Friday Burn

::: Brian Fikkert, author of When Helping Hurts, on Short Term Missions

This means that one key factor in planning a healthy STM is to be very intentional about learning. Research is showing that STM do not have transformational impact unless they are embedded with deliberate pre and post trip learning that lasts about a year. We are emphasizing that STM are just one part of a longer learning process that prepares people for the experience, guides them through it, and then reflects on it afterwards in healthy ways.

Lots of good stuff in here.
Link


::: 7 Cities that are Starting to Go Car Free
Link via Alex McManus


::: The World's Economic Center is Moving Towards China
Link


::: 10 Places to Go Before They Are Gone
Link via Chris Guillebeau

Photo: Iceland cold. March 2015.

Loftstofan

One of the things we do when we can while traveling is to visit a local church. If you are like us, it's a great way to understand more of the subtleties of a given culture. So when Katie and I were in Reykjavik, we visited Loftstofan. Their gathering met in the early afternoon, perfect timing for us after staying up late chasing the Lights, and gathered at a local school about a ten minute drive outside of the city center.

Iceland seems pretty postmodern, both in thinking and in visual cues, like with art and architecture. They talk about elves and fairies as real beings and give lots of value to having the first openly gay Prime Minister. We saw a handful of state run church buildings that looked similar in design and layout. Most church planting and missions readings on the spiritual state of Iceland says that less than 1% of the population attend a church.

Loftstofan was the kind of place people like us would end up at. Emerging and organic, Gospel based, and culturally engaged, it seems to also have the DNA of reproduction and catalytic and movement thinking. Although the lead pastor was away during our visit, one of the elders taught. He had spent sometime in grad school in Richmond, but didn't stay there during the summers because it was 'way too hot.' Yup.

A New Era of Mission Support Letters

Every year, we try to raise the bar on mission support letters. We want the letters associated with Ember to look beautiful, to be thoughtfully written and to be an investment in relationships. Between this year and last year, I think we've gotten some momentum around this and a new default expectation.

Here is a quick view for some of the letters that are going out for our team this summer. Each of them meets those goals above and I personally would love to get one of these in the mail. These kids spent a good amount of time putting these together and Tess was instrumental in helping coach them to make them stunning.

Support letters are a tool. Most people that you send one to are excited to hear about your life and to be a part of your ministry. But overall, you should be trying to elevate the person that is receiving it. It is not simply about a transaction.

Friday Burn

::: The Breathtaking Beauty of Yemen
Link


::: Nick Kristof on Respect for Evangelicals

But I must say that a disproportionate share of the aid workers I've met in the wildest places over the years, long after anyone sensible had evacuated, have been evangelicals, nuns or priests.

Link


::: Is there a Silver Bullet to Ending Poverty?
Three principles and three ideas for getting started.
Link


::: What Do Those Airport Codes Really Mean?
Link


::: When in doubt, use fear as fuel. @storynashville

Photo: Loftstofan Church, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Iceland - Trips with Dad - 2015 #2

At the end of 2014, I decided to be a little more intentional about time with my kids, culminating in a decision to take each one of my kids [and my wife] on a trip, just the two of us, in 2015. This was the second of these, a trip with Katie our older daughter, to Iceland.

The quest for this trip was to see the Northern Lights, an item on Katie's bucket list, and, frankly, a little adventure would be good for me. The trip was definitely an adventure alright, we had an amazing time. Iceland is a visually stunning country that takes your breath away everywhere you look. They love tourists there, everyone speaks English pretty well and the cultural distance from American culture is small. Iceland was also highly recommended by our friend Terah who had traveled there last fall.

Here are some tips if you make it there:
+ Citywalk Reykjavik is a great thing to do. Marteeen is a fantastic tour guide.
+ If you want to drive around in some awesome modified Land Rover Discoverys to see the Northern Lights, Superjeeps.is is what you want. [And you do.]
+ Fish, mens beards, the constant change in weather, and water are pretty significant cultural icons.
+ Gullfoss and Geyser are pretty easy to get to - we had a rental car and the road to both of these locations were plowed every day. You should get to these if you can.
+ The first day we were there, it alternated snow and sunshine every 10 minutes. Most of the next days were clear, sunny and cold. That being said, don't underestimate the weather in the winter, especially if you drive out of Reykjavik.
+ We saw a few short and fast snowstorms on mountain passes and those mountain roads can get covered with snow from drifting. We rented a Toyota Yaris, 2 wheel drive, but most of their rental cars have studded tires in the winter. Drive a little bit out of Reykjavik and it can seem pretty desolate.
+ Seljalandsfoss is definitely worth the drive. It is a little further out of Reykjavik as Gullfoss in a slightly different direction. Don't miss going to the fourth waterfall away from the highway.
+ The Blue Lagoon was fun but I would rank this a little lower than Gullfoss and Seljalandsfoss if you were limited on time. Other people we know loved it a lot more though.
+ Hot water smells a little like sulphuric but it's not a big deal and you get used to it. Icelanders pride themselves on the purity of their water.
+ Wifi is plentiful everywhere. I did not have an international data plan, although that might have helped with directions at times. But like I said, adventure. One day, we stopped at a gas station and I got on the wifi there and skyped with home.
+ We are definitely suburban people and got to all of this stuff pretty easily on our own. We did purchase some quality cold weather gear though - hats, gloves, and insulated clothing.

Fantastic adventure and Katie and I had a great time traveling together.

Minilik

We had been driving for maybe about 45 minutes, it's about 30 degrees Fahrenheit outside and there is still a good 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground. And there, after turning the corner, in the middle of nowhere in Iceland, just below the Arctic Circle.... an Ethiopian restaurant.

In today's world, you never know where or when you will find one element of a given global culture in another. It makes life in our world fun and the ability and navigate cultures essential.

I've been in Iceland for the past few days - more on that later.

Friday Burn

::: How to Survive as an Aid Worker Without Losing Your Soul
Link


::: The British Church in 2050
Link


::: Quartz's Favorite Startups from Y Combinator
Link


::: "You will grow only to the threshold of your pain...if you’re not bleeding, you’re not leading" @samchand

Our 2015 Missions Support Letter

Here is our support letter for this year. I'm thrilled to tell you that I think our team is going to produce some very very beautiful letters this year. And that our oldest, Katie, designed this years letter. She should start a mini business out of this.

I also got to thinking that I have never had someone contribute to a missions team just from reading a support letter [yet]. But in actuality, I've had quite a few people support some of our summer projects due to a long relationship from reading my blog. And for that, I'm grateful and gladly continue to post.




[Related: Older mission support letters: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014]

Traveling in 2015 and Global Risk

Like many of you, I'm convinced that we are living in amazing times and a big reason for that is the ease of air travel. Also, like many of you, I've followed the global news for a number of years now and the world can still be a dangerous place. I've been thinking about this for a few months now, especially in light of the weight of responsibility The Ember Cast has with the leaders that are entrusted to us.

