Archive of "Missional" Category
Perspective From a Year In Transition
Recently, I saw a post on facebook from a friend who said, “feeling in transition.” There was part of me felt sorrow and part of me felt excitement for this person.
If you are feeling in transition this post is for you. Welcome to the new normal, welcome to the new way of being in this world. Where we can finally face some of the the lies which we inherited like “security” and “wealth” and flip them on their heads with a radical simplicity. A hope in something more than the individualistic, consumer, American “dream”, which has failed us all.
To understand failure and its power of transformation, I believe one needs to fail their expectations and live in spite of fear. The driving theme in our human narrative is the fear of death. Overcoming our greatest fears, is a process of living well.
“What do you do?” is in my estimation the toughest question for a person in transition.
May I suggest a better question for people in transition, “What are you learning?”
Here is what I am learning:
1. We need new metrics of success. (Money, power, fame will not work in this new world we are living in, where the curator of information and the promoter of others, becomes the new CEO, because last I heard the salaries aren’t that good 
2. We need community more than we need commodities. (When I use the word community think of this analogy. An alcoholic steps into a room and this persons friend hands them a diet coke while entering a party. Community empowers the person, it does not enable destruction.)
3. There is are new social spaces emerging. (We have the white noise of social space vibrating our phones and filling our minds with activity. But People who make real face to face human contact happen, will yield the new currency.)
4. Empathy can take the lead in the “new economy”. (I am biased, I have a passion for faith communities specifically the tribe I belong too. The reason the congregation can lead is they can design mission around people projects, not buildings and salaries.)
5. At the end of my life, I will be thankful for this year. (I am overjoyed with a thankfulness to the people who have allowed me to commit and share with. Each week I become affirmed in my faith as a way of life, not just a belief.)
One year ago I stepped away from a company I co-founded with my father, wife and a couple friends. I did this to reclaim my life and it’s purpose. I did this to integrate a life lived on mission with my wife who is my greatest partner and friend. I did this, because I have a daughter and if I hope for her to live in a way that is abundant and meaningful than, I better start living with intention.
Step 1 – I went back to school to finish a degree in leadership.
Why did I go to Eastern Mennonite Seminary?
The Anabaptist Mennonite narrative is my grounding story. They are my faith community and were instrumental in bringing me back to life. I hope to ultimately work with leaders in activating their God given dreams for this world on the mission of reconciliation and transformation.
Step 2 – We started a “company” Why?
This time we designed it a little differently by founding a Talent Collective. I have a gift and I want to share it with amazing people, companies and organizations. There are better ways to work and www.myohai.com is just one of them.
Step 3 – We named and joined a movement
There are 1000′s of movements all around us, I recommend naming one or joining one you identify with. I connect and collaborate with www.ohipeople.com and www.anabaptistnetwork.org.
In the past year I have had the opportunity to share my gift with inspiring people doing amazing work in business, NPO’s, community development and churches.
Thank you for all those who have given me oppertunities and encouragement over the past year.
Listening to Rob Bell
On Monday evening March 14th Rob Bell was asked to defend the acquisition of believing in universalism. As I was watched the video, I couldn’t help but feel sad for Rob and all the Christians that need a person like Rob to allow them to believe in a God of love. (I think I started feeling bad for myself, also.) It seems like evangelical culture has fallen from the impulse of Christ: to love our enemy, love our neighbor, touch the unclean and invite people on the outside to our table, in order to defend “the” faith. The defense of right doctrine seems to be what is at stake here and Rob Bell isn’t a theological scholar. He is an artist, poet and pastor. Ultimately, he is a great public storyteller for the masses.
There has been a stream of the Evangelical message that promoted a fear of going to hell in order to be “saved”. We can all relate to fear and a way to communicate a message is by relating to an audience. There is fear of dying, fear of being rejected and fear of failure. I can’t help but applaud Rob for facing the fear of loosing his evangelical platform to speak about an inclusive God of love. Where love wins and people choose the way of compassion, generosity and peace making. People choose heaven right now.
It seems like people will engage when what they see from Christians is authentic and connecting with a deep longing. My gut says the movement of Christ message is happening both in and outside the church building and people are looking for ways to be involved in what God is doing in the world.
A Spark in the Revolution
I have spent most of my professional life trying on different identities to see which one fit. In the process I was a youth pastor, musician, delivery driver, summer camp director, philanthropic intern and social entrepreneur. Only since my recent decent into the freelance/consulting world have I found out what I have to offer that is good for others. It is a spark in the revolution.
