Friday Burn

::: The Problem With International Development
Must read.

And this is where I landed after a year of absorbing dozens of books and articles and speeches about international development: The arguments against it are myriad, and mostly logistical and technical. The argument for it is singular, moral, and, to me anyway, utterly convincing: We have so much, they have so little.

Link


::: Whole Foods is Moving into One of the Poorest Neighborhoods in Chicago
Fascinating article about business versus philanthropy, gentrification, and food deserts. I heard Bob Lupton tell a story about a grocery store executive that told him that his company wouldn't put a store in a neighborhood because they wouldn't make any money - the demographics didn't show enough disposable income.
Link


::: 1 in 30 kids in the US is homeless.
Link


::: The pastor's question: "How's my church doing?" The missionaries' question: "How's my city doing?" @bobrobertsjr

Photo: Ember spawn and friends. Baltimore, October 2014.

Book Notes - Creativity Inc.

Unhindered communication was key, no matter what your position.

The definition of superb animation is that each character on the screen makes you believe it is a thinking being.

By ignoring my fear, I learned that the fear was groundless… Always take a chance on better, even if it seems threatening.

For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn't matter if you are getting the story right.

Sending out a sharp impulse - like a dolphin uses echolocation to determine the location of a school of fish - can teach you crucial things about your environment. Steve [Jobs] used aggressive interplay as a kind of biological sonar. It was how he sized up the world.

While Toyota was a hierarchical organization, to be sure, it was guided by a democratic central tenet: You don't have to ask permission to take responsibility.

Whatever these forces are that make people do dumb things, they are powerful, they are often invisible, and they lurk even in the best of environments.

Because making a movie involves hundreds of people, a chain of command is essential. But in this case, we had made the mistake of confusing the communication structure with the organizational structure.

The first principle was "Story is King," by which we meant that we would let nothing - not the technology, not the merchandising possibilities - get in the way of our story… The other principle we depended on was "Trust the Process."

Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right…. That means it is better to focus on how a team is performing, not on the talents of the individuals within it…. Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.

Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas.

But always, its most essential element is candor. This isn't just some pie-in-the-sky idea - without the critical ingredient that is candor, there can be no trust. And without trust, creative collaboration is not possible.

This principle eludes most people, but it is critical: You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged. To set up a healthy feedback system, you must remove power dynamics from the equation - you must enable yourself, in other words, to focus on the problem, not the person.

It is natural for people to fear that such an inherently critical environments will feel threatening and unpleasant, like a trip to the dentist. The key is to look at the viewpoints being offered, in any successful feedback group, as additive, not competitive.

Believe me, you don't want to be at a company where there is more candor in the hallways than in the rooms where fundamental ideas of policy are being hashed out. The best inoculation against this fate? Seek out people who are willing to level wit you, and when you find them, hold them close.

By insisting on the importance of getting our ducks in a row early, we had come perilously close to embracing a fallacy. Making the process better, easier and cheaper is an important aspiration, something we continually work on - but it is not the goal. Making something great is the goal.

In an unhealthy culture, each group believes that if their objective trump the goals of the other groups, the company will be better off. In a healthy culture, all constituencies recognize the importance of balancing competing desires - they want to be heard but they don't have to win.

It is management's job to figure out how to help others see conflict as healthy - as a route to balance, which benefits us all in the long run. I'm here to say that it can be done - but it is an unending job.

Fear makes people reach for certainty and stability, neither of which guarantee the safety they imply. I take a different approach. Rather than fear randomness, I believe we can make choices to see if for what it is and to let it work for us. The unpredictable is the ground on which creativity occurs.

...One of my core management beliefs: If you don't try to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead.

At Pixar, we joke that only one mention of Star Wars is allowed per meeting.

There is a fantastic chapter in the book about Steve Jobs since he was a huge piece of the company. It is very much worth the read. I've never personally been a huge fan of Jobs - for all the innovation that Apple is, he seemed to me to be a massive jerk. But after reading that narrative about him from someone that knew him well, I've kind of changed my mind.

Highly recommended - the book is a great read.

Ember at #CatalystNext in DC this Thursday

I will be with a team at the Catalyst Next one day conference this coming Thursday at the Lincoln Theater - would love to meet you if you are there. Long time readers know that I'm a fan of Catalyst, especially when they push the edges and concentrate on the future. In 2009, I attended their first Catalyst West conference and the absolute best part of that was the lab day called Origins that was put together with MosaicLA. That day was very much about looking at today and envisioning the future. I'm hoping Catalyst Next is so futuristic that most of us get inspired about the present. And in classic Ember form, I'm sure that we will be just about the only ones with high school kids in attendance. This is a conference about the future.... right?

It's often said that the future is now but is the church listening?

Our culture is constantly advancing, constantly shifting, constantly adapting, and if you want to stay ahead you have to know what’s coming before it gets here. Catalyst Next is a gathering created just for you. We know you’re a change maker. A forward thinking, innovative leader who wants to be ahead of the curve in addressing the issues and questions our culture is grappling with. This gathering will help us answer those very questions. Whether you are leading a church, non-profit, or business, we invite you to join us live in D.C. or by stream, for a day of intentional conversations around what’s next for the Church as we embrace progress and spearhead change for the sake of advancing Kingdom initiatives.

Catalyst Next is a gather geared towards young innovative leaders who want to be ahead of the curve in addressing the issues and questions our culture is asking. If you’re a change maker who is serious about bringing Kingdom change to your world than this event is for you.

Friday Burn

::: Bilinguals Have Stronger and Faster Brains Than the Rest of Us
Link


::: 12 Maps that Sum Up London
Data for the people - so good.
Link


::: Why Cliques Form at Some High Schools and Not Others
Link


::: Professional Women's Basketball in Sopron Hungary
I was there in 2007 and 2008.
Link


::: The church's responsibility is not just to bandage the victims under the wheel, but to put a spoke in the wheel itself. - Bonhoeffer via @AshleyPDickens

Photo: city center, Sopron Hungary. Summer 2008.

#qznextbillion - A Dream Forum for the Futuristic

Quartz was kind enough to give me a discount ticket to their Next Billion forum last week. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend but tracked the talks via twitter as best I could. It seemed to be a fabulous event - here is the summary and here are all the talks.