To that end, last week, we decided to engage a faith based global risk management firm in helping us in this area. Their core competencies include intelligence analysis, security best practices focused on global faith based nonprofit staff, and helping organizations think about global risk management. Board of Director, MPM, articulates it well here [printed with permission]:

"As Ember remains dedicated to engaging young leaders who are interested in exploring other cultures, we should also be dedicated to understanding all the risks to help that happen as safely as possible. Professional-grade risk assessment sounds like the right level in today's tumultuous world...especially to help allay the fears of any parents of emerging leaders. Risk is less risky when you can plan for it."

If you have any responsibility when it comes to sending young people around the world, I implore you to do some heavy thinking about this topic. If you'd like more info on who we engaged, get in touch.

Friday Burn

::: Over The Past 150 Years, There Has Been A Profound Shift In What Humans Do With Their Time
You won't like the answer.
Link


::: Four Myths of Global Leadership
Link


::: How Ikea Took Over the World

The company, for example, did a study of 8,292 people in eight cities, examining morning routines. People are the fastest out the door in Shanghai (56 minutes) and the slowest in Mumbai (2 hours, 24 minutes), where they’re also the kings of the snooze (58% hit the button at least once). New Yorkers and Stockholmers are the most likely to work in their bathrooms (16%). But regardless of city, women spend more time than men picking out their outfit for the day, a process many find stressful.

Link


::: 5 Global Cities of the Future
Link via Alex McManus

::: Many of our churches are almost out of time to be a church of its times and for its times. Len Sweet

Photo: Amadeo Church, summer 2010.

Perspectives - Lesson 10 - Resources

I just finished teaching Lesson 10 for Perspectives for two classes earlier this week and this was the pile of books I brought for some resources. Long time readers know that besides Jesus, Perspectives changed everything for me. Each one of these books is fantastic.

Church in the Making
Youth Ministry in a Post Christian World
Movements that Changed the World
Tradecraft
The Forgotten Ways
The Short Term Missions Workbook
* all of these links are to The Ember Cast's Amazon Smile page

Get in touch if you want a copy of my class slides.

Prague - Mtg #2

Frameworks:
- third culture kids
- geography
- spiritual, cultural and fun elements
- itineary

Creating this is going to be quite the experience.

Friday Burn

::: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley
Stunning series about child poverty.

"America has the developed world's second highest rate of childhood poverty."

Link


::: Where the migrants go, in one map.
Link


::: Making Disciples, Not Hunting Them Down
Heidi Scanlon, NCC's pastor of prayer, and her ground rules for discipleship.
Link


::: Engineering a Mass Transit App for a City Without Mass Transit

In Nairobi, private car ownership isn’t the norm: the bulk of its citizens rely on public transit. But when Nairobi’s formal bus system collapsed in the 1990s, the government failed to do anything about it.
So without a formal urban planning strategy, an enterprising group of Kenyans sought to fill the void.
The result was a crazy, lawless, and über-popular mode of transportation: the Kenyan Matatu.

Link


::: Fortune sides with him who dares. - Virgil via @dancumberland

Photo: Tess and Katie, Curtis Bay, Baltimore. March 2015.

The Advantage of Princesses

One of our hopes in raising our kids around faith based global work is that they would engage it as they got older and they wouldn't resent it later. So far, I think, it has worked. They've been on lots of planes. They gravitate towards people that like airports. They have heard stories from countless young people who have gone far away at God's leading and then come home and had dinner at our house. They love adventure. They are willing to go at the slightest invitation.

Ben Arment writes about the advantage of princes, "They grew up in the castle. They understood how the kingdom was run. Leading an empire is no big deal to them because they grew up watching it being done. It has nothing to do with their capabilities. It has everything to do with their conditioning." Certainly, we don't live in a castle, but the principle holds true.

Our oldest daughter, Katie, is spearheading a showing of the human trafficking documentary called In Plain Sight. It's going to be hosted at Grace Community Church in Fulton, MD, the evening of April 11. We are proud of her for using her passion, network and gifts in this area this year and are excited to see how the event turns out. Pretty good for a 17 year old. Let me know if you are interested - would love to see you there.

Update - RSVP here.

Ember Curtis Bay

I love being around people that have started things from nothing and naturally, The Ember Cast has gravitated towards this as well. One thing that makes us unique is our ability to expose emerging global student leaders to the type of people that have done these kinds of things - creative, innovative and entrepreneurial to the core. Gospel centered missional leaders of the future will need to have the skill to find a way or make a way. Last Saturday, we had the privilege of seeing lots of this kind of thing.

DK [ProtoGuide 2013] and Wendy Usher [AZ 2013] have worked with us for a few years and we love the leadership they are providing at their respective colleges. On Saturday, they brought a bunch of their friends to serve at a service day hosted by Ember.

We worked with The Well in Curtis Bay and got to know Mandy Memmel, the founder and executive director. The Well is primarily a resource for women living in Curtis Bay but talk to Mandy and you'll find a catalytic leader that is hoping to change the very culture of their community by helping the women that live there first.

DK brought about 20 college students, which is no small feat. She's been making Ember proud by working on Towson Cru's service team, heading up community outreach initiatives for their community.

Wendy Usher has been working with an after school club of sorts with some kids from her community. Recently she has pivoted that into a mentorship type agreement and has found a small group of college students willing to serve and lead and tutor these kids. In a bold move, she brought 6 volunteers and 10 of these kids in her mentorship initiative to Curtis Bay this weekend. I know you might be thinking of the liability issues in this - trust me, I know. But besides that, exposing kids that are served every week to getting outside of themselves to serve others is a huge win and Wendy and her team pulled it off.

Getting high school kids involved in service projects is almost never a bad thing. But don't forget that somewhere in the past, God birthed a vision in someone. You really win when this person who found a way or made a way shares their passion with your students.

Absolutely loved every piece of this day including the fact that it was our first Prague team excursion. And The Well has one of the most organized clothing closet I have ever seen, accomplished by someone in their mentorship program.

Friday Burn

::: Your Guide to Slang in Other Countries
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::: The World's Top Missionary Sending Country
Link


::: A Quarter of a Million People Use an App to Brush Their Teeth
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::: People Respond to Forward Motion
Classic Seth Godin.
Link

::: Great leaders don't put out fires. They fill buckets. - @csfguy

Photo: Train, Brussels, Belgium. June 2012.

Prague Leader #1

In the summer of 2013, I met Tess, who, having just come home from Brussels with a team that was working with Serve the City, was interested in how Ember could resource her to do more of the same. It was the perfect project for us - a passionate emerging global student leader and an opportunity to dream and imagine something for the future.

The original intent was for Tess to return to Brussels to work on something else, but instead, she came with us to Aix last summer. We are glad she did.

She's joining us again this summer for Prague and we are thrilled. Her first significant contribution: help raise the bar on support letters.

Photo: Tess, second from the left.

Ember in Curtis Bay This Sat

Ember is hosting a service learning opportunity with a community development nonprofit in Curtis Bay this Saturday. I'm thrilled because we get to work with DK and Wendy Usher again this weekend. Both have been pillars of community impact projects at their respective colleges and it's great to keep up with them and see how their leadership is catalyzing their peers. They have both been involved with us for a few years and it's our privilege to serve with them.

