidly changing technology, churches are relying more frequently on unique communications technologies utilized in education, entertainment or corporate America. Video projectors, wireless transmitters, sophisticated sound mixing equipment and even smoke machines are integrated into church services designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated participants in our interactive culture. Your church may never need a smoke machine but as a teacher, you might agree that if the Word can’t be clearly heard, it may not get the job done.

Churches face growing competition from the countless recreation options that people have on a Sunday morning. They aren’t competing so much with other churches any more but with other institutions that inform, educate and entertain (e.g., television, amusement parks, movies or concerts). Although a Ricky Martin concert will never match a Billy Graham sermon for substance and eternal significance, polished shows by Martin and other entertainers set a standard for technical excellence that people then associate with “professional” organizations. Conduct a service or two with dead microphones, shrieking feedback and a bass-heavy mix that shakes the windows and see how many people come back. It pays to use the right tools.

Even if your church wants to capitalize on the available communications technology, your financial situation might keep you from touching the quality of equipment you desire. There are some churches that will squirrel away money for the day they can pay cash for a particular item. However, the rate at which your church account can accumulate dollars is often exceeded by the rate at which the technology items increase in price. Leasing can help churches get the quality equipment that they need to reach people now without crippling them financially.

Also, some technology items might add value in terms of convenience and quality to your operation, but are either difficult to maintain or too expensive to justify purchasing. An example of this outside the sanctuary is office equipment. You may need a copier to duplicate your bulletins, your ministry fliers and the endless paperwork of churches. However, your church secretary may not have the training necessary to maintain a copier and your budget might not support the price of a purchase. A lease on this type of item–with its accompanying maintenance and service features–can save endless headaches for you and your people.

Like any technology product, church presentation equipment is on a rapidly rising curve of innovation, development and change. Gizmos that elicited a “wow” in your main service a year or even six months ago may have already been relegated to your children’s service or the Tuesday bridge club. This rapid pace of change can severely impact the value of an item once the church purchases it. Depreciation is a fact of life. However, when you’re dealing with high-tech equipment, obsolescence can accelerate that depreciation to distressingly low levels. Leasing can take the edge off of this depreciation.

Also, leasing offers a certain degree of flexibility. Although a lease term may run three years or more, it can give you the chance and the incentive to upgrade your presentation technology so that you can continue to communicate in the most effective way possible. In some respects, it can be almost like a test-drive of your equipment.

Leasing is not for everyone, nor is it appropriate in every situation. Your decision will likely be based on a few pros and cons. The cons must be considered as you begin your thought process. First of all, leasing can end up costing more in the long run due to the various charges and interest that companies may charge. Secondly, a poorly- or deceptively-written contract can put you in a bind at the end of the term or if the item is damaged.

On the pro side, leasing allows you to hang onto your existing capital in the near term. Also, you get your hands on a better grade of equipment than if buying outright. In addition, leasing can inoculate you from the scourge of obsolescence that eventually diminishes the value of every technical creation. Finally, a relationship with a reputable leasing company might position you to upgrade your equipment over the course of the lease agreement as new technologies emerge, depending on your lessor’s policies.

If you believe you might be ready to lease some of your equipment, it is important to know how to choose both your equipment source and/or your leasing agent. You or your music minister may be a regular customer at your local music store. These stores are a great place to purchase lower cost items like microphones, guitars or music stands. However, when it comes to planning, obtaining, installing, calibrating and operating a 48-channel sound board or special effects lighting, you probably won’t get the best deal or advice.

For a major presentation improvement project, it is well worth retaining the services of an experienced sound consultant. A consultant who answers to you and is paid by you will enter all planning and negotiations with your vision and best interests foremost in his or her mind. They can collaborate with your architect, your music minister and other expert counsel to design the most favorable sound and light situation. Then they can represent you in dealings with equipment distributors and apply their volume discounts, industry knowledge and experience to the negotiating process.

Since you may go outside the world of church vendors to obtain your equipment, you might find yourself working with distributors who don’t share your passion for stewardship and lost people. Some vendors may see your church plans, get a whiff of your budget and then, regardless of your actual needs, try to wring maximum dollars out of you by selling you equipment you don’t really need.

