Hammer Time!

Thanks to Matt for directing my attention to this bit of greatness.

When I’ve written about Flash Mobs, this is what I’m talking about!

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True?

From www.gapingvoid.com:

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Seth Godin :: Tribes

If you are leading anyone, anywhere, watch this talk.  If you’re not leading, we need you to lead.  Especially all of those Christian-leader types that I know read my blog.  Or the students who are dreaming about a better world.  Or the chronic complainers who can tell you everything that is wrong with the world but refuse to create an alternative.

Start something.  Connect with others.  Make a difference.  Watch this talk.

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I miss the old Facebook.

There was a time when I could not comprehend why my friends complained every time Facebook executed a layout change.  I figured that listing complaints in status update after status update wouldn’t do much good.  I also suspected that the changes, over time, would prove to be positive.  I assumed this with the last layout change.  But I was wrong.

Last week I came to the conclusion that the newest version of Facebook has lost touch with the elements that made it so great.  The beauty of Facebook, at its genesis, was its simplicity.  This has been lost.  The site is now dominated by quizzes and fan pages.  This is disappointing.  The experience used to be about facilitating relationship between me and my friends.  Now it is about applications and salesmanship.  Bummer.

The latest changes to Facebook, in my view, mark the beginning of its demise.  It is only a matter of time now that someone will introduce a simpler, more intuitive online social networking service that will be more enjoyable to use.  In the last few weeks I’ve increased my frequency on Twitter, which is limited to updates from my network, keeps profiles short, and doesn’t overwhelm me with extra tools and features.  It is simple.  It is useful.  And it is fun.

I miss the old Facebook.

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Big Vision. Thoughts on Renewal.

Andrew Conard recently offered this reflection on the future of The United Methodist Church.  Andrew is dreaming about renewal/revival for the denomination and how this might come about.  Quite frankly, I’m glad that he is.  I recommend reading his entire post and invite Methodists out there to add their voice to the conversation.

Andrew Conard is a friend, and as my friend he and I often talk about ministry, theology, Christian faith, practice, our local church fellowship, our read on the social landscape, and our hope for the future of the denomination.  I never find these conversations boring.  Andrew might, because no matter what subject we discuss, I always seem to bring up discipleship and Jesus and God’s humorous ways of employing me for his service and Jesus and discipleship.  At the root our desire is the same.  We want people to know Jesus, we want The United Methodist Church to be faithful, and we want to be part of a new, good thing within both the local congregation and the connectional system at large.  Andrew has a lot at stake, as he is on track to be an elder.  I have a lot at stake because my wife will be ordained as an elder, and I guess I’m part of this thing.  I want my children to grow up in a church that is alive-with-God and taking part in the work of the New Creation.  I want to be part of a church that preaches a rich, robust, gospel of grace, doesn’t shy away from the cross, and boldly proclaims the resurrection.  I want to hear about the particularities of the God named Trinity.  I want our life together to be compelling to my neighbors.

That won’t come about apart from God’s grace and our reliance on the Divine to do a good work in us.

From what Andrew and I have gathered, there are a number of movements among young clergy throughout the denomination.  There are more people than the two of us dreaming about tomorrow while working hard today.  There are a number of ideas for what is necessary if the church is to move forward positively.  For some this new future entails reformulating the appointment process or changing the candidacy process.  For some reshuffling the denominational polity or breaking down the “good ‘ole boy network” which exists within some conferences or districts is the top priority.  Others want a change in the Discipline on one matter or another.  There are a number of things people seem to think are really important and vital for the future of the denomination.

Sometimes I think our imagination is far too small.

We’re going to have to think about this.  There seems to be a lot of different ideas about the problems that face Methodism and the right solutions for our collective faithfulness.

As Andrew and I discuss movements, social media, and how the denomination as a whole might bring about change, we have discerned that it might not be the case that there must be one, singular, centralized movement pushing for renewal/revival within the denomination.  Rather, we thought that a more compelling idea might be that of mini-movements all headed in the same direction.  If a number of people are networked around common causes that are all pushing toward the same goal, a larger cause might emerge.  Andrew illustrated this idea with this napkin sketch:

To play a part in this, Andrew has suggested the following:

• Articulate a vision or align with the vision of another for spiritual revival and renewal within the United Methodist Church.
• Begin to take action toward that vision.
• Make your vision and action public through a blog, facebook, twitter, etc or share the vision and action of someone else whose story needs to be told.
• When you hear or read a story of vision and action that is producing fruit for God’s kingdom – share it with others.

Thus far, I’ve played a part in this by initiating a prayer movement.  I proposed the idea, and over 50 people have volunteered to pray.  You can think of the prayer initiative as one of the little arrows in the graphic above.

While I think the fruit of my conversation with Andrew is good and his articulation is helpful (little movements within one big movement), my biggest challenge right now is the current end goal.  I believe “renewal/revival” is too vague.  What are all the little arrows oriented toward?  What are the themes which will run through all of these movements?  If renewal takes place, why will people say the denomination has been renewed?  More people following Jesus?  More homeless being fed?  More people equipped with job skills in a difficult economy?  More churches being planted?  By what criteria will we measure whether “renewal” has occurred?

