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]

In NYC and CT

I'm in New York City and southern Connecticut with a SPACE team this weekend. It's our 2nd Winter Expedition and boy is it winter. Probably no posting, but you can follow my Twitter feed, either at this link or in the left sidebar of this ye old blog.

The main idea this weekend is exposition of different expressions of Church [big C]. This includes hanging with the student ministry at Times Square Church, working with GenXcel [associated with my friend Jeremy Del Rio,] and serving at the Apple Core coffee house - a Jesus community of a different sort.

And spending some time with some of these amazing getting-ready-to-graduate Seniors. Be excited about the future because of what they are going to do.

The Expansion of SPACE (4 of 4)

#4 - Outside of the GCC network
When SPACE started, one of the defining ideas was synergy with "big church" by overseas teams serving with GCC and the families that were already intentionally serving in other cultures. It continues to make the most sense in a lot of areas including trust, expertise and momentum.

In the last four years, we've met many people that would love to host a SPACE team. Open invitations have come places like Australia, Paraguay, Thailand, Indonesia, and France. Some of these invitations have come from personal friends who love the idea of hosting a team and I of course would love to introduce SPACE kids to old friends. And it would be amazing to capitalize on some of those invitations. Like I've said before, there are tons of missionaries that would love to partner with that understand partnership, preparation and culture.

Of course, this expansion has to be done the right way, first and foremost with well seasoned, trusted leaders that understand the core DNA of GCC and what SPACE endeavors to accomplish. Apart from the usual characteristics of our high impact leaders, these leaders also need to be decisive, risk takers and very discerning. They also need to be humble connectors.

What we potentially gain is more influence and impact while mobilizing students to serve in other various cultures and localities. What I personally gain is less control by enabling some other leaders to move as the Spirit calls them. I'm thinking that's okay. At least right now.

This expansion creates a broader scope of SPACE, which could be good or bad. It might look like experiences are less strategic or that experiences are chosen more randomly than they should be. But once again, this is heavily reliant on our team of people that understand why SPACE exists.

In either case, it's an acceptable experiment. Because the Church of the future will contain those that don't presently know. Because you and I know some of these leaders of this Church, right now. And because the Spirit will guide them to move the Kingdom beyond our imagination or abilities. That is the essence of mobilization.

The Expansion of SPACE (3 of 4)

#3 - Mobilizing: More middle schoolers
The second demographic that SPACE needs to expand is our current middle school students. Middle schoolers have been under SPACE's charge since the beginning. Although we have done a fair amount with these hyper, hormonal, imbalanced yet precious kids, we would love to do more.

How about something like:
- Short seminar series about world religions.
- Local Islamic mosque tours and Buddhist temple visits.
- More depth into serving with ministries that are focused on international and ethnic groups in the States.
- Resourcing more of our high school students to help assist with some of this middle school focus. Yes, another leadership pipeline.

Selfishly, the better we do at equipping these two age groups [including 3rd - 5th graders, from yesterdays post], we will have more culturally-intelligent and culturally-adept students when they get to high school. And that is only good for the future.

The Expansion of SPACE (2 of 4)

#2 - Mobilizing: 3rd to 5th graders

There are two demographics of GCC's next generation that we need to engage with more focus. The first demographic is 3rd - 5th graders. [We will talk about the second demographic tomorrow.] We have to help these kids be kids in light of the global cultures that surround them. I've got a bit of an inside track on this one, with a 10 and 7 year old in the house. So when I look at their childhood in their/our context, here are some things that come to mind:
- Since the future is urban, are we crippling their future by growing them up in the suburbs?
- Will their experience in a suburban mega-church prepare them to engage different expressions of the Church?
- How many of their peers in Sunday school have spent significant time in a different culture?
- Why does Sunday morning look so, uh, "white"?
- Kt routinely asks me about other cultures. Do our kids' friends see culture like our kids' do?
- How can we impress to these kids that they are living one of those most amazing times in human history?
- Our family is in the midst of a marathon of The Amazing Race on DVD. Do their friends think of us as a weird family? [I hope so. Weird is good - normal is bad.]

This expansion includes partnership and assistance with GCC's children ministries and extension ministries [like Girls Grace Adventure, for example], which may look like:
- Being an advocate and resource for summer family mission trips. [Our adult short term coordinator helps plan family trips.]
- Creating and capitalizing opportunities for SPACE teams to share with kidZone. These are stories we should tell and they will inspire and motivate. And we all know lots of people that first caught a passion for missions from Sunday school.
- Sharing about global cultures with this age group whenever we can, including in local schools, at church and informally.
- Being available to help out with kidZone summer teachings, where the program is much more flexible and off the cuff. [In the midst of writing this post, I found out that GCC is running a 4 week summer camp this summer. That could be another part of this expansion.]

English scones for breakfast, riding bikes with your neighbors from Sri Lanka, conversations with your Buddhist friends in the afternoon, Chinese food for dinner, falling asleep to a CD teaching you how to speak German - this is a 4th grader's life in suburban Howard County. We know 9 year olds can make a difference in the world and it's part of our job to inspire them.

The Expansion of SPACE (1 of 4)

Although SPACE started within the fixed context of a local church and her student ministry, the concept of SPACE should naturally expand. In this series of posts, I will share some ideas about how I think SPACE could expand. These ideas are speculative at best. Execution might happen. Or not.

#1 - Mobilizing: More Students
SPACE can and should help other like-minded student ministries with a strategy for the future of the Church. This involves helping youth workers and their students catch a big-picture global perspective. The idea is to put many of the topics covered on this blog into practical application for the purpose of giving students a vision for the world.

This expansion also includes assistance with the on-the-ground tactical details such as: mission team leader best practices; introducing new friends to old and well trusted friends and resources; and the rate of Purrell use per person per day.

On the surface, this looks like helping get other student ministries into missions. By itself, that is an absolutely great goal. But you know SPACE thinks that goal would be too short sighted. The actual goal is to make a bigger impact for future Christ following communities through catalyzing more and more students.

Three other important pieces:
- We expect to learn as much or more from them as they from us. We certainly haven't arrived.
- We are going to utilize our students in this as much as we can. The very people we have mobilized turn into mobilizers themselves. This takes our students full circle and forms one of many tangible leadership pipelines.
- Perhaps this expansion takes place via another medium besides SPACE. Not a student missions organization [because we already have TeenMania, TeenMissions, Adventures In Missions, etc.] and not a student ministry consultation [we have plenty of those too]. That not-so-important detail is still in process.

[This expansion actually has some tangible potential. Contact me via email or comment if you or someone you know wants to be in the loop on this expansion.]