I'm hoping to catch up on some of the talks soon - this one on Housing the Last Billion looked fantastic. And this one from dana boyd, who has done a ton of research on technology and youth culture, also looks great.

You might think some of this sounds far fetched and too futuristic. I would argue that most of it is incredibly relevant to emerging global student leaders. Issues like the global poor, sustainable design, the role of technology including how fast it gets adopted, and innovation and creativity are central to how the next generation of Kingdom centered leaders lead. And I'm grateful to be able to learn from some of the experts in this kind of stuff. Ah the Internet.

The Next Billion is in London next year....hint hint. Some of my favorite tweets from this year.

In 10 short years 80% of the global poor will become part of nomadic #cities: ones that don't exist yet. @casinclair #qznextbillion

— jeff nelder (@jnelder) November 5, 2014

Basically @biolitestove is inventing fire 2.0 (who knew you could disrupt fire?!) only at #qznextbillion pic.twitter.com/g3uWC3kinB

— Beth Temple (@bethtemple4u) November 5, 2014

First conference I've been to where you make smores with a camping stove that also charges phones. #qznextbillion pic.twitter.com/dNCcmRqrEW

— Anna Codrea-Rado (@annacod) November 5, 2014

Critical to understand generational vs. life-stage differences when designing for people's tech habits @zephoria @qzevents #qznextbillion

— we are experience (@weareexperience) November 5, 2014

Early adopters aren’t just geeks, freaks, and queers anymore. They’re experimenters, more mainstream. @zephoria #qznextbillion

— Rebecca Mir (@mirseum) November 5, 2014

"We put a man on the moon before we put wheels on a suitcase" -J. Donovan says to kids who might create the next big thing #qznextbillion

— Gully Flowers (@gul_ly) November 5, 2014

@mabb0tt "France leading on drone driven precision agriculture." Major implications for developing world #agriculture #qznextbillion

— Anthony Reddish (@anthonyreddish) November 5, 2014

@att Mobile data traffic 2007-13 50,000% growth #qznextbillion

— Kajal Sanghrajka (@Kajalnycmba) November 5, 2014

For every 10% increase of internet coverage in a country contributes to 1.4% GDP growth. @michaelpcassidy Project Loon #qznextbillion

— Robert Fine (@bobfine) November 5, 2014

Visiting with Gilles

In 2006, I spent ten days with a team of high school students in Cameroon, a country in Central Africa, working with Gilles and Wendy Naine. Gilles and Wendy had moved there with their family because of their experience and passion for high school students, their background and fluency in the French language and a desire to impact a country in Africa. Our student team went there through a partnership at our church and the project at hand was to help be a catalyst for the Naines' relationships with students in their circles. It was a fantastic ten days. Two years later, they would host another team that I helped facilitate but not lead.

Gilles was in town last week and we had a chance to catch up with him and introduce him to some of the ProtoGuides. Loved our conversations which included stuff like:
+ how preparation of short term teams is so important.
+ worldviews
+ third culture kids [Gilles was the first one to introduce me to this term.]
+ indigenous leaders and how things change when they take ownership
+ it is possible to gather a church without disciples
+ the pygmy indians

Some of the students we worked with in 2006 still remember our time together. Gilles is one of the best global leaders that we know and it's always great to catch up with him and introduce him to more emerging global student leaders.

Photo: Trevin, Gilles, moi, Deanna, KatieV, Shannon.

Friday Burn

::: We Can Eradicate Malaria in a Generation

Based on the progress I’m seeing in the lab and on the ground, I believe we’re now in a position to eradicate malaria—that is, wipe it out completely in every country—within a generation. This is one of the greatest opportunities the global health world has ever had. Melinda and I are so optimistic about it that we recently decided to increase our foundation’s malaria budget by 30 percent.

Link


::: The Rapid Spread of Christianity in China

Predicting Christianity’s growth is even harder. Yang Fenggang of Purdue University, in Indiana, says the Christian church in China has grown by an average of 10% a year since 1980. He reckons that on current trends there will be 250m Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. Mr Yang says this speed of growth is similar to that seen in fourth-century Rome just before the conversion of Constantine, which paved the way for Christianity to become the religion of his empire.

Link


::: The Future of Innovation Belongs to the MegaCity
Link


::: "What makes a leader is character. What makes a non-leader is ego" @rayortlund #A29NC via @johnwbryson

Photo: with guides Wendy and DK. October 2014. Baltimore, MD.

The Art of the Introduction

One of the very best leadership skills you can cultivate is the art of writing an introduction. Most leaders miss this because they don't realize the value of their network. Instead, you should understand that there are people in your circle of friends that would love to know one another and could do some amazing things together. You are the one that understands the potential of them working together and that is best unleashed by writing a stunning introduction.

There are some people in your network that you would die for. They have mentored you. You have mentored them. You have the highest regard for their character and competency. You have worked on projects with them and you look up to their caliber of work. You would love to see them succeed at the highest levels. These introductions are reserved for them exclusively, not for the person you just met at Panera the other night. And introductions like these are not done on social media. A tweet tagging both them and saying, "You two should know each other…." Please no.

My introductions are organized as follows: a greeting, three paragraphs and then a 'thanks for connecting' sentence or two. It's done over email and I always try to follow up with a quick thank you after I know people have connected. Over the past few years, I've probably averaged writing an introduction once every one or two months. The intro to the email is a quick 'Hi there, you both should know each other, hope you are doing well', normal greeting stuff.

The second and third paragraphs is the substance and it's where I outline how I know both people. I write about where and when and how we met. I tell each other what kind of projects we have worked on together. I talk a little bit about each person's family. I describe their passions, talents and skills. Simply, I try to gush about this person. If you can't highlight them, this intro is not appropriate.

The final paragraph outlines why they should be connected and it's usually due to some recent circumstance in one of the people's lives - they started working on this project, they recently moved to this location, I was reminded about each of them and how they should know each other. Finally, I close the email, thanking them for connecting in the future.