When negotiating your lease, there are a few non-negotiable guidelines. First, shop around for favorable lease programs. You may not find significant differences in fees and interest, but you may find companies that offer enhanced service support and other benefits. Don’t forget to inquire about training support. Since the group that will operate this equipment during your services may be composed entirely of volunteers, you should try to find a leasing company that will train them.

As part of your research, ask these companies for the names of other satisfied customers and then contact them (hopefully churches) to get their thoughts on the company in question. You may find that a company with pretty advertisements and brand name equipment has a lousy track record on returning calls or honoring commitments.

Also, and most importantly, make sure you have a written commitment to a set price due at the end of the lease. It is not unusual for some leasing companies, whether they deal in cars or spotlights, to stick you with a huge bill at the end of the lease. As tight as church budgets are, you cannot afford to be in a spot where you are legally obligated to a huge, unexpected debt.

So, if you are committed to using technology to reach people in ways that they are used to being reached, you may want to consider the path of lease resistance.

Tags: Lease, Path, Resistance, Traveling

Are You Traveling The Path Of Lease Resistance?

When pastors and church members contemplate building a new church, they often think in terms of a new edifice, a glorious building with stained glass, tastefully painted walls and high ceilings. But in the rush to plan and fund four walls and a roof, some churches might overlook a key element: what to put in the new building. Quality sound, lighting and presentation equipment can make the difference in how people perceive the life-changing message you’re presenting.

In the ideal situation, the presentation technology needs of your building have been addressed from day one of the planning process. The building itself has been designed from the inside out, focusing first on the shape, size and acoustic character of the sanctuary. If you’re really on track, this emphasis on quality worship elements has led you to place a skilled sound engineer into a peer working relationship with your architect.

In a perfect world, the technical equipment has been carefully chosen and integrated into the facility to generate the optimal stimulation of the senses, creating a veritable work of sight and sound art. In this ideal scenario, your plans have included technical needs in the project budget and the equipment in question has been funded as part of the building’s overall financing package. This astute financial approach has thus accounted for lower interest rates, extended repayment times and a lower overall cost for your capital investment. The end result is a seamlessly integrated setting for pure worship and life change.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are those churches that delay planning on technical requirements until they are well into the capital campaign, then add them at a too-late point in the funding and design process. Other churches might undergo a change in leadership only to discover that their new pastor wants a higher level of quality in technical equipment. Still others might find that construction costs have stressed their finances to the point that they simply cannot afford the right quality of equipment. In these situations, buying may take a back seat to leasing.

Leasing is often more closely associated with the automotive industry, but it is gaining increasing popularity in the church world. In the old days, the major capital outlay for technology might have consisted of replacement ivories for the pipe organ or a new batch of leatherette hymnal covers. In this era of rapidly changing technology, churches are relying more frequently on unique communications technologies utilized in education, entertainment or corporate America. Video projectors, wireless transmitters, sophisticated sound mixing equipment and even smoke machines are integrated into church services designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated participants in our interactive culture. Your church may never need a smoke machine but as a teacher, you might agree that if the Word can’t be clearly heard, it may not get the job done.

Churches face growing competition from the countless recreation options that people have on a Sunday morning. They aren’t competing so much with other churches any more but with other institutions that inform, educate and entertain (e.g., television, amusement parks, movies or concerts). Although a Ricky Martin concert will never match a Billy Graham sermon for substance and eternal significance, polished shows by Martin and other entertainers set a standard for technical excellence that people then associate with “professional” organizations. Conduct a service or two with dead microphones, shrieking feedback and a bass-heavy mix that shakes the windows and see how many people come back. It pays to use the right tools.

Even if your church wants to capitalize on the available communications technology, your financial situation might keep you from touching the quality of equipment you desire. There are some churches that will squirrel away money for the day they can pay cash for a particular item. However, the rate at which your church account can accumulate dollars is often exceeded by the rate at which the technology items increase in price. Leasing can help churches get the quality equipment that they need to reach people now without crippling them financially.

Also, some technology items might add value in terms of convenience and quality to your operation, but are either difficult to maintain or too expensive to justify purchasing. An example of this outside the sanctuary is office equipment. You may need a copier to duplicate your bulletins, your ministry fliers and the endless paperwork of churches. However, your church secretary may not have the training necessary to maintain a copier and your budget might not support the price of a purchase. A lease on this type of item–with its accompanying maintenance and service features–can save endless headaches for you and your people.