Wendy's also been involved with some after school kids clubs in her community and this weekend, she's bringing some of the kids she's been serving so that they can participate in serving others. I'm thrilled for Ember to have a small part of this and excited to see how it will work out.

Leading community impact stuff like this can be easy. Developing catalytic leaders can be more difficult but the thrill is worth it.

Friday Burn

::: Quiz - Ending Global Poverty and Hunger
I didn't do that well either...
Link


::: 28 Stealworthy Productivity Tips
Link


::: Growth in US Passport Holders
Link

Photo: Ice, Charleston, SC. Feb 2015.

Tales to Tell

There are distant shores still unreached.
New friendships yet to be realized.
And brave stories still to be lived.
So go find them.
Take the long way.
Cross oceans.
Cross continents.
And make it epic.
For regret feeds on the weak.
Bones heal. Sunburns fade. Money is spent.
And miles are left behind.
But having a tale to tell is something you can never lose.
Odysseys Await.

Seen at the Sperry store, Charleston, SC.

Trips With Dad - 2015 #1

At the end of 2014, I found myself slightly disappointed in my abilities as a father for that year. I decided to be a little more intentional with time with my immediate family members, culminating in a decision to take each one of my kids [and my wife] on a trip, just the two of us, in 2015. This was the first of these.

Deanna and I escaped the snow for a few days to Charleston, SC. Her sister had gone to college here so we had spent a good amount of time here when we were dating and have always loved the city. Warm, coastal, and southern - what is not to love.

+ Boone Hall plantation, just outside of Charleston, is a fun visit to check out plantation life. The best thing here was a live presentation about Gullah culture, the slave culture that migrated from West Africa. Super great presentation. You can save yourself a couple bucks if you get tickets for the plantation at the Charleston Visitor Center in the city.
+ We stayed in Charleston one night and then a few nights on Isle of Palms, your perfect little beach town. Our hotel was walking distance to the beach, little local restaurants and the VFW.
+ We also spent one afternoon at Tybee Island, outside of Savannah, visiting with my brother in law, sister in law and my niece and nephew.
+ I got my I Love Small Waves shirt at Half Moon Outfitters, a Charleston institution.

I deem this one a success.

Happy birthday Deanna

More so now than ever before, she embodies the pioneer spirit. Whether it is travelling, like we are now, raising our girls to engage the world, catalyzing the next generation of global leaders, or dealing with diabetes, her mindset is "with Jesus, let's find a way or make a way."

Happy birthday. Love.

2015 Missions Baseline Questions

Ember uses a generic application for all our ProtoGuides and summer teams. Included in this application is a section called "Missions Baseline" which is used to gauge an applicant's knowledge on some basic missions concepts. We've used this for a number of years and, of course, keep refining our application. The application is not a simple, fill out your name, address, your salvation story and why you want to go on a summer team. Instead, it is designed to require some significant effort.

Here are the questions from our baseline section this year. The ideal is that we compare what they know before and after their experience. And our hope is that they get some real life understanding of these ideas.

Describe what a person of peace is.
Describe what an indigenous leader is. Why are these leaders so important?
Describe the tension between social justice and evangelism.
What is cultural distance and provide an example.
Describe an example of contextualization.
Name a modern day example of a movement.
The name of a person that you are discipling.
The name of a person that is discipling you.
Describe something you have helped catalyze.
Describe a unique, important, modern day global phenomenon.

Students are fully capable of understanding each and every one of these ideas. In fact, teach them these ideas well enough and you might have a global catalyst on your hands. [If you steal them, and you are more than welcome to, just let me know how you use them.]

Thank You, Board of Director, Dale Swinburne

In February of 2007, I met Dale Swinburne at a gathering in Florida hosted by Alex McManus. I had connected with Dale a few months before that on social media and heard great things about him. Meeting him face to face validated those things - he was an expert at the StrengthsFinder psychometric, he was passionate about building teams and leaders and he had a view of the world that clicked with mine. Although Dale lived about 20 minutes from me, it took going to Florida to actually meet him face to face.

In 2010, I asked Dale to join my team on the Board of Directors for The Ember Cast, a new student missions organization I was launching. We had spent some time together since 2007 and I was always impressed by his integrity and his deep longing for the Church to be an unstoppable force. His time on the Board has been a huge investment in our students, various teams and especially me. Some of his contributions have included:
- Multiple deep StrengthsFinder learning sessions with individuals and teams. He is the best I know at this and his expertise has consistently erupted better performance from each Ember team he has worked with.
- In discussions about various core competencies of Ember, Dale liked to ask, 'Are we giving them what they think they want or what we think they need?' This key question has always reminded me to consider the obscure alternatives when we try to meet our clients needs right now and in the future.
- Two of his daughters, Emily and Gwen, were a part of Ember's 2010 AZ experience. It was an integral summer for us as an organization because it was the first Ember summer team ever. Emily also served as a fantastic guide for us in 2012. Dale and his wife Jen have always embraced Ember with their family.
- I will always remember the story of him meeting with one of the spiritual mentors in both of our lives and that mentor asking, 'How many people at your church are coming to know Jesus per second?' That is the kind of view about Church that Dale and I share.

As of last week, Dale's time on the board of directors has come to an end and I'm immensely grateful. His time on the board and his investment in me as a leader and a friend have been invaluable. Thank you Dale - you have impacted the future in more ways than you know.

Photo: SF session, Dale, JTimmons, ARotolo. 2010.

Friday Burn

::: A Counter Cultural Approach to Poverty Alleviation

In reality, the evidence suggests that the vast majority of the reductions in poverty have been due to the spread of one of America’s greatest inventions: rapid economic growth based on the expansion of capitalism. Indeed, economists and policy makers believe that further reductions in global poverty will require poor countries to continue to adopt the policies and institutions that have enabled the United States to sustain high rates of economic growth and material prosperity. In essence, the goal is to turn Bangladesh into America.

And this should give Christians serious pause.

Fantastic read.
Link


::: Charity: Water and Google Work on Remote Sensor Technology
And then they make the software and hardware plans available to anyone. If you've been here for a while you know how I love Charity: Water. And you should know that the nonprofit sector is ripe for technologists.
Link


::: Map - If the Size of Countries Reflected their Populations
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::: An African-American youth worker told me that when he meets with donors, he speaks "Caucasian." He shaves, wears khakis, and says "AWESOME!" - @DavidLivermore

Photo - Teal Rapp, director of recruiting for Christian Associates. Les Baux, France. July 2014.