Like a good letter from an old friend, introductions can be an art form. And in today's hyper connected world, where everyone knows everyone else because of the interwebs, an intentional, beautifully written introduction stands apart. There are some people in your circles that would impact humanity exponentially, if only they were connected. One of the best tools you have at your disposal as a leader is introducing them to each other.

Catching Up with Caroline

In July of 2004, I took a small group of middle schoolers to serve with a missions support organization for a few days. This organization specialized in logistical and automotive support, helping teams all over the world. My hope was that this would catalyze a global view of the world for some of these kids. Caroline, 2nd from the right, was one of those students. Fast forward ten years [ten years!] and Caroline has been fully engaged in the global missions space, having served with YWAM Perth for a number of years working in maternal health. It's been fascinating to watch her journey and we were fortunate to be able to catch up with her for an evening now that she is home for a season.

Our conversation, with the ProtoGuides, included concepts like:
- Midwifery blasts open doors to be able to build relationships with families from the developing world.
- Perth is one of the most remote cities in the world.
- Support raising is a faith venture and one that has never let her down.

Caroline is one our first students turned into full time missionaries and we continue to marvel and be amazed at her crazy life.

Friday Burn

::: 10 Sustainable Innovations
Link
I personally loved:

#1 - gravity-powered irrigation
#3 - Advantix’s air conditioning system uses saltwater which means it needs 40% less energy than normal systems.
#6 - The Solar Suitcase provides solar electricity for medical lighting, mobile communication and essential medical devices for rural areas and humanitarian settings.
#9 - solar-powered school boats

::: Buying Business as a strategy for Christian community development
Link

We are part intentional community, part church plant, part transitional housing, and part community development based in the inner-city of Hollywood, California. My community members are all bi-vocational ministry workers and do not raise outside support and may never do so. We are not against outside funding; we are just afraid to create a dependency on it.

::: 2014 Global Cities Index and Emerging Cities Outlook
Link via Justin


::: 3 Church Planting Myths Debunked
Link

Myth: Church planting is only for young people.

::: “The better the villain, the better the movie.” -Alfred Hitchcock via StoryChicago

Photo: Ember spawn 1, sorting blinds. Second Chance, Baltimore, October 2014.

Ember Balt4

One of the things Ember is privileged to do is to help facilitate community impact projects with emerging global leaders that we know and trust. This past weekend was one such project and like each one in the past, it was a fabulous day of serving and learning about an intriguing local nonprofit, connecting with some great college students and interacting with some good old friends.

Our day was spent at Second Chance, which is a nonprofit located in Baltimore near the football stadium. Situated in a 200,000 square foot warehouse, they deconstruct buildings and homes, salvage usable materials and make those available to the public, and provide job training through that revenue. We got a tour of the facility as well as a big picture idea of how they work as well as spending a few hours assisting them in some organizing and cleanup. The Millennials I run into are always hard workers.

This was part of Serve the City Baltimore's fall service day. Ember has tapped STCB for a few opportunities in the past few years, including a few of these service days as well as helping with one of their summer hosted teams. Erin Preshoot, who you might remember from 2008Hungary, has been on staff with STCB for a few years, also splitting her time with Christian Associates.

I'm thrilled to tell you that DK, who was an Ember intern in 2013 is thriving at Towson. She is well connected with a campus ministry, involved with a local church and she brought about 30 students from Towson to join us on Saturday. You should take notice when an emerging leader has the ability to influence a crowd of more than a few people.

We met Wendy Usher four years ago this Fall when we helped with an idea at Salisbury. Since then, she's been one of the bravest people we know, as she pursued sight unseen opportunities we had suggested to her. And she did this two summers in a row. Wendy brought a team from Salisbury and of course, we did some more missional imagination while at Second Chance. Love to tell you about that later.

All the teams had dinner at my house and then we did a short decompression discussion around the topics of:
Blessed to be a blessing
Self -> Serve -> Systems
Asset based development

As always, steal what you want but let me know if you do. But let me implore you as well - if you are involved in this kind of thing, please please do some kind of debriefing or decompression. It is so vitally important that you help students process this. They can certainly talk about these kinds of things on their own, but in most situations, they need someone to initiate it and to see it be modeled. That is part of our role as guides and catalysts - once they see it, they might own it next time.

More photos here.

Remembering David Arthur

Friday Burn

::: More Cities are Making It Illegal to Hand Out Food to the Homeless
Link


::: A 10-Year-Old Entrepreneur Is Behind This Philanthropic Crowdfunding Platform
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3037127/change-generation/a-10-year-old-entrepreneur-is-behind-this-philanthropic-crowdfunding-platf


::: Rear Adm. R. Timothy Ziemer, The Malaria Fighter
Since he took the job in 2006, worldwide malaria deaths have dropped 40 percent, to about 600,000 a year from one million.
Link


::: The Summit Church has a goal to plant 1000 churches in this generation
Link

::: In China, they say every believer is a church planter & every church is a churchplanting church. @AlanHirsch

Photo: DK, Ember intern 2013, joins us this coming weekend for Ember Balt4 with a group from her university. NYC, Jan 2013.

Ember, STC Baltimore and Second Chance

Ember is excited to work with Serve the City Baltimore and Second Chance this coming Saturday to facilitate a service day for some college kids that have been connected to our tribe. I'm excited to see Second Chance up close and to understand their context and story. It seems like they have a great system for helping the less fortunate build skills for employment and providing a service to the community.

I'm also excited for the great group of students we have coming. 2013 intern DK and guide Wendy return to us with some of the college compatriots. Erin Preshoot, who long time readers would remember from Hungary2008, serves as one of our hosts this weekend and one of the best parts will be getting the same kind of missional, passionate, changing-the-world students in the same room.

Thanks for your prayers for a fantastic day that catalyzes many.

Breakfast with Glenn

In 2005, as the result of exploring what existing international connections our church already had, I ended up leading a student team to serve and work with Glenn McMahan who lived in Londrina Brasil with his family, there to serve and connect with university students. It was a fantastic experience based on the idea of a culture exchange - two cultures sharing around common cultural elements like film, games, food and such. Many elements of that experience are still paramount to us today including the culture exchange [which we just used this summer], persons of peace and hearing about the result of a decades long friendship [who later gave her life to Jesus], and how people can care about their communities despite differences in cultural context.