Like any technology product, church presentation equipment is on a rapidly rising curve of innovation, development and change. Gizmos that elicited a “wow” in your main service a year or even six months ago may have already been relegated to your children’s service or the Tuesday bridge club. This rapid pace of change can severely impact the value of an item once the church purchases it. Depreciation is a fact of life. However, when you’re dealing with high-tech equipment, obsolescence can accelerate that depreciation to distressingly low levels. Leasing can take the edge off of this depreciation.

Also, leasing offers a certain degree of flexibility. Although a lease term may run three years or more, it can give you the chance and the incentive to upgrade your presentation technology so that you can continue to communicate in the most effective way possible. In some respects, it can be almost like a test-drive of your equipment.

Leasing is not for everyone, nor is it appropriate in every situation. Your decision will likely be based on a few pros and cons. The cons must be considered as you begin your thought process. First of all, leasing can end up costing more in the long run due to the various charges and interest that companies may charge. Secondly, a poorly- or deceptively-written contract can put you in a bind at the end of the term or if the item is damaged.

On the pro side, leasing allows you to hang onto your existing capital in the near term. Also, you get your hands on a better grade of equipment than if buying outright. In addition, leasing can inoculate you from the scourge of obsolescence that eventually diminishes the value of every technical creation. Finally, a relationship with a reputable leasing company might position you to upgrade your equipment over the course of the lease agreement as new technologies emerge, depending on your lessor’s policies.

If you believe you might be ready to lease some of your equipment, it is important to know how to choose both your equipment source and/or your leasing agent. You or your music minister may be a regular customer at your local music store. These stores are a great place to purchase lower cost items like microphones, guitars or music stands. However, when it comes to planning, obtaining, installing, calibrating and operating a 48-channel sound board or special effects lighting, you probably won’t get the best deal or advice.

For a major presentation improvement project, it is well worth retaining the services of an experienced sound consultant. A consultant who answers to you and is paid by you will enter all planning and negotiations with your vision and best interests foremost in his or her mind. They can collaborate with your architect, your music minister and other expert counsel to design the most favorable sound and light situation. Then they can represent you in dealings with equipment distributors and apply their volume discounts, industry knowledge and experience to the negotiating process.

Since you may go outside the world of church vendors to obtain your equipment, you might find yourself working with distributors who don’t share your passion for stewardship and lost people. Some vendors may see your church plans, get a whiff of your budget and then, regardless of your actual needs, try to wring maximum dollars out of you by selling you equipment you don’t really need.

When negotiating your lease, there are a few non-negotiable guidelines. First, shop around for favorable lease programs. You may not find significant differences in fees and interest, but you may find companies that offer enhanced service support and other benefits. Don’t forget to inquire about training support. Since the group that will operate this equipment during your services may be composed entirely of volunteers, you should try to find a leasing company that will train them.

As part of your research, ask these companies for the names of other satisfied customers and then contact them (hopefully churches) to get their thoughts on the company in question. You may find that a company with pretty advertisements and brand name equipment has a lousy track record on returning calls or honoring commitments.

Also, and most importantly, make sure you have a written commitment to a set price due at the end of the lease. It is not unusual for some leasing companies, whether they deal in cars or spotlights, to stick you with a huge bill at the end of the lease. As tight as church budgets are, you cannot afford to be in a spot where you are legally obligated to a huge, unexpected debt.

So, if you are committed to using technology to reach people in ways that they are used to being reached, you may want to consider the path of lease resistance.

Tags: Lease, Path, Resistance, Traveling

Are You Traveling The Path Of Lease Resistance?

When pastors and church members contemplate building a new church, they often think in terms of a new edifice, a glorious building with stained glass, tastefully painted walls and high ceilings. But in the rush to plan and fund four walls and a roof, some churches might overlook a key element: what to put in the new building. Quality sound, lighting and presentation equipment can make the difference in how people perceive the life-changing message you’re presenting.

In the ideal situation, the presentation technology needs of your building have been addressed from day one of the planning process. The building itself has been designed from the inside out, focusing first on the shape, size and acoustic character of the sanctuary. If you’re really on track, this emphasis on quality worship elements has led you to place a skilled sound engineer into a peer working relationship with your architect.

