Leader Treks - The Student Mission Trip Greenhouse

Friends at Leader Treks sent me a copy of their Student Mission Trip Greenhouse prep guide, which is a fabulous resource for student mission team leaders. Absolutely love the greenhouse paradigm.

Lots of the material resonates with the stuff we've learned in the past, such as:
+ ... a mission trip is really a short-term Kingdom experience introducing and preparing students for long-term Kingdom living.
+ ... training sessions should be a requirement for all your students before they are even allowed on the team. Their level of commitment to the trip is clearly displayed if they cannot commit to the scheduled trainings.
+ ... the number one problem I see is adult volunteers who have no idea what they are doing on the trip.
+ If you raise the level of expectation, your students will rise to meet it.

If you've been around here for a while, you know I'm not a huge fan of pre printed curriculum. My opinion is that you could spend a little bit of time and create some great material for your students that is context and culture sensitive. But, this guidebook is a great primer to help jump start your team preps. Oh and it's free.

Thursday Burn

::: What The Census Tells Us About America's Future
More suburban, more diverse. And...love the title given to Joel Kotkin, "New Geographer"
Link


::: Learning customer service from the founder of Craigslist
Link


::: For the love of airports
Fun post with travel hacks, like always, by Chris - good luck on the airport code test.
Link

3 to watch

I'm constantly inspired and amazed at some of the people I've had exposure to who are the initiators and starters and the ones able to translate their passion into action. Not only that, these people seem to be on the leading edge of global issues - they and their orgs are reaching into the future and pulling the rest of us into the present.

Here's three I've been watching - you should too.

::: The Adventure Project
The Adventure Project is a non-profit organization established to increase investments in positive social enterprises around the world. Every quarter they focus on one humanitarian issue affecting global poverty and then present innovative, low-cost solutions to help.
Some of these innovations are going to have much to teach us.

::: Help End Local Poverty
To be a global tribe dedicated to ending extreme poverty by helping to rescue orphans, restore their hope and renew their communities.
Chris and I met about a little over a year ago when he spoke at an Ember immersion.

::: bluedoor.tv
Blue Door is the only organization in the world that exists to resource pastors in non-English speaking countries to launch online ministries.
Amazing journey that Dana and her family have been on. And a few years ago, this kind of ministry would have been unimaginable.

Ordinary people doing things that make them extraordinary.

March Kindling

+ Summer mission team preps are upon us. My opinion - the best prep unifies your team through shared experiences. Let us know if you think Ember can help.
+ We are casting the net far and wide for interns for 2011-2012. The ideals: you are doing it for school credit, you are a high school junior/senior, you come highly recommended by someone I know and trust, and you live in another city. Not sure how it will work virtually, but I'm willing to expend a lot of effort to try. More info here.
+ A weekly small group of older adults has invited me and the fam to come over one evening and talk about Ember. How fun is that?
+ GRACE has 2 student teams this summer - DC and Tecate, Mexico. Lots of parents had questions about implied safety for the latter. Loved the response of one of the leaders: "You know, you don't HAVE to send your kid on this trip."
+ 2010 interns are making plans - one in Kenya and the other possibly another African country. The actual intended idea was that they would come back and work with me forever. Well, ok, maybe not.
+ I'm so enamored with youth pastors - I still think it's such a unique and holy calling with so much impact. I forget that sometimes, there are youth pastors who are getting paid to not do much.

Making Them

"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." - George Bernard Shaw

Elding

You know your elders because they eld. - John Wimber

So my elder boyz are almost through the process. What fun to see them near the end. I can tell you with full confidence that these guys are the real deal. They are solid in character, kind, love their families and take the responsibility of leading others seriously. Honored to have served with them for a season.

If you are a Grace person and know any of them, you should send in some kind of feedback.

Thursday Burn

::: The Worst Rookie Travel Mistakes
"Our trip was very complicado"
Link sent to me via D


::: Coming Home
Love this video of a youth group coming home from a missions trip. How you release and how you welcome your students are so important.
Link


::: Useful Travel Skills
Not quite what you might expect... And Chris is dead on.
Link

T+365

My dad passed away one year ago today and it's been the most challenging time period of my life. I still find myself reliving those last few months - the last Thanksgiving he was at our house, the final time my girls saw him, multiple times in the hospital near the end, seeing EMTs in the living room where I grew up. It was a dreadful time.

I took this picture sometime the day after. I don't know why either - probably just thinking that it was a weird tension between what the balloons represented versus reality.

If you are going through something like this, give yourself lots of grace and time. It gets better.

PS - My mother is scheduled to move on Friday to a retirement community. Hoping it is the best for everyone.

2011-2012 Ember Internships

Ember has a few spots open for 2011-2012 high school internships. Check it out below if you think you or someone you know might be interested. The info sheet is here as well. Would love for you to pass this on to emerging global leaders you might know.

Related: see what past interns have done [2010, 2008, 2006]

Happy Birthday Deanna

Happy birthday to my wife Deanna. She's winning in the arcade in this picture, but the truth is that I'm the real winner for being married to her.

Love.

Redemptive Analogy of the Week

Lady Gaga at the Grammys, who emerged from an egg.

My friend Ben Cloud called it when he wrote, "like lady gaga being born again?" Remember, redemptive analogies are stories in the culture that reflect the Gospel.

Yes, the Grammys are still relevant even though your generation might not think so. My middle schoolers and her friends watched and talked about it. And yes, you can watch something like that to look for these analogies.

Image from MTV.com

Thursday Burn

::: Homelessness simulation game
Flash based simulation game that outlines some of the big issues facing the homeless. Really amazing - you should play this a few times.
Link


::: Middle east protests - country by country
Clickable map with demographics and summaries - really well done
Link


::: Rethinking Youth Ministry Retreat Planning

- Gone are the days where if a student went last year, had a great time, and even connected with God on the trip that they’d automatically sign up and bring a friend next year.
- Gone are the days where families could afford to send students to special retreats and functions with relative ease.
- Gone are the days where I am willing to roll the dice and sign random contracts based on faith and my "guesstimations".

Some great thinking in here.
Link

GLG - Starters and Initiators

Starters and Initiators
Global leaders work with teams. The most difficult part? Building them. Here's some food for thought about the kinds of people you are going to need to recruit to your teams.

Let's retire the term entrepreneur. It's outdated and loaded with baggage. It smells like a members-only club.
Instead of entrepreneurs, let's just call them starters. Anyone who creates a new business is a starter. You don't need an MBA, a certificate, a fancy suit, a briefcase, or an above-average- tolerance for risk. You just need an idea, a touch of confidence, and a push to get started. - Jason Fried, Rework

Building a team of enthusiastic and talented people is one of the greatest challenges for leaders. A resume gives little indication of a candidates true mettle. Rather than focusing exclusively on an individuals experience, truly effective managers instead measure a prospective employee's ability to take initiative.
When you stumble across an Initiator - someone who has passion, generates ideas and tends to take action - recognize your good fortune. Nothing will assist your ideas more than a team of people who possess real initiative. - Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen

I'm posting some writing from a global student leadership guidebook that I'm working on. Let me know if you are interested in the progress of this project.

The 2010 Ember Cast Annual Report

Ember's 2010 Annual Report is now available. Special thanks for Leslie who worked on this from idea to execution.

Of course, lots of people made 2010 what it was for us, from supporters to participating students to partners to a fantastic Board to fans that are cheering. Read on and celebrate with us.

The 2011 Bill Gates Letter

Love this letter from Bill every year. Like always, it's a great read about some current global issues that you should probably be aware of. Lots of great learning in here, so take a dive.