Glenn and I have kept in touch over the years and I would jump at the chance to work with him again. He's recently engaged in a new leadership role, helping to engage in both medical initiatives as well as business as mission for a global missions organization. I was thrilled to be able to interact with him this past weekend as well as have him meet two of our three current ProtoGuides. Our conversation included ideas such as:

- shipping containers used as medical clinics, like what we saw in Coney Island
- As an American, Glenn won't be the point person for anything but will be helping resource and support local leaders who are. The indigenous who know best are in charge.
- microbusinesses have a good amount of need for people that can come in and help with business plans, strategy and execution.
- Ebola and how that may change things. Liberia has a ratio of 1 doctor for 77000 people right now.
- We grow your kids to love the world and then we are surprised when they want to leave home...

I loved catching up with Glenn as well as having our ProtoGuides in the conversation. Ember thrives on setting up conversations and connections like these - a well experienced, Gospel centered cross cultural leader sharing some wisdom with passionate, interested emerging global student leaders. Sadly, we forgot a picture with Glenn.

Friday Burn

::: Dear World, Let's Stop Giving Our Crap to the Poor
Link [lots of people posting this lately]


::: What Plug Goes Where
Link


::: Yes, Our Pastors Get Paid to Pray and Rest
Link


::: "The West is not a secular society. It is a pagan society. Here is the most challenging missionary frontier of our time." L. Newbigin via JD Greear

Photo: Baltimore, Fall 2013. Ember partners with Wendy again later this month.

Instagram in Bathrooms

I've been having fun with Instagram for a few weeks now - it was birthed by someone who suggested an idea for Creative Revenue as well as me being intrigued with the platform after reading this presentation on the emerging global web. [And... yes you should check out the deck, right now.]

I'm always looking for someone who has gone from the transition from self->service->systems, an idea we talk a lot about with Ember people based on the book Toxic Charity. It's a helpful progression when we visit the ideas of better ways to help people in poverty, how to make our charity sustainable and giving dignity to those we serve. In essence, I'm on the lookout for someone who has created systems that have helped those less fortunate. And I have no doubt that someone is already doing this with a platform like Instagram.

It's another example of how easy it is to connect with others today [like Firn Howard County or this kid from the high school who sells shoes on it to over 25K followers.] Starting something from nothing is difficult work, but never been easier. Even better when someone builds a system to help others. Let me know if you know of something like this.

Photo: Brent Lutz, GCC middle school pastor, in one of my bathrooms.

Mosaic LA - Hope in a Desperate Time

One of the best talks I've seen dealing with despair and depression and how to help yourself or your friends. As someone who grew up with mental illness in their household, lots of the stuff in this talk is extremely valuable. Your future is better than your present and it is not as bad as it seems.

Friday Burn

::: Architects Propose Converting World Cup Stadiums into Affordable Housing
Link


::: The Newest Mission Field

How would you like to lead a team on mission to Mars?
In the mid 2030s the orbits of the planet Mars and our Earth will be so close that a voyage that could last years might be made in months.

Classic McManus. Link


::: What It Costs to be a Tourist Across the US
Link


::: McDonalds has the fastest public WiFi in the US.
Link

::: I'd rather be an effective imitator than a stupid innovator. - @RickWarren

Photo: Ember 2014-2015 ProtoGuides [2 of the 3] and spawn. Dream Year Pitch Night, Leesburg, VA. August 2014.

Learn Another Language Or Two

Almost exactly 30 days after we returned home from Ember 14X, we gathered our team to do a little decompression. I am huge on wanting to walk students and teams through their experiences in order to help them process it but it never easy - after the experience, people get busy, you can't always get everyone and human nature tends to drift.

Our time together was great and we even skyped in our peeps from Austin and San Fran. Although we probably should have talked more about 'what are you going to do this school year?' we did talk a lot about our favorite memories and what experiences marked us and if anything about us will change. Sometimes 30 days in enough and sometimes not. And sometimes people will have great thoughts and other times, not so much.

I specifically loved what one of our team said though. She told the group that she was going to pick up a language in college because she understood the idea of being multilingual and how that could be really strategic for a cross cultural future. This is the kind of thing that we thrive on - expose a high school student to the way the world really looks and they can make significant decisions for their future. That is marking human history.

YCombinator and Missional Imagination

I absolutely love this list from YCombinator [one of the top startup incubators] called Request for Startups. It represents an amazing smattering of possible ventures all with a potential that could impact the future of humanity. Just like most global missions initiatives today, there is room for all kind of career possibilities with each one of these. And we love to tell students that you could find yourself involved in cross cultural service with almost any field of study today.

Some of my favorites include:
At some point, we are going to have problems with food and water availability.
If we can fix education, we can eventually do everything else on this list.
We want to fund companies that have the potential to create a million jobs.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world are getting their first computing experience (a smart phone) and entering the middle class.

This is some serious missional imagination.

Friday Burn

::: How to Say Hello in 21 Different Languages
Link via Dennis


::: Teaching Overseas - Loving Italy's Poor Little Rich Kids

For cultural reasons, this class of people tends to be separated and entirely cut off from any other gospel “movements” happening in the city amongst the other classes. They are an unreached people group that is unreachable by current trends in mission strategy.

Link


::: Housing First

Utah, though, embraced a different strategy, called Housing First: it started by just giving the homeless homes.

Link


::: More people are learning to speak English today in China than all the English speakers in N America. Gospel opportunity. - @JDGreear

Photo: ProtoGuides, pizza truck. Aix, July 2014.

What Pavillion Vendome Means to Me

This might look like a dead end. At least to me, in the summer of 2013, my first time in Aix-en-Provence, it did.

We were told to meet at a little park at the end of this street. I saw this from this vantage point and decided that we had gone the wrong way. Being a little directionally challenged, I take lots of U-turns and I thought this was just another one. Instead, Katie and I traversed all around the outside of this park for about an hour. She thought it was an adventure and I was annoyed. Alas, we should have gone all the way to the end of the road.