Monday RocketFuel

::: JJ Abrams [Lost, Alias and Mission Impossible III] at TED talking about story, mystery and magic.
Link


::: Alex McManus is writing a book called, "MAKING THE WORLD HUMAN AGAIN: Jesus' Quest to Save the Future from Religion."
Oh, and read more about his point that, "The scriptures are NOT authoritative in and of themselves."
Link


::: At the age of fifteen John Goddard listed 127 goals he wished to experience or achieve in his lifetime. The list is impressive and audacious, but the results have been truly incredible.
Link
I've done 61, 63, 84, 126 and 127. I obviously need to work off my own list.

Perspectives Class Schedule, Ellicott City, MD, Spring 08

For those of you that might be thinking of taking a Perspectives class and are on the fence about it - do it. Your whole life will change.

Here is the outline for the Maryland semester.

Jan 14 - Lesson 1: The Living God is a Missionary God
Shane Bennet

Jan 21 - Lessons 1 & 2: The Story of His Glory
Scott Simmons

Jan 28 - Lessons 2 & 3: Your Kingdom Come
Mark Fesmire

Feb 4 - Lessons 3 & 4: Mandate for the Nations
Dave Shive

Feb 11 - Lessons 4 & 5: Unleashing the Gospel
Charlie Klepadlo

Feb 18 - Lessons 5 & 6: Expansion of the Movement
Robert Reese

Feb 25 - Lessons 6 & 7/8: Eras of Mission History / Pioneers of the Movement
Karen Michener

Mar 3 - Lessons 7/8 & 10: How Shall they Hear?
TBD

Mar 10 - Lesson 9: The Task Remaining
Joe Steinitz

Mar 17 - Lessons 9 & 10: How Shall They Hear?
David Shenk

Mar 24 - Strategy Workshop
Sue Patt

Mar 31 - Lessons 10, 11: Building Bridges of Love & 13: Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches
Pat Kearney

Apr 7 - Lessons 11 & 12: Christian Community Development
Paul Gupta

Apr 14 - Lessons 11, 12 & 13: The Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches
Ed McManess

Apr 21 - Lessons 13 & 14: Pioneer Church Planting
Dave Fritz

Apr 28 - Lessons 14 & 15: World Christian Partnership
Scott Buresh

May 5 - Lesson 15 & Final Class
Sundee Simmons

China and Cities

China has 166 cities with populations of over 1M people, compared with 2 in Japan, 9 in the US and 1 in Britain.- Mind Set!

From 2003, the 9 cities in the US are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Dallas.
Baltimore is #18, Washington DC is #25.
Link

007

007 for our #2. This year she has managed to have even more love for animals, somehow translating that to people and becoming incredibly nurturing and sympathetic towards the human condition.

She's funny, will tell you like it is and is sure that the unique beat in her head beckons everyone, whether they know it or not. She is a gift of fun, energy and wit.

Em, when we are old, and you get tired of seeing and saving the unknown recesses of mankind, we know you will come home, with your dog, to take care of your parents and keep us company.

Love

SPACE 08 Dates

I know many many people are interested in SPACE and what the opportunities are for this coming summer. In light of planning, here are the initial dates that we know of right now:

- Mission Advance - all teams - weekend of June 20
- incoming 10th grade - July 6 - 12
- incoming 11th grade - TBD
- LC missions experience - TBD but sometime in July
- incoming 12th grade and others - somewhere in the window of July 22 - Aug 15 - probably multiple opportunities happening in this time window

We hope to publish more formal details for all the summer teams in the next few weeks. Feel free to reply to me if you want to be in the real time loop when that information is available. We will also publish it via www.atthewarehouse.org under the CpR ->SPACE webpages.

Please pass this info on to as many people that you think might be interested. And apologies if you are getting this multiple times.

Thanks!!

- tony
http://tonytsheng.blogspot.com

SPACE network update

If you are following along with our SPACE global network, here are some quick updates:

::: Departing + The Nens [our hosts for 2006 - Cameroon] have been on furlough here in the States for almost a year. They depart from Richmond via DC to head back to Yaounde tomorrow afternoon.

::: Departing + I got a text from LB the other day that read, "I'm in SF! I'm going on an hour of sleep and I am hyper." In other words, she is doing great. [She arrived in San Francisco on Monday to begin a DTS with YWAM.]

::: Arriving + Our GCC team that went to India has returned safe and sound. Word on the street says they accomplished one of their goals - throwing a Christmas party for an orphanage in Delhi. [Related: my notes for a team prep session I did with them to help them get ready.]

The Admin Side of Mission

I was part of a marathon lunch meeting last week with the usual suspects involved in mission efforts at GCC. It's the same group of people that I meet with periodically: the person in charge of the Missions Task Force [the MTF]; her husband who is the elder overseeing missions; and the point person for adult teams, who does the same thing I do for students. [I also dragged ESunde along with me.] The MTF is in the middle of managing some serious growth with regard to short term teams, moving from 0 adult teams in 2004 to ten for this coming summer, not to mention the growth in student teams.

Some issues that we discussed included:
- How do we handle immunizations? Included in fundraising or no?
- How do we deal with people who are kicked off of teams, in the off chance that happens?
- How do we deal with people who are totally opposed to raising support and want to pay for short term trips out of their pocket?
- Start the discussion about mid-term people, those that are going for 1-3 years somewhere, which leads to
- Discussion about GCC becoming more like a mission/sending agency which requires us to get better at training, follow up, and care. [Related: See #2 in this post.] Perhaps some of these points may help some of you readers if you are involved in the growth of mission projects for a local church.

I also shared a little bit about plans for 2008 for SPACE. We will reveal those soon enough, but it's again a bit more ambitious than previous years. When I share these plans with normal people, they tell me that I'm either crazy or stupid. This group that I had lunch with though, each one of them said, "I would go on that!"

H2.08 reading #2

For the H2.08 team. We will be there in about a month.

Reading list - #2
#1
A List of Questions

#2
The Apostle Paul's Journeys to Significance

Futurecasting with LinkedIn

"The future is embedded in the present." - mindset #9 from Mind Set!, John Nasbitt

Here are some fun job titles - and the appropriate search term - I pulled out of some searches within my LinkedIn network. LinkedIn is like Facebook for your professional and career life. It's good, if you have a real job or are searching for one, you should sign up.

And if I picked your job title, feel free to add me to your network.

"organic church"
Independent Missional Church Leader
Missionary in Residence
Lead Pastorpreneur
Catalyst

"international development"
International & Linguistic Product Management

"global leadership"
Director, Leadership Development
Leadership & Talent Consultant
Thought Leader, Community Leader, Software Architect

"global missionary"
Church Mobilization Director

"global youth"
Creative Cultural Youth Communicator
youth counselor; budding data analyst
Creator of Powerful Ideas
Connector
Director of All Things Fun, Meaningful and Rewarding

"cultural anthropology"
Iconoclast
Education Abroad Professional and Applied Anthropologist
Cultural Exchange & Conflict Transformation Professional
culture/technology catalyst

In other words, who says you can't?