In a perfect world, the technical equipment has been carefully chosen and integrated into the facility to generate the optimal stimulation of the senses, creating a veritable work of sight and sound art. In this ideal scenario, your plans have included technical needs in the project budget and the equipment in question has been funded as part of the building’s overall financing package. This astute financial approach has thus accounted for lower interest rates, extended repayment times and a lower overall cost for your capital investment. The end result is a seamlessly integrated setting for pure worship and life change.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are those churches that delay planning on technical requirements until they are well into the capital campaign, then add them at a too-late point in the funding and design process. Other churches might undergo a change in leadership only to discover that their new pastor wants a higher level of quality in technical equipment. Still others might find that construction costs have stressed their finances to the point that they simply cannot afford the right quality of equipment. In these situations, buying may take a back seat to leasing.

Leasing is often more closely associated with the automotive industry, but it is gaining increasing popularity in the church world. In the old days, the major capital outlay for technology might have consisted of replacement ivories for the pipe organ or a new batch of leatherette hymnal covers. In this era of rapidly changing technology, churches are relying more frequently on unique communications technologies utilized in education, entertainment or corporate America. Video projectors, wireless transmitters, sophisticated sound mixing equipment and even smoke machines are integrated into church services designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated participants in our interactive culture. Your church may never need a smoke machine but as a teacher, you might agree that if the Word can’t be clearly heard, it may not get the job done.

Churches face growing competition from the countless recreation options that people have on a Sunday morning. They aren’t competing so much with other churches any more but with other institutions that inform, educate and entertain (e.g., television, amusement parks, movies or concerts). Although a Ricky Martin concert will never match a Billy Graham sermon for substance and eternal significance, polished shows by Martin and other entertainers set a standard for technical excellence that people then associate with “professional” organizations. Conduct a service or two with dead microphones, shrieking feedback and a bass-heavy mix that shakes the windows and see how many people come back. It pays to use the right tools.

Even if your church wants to capitalize on the available communications technology, your financial situation might keep you from touching the quality of equipment you desire. There are some churches that will squirrel away money for the day they can pay cash for a particular item. However, the rate at which your church account can accumulate dollars is often exceeded by the rate at which the technology items increase in price. Leasing can help churches get the quality equipment that they need to reach people now without crippling them financially.

Also, some technology items might add value in terms of convenience and quality to your operation, but are either difficult to maintain or too expensive to justify purchasing. An example of this outside the sanctuary is office equipment. You may need a copier to duplicate your bulletins, your ministry fliers and the endless paperwork of churches. However, your church secretary may not have the training necessary to maintain a copier and your budget might not support the price of a purchase. A lease on this type of item–with its accompanying maintenance and service features–can save endless headaches for you and your people.

Like any technology product, church presentation equipment is on a rapidly rising curve of innovation, development and change. Gizmos that elicited a “wow” in your main service a year or even six months ago may have already been relegated to your children’s service or the Tuesday bridge club. This rapid pace of change can severely impact the value of an item once the church purchases it. Depreciation is a fact of life. However, when you’re dealing with high-tech equipment, obsolescence can accelerate that depreciation to distressingly low levels. Leasing can take the edge off of this depreciation.

Also, leasing offers a certain degree of flexibility. Although a lease term may run three years or more, it can give you the chance and the incentive to upgrade your presentation technology so that you can continue to communicate in the most effective way possible. In some respects, it can be almost like a test-drive of your equipment.

Leasing is not for everyone, nor is it appropriate in every situation. Your decision will likely be based on a few pros and cons. The cons must be considered as you begin your thought process. First of all, leasing can end up costing more in the long run due to the various charges and interest that companies may charge. Secondly, a poorly- or deceptively-written contract can put you in a bind at the end of the term or if the item is damaged.

On the pro side, leasing allows you to hang onto your existing capital in the near term. Also, you get your hands on a better grade of equipment than if buying outright. In addition, leasing can inoculate you from the scourge of obsolescence that eventually diminishes the value of every technical creation. Finally, a relationship with a reputable leasing company might position you to upgrade your equipment over the course of the lease agreement as new technologies emerge, depending on your lessor’s policies.

If you believe you might be ready to lease some of your equipment, it is important to know how to choose both your equipment source and/or your leasing agent. You or your music minister may be a regular customer at your local music store. These stores are a great place to purchase lower cost items like microphones, guitars or music stands. However, when it comes to planning, obtaining, installing, calibrating and operating a 48-channel sound board or special effects lighting, you probably won’t get the best deal or advice.

