The Genius of Community

bobulate:

The musician Brian Eno invented a word to describe “genius” as the entirety of a scene, rather than the work of an individual:

Scenius is like genius, only embedded in a scene rather than in genes. Brian Eno suggested the word to convey the extreme creativity that groups, places or “scenes” can occasionally generate. His actual definition is: “Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.”

You see:

Individuals immersed in a productive scenius will blossom and produce their best work. When buoyed by scenius, you act like genius. Your like-minded peers, and the entire environment inspire you.

The geography of scenius is nurtured by several factors:

• Mutual appreciation
• Rapid exchange of tools and techniques
• Network effects of success
• Local tolerance for the novelties

When you find this place, hold on.

How to be an Above Average Church

This is a truism in business as much as it is in any ministry or nonprofit.

Stop Lying on Stage

“ I call this the mythological-industrial complex, because it serves the interests of many players in preserving the status quo. It sells newspapers and magazines. It helps investors boost their profile and convince entrepreneurs that they offer value-add. It helps companies with PR. It makes successful founders famous. I’ve certainly been a beneficiary of these forces. Yet I worry that it deters new entrants from disrupting incumbents: if your idea looks a little dubious, your career a little messy, your team a little dysfunctional, if you lack superhuman design skills, maybe you should just give up. You don’t have the Right Stuff to become an entrepreneur.

Lessons Learned: Stop lying on stage (via pegobry)

 

In short, don’t believe the hype.  Too often the stories people are reheasing with you are the modified and sanitized versions.  But it’s not simply that people are trying to make themselves look bettter.  

 

The larger issue is they are trying to disuade other people from doing things different. Not only are they trying to justify their own story, but they are trying to criminalize yours.  Sure “criminalize” sounds like a harsh term, but it’s not an exaggeration.  It’s not that they have a good story, it’s that they have the RIGHT story. 

 

Pastors and ministry leaders use this technique frequently:  “My story has moral authority, yours doesn’t.”  I’m the pastor not just because I’m good at what I do, or I’m smart, or I worked the system.  I’m the pastor because I was called.  It’s the perfect tautology:  If you’re not the pastor, you’re not called. 

 

Good pastors and good leaders are those who empower people to do ministry.   The right story is the story of the community and the work they are doing.  The story is about people being helped, the blind seeing, the prisoners being visited, and the fatherless being cared for.  This cannot be a morality tale, it can only be an action story.  If it’s not an action story that involves the hurting and helpless, if it not an action story that you can participate in, then it’s probably not a story worth listening to.    

 

The Perfect Job Description?

Elsewhere I’ve critiqued the telling nature of church job descriptions.  Too often church jobs could easily pass for government jobs.  Typically these jobs are summarized by: believe what we believe, always be busy, go to Starbucks, pass papers, and attend meetings.  I’ve longed believed that Starbucks would go out of business if pastors didn’t need somewhere “cool” to go during the day.

Church job descriptions are descriptions for positions, not for objectives.  Just maintaining the position is the job.  It’s about being a type of person, not a helping others.  The only clear objectives are where you fall in the org chart.

Recently I came across what could be the perfect job description for an associate pastor.

Associate Pastor

Throw out the stereotypical notions of what this associate pastorate looks like. Heights Church operates differently than any other church in the country, and this position reflects that.

Do you want to preach? Teach your handful of disciples? Sit in an office and study? Then this job is not for you.

But, if you’re gifted in the areas of resourcing people, putting the laity to work (so we don’t have to create more programs), run top-notch ministries with judicious oversight, and look for any and every way to reach people for Jesus Christ through carefully planned, excellent outreach… then you might be our guy for the job.

Being able to connect people and light them on fire to serve is truly a God-given gift. If you can prove to us that you can and have done this, we’re willing to take a look at you!

Inception, Infographics, and Discipleship

Fast Co. announced an contest today to design an infographic for the movie Inception.  See here for details: Inception Infographics Contest.

Can you design a chart that elegantly explains the most complicated movie of the summer?

Inception, Christopher Nolan’s trippy popcorn shoot-em-up about dreams within dreams, was pretty much made for an infographic. In fact, that movie, with its many layers of dreamers inhabiting the mind of other dreams, could probably have benefited from a running infographic right in the corner of the frame. Unfortunately, the infographics that have been created around the movie so far are all lacking.

Infographics are just that: graphics that depict information.  The intention is to communicate rather complex data in a simpler, easy-to-understand format.  The real benefit of an infographic is that is can great a story, narrative, or picture out of disparate and differing numbers.

Creating a story helps us link this piece of information with that piece of information in a way that has structure and plot while also being easy to remember.

Creating a picture helps us remember, let’s say, 25 pieces of information as 1 piece of information.

While certainly not new, infographics are becoming more common and necessary.   One reason is the systems around us are getting more complex.  Naturally government agencies are complex.  Grocery stores, businesses, and shopping centers are all more elaborate than they used to be.  This is why the most common infographic everyone knows is the “You Are Here” signs found in malls and subway stations.

Awesome At…

In what ways does your church help people become awesome in the their day-to-day living?   Too often churches help people be awesome at church.  When to show up, where to volunteer next, what to give.

But try it another way.  Let’s insert specific words and see what we get.

• “We help Fathers be awesome at….”
• “We help Husbands be awesome at….”
• “We help Men be awesome at….”

Cookie Church: There’s Enough For Everyone

Here’s a new presentation I’m working on.  Very much in the conceptual stage still.  I’m working on ways to shift the thinking from perpetually “fixing church” to getting more people involved in the church you already have.

Download the Power Point if you want to see it.  It’s short and sweet.

The Cookie Church