[Related: My LinkedIn profile]

Friday RocketFuel

::: When I was a kid, we had to walk five miles in the snow to school... uphill... with an IBM Thinkpad...
Going to school in Uruguay, with an XO
Link


::: Linguistic SuperPower - Papua New Guinea
See the map here.
Countries with the most languages in use:
Papua New Guinea 823
Indonesia 726
Nigeria 505
India 387
Mexico 288
Cameroon 279


::: How to Travel the World with Kids

Sabbaticals and kids go together like peanut butter and jelly. The natural curiosity of kids, their desire to engage with life can take you to places and things you might never have dreamed of on your own.

A must-read about traveling to second or third world countries with children, including healthy perspectives on safety, schooling and the adventure of family travel. Link


::: "Do we really think God sent His Son so our greatest life’s goal would be a new boat?" - Craig Groeschel
Link

SPACE in Cuba

Ok.. well, SPACE is not really going to Cuba. At least not right now...

Dennis serves in Mexico City with Youth Ministry International, an organization devoted to training and resourcing youth workers overseas. [Ninety-seven percent of the world's trained youth workers live and work in the United States, ministering to less than 3% of the world's youth population.] In January, he is traveling to Cuba to do some training and teaching and he got in touch with me a few weeks ago and asked me to put together a short video talking about some of the philosophy of mission behind SPACE.

It is a lot of fun for me to be able to share something like this with others who are like-minded about students, culture, and mission in the future. Thanks Dennis! Here is the link to the video on blip.tv, although Dennis will probably edit it for his specific context. Remember, context matters.
[Related: More about SPACE]

Tuesday RocketFuel

To celebrate the New Year, today's RocketFuel post has a futuristic theme.

::: New Yorkers in 2108
Link

- This city is all about intensity of purpose and connections, and technology will only make it more efficient and more fluid. And in a city that is so multicultural, communication will be easier. A hundred years from now, you and I could be having a conversation in two languages and translation would be automatic.
- Because I think we will lose the battle with global warming, and because I think a nuclear device will be exploded somewhere on the planet, New York will be quite a different place.
- I have a genuine optimism about New York in 2108. The city will be the international city to live in. It’s just that we won’t be able to afford it. The financial capital of the world will be probably Dubai or Beijing, and New York will be owned by Chinese and Arab investors, among others.

And, did you know that the New York City Department of Sanitation has an anthropologist on staff?


::: The Futurist on The Top 10 Forecasts for 2008 and Beyond
Link
- Water will be in the twenty-first century what oil was in the twentieth century.
- The number of Africans imperiled by floods will grow 70-fold by 2080.
- More decisions will be made by nonhuman entities.


::: Top Ten Transhumanist Technologies
Link
Either very scary or very exciting.

2007 in posts

Some of my personal favorite posts from the past year. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Ah Florida
I Resigned Today
Instead
Reimagining the Wordless Book
Do You Talk To Yourself Too?
Mosquitoes and Milestones
Hungary and Me
Mission Trip Quotes - Ice Age 2
Ordinarily
SPACE's evolution - The Real World
Organic Leaves

[Related: Favorite 2006 Posts]

2007 in books

In no particular order..
1. The Making of a Leader
2. The Tipping Point [post]
3. The Journey of Desire
4. The Multi Site Revolution [post]
5. The End of Poverty [post]
6. God On Mute
7. Off Road Disciplines [post]
8. The Big Idea
9. Not Much Just Chillin' - The Hidden Life of Middle Schoolers [post]
10. The Wisdom of Crowds
11. Mavericks at Work
12. The Forgotten Ways
13. Deep Survival [post]
14. Soul Cravings
15. Into The Wild
16. Deadly Viper Character Assassins [post]
17. There's A Sheep in My Bathtub [post]
18. Mindset [still in progress]

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?

2007 in cities

1. Leesburg, VA, USA
2. Ocoee, FL, USA
3. The Animal Kingdom, FL, USA
4. Baltimore, MD, USA
5. Hagerstown, MD, USA
6. Malvern, PA, USA
7. Fairfield, CT, USA
8. Fulton, MD, USA
9. Vienna, Austria, Europe
10. Sopron, Hungary, Europe
11. Munich, Germany, Europe

I have to get out more next year...

[Related: 2006 in cities]

You Are Legend

In 2009, a deadly virus burned through our civilization pushing humankind to the edge of extinction. Dr. Robert Neville dedicated his life to the discovery of a cure and the restoration of humanity. On Sept 9, 2012 at approx 8.49 pm he discovered that cure. And at 8.52pm he gave his life to defend it. We are his legacy, this is his legend.

This is one of the best films of late that is a redemptive analogy.

In a slight twist on the title, we are taking some of our SPACE-invested Seniors away in January and calling it, "You Are Legend." It's got the same flavor and idea - if you were the only person left on earth, if you were the last hope for humanity, if the destiny of mankind were up to you, could you do it? My personal bet is that some of these seniors will become legends.

Tell you more about the Senior expedition later. In the meantime, go see the movie and take some good notes on what the story is saying about meaning and destiny.

Merry Christmas 2007!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! Blessings on this holiday season to you all.

We have family visiting this week, and our girls are in some Christmas kids programs at church later today. It's been a fun weekend so far.

Here is to hoping your Christmas season is refreshing as well, so that we can all get a break, spend time with family and friends and get back to it - you know, redeeming humanity. As John Eldredge says, "Spiritually speaking, this is no silent night. It is D-Day."

1-0

Dear Kt,

Enjoy the celebration. Because...
In a ten years, you have:
- dreamed bigger than I did in 15.
- shared your soul with more people than I did in 20.
- traveled more to see God's mosaic of cultures and peoples than I did in 25.
- cared more about the marginalized than I did in 30.
- lived more in adventure, unknown and mystery than I did in 30.

God has done something miraculous in 10. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

Love
Dad

In Hungary, I Asked...

