-
How to fart in public
There is actual value in this below. I mean, if you work with students at some point you’re going to be in a van way too long and need to release some pressure.
HT to an unnamed co-worker
Sphere: Related Content-
Beat up by my elderly neighbor
This story rocks. It’s living proof that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Apparently, this 24 year old man thought he could intimidate his elderly neighbor. Instead he got the beating of his life.
Gregory McCalium, 24, was left with severe facial wounds after the knife-wielding thug attempted to rob his elderly neighbor in tBotley near Oxford, England, Britain’s SkyNews reported. The would-be burglar broke into the home of Frank Corti last Aug. 19 – without realizing the 72-year-old was a retired boxer.
A mug shot released by the Thames Valley Police reveals the results after Corti disarmed his attacker, let loose with two punches to the face and restrained McCalium until the police arrived on the scene.
On Tuesday, McCalium was sentenced to a 4 1/2-year sentence for the crime. link
Please tell me this will be made into a movie? Rocky 10?
HT to Boing Boing
Sphere: Related Content-
Two views of the local church
There are two sides to every coin, aren’t there? I’ve had this post stuck in my head for several weeks– and I think the illustration says it all.
Church leaders: Complacency sneaks in. We surround ourselves with people who go to church. We spend a lot of our time at the church. Our perspective becomes that the community revolves around activities at the church. Pretty soon we become ambivelent about the neighborhood we live in. Our schedule is defined on what’s convenient to those who come to church. Our agenda becomes to serve them.
We perceive our ministry as a “city on a hill” when in fact the people living in our neighborhood are completely unaware of our existence. Before we know it, we are so comfortable with our programs, budgets, staff, and people who come to church we forget reality.
The reality is that in most communities about 5% of the population attends a church. And yet we are comforable with that. Go ahead do the math yourself. Spend 30 minutes calling every church in your community and get actual attendence numbers. Next, simply divide that number by the population of your community. In most places that number is 5% or less of people who attend church on any given weekend. And we all know that just because someone attends church on Sunday doesn’t mean they are Christians, right?
Why not take some time to get to know how 95% of the population views your church? Think of it like this. Count the next 20 cars that drive past your house. Only the 20th car will attend a church this weekend. In the illustration above there are 18 houses in view of that church. And none of them will attend that church this weekend. If your theology is like mine, you recognize that Jesus died for all 20 of the people in those cars and all 18 of the people who live in those houses. But who is our ministry serving? The 5% who show up. Most of our money and time is spent serving Jesus from the perspective of the 5% and not the 95%.
That perspective should change things. 1 in 20 people will attend church this weekend. Any church. Even that church that is so bad you won’t even meet with the pastor to pray.
I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. Romans 12:3, The Message
And yet church leaders reassure themselves that numbers don’t matter! This is the state of the church and people say we don’t need to fundamentally change how we do ministry. We worry about offending the 5%. We worry about changing too much too fast while our sworn enemy puts up victory statues all over. We follow leaders who look at this reality, shrug their shoulders, and move on with their lives. We go to denominiational meetings which agree to spend more money on organizations which are smaller every year. In short, we invest all of our time and energy in a broken model.
And then when someone really breaks through. And that community reaches 6% of the population so we flock to hear how they did it? Got a book? Teach a seminar? Our perspective is jacked up, isn’t it?
New leaders are needed. I dream of church leaders coming to the forefront who are drastically interested in the 95%. I long to surround myself with leaders who keep the 5% in perspective. We celebrate those lives changed! But I want to be with men and women who think differently. Where are the leaders who look at those 5% as just the beginning? Where are the people who recognize that a model cannot be built around an individuals talents? Where are the leaders who know they need to start a swarming movement?
Point me to those people. I am tired of those who are satisfied with the failure of 5%.
Sphere: Related Content-
iPhone Apps
-
-
-
-
Since I spend so much time thinking about and managing iPhone apps getting developed, I thought it would only be fair if you saw the types of apps I use on my phone.
Sidenote: This is a repost. For some reason the post from 6/30/09 disappeared. It may looks as though I deleted 20+ comments from yesterday, but my server ate them. Sorry about that.
-
Youth workers are nuts
I guess I’ve always known this. Heck, I know I’ve been nuts a long time. But this weekend I got a lot of glimpses at just how crazy some youth workers are. In fact the craziest youth workers are volunteers who wil bring 45 kids from Kansas to Los Angeles for an event– by car– is absolutely insane. It’s one thing to do that for money. It’s an entirely new level of nuts to take your own vacation time to do that.