Here's some stuff I learned for the first time:
+ About Polio:
- still exists in 4 countries
- like other viruses eradication is key or else it can come back with a vengeance, due to acquired immunity
- eradication energizes global health for fighting other similar diseases

+ Smallpox is the only successful disease eradication program ever

+ On childhood vaccines:
- Lives can be saved if we can reduce the costs of vaccines and raise enough money to buy and distribute them.... The most direct way of saying this is that every $2,000 cut in the most effective aid spending causes a child to die.
- The huge infectious disease burden in poor countries means that a substantial part of their human potential is lost by the time children are 5 years old... A group of researchers at the University of New Mexico conducted a study, covered in The Economist, showing the correlation between lower IQ and a high level of disease in a country. Although an IQ test is not a perfect measure, the dramatic effect you see is a huge injustice. It helps explain why countries with high disease burdens have a hard time developing their economies as easily as countries with less disease.

+ On malaria:
- Of the 99 countries with malaria, 43 have decreased cases of the disease by more than 50 percent.
- Turkmenistan and Morocco were recently declared malaria-free.

+ On AIDS:
- The best tool would be a vaccine for HIV. The scientific progress on this has gone well. The positive results of the trial in Thailand were a turning point for the field, and blood samples from the volunteers are being studied in depth for lessons about why that vaccine worked but only to a limited degree.
- There has also been an explosion in the discovery of antibodies that block HIV infection. Scientists don't yet know how to make a vaccine that will cause patients to generate lots of these antibodies, but there are several approaches that look promising and will be ready to go to trials in the next few years.
- The number of people dying from AIDS has gone down by more than 20 percent in
the last five years, to fewer than 2 million annually.

+ On agricultural development:
- When farmers increase their productivity, nutrition is improved and hunger and poverty are reduced. In countries like Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, investments in seeds, training, access to markets, and innovative agricultural policy are making a real difference.

+ On excellence in teaching:
Our project to learn what the best teachers do—and how to share this information with other teachers—is making significant progress...We're learning that listening to students can be an important element in the feedback system. In classes where students agree that "Our class stays busy and doesn't waste time" or that "In this class, we learn a lot almost every day," there tend to be bigger achievement gains.

Best quote: "Given all the lives that are at stake, I am impatient enough about this that I am willing to be viewed as a troublemaker by people who are happy with the status quo."

And sorry to those of you who I got my RT about this but in Mandarin. Maybe it's a hint that you should learn Chinese?

Thursday Burn

::: Books Andy Stanley thinks you should read
Link. [My wife found this on facebook.]


::: The Infrastructure that is Aviation
fascinating stuff about airports, global goods and infrastructure
Link



::: YPulse on MTVACT
As MTV ACT’s Jason Rzepka explains it, there’s a 1/9/90 rule: 1% of activists are highly engaged, starting rallies and leading charitable drives; 9% are involved in a limited way, signing petitions and sharing news articles with friends; and 90% are disengaged. It’s the latter group that MTV hopes to motivate.
Link

GLG - Movement Thinking

Movement Thinking
Most of us think in terms of addition. We are thrilled when one or two people chooses to follow our lead, someone gets excited about one of our initiatives, an individual donates to our cause. But global leaders banish this excitement about addition. Instead, they hold their breath waiting for multiplication.

For our leadership to really mark history, we must be about movement thinking. The rate of our leadership must be catalytic at an exponential rate - not just adding followers here and there. Consider the following statistics from the World Christian Database: in mid 2010, the percentage of Christians versus the total world population is 33.2%. The projected percentage in 2025 will be 33.8% - almost no negligible change as the world population increases by 1.5 million people. Addition doesn't help.

I'm posting some writing from a global student leadership guidebook that I'm working on. Let me know if you are interested in the progress of this project.

Platt and Tangible Rebellion

Our 13 year old has been reading Radical by David Platt. You've probably seen a ton of amazing stuff about him recently. I'm most interested to hear feedback about his closing talk at Catalyst West next month. My guess? The audience at CatWest is either going to love him or hate him. Kt loves the book - it might be fitting for middle schoolers because it's giving them tangible rebellion against their parents [in a good way.]

From the November/December issue of Mission Frontiers, some amazing stats about a megachurch doing some serious moving:

+ 450+ participants are immersed in Brook Hills' own Theological Education by Extension (TEE) program.
+ Demand exceeds capacity (over 2,500) for biannual 6-hour Secret Church Bible studies, modeled after "underground" church meetings, to prepare disciplers to train local leaders in mission lands. [See the blog about this via Ben Arment]
+ 70 families are currently helping meet the county's foster child and adoption needs, with 15 more in training.
+ 500 people have participated in Brook Hills short-term outreach, beyond their normal context, while several hundred more have gone with Brook Hills' Missions Partners.
+ 40 families are committed to exploring relocation to minister in inner-city Birmingham. Seven have already moved, and six more have their homes on the market.
+ Over 200 individuals are in various stages of preparing for long-term cross-cultural service.
+ 2010 budgeted expenses were cut by 18%, affecting everything from worship to Sunday School snacks, while general budget mission giving rose to 24%, on top of $1,000,000+ in designated mission giving.

Summer Missions Prep

Some of you probably have some short term missions plans starting to gel - the Super Bowl is over after all. Let me encourage you - first, your plans will probably change. Second, invest a lot of energy in preparing your teams.

Short term teams are notorious for being under-prepared. My three big areas to prepare in? Ministry skills [skills based on what you are actually there to do], missions inspiration [big picture of the world and why we are going there] and building a high performance team.

Ember might be involved in helping some teams prepare for the summer - as we started to think about some of that kind of planning, it reminded me of one of the biggest successes in my previous student missions role - the success known as Mission Advance, a 24 hour immersive experience involving all three of those above.

I'm also reminded that preparing our teams requires innovation and creativity - it doesn't and shouldn't look the same each year. In fact, one of our crazy ideas would have been to run Mission Advance in a urban context: transporting suburban students to the city, with a service project, ministry skills training and facilitators helping the team leaders. Context and culture lessons would have been front and center. That idea is free - take it and run with it if you want. [Here are some other ideas you might want to try.]

If you're interested in picking some of Ember's expertise in training student missions teams, comment or email. We would love to help your students get ready to shape human history.

Does Not Exist to Give You a Job

It brings me back to this: What is the highest priority? I've been a pastor here for 34 years, and I see a primary responsibility to constantly, constantly, constantly bring the church back to outreach. We are not here for ourselves. We are here for others. To the people in the church, I have to say, "You are here for the people that are not yet in the church." I say to our staff (probably too often!), "The organization does not exist to give you a job. You work here to fulfill the purpose of Jesus Christ for this organization. If at some point you can't do that, it's not that we're mad at you or you're a bad person. It's that we've got to go on, because we've got to stay focused on what we're all about." That's my job.

- Leith Anderson, as quoted in Cutting Edge, Winter 2011

Book Notes - Cracking Your Church's Culture Code

I've heard lots of great things about Dr. Samuel Chand but never read any of his stuff until now. Cracking Your Church's Culture Code is a great read and has lots of insight into the intangibles about organizational and team culture. Long time readers know that one of our mantras is "context matters." More recent readers know that I've been involved in some significant areas of organizational change in the past few months. The combination of both concepts comes together in this book.

Dr. Chand writes in chapter 1 that this book is really for top leadership teams in churches and nonprofits - people that make the decisions at the top.

The commitment to value people all along the organizational hierarchy must be implemented from the top down.