Passion and Optimism Packaged in the XO

The international office has had it's XO for a few days now and we've certainly had some fun with it. Overall, it's been a very positive experience and the XO is going to be a tool that we will continue to use. Here are some quick highlights:

: The overall unit looks like a toy but is solid and sturdy.
: The keyboard is tiny, but you get used to typing with your index fingers.
: The screen is bright and clear.
: I plugged a USB wireless mouse into it and it worked instantly.
: Connecting to any wireless access point is simple. You have to click on the appropriate icon in your Neighborhood view. If you have a secured access point, it prompts you for your key code. Your key code is not kept permanently though, so every once in a while, you do have to re-enter it.
: It's not super fast but definitely adequate.
: Most of what I have used it for is web stuff. Gmail, Google Reader, Facebook, simple stuff like that. Uploading large files, like pictures to flickr or attaching a file to an email sometimes works really fast and sometimes not at all. I will definitely be using it when I travel for this same kind of stuff - short email, quick blog posts, etc. I just loaded the Opera browser on it this evening and it runs much faster than the default browser. It also has tabs, your favorite Firefox keyboard shortcuts and bookmarks. That is going to be much more fun.
: I had to cold restart a few times when the machine got hung. I just unplugged it and pulled the battery out.
: The Sugar GUI is very intuitive. My kids started composing music with TamTamJam in the first five minutes they had it.
: Moving files from an SD card to the internal flash memory back and forth is easy with the Journal activity. There is no hard drive.
: I attended the OLPC DC Learning Party earlier this week where there were about 40 people, half of them with XOs. I was able to see and 'friend' a lot of people within the mesh network there and two people at my table were able to get the Chat and Write activities [an application is called an activity] shared across the network. It was a lot of fun and really helpful to learn from others using the XO.
: Speaking about the learning party - every person there was a serious geek and proud of it. Not only that, every person there was just as serious about international development, education and fighting poverty. The cast of characters that I met included linux administrators; network engineers; college students; those interested in collaborative education; a guy who started a nonprofit to get XOs to classrooms in Nepal; and a group of ladies interested in partnership for the underprivileged in College Park, Maryland AND Guinea. And the organizer was Wayan, who was involved with the Geekcorps international tech-development organization and is now a director with Mercycorps and the publisher of OLPC News. In other words - it was an amazingly inspiring group of people to be around. Another real life example of cause creating community.

All in all, the XO is tons of fun and definitely usable for light web stuff. The XO will probably not be your tool of choice if you've got some heavy lifting to do and have the option of working on a 'normal' computer. The bigger scope here is of a tool that is innovative and creative in order to go against the status quo. And like they said of Jeffrey Sachs - optimism and passion. That is what the XO is about.

Photo: From the DC learning party.

Tuesday RocketFuel

::: Some view Europe's most diverse city, Marseille, as a laboratory of the continent's future
Link via The Where Blog


::: Alan Hirsch joins the leadership of Christian Associates International
Link
If you are thinking of a future in cross cultural service, CAI should be on your short list too.
[Related - 2007Hungary]


::: LA and Gangs
Link

Book Review - There's a Sheep in My Bathtub

Brian Hogan, the author of "There's a Sheep in My Bathtub", contacted me to see if I would be interested in reviewing his book. He sent me a copy and the book is certainly a lively narrative of one American family's journey around the world in an effort of reaching those that are literally unreached.

Those of you that enjoy this blog would likely enjoy Brian's book as well. As you learn about the Hogan's story, fundamental cross cultural concepts such as partnership, contextualization, leadership, and team dynamics are all illustrated. Theirs is a story that is inspirational, challenging, and at times, totally heartbreaking. It details the crazy things some people do when they are compelled by a love for others and is a total example of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

When I train new church planters headed for unreached people groups, I tell then that if they are successful, the churches that result will make the church planters uncomfortable. If a church takes on an indigenous character, then it will be outside the comfort zone of the apostolic messengers. It will seem weird to the missionaries.

Uncomfortable, apostolic, weird - yup, you would like this book too.

First Post from the XO

just got it. pretty intuitive. keyboard is really small. D said arent you glad you provided one for someone in a developing country. yup.

Freakonomics Thinks About Urbanization

Some fun reading in a quorum on urbanization hosted by Freakonomics. [MichelleK, freakonomic fan - are you reading this?]

:: In virtually every affluent nation on earth, the old Nineteenth-century industrial cities have exploded outward, allowing densities to plummet at the core as residents move further and further out into low-density suburbia and a very low-density exurban penumbra around that. The city of Paris today has a third fewer residents than it did a century ago, and the suburban and exurban territory around it leapfrogs more or less from the English Channel to Burgundy.

:: The suburbs, for the most part, are toast. They have three possible outcomes in the twenty-first century: as slums, salvage yards, or ruins.

:: Cities are full of poor people because cities attract poor people, not because cities make people poor. Millions of the least advantaged come to urban areas not because cities are bad for them, but because cities are good for them. The opportunity to trade and connect offers a brighter future for rural migrants who come to the outskirts of Mumbai. Cities also often have public transit and a social safety net that is not available elsewhere.

:: Metropolitan areas, including suburbs, are much more ethnically diverse than they used to be. One person living alone (single, widowed, or divorced) represents the predominant household type in suburban areas today. The suburban male breadwinner family with a stay-at-home mom and two children living in a peaceful three-bedroom colonial with a leafy yard predominates only in reruns of old sitcoms.

And about that last sentence, the Sheng sitcom includes two dogs.

One of the Coolest Ornaments Ever

Cameroon is in green.

Wednesday RocketFuel

::: Soul Cravings YouTube Trailer



::: The World's Worst Places to Be a Kid


::: The Four Essential Travel Phrases
435 languages, 242 dialects, and 49 colangs.
If you know me, you know that I think the phrase, "Where is the bathroom?" is quite essential...


::: The Blonde Map of Europe

Not Much Just Chillin' - Book Notes

Some of my notes from Not Much Just Chillin' : The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers by Linda Perlstein. A pretty important book to read if you are around middle schoolers much, or as in our case, you have kids near that really fun time of life. If the thought of middle schoolers, as in being around them or parenting them, scares you a bit, this book will scare you more. Luckily for us, the middle school profiled in the book is right around the corner from us. Dear God, if you keep our kids from going to that school, I will going on a missions trip... oh wait ...

p. 5

A few of the parents have even read what little ‘literature’ is out on middle schoolers. They’ve learned that their children are about to go through the greatest period of physical and emotional growth, after infancy, that humans experience – years during which no significant part of themselves will go unchanged. They’ve read that the irresponsibility, the selfishness, the boredom their kids are about to exhibit are signs of progression, not regression – no, really. They’ve read to expect contradictions: Children start to fix their values and figure out who they are independent of their families, at the same time they are too timid to set themselves apart as individuals. Twelve-year olds are eager to turn everything into arguments but don’t have the cognitive skills to win them. They are at once submissive and defiant, idealistic and materialistic.

p. 121

...the brain’s emotional and logical control centers are engaged in a tug-of-war. The frontal lobes managing memory and learning also manage emotion, which, being the more developed skill at this point, wins this battle every time. If you’re sad that you rarely see your mom or dad, those emotions literally shrink the space available for your science test.

p. 99

If the Wilde Lake principal could have one wish, it would be for parents and teachers to resist a distance that seems inevitable and draw nearer to their middle schoolers instead. With parents of preadolescents immersed in their own worries … it can be tempting to indulge the "Leave me alone."
But look close, Ms. Thomas says, and you'll see that these budding adolescents, for all their bluster, are still needy children. A better way to think of a preteens changing relationship with her parents is as a reorganization, not a rejection. Wanting to be independent is not the same as wanting to be left alone. She wants to explore; she also wants a safe harbor.