I'm reminding myself mostly, take the opportunities all the way to their end.

The Benchmark of 5 Years

In my first iteration of student missions, five years seemed to be a significant milestone. After five years, leaders had emerged from students, some significant things became important in our culture and it seemed like momentum had multiplied.

Ember is at that same five year milestone around now and there seem to be a lot of the same indicators. I'm excited about the past few years of students that have gone on to university and are leading and forging new and exciting initiatives and opportunities. We have some momentum that didn't take pulling teeth to capture.

Let me implore you - if you work with the emerging generation, recognize that five years is a significant milestone. Work hard at it for five years and then take a look. What you see might surprise and delight you.

Friday Burn

::: The One Phrase You Should Not Use After You Return from Africa

"They are poor but everyone seemed so happy."

Link


::: Developing a Sending Student Ministry
Link

Give Us Two Years... We challenge all of our students to give two years of their lives to the mission of God somewhere strategic.

::: 13 Little Known Facts About Change That Too Many Leaders Miss
Link

9. Buy-in happens most fully when people understand why, rather than what or how.
12. Transformation happens when the change in question becomes part of the culture.
13. The greatest enemy of your future success is your current success.

::: The Time I Tried to Figure Out How Teenagers Use Twitter
Link


::: Consider this...Many tribal cultures don't have a word for "boredom" - @DavidLivermore

Photo: Bandol, France, July 2014.

Book Notes - The Happiness of Pursuit

I loved this book from Chris Guillebeau and just like his two previous books [The Art of Nonconformity and The $100 Startup] it's filled with fun stories, great personalities and the sense that life is an adventure to be lived.

In this book, Chris unpacks the idea of a quest and gives us some compelling examples of people that have pursued something quests: something with a clear goal and a specific endpoint, a clear challenge, sacrifice of some kind, a sense of calling or mission and something that requires a series of steps. Along with telling us about quests, he inspires us by visiting the big ideas as adventure, personal vision, risk, courage and personal growth.

Probably my favorite part of the book talks about what happens when people are done with their quests - they gain independence and confidence, they mature, their vision seems to grow, and they are empowered for more. I've seen this first hand as the organization I work with has tried to send as many young people as we can on some kind of quest or adventure. Time and time again, those experiences have helped grow people along the lines that Chris has outlined.

Here are a few more quotes I loved from the book:

Discontent is the first necessity of progress. - Thomas Edison
He had decided to live forever, or die in attempt. - Joseph Heller
The most courageous act is to think for yourself. Aloud. - Coco Chanel
When you've given everything you have in pursuit of something great, it's hard to toss off a few quick sentences on "what it's like."
Why pursue a quest? Because each of us in our lives is writing our own story, and we only have one chance to get it right.

The Happiness of Pursuit is a great read and even though all of us could probably stand to read about more adventure in our life, this might be the motivation to get you to actually take the first step.

Disclosure - I was provided a copy of this book for free.

2013 and 2014 Summer Improvements

Like every year, we spend some time at the end of the summer looking to improve on what we did. Here are some items from both last summer and this summer:

+ We got better about bringing on leaders. John, Tess, Hope and Measu did a phenomenal job. We would require future potential leaders that we don't know very well to engage on an Ember day experience with us before we open up slots for summer teams, although haven't had to do this recently.

+ We needed one person to really help us pray these teams up. John did this for us this summer and it was beautiful. Ultimately, this comes down to a staffing decision, like recruiting for any other skill or talent.

+ Our travel agent, Valarie, was great. We flew British Airways with their nonprofit perk. Required a group of 9 or more.

+ It was tough to balance all the work that needs to get done for Kids Week and making sure our team is well fed and getting the Ember essentials in. Our team seemed to be more relaxed when we planned for Deanna to take care of most of the food instead of rotating team members in for that.

+ Of course I love our approach to funding with the Creative Revenue Plan. Although 10-25% of support is raised via creative revenue, we may need to be clearer about what makes up the rest - ie: do you pay for it yourself or raise support or is it case by case.

+ No body modifications and no riding motorcycles or scooters if you are under 21. [Ember spawn…]

Hello SeptEmber

It is entirely possible that one of these SeptEmbers, I actually won't return from a sabbatical. But not this year - I'm thrilled to be back and super excited about what the next season for The Ember Cast holds. True to form, we've had some exciting opportunities pop up since I've been away and like every year, I'm sure these will be some very catalytic and unique encounters for our ProtoGuides.

If you are bivocational [and some of you reading this may not think you are, but you are] you should strongly consider a season every year where you take an extended break from your second vocation. It will free up your mind to do some evaluation and to think creatively again, it will give your pace of life a break by allowing you to say no easily and it will revive passion for whatever your second gig is.

Welcome to SeptEmber.

Sabbatical Season

Late August and early September are a sabbatical season for me. We've had a great summer and this intentional time of rest is healthy for me and healthy for Ember as an organization. This starts for me today.

I started doing this very intentionally last year and I think picked up the original idea even before that. Ben Cloud would give his church volunteers the summer off and 3DM talks about this rhythm a lot - winter is recovery for fruit in the spring. If you are involved in multiple facets of work or ministry, I cannot recommend this enough.

See you in SeptEmber.

Ember mail

A set of coasters that I got in the mail yesterday from one of our lovely team. The beauty of the internet and a resourceful student...

Friday Burn

::: In Defense of Short Term Missions
Yes Marko yes.
Link


::: All of the World's Biggest Cities Will be in Asia and Africa by 2030

...by 2030, New York, Osaka, and Sao Paulo will no longer make the top 10, and Mexico City will barely hang on as the sole representative outside of Asia and Africa. This reflects the major shift driven by the urbanization in Asia and Africa, particularly in India (404 million projected new city dwellers by 2030), China (292 million), and Nigeria (212 million).

::: Which Countries Have the Youngest Population?
Link


Photo: Welcome to Aixandria. Aix-en-Provence, France. July 2014.