Announcing Ember Prague 2015

Today, I am thrilled to announce The Ember Cast's first 2015 summer project. We are putting together a team to travel to Prague this summer to work with Christian Associates. The specific project is to run their middle/high school program during their annual worldwide staff conference. Christian Associates is an organization we love - they have a deep creative and entrepreneurial ethos and they embody the concept of missional imagination. If you've been around here long, you know that we served with student teams at these conferences in 2007 and 2008 and CA was a partner with us for the last two summers in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Camp Juice is the name of their middle/high school program and we will be hanging with a very unique blend of teenager - think a set of third culture kids whose parents are involved in the non mainstream activity of starting new faith communities or some kind of nonprofit or social enterprise. We have a few ideas that we think are pretty non mainstream as well, which should be interesting. I'll be the first to admit that this whole project is a pretty big stretch for me - I've never done anything like this before. It's a good reach though and I'm excited as our team comes together for the dreaming, planning and execution of this.

Not only do we hope our students dream big in executing Camp Juice, there is a pretty unique bigger context at work as well. We will have a team of students who are already mostly interested in the many facets of global missions, world cultures, nonprofit and social good and Gospel centered leadership. And they'll be gathered with a few hundred adults who are already doing these kinds of things in environments all over the globe. Although this shapes up to be quite a catalytic experience, our hope is of course that through this experience, Jesus continues to lead and guide their lives.

Thanks in advance for your support for this project.

Upcoming Ember Engagements

Here are some upcoming Ember events that some of you might be interested in. If you have ever wondered about what we do, why we do it, if we are any good at our core competencies, or what does it take to run student service/mission/leadership projects, these might be a good opportunity to come and learn. We don't usually open up availability for people to join us in this manner, but get in touch for more specifics if you are interested.

March 7 - Baltimore, MD
We are hosting two sets of college students to serve with a community development org in Curtis Bay. The most interesting thing about this experience is that Wendy, who we have worked with lots and who also runs a few after school programs in Salisbury, is bringing some of the kids that she serves so that those kids can be involved in serving someone else.

April 14 - Location - TBD
We are helping facilitate an overnight service and culture experience with a small group of high school students. This will involve some real time cultural observation and engagement and a service project in an urban environment.

May 29 and 30 - Columbia, MD
We are helping run a series of student missions leader and team preparation sessions for a local church. Their student missions experiences will comprise 4 teams and over 50 students and leaders.

Contact - tonytsheng AT theembercast.org if interested.

Friday Burn

::: The Crisis Text Line
Fantastic read about teenagers, texting and how it all comes together in The Crisis Text Line, the first and only national, 24/7 crisis-intervention hotline to conduct its conversations exclusively by text message. Must read if you work with students.
Link


::: East Asia's Massive Urban Growth
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::: 8 Ted Talks to Watch Before You Speak
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::: Diagnosing HIV with a smartphone
Link

::: If you blow it at home, you’ve blown it as a leader. >> Leadership begins at home - @ToddAdkins

Photo: Paris, 2013.

Welcome Home JT

Loved catching up with JTimmons, who you might remember helped with Ember 14X as the first leg of his 5 leg journey around the world. His jaunts also included Greece, Turkey, Nepal, and China and we loved being a small part of his quest as he sought how the Lord might use him in another culture. John's spirit of adventure will continue to inspire all of us.

Watch this guy and I don't know either about my hair.

3 Tips for Communications for Mission Team Leaders

The fastest, most effective way to derail your upcoming missions project is to ignore all responsibilities for communication. I have seen this time and time again and it is unfortunate, irresponsible and easily fixed. Here are our better practices for communications when it comes to student mission teams.

1 - Be committed to over communicate.
I have, unfortunately, run into situations where communication with potential partners is almost nonexistent. Think like 2-3 months of nothing, even after we have agreed to work together, even when you try to reach them repeatedly. Sure I know they are in another time zone, they are busy with the day to day stuff, their personality lends themselves to being less structured, and blah blah blah. All of that is a bad excuse. I've pointed teams away from hosts that will not communicate with teams regularly.

In contrast, the very best partners we have worked with over communicate. Their interactions are timely - we interact when needed, sometimes multiple times a week. They use various mediums when needed - we jump on Skype, we text, we email. They are fully engaged and in the loop. Both sides do everything they can to make sure plans are clear.

Over communicating is not rocket science and I'm convinced that communicating well is more an act of the will than anything else. Having a habit or system to help you do this is good but at the core, it takes a commitment.

2 - Partners
For our partners, the best thing we do, I think, is send a letter of intent at the kickoff of a project. We send this letter to our partners/hosts at the outset of any large project - typically projects that are overseas, that are more than just a few people and that require significant travel and related logistics.

In this letter, we include:
+ Language that states that serving and working on this project is our intent, barring serious disaster or circumstance.
+ Rough dates for our travel for our teams.
+ What our major milestones are, such as support, team preps, and finalizing logistics.
+ Who the point of contact is.
+ What to expect in terms of communication moving forward.

For Ember, this letter serves as an internal kickoff for the project, making it official to our team. Hopefully it also serves as some kind of milestone for our partners and hosts too.

3 - Communicating with Your Team
Regular, consistent communication will do wonders for your team. When we are months away from departure, I typically send an email once a week. These include support levels, upcoming meetings and any developments about our project or hosts. I put together a travel packet about 3 weeks before departure that contains all travel details. In the week before we depart, daily emails are a habit. You might think it too much but you could never say that the information was not communicated.

If you are responsible to get a team of high school kids from one country to another and maybe one more, spending tens of thousands of dollars to do this and the vision of having students change the trajectory of their lives to serve a bigger cause through this experience, you should be committed to communicating clearly and consistently. Communication is one of the most easily neglected leadership habits of mission team leaders and when it isn't done well, most of the time, people have lots of excuses but no good reasons.

Friday Burn

::: Six Mistakes in Leading High Performers

British explorer and Mount Everest climber George Mallory identified three core characteristics of any high performer:
+ Inborn Initiative - They are drawn to complete things, to "win."
+ Positive Perseverance - They are not easily swayed, distracted, or stymied.
+ Superb Skill - They have exceptional abilities in at least one area, and can handle complex tasks and learn quickly.

Link


::: Making a Career from Adventure
Or turning a hobby into a job.
Link via kottke


::: A Path Appears - Part 1
Nick Kristof writes about Magdelene, a two year residential program in Nashville for victims of human trafficking, and the subsequent business called Thistle Farms. This article is some great background to part 1 of the PBS special called A Path Appears, focused on domestic human trafficking, that was on earlier this week. Fantastic show - part 2 is on next week and the conclusion is on the following week. Highly recommended.
Link


::: Can You Guess the Language Being Spoken
Link

Photo: moving violation, Yonkers, NY. Jan 2013.

2015 Dream Session #5

This is Trevin - long time readers will remember that he was Ember's first guide. Trevin traveled with us pre-Ember and is now on staff at Bay Area Community Church where one of his responsibilities is coordinating their local community service projects.

Bay Area also has about 17 overseas short term teams this coming year and Trevin will be leading one of them. Because we both believe that team training is just as important as what you do on the field, we might be scheming to do some of that Mission Advancing together.

You might or might not have a team or destination yet. But a good part of dreaming is thinking about how to prepare them well.