So, I'm reminded that middle schoolers sometimes don't know why they act the way they do, which is sort of reassuring. I'm also reminded that the middle school years is a time of huge, huge change. Change is difficult. And I'm optimistic, both for my own kids and the middle school kids we all know and love. Because change usually equals opportunity.

The Missionary Heart

The Missionary Heart

Cares more than some think is wise. Risks more than some think is safe. Dreams more than some think is practical. Expects more than some think is possible. - Karen Watson

via Ed Stetzer

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!

Post Trip Elements

Last weekend, I took some seniors from SPACE to attend a post trip presentation by a GCC medical missions team that went to Haiti a few weeks ago. Presenting stories from your mission experiences is difficult, whether from a stage or talking to a friend/supporter one-on-one. And most missionaries don't do such a great job at it, me included. [For example, ask me about reading my nonblog post-Hungary report.] We are always trying to get better at this.

I loved bringing some of our students to this and hearing their feedback when it was over. That's one advantage SPACE has - it's a working lab with young people who aren't afraid to try something new.

Here are some elements the team identified with regard to post-mission presentations:
#1 - It's important for every person to get a chance to talk about their experience, if they want to. [Contextual comment - this will require some interesting planning since we may have around 60-80 people spread across five different teams. One question - have each team do one presentation or do them all together?]
#2 - Lots of video and images are great. Shared worship time is also great.
#3 - Our stories are meant to call others to action.
#4 - We have to concentrate on taking out any insider language in what we say about our experiences. It's too easy to make others feel left out.
#5 - We like the idea of an informal open house, with people milling from team room to team room, maybe with the idea of a 'mini-passport' to go from place to place. More intimate for teams sharing, can include cultural objects like food, etc.

For the next generation of missionaries, passionate and dynamic environments are integral for telling their stories.

Photo: Those are my feet on the screen. Cameroon team leaders LB and NLind talk on stage, August 2006.

She Wants a Fish Pond for Christmas

In light of World AIDS day this past Sunday, Pastor Mark outlined even more about GCC's [Grace Community Church, Fulton, MD] partnership with a ministry based in Uganda called AOET. I was really thrilled to see a Sunday morning given to the AIDS crisis in Africa. After walking over to the Warehouse and saying hi to some students, I was even more excited to hear that the high schoolers had also talked about World AIDS day. One of the essential elements of SPACE is exposing students to the realities of the world and, of course, the AIDS crisis in Africa is a big one right now. Also, SPACE doesn't have to be the major conduit for this exposure - we are happy no matter how students get this information. But we are certainly hopefuly that students process this knowledge into action.

GCC also published a gift catalog in the context of this partnership with AOET, allowing people to give to specific needs in Uganda. Our girls gave some of their yard sale profits for a fish pond, malaria nets and funds to help care for AIDS orphans.

I don't know about you, but when I was six, a fish pond would have never made it on my Christmas list.

Wednesday RocketFuel

::: Danah Boyd on the Megan Meier story

Much to my dismay, parenting today seems to require absolute belief that you're child is the best child ever. Many parents think that their child can do no wrong and, thus, are unable to hear critiques of their own children. In some ways, it's not surprising... people have fewer kids (who are mostly wanted thanks to birth control), inhabit single family homes, and live in a nurture-centric world where their children reflect on them at every level. Doubting one's child means doubting oneself.

and

But as anyone who was not that cool in school can tell you, middle school sucked. It's ground zero for learning how to negotiate social interactions and many mistakes are made. This is when bullying and boy/girl-dynamics and other dramas really come to the forefront. It's awful, it's hell. Yet, the responsibility of a parent of a tween is not to try to fix all painful situations, but to teach their child how to negotiate them responsibly

Commentary on parents helping tweens learn social coping skills with the backdrop of a really, really sad story. Link


::: What about Christmas from the outside?

Christmas is the the only religious holiday that everyone has to stop working for. It's the only religious event that offices have parties to celebrate. These practices alienate non-Christians.

There are people outside of Christianity that don't really enjoy Christmas. Link

::: Youth Pastor advertising on YouTube
Ah, Hilton Head Island, what's not to like? By the way, our high school ministry is also looking for a high school pastor. The beach is about 3 hours away but The Mall is *very* close.
Link via Mark Riddle


::: Transit Maps of the World via FP Passport

Fun with Vocabulary

Sample #1
disruptive innovator
exburb
geopolitically-induced

Sample #2
quantum cloud community

Sample #3
agroeconomics

At least I thought it was fun.

How Much Potential?

Apparently - Strong potential.... Hmm... This is either really good or really bad....

Ordinary people, like you and I, can do extraordinary things, like some of those below.

Have you personally led at least one person to faith in Christ in the past three years through the venue of one-on-one evangelism?
Do you regularly try to stay in touch with secular music, television or films for the purpose of having greater insight into how unchurched people view the world?
Do you know your present neighbors quite well?
Have you ever designed a ministry or event that successfully targeted the felt-needs of a specific target audience?
Do you consider yourself highly attached to your family?
Do you make friends easily?
In the past three years have you actively participated in an on-going peer support/accountability group?
Do you have a consistent pattern of regular daily prayer?
Have you ever created a ministry from the ground up?
Do you usually recover quickly from setbacks or disappointments?
Have you ever led a small group or team that created and fulfilled some significant set of written goals?
Are you highly adaptable to changes in your circumstances and environment?
Do you enjoy building small groups?
Can you identify three individuals (other than family members) whom you have 'discipled' in the past five years?
Can you list at least two spiritual gifts that you believe you have?
Have you ever successfully handed off a ministry you were leading to someone you identified, recruited and trained?

Two other quick thoughts:
+ "Every Christian is a church planter, every home is a church, every church building is a training center." [Related: My notes from Organic Church]
+ Church planting is the best method of evangelism.

Take the assessment here. And, I think I should have got a lot less than 14, because I cheated.

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.

Before the Prom

Corp 1.3 had its annual Christmas party tonight. Dang - wouldn't you know it - one of our kids got sick last night. D got all dolled up anyway so we could take a picture together before I went stag.

World AIDS Day 2007

Today.

Watch the video by Emily Oster, "What do we really know about the spread of AIDS?"

Test your knowledge about HIV and AIDS with this interactive quiz.

