2008 Spring Retreat

We had a great time on the CpR retreat this past weekend at NorthBay. My workshop actually went swimmingly well and most of that was because things just happened to click when I was giving my talk. Sometimes, you are on and sometimes not. This time, the Ghost decided to impart. It was a lot of fun and I'm hopeful that it gave students some good things to think about relating to understanding and engaging culture. [Related - my speaking notes.]

By far though, my favorite time of the weekend was when one of our favorite people - TriciaB [one of the 07-08 interns] - got baptized in the Bay. Memorable elements included the cold, murky water of the Chesapeake Bay; 300 friends gathered on the beach; hearing her talk about why Jesus is all; and listening to her friends share about her obvious impact to those around her. At the essence, it was a community sharing about one of their own that blesses those they don't know, all for the sake of One. Congrats Tricia!

[Update - here is the embedded video. How cool is that]

The Interns - Saving The World

One elementary school at a time... Link
[Photo via the Baltimore Sun]

But Wait, There's More - SPACE Seniors 08

We've never treated graduating seniors the same from year to year. Some years, we invite some of them to be leaders. Other years, we send them off into the cold, harsh world. This year, for those that have invested into SPACE, we are giving them some pretty wild opportunities.

The summer after graduation is a chaotic summer. It's the last summer at home with family and friends, financial pressure for college is large and the whole summer is an emotional roller coaster. And just for kicks, SPACE throws in some cool opportunities. We've tried to be very upfront about all the issues these students need to think about - with their families. The last summer before college is, historically for us, a much more difficult summer for commitments from just graduated seniors.

We are providing these opportunities because we believe the best way to get leaders is to grow them ourselves. Therefore, because some of these students understand SPACE as well as we do, they are prime candidates for more leadership. These students are ones that have traveled with us multiple years, understand risk and initiative and ones we trust with the future of the world.

Therefore, we've invited these well invested Seniors into leadership for this summer. All of these are leadership-based, meaning not just participation but requiring a certain level of responsibility, initiative and hard work. The four options are:
1 - England
2 - Hungary with my team
3 - Cameroon
4 - Options 2 and 3 above - Hungary ends Aug 2 with a decompression in Europe, meeting up with the Cam team who will be arriving in Europe from DC, and then continuing on to Cameroon. [At least, that's the "plan']

Option #4 is for the crazy ones. Three and a half weeks, two continents, four countries, a myriad of world cultures and serving with some incredible hosts. This is the one where other crazy people have said, "I would do that," while normative humans told me I was a nutcase for planning it.

Sure, it's your last summer at home. Yup, college starts in a few weeks. Correct, your life will never be the same again. But you have your whole world ahead of you...

Humana 2.08 - Unreasonable

The team and I had a great time in Orlando, attending Humana 2.08. Lots to process and lots more to do.

::: My Notes
Alex McManus

We are created to explore, risk and move into the future.

At NASA, there is a memorial to astronauts who have died. Most of the squares are empty, waiting to be filled.

We are called to point to a world that none of us know yet.

Sarah Conner Chronicles - "Taking Back the Future"

In communication, the listener is sovereign.

What is God saying to us through unreached artists, musicians, etc?

The Spirit is speaking prophetically but that isn't limited to people inside the Church.

Being intentional is the most natural when you know the Gospel.

I'm convinced that the Holy Spirit is in a subwoofer.

Gerardo Marti

Christianity is a missionary religion. That is why we engage culture. It is inevitable that we meet people that are different from ourselves.

Genesis 11 - expansion of ethnicities based on Babel
Genesis 12 - God intends to bless them ALL

Church must move from therapy to inspiration.

Jesus discipleship process - Mark 5 - sends the healed man back to his home - was a region of 200 miles and 10 cities
Discipleship is simulateanously
- coming to Jesus
- being sent out
Luke 10 - the 70 are given the same edict as the 12

We must recover the word "apostle"

Jesus doesn't think about leadership as maximum control, He thinks of it as maximum opportunity.

Catalytic leadership - John 20:21
Key question - How will this multiply?

Instead of reading the Bible for personal direction or information, we should read it with the filter of "I have responsibility for other people." Some of the Scriptures just don't make sense outside of a leadership lens.

We don't need to teach people to be creative. We need to give them permission.