2015 Dream Session #4

In the spring of 2013, after having served in the global missions arena at my church for over 10 years, I was released from all responsibilities. This was after five years with student teams, two years with a team to redefine the vision and three years as an advisor to the director of global missions. In what might be content for another post, I know I'm not the best team player - I can be highly cynical, sarcastic when I think I'm being funny and sometimes like to do things my way. The release was because I didn't quite share 100% enthusiasm for the vision and strategy, which was and is accurate.

In a suburban, affluent, faith community of over 2000 people that was seeking to better engage the world, my experience, talents and gifts were irrelevant? It was in pondering that question that I noticed an undercurrent of bitterness that started to affect my emotions as I thought about church world and missions and leadership. It was not healthy and I thought about therapy more than a few times.

About a year later, our high school pastor asked me if I would be willing to help some student mission teams again. There were some tactical needs - help with team training and investing in some leaders. I was delighted and it was where I could help without getting into issues about vision and strategy. Two weeks later, for completely unrelated reasons, our director of global missions was terminated.

Second from the right is Kristen. She is one of our guides and we've worked on a few projects together including 2012Belgium and I'm proud to tell you that this year, she is the point leader for Grace's student mission teams. She is a fantastic leader and I'm thrilled about Ember working on retainer with her and her teams.

In the economy of the Kingdom, sometimes things have to die to be reborn. Seeds die before they grow. Winter is cold and dark so that Spring can bloom. The Gospel means that sometimes, life comes from death.

Friday Burn

::: The Biggest Barrier to College Students Going to the Mission Field
This is a fantastic read that should be required for global missions pastors and people that work with students. Hint - it is not debt.
Link via Julianna


::: 2015 Bible Minded Cities
If you are looking to start something from scratch related to missional imagination, you should seriously consider the column of cities on the right.
Link


::: Are You as Passport Expert?
Link


::: 3 Simple Forcing Functions That Will Multiply Your Productivity
These are super good.
Link


::: Can You Name These Cities By their Subway Maps?
Link


::: 8 Reasons Full Time Pastors go Bivocational
Link


::: A Teenager's View on Social Media - 2015
Link

::: Good leaders get decisions. Great leaders get committments. @RobJacobs_

Photo: JTimmons, Bandol, France. July 2014.

25 Years at Grace - Thanks Mark Norman

This past weekend, we at Grace celebrated Mark Norman's 25th year of being lead pastor there. Those of you in church world know that a milestone like that is just an incredible feat and Mark himself would tell you that this achievement is by the grace of God. That is the kind of leader he is.

I've been privileged to serve under him on a variety of projects since the mid 90s when we first came to Grace. Here's a few things I've learned from him that I'm extremely grateful for:

+ When we first came to Grace, they would gather ministry leaders once a month for a thing called Leadership Community. It was a vital part of Mark's responsibility and he would spend an hour every month pouring into leaders from every spectrum of the church. This was like no other church our family had been a part of - there was an intentional leadership pipeline and the lead pastor took responsible for it.

+ When I was invited to join the elder team for a season, one of the desired behaviors was what Mark called a "Pan Body" perspective - the ability and desire to see and act for the faith community as a whole. This is an uncommon skill but one that can be cultivated.

+ The elders have a mantra that says, "Never say no for someone else." Applicable to every leadership experience I have had but I saw it in play lots when working with that team.

+ On women in leadership - see here.

+ When Mark took me out to lunch a few times, he would pay and say, "It is all His money anyway." When sitting in a meeting to talk about missions, he mentioned at least once that there were people who would start their own initiatives and they were people that needed to pioneer something. Mark doesn't shy away from innovation and welcomes the fact that the Kingdom is bigger than his church.

+ Finally, if you know him, you know about the "Freedom Box." I led one of his kids in a high school small group for 4 years. I know all of his other kids and their spouses pretty well and they are some of the most tremendous people that I know. The Freedom Box, and more importantly, the balance of freedom and responsibility that parents are entrusted to teach to their kids, well, they did it phenomenally well. All that I learned about ministry pales in comparison to the example that Mark is as a father. That is a priceless gift to me.

Thanks Mark for 25 years at Grace. Here is to the future - the best is yet to come.

2015 Dream Session #3

MK and Katie, chatting about internships, nonprofits, education, kids ministry, refugees, urban migration. You know, the usual stuff that 11th grade girls talk about.

Friday Burn

::: Watch Google Translate Decipher Foreign Signs in Real Time
Link
[Related: Ember spawn uses Google Translate]


::: Cultural Intelligence in an Age of Terrorism
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::: NOLA Finds Homes for All It's Homeless Vets
Link


::: Compassion Intl Delivers on Promise for Schools in Haiti
Link


::: Jesus' dining experiences became a lifestyle around which he formed a school of disciples - Len Sweet via @fitchest

Photo: Mary, who was our shot lady, and her calendar with money from around the world. Sadly, she is now retired.

2015 Dream Session #1

With some of our ProtoGuides and Guides... talking about emerging possibilities and what sounds exciting and fits into why Ember does what we do.

So very excited about 2015.

Thank You, Board of Director, Greg Klassen

In 2009, when I was toying with the idea of starting a nonprofit, I knew I needed someone who had actually started and ran a business, or preferably, multiple businesses. Having had a career in technology and always working for a business, but never starting something like this from scratch, I knew I had no idea what I was doing. And looking back now, that is quite the understatement.

After starting The Ember Cast, I invited Greg Klassen the join the Board of Directors. Greg's two daughters had traveled with us pre-Ember and through our interactions, I had nothing but the highest level of respect for him and his family. Greg and his wife Vicki were two of the most ardent supporters for student missions our church community had ever seen and Greg had started and ran multiple technology companies. My respect for him grew even more after getting to know him even better through his board activities with Ember.

Seasons change and there will be times when board members want or need to be invested in different things. As of last week, Greg has decided to step down from the Ember board. I am incredibly grateful for the 5 years of service Greg has devoted to Ember. Some of his accomplishments include:
+ Seed funding at the very beginning to get some of our operations systems and budget in order.
+ Strong enthusiasm for Ember purchasing Directors and Officers insurance and getting us connected with a local insurance agent. Insurance issues were lost on me and because of his enthusiasm for this, I am much more serious about insurance. I still strongly counsel other nonprofit leaders to purchase this insurance.
+ Multiple conversations with me about working on the business not just in it.
+ Making me think long and hard about the 'unique business proposition' - what makes us unique and why we exist.

I'm immensely grateful for Greg's investment in my life, not only as a business founder but as a father and husband. Thank you Greg - you have marked human history.

Photo: Catalyst West Conference, April 2009, Orange County, CA.

Happy 14th to Emily

Dear Em --

Happy 14th birthday! You've had a great year and we are so proud of the person you are becoming. We've watched you take initiative and influence seriously this year and it's been a joy to see. You've served others in a few key areas this year and surrounded yourself with some good friends. For us as parents, that is thrilling.

The biggest example of that was in Aix this summer, where we pushed you to stick at it even when you weren't feeling well. Of course, later we found out you had mono. At least you got your blood drawn for the first time ever in another country.