The revolution is the leveling of the playing field. People want to offer their best to the world and they are tired of being told to wait until the powers that be are ready for them to serve. This is heard in the global voice of young educated leaders in Egypt who used social networks to organize, communicate and create change in their country. This revolution is taking place in the market space of philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and and it is even taking place in and around the American evangelical faith communities.
This can be witnessed in the rise of tribes who support the release of a new book by Rob Bell. This can also be viewed as a grand marketing platform which get’s an organic trending topic on twitter and thousands of comments on blog posts. I think of it as a sign of what people of faith want. They want to bring their “calling” to the for front of the way they live. Not in a dogmatic or forced way. They want to be liberated and able to lead with their whole heart.
As a recovering Evangelical I found myself liberated in my 20′s by the ability to enter into the questions people like Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and now early Anabaptist voices through class’s and Eastern Mennonite Seminary. The historical narrative of faith expressions connecting people to the teachings and way of Jesus is and will always be transformational. The fact is we do not “know” intellectually as we once thought we did and this scares a lot of people. It is easy to sell Certainty, people want to know if they are in or if they are out. If it is not as simple as hitting a “like” button on my computer I may loose interest a leave your church for my television or go to a golf course.
As a person who has just emerged from many years wrestling with my identity as a “christian” and how I live and work in the world. Recently I have started working with local leaders on a faith experiment this has helped shape the way I feel I best serve the needs of my local community. I am both a leader and a listener. I am listening to the passions of leaders in and around the church and I am leading by creating platforms for people to collaborate and bring their inner desires to the community.
We have asked the question of what it would like like to work together with other faith communities, business leaders and artists for the common good of a community. We do this through collaboration and generosity. You can learn more about the emerging platform for generosity at Open Hand Initiative.
Lead Us
After a day spent with church leaders in the Anabaptist context I have hope for how the church might engage people now and in the future. Clearly it can not be the same show, because the audience has become fragmented. The message I heard today from a young leader in Pittsburgh is that people want to be challenged. There is a need for communities of faith to call people to a life of discipline and transformation. This message will go against the heavily influenced western individualistic mindset of, “I want it now”.
In my recent life, career, and spiritual mentoring I have found it difficult to tell that very loud voice of individual idealism to “shut up and simmer down”. “You had your 20 plus years to speak now it’s somebody else’s turn,” I want to say to that little boy whom struggles to grow into this 31 year old mind, soul and body. Maybe I like to keep fighting against the forces of nature, because I think suffering is Divine. However, causing pain in another persons life because of my own inabilities or limitations is more than I can bear at times.
My mentor recently told me, “your gift to an organization or person is small and significant.” He calls what I bring to his business and leadership, “rocket fuel”. I love it when he talks to me about what he sees, because all I see at times like this is confusion and chaos. Constantly questioning past decision to make sure I didn’t screw up… But wait a minute if who I am in the world is a starter, then most of my effort will go un noticed and there will be many pieces left to complete. This is where leaders are important and why I believe every can lead. Leadership comes from our internal desire to live in a way that fits our personality and unique style.
Ever since I worked in the church out of college my view of leadership has been changing. The minute I started listening and stopped leading the young people through speaking to them, things started to move and people started to connect. They were responding to their own words reinterpreted to them through my mind and each other. Now there are times I think what is going on is because of me, and that is when I get out of sink with the team, because what I am is a molecule on the body that makes up the organization and the people leading create the future. With out leaders there is nothing for me to do, but wait, listen and wait.
My favorite way of being in the world is through leading in my activating, futuristic, and catalytic ways. This has happened several times through out my life. Most recently with a group of people who have started organizing here.
Peter Block: a story of social transformation
As I sat down for the session on Community lead by Peter Block I found myself unprepared for the experience unfolding before my eyes. Sitting down at a table like I mattered, because I brought coffee to share with the community of church leaders. As though I needed a reason to feel important. I heard Peter Block say to the Pastors in regard to their congregation, “they mistake you for God.”
He was talking about Walter Brueggemann and the journey to the center of good. It became apparent that Peter Block had done his homework on the pastoral life. Comparing the journey of the Israelites out of cannon to the promise land to our human condition in the wilderness of uncertainty.
He then went on to explain how there is a fault line in the patriarchal narrative of our society and we must decent through conversation. As an Anabaptist in trenched in Pennsylvania Dutch culture most my life I mostly felt like an outsider in the place I grew up and now live with my wife and child. However, listening to the a thought leader in the area of community transformation speak about descending and liberation I could hardly keep myself from leaping out of my seat and shouting. “Here I am send me!”