To create a culture of creativity:
- what stories are you telling
- mentor people to be creative
- what do you reward

Brian Russell

The framework for all passages of Scripture: mission, holiness[character], community

Matthew 18 - the cliched passage about church discipline
Jesus says to treat them like a tax collector or sinner - the lost, exactly who Jesus came for.

Dean Sharp

Meaningful things must survive honesty.
The West doesn't teach people how to fail well.

Thorsten Moritz

Churches cannot afford to exist as hierarchical institutions

.
::: Random Thoughts
+ The format was very discussion based. It looked like:
12 minutes from the speaker
5-7 minutes of discussion based on a question the speaker left you with.
At certain times, there would be a "decompression", with half of the room interacting with 2 or 3 of the speakers on one side, while the other half interacted with some other speakers, and then we would switch. Decompressions were a huge hit and made the whole time much more interactive.

+ On Friday, we drove from Ocoee to Daytona Beach, hung out there for an hour or so, and drove to Downtown Disney for lunch. We left there right for the airport and then flew home. Amazing day. Yes I went in the water. No, not all the way. Yes, MPM went all the way in.

+ I spent the first hour trying to gauge how my team was responding to the conference, since it was a little difficult to explain exactly what it was. By lunch, they were hooked. Our team decompression on Thursday evening was packed.

+ Ever seen three Ideations ideate? It's like ice hockey.

+ We watched the SPACE shuttle launch on the large screen. Well sort of. Right before it launched, we ran out to see it from outside, but it was too hazy.

+ The team set a lot in motion for Mission Advance. Tell you more about that later.

+ I got to hang with Chris Marsden and Ben Boles, as well as spend a lot of time with my good friends MMM and K. It's always great seeing them and they are an anchor point for SPACE, the Shengs and that part of the world.

+ What I loved most was hearing how inspired my team was. More than information, we left with motivation. The world will be different because of what happens next.

[Related: Humana 2007 notes.]

SPACE 08 Winter Expedition

We had a fantastic weekend in NYC and southern CT serving with the 08 Winter Expedition. This weekend was very much a vision casting time with some of our favorite students. The ultimate goal was to see different expressions of Church and to inspire them for the future via different serving opportunities. And all of this taking place in the context of one of the great cities in the world - New York City.

Here are some of the ministries that we served with or dropped in to hang with:
- Generation Xcel
- Apple's Core Coffee House
- High School and Young Adult Ministry at Times Square Church
- Walnut Hill Community Church

Here are a few random thoughts going through my head from the weekend:
- TriciaB and Trev were asked to help lead worship at Apple's Core. Good example of the Neil Cole's idea that we have made it too hard to do Church. At the Apple's Core, it's really easy to do Church.
- Walnut Hill was so much like GCC. They even had the same exact chairs we had at Rumsey Center.
- The types of prayers that were prayed this weekend made a big impact on our team.
- Public transit is a huge element of the culture of New Yorkers.
- The team counted easily over 100 people from a different ethnicity in 5 blocks on Lower East Side.
- Having readings from the Unstoppable Force in the van was classic.
- In some past years, we have written off Seniors by this time in the school year. These Seniors are just getting started.

Pasted below are my Twitter updates. That might give you insight into our travel patterns and timeframes through the weekend. Not only is Twitter a fun way to make updates, it gives some good boundaries to force creativity.

nice to be home. what a great weekend. the future is very very bright. 10:15 PM January 20, 2008
at walnut hill comm church. finally not lost 11:35 AM January 20, 2008
arrived at space remote office in fairfield ct 12:19 AM January 20, 2008
apple core done. diff than a soup kitchen because its a community 09:32 PM January 19, 2008
trev and triciab just helped with worship. easy to do Church 07:21 PM January 19, 2008
trev and i helped deliver all those clothes to bowery mission in aog 15 pass van. fun with a native nyorker behind the wheel 06:11 PM January 19, 2008
set up for apple core at abound grace just packed 40 bags of clothes to give away 05:30 PM January 19, 2008
every sbux in cooper squares bathrooms are packed. heading to abounding grace in 10 04:03 PM January 19, 2008
hmm ny pub lib bathrooms are only for children. 02:47 PM January 19, 2008
at ny public library off tompkns sq pk. because it has heat. and maybe bathrooms 01:56 PM January 19, 2008
lunch in east village at pizza place. did lots of clean and org at genxcel 12:54 PM January 19, 2008
arrived at genxcel lots of cleaning 11:07 AM January 19, 2008
our hosts here at dean miss house are big into strengthfinder 08:24 AM January 19, 2008
beautiful day in nyc sunny and cold 07:54 AM January 19, 2008
bed after discuss cultural elemnts at times sq ch. this team gets it 11:31 PM January 18, 2008
if space did anything this year its worshipping in spanish with times sq church 07:41 PM January 18, 2008
youth and young adlt svc at times square chruch. like whoa some worship 07:28 PM January 18, 2008
made it to mission house super awesome 05:03 PM January 18, 2008
on train into grand central something good about pb&j sandwich you make. and helps the budget 03:07 PM January 18, 2008
in ct. quick lunch then train 01:22 PM January 18, 2008
middle of nj. team watching the guardian, modern day motif for the gospel so others may live 10:26 AM January 18, 2008
plan c or d? 02:06 PM January 17, 2008