Book Notes - Dream Year: Make the Leap from a Job You Hate to a Life You Love

In 2011, I was fortunate enough to attend a Dream Year weekend hosted by Ben Arment. Fast forward and today, Ben's book outlining the Dream Year process hits the shelves. The content in this book has been pretty significant to what we do with Ember - it has helped me immensely as I've pursued the dream of a starting a student missions leadership organization. The material in the book has also helped us as we've coached some of the emerging generation to pursue the passions that God has placed in their hearts.

Some of you will remember that I tried to get a Dream Year Pitch Night up and running too. That didn't fly, but yes, I believe in it that much. Our ProtoGuides will be reading this book this coming semester and our Ember 14X team is all getting a copy too.

Here's some of the notes that I loved in the book:

Today, your only gatekeeper is courage.

It requires no courage to come up with an idea and wait for someone else to green-light it. You're asking the gatekeepers to have courage. You're asking investors to accept the risk. You're asking someone else to have faith in your dream.

You must choose which fear will be the strongest for you. If you don't choose one of them, one will be chosen for you. And it will be the fear of failure, each and every time.

As we grow older, dreams don't disappear. We trade them in for standards of living.

You can view the bad things in your life as either tragedy or trajectory. It all leads to something magnificent.

You don't go after your dream. It comes after you.

If you're not concerned about creating revenue, it's not a dream. It's a hobby.

A dream chaser is never clueless about money.

There are no such things as successful visionaries, only architects of successful vision-producing systems.

Have you ever met an insecure CEO?

Don't let rainmaking deter you from your dream. It's one of the barriers to entry, and you can overcome it.

Get your copy soon and give your dreams a kick in the *ss.

[Related: Dream Year Weekend 1, 2, 3]

Ember 2014 Investments

I know I go on and on around here about the emerging generation and how Ember exists to resource them and blah blah blah. But I'm proud to tell you that this summer, we put our money where our mouth is.

We helped fund a few projects this summer, which is great fun for us. This list included:

+ John and his trek around the world. He is now on the northern Peloponnese coast.
+ Our 2014 ProtoGuides. This was as a credit to their support goal for Ember 14X.
+ ORapp, who traveled with our daughter Katie to Madrid. Look for some kind of final report on that in a few weeks.
+ Ember guide Trevin Hoekzema, who with his wife, helped lead a team to Poland.

This was all to the tune of about $950 and we believe these to be really significant investments in the future. And... if you have given financial support to The Ember Cast in the past and are not comfortable with this kind of decision, please get in touch.

Friday Burn

::: 35 Countries One Flight Away from Ebola Affected Countries
I'm on a little family vaca but trying to track this story closely.
Link


::: How Google Thinks About Giving

...it is no longer "good money to good people doing good things." A new generation is looking more for social business, revenue generating nonprofits and disruptive ideas. In fact, "the nonprofit sector is a little sleepy and ripe for disruption."

Link from the always insightful Fred Smith who runs The Gathering


::: Tips from TED for Better Slides
Link


::: Get Ready for Generation Z

Teen innovators have always been with us (Braille, hip hop and earmuffs were all products of adolescent minds), but global social media combined with crowdsourcing, open-platform education and sharing have given this generation’s inventors unprecedented influence.

Link via Dennis
Without quite realizing, Ember's core customer is actually these kids now.

Photo: La Goulette City, Aix-en-Provence, France. July 2014.

Celebrating 20 Years

Besides Jesus, no one else has had a larger influence on my life. Here's to the next 20. Love.

How Some Organizations Do Debriefing

If you are like some organizations - churches, schools, mission agencies - you probably decompress your teams around the idea of what you already do or what you already know. Your goal is to get people more engaged with what you are already involved in, what exists now, what things you are currently resourcing. I'm not saying that is a bad thing.

What might serve us all better is what Alan Hirsch calls missional imagination - what can your students dream up that no one knows about... yet. Instead of helping your students get plugged in to what you know, maybe you should help them engage something they know that you don't.

I am not saying this is simple or easy. This requires you to unleash people. To empower them and send them out. Untether them and allow them to dream. Risky, brave, filled with potential for failure. That's the apostolic.

Photo: Debriefing in Bandol. July 2014.

Window Seat

Our oldest, Katie, is flying home right now. After spending two weeks with the Ember 14X team, her and Olivia spent 10 days in Madrid working with Mountainview International Church and a basketball camp they ran for their students.

This is her first international flight alone and, of course it's no big deal to her but mom and dad were tracking her connections pretty closely. Her first leg landed late and she had to make her way through Heathrow. She boarded with just 2 minutes before they closed the doors.

I never thought that either of my kids would be so brave. When I was growing up, the ideas of risk, bravery and pushing the envelope were not valued at all - in fact, they were distinctly frowned upon. Consequently, I'm a big chicken. But I'm glad my kids are changing the pattern.

Photo: window seat, BA 265.

Friday Burn

::: As full-time pastors become a thing of the past, seminary grads are taking on secular jobs.
Link via Skye Jethani


::: How to Survive Air Travel
Link


::: 5 Things Netflix is Showing Church Leaders About the Future
Link

The 30 Day Rule

We have what we call a 30 day rule with Ember - you aren't allowed to make any major decisions until at least 30 days after you return from a missions experience. And you spend those 30 days praying about decisions that you think you need to make.

30 days removes the emotion from your experience. It gives you enough margin to think about your experience with more logic. And it helps with growing a passion deeper in your heart. If it is a real passion God has ignited, 30 days will make it even stronger, not lessen it.

When I bring this up, most everyone scoffs at me. I can understand - they want things now. But trust me on this, when you go on something like this, you will change. 30 days gives the change enough time to make it last.

Reminder for Ember 14X - August 14 is your date.

Ember 14X Wrap

Long post - feel free to read it or skip it.

: Aix
Again, like last year, being in Aix was so fun. It's a great little city and I love some of the elements that make it up. Elements like expats there for the business opportunities, lots of third culture kids, a technology hub and close proximity to Marseille, which is a key gateway to North Africa. If those things interest you too, keep Aix in the back of your mind. This year our team understood, even more than last year, some of the unique difficulties of ministry here, like when one of our missions roundtables guests said something to the effect of "It's hard to raise missions support when you live in a wedding destination." It's a beautiful city and embodies European and French culture with a distinct appreciation for food, art and beauty. The weather is beautiful, the scenery is gorgeous and the churches are scarce. Some have said France is a graveyard for missionaries.