SPACE's evolution - Mission and Leadership (4 of 4)

After doing this SPACE thing for a year or two, we became convinced that it was not about missions trips. If this effort was really going to help students transform the world, we needed to think differently about two fundamental things.

First, we started thinking about mission and not missions. Instead of focusing on mission trips, overseas or domestic, GCC missionaries or not, we needed to think much broader. We needed to concentrate on catalyzing students to serve mankind. The impact of our students in the next 500 years would be void if all we did was tend to next summer's destinations.

We also needed to re-engineer the paradigm of leadership. Although experienced, proven leaders were vital, we needed these same leaders to be ones that would empower, push and forge new leaders out of the very students that were in their charge.

Two quotes from Neil Cole helped frame a new perspective on leadership:
+ "Jesus also told his disciples not to import resources into the harvest but to find all the resources they needed in the harvest itself."
+ "The best leaders are not those who win the most followers, but those who create other leaders."

The future looks bright because of a new understanding of mission and leadership. Oh... and students.

Photo: Old church, young people. The 2007 Hungary team, Vienna, Austria.

[Related: SPACE's evolution #1 - The Real World, #2 - Culture, #3 - Progression and Partnership and The 3 Essential Questions]

SPACE's evolution - Progression into Partnership (3 of 4)

Progression was an important idea. We didn't want our teams to contribute to the statistic that most mission trips do damage to their local hosts. Therefore, it was important to give students experience in serving and relating in their own culture before sending them to a foreign one. We would progress them both in physical proximity as well as cultural distance.

As a global missions launching pad, GCC already had significant friends around the world. Partnerships were very deep since most of these cross cultural workers came from within our own community. The most logical step was to take advantage of these extended GCC families. We would also reduce the unknown, have local hosts that understood us and our context, and have partners that we could trust. Overseas teams therefore, when we could, would work with GCC families.

Progression stretches students. We would deepen students view of the world by introducing them to friends they never knew they had.

Photo: A shared community service project; the second overseas SPACE team; Londrina, Brasil, summer 2005.
[Related: SPACE's evolution #1 - The Real World and #2 - Culture]

My Senior Superlative

in 1987....



yup, it's true.

Wednesday RocketFuel

::: China's last cave dwellers


::: The 2007-2008 UN Human Development Index, released earlier this week.
Fast indices include:
- Life expectancy at birth(years)
- Adult literacy rate(% ages 15 and older)
- Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrollment ratio(%)
- GDP per capita (PPP US$)

Some familiar countries and where they are on the index - out of 177 (Sierra Leone at the bottom):
Cameroon - 144
Trinidad - 59
Brasil - 70
Dominican Republic - 79
France - 10
Hungary - 36
Germany - 22
USA - 12

Most of you readers should spend a few minutes tinkering around with this.
[Related: The UN Millennium Development Goals.]


::: Sleep, kids and long term cognitive abilities
Link via Marko

"Would you let your daughter ride in a car without a seat belt? You have to think of sleep the same way."

SPACE's evolution - Culture (2 of 4)

If we were to engage the real world out there with our students, culture would be important. We needed to help them grow with tools and experiences for truly engaging culture. We would help them understand and perceive words, stories, legends, food, and music with more depth so that they could decode any culture.

We had work to do at home too. With phenomenal energy in Sunday morning student gatherings and weekly small groups, we began to broker opportunities for students to be out in the community and impact where they live. These became known as "Launches", one day service opportunities that focused on serving the communities we lived in. Not only did we serve some people in need, our students saw their own culture with more clarity than ever.

People serving in other cultures know they need to decode context. Our task included helping students learn how to engage culture, both at home and abroad.

Photo: The 2nd SPACE Launch - leaf raking in the community.
[Related: SPACE's evolution - #1 - The Real World, #3 - Progression into Partnership]

SPACE's evolution - The Real World (1 of 4)

In 2003, I realized for the first time what the world really looked like. And I had no idea. At the age of 33, I heard about concepts in global Christianity that I had never heard of before.

Some of these concepts included:
- What it means to be unreached.
- The 10/40 window.
- How there could be a ratio of around 800 churches in America for every one unreached people group in the world.
- How Europe was losing both population and faith in Jesus.
- The disparity of investment in those already reached versus the unreached.
- What it means to really engage culture.

Even more striking, I knew that most of the Christian high school students in America had no idea about many of these subjects. The majority of our youth workers had no idea either.

I was on a mission to change that. Certainly not every high school student in America. Probably not every student in our youth ministry. But one would be enough.

Next: SPACE's evolution - Culture
[Related: A Global Missions Primer.]

Monday RocketFuel

::: Culture, Environment Effecting Visual Perception
What you see will largely depend on where you live in the world.
Link via LindseyK


::: Spontaneous baptisms at Willow Creek
You read that right - Willow Creek. This summer in Hungary, I met a guy who interned there doing really innovative, missional stuff with their young adults. He is now planting a church with CAI in Munich. Willow's taken their hits, but they are still in the game.


::: Google cares about culture
India - ("Bollywood is everywhere … Cricket is king …").
Israel - "When you are offered a deal, you can say yes or you can say no. But never, never be arrogant."
China - "Baidu knows more [about China] than Google"
Link

A Few Minutes of Thanks

I've been on a computer fast for a few days in light of the holiday, but now I'm sort of back and it feels good. Dennis tagged me a few days ago in his post about Thanksgiving, so here is a quick list of things that I'm thankful for this year.

- My family. My wife D and my kids are just amazing people. Most of the time, I don't see the lives they lead with enough perspective. Thanksgiving and parent-teacher conferences are good catalysts.

- My job. I've been at a new job since March and it's been going great. I could say lots of drama about being delivered from the old one, but I'm not going to.

- SPACE. It's really an honor and privilege to be involved with students and friends all over the world.

- Our puppy was pretty sick last week but is doing much better now. It's really nice to have her all better.

Related: The idea of a threshold of gratitude that PastorMark spoke about at GCC this past Sunday.

Blog Birthday and Books

Today is my blog's 5th birthday. That's right, Mobilizing Students for Mission has existed for 5 years.... isn't that amazing??!? This blog includes a little over 1900 posts, a little over 37,000 hits, averaging around 1000 hits per month and around 1500 comments.

This blog has been a great experience and has been an integral outlet for my thinking and interaction on all things regarding engaging students and mission. And it's been a ton of fun. But most of all, the interaction with you readers has been the best part. So to celebrate five years, I'm doing a book giveaway. Giveaway as in free. Yup, totally free.