He also cautions others about being agents of change, implying that unless it comes from the top, you'll be hitting a brick wall and will eventually need to leave the organization. I'm not sure that's completely 100% true, but no doubt his book outlines some great tools and perspectives for you to either be a great agent of change or a pain in the a** to the people you work for.

Here are some great snippets:

6 keys to culture:

Culture is the most powerful factor in any organization.
Culture is usually unnoticed, unspoken and unexamined.
Culture determines how people respond to vision and leadership.
Culture most often surfaces and is addressed in negative experiences.
Culture is hard to change, but change results in multiplied benefits.

Thresholds of organizational culture - cultures that are:

inspiring <-> accepting <-> stagnant <-> discouraging <-> toxic

About change:

Changing culture always creates conflict. When we choose respect instead of manipulation, and honesty instead of avoidance of issues, most people will thrive, but a few resist even healthy changes.

On graceful exits:

The hardest conversations are often with the top volunteers, many of whom know the struggles and have great compassion for the person leaving.

On processes of change:

Involves knowledge, attitude, behavior and institutional behavior. [no one talks about the last one]

On chaos:

I've seen leaders experience chaos in countless ways, but three of those ways stand out as unique challenges: redefining failure, creating a sense of urgency to take advantage of opportunities, and managing conflict.

On innovation:

Truly innovative leaders and their teams not only encourage people to dream new ideas and find solutions but also have found a way to transform the inevitable failures into platforms for future success.

On identifying mediocre staff members:

- stubborn and resistant to change
- reactive rather than proactive
- lazy and unprepared
- makes promises but seldom delivers
- shirks responsibility and blames others
- identifies problems without offering solutions
[Paul Idzik, COO of Barclays Bank]

Four areas on hiring or promoting:

competence - can you do the job
character - can i trust you
chemistry - can you fit in our culture
capacity - can you grow with us

He writes about the diffusion of innovations model, which I'm a huge fan of:

Leaders shouldn't have anyone on a team who is slower and more resistant than a middler. [early/late majority - 68% of the population]

On goal, task and control orientation:

Olan Hendrix, author of Three Dimensions of Leadership, observed, "Generally, religious organizations start with a goal orientation... deteriorate to a task orientation... and finally degenerate to a bottom-line control organization."

On the future:

Your effectiveness will always depend on your ability to see the future. To be an effective leaders, you must understand the difference between change and transition. Change is the event and transition is the emotional, psychological, and social response to that change.

Probably my favorite paragraph:

When leaders face transitions like those described in this chapter, they often instinctively ask, "How much am I going to bleed when I go through this?" But that's the wrong question. A better question is, "I know I'm going to bleed. How can I help my team get healthy as quickly as possible?" When a surgeon has to amputate a man's leg, does the man want her to use a scalpel or a butter knife?

Great book. Pick it up, prepare yourself for some organizational pain and then ask for the scalpel.

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes.

Thursday Burn

::: Steve Addison on India
+ There have been followers of Jesus in India for 2,000 years. Today Christians account for less than 3% of the population, but they are directly involved in 20% of primary education; 25% of care for widows and orphans; 30% of work with the handicapped, AIDs patients and lepers.
+ 70% of India's 1.1 billion people live in its 600,000 villages, the rest live in the 5,000 towns and 380 cities.
Link


::: Newest country in the world - #193
The people of Southern Sudan appear to have voted overwhelmingly in support of independence: total turnout was about 97 percent with almost 99 percent of voters casting their ballots to create the world’s newest nation.
Link via KatieS


::: McKinsey report on cities
Link

Salisbury Community Impact Notes

This is our gift to the future. Whether you are a church planter, a campus ministry leader or a nonprofit, this information should provide you a good snapshot of a moment in time - what did these areas near Salisbury look like in November of 2010? What did the community need back then and who could help them? What difference could the government, a few social entrepreneurs, and a highly committed group of students make? How could the Gospel redeem not only individuals but communities in Salisbury?

Our follow up report from the Salisbury Ember Cast experience in November of 2010 is now available. Click here for more.

February Kindling

+ Big sigh of relief for the Leadership Collective flying like it did. Lots of initial positive response, which is great. I feel like most of the stuff I'm involved in isn't going to see real results for a good number of years - the Collective might fall under this as well.
+ You might have noticed I haven't been writing a lot about the interns this school year. The truth is, for various reasons and no fault of their own, their interaction with Ember has kind of fizzled out. Both Ryan and Donna are still involved with some good leadership opportunities and pulling them away would have been a case study in ignoring context.
+ Unfortunately, direct work with student global leaders is in a dry spell right now. Plan A for summer 2011 isn't looking good either.
+ This does mean I have some bandwidth so I'm eager about what ideas, connections and projects might emerge. I'm also doing a bit of planning for Fall 2011.
+ My mom is making a deposit on a retirement community this week. Hoping to get her moved in within this month.
+ Bought theembercast.org yesterday and waiting for it to go live. Didn't buy it for so long because I'm really cheap. But actually dreamhost offers a npo discount. Told you I was cheap.
+ I recently re-remembered that the 'primary role of spiritual leadership is to create and shape ethos.'

2011 Leadership Collective - Wrap Up

Warning - long post about the Leadership Collective. Skip, read on, and/or take what you want. I was involved on a planning team for GRACE's annual leadership gathering. Here's a summary.

::: Context
- Grace gathers leaders every January for a leadership gathering. Past years have set the precedent for viewing some of the Willow Creek Leader Summit videos. This year, we wanted to move away from that and instead, try to make the gathering a little more interactive.
- We also wanted to get some Grace 'ordinary' people to share their story.
- One of Seth Godin's TED talks came up in the brainstorming phase and the ideas of tribes, breaking the status quo and connecting all resonated with the planning team.
- We visited this breaking the status quo idea by changing the event. Obvious to some?
- Did not want to have it in our large worship center.
- Wanted to unconsciously communicate that anyone, in theory, could put something like this together - it was okay for it to be raw or informal or organic.
- Felt need was that some leaders at Grace don't think they are' leaders' even though they are leading and have influence.
- Other driving concepts included unconferences [The Idea Camp, Humana] and TED talks [for the 18 minutes talks.]
- There was a DJ there - wanted music to set the mood instead of empty air.
- Engaged a photographer to shoot the event. Can't wait to see the images...
- About 195 people on Fri night and about 150 on Saturday. Lots and lots of young leaders - probably 50% under 30. Lots of older leaders as well - seemed like the 30-50 age range was missing.
- Cultural context of a suburban megachurch. Highly affluent, high achievers, lots of engineers, fed govt and etc.

::: Schedule
Friday night
- Open
- Worship
- Seth Godin
- Moses and the Status Quo - Ryan Richardson
- Mixer - commonalities
- Break
- The unpanel - 6 different speakers from within Grace, who spoke for 5 minutes at a time about a status quo they wanted to break and how they did it. Ministries included Adventure Service Club, girls Grace Adventure, Grace Adventures Day Camp, Medical missions teams, Metrokidz, and Young Adult ministries.

Sat
- Open
- Worship
- Mixer - leading by age
- Team Building - Dale Swinburne*
- Ministry team time
- Mark Norman - Discontent, Tribes, Deeper, Younger

::: Bits and Pieces
+ Ryan Richardson - Moses
- we can only change the status quo when we release our fears
+ Matt Maloy* - wanted to include weirdos [an includer at heart]
+ Dan Hedgecock - [speaking about engaging younger generations] our success is probably in our obsolescence
+ Dale Swinburne - high performance teams
- mediocre teams happen by accident
- leading a team to accomplish something is only half of the picture - the other half is leading your team - you are changing them too
+ Mark Norman
- Discontent, Tribes, Deeper, Younger
- the trinity is an example of a tribe - an intense community
- Psalm 145:4 is a hinge between generations

::: Finally
As you can imagine, a ton of people were involved in this. Everything from coordinating child care, office and admin type of stuff, venue setup, the worship band, snacks, and clean up and tear down, everyone's efforts mattered. Debriefing the event, which includes feedback forms, later next week.