: Kids Week and ICCP
I didn't convey this real well as things unfolded but the plans for Kids Week had to be drastically changed. Originally scheduled to run Monday to Friday, we were instead shutdown after the day ended on Wednesday by local authorities due to some minor safety concerns. However, we were able to have an end of week picnic in a local park. There was a huge outpouring of community support so ICCP has found themselves with lots of attention, which is hopefully a good thing. The theme of the week was Kingdom of Grace, so everyone, including some pretty upset parents, were encouraged to respond… well… with grace. There is, of course, a bigger story going on here and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

You know mission trips - stay flexible because things always change. It's a theme for Ember too, our plan A never works out. As I get older, I get less and less flexible. And I am more and more annoyed at myself for being less and less flexible. This is a personal decompression topic.

ICCP continues to be one of the most innovative communities we know about. Their level of intention, sacrifice, and creativity all for the sake of the kids in their community is unparalleled. It is a beautiful thing to see. Tim Anderson [KW director] and Tim Arlen [lead pastor] led this initiative with grace and integrity and I wish our team could have spent more time with both of them.

: Culture Aixchange and Missions Evening
One of my personal highlights of our two weeks in France was the culture exchange. Since the staff was such a good mix of French, American and various other cultures, we had originally wanted to host a culture exchange. The goals for this included having the kids to share about their cultures and having the staff to get to know each other better by doing something fun. This didn't work out for the original schedule but when Kids Week closed down, we were actually able to execute on this and it was a great success. See more notes on it here.

The other highlight for me was hosting a small group of missions people at our villa one evening for dinner and a time of discussion. Among the people included the lead pastor of ICCP, who just moved to Aix a year ago from the States; a Dutch guy who is a serial ministry starter and is going to plant a French speaking church out of ICCP; an American wife of ICCP's former lead pastor who also ran a local wine and cheese touring business in Aix; and someone who is considering coming on staff at ICCP and two of the guys who came to Kids Week from a church in Virginia. Moderated gatherings like these are one of the best things we do. Most trips like these never make the time or space to have students intentionally interact with experienced cross cultural people. For Ember, this is as important as the project itself. More here.

: Financials
Big picture financials - use these to compare keeping in mind that Europe is very expensive.
Airfare: $1230
Food: $157
Insurance: $8
Partner gift: $50
Ground costs: $185
Lodging: $618
Excursion: $18 [Les Baux castle tour]
Costs per team member were about $2266 for 14 days which equals about $161 per day. We got a great deal on our flights through British Airways nonprofit program. Last year, it cost $2250 per person for 10 days.

: Team
I loved working with Teal Rapp. He's one of the most easy going, highly relational leaders that I know. He cares for his family and teams phenomenally and gets fired up when people are engaged and empowered for God's mission. Since he was on staff with ICCP and lived in Aix, he was perfect to be a part of our team. Having his kids on our team was phenomenal too. [His oldest, Olivia, and Katie are working together in Madrid right now.]

The rest of our team was phenomenal as well. Each and every person contributed significantly to both Work Week and the short Kids Week as well as being fully engaged in whatever we were doing - seeing the sights, decompression, helping out around the house.

We made some improvements compared to last year about leadership and most of our team was returning. In addition, John helped prep our team with some very targeted prayer points the week before we departed. We engaged the older students in some various leadership roles which was a great help to me.

: Why This Matters
In the short term, I'm pretty sure you'll see each person grow in at least one of the missional concepts that we were exposed to from the experience: international church planting, people of peace, cultural icons, a community that is incarnational, bivocational ministry. In the long term, you'll see at least some of these kids do something phenomenal but it might take a while so hang on. Thanks to all of you supporters, investors and blog readers - your support is incredible. I love each person on this team like they were one of my kids.
'You don’t plant churches you plant sons.[and daughters]'- Oscar Muriu

Pictures and Videos

Friday Burn

::: Lessons from the Eiffel Tower
Classic Seth Godin and so true...
Link


::: Why People Still Move to Unhappy Places
Link


::: 10 Lessons from 10 Years of Nonprofit Leadership
From Peter Greer, CEO of Hope International.
Link

Photo: The 'American' section of a grocery store. Aix-en-Provence, France, July 2014.

Random Ember 14X

Some random stuff from our time in France. Writing it down so I don't forget.

+ With 11 people, logistics like airport security or public transport can be tricky. This year, our plan was that I walk through security with Deanna [because of her insulin and her pump] and everyone else goes between Hope and Tessa. If anyone has extended time with security, Tess stays with them. Worked great.

+ Most of our travel through airports was fine and this is an issue because Deanna wears an insulin pump and travels with backup insulin in various forms as well as traveling with a backup pump. Coming back through Heathrow was the worst though. She has a great system for this though and each time, we learn a little more. But the people at Heathrow were just jerks.

+ Emily was not feeling well for most of the time we were in France. She had nasal congestion, a sore throat and her ears were clogged. We took her to a doctor on the last Saturday we were in Aix. Someone told us about a doctor that speaks English but you had to mention that you were the friend of so and so to get an appointment. Going to the doctor is definitely a fantastic cultural experience, so you should try it. Emily actually had blood drawn for the first time ever, in another country. And… she tested positive for mono. I can't believe how much she worked while having mono.

+ One night at dinner, our team of 14, ate 6 baguettes. Does that seem like a lot?

+ Our lodging costs averaged out to be about $52 per person per night. The villa was $46, the hostel in Sanary sur mer was $52 and the Holiday Inn MRS airport was $58. Don't get me wrong, the south of France is incredibly expensive. We were fortunate to do it very cheaply.

+ Les Baux was incredible. Bandol was amazing too. Pictures don't do either of them justice. They were both very worthwhile to visit. I know some people saw our pictures and thought, 'Wow rough missions trip...' But I won't apologize for that - my job was to value our team and the incredible work they did. Decompression on the beach on the Mediterranean Sea is part of it and you would be super dumb for not taking advantage of that.