Keep growing and making the right choices and pushing yourself to influence others in the right things. And make that dog obey me.

Love.

Friday Burn

::: Seating Chart for Hell Airlines
Link via Kottke


::: 6 Reasons You Are Losing High Capacity Volunteers
Link


::: Each MBTI's New Years Resolution
Link

Photo: Paris, summer 2008.

The Strengths That Bind

On the last day of 2014, we finally were able to execute on an idea that my wife has had for a few years - having our extended family take the StrengthsFinder assessment. If you've been around here for long, you know how much I love the tool and it's ability to fast forward relationships, help make teams better and actualize leadership.

Now we know a lot more about why my family does what they do. Like the value of getting along to my sister in law Stef and her husband [they both have Harmony] and how my mother in law Cheryl spent decades in the field of education [Developer and Empathy], and why my brother in law Doug researches everything in fine detail [Maximizer].

You also might know that I have a large graph of everyone that I know who has taken the assessment listing their top 5 [and even people I don't know...] The picture here is a piece of it. Sometime last year, I re-arranged it based on the 4 domains - sometimes when working with teams, this perspective can help.

Talking about your talents and strengths might be a great way to start the new year with people you are close to or work with.

Dream Months

I'm absolutely thrilled about 2015. From a personal point of view, I've got lots of dreams for this year that I'm excited about making happen. It's the same with Ember, I'm at the edge of my seat about the experiences and people God might bring to us this year.

Typically, January and February are our 'see what sticks' time. This year, I'm calling it something different unofficially. It is our 'Dream Time.' We will ask our guides to dream a little, to do some missional imagination, see who is interested in what out there and ask God for some clarity and to walk ahead of us.

Excited to tell you more soon.

Friday Burn

Happy 2015!!

::: When Other Cultures Celebrate New Years
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::: Genius Ways to Manage Email
Link


::: God isn't Dead in Gotham
Fantastic read about Tim Keller and Redeemer Pres in NYC
Link via Rudy


::: The most useful members of a church are usually those who would be doing harm if they were not doing good - Spurgeon via JD Greear

Photo: Family NYE StrengthsFinder session.

2014 in cities

One of my favorite end of year posts, the year in cities. This year was a great year of travel, both personally and with The Ember Cast. And I'm still on track for getting out of the country once a year since 2005, except for 2009.
1 - Cambridge, MD, USA
2 - National Harbor, MD, USA
3 - Fairfield, CT, USA
4 - Knoxville, TN, USA
5 - Nashville, TN, USA
6 - Lexington, VA, USA
7 - Henderson, NC, USA
8 - San Antonio, TX, USA
9 - Richmond, VA, USA
10 - Aix-en-Provence, France
11 - Sanary sur Mer, France
12 - Marseille, France
13 - Virginia Beach, VA, USA
14 - Lake Anna, VA, USA
15 - Vernon, CT, USA
16 - Danvers, MA, USA



[2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 in cities]

2014 in Books

Pretty great list of books that I read this year. Hope you enjoy some of the notes.

Sacred Roots
The Hard Thing About the Hard Things
Dream Year
The Happiness of Pursuit
Creativity Inc
The Power of Habit
What We Talk About When We Talk About God
Makers of Fire*
You and Me Forever*
My Share of the Task*
Zero to One*
The Artisan Soul*
Mission Drift
Leaders Eat Last

* Either still reading or should go and take some notes.

[2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 in books]

2014 in Posts

Some of my favorite posts this past year - events and thoughts on student missions that marked both Ember and our family.

Why We Exist 2014

ProtoGuides 2014 Finish

Ember Advance 2014

Sending Katie and Olivia [#4th most read post]

At the Gate [#5 most read post]

97.14%

Ember 2014X Wrap

Ember Baltimore 4

What Pavillion Vendome Means to Me

Catalyst Next DC Notes

[2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 in posts.]

Happy 17th Birthday to Katie

Dear Katie --

You have had quite a year, I don't mind saying. It is a year that has brought lots of adventure, lots of serving others and lots of pursuing life to the fullest. All typical of who you are. Club volleyball, a fantastic two weeks serving with The Ember Cast in France, 10 days in Madrid serving away from your parents, getting your drivers license, your internship at FIRN, special friends at Grassroots, oh and going to school. Pack it in girl, because you know that life was meant to be lived and your life was meant to be poured out for others.

I don't mind saying that it hasn't been an easy year for your parents. You know how we have battled both big and little things and at the core, it has been an experience for all of us. We've tried hard to let go. You've tried hard to be free. And through it, we are all learning about living in the tension that with more freedom comes more responsibility.

You were meant for something amazing. This coming year, more than ever, believe that. And trust the One who created you - He wants to erupt your soul to be who you were meant to be. The world needs you at your best.

Love

Friday Burn

::: Invisible Children Shutting Down

Invisible Children, the nonprofit behind the Kony 2012 film—often called the most viral video of all time—is slowly shutting down its operations. First, the U.S. office will close, leaving just a handful of remote workers behind to work on advocacy. Then, within 12 to 18 months, Invisible Children will hand off its work on the ground in East Africa to partner organizations.

Link


::: Vancouver's Attitude Towards the Homeless
Link


::: Texas Plumbers Truck Ends Up in Syria
Link

Photo: Tess, Emily, Katie. Les Baux, France, July 2014.

I will do today....

I will do today what I can do to enable me to do tomorrow what I can't do today.

— Craig Groeschel (@craiggroeschel) October 12, 2010

A Great Idea is a Spreadsheet With Skin On

That statement comes from Ben Arment and I am a firm believer. Every year, around this time, our spreadsheet for summertime gets created. Here are some quick ideas on how we do it:

+ One big workbook - nowadays, it's a google drive spreadsheet. Available anywhere all the time. Tracks revisions. Does almost everything Excel does except for subtotals.
+ A sheet for each major initiative.
+ Track who goes where, when they go and how they get there and back.
+ Estimated expenses and categories.
+ Estimated incomes including sometimes outlining different creative revenue plans.
+ It won't be completely straightforward if you have distributed teams where people work on multiple projects and where incomes, expenses and time served are shared. But that's part of the fun.

And I'm thrilled to tell you that we've at least started one for 2015.

Friday Burn

::: The Painful Lessons of Mars Hill
Great read about the implosion of one of the most impactful churches in the US.
"...every young pastor needs to have a mentor relationship with a pastor who has been pastoring for at least 25 years in a church that is not a megachurch. They will learn what true pastoring is really like, not celebrity pastoring."
Link via Mitchel Lee


::: 20 Politically Incorrect Thoughts About Church in America
#5 Worship music is too slow and too repetitive. Worship music is too slow and too repetitive. Worship music is too slow and too repetitive.
#8 Churches don’t effectively engage women in senior leadership roles.
#12 Shared leadership doesn’t work. When all the leaders are equal, no one is leading.
Link


::: Facebook's Data Science for Social Good
Data science has been fruitfully applied in many circumstances: from creating product enhancements and decisions, to writing insightful or entertaining blog posts. In this post, we'd like to highlight some recent initiatives which, combined with increases in availability of data, are making data science a powerful force for social good. We're going to take a brief tour of the non-profit data science organizations that we're familiar with and the work they're doing.
Link


::: The Pilots of Instagram
Link

Photo: Ember spawn, ProtoGuides and Jon Tyson. DC, Nov 2014.