I'm not an event planner, per se, and would have never imagined to be involved in this kind of thing. But effective leaders are able to gather people around them and make a platform for the like-minded to connect.

* Matt and Dale serve on the Board of Directors for The Ember Cast.

Leadership Collective - T minus 0

Around 10 hours before it starts.

+ Heard 5 of the 6 short speakers on Tuesday night. Hugely diverse group of people from within GRACE - young, old, male, female, varied ministries. The win is for people to hear their story and realize they could do something like that too. I'm thinking it's going to be powerful.
+ That is a mini stage in the picture. Wanted to have the venue seating be all around.
+ I'm pretty well prepared for some people to tell me that they hated this. It might be that people just hate the change. We are, however, pretty much throwing away feedback forms with no contact info.
+ Registration is at about 175 people, give or take.
+ My favorite decisions so far are engaging a DJ and a photographer for this.
+ I'm still amazed at finding myself as a part of this. Maybe unpack that later.
+ See the rough schedule here.

Thursday Burn

::: Wow Granger Wow.

By 2016, the number of people being the Church in their neighborhoods, schools, cafes and community seven days a week will outnumber the number of casual Christians just going to church. 1
For years our church property has been an amazing front porch for those coming to a weekend service. The landscaping is inviting, the buildings were designed so they wouldn't intimidate the unchurched. But now, with the glaring change in the culture, we are transitioning the property to have scores of front porch opportunities. 2

Suburban mega church ministry leaders, take notes. PS - Rob Wegner, Granger's point for global mission, is scary audacious like this too.


::: Redeeming church buildings
Link


::: Largest Cities Throughout History
Link via EthanZ

GLG - Unpredictable Change

Paul summarized it like this: "The righteous will live by faith" Rom 1:17B. We could easily re-translate this to "the righteous thrive in the midst of unpredictable change." - Erwin McManus, An Unstoppable Force

[This quote is from the chapter called Change Theology, which I believe every ministry leader should read.]
If you aspire to be a global leader, be prepared to carve a future in the midst of a great amount of change. But you've probably already got a sense that the world around you is moving at a dizzying pace. If you don't know this already - it's going to move faster. And global leaders - as challenging as it is - embrace this chaos; get used to making plan B, C and D; and empower those they serve with to roll with it. In many senses, that's when we need leaders the most - when we're still committed to the core but we need help with interpreting everything else around us.

I'm posting some writing from a global student leadership guidebook that I'm working on. Let me know if you are interested in the progress of this project.

Favorites for Change

I've had a front row seat with some big organizational changes in the past few months. Here's some of my favorite quotes that have a good ring of truth to them. If you are in the middle of something like this too, maybe these will help.

"Change is made by individuals who stop seeking deniability." - Seth Godin - Catalyst 2010

"Stop hitting your head against the wall and look for the loose brick. - Mark Goulston. Advice for changing systems." - @alanhirsch

"You don't win by being quiet, you win by being heard." - @SallyHogshead

"The cynic and the activist look the same to the status quo." - @markriddle

"Organizations lose their relevance when the rate of internal change lags the pace of external change." - Gary Hamel

Six Years and Counting

GMcM and I have been friends since 2005, when I helped lead a student team to Londrina, Brasil to participate in a week of culture exchange for their Brasilian high school students. Of course, the trip had a longer term focus of helping catalyze some relationships in their high school and college network. We had a little gathering over the weekend together and its a joy to hear that some of our efforts six years ago are still bearing fruit. Amazing how some of key missiological principles are taking place there and we didn't realize it until later. Stuff like:
+ A person of peace [who has pretty much come to faith now.]
+ A multiplication of the movement via house churches/gatherings, not via an attractional, invitational type of gathering.
+ Context matters and that Brasilians best influence Brasilians.

GMcM also talked about:
+ The future missionary probably has a legitimate profession and mission is done via that rather than as a professional missionary. I'm finding this advice more and more common among seasoned cross cultural workers as they advise the emerging generation.
+ The challenges of family dynamics as they seek the best solution for one of their sons who is getting ready for college.
+ Relationships that were started six years ago are still intact and in some cases blossoming. High school kids from then are now university or graduate students that the McMs still have intentional contact with. A few of them have really grown in their journey.
+ So the plants that we planted were stolen. But I'm thinking that they are still growing - just in someone's house. That counts as fruitful.

Leadership Collective - T minus 7

- Venue gets set up next Monday evening.
- We engaged an interior designer to think through and add some color and vibe to the space. Claudia also painted my dining room for me.
- One of the sessions on Friday night is hearing from 6 different leaders at GRACE for 5 minutes at a time [sort of like TED.] The hope is that we get inspired by 'normal' people.
- Sound check, band rehearsal and speaker run through next Tuesday evening.
- As a futuristic, I've just about moved on. I've got another theme I would love to see for next time. And I'm on the lookout for someone that can do this better than me.
- Two 'mixers' planned are based on the themes of collaboration and mentoring. This comes from the ideator on our team.
- If you are a Howard County person and would like to come, let me know and I will sneak you in as my personal guest.

Thursday Burn

::: If It Were My Home
Link
Comparing major metrics between countries. Some of you might spend hours on this...


::: Worldwide Mobile OS Usage
Link


::: Which countries match the GDP and population of America's states?
Link


::: More on Riley Goodfellow
Link
What started with the calling of a child is sending our family to a country thousands of miles away, and hopefully isn't the end of our story.

GLG - The Economic Ladder

Poverty and The Economic Ladder
You probably already know about the issue of global poverty. You know about Product RED, The One Campaign and you've probably given some money to something related.

What you might not know is that in 2005, Jeffrey Sachs, a economist out of Harvard, wrote a book called The End of Poverty. The book outlined some of the basic ideas of economies, poverty and what the world looked like today. Sachs also went on to outline a plan for ending poverty in the next 50 years - in your lifetime. Bold, audacious and challenging - if you are reading this, you would probably like him. Others found merit in his plan. In fact, Bono wrote the forward to the book and The One Campaign is largely based on the concepts Sachs outlined.

What you need to know about is Sachs' concept of the economic ladder.

I'm posting some writing from a global student leadership guidebook that I'm working on. Let me know if you are interested in the progress of this project.

Book Notes - Soul Print

Been a huge fan of Mark Batterson and National Community Church for a good many years now - I remember reading his annual State of the Church document back in the early 90s. Watching this church from a distance became even more fun as some of the guys from my high school small group became adults and started serving there. I've had a few opportunities to visit and see them from up close too - always inspired after those field trips.

His new book Soul Print releases today - here are a few notes from it.

+ Around the turn of the twentieth century, a pioneering psychologist named Alfred Adler proposed the counter intuitive theory of compensation. Adler believed that perceived disadvantages often prove to be disguised advantages because they force us to develop attitudes and abilities that would have otherwise gone undiscovered.

+ And the key to emotional endurance is experiencing high levels of disappointment that break us down so God can build us back up with a holy confidence. Anytime I feel stretched emotionally, I remind myself that God is expanding my emotional capacity to be used by Him in greater ways.

+ Oswald Chambers - one of Mark's favorite mantras, "Let God engineer."

