Finishing Well (fb)

I received the following email from the organization that sponsors my favorite organized cycling event.  They have hosted the most successful event in OKC for 17 years and they have decided to call it quits.  And it isn't like they're quitting after years of deteriorating participation and sponsorship and participant experience.  No, they're quitting at the top of their game - the height of popularity.  Why?  Because someone had the guts to say - "this is no longer the thing we are supposed to spend energy on given our vision."  That is so courageous.  I can imagine that there are people whose livelihoods depend on this event.  There are probably people who will lose much of their identity when this event ceases.  "The cycling community loves it, the community loves it, the sponsors love it...everyone will be so sad, so upset..."  I've never been more proud to be associated with these people - good for them.  Most organizations don't have the courage to end things that no longer serve the vision.

Preparing our kids for life on Mars (fc)

About three years ago Stacy and I had a conversation on the beach at Isle of Palms, South Carolina.  We were talking about globalization and a changing world and skills that kids will need in the future.  I came home and started a list I never finished.  A list that really is unfinishable - but here's the start of an interesting conversation- feel free to add to it.

Skills my kids need in order to thrive in their generation that they won’t learn in school:

Fluency in at least one, preferably two languages other than English

How to lead a cross-disciplinary team confronted with a specific challenge or project.

How to quickly garner as much empathy as possible for a new person or people group.  In other words, how do you “walk in someone else’s moccasins” intentionally, as quickly as possible?

The ability to thrive in cross-cultural situations.

The ability to assimilate and synthesize large quantities of information quickly.  How to get to the most relevant facts.

Travel savvy- especially in navigating internationally and in mega-cities

Mega-city savvy- generally- especially transportation and communication

The appreciation of culinary diversity- an adventurous palate. 

An astonishing work ethic

The ability to speak the language of working people and of intellectual elites for the purpose of gaining respect at first impression.

A genuine excitement about learning and applying new technology

The ability to cultivate food- basic horticulture and animal husbandry

A working understanding of financial instruments and markets including barter and insurance.

An appreciation of the arts and their importance in culture and community building

My kids are going to space (fb)

Today was the maiden voyage of the first commercial spacecraft by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.  It was only a test, and it never got into space but...it will- not 50 years from now but in the next two or three.  This makes me giddy with excitement, not because of space but because it is such a brilliant example of how quantum change really happens- it isn't linear it's reactionary.

If we polled 100 people and asked them "when will commercial spaceflight happen and what will it look like?" ninety plus percent of them would say something like..."It will be decades if it happens in my lifetime and it will be in some big spaceship that looks kind of like the space shuttle, with a blast off and everything."  Leave it to Richard Branson to find the guys that are thinking radically different.  The current model of spaceflight was built in and for the industrial age:

Massive organizations
Thousands of specialists
Rockets required to launch the craft from ground into outer space
Extremely infrequent launches
Large space craft requiring large structures and propulsion
Only the largest and wealthiest governments can afford to participate
Government sponsored space "programs"
Passengers are physical and intellectual elites that have gone through years of training

But here is how Virgin Galactic saw the future:

Smaller organizations
Less specialization and more borrowing from a variety of technologies and industries
Planes perform the final launch from 60,000 feet
Frequent launches
Small craft requiring small structures and propulsion
Thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands able to participate
Private "firms"
Passengers are normal Joes (that have a lot of money- at least at first!)
Training takes three days initially (I'll bet they get that down to one day within the first 5 years)

Wired magazine makes the point this month that the Apple ipad will forever change personal computing- no more mouse or keyboard or clumsy case.  Today the Church in America is Commodor 64, but it will be iPad, not iMac.  It won't be more and better of what we currently think of as "best practice."  It will be  different- quantum different.  I'm a Church lover- I don't know what you love.  But if you're a pioneer, avoid the trap of thinking linear change and train your mind to think quantum, which normally begins by changing all the questions.  And if you're a settler- don't stress out- just enjoy the ride and let the pioneers lose sleep about space travel, smart homes, communication technology, sustainability, urban planning, local food... And while we're glancing out the window wondering what the first moon village will be like you'll be full of joy, in the moment, awed by the vastness of space:)

Why I am a runner (fb)

I watched the sun rise this morning over the Sorghum Hills on a ten-mile run.  It was beautiful and everything felt right.  I felt like a runner…I am a runner – so started thinking about why.

I am a runner because Stephanic Fischer spoke destiny over me.  She walked up to Stacy and I after church one day, looked at me and said “I see you as a runner.”  I hated running, looked like anything but a runner, had no plans to run.  But her words were powerful- words are powerful.

I am a runner because I started running.  Four years after Stephanie’s comment I took it with me and headed out the door for my first run.  I ran one minute then walked one.  Eventually I ran two minutes then walked one.  Then I ran ten minutes and walked two.  Eventually I ran a mile without walking.  I was happy with little victories and pathetic baby steps but I stayed…I ran.  You can’t be a runner if you don’t run.