+ In our whole time, we did not see any other evangelical faith based groups of people there. No youth groups, mission teams, handbell choirs. Not one. But we did see Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses.

+ This year in Aix, I actually felt like I knew where I was going. That was interesting to me, especially as you hear people talk about their first year in a foreign city.

14x decompression outline

We spent most of the day Sunday going through the following list of decompression topics. It was broken up into hour long segments so that the team could have an hour to think/write on the given subject for that hour while doing whatever else too. It wasn't quite as intentional as I had hoped but everyone was almost too tired to think.

Steal these if you want.

1 Write for 10 minutes or more in your journal - recap or a summary of your time.

2 Write about:
What did you love/hate
When did time go fast (generative)
Something new you learned about God

3 Write down a list of people to pray for.

4 Write a summary of your time that fits on an index card.

5 Prepare three responses to when people ask about your time. 20 seconds, 2 min and 20 min. Most people will only listen for 20 secs. One day sooner or later you may need to talk for 20 mins to supporters, a board, or a church about an experience. Get the practice now.

Flying

Flying home.

Final Team breakfast

Last team breakfast. I'm going to miss this team a lot. No drama at all and they worked to their absolute best.

We are now all checked in at MRS and ready to board our flight to London.

Sending Katie and Olivia

Prayed and laid hands on Katie, Olivia and John this afternoon. Our time together came to an end too soon. So proud of all of them and the bravery they possess.

Hard for a dad but good for the world.

Sending John

We send John off tomorrow as he heads to Greece next, the first of 5 or 6 or who knows how many more destinations.

Bandol

Post kids week staff party.

Saturday

We checked out of the villa today and made our way back into Aix for a few hours. Emily has been sick all week so we also ran her to a doctor where they gave her some meds and tested her for strep and mono.

No one likes being sick in another country but it's always a cultural experience. She said it was the first time she had blood drawn in another country. That's Ember spawn talking right there.

Tonight we have a farewell dinner on the beach with all the kids week staff and then our team stays the night in Sanary ser mer, a little seaside village. Tomorow is decompression.

Friday

Friday morning was spent taking the Kids Week structures down and cleaning up the general property. In the afternoon and evening, we had a little concluding picnic at a local park with all the families of the kids. The French call this an 'apero' [I think....]

There has been a huge rally of support from the community around Kids Week and ICCP and interestingly enough, the theme of Kids Week was 'Kingdom of Grace.' So it's been a great example of the leadership and volunteer staff thinking and believing the best instead of being angry or mad.

Wrapping up things over the next few days. A big part of that is being very very very intentional about decompression and debriefing. Most teams, including many of mine in the past, spend little to no energy on these topics. Do not make that mistake. [Debriefing resources]

Family mission trip selfie

Best Missions Advice

I love asking people who are working in the field of missions to give their best advice to students thinking about global leadership. Here are some of the answers from last night.

+ Live on a budget now.
+ Travel - it helps your perspective. Get out of America if you can.
+ Learn another language. Almost every other country except the US is multi-lingual.
+ Pray every day for unreached people groups.
+ The love of Christ compels us.

Thursday

Spent most of this afternoon doing some property tear down - the authorities will not be allowing us to finish the week. We are, however, having a fun end of Kids Week picnic tomorrow at a park in Aix.

This evening, we hosted a few missions people here at the house. The lead pastor of ICCP, a few people in transition to various cross cultural ministry positions, Hillary who ran a wine tasting business as a bi-vocational project, and Frank who is partnering with ICCP to start a French speaking church in the Provence area. So so fun and one of the core functions of Ember. Working on a project is great but students really want to hear from the people you work with.

Culture Aixchange

In light of some drastic changes in plans, we helped facilitate a culture exchange activity in Aix this morning with all the staff. Great Great time. Culture exchanges are a great backup plan if you need and always pretty simple to execute.
Here are some questions we used in addition to having kids take pictures to help with the results and discussions. The goal was not to win but to get to know your team and learn something new.

+ During your Aixcursion, take a picture of each restaurant that that you come across that specializes in food from a culture other than France.

1 Find a flag from a country other than a country represented in your group. How do you determine where someone is from?

2 Figure out something that you all have in common that is unusual and take a picture of something to represent that.

3 Find the most stereotypical things or people that symbolize the countries represented in your group.

4 Find something that one country thinks is rude but another country thinks is normal.

5 Pose at a fountain and attempt to recreate it. Why was it designed to look like that?

6 Take a picture of everyone's feet around something of cultural significance.

7 Find a license plate from the furthest place from Aix that you can.

8 Find something that you can only buy in Europe that Americans want. Is there anything that you can only buy in America that Europeans want.

Update: Here's a few shots from this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Photo cred goes to Sarah A for these.

Plan B or C or D

Unfortunately the authorities have shut kids week down for at least Thursday due to some minor safety issues.

If you've been associated with any of my student missions projects you know how often things don't go according to plan A.

As an ENTJ this drives me crazy. As a futuristic, I was already on next year. Well sort of.

We will do some missional imagination with this.

Costume day

Tessa and her minotaurs.

Les duex garcon

Deanna and I went and had an early anniversary dinner since we celebrate 20 years later this month.

Obviously I love being able to get away for one evening leaving our team in very capable hands. Its healthy for students to hear and be led by other leaders. And its always fun to see the fruition of your leadership decisions from 6 months ago.

John, Hope, Measu and Tessa have helped lead our team so well and not just when we had a night out.

Program

Some of the program which includes music, drama, teaching, and in the afternoon, counselor games.

The theme for the week is Eph 2:8-9.

Tim holding court

Tim is kids week co director and here he is greeting some kids coming on Tuesday morning.

Kids week is held on his property and he and his family have lived here in Aix for many years. Originally from the US, they have lived in many places around the world before France.

He is a great example of engaging your vocation well. You can have a great job that you are really good at that helps you live in a strategic place in the world while using your 'free time' to help make a difference.

The Start

This image is one from the start of Kids Week. It symbolizes months of coordination of lots and lots of people. This is what we work for.

You know that our team has also been involved in this for months too. That's probably the best first step in planning a project like this. The students on your missions experience should be involved in it longer than just 2 weeks.