+ We tend to think of stewardship in terms of time, talent and treasure; but we've also got to be good stewards of the minds God has given us. And that includes our imaginations and postimaginations.

+ The New Testament makes a distinction between two types of power. Dunamis is the ability to do things beyond your natural ability. Exousia is the ability to not do things you have the ability to do. And the Cross is the ultimate example of this second kind of power.

+ The words humor, humiliation, and humility are all etymologically related. In fact, humor is the derivative of humiliation.

+ The church ought to be a place where we can confess our deepest doubts, worst sins, and wildest dreams.

+ The more you have going for you, the more potential you have for identity issues.

+ Comfort impedes spiritual growth. Our attempts to create comfortable environments often produce immature disciples.

+ Self-discovery always leads in one of two directions: self-worship or worship of God.

+ The driving engine is to be giving two million dollars to missions annual by the year 2020 [speaking of NCC]

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes.

Winter Water

Leadership Collective - T minus 14

Every year, GRACE gathers her leaders in January for some leadership development. In the past, it was called the Leadership Summit and content consisted of video material from the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, supplemented by some content from our lead pastor and other staff. This year, I'm on a team that has reinvented the event, now called the Leadership Collective.

It looks a lot different this year: there is a video from Seth Godin about tribes and the status quo [with our new middle school pastor complementing this talk], we have 6 speakers from within GRACE who will share their story about the status quo they saw and what they did about, a session on teams from my friend Dale Swinburne, time for teams to reflect together and a session from our lead pastor Mark Norman. It's coming together nicely.

As something I've never done before, I'm not sure if I'm really liking this kind of stuff or not. I'm sure we'll see in the next few weeks. One thing for sure - it's a stretching experiencing for me. And that's valuable in and of itself.

Here's a quick snapshot of where we are at right now:
+ decided on specific elements in the venue - projectors, stage, etc.
+ worship band, speakers, tech team all committed
+ program booklet - in process
+ mixers - decided upon
+ volunteer spots - decided - need to recruit people for these
+ dj is confirmed [my favorite one]

Thursday Burn

::: Death of a church plant
Link
Be sure to read the 5 postmortem links.


::: 11 Tricks to Cutting Travel Costs
Link


::: 20 personal money practices
Link


::: 31 signs you are a thought leader
Link

GLG - Context and Culture

Context and Culture
In 1993, I spent some time in the Dominican Republic. I learned a little bit about the culture while I was there, facts like chicken feet is a delicacy, softball is kind of a big deal and the nightlife is something else. Unfortunately, I only went to a food market once, never saw a softball game and didn't step foot into a nightclub. Our lodging was in a missionary building, designated for visiting missionary teams, where we lived among ourselves with no exposure to Dominican culture. Sad. Even now, I regret not experiencing at least one of those things in person, knowing that any one of them would have given me valuable lessons about the people of that beautiful country.

I'm posting some writing from a global student leadership guidebook that I'm working on. Let me know if you are interested in the progress of this project.

100 to Watch in 2011

Absolutely love this presentation about 100 trends to watch in 2011. If you have any tinge of futuristic in you, you'll love it too. Be sure to click to open the whole listing and it looks like these guys might be pretty accurate from past predictions. [via Mel McGowan]

Here are some of my favorites:
1 - 3d printing
2 - africas middle class [as more africans get on the ladder of development]
5 - auto apps
13 - brazil as e-leader
22 - decline of the cash register
24 - detroit [sounds like lots of interesting stuff going on there now]
30 - ebook sharing
38 - global disease refocused
50 - michael jackson
65 - oprah winfrey network [seems like really compelling shows]
78 - smart infrastructure investment
87 - tablets for tots
94 - tube free toilet paper [what does this mean for how you pack tp for mission trips?]
96 - urban industrial parks

More proof that some of the future hasn't been created yet. Finding those that are going to create this - some of us take that responsibility pretty seriously.

10

Dear Em --

For your 10th birthday, Mommy and I decided to buy you this suitcase. We know your love of traveling, how you love hotels, of the curiosity you have for seeing new places. And of course, like most of us, you love your stuff. A life of adventure begins with luggage.

The suitcase is kind of a symbol for your life - your care and compassion for the hurting and lost might require you to pack up your stuff and go to them. Your life might be meant to be on the move. God's plans for you might require you to leave home every once in a while. Your heart already goes - this just lets you bring some stuff with it.

We'll be okay with that. Just remember to visit us when you can and bring your dogs to see us but not to stay with us.

Ember Spark

Ember hosted an amazing gathering of college-aged global leaders last night - some of my favorite people in the world. All of them local and globally mission minded and people who start - one of our goals was for everyone to meet to be encouraged and challenged by others in the room. A fabulous homecoming. The guest list included:

+ 4 of the 5 past SPACE and Ember interns
+ KP - who was in Haiti last summer
+ RB - who was in Israel last summer
- MichelleK - leaves for South Africa for a semester abroad next week
- AWarfel - skipped going to college to work with City Year instead - now working in school in Anacostia DC
- Erin - raising funding to move to Brussels
- CC, just got back from a YWAM DTS in Australia and PNG
- a team of people who went to work on New Orleans recovery between Christmas and New Years
- the girls who started an after school kids club at Booth Street in Salisbury, MD

If these people have anything to do with it, the future is abnormally bright.

Thursday Burn

::: A Rush of Weddings in Haiti?
Link
See the systems?


::: Church Trends on TonyMorganLive
Sam Chand - leadership guru - [I'm reading his book Cracking Your Church's Culture right now - it's good]
Mel McGowan - architect [subscribe to his blog too - fascinating stuff]
Brad Lomenick - Catalyst director
Great series - looks like there is more in the next few weeks.


::: Ashley writes about the Lost Boys
Link
Ashley is a friend of Ember friend, KellanD.

GLG - Indigenous

Missiological Filters - Indigenous
You know what a filter is. Think about a coffee filter or an oil filter in your car or a colander - something that keeps certain things from getting through. These filters we are going to discuss deal with the way you look at something - consider it a filter for your perception or thinking. They are important because changing your perspective gives you a different view on the same subject. Most of the time, new insight leads to new action. And heaven knows, the world needs you to act.

Indigenous - "originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native."

The concept of indigenous is huge when you talk about cross cultural service. Yes, the Gospel sometimes requires people outside a culture to move into one - that would be the incarnation - like Jesus coming to Earth. But there is gold when someone intimate with a culture rises up to lead within it. God came not in a UFO, but as a baby.

My friend Jeremy Del Rio is one of the leading gurus in the area of urban youth ministry. What he knows he learned by doing - he has first hand experience. When he was a high school student, he was part of a team that created a ministry for students - by students. Generation Xcel started when he and a group of his friends decided that they needed to do something to spur on some positive growth in their community while helping kids their age invest their lives in something significant. Years later, after college and law school, Jeremy ran GenXcel for a time as the executive director. You can imagine how effective he was after being one of the founders. That's an indigenous leader - one that has erupted out of the context.

I'm posting some writing from a global student leadership guidebook that I'm working on. Let me know if you are interested in the progress of this project.