Book Notes - The Power of Habit

My wife and older daughter picked this up for me for my birthday last September and I only got to reading it last month. It's a phenomenal read for anyone involved in leadership or influence. Later on, I realized that two of my favorite leaders also learned a ton from this book. [1, 2]. Go get it please.

Cue -> Routine -> Reward

When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So unless you deliberately fight a habit - unless you find new routines - the pattern will unfold automatically.

… it is possible to learn and make unconscious choices without remembering anything about the lesson or decision making.

Cravings are what drive habits. And figuring out how to spark a craving makes creating a new habit easier.

Tony Dungy's coaching philosophy: He wanted to get players to stop making so many decisions during a game. He wanted them to react automatically, habitually. If he could instill the right habits, his team would win. Period.

Rather, to change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.

For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible. And most often, that belief only emerges with the help of a group.

Paul O'Neill and Alcoa: O'Neill focused on worker safety, which would signify excellence.
Michael Phelps - his coach focused on his habits.

This is the final way that keystone habits encourage widespread change: by creating cultures where new values become ingrained. Keystone habits make tough choices - such as firing a top executive - easier, because when that person violates the culture, it's clear they have to go.

Starbucks training - 137K current employees - 1M alumni. Starbucks is one of the nation's largest educators.

At the core of that education is an intense focus on an all-important habit: willpower. Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success.

Willpower isn't just a skill. It's a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there's less power left over for other things.

This is how willpower becomes a habit: by choosing a certain behavior ahead of time, and then following that routine when an inflection point arrives.

There are no organizations without institutional habits. There are only places where they are deliberately designed, and places where they are created without forethought, so they often grow from rivalries or fear.
But sometimes, even destructive habits can be transformed by leaders who know how to seize the right opportunities. Sometimes, in the heat of a crisis, the right habits emerge.

Creating successful organizations isn't just a matter of balancing authority. For an organization to work, leaders must cultivate habits that both create a real and balanced peace and, paradoxically, make it absolutely clear who's in charge.

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between social acquaintances.
It grows because of the habits of a community, and the weak ties that hold neighborhoods and clans together.
And it endures because a movement's leaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership.

[Rosa] Park's friends, in contrast, spanned Montgomery's social and economic hierarchies. She had what sociologists call 'strong ties' - first hand relationships - with dozens of groups throughout Montgomery that didn't usually come into contact with one another.

Every Saddleback member is asked to sign a maturity covenant card promising to adhere to three habits: daily quiet time for reflection and prayer, tithing 10 percent of their income and membership in a small group. Giving everyone new habits has become a focus of the church.

For an idea to grow beyond a community, it must become self-propelling. And the surest way to achieve that is to give people new habits that help them figure out where to go on their own.

The Pressure of Next Year

It is December and you might be getting questions already about what is happening next summer. Parents like to plan, summer camps already have their agendas and the pressure is on. Don't worry if you don't have any firm plans yet, Ember is in the same boat [although we have a few ideas...]

The most mature short term missions efforts solidify their plans around this time every year. The maturity in their systems allows them to do that - their existing deep relationships, the clarity of their vision and values, and their proven systems to identify and recruit team leaders. Sometimes, you don't need all three of those but most of the time you do. Here are two great examples to dig around when it comes to seeing how someone else has done it - Northpoint and NCC.

For The Ember Cast, this time every year is when we ask God to direct and start dreaming and praying. After that, we'll start throwing things up and seeing what gets some momentum.

Friday Burn

::: The Global Geography of Internet Addiction
Link


::: Can You Name These Countries Using Only Satellite Photos?
Link


::: Plumblines for Local Outreach - The Summit Church
Love when they talk about their plumblines. Rich stuff in this 4 part series.
Link


::: "When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection." ― A.W. Tozer via @dansadlier

Photo: KatieS Ember Spawn, KatieV Ember ProtoGuide, Mark Batterson. DC, Nov 2014.

Ember Mantra - 5

The Gospel comes to you on its way to someone else. - Alex McManus

PS - Alex has been a mentor to me and I can't recommend his new book, Makers of Fire, enough. Go get this.

The Real Track Record

In the fall of 2010, two high school seniors that we had made commitments for interning with Ember both backed out. School was a lot of work and college applications had to be completed. In the fall of 2011, we had planned a great face to face learning experience from one of my mentors and one of our interns couldn't commit. Her parents didn't want her to miss one of her classes. In April of 2012, we had to cancel plans for an Ember experience in South Africa. The desire was there, just not the people committing. Through the first 3 months of 2012, I had fifteen people tell me no for various projects and ideas I had. There was even a student that made a commitment to us in May of this year and then come September, decided to bail. They in fact lined up another internship before letting me know that they were not doing ours.

But lord I love the stuff that has not failed. It has been worth it.

Friday Burn

::: The Worst Day to Fly in the US
Hint - it's not what day you think it is.
Link


::: 23 Maps and Charts on Language
Link


::: What I Learned from Building an App for Low Income Americans

Many of the housecleaners I met were already entrepreneurs. Our office cleaner at Significance Labs, Jason, employed five or six people in his cleaning business while also holding down another full-time job. The best thing about my time at Significance Labs was meeting incredible people like Jason and Angel. The most fun I had last summer was sitting in a room chatting to housecleaners.

Link


::: "A good traveler is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu via @DavidLivermore

Photo: Lunch, Teds Bulletin, Washington DC. Ember guides, spawn, ProtoGuides and guests.

Tricia and Global Impact 2014

On the left is Tricia who was an intern of mine in 2007-2008. She sent me a text last weekend telling me that she was helping out on a student retreat called Global Impact. It was an event that her church put on for high school and middle school kids, focused on helping kids learn to live 'on mission' both locally and globally. Sounded like my kind of thing.

Tricia was a fantastic intern but has since gone on to do some amazing things for the Kingdom - we are proud of her and her weekend serving students dressed up like a Nepalese bank teller. And of course, thrilled to hear about student ministries putting on weekends like this.

Notes - #CatalystNext

We took a team of people to learn at the Catalyst Next conference last week at the Lincoln Theater in DC and it was a great time. I love the Catalyst organization and they always put on fantastic events. The audience was probably mostly people in full time vocational ministry and there were maybe about 1000 people there.

Our team was made up of adults involved in ministry bi-vocationally [board of director Matt, guide Carver and myself] and high school students - 3 seniors and one junior, two of those being current ProtoGuides and the junior being my older daughter. I'm pretty sure Ember had the only high school kids there. We also met up with some old and new friends - a leader of the young adult ministry at LifePoint Church in Reisterstown, and Ember guide Trevin and his co-workers from Bay Area Community Church. We all had lunch together which was a great time of connecting. Two of the seniors have some serious plans to join a church plant next year when they enter college as freshmen so the church planting roundtable was especially relevant to them.

