a slice of what?

well, it is not secret that i am the lead pastor at connection church in hickory, nc - and i might add that i love it :) i got a email from a bud, bob hyatt over at evergreen at the other side of the world [in portland] letting me know that "ingrid" was dogging connection church again - because we have a picture of a girl sitting between two guys on the front page - she thinks it has "sexual over tones." well, i did post a comment on her blog, and i guess we will see if she posts it [she approves all "first time comments" to her blog]

but now here is the dilemma i find myself in. with a new lead guy [me] and a new building, we are developing a new site - and that picture is not in the mix - but if we keep it off the mix, will she then claim it was her voice that changed our minds? do you see what i mean? do we do as we were doing, and just be who we are? for us, the picture expresses community and relationship - nothing sexual at all. then, if we do not use that picture do we look at every picture we then desire to use and think "could this be sexual?" - man, this can be a mind-blowing and weird experience. what is a off centered, connective, relational, loving, accepting, forgiving community of faith to do?

i know, while we encourage her to have her own thought, we accept the fact that her thoughts do not drive us as a community of faith. we will design the site as we desire, and use the pictures we believe best express our community. if we worry about what every person will or will not like we will be placed in fear and never move forward. we encourage her to continue to express her voice, but we also stand that we do not have to agree with her - or allow her to determine the path of connection church -

emergence

I visited Chapters yesterday because I wanted to look at three books: Chaos (Gleick), The Hidden Connections (Capra) and The World is Flat (Friedmann). Of these the first two got my attention as I paged through.

Capra, it turns out, is Fritjof Capra of the astonishing work of some years ago titled "The Turning Point." A physicist by trade, but now also into biology and organizational science, his chapter on "Life and Leadership in Organizations" in this book is excellent. He acknowledges a heavy debt to Margaret Wheatley.

In the chapter named I found a number of gripping thoughts. Here are two of them:

"The phenomenon of emergence takes place at critical points of instability that arise from fluctuations in the environment, amplified in feedback loops." p. 117

That quote brought to mind the ascending circles (left to right) in the diagram penned by Brother Maynard some months back. The loops in Maynard's diagram represented the life of a movement over time, from birth to death, but with something of the original dynamic preserved in the life of a new movement (the next loop) as the old became mired in management and programming. But it struck me that another truth was represented there and as innovative leaders spin onward and outward from one movement to another, (innovators are not threatened by chaos and change, not mired in tradition, and tend to maintain supportive networks with other innovators), they carry the DNA that nurtures new movements.

Capra notes there are two dynamics in living organisms: design and emergence. He draws a parallel to leadership systems: one set of skills anchors leaders who are good at design, another set anchors leaders who are good at facilitating networks and environments (the foundation of emergence). The health and flexibility of any organization will be measured