Here are the books I'm giving away. Most of them I got free or at a very big discount price. Or I stole them from a pastor. [kidding, sort of.] Most of them are slightly used, with some lines or paragraphs underlined. But all are definitely still able to be read. Here is the list of what is up for grabs:
Planting Churches Cross Culturally
God on Mute - Ryan Imel
Off Road Disciplines - Chris Marsden
The Christian Husband
Execution - Dennis Poulette
The Big Idea - Ben Boles
Outflow - ESunde
Whistle While You Work
Messy Spirituality - Rodney Olsen
Into The Wild
The MultiSite Revolution
How The Irish Saved Civilization - EmGberg

Here is how this will work.
- Only one book per person.
- Leave a comment with which book you want. I will then confirm with you via email and get your mailing address, etc. I will mail these books anywhere in the world, if you are local, I will drive them to your house.
- Wait for your book to arrive and enjoy.

This is my gift to you readers. Thanks for being a part of this blog and thanks for what you are doing in your own contexts to make a difference for humanity.

Organic Leaves

SPACE continues to evolve and change and this year is no different. Probably the most symbolic is our - with no better way to describe it - leaf launch. During our first year, we ran with the idea of renting a school bus, driving around the community and raking people's yards - with the hope of attracting attention and having lots of kids be able to serve people that couldn't do that kind of yard work on their own. [For those of you outside the mid-atlantic part of the US, raking up leaves is a pretty big deal in the Fall.] We did this in November of 2004 and 2005 and it was a ton of fun. [And it wasn't my original idea, I picked it up somewhere along the way.]

Last year, we decided to skip it, but I can't remember why. Well, this year we resurrected it, sort of. Instead of a big production with a school bus, we wanted to make it much more organic - with students leading smaller raking teams, serving people they knew needed help and inviting their friends to be a part of it. I wanted to change the emphasis to be on students and having them organize themselves organically. Dependency is also part of the long term view - when you live a missional lifestyle, you aren't depending on a school bus, or anything else, to get you to where you need to go or who to impact.

Much smaller in scale, they raked three homes - two for active duty families serving overseas and one that was kind of random. Smaller in quantity but larger in momentum. Sometimes, the adults are the ones with dependency issues.

Photo: On the front porch. We sort of knew the people that lived there...

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.

Friday RocketFuel

::: Stopping future pandemics by figuring out how viruses spread from bushmeat to humans.
Link


::: Getting a South African drivers license

It is helpful to learn South Africa’s extensive and sometimes charming traffic code, which sometimes rates children between 6 and 13 as one-third of a passenger and includes a road sign that depicts a stick-figure man astride an ostrich.

Link via Freakonomics


::: The Most Eligible World Leaders

The XO

I have been in the market for a new or used laptop every since I left job 1.2. So when I read that the XO had come out, the thought of buying one had crossed my mind. Just as cool, the only way to buy one is if you donate another one to a child in a developing part of the world - Afghanistan, Haiti, Rwanda or Mongolia. Last night, D convinced me.

Built in wireless, rugged and waterproof, small and compact, it sounds like it would be a great companion both at home and while traveling. And the technology behind it sounds pretty cool - mesh networking, exponential battery ability, built in video camera and two mode lcd screen...

This is one of the occurrences of 'put your money where your mouth is'. As a family, we say we believe that we need to act for a world that is less fortunate, that we are to be a blessing because have been blessed, that my experience in Cameroon makes living here different. Values and beliefs are only as good as their actions.

"OLPC [the organization behind the XO] is not, at heart, a technology program, nor is the XO a product in any conventional sense of the word. OLPC is a non-profit organization providing a means to an end—an end that sees children in even the most remote regions of the globe being given the opportunity to tap into their own potential, to be exposed to a whole world of ideas, and to contribute to a more productive and saner world community."

So I just put my order in.

Book Review - Deadly Viper Character Assassins

Ethur was kind of enough to send me a copy of Deadly Viper Character Assassins a few weeks ago. This book occupies two extremes. One on hand, it's really fun to read. The images, graphics and overall design of the book are really cool and slick. The writing is witty, energetic and engaging. I read it in less than an hour and some of the stories had me laughing out loud.

On the opposite extreme, this book deals with some very sobering topics related to how you and I can torpedo our leadership and influence quickly. This is an honest book written by influential leaders that shoots straight.

Here are some snippets that stood out to me:

:: On Character Creep --

We are saying there is an inefficiency in the market place because the market place doesn't properly value this characteristic of character. And all we're doing is taking advantage of that mispricing in the market and trying to make money off of it. We don't approach our investment from a moralistic standpoint, but we believe that the world and the market place doesn't fully understand the value of character. Really at the heart of it is that being good wins. - Dan Cooper, from Rox River Financial describing their strategy of investing into companies where the integrity of the CEO is strategically valued.
Marcus Buckingham - If he doesn't feel like talking to someone, his assistant isn't allowed to lie. "He is unavailable," is okay to say, "he is on the phone," is not okay to say.

:: On Lying --

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything - Mark Twain
We travel with a buddy or family member.
If we don't travel with someone, we then stay at the homes of friends who live in the cities we're visiting.
Find yourself a good friend and give them 100% access.

:: On Emotions --

...we need to funnel our emotions toward things that really matter. If we're truly going to rock the world, we need to stop wasting so much juice on stupid, trivial stuff. Some of us need to grow up and stop acting like junior high wieners and stop thinking everything is about us.

- Refrain from reading attacks on ourselves whether it be in blogs, forums or letters.
- If we are getting frustrated or irritated, call a Coca-Cola break
- Be the Duck - let it roll off your back
- When we are really ticked or irritated, we go to a movie.
- We do not use email to handle relationally-sensitive subjects or issues.
- Remind ourselves that if we crush or destroy someone in the organization, they will cease to contribute to the organization.
- Be fast to forgive

:: On Work and Rest --

Fast Company theme - Balance is bunk
You must lead yourself.
Day off each week.
What fills you up, emotionally, spiritually, physically. Baseball game, reading, evening schedule as well as who [what relationships you keep] fill you up.
Push the limit but not beyond the limit. Furious work = furious rest - Louie Giglio

:: On Sexuality --

Most people in leadership will get the opportunity to hop into the sack with someone inappropriately.
When we are on a business trip, we leave our homes on the latest flight possible and come back home on the earliest flight possible. We don't hang out.
Sexuality is powerful and mysterious. We must honestly respect its influence in our lives.

:: On Materialism --

Junky Car Club
The danger of drawing personal value from your stuff.
If you think for one split second that your possessions will define you as a significant leader, think again.

:: On Pride --

The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we would become - Charles Du Bois

Overall, a fun and important read that highlights some character assassins and encourages putting together plans to beat them.