He then went on to deconstruct our view of leadership in community. Leaning up and against the systems of patriarchal hierarchy: is patriarchy held together by systems of hierarchy. Revealing the alternative future we are inviting people into when we become interested in the voices outside of the centers of power. He explained how we are not in a vocation to meet the expectation of others. In response to this perspective of expectation he stated, “I want from my boss all the things my parents can’t give.” The room erupted with awkward laughter and I felt at home…
With gentle ease he spoke these words into the open space of a beautiful church sanctuary, “Your freedom is scary.” My eyes began to well up with tears, I looked up at the stain glass to hear the voice of the images speak to me, but I heard nothing at all. In my upward gaze I say the art installation of hundreds of dreams put together in origami by people of this faith community. Professional, people with out homes, people with addictions, students, artists, activists, a community on Mission of reconciliation. HERE
Peter Block then went on to explain how in the wilderness, excess is not valued. This made so much sense to me evoking a conversation I had with Andrea several nights before about money and how certain months we bring in less and stay in our budget and enjoy the gift of life more than the months we make more money. “Why is that?” I thought… Maybe it is about well-being, and when we are more alive we need less material to fill our void. Maybe is is about Jesus’ version of the kingdom in Mark, were people can not hear or see kingdom when they are in power and are at the center of systems. Jesus is the image of transformation.
More coming soon of a community development exercise that is having profound transformational implication on how I live and work.
Message from a “Naked Anabaptist”
At a time when politics and media polarize our conversation, there is little room for cross cultural pollination and innovation in our local context. The Mennonite faith community, via emerging Anabaptist missional Theology has given me a lens to live again, as a participant in the mission of God through reconciliation. “How did I get here?” some of my readers and friends have asked me…
I had the privilege of listening to Stuart Murray speak at the Franconia Conference during a leadership breakfast. The Naked Anabaptist has been one of many books which have influenced my return to a Mennonite faith community through the Salford Congregation. Recently, Andrea and I became members at a time when many people are finding their way to faith through an Anabaptist tradition.
Here is a brief history of our vocational/educational/communal faith journey:
Andrea and I met in high school on a trip to Atlanta for people interested in missions. We both experienced some transformation and believed we were called to live a life as mission. I was a senior at Christopher Dock and she attended Lancaster Mennonite. We were both influenced in positive ways by Anabaptist stories and formation through excellent education and development. Even though our family history is Anabaptist we never felt apart of the Mennonite culture, which has made our return to this community even more transformational. It has allowed us to rescript our story and bring new life to our worldviews.
After High school we went on to study at Eastern University where I majored in Youth Ministry and Andrea majored in Theology. During College I served at Branchcreek as a youth pastor while Andrea helped develop and launch Encounter. Then we moved to The Woodlands UMC to work in youth ministry as well develop another alternative service called “Teleos”. We then moved back to Pennsylvania to pursue further education. We collaborated with some local leaders and started a faith community called Livingroom which we participated in for the next five years. During that time Andrea received her MBA in Economic Development and I started attending Biblical Seminary, but was unable to finish due to the launch and growth of One Village Coffee which I co-founded in March of 2007. This fall I transferred my credits to Eastern Mennonite Seminary Pennsylvania Campus where I plan to finish a degree in Congregational Leadership with a focus on local and global mission.
Recently, I was speaking with a life long Mennonite in my congregation and he asked me, “why are so many people coming joining Salford?” I explained something that Stuart Murray made clear during the leadership breakfast. The Anabaptist tradition offers good news to the marginalized lonely people in our world. We have transformational stories to tell about how people lived out their mission of reconciliation and peace. These stories point to the meta-narative of God’s Mission through Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
As someone who was surrounded by the Mennonite culture my whole life and never felt like I was home, I know that Stuart’s point about “good news” for our world is arguable. There has been much pain caused through cultural differences, shunning and other destructive behaviors. However, like any great story there is pain and there is reconciliation. I will continue to tell my story of transformation and how relationships with this faith community are creating a new reality for Andrea and I to live out our calling.
We are designed to live and create meaning. We are all on a path toward new creation. I found a space to belong in a Mennonite context in Southeastern Pa and I plan on sharing this good news as a story of hope, faith and love. May you find encouragement from this simple story from a Mennonite on the margin.
My_Ohi: Collaboration is our Future
A couple days ago I was sitting at a Chipotle with a good friend and missional practitioner Todd Hiestand. We were sharing stories about how we live in a state of transition as bi-vocational people. He is a husband, father of soon to be four children, Pastor at The Well and Founder/Principle of 343 Design. I have always been amazed at the quality of work Todd does to support his family and mission as a follower of Jesus. He is someone who I have looked to for clarity on my own calling and purpose in this world.