I am a runner because of Eric Mixon.  He is my training partner and even though we don’t often run together I think about him every time I train.  He keeps me accountable to live the life I want to live.  I wouldn’t run without Eric.  You can’t run without accountable community.

I am a runner because I speak the language, I’ve had the experiences.  If I was injured tomorrow and never ran again I am forever part of the running family.  I have run for years not months.  I have experienced pain and suffering and victory.  It is a lifestyle not an event.

I am a follower of Jesus.  Destiny was spoken over me, I responded with a smidge of faith and started running towards Him, running with Him.  Accountable community keeps me running but, regardless, I am a part of a spiritual family forever.  I’ve had the experiences, I’m learning the language of Kingdom.  I want to help others run.  The family is supposed to be bigger.   Everyone is invited.

Berry's Manifesto (fc)

 Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

    vacation with pay. Want more

    of everything ready-made. Be afraid

    to know your neighbors and to die.

    And you will have a window in your head.

    Not even your future will be a mystery

    any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

    and shut away in a little drawer.

    When they want you to buy something

    they will call you. When they want you

    to die for profit they will let you know.

    So, friends, every day do something

    that won't compute. Love the Lord.

    Love the world. Work for nothing.

    Take all that you have and be poor.

    Love someone who does not deserve it.

    Denounce the government and embrace

    the flag. Hope to live in that free

    republic for which it stands.

    Give your approval to all you cannot

    understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

    has not encountered he has not destroyed.

    Ask the questions that have no answers.

    Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.

    Say that your main crop is the forest

    that you did not plant,

    that you will not live to harvest.

    Say that the leaves are harvested

    when they have rotted into the mold.

    Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

    Put your faith in the two inches of humus

    that will build under the trees

    every thousand years.

    Listen to carrion - put your ear

    close, and hear the faint chattering

    of the songs that are to come.

    Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

    Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

    though you have considered all the facts.

    So long as women do not go cheap

    for power, please women more than men.

    Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

    a woman satisfied to bear a child?

    Will this disturb the sleep

    of a woman near to giving birth?

    Go with your love to the fields.

    Lie down in the shade. Rest your head

    in her lap. Swear allegiance

    to what is nighest your thoughts.

    As soon as the generals and the politicos

    can predict the motions of your mind,

    lose it. Leave it as a sign

    to mark the false trail, the way

    you didn't go. Be like the fox

    who makes more tracks than necessary,

    some in the wrong direction.

    Practice resurrection.

     

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from The Country of Marriage, copyright © 1973 by Wendell Berry, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Let's go conferencing! (fb)

Conferences are dumb.  They sell a dose of inspiration but with no means to do anything with it.  They create and sustain "sudo-experts"- this new class of folks that are neither experts (people who usually have initials after their name and have spent a chunk of time and sweat knowing more about something than 99.9% of the rest of us) nor are they practitioners (the people doing it that don't have time to go talk about it).  So they read the experts and observe the practitioners, write their observations in a book- then go preach the book at conferences.  Uggg- it's all so lame and Christians have become the best at it because Christians are delighted to spend money on inspiration.  Even the non-Christian experts are now tapping into the Christian conference circuit because there is great money to be made there.  Gosh- I just hate conferences.

All that to say I'd like to recommend a couple of conferences coming up this year.

First, the 99% Conference in NYC April 15-16.  Their tag line is "it's not about ideas it's about making ideas happen."  They are intentionally inviting doers to come and listen to and interact with other doers.  Not just doers, creative doers- a really rare breed.  They have made it outrageously expensive to make sure that looky-loos stay away.  Sponsored by Cool Hunting - I would love to go to this conference.

Second, the Clinton Global Initiative gathering in NYC September 21-24.  If you are invited to be a member and can ante up the $20k fee you can attend this conference.  It is THE gathering of the business leaders, social entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, and political leaders that are focused on taking action to address the most critical issues facing our planet, primarily issues related to improving the plight of the most vulnerable.

What do these gatherings have in common?  The are light on inspiration and heavy on action and outcome.  World-changers don't have the time or energy to get hyped up on inspirational adrenaline- but they will sacrifice a lot to get in an environment that helps them create breakthrough.

Other non-dumb, non-lame, no "sudo-experts" allowed conferences this year?

Relational Entrepreneurship (fb)

I just tweeted something I really like- that I've never said before- that I've never heard before.  I googled it and can't find a place where anyone else is saying it- but it IS what it IS.  Bloom I mean.  It's not just "social entrepreneurship" it's "relational entrepreneurship."  It is an entrepreneurial incubator based on, fueled by relationships.  Plus I just like the ring of it- I think people want to ask questions when they hear- "relational entrepreneurship" but when they hear "social entrepreneurship" it sounds like you're giving a lecture at some conference that nobody wants to attend.

What say you?