Related - The Deadly Viper blog

I Am I Need

As you might have imagined, SPACE makes lots of new friends every summer, and this summer was no exception. One of our new friends, SDoyle, was in town this weekend, in town from Brussels, Belgium. He is a church planter with CAI, assisting in an expression of church called The Well. [Some of you might remember the stats on Brussels - mix of French and Flemish, 150,000 people, a third are immigrants, hq of the EU.] We first met at Connect in Hungary when a bunch of our team realized this S's wife graduated from the same high school some of our kids went to and that her hometown is indeed Ellicott City.

We saw S Friday night when he stopped over to hang out at one of the CpR Fridays and a few us got coffee with him on Saturday morning. I've said this from the beginning of SPACE - SPACE only exists as one component of the student ministry and only because our students are of such high quality. It was neat for one of our SPACE friends to see a bigger picture of GCC and her students.

S is also really involved in an international movement called Serve The City, an offshoot of CAI that focuses on serving the marginalized and needy in a specific city. The idea is to serve those who need it, not because they are a spiritual project, but because they are human. I anticipate that one of these years, a SPACE team will assist with a Serve The City. Think of Mission Advance, but seven days long, dozens of service projects, hundreds of workers, and thousands being helped.

The embedded video below is entitled "I Am I Need" and was from one of the STCs in Brussels. The church of the future is a community based on cause.


Photo: EllyK, TriciaB, MichelleK and SDoyle. And my kids in the background...

The Trees I Love

It's the raking I hate...

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

Being Abroad Is Not Enough

Some interesting quotes from the article "The Foreign Legions", via WorldHum:

The number of students going abroad may be growing — to about 6 percent of American college students, not counting those who don’t get course credit — but their profile has not changed. The latest figures available from the Institute of International Education, for 2004-5, indicate that 83 percent of participants were white; 10 years earlier, 86 percent were white.
...
There is a consensus today, much like the one about science and math studies after the launch of Sputnik 50 years ago, that globally fluent graduates are essential to American competitiveness. International exposure, whether study, volunteer work or internship, has become a must-have credential.
...
And for a generation whose life is calibrated by a multicolored spiral daily planner, just being abroad is not enough.
...
Not all students are prepared to cope with the challenges that arise from being immersed in a foreign society. "There are students who aren’t ready to separate themselves from American culture and language," says Eric Singer, dean of international studies at Goucher College, in Baltimore, which has begun requiring students to earn at least three credits abroad. "They don’t want to be challenged about language, food, sports or what have you," he says.

Not to blow our own horn here, but SPACE could actually give you a huge advantage as a high school student *applying* to college.

Imagine an overseas, cross cultural experience, doing something worthy with long term, local, indigenous impact, in the context of a well prepared team, expert team leaders and careful, well connected, expert mission hosts. Elements of this experience also include pre-field cross cultural training, post field processing and re-entry, and being a part of a community of friends with the cause of making a difference for humanity's sake, even after you return home.

Tuesday RocketFuel

::: Hollywood Status Quo?

"...would they have crawled into a hole of protecting the status quo or would they be forging a new, exciting, optimistic future through force of will and creativity?" - Marc Andreessen on the Writers Guild strike

Forging an optimistic future or protecting the status quo - what about you and your future?


::: 100 Questions To Turn You from a Teacher into a Learner
from Steve Argue
Related - The Viable Missionary: Learner, Trader, Storyteller
[one of the foundational texts from the Perspectives class.]


::: Water as evil

"Jews see water, sea as dark and evil. Look at Noah, Jonah, Moses and the sea as the dark chaos of creation. In order to bring the message of hope Paul must go through the dark and evil sea."

- N.T. Wright, via Jordon
This gives me a new dimension in thinking about those Biblical stories where water is involved. And it reminds me of Cameroon too.

Plans To Give A Future

I've been involved in a few meetings and conversations already about summer 08. It's been fun to dream. In more than one of these conversations, people have commented on my "I've got this plan for you," tendency. It's a bit like Jeremiah 29:11, except I'm not God - one slight detail.

It's important that we have some kind of plan, progression, and movement for the people that we serve - whether you are a Developer or not. As leaders, we must be moving people towards something. Whether it's personal growth, larger impact and more responsibility, or being able to lead in ambiguity, none of that occurs unless we see the path marked for them and implore them to get there.

How are you helping those you serve with move?

Your First Podcast?

K did her first podcast this past week with some friends for her "tech-a-nology" class. Are these nine year olds what you would call early adopters? I think I was 35 when I did my first podcast....

Listen to it here.

Friday RocketFuel

::: Seth Godin on college admissions.

"Here's the amazing part: According to The Chosen, an exhaustive study of college admissions, there's no measurable difference between the outcomes of education with the most exclusive schools and the next few tiers. Graduates don't end up happier. They don't end up with better paying jobs. They don't end up richer or even healthier. The whole thing is a sham (which costs a quarter of a million dollars a person at the top end)."

Related fact - college debt is the number one reason why young people who desire to go to the mission field cannot.


::: McLean Bible Church's Future Leaders Program
One year long, full time, you get compensation, housing and benefits.



::: www.onehitwonder.org

how many people across the planet will give a dollar, and then we’ll give it away to the poorest communities in the world.

via Alan Hirsch

Spirit of Collaboration

SAdams, Organizational Partnering Catalyst for Christian Associates, crashed at the international SPACE office earlier this week. He's been doing an East Coast tour building and strengthening relationships between CAI and churches and other like-minded organizations, including meeting some of the GCC MTF. S and I first connected when we were working out logistics for our Hungary 2007 team to serve at Connect, their annual staff conference. He's also been doing fun Shengri-La stuff, like going Ghosting; dinner at the Inner Harbor; and conversations that included processing this summer, leadership development, the apostolic and staffing a surf shack in Uruguay [Besides a focus on Europe, CAI is also doing a bit in Latin America.] If I was going to be a full time cross cultural worker, CAI would be on the very short list of organizations I would be applying to.

Collaboration is a big thing that S is working on for possibilities between churches and CAI and it could look something like:

: Short Term
- Serve the City teams - addressing practical needs in a city, particularly those of the poor and marginalized
- Discovery trips - exposure to the emerging culture of Europe, learning about the development of postmodernism and its implications for ministry
- Exploration teams - exploring new cities for potential church planting through demographic research, strategic contacts, and prayerwalking [I would *love* to take students on something like this.]
- Extension teams - extending the impact of an existing missional initiative or church through special projects, outreach events, training, etc.

: Cross Training
- leadership exchanges for training in spiritual formation, leadership development, impacting the city, church planting and more
- idea exchanges and dialogues on innovative missional practices
- mentoring, coaching and interning of emerging leaders

If you are interested in learning more about those opportunities in Europe or high impact churches in Europe's urban centers, email or comment and I can put you in direct contact with S. I don't have first dibs on the surf shack. Yet.

Photo: iChatting with his kids.