More photos here.
[Related: 2006 Winter Expedition]

Orbiter Reading - December #2

::: Planning Rwanda
Link via My Heart's in Accra
If some of the dreams for Rwanda come to fruition, what are some elements one could capitalize upon to make Christ following communities a reality there?


::: Graphic - State of the Church in England via TSK
Link
What observations can you make based on some of the graphs?

Now That is Fresh

This was one of the acts at last Friday's CpR Lip Sync night. The song was to the theme of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," and the girl in the yellow [orbiter TriciaB] is a taxi-cab. You know, when the Fresh Prince arrives in Bel Air...

Should you be creating or should you be letting your students create?

H2.08 reading #1

Reading list #1 for H2.08.
#1
The Kinds of People the 21st Century Needs

#2
Creative Sweat

The team that is going to this with me is supposed to comment here, but of course you other readers are welcome too!

Orbiter Reading - December #1

Some links specifically for the Orbiters - they are supposed to comment here, but you are certainly welcome too as well.


::: Pendulums and Fire
Link

The author describes two types of change: 1st order - gradual, slow, periodic; and 2nd order - fire, unpredictable, chaotic. Identify and briefly describe two changes in your life, one for each order.

::: The Six Lessons of Kiva
Link
Describe how we could apply or how we already have applied one of those lessons to SPACE.

SPACE Book Club #3

From the entries on Intimacy from Soul Cravings --

Some lives can be explained only by the maddening effect of love. #7.

If your soul is disconnected from it's source, it will die. #8.

Film - The Constant Gardener/E.T./A.I. #8.

Undying love has a history of premature death. #9.

If love is such a profound emotion, why do we love everything and anything? #10.

God is not passive, for love is never passive, but always passionate; and passion always leads to action. #11

While our brains may deny it, our hearts know it: love is proof of God. #15

When we live outside of healthy community, we not only lose others but we lose ourselves. #17

More powerful than any data or doctrine, love is the proof of God our souls long for. #20

My absolute favorite is the fifth one. We act because we are passionate about those He is passionate for.

Humana2.08

In February, I'm traveling with a team to attend Humana2.08. It's difficult to explain exactly what the conference is, and that is okay.

A national convergence
Of creative kingdom entrepreneurs, catalysts, Church planters, pastors, visionaries, professionals, missionaries and activists

A living translation
Of the immigrant gospel from western christianity present to global humanity future

A leadership matrix
Like no other

I'm most excited about traveling and processing with this team of people - MPM, our logistics coordinator [Trinidad 2005]; JBourq [LA 2006 and NYC 2007]; TriciaB and EllyK, our orbiters [DC 2006, Cameroon 2006, Hungary 2007]; TMurray [DC 2006 and England 2007 and been on numerous middle school mission summers]; and ESunde, our 2005-2006 intern [Cameroon 2006 and Hungary 2007]. And, all the more reason, it's in Orlando. Let me know if you are going to be there.

This is not an experience that will give us a methodology or three steps to try or a program to implement. I'm almost sure that we won't have immediate action items. Instead, it's going to inspire, compel, and impassion us. Again. Because you and I don't need more information or knowledge. What we need is to be reminded why we must.

Related:
: My Humana 2.0 - 2007 post
: One of Leslie's posts from the session on Creativity, Humana 2007
: Thoughts after Origins 2004 - 6 weeks later