Half the Sky (fb)

It's January 2010 and, from where I sit, I am looking into Narnia or a Norman Rockwell painting or an Ansell Adams- kindof a combo of all three.  The snow and peace has given me the opportunity to do the thing I've wanted to do for a month.  I've been so excited but I didn't want a sip- I wanted to feast- so I've resisted the temptation to peek.  So this morning I took it in in one gulp and it is both satisfying and has left me desperately hungry, thirsty, restless.

For the last five years I've tried to piece together a case for the thing that God spoke to my heart.  I've spent hours pouring over the internet, clipping magazine articles, reading sociological studies that I could barely understand- trying to capture the hints and whispers in the media.  I have files on my computer and in my file cabinet.  But I still haven't been able to put my hands on a resource that put the cookies on the bottom shelf- until today.

If you want to understand the real reason that Stacy and I hit "reset" on our lives in our fortieth year, I have a resource for you.  It's called Half the Sky, a new book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.  Using stories, they build the case for the oppression of women as the core issue of our generation.  They equate the rising movement to bring liberation and empowerment to women with the anti-slavery movement under Wilberforce.  The focus is on three issues:  1.  Sex slavery, 2.  Gender-based violence and 3.  Maternal mortality.  They offer stories, statistics, and strategies to make a fuzzy picture clear and compelling.

If I could write an addendum to the book that would more fully explain my heart it would include things like....

The Father's heart for girls and women
The disproportionate share of suffering shouldered by dark-skinned women, particularly in Africa
The vulnerability of American women, including domestic violence, racism, AIDS, teen pregnancy, and sex trafficking
Megacities as the place of greatest oppression and opportunity
Entrepreneurship as tool of empowerment
What happens to a culture when women are freed
The treasure of women in church history
The Church as a model of hope in many of the most vulnerable places (and I would tell stories about amazing women church leaders in Turkey and how it must freak women out in the most wonderful way to see that the Church is a place for women to display their freedom, leadership, and gifts)
The "girl power" movement in Oklahoma City carried in the hearts of people like Amy Newberry, Kim Bandy, and Jenna Frank

Bloom is a freedom movement designed to glorify God throughout the nations.  It isn't the end, it's a means to an end.  It's the little part of the plow that I get to put my hand to.  In every world-changing freedom movement there is a person whose courage is so extraordinary that their name is associated with that movement- Wilberforce, Lincoln.  Maybe there will be a name connected to this one- if so it will be something like Ayan Hirsi Ali or Jacqueline Novogratz- but I sense this one will be more of a Joel two, nameless faceless crew- I long to be one of those.

I read around 25 books a year.  I love most of them- not because I love books but because I love ideas.  Half the Sky presents a world-changing idea that is in the middle of the heart of God.  Would you consider reading it this year?

NYT Jobless Rate research (fb)

Check out this interactive graph on jobless rates through the recent recession.  As usual, the black community shoulders a disproportionate share of suffering.  Black women with no high school degree are hit especially hard.

One woman = One business (fb)

Read the "One woman = One business" report from the ICRW- more fuel on the fire.  Here's the deal:

Empowering women may be THE key issue in the economic development of developing countries.

WHY?

Investment in the economic well being of women has a huge, exponential effect on the children, families, communities, and economic development of a nation.

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Women are the most marginalized and vulnerable group in developing countries, especially young women.  Black women in sub-saharan Africa are the most vulnerable.  Laws that prevent women's rights, crazy unhelpful social norms, lack of access to funding, unequal pay, disease, marriage at a young age, and lack of educational opportunity are just a few of the reasons.  (The spiritual realities behind all of this, coupled with what Jesus wants to do in our generation are - WOW- but that's for another time).

This report concludes that much is being done in the area of micro-finance to address the lack of access to funds for women entrepreneurs, BUT the greatest need is for "leadership training," "entrepreneurial skills training," and "peer networks."

What if a movement gave a "cookies on the bottom shelf" entrepreneurial opportunity to women all over the world?  What if that movement was built on leadership development, peer connection, and training? What if it offered substantial income opportunity?  Welcome to Bloom.

One house clean at a time (fc)

I’m a revivalist at heart and believe we’ll see revival when the most marginalized people on earth are overwhelmed with the glory of Jesus- manifest in freedom of worship and a radical forgiveness.  (I believe that group is black women but that is another conversation.  Racism IS the big dog daddy that this generation must war against, and it will cost us everything. )

I believe in the Church and I believe in the marketplace as the pioneering frontier of mission where the church can BE the church (it’s a lifestyle led by amateurs when it transforms- but you know that).

I believe that impacting the working class in America is a gateway to impacting the poor in the developing world.

We want to bring a practical mechanism of economic freedom and all that goes with it, built on the values of Jesus to the women of the developing world.

We’re doing that by starting a movement among working women in America.  

Our context is the house cleaning business.

We have done it ourselves - (fb)

Go to the people:
live with them, learn from them
love them
start with what they know 
build with what they have.


But of the best leaders, 
when the job is done,
the task accomplished,
the people will say:
"We have done it ourselves."


Lao Tzu
(Quoted in The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogrataz)

Our strategy for Bloom- beautifully articulated.