The event wasn't quite as futuristic as I personally would have liked, but I realize that is sometimes too far out there. One solid principle about the future is that you imagine the future by seeing the present clearly and I think Catalyst Next did that extremely well. There was a little undercurrent of 'we have to explain what our current culture looks like to the Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.' Certainly understandable.

Every one of the talks was excellent, exactly what you would come to expect from a Catalyst event. They were all geared towards what is next and I loved that. The day was organized into segments and then after each segment, Jon Tyson would come back with Mark Batterson, Jo Saxton and Gabe Lyons to do a little discussion on the talks.

Here is the rough outline of the day:
Mark Batterson - leadership [see below]
Jo Saxton - leadership [character, community, commission]
Gabe Lyons - culture [see below]
Trip Lee - culture [to give up hope on a specific culture/peoplegroup/subculture is to discount the power of the Gospel]
Jenna Lee Nardella - justice [the long arc of justice and sometimes you cannot make it rain]
Raj Shah - justice [lots of great content on global poverty]
Missional church planting roundtable - Jarrett and Jeanne Stevens, Gideon Tsan, DA Horton - what is your context, something you have learned from, what is next
Jon Tyson - closing [see below]

Here are notes from the 3 talks that resonated most with me:
+ What is Next in church leadership
Mark Batterson
“The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday.” - RT Kendall The Anointing
Heb 11:7 - Noah, the ark and building something that was never built before
II Cor 10:5 - Take every thought captive and obedient to Christ
Noah - inventor, maker. Made the rake, hoe, oh and the ark.
1.5 football fields long
a ship that big would not be built again in human history until the late 19th century
35:3 design ratio is still the standard
569 box cars
125,000 animals - 60 National Zoos
120 years to build - long obedience
1st thing Noah did was to plant trees
It all came from an idea in his mind
Everything starts as an idea - so often II Cor 10:5 is used to instruct us to take bad thoughts captive, but it's also a command about good ideas.

Church is a 2 way street - dreams and passions go both ways
We have a dream for our church that people help us fulfil and we hopefully help them fulfill their dreams.

*TTS - Like always, Batterson gives a phenomenal talk about the future, leadership and the most audacious dreams and ideas. And every time I've seen Mark Batterson not speaking, he is taking notes. Including today, while on the panel. The best leaders I know do this.

Discussion:
Be a first class noticier
Scripture is meant to be meditated on - for it to quicken you, you must let it burn in you
Every piece of Scripture has 70 faces and 600,000 meanings - rabbinical saying

+ What is Next in engaging culture
Gabe Lyons
Context - always start with this
*TTS - ^^^ yes. Ember mantra - "Context and culture matter."

Today - the combination of postmodern, pluralism and postChristian
the nones

New Attitudes
No authority
Happiness is the ultimate goal
Good of the individual trumps good of community
God exists for the benefit of all, if He even exists
Meaning can only be found in this world

New Rules of Social Engagement - "Sex and the I World"
One may not criticize someone's life choices or behaviors
One may not behave in a manner that coerces or causes harm to others
One may not engage in a sexual relationship with someone without consent - as long as it is consensual, it is okay.

Countercultural - the church is called to swim upstream in this

*TTS - The intro to this talk was such a great description of the context that we find ourselves in right now.

4 questions - filter for culture
What is Wrong - stop and confront
who am I, what is my identity

What is Confused - clarify and compel
identity is found in Jesus, not by looking inside
is life about pleasure or purpose
love - affirmation of anything anyone wants to do or do we want the best for them?

What is Good - celebrate and cultivate
God's design for humanity is to flourish

What is Missing - create and catalyze
we have made an idol of marraige
first family - church family - extended family - oikos
clear and confident in theology
loving to friends and neighbors
you can be both but this requires lots of courage

The slavery and women in ministry issues both get more expansive from the OT to the NT
sexuality gets less expansive

*TTS - This was a fantastic talk and really engaged the issue of homosexuality and the evangelical Church. The 4 questions were great perspectives. Extremely well done.

Discussion:
Batterson - some topics are good for teaching about from up front - one way dialogue. Others need a two way conversation. This is one of those. NCC hosted a small group on this topic called Grace+Truth because we need both when it comes to this issue. Over 200 people showed up to it.

+ Jon Tysons closing talk
The need of the hour is to make disciples. If we get discipleship wrong, everything else goes awry.
Willard - what is your plan for making disciples and is it working?

We did a good job of forming people into Trinity Grace culture but not Jesus.
Our culture is incredibly effective at making disciples into its image.

"Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing - its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs, or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumeristic, and not radically obedient, your church is not good." (Neil Cole) [*TTS - So good, I think I've posted this before somewhere here]

Faith to Doubt
Love to Insecurity
Community to Individualism
Contributing to Consuming
Rest to Exhaustion

5 Shifts - The From > To Imperative
*TTS - there was a ton of info in here - no way to get it all down.
Death -> Life
Eph 2
- gospel, story, walk

Shame -> Acceptance
Rom 8
difference between shame [who I am] and guilt [what I've done]
image management
Brene Brown
disciple people into their identity
- community, freedom, authority

Self -> Others
Phil 2
the small self - Rohr
- gifts, reconciliation, presence

Consumer -> Mission
I Cor 5
- sharing, vocation, stewardship

Performing -> Abiding
John 15
- source, power, fruit

In all of this, Jesus says, I will be with you always.
Gal 4:19 - My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you...
an urgent heartbreaking pastoral concern - spiritual fathers.

*TTS Right before Jon started, I whispered to our team that this was the money talk. I was right. Jon's talk was a powerful exhortation to leaders to take the issue of discipleship seriously and to evaluate how we are growing people and whether it is working or not. He has obviously done some deep thinking about our culture and what it means to grow people in the image of Jesus and his talk was a gift. I knew it was going to be good because I've learned a lot from him from a distance. [See : City Collective, the city parish model and Sacred Roots.]

+ My Reflections
- I'm pretty sure Ember had the only high school kids there. If you are a student pastor in the DMV and knew about this event, you should have brought some kids you were personally investing in. And if you aren't personally investing in any students, well, you should find a new line of work. This was a great learning experience that was easy to execute.
- Jon Tyson's closing talk. Ember needs to evaluate all of our experiences and reflect on whether we are creating disciples of Jesus or just creating kids that know a lot about global missions. Some of this is also a reflection on my leadership and whether I have the capacity to even think deeply on this subject and how it relates to the students we are entrusted with, in a similar manner to the deep thinking that Jon Tyson has done about discipleship in New York City.
- Batterson: "Church is a 2 way street - dreams and passions go both ways." I love this and Ember is really trying to engage our students with where we are headed as an organization as well as catalyze the passions, talents and dreams of them. We aren't doing the latter a ton but there were definitely a few students this past summer that fit this description. That's why we almost always visit the topic of missional imagination when we decompress an event or experience. I'm a bit sensitized to this too from some recent ministry experience as well so there's probably more in this.