The Fun of Family Photos

January Kindling

+ Glad to put 2010 behind us. Even with all the great stuff that happened last year, the biggest event was my dad dying. As a wise friend said to me, now we don't have to go through that again.
+ My mom is taking small steps towards moving to a retirement community. Would love you to pray that she actually goes through with it.
+ Hosting some amazing high school and college students later this week while most of them are home from college. We are terming it 'spark.'
+ Leadership Collective - looks like it's coming together nicely - 3 weeks away. You know that changes as it gets closer. As something I've never done before, I'm over my head.
+ Summer 2011.
+ Ember received some significant donations in December. Helps us pay for some insurance and other operations stuff.
+ Ember also got registered with TechSoup - my bet is something there helps us.
+ Over the holidays, I got more acquainted with a friend of a family member who is the associate director of development for a large, very prestigious university. Can you say "lots of forthcoming Q&A about fundraising" ?
+ I've been doing a good amount of writing [ and some copy/paste =) ] for a 'global leader guide' for lack of a better title. If you want to see the outline, let me know. Not sure what will come of it.
+ First meeting of 2011 this am - with trevinhoekzema at 8am. Yes... 8am...

2010 in cities

1. Chincoteague Island, VA, USA
2. Philadelphia, PA, USA
3. Cambridge, MD, USA
4. Fairfield, CT, USA*
5. Atlantic City, NJ, USA
6. St. Leonard, MD, USA
7. Rehoboth Beach, DE, USA
8. Queen Creek, Phoenix, Gilbert, Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
9. Niagara Falls, ON, CA
10. Salisbury, MD, USA
11. Kent Narrows, MD, USA

* multiple times

Here is the map. Yes, made it out of the US once [even though it was Canada...] And saw the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls in one summer.

Previous years in cities: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.

PS - 2010 in pictures

2010 in books

1. The Bible [chronological daily bible - got about 8 months through it but still sort of reading...]
2. Switch [notes]
3. Untamed
4. Forces for Good [notes]
5. Linchpin
6. Teen 2.0
7. Uncharitable [notes]
8. Blue Ocean Strategy
9. Nurtureshock
10. Making Ideas Happen [notes]

[Related: 2009, 2008, 2007.]

2010 in posts

Ember Philly
Eulogy
Tweets about Student Missions Advice
Easter
3 in 7
Students Who Start
2005 to 2010
Ember AZ
Proof
Ember Salisbury

[Related: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 in posts]

Book Notes - Making Ideas Happen

Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
Phenomenal read - you should read this. Ton of great stuff in here for personal productivity and team leadership. I gave an Action Journal [based on the Action Method] as a gift to a few people.

Making Ideas Happen = Ideas + Organization + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability

Creativity * Organization = Impact

Project Management:
A relentless bias toward action pushes ideas forward.
Stuff that is actionable must be made personal.
Taking and organizing extensive notes aren't worth the effort.
Use design-centric systems to stay organized.
Organize in the context of projects, not location.

Action Steps
Start each with a verb.
Capture them everywhere.
An unowned action step will never be taken.
Treat managerial action steps differently.
Foster an action-oriented culture.
Attraction breeds loyalty.

Backburner
Set up your backburner.
Create a backburner ritual.

References
References obstruct your bias toward action.
Use a chronological pile or file.
Feel the flow of references - question it, label it, file it.

"Creators Immediacy" - an instinct to take care of every problem and operational task, no matter how large or small, as soon as it comes up.

Killing ideas - Disney's three rooms.
1 - rampant idea generation.
2 - idea aggregation resulting in a story board.
3 - the sweat box - critical review without restraint.

Measure Meetings with Action
Don't just meet because it's Monday.
End with a review of actions captured.
Call out nonactionable meetings.
Conduct standing meetings
Don't call meetings out of your own insecurity.
Don't stick to round numbers [don't schedule for a full hour like scheduling software defaults to.]
Always measure with Action Steps.
[Oh so many people should read this section.]

* Godin's 6 month MBA.
"I can say that Godin's MBA program likely serves as a better foundation and stronger impetus for entrepreneurial success than any other top MBA program."

"Done Walls" - literally gather up the records of completed projects and then decorate certain walls with these artifacts.

"Insecurity Work" - stuff that you do that has no intended outcome, does not move the ball forward in any way and is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing how much time is being wasted.

"Committal Benefits" - when you publicly commit yourself and take on risk to make an idea happen - represents the increased likelihood of others to take a risk of their own to support your projects.

"Respect-Based Self Marketing" - amassing a group of followers on the web - people choose to follow you and your work because they respect you or something you have done. Once they choose to follow you, they have invited you to push information and updates to them. [so true]

Leadership development is experiential. Through trial and error, good times and bad, we gradually become better leaders - but only if we are self-aware enough to notice when and why we falter.

Engage Initiators
Building a team of enthusiastic and talented people is one of the greatest challenges for leaders. A resume gives little indication of a candidates true mettle. Rather than focusing exclusively on an individuals experience, truly effective managers instead measure a prospective employee’s ability to take initiative.
When you stumble across an Initiator - someone who has passion, generates ideas and tends to take action - recognize your good fortune. Nothing will assist your ideas more than a team of people who possess real initiative.
[Like Rework "Starters"]

IDEO 'T' people - the long horizontal line represents breadth of experience while the tall vertical line represents a depth of experience in one particular area.

Consensus
Consensus can often lead to a lackluster outcome.
Teams should not strive for complete consensus at the outset of a project. After all, consensus-driven teams run the risk of settling on what offends no one and satisfies no one. Early and complete consensus is comfortable but almost always unremarkable. Leaders of creative teams should identify and highlight the noteworthy, memorable solutions at both ends of the spectrum that, in all likelihood, are not agreeable to all [sacred extremes]

While conflict is never pleasant, as leaders we must acknowledge that conflict provides a precious opportunity to judge the leadership capability of others.

Admired leaders use conflict in two ways. The first is to evaluate the reasoning and patience of their partners and superiors. The second way leaders use conflict is to build confidence and earn their teams' respect.

"Leadership is most effective through the art of storytelling." - Steffen Landauer

Appreciations - having just shared a story/idea/presentation, you go around and ask people to comment on the elements they most appreciated. The exchange of appreciations is meant to help you build upon your strengths with the underlying assumption that a creative craft is made extraordinary through developing your strengths rather than obsessing over your weaknesses. "It is strange that, in our culture, we are trained to look for weaknesses. When I work with people, they are often surprised when I point out the wonderful crucial details - the parts that are alive."
Appreciations are not about being polite. They are about pointing out what is alive.

Hot spots = very similar bright spots in Switch

As you lead others in creative pursuits, you are your greatest liability. Self-leadership is about awareness, tolerance and not letting your own natural tendencies limit your potential.

Benefits of Failure
What external conditions may explain the failure?
What internal factors may have compromised your judgment?
Are there any gems in the unintended outcome?

Contrarianism - the act of purposely thinking against the grain when approaching problems and brainstorming new ideas. Contrarians are willing to manage (if not embrace) the uncertainties and risks inherent in thinking differently. And by questioning the norms, they are bound to either find better approaches or to feel more confidence in the old ways of doing things.
Don't rever someone based on age.
Reconsider your approach to mentoring. Instead of just above, look around and below you as well.
Distinguish past accomplishments from present knowledge.
Aspire to better practices, not the best.

You have a responsibility to make your ideas sustainable. For an idea to thrive over time, it must be treated as an enterprise.
"Entrepreneurs are not the ones with the best ideas. They're just the ones willing to jump off a cliff without the answers." - Andrew Weinreich

Please take yourself and your creative pursuits seriously. Your ideas must be treated with respect because their importance truly does extend beyond your own interests. Every living person benefits from a world that is enriched with ideas made whole - ideas that are made to happen through your passion, commitment, self-awareness, and informed pursuit.