Isn’t it interesting that people who are crazy enough to change the world look absolutely nuts? I suppose that’s a fair assement of an everyday superhero as well? While most sane adults do everything in their power to flee from the presence of sweaty teenagers wondering the streets of Los Angeles, God has created a special group of people who gleefully serve them.
Acts 2 says: (emphasis mine)
That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.
People who are faithful, full of the Holy Spirit, and willing to take big risks for the Kingdom of God often look crazy. It’s a good kind of crazy. It’s the kind of nuts that gets me excited.
This past weekend I was able to watch students get a little nuts too. On the first night they were pretty reserved. This is typical of an event as they are excited and into it– but they aren’t quite willing to look nuts just yet. But by Sunday afternoon kids crowd towards the front in order to express their nut-itude. This is the type of memory they can take home with them and memory bank for the next time they feel awkward about their faith.
This weekend was a powerful reminder for me that we need more people who are absolutely out of their mind lunatics for the cause of Christ. Not fired up in a fake way. Not full of nonesense. Just legit willing to do whatever it takes. The world needs people who encounter the Word of God, catch a vision for how God wants them to respond, and are crazy enough to lean into its realities in their everyday life.
Sphere: Related Content-
Scott Erickson = Rock Star
Scott is our artist in residence. He takes his gig with us seriously. His live paintings add tremendous depth to our large meetings. But he’s not just a serious painter, he’s a rock star too.
Sphere: Related Content-
In Los Angeles
Sorry for the blog silence. This week I’m in Los Angeles for DCLA. I’m posting all sorts of video and pictures at the DCLA page on Facebook.
Sphere: Related Content-
Aerogel
Nerdy, but cool!
Sphere: Related Content-
Back to the Garage
Last night I was listening to the latest episode of This American Life about origin stories of new industries and companies. Many well known companies have a myth that they started in a garage. Even if it really isn’t true, people want to believe that their company was created by someone with a crazy idea who invested her last $2000 on an idea and got started in their garage. For some companies, like Hewlett-Packard and Apple, there is truth to it and the garage has become a corporate icon for innovation. In the case of Google, they have tried to capture that feeling so much that in 2006 they actually purchased the garage which housed their offices for a few months in the early days.
It made me think of the virtual garage in which YMX was built. A few friends sat around in an AIM chat room one night and envisioned a new place for youth workers to hang out. That night the idea went from light bulb to a URL and was a big moment. Just 2-3 weeks later I pulled an all-nighter when we opened the site and in 12 hours went from idea to profit. For me, that was an iconic experience I will look back on for the rest of my life.
It made me think of garage start-ups right now. I thought of Bob Carter who started The Pod Drop in his basement. In just three years he has taken his small iPod repair business from his basement to franchises. I thought of Derek Johnson who started Tatango. In just 2 years he has taken his idea of a group texting service from his parents basement to hundreds of thousands of customers. We don’t need to think of the garage story think it couldn’t happen today. Today’s economy has forced the brightest minds on the planet from the board room to the garage. Out of this recession will come the next great innovations that shape the next 30 years. The question isn’t if it will happen. The question is, “Will I take my idea and run with it or will I end up working for the person who took his idea and ran with it?”
More importantly it made me think about the fact that for most people– there is never a garage. There may be dreams of a time when you are passionate about a new idea– about thumbing your nose at the man and going on your own– but for lack of something [money, time, guts] it never happens. Most of us, even leaders of great organizations, never get to be a part of it in the beginning. The garage is merely a legend. We get hired some time well after the good ‘ole days of wheeling, dealing, and turning heads. If you got hired today by Apple or Hewlett-Packard you would never be allowed the freedom to truly innovate in a garage to try to make something happen as it’s simply too complicated now. You have to make payroll, you have to mitigate loss, you have to protect the brand, you have to guarantee the shareholders a return, etc. Certainly these jobs require leadership, but a type of leadership that knows how to innovate in mature ecosystems.
My challenge for you is simple. Whether you a leader for a government agency, school district, church, non-profit, or even a small business– my challenge is the same. Spend some time in the garage. Ask big questions. Thumb your nose at the status quo a little. (Even the status quo for excellence you created.)
Starter questions:
If we were to start a church today in this community, knowing what we know now, what would it look like? Where would we meet? What programs would solve the most systemic problems in our community? How could we manifest the Gospel best? What behavior would we thumb our noses at? Who would be the most crucial people to invest in? Who would we not care if we pissed off? Who is the most unreached people group in our town?
This doesn’t have to be about a church, does it? Make your own questions for what you are passionate about and go to the garage.
Are you ready? 1-2-3 GO!
Sphere: Related Content
Comments