For a major presentation improvement project, it is well worth retaining the services of an experienced sound consultant. A consultant who answers to you and is paid by you will enter all planning and negotiations with your vision and best interests foremost in his or her mind. They can collaborate with your architect, your music minister and other expert counsel to design the most favorable sound and light situation. Then they can represent you in dealings with equipment distributors and apply their volume discounts, industry knowledge and experience to the negotiating process.

Since you may go outside the world of church vendors to obtain your equipment, you might find yourself working with distributors who don’t share your passion for stewardship and lost people. Some vendors may see your church plans, get a whiff of your budget and then, regardless of your actual needs, try to wring maximum dollars out of you by selling you equipment you don’t really need.

When negotiating your lease, there are a few non-negotiable guidelines. First, shop around for favorable lease programs. You may not find significant differences in fees and interest, but you may find companies that offer enhanced service support and other benefits. Don’t forget to inquire about training support. Since the group that will operate this equipment during your services may be composed entirely of volunteers, you should try to find a leasing company that will train them.

As part of your research, ask these companies for the names of other satisfied customers and then contact them (hopefully churches) to get their thoughts on the company in question. You may find that a company with pretty advertisements and brand name equipment has a lousy track record on returning calls or honoring commitments.

Also, and most importantly, make sure you have a written commitment to a set price due at the end of the lease. It is not unusual for some leasing companies, whether they deal in cars or spotlights, to stick you with a huge bill at the end of the lease. As tight as church budgets are, you cannot afford to be in a spot where you are legally obligated to a huge, unexpected debt.

So, if you are committed to using technology to reach people in ways that they are used to being reached, you may want to consider the path of lease resistance.

Tags: Lease, Path, Resistance, Traveling

Acquittal Clears Trichet’s Path to European Bank

Jacques Chirac, the French president, will formally propose Jean-Claude Trichet as the next head of the European Central Bank this week after the governor of the Bank of France was acquitted yesterday on charges of complicity in the Crédit Lyonnais banking scandal.

Mr Trichet’s chances of succeeding Wim Duisenberg have hung in the balance for three years during the investigation and trial concerning an alleged cover up over Crédit Lyonnais’s accounts in 1992 when the bank was state-owned.

Mr Trichet, 60, was treasury director of the finance ministry at the time and the prosecution had asked for a 10-month sentence and a fine.

After the ruling, Mr Trichet said he was “moved” by the decision. At the trial, he said he had been kept in ignorance of the situation at Crédit Lyonnais, blaming the then Socialist prime minister, Pierre Bérégovoy, of “lacking lucidity” over the issue. Mr Bérégovoy committed suicide soon after losing the 1993 election.

The prosecution alleged that Crédit Lyonnais had twice scaled down heavy losses before settling on a figure barely a third of the total. The bank was later bailed out at huge expense to the French taxpayer. But Mr Trichet’s lawyer, Yves Baudelot, said the finance ministry was given little information by the bank’s management while the treasury director was not given access to internal ministry reports.

After the hearing, the finance ministry said Mr Trichet’s nomination as ECB president would be raised by Mr Chirac at the EU summit in Salonika opening on Thursday.

The EU commission president, Romano Prodi, said the Paris court’s decision would “greatly facilitate Mr Trichet’s chances of taking control”.

Mr Duisenberg, the current ECB president, had already agreed to stay on beyond his July retirement date to allow for the judicial proceedings to be completed and the subsequent appointment process.

Eight other men were on trial yesterday, including the former chairman of Crédit Lyonnais, Jean-Yves Haberer. He was found guilty of fraud and was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a €50,000 (£35,000) fine.

Two other former officials, François Gille and Bernard Thiolon, were also convicted and given suspended sentences and fines of €10,000. All intend to appeal.

Tags: Acquittal, Bank, Clears, European, Path, Trichet's

Kabylia in the Path of Autonomy: the Best Ally for Oromos, Sidamas and Ogadenis

Following the expression of a great part of interest and national fascination that was created among Oromos, Sidamas, Ogadenis, Bejas, Egyptians and Somalis because of my yesterday’s article which was published under the title ‘Kabylia´s Berbers, the Brethren of the Kuchitic Oromos and Sidamas, Demand Autonomy in Algeria’ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/67459), I decided to expand on the subject in various levels and many forthcoming articles.