Post Christmas Random

+ We had a great Christmas - lots of fun, lots of family who are still in town, been a great time so far. Celebrated Kt's birthday - she finally got that cell phone - it only took 4 years of nagging.
+ That's Em - at the sight of a chocolate fountain for Kts bday party a few weeks ago.
+ I'm tracking #NOLA2010 - a small team of young adults from Grace in NOLA this week. They left the evening of Christmas day - you probably know most of them.
+ Humbled by 4 end of the year donations to Ember this week. Helps us pay for some pretty integral operations stuff so we can unleash some global leaders.
+ January is already looking significant.

Thirteen

Dear Kt --

Welcome to being a teenager. You now have a good and legitimate excuse for all that trouble you give your mother and I. Really though - it hasn't been too bad. Just don't push your luck...

It's been another thrilling year watching you grow up and mature and become a lovely woman of God. You've done well in getting used to middle school, loved your spotlight leaders and girls and done a great job in school.

Most thrilling is watching you engage a world in need with the passion and conviction of people dedicated to transforming human history. This year it included things like attending a malaria summit for research, serving on the Ember AZ team and a persuasive speech to your peers about changing the perception of the homeless. When I was your age, Space Invaders occupied all of my passion. [show you that later...]

Please continue to make us marvel at your life.

Love

Merry Merry

In Search Of

Interning for the Ember Cast was a truly eye-opening experience. We live in a fast-paced world where the manner in which the Gospel is advanced is changing daily. Innovation and adaptability are key components to propelling the Jesus movement forward, and these are precisely some of the tools that I gleaned from being an Ember Cast intern. Unique perspectives, coupled with practical applications made the internship an unforgettable experience.

- ARotolo, Ember 2010 intern
Always always on the lookout for students like these...

Thursday Burn

::: The Future of Youth Ministry
Marko is writing a series of posts from a discussion on the future of youth ministry. Episode 2 has some instigators alright. I like it.
Link


::: Six Megathemes from 2010
You've probably seen this make the rounds. Scathing, like #6:
The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.
Link


::: Seth on retreats
Link
Note the first sentence - which is why we called it Mission Advance. [But we stole that idea from Mosaic first.]


::: Brad's advice for those over 55
And you know some people's brains don't think according to their age...
Link


::: World Map Visualized by Facebook
Link

A Snippet - The DecEmber Update

If you want to read the whole thing, let me know. Would be happy to send it to you.

"When a great adventure is offered, you don't refuse it." - Amelia Earhart [quoted by Chris Guillebeau here]

Dear friends --

Yes, almost every week lately I feel like life has offered us quite an adventure. And this year has been full of it with regards to The Ember Cast, our latest endeavor when it comes to student missions leadership. This year included a weekend immersion in both Chinese and homeless culture in Philadelphia; a week long hands on experience in church planting and community impact in Queen Creek, AZ; and coming alongside some college students devoted to serving the marginalized in Salisbury, MD. Even more thrilling is working with some amazing emerging global leaders: John and Andrew in the Ember internship last Spring; Donna, Ryan and Emily this summer; Trevin as our first Ember guide; and Taylor at Salisbury. The real adventure is probably more centered around people like these - high school and college students, Biblically based, and passionate about impacting the future of humanity for the better. Helping people like them is why Ember exists. [More details about 2010 will be included in our annual report - coming soon.]

We've accomplished some interesting things in terms of the organization as well: a bank account; raised 100% of the required funding to support the AZ team; and approval from the IRS to act as a 501C3 - all things that are mostly out of the realm of my formal training as a database engineer. But that's part of the fun of the adventure right? And I've found an amazing group of co-conspirators in the Board of Directors that has been assembled to assist with the leadership of Ember.

Our immediate next step is to raise some additional funding for some more operational issues. These primarily include some accounting/finance software and purchasing insurance - some of the necessary elements of any business I've learned. To that end, it's indirectly helping us identify and resource emerging global leaders.

Strengths - APEST

More than any other organization or movement on this planet, the church should be a safe haven and incubator for audacity.

- Steven Furtick

Similar to the Strengths is the APEST profile. Read up on it if you've never heard of it - it's good. If you like the Myers Briggs and Strengths, you will like this. Picture adding a spiritual leadership development to both of those other assessments. Like the others, even better if you take it as a team.

My APEST results are shepherd + apostolic. Shepherd meaning one who nurtures and protects, creates environments for change, and has a vision for others growth. Apostolic is one who is sent, uncomfortable with the status quo, pioneers new endeavors and needing to sense movement and change. Sound familiar?

In other words, I will want to spend all of the budget you want to hold on to. I could probably talk for a few hours about developing people and projects for them to grow. I will love to meet someone who is innovating something from old to new. Talk about maintaining existing processes and systems and I'll start playing with my cell phone. Change too slowly and I have to get some fresh air.

PS - If you absolutely love that quote above, I want to talk to you.

Thursday Burn

::: The Global Soap Project
The Global Soap Project recovers and recycles soap from American hotels and facilitates a process by which it is sanitized, melted and remolded into new bars, then distributed to refugee camps in Africa.
Link via Brad


::: Cross Cultural Workers dot com
Link. Just like it says - here's a quick summary from Seth Barnes.


::: Twitter usage
Link. 8% of online Americans use Twitter. And other stuff from the Pew Internet report on twitter. Via @DanielDecker
What does this mean when we talk about twitter? And what does it tell us about this 8%?

Strengths - Teams

If you map out the strengths of the people you work or serve closely with, you'll probably discover some interesting things. I've got a big spreadsheet of people that I know closely and their strengths - I've been tracking this for a few years. Not only that, but if I've read your blog or follow you on twitter or read a book you've written, and you've published your top 5 somewhere, you are probably on my spreadsheet too. It's one of the subtle ways I stalk you.

Past clusters of people I've worked with seem to gravitate towards Developer, Adaptability [which I posted about yesterday] and Belief. These all make sense - those teams were in the business of helping mold students as part of cross cultural experiences - you can probably see how people with those talents would gravitate towards that.

Not only does the task of a team potentially attract specific talents, it may be that the specific leader also attracts those talents. It might also be true that a leader is able to build a team that reflects his or her strength set. We know this to be true in other venues as well - for instance, students in a youth ministry reflect their youth pastor, like it or not.

It's a proven metric for leadership - how well does a leader attract followers. The next level is whether this leader attract followers that can build on his strengths as well as creating teams that build on the organization's collective strengths.

This post is from a series of posts about what I've learned most recently from the Strengths Finder assessment. Part 1, 2, 3.

Strengths - We Need Adaptability

The current rate of change in our world is fast. And it's only going to get faster. That's why I love the adaptability talent - people with this talent are not thrown off when there is too much change. Unlike the rest of us who violently resist change, people with this talent thrive when things are dynamic. That's why we need them - they help the rest of us get what needs to get done in the midst of lots of chaos.

Most student mission projects I have been involved in never execute they way they have been planned. A phrase we sometimes toss around is 'plan D', meaning that our original plan is so far off. In situations like these, we lean on those with adaptability to tell us it's going to be okay, to laugh in the midst of lots of change and to force us to keep moving forward in the midst of chaos like when you lock the keys in the van with it running.

The successful leaders of the future are catalytic. They also are either highly adaptable or they have built teams that keep winning while change happens at outrageous rates.

This post is from a series of posts about what I've learned most recently from the Strengths Finder assessment. Part 1, 2, 3.

Strengths - The Likes

I sat in on a StrengthsFinder coaching session that my friend Dale Swinburne ran last week. It was a ton of fun and I'm grateful to Dale for giving away such valuable expertise to a ministry leadership team. In light of that, this week I'll be writing a series of posts that deal with some of the things I think are most valuable when it comes to the StrengthsFinder assessment.

