January 2009 Archives

this past month we took some time (for the first time) to diagnose the texture of our community and who we NATURALLY are... what feeling do we NATURALLY give off... what do we NATURALLY do...

another word for natural that we use all the time but it seems is a bit over used these days, that we will continue to use :) is ORGANIC. the conversation we have had summed up is that if we, the church, the community known as the REALM, are not careful we can create pseudo realities, these realities that are fake, not real, not authentic... realities that are manufactured or constructed...

the so challenge becomes... how do we create a real, authentic environment that community naturally emerges?

we must not settle for the "quick fix" solutions that essentially offer us and create a pseudo reality that masks the true needs of the community.

our communities represent the future... if we were to view our communities this way, how much investment is necessary? how much time will be required to move beyond the boundaries of the pseudo into the organic?

F

i have this growing, i guess conviction, for lack of better words, that things (do you love how specific i am) naturally emerge from health. that depth and innovation, creativity and intimacy, understanding and our ability to think and process naturally emerges from health.

as obvious as that sounds and its pretty stupid obvious... i wonder why we seek to put into motion "systems" and strategies, which by the way are not bad, to get the desired behavior that we are hoping to produce?

heres my rub... heres the tension...

i can spend time, energy, resources, people putting systems and strategies in place, which are not bad, or we can spend our time, energy, resources and people creating an environment that healthy people naturally emerge.

one way gets immediate results, but runs the risk of manufacturing a "product" of sorts while the other way takes a lot of time, consistent guiding, constant refreshing, potentially tons of frustration but in the end naturally produces and reproduces healthy communities.

which one do you want to be a part of?

F

several years ago sitting with a couple mentors i was forced to think and process what it is that i want to be a part of... what it is that i want to do...

as elusive as the answer remains, i know that something moves within me... something happens to my soul when i think about culture... and furthermore our role in culture. this conversation is nothing new in our community, it seems we often come back to the rich dialogue with taking our responsibility to shape and create culture. i believe the two highest callings we have in life are to create people and create culture... nothing else is sustainable. as the gospel takes root it transforms and creates something or someone new. new people create new culture.

whats your role in culture?

F

check this out... giftcardgiver.com (www.jeffshinabarger.com)
we are going to be collecting used gift cards in the next week or so here coming up soon... i continue to be taken aback by the SIMPLE ways that we can GIVE and SUPPORT the efforts and movements that are making a difference and having an impact on culture and humanity.

F

THE STORY
Four friends had an idea to collect gift cards and give them to people in need. They went to a gathering and asked 8 people how much money in unused Gift Cards they had in their wallets and walked away with $50 in Gift Cards to help people in need. GiftCardGiver.com was born.

Gift Card Giver is a new form of giving. The Gift Card industry has risen to be a 60 billion dollar industry. Ever wonder how many gift cards are unused? More than 10%. That means billions of dollars are waiting to be used for good on Gift Cards.

How many gift cards do you have sitting in your wallet? We guess you have at least $5 of unused gift cards in your wallet or purse right now. What's 5 bucks going to buy you? Five bucks in Gift Cards may buy you a pair of socks...but 10 people giving 5 bucks will buy a kid a winter coat or 1000 people giving $5 from may give that same kid a warm bedroom to sleep through the night.

if you're not on twitter, you need to be! its brilliant! micro-blogging and the ability to watch and see what is going on in some of my peeps lives through out the day is incredible... its like mini-updates of their lives.

theREALM also has a new twitter account through which we will be communicating and keeping the dialogue going through out the day.

send "follow theREALM" (just as you see it here) to 40404 and it will walk you through following theREALM...

F

wow...
2 week vacation in ny to return to a 4 day stint in the hospital with pneumonia and other stuff and i think that i can finally get back into some sort of a routine at my desk and in the office and writing and normalcy again...

so here we go...
F