With the present article, I want to make a particularly useful gift for the Kushitic Oromos, Ogadenis, Sidamas, Afars, Shekachos, Kaffas, Hadiyas, Gedeos, and Kambatas, the Eastern African brethren of the Berbers of Kabylia who officially demanded, a few days ago, their complete autonomy in Algeria.

Republishing the Proposition of Kabylia Autonomy Project (KAP) elaborated by MAK (:Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia or – in Amazigh – Timanit I Tmurt N Yeqvayliyen), I believe I offer all the aforementioned nations an excellent text that can help them prepare their own drafts and be thus solemnly engaged in the Path of National Independence. Through this document, the Eastern African Kushites will discover what links them to the Berbers.

To this, I add the Charter of the MAK for the Rights of the Kabylian People and Kabylia that can also be adjusted for the case of the Berbers’ Eastern Hammitic brethren. In fact, for Eastern and Western Hammites, the origins are common, the colonial oppression similar, and the path for freedom and liberation parallel.
And free, they will share a brilliant future of absolutely African, Hammitic – Kushitic identity and culture, having overcome colonialism once forever.

In forthcoming articles, I will explain the reasons that impose an extensive coordination among Kabylia’s Berbers, the Oromos, and the other Eastern African Nations, as well as the ensuing benefits for all.

Kabylia Atonomy Poject (KAP)

http://www.north-of-africa.com/article.php3?id_article=266

Timanit I Tmurt N Yeqvayliyen – Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (M.A.K.)

Proposition of Kabylia Autonomy Project (KAP)

Preamble

1. Having considered the strong identity and personality of the Kabyle people throughout the centuries, a language and culture of the great Amazigh family.

A socio-political organisation unlike any other in the territory, a secular attribute for freedom, the individual respect and solidarity with others,

2. Having considered the important and vital role played by the Kabylia region in the war for independence in which, it was massively engaged,

3. Having considered the total exclusion of the Kabyle identity in the Algerian definition and the institutional discrimination against the Kabyle people since the Algerian independence,

4. Having considered the political isolation of Kabylia, from the rebellion of the FFS in 1963 to the continuous “Black Spring” of 2001 and other related events such as the “Berber Spring” in 1980, the school boycott in 1994 / 1995 and the popular rebellion and outrage generated by the assassination of Matoub Lounes…

5. Having considered the political divorce between Kabylia and the central power due to its permanent repression against Kabylia since 40 years,

6. Having considered the Soummam Congress of 1956 in favour of the Autonomy of the Wilayas,

7. Having considered the United Nations Charter, the universal declaration of human rights and the people’s rights charter adopted in Algiers in 1976,

8. Having considered the rebirth of the “Archs” Kabyle as a popular movement restric ted to Kabylia in which the ” El Kser’s Platform” can only be achieved through a regional autonomy,

9. Knowing that, each existing regional autonomy across the world is the product of its people’s history,

10. Having considered the models of the Catalan, Flemish, Scottish, Welsh, Sardinian and Quebec and until a federal state,

11. In order to safeguard the territorial integrity of Algeria and to end the perpetual confrontation between the central power and this region, the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) is submitting to a debate the Project for the Autonomy of Kabylia (PAK)

Chapter I : Definition

1. By its language, culture and history, the Kabyle People has established a distinct identity and personality.

2. The Kabyles are citizens of Algeria and belonging to the great extended family of the Amazighs or “Free men”.

3. Kabylia is their homeland. It covers the territory of the ex-wilaya III. Its administrative frontiers are limited by its language and cultural values

4. The Kabyle / Amazigh language is its official language. However, Kabylia will dispense to its citizens every foreign language judged necessary to the flourishing of its cultural, economical, social and political structures.

Chapter II : Values

1. The autonomous Kabylia pledges the respect for human rights, without distinction of sex, race, language or religion. Consequently, the present family code will be abolished, polygamy forbidden and the personal status governed by civil laws.

2. The freedom of cult will be guaranteed and religion will be considered as a private matter.

3. Democracy is the political system, which will be used by the elected institutions.

4. Kabylia will remain in solidarity with the rest of all Algerians and Amazighs in their fight for cultural and political rights.