If you don't have any exposure to the StrengthsFinder assessment, the best way to read up on it is to get one of the books and take the assessment. Read up on the descriptions of your top 5, underline the sentences that resonate with you and share the results with someone you are close with. Have someone you work with take it as well and then read up on their talents. Then come back and check out some of these posts.

First, here are my top 5. Developer, Futuristic, Arranger, Positivity and Woo. What matters most in terms of mine are the first 2 - Developer and Futuristic. Developer is almost always on. Futuristic gives my Developer talent a little tweak - I'm happy thinking up projects for people but overjoyed when those projects deal with a specific future that we are changing together.

One of the ideas about strengths theory is that we are looking for someone that isn't quite like us to get something accomplished. In the area of student missions, I'm almost always interested in people with these talents:
+ Ideation - I'm convinced that we need different paradigms of ministry in the future so these people are essential to that end. Tell them what you are trying to do or achieve and start taking notes on their ideas. TerahM came up with 10 ideas for leadership mixers after 5 minutes of talking about the Leadership Collective.
+ Includer - By nature, the Gospel is extending, reaching and inviting and Includers do this all the time. By nature, the rest of us want our groups to be static and therefore comfortable, while Includers are the exact opposite.
+ Strategic - When you plan before you execute, have someone with Strategic think it through.
+ Empathy - When it's on, it's red hot on. I need at least one person around with
empathy because I have zero of it.
+ Activator - These people move us from a meeting talking about something to actually getting out there and doing it.
+ Adaptability - One of my favorites - I'll talk about this one more tomorrow.

This post is from a series of posts about what I've learned most recently from the Strengths Finder assessment. Part 1, 2, 3.

Book Notes - The Next Christians

The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America by Gabe Lyons

1 - A Fading Reality
What does mission look like in America in the twenty-first century?
How should the message of the Gospel for forward?
What does it mean to be a Christian in a world that is disenchanted with our movement?

2 - The New Normal
Pluralistic - pluralism rather than Christianity now marks America's public square.
Postmodern - Stan Grenz - "a questioning, and even rejection, of the Enlightenment project and the foundation assumptions upon which it was built, namely, that knowledge is certain, objective and inherently good. Consequently it marks the end of a single worldview. Postmodernism resist unified, all-encompassing and universally valid explanations."
Post-Christian

3 - A Parody of Ourselves
Separatists - Insiders, Culture Warriors, Evangelizers
Cultural - Blenders, Philanthropists
RESTORERS
I've observed a new generation of Christians who feel empowered. Restorers exhibit the mindset, humility, and commitment that seem destined to rejuvenate the momentum of the faith. They have a peculiar way of thinking, being, and doing that is radically different from previous generations. Telling others about Jesus is important, but conversation isn't their only motive. Their mission is to infuse the world with beauty, grace, justice and love.
...
They are purposeful about their careers and generous with their time and possession. They don't separate from the world or blend in; rather, they thoughtfully engage. Fully aware of the seachange under way, they are optimistic that God is on the move - doing something unique in our time. They posses a way of following Jesus that is radically different from the others I've described. and they carry the most hope for the future credibility of the entire Christian movement in the West.

4 - Relearning Restoration
"When the Christian faith is not only felt, but thought, it was practical results which may be inconvenient." - TS Eliot

5 - Provoked not Offended
story of Jamie - TWLOHA
Engagement over Condemnation
Grace over Judgement
Courage over Comfort
IJM - Gary Haugen
Faithfulness over Reputation
Mike Foster

Chp 6 - Creators not Critics
Culture that Celebrates Beauty
Culture that Affirms Goodness
Culture that Tells the Truth
Culture that Serves

Chp 7 - Called not Employed
7 channels of cultural influence: media, education, arts and entertainment, business, government, social sector, church
Sajan George - nyc education
Jon Passavant - Model Home Project [Katrina]
Scott Harrison - charity:water

Chp 8 - Grounded not Distracted
Immersed in Scripture (Instead of Entertainment)
Observing the Sabbath (Instead of Being Productive)
Fasting for Simplicity (Instead of Consuming)
Choosing Embodiment (Instead of Being Divided)
Shane Hipps
Kevin Kelly
Postured by Prayer (Instead of Power)

Chp 9 - In Community, not Alone

Chp 10 - Countercultural, not Relevant
Portland OR - Season of Service

Chp 11 - The Next Big Shift
Luke 4:8-19

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Also, check out a video interview on ABC News with the author.

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Great read. Loved the part about the restorers compared to other segments of Christianity. I find that most of the circles I'm in these days are these kinds of people and that's a great thing. Loved the other subtitle on the cover, "How a New Generation is Restoring Faith". That is the truth.

Thursday Burn

::: Buy this satellite
Owners of a communication satellite went bankrupt so these people are trying to buy it to serve internet to people who don't current have access.
Link


::: Throw them in the deep end
Love this post from Seth Barnes


::: Complexity requires a healthy team
A no-brainer, but this caught my eye: "Are you a healthy enough organization to take on tons of complexity?"
CoachShef on multi-site


::: Adding your nonprofit to Jumo
Link
More about Jumo here. Old school missions orgs - take note. Your world almost doesn't exist anymore.

About - Dec 2010

Tony Sheng is the principal catalyst behind The Ember Cast - a group of talented, passionate and experienced guides that mentor, resource and inspire the next generation in the areas of global missions, world cultures, and leadership development - we throw fire. His experience includes various student ministry volunteer roles, five years of serving as the coordinator for student missions for a church, church elder board experience, and various missions mobilization related projects. He is proudest about mentoring a core group of students that are impacting humanity and continues to mentor a handful of high school students each year.

He is also a technology professional and lives in Columbia, MD, USA with his wife and two daughters. He would be overjoyed to talk with you about The Ember Cast, student missions mobilization and helping you erupt global leaders from the students in your midst.

Latest Kindling

+ World AIDS day today. Have some time to kill during lunch? Read the UN AIDS report for 2010. Some great news but ending the pandemic is not over yet.
+ Still on an emotional high from Ember Salisbury Cast. Wow.
+ Speaking of Salisbury, Kt our 12 year old gave all of her report card and recent babysitting earnings to Halo ministries when we were there. As parents, you can only teach so much about gratitude. If you've done it right, your kids will eventually give past your own comfort level.
+ Lunch yesterday with the ACMC northeast reps - and The Munich Group. We talked a ton missions leadership and mobilization efforts and the backdrop of intergenerational leadership. So much potential. Unleashing and living with chaos are not easy.
+ KellanD [here and here] is running point for a NC church with regard to homeless stuff. Kellan has got tons of experience in this arena - excited to see how it goes. AR [Ember 2010 intern] is jumping into that as well.
+ Speaking of Andrew, he's pursuing some opportunities with Duke Engage for this summer.
+ A local church around the corner has 3 congregations meeting in their building. A Spanish speaking 'economically humble' community, an 'second generation Asian' community, and their own. Having lunch with them next week to see if Ember can help with their student missions.
+ Ember might be hosting an invitation-only gathering of emerging global leaders in early January. Well, Ember hosts it by barging in on MichelleK and her parents. Michelle is spending the Spring 2011 semester in South Africa and her dad is on the Ember board. Chicken or the egg?
+ Landing on the speaker list for Leadership Collective this week. Hopefully, it's a list of people within GRACE that people know but don't know.
+ Ember was given a large gift a few weeks specifically for the purpose of some startup business operations costs. And hey, if you need an end of the year tax deduction and love unleashing students to change the world...