I’d like the little movements to be defined by the following themes:

• Public professions of faith in Jesus, declaring allegiance to Christ as “Lord.”  I want people to be drawn to Christ.
• Evangelism and Discipleship taking place simultaneously within local congregations.  People coming to faith and being closely instructed in the central tenets of the faith.
• Creative partnerships between the culturally powerful and powerless.  Rich and poor engaging in service together for the common good.
• Humble service on the part of our pastoral leaders.
• Creating a language of call in local congregations that challenges all people.  This includes calling people to pastoral leadership, but does not exclude the calling of all people to serve as priests in the business, home, education, or public service sectors.

We need to have an idea where we are going and what we can do.  And we need to have ideas that permeate multiple levels of the denomination.

If you’re out there working, serving, pastoring or leading, keep up the work, contribute your ideas, and let’s coalesce around some common ideas.  Renewal will take all of us.

Do something good.

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Flash Mobs

This week I’ve been reading Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.  In Chapter 7, “Faster and Faster,” I was introduced to the idea of a flash mob.  Awesome stuff.

Basically, a flash mob is “a group that engages in seemingly spontaneous but actually synchronized behavior.”  This has been made fairly famous in this ad by T-Mobile:

Here are a couple of other examples of a flash mob in action.  In the first video, you’ll see a demonstration by a Fair Trade organization.  In the second, you will see a demonstration to increase awareness of a NFL game that was to be played in Europe.

The cool thing about flash mobs is that these demonstrations do not require a centrally organized planning commission or an organization of any type to pull it off.  All it requires is a blog post, an email, or a Twitter update notifying a mass public of the time, place, and the form the event will take.  Whoever shows up will show up.  Whoever brings the appropriate goods and knows the script takes part.  All that is needed is a time, place, an intended action, and a cause people believe in.  And it is all tied together by social media.

In his chapter, one of Shirky’s examples came from the country of Belarus.  Shirky describes the reelection of Alexander Lukashenko in 2006.  This event was seen by many there as evidence of corruption.  Lukashenko captured a third term in this election with 85% of the vote–many thought this clearly showed the election was rigged.  Lukashenko has enjoyed unchecked power since 1994, and many in the populace were unhappy with his rule.  The Lukashenko government, however, had sworn to quickly crush any opposition that might rise up following the announced outcome of the election.  Demonstrations against this form of government would require creativity.

In May of 2006 someone using the handle by_mob used LiveJournal, a piece of blogging software, to coordinate a flash mob on the fifteenth of that month in Minsk’s Oktyabrskaya Square.  The plan was to show up, en masse, and eat ice cream.  No central coordination, no guarantee of anyone showing up, but on that date, the police were waiting, and arrested and hauled away those there eating ice cream.  This, of course, made the Lukashenko regime look ridiculous.  Others who participated stood by, took pictures and video, and quickly uploaded their media to Flickr, LiveJournal, and other outlets to expose the Lukashenko government as absurdly oppressive.

My question: how could churches use social media to organize creative protest–actions of spontaneous yet coordinated community?    Where could we show up, en masse, ready to throw a football, celebrate, dance, hand out water, or cry out for justice, with the connection spurring such action being social media tools and word of mouth between peers.

Hey, the possibilities are pretty endless.

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The Curse of the Analytic Mind

The risk in thinking “worldviewishly” is that we will start to think that the best way to change culture is to analyze it.  We will start worldview academies, host worldview seminars, write worldview books.  These may have some real value if they help us understand the horizons that our culture shapes, but they cannot substitute for the creation of real cultural goods.  And they will subtly tend to produce philosophers rather than plumbers, abstract thinkers instead of artists and artisans.  They can create a cultural niche in which “worldview thinkers” are privileged while other kids of culture makers are shunted aside.

But culture is not changed simply by thinking.

-Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling

This week I’ve been reading Andy Crouch.  It has been quite enjoyable.  In fact, this is one of the best books I’ve picked up in a while that offers a helpful challenge to Christianity.  I’ve been convicted just as much as I have been encouraged.  That is the mark of a good book.

I’m analytical and critical.  I love to break down a discourse, a book, an event, a newspaper article, a poem, a piece of art, a movie, a play.  I enjoy asking questions.  And I enjoy sharing my opinions.

But the true desire of me heart, in recent days, has been to undertake a creative, cooperative venture with other like minded people to create something in our world that is helpful, hopeful, and true.

For those of us (myself included) who tend to analyze culture, I hope that Crouch’s words remind us that to think about and analyze our world is not alone sufficient.  We have to create.  We have to get about the business of bringing about new things.  You don’t like the current culture, whether it be national or ecclesial?  You’re discouraged by an institutional or communal structure you think is outmoded, outdated, sluggish, apathetic, restrictive, or errant?  Quit complaining and get to work.

As Crouch himself has written, “The only way to change culture is to create more of it.“

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TED Talks: Barry Schwartz on Practical Wisdom

The good news: this guy has read his Aristotle.  TED Talks are a great resource.  If you don’t already know about them, go here, bookmark the site, and take in what is offered there.  In this talk Schwartz talks about virtue and the need for practical wisdom, as well as the need to moralize work.  He exhorts the minds at TED to identify moral exemplars and celebrate those who embody wisdom.  My only question for Schwartz: by what criteria do we identify those persons?

I enjoyed this talk.  Visit the site and check out others.

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Rock Me Sexy Jesus

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WhiteHouse.gov Gets a Redesign

This information appeared first here at TechCrunch, but I thought it was worth passing along.  Cool stuff.

You can check the new website here and browse the blog, see President Obama’s weekly web address, and read up on White House approaches to important issues.  

If the government can adapt their technologies to attempt and communicate better with the people of this country…I’m thinking there is a lesson here.

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