5. Kabylia will be more open to all Algerians as Algeria will be open to all Kabyles.

Chapter III : Regional Autonomy

1. As a region, people and a nation, Kabylia must gain and preserve its regional autonomy.

2. The regional autonomy will be created in Kabylia through a local assembly, which, in function of its political majority will elect un executive body who will form the local government.

3. Other institutions susceptible to sustain the region development can be created as constitutional committee, a senate, organisations which will control the local executives.

4. The Archs will replace the present popular and communal assemblies. The towns, villages and boroughs (The basic institutions of Kabyle autonomy) will all be subject to proportional representation.

5. Kabylia will also have the right to its own crests and flag. It will sway proudly beside the Algerian flag.

6. The relevant and competent authorities of the regional Kabyle state will be related to matters of security, education, culture, health, justice, human rights, information, media, finances, taxes, the public transport and their infrastructures, the economy, the environment and the estates management.

7. The central power will keep the exclusivity of national security, the reissue of currency, and the foreign policy with respect to the interests of Kabylia. It will [the central power] regulate the economical policies between the regions until a federal state.

Chapter IV : Modalities

1. The regional autonomy will be proclaimed following a referendum organised in Kabylia.

2. Its content will be negotiated with the central power through an elected delegation for this purpose.

3. A constitutional body can then be called to ratify the Kabyle constitution following the general agreement. This project will be subject to a constitutional revision which will lay down the fundamental laws of the country, and adapted to the Kabylia reality.

http://www.makabylie.info/

Charter of the MAK, for the Rights of the Kabylian People and Kabylia

http://www.north-of-africa.com/article.php3?id_article=410

1. The Kabylian people has the right to get his official recognition by Algeria.

2. Kabylia has the right to have acknowledged administrative frontiers in conformity with its sociolinguistic reality extending, in the North, from Tizi-Nat-Aïcha in the West to Ziama Mansouriah in the East, and Djaafra in the South. She adjudges unacceptable the attachment of its territories to bordering entities where hundreds of thousand Kabylians are reduced into a minority and isolated from their fellow citizens (Jijel, Sétif, Bordj-Bou-Arreridj and Boumerdes). The litigious big urban centers will be separated by a referendum (Sétif, Bordj-Bou-Arreridj and Boumerdes).

3. Kabylia has the right to have a large autonomy statute which confers her full powers in all fields except national defense, issuance of money and, at least extant, foreign affairs.

4. Kabylia has the right to be a Kabylian Regional Republic, Democratic, Social and Secular.

5. Kabylia has the right to have her own institutions including its parliament and its government.

6. Kabylia has the right to have Kabylian as her official language.

7. Kabylia has the right to have her flag and her coat of arms.

8. Kabylia has the right to have her own school system which uppermost dispenses a teaching in her own language, away from extremism, fanaticism, racism, and gender segregation; a school system tied to science and openness on the world, technology and to the respect of the fundamental values of humanity.

9. Kabylia has the right to have her own civil security (police, forest-rangers, firemen/women, ports surveillance, airports, and sensitive economic sites).

10. Kabylia has the right to have her own media system (television channels, radios, press, communications, and other means known or coming).

11. Kabylia has the right to ensure the management of her own sustainable development, land-tenure system, urban landscaping, transport, and local taxation.

12. Kabylia has the right to have her quota of national oil (petroleum and gas) annuity proportionally to the number of her inhabitants in relation with the entire Algerian country.

13. Kabylian people has the right to be accepted as a nation within Algeria.

14. Kabylian has the right to take away her women and girls from the wicked and slanderous Algerian family code and establish real equal rights between women and men.

15. Kabylian people has the right to fight peacefully to fulfil this charter.
Kabylia has to accomplish all the duties contained in the PAK (Project for the Autonomy of Kabylia) published on April 16th, 2003.

Translated by Izemrasen
Projet d’autonomie de la Kabylie (PAK)
Kabylia autonomy project (KAP)

Note
Picture: Volubilis, the greatest archeological site of Roman times in Africa, near Meknes in today’s Morocco (part of the divided Berberia): all designed and built by Berber architects, sculptors and masons.

Tags: Ally, Autonomy, Best, Kabylia, Ogadenis, Oromos, Path, Sidamas

Friday, October 29th, 2010 Grants No Comments