Recently, I have been able to receive some great clarity through a relationship with a local career coach Walter Sawatzky. He and are are collaborating on some work he is developing and in turn I am receiving coaching for my own vocational development. In our last session he helped me understand how I help people through ideation. I am speaking to the founder of the ideation conference tomorrow afternoon and hope to find more clarity on this recent development.
You see I have been working on a vision for over five years now and it keeps evolving. It has become apparent that there is a need in the greater Philadelphia area for new media coaching and consulting. Todd and I have ideas about what people want based on our own client interactions. However, it is our desire to design, develop and launch this organization with the collaborative effort of those who want to Open up their network, Hone their message and Ideate their dream.
Open Hand Initiative: Lemonade
One of my visions for this blog is to create a space where people can tell stories of open hand initiatives through giving, living and creating. At a time when politics, religion and economics polarize people groups. My hope is that we will look around our community and your world and find the Open Hand Initiative near you. And if there isn’t one you would ask the question: “What is God doing and how can I be involved in this grand narrative of reconciliation?” It is time to promote stories that change our worldview.
Here is a website my friend Todd Hiestand developed for an organization called Lemonade International. If you want to be inspired check out both of these sites by clicking on their names in this post.
May this Monday be filled with hope and excittment.
Breaking Free From the “Cages”
I am listening to ELLUL as I write this. I invite you to listen to the song “Cages” as you read this post.
Passing notes to the devil
Fear masked in barbell denials
Taping our hands to reduce the strain
Passing notes over ashes
Bury memory in the bright lights
Tape my eyes to mask the shame (Lyrics from Cages by Ellul)
We are in transition as a society and this is having an effect on our lives. Some of us are feeling this more than others: possibly in our inability to find work that pays us “what we are worth” or in finding any work at all. This economic crisis has allowed for great possibility of transformation, revealing the lie we have believed for the past decade. This begs the question: how will we live the possibility of what’s to come for the next decade?
A new way of thinking, believing, and bahaving in this world we no longer belong too.
We can no longer belong to the kingdom of God and keep the system alive. WE HAVE BELIEVED THE LIE and now we have to go through a time of transition.
This past weekend I spoke with some young people about how we follow stories from our society or social spaces. I was asking them what stories do they want to tell? It is in the following and telling of stories we create reality.
Here is a movie that makes the point about what type of messages we send and how they reveal our motives:
If you have not seen The Green Zone and you like conspiracy war movies. I highly recommend it…
In this story as the unfolding of a lie is revealed to the main character and truth emerges. That truth cuts to the core of this characters purpose in being a soldier and belonging to the U.S Military. In this story the reality the media and systems of power create has massive consequences.
If your anything like me, it is not hard to look at your own life and see how telling stories or living certain ways has created a mess of chaos and confusion. Recently, I have returned to a faith community(Mennonite Church) as well as a world view where there is an overarching story of belonging to God’s Mission through Reconciliation represented in the life, death resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is in the telling and retelling of this great story of judgment, sacrifice and love that I find hope.
Here is a video from a song I shared this weekend: Mumford and Sons
As you listen to this song maybe you want to ask yourself:
What stories am I following that are no longer bringing life?
What stories am I telling myself or others that are lies?
Maybe naming the fear, judgment, cynicism and regret we begin the process of transformation…
What is a Preacher
A preacher is one who communicates the gospel to people.
I have often found it hard to view the pastor as the soul preacher, even more now than before. Today we have all sorts of preaching but very little gospel revelation.
I have scene the gospel and I have experienced the Kingdom in the most unlikely of places. The parts of the Gospels that inspire me are the part where the impossible is realized or the wrong is made right. IE, sitting with sinners, healing the sick or talking to woman.
There are parts of the Gospels so human they often go un noticed by most evangelicals, parts that reveal the very nature of man and the very possibility of God.
Tomorrow night I will share the story of One Village Coffee to over 100 employees of a Whole Foods Market in my community. This is an opportunity I am grateful for. From the perspective of the listener, I am just another voice in the market of wholesaling goods through their venue. From my perspective I am a man apart of a emerging organization designed around organic principles of growth. Care for the customer and contribution to greater society, the enabling of the poor to sustain a society longing for growth and change.
I am a simple person full of dreams for more than I can create, the possibility that God is involved in Creation and wants all of us to be involved together. Tomorrow night will be a moment like that, and my only hope is that I will be aware enough to see the Gospel. The place were the Good News of God So loved the World… The space and time where The Creator steps in and Create His image, divulging the secret of the Universe…
There is a God and that God is love, and in Him there is no darkness at all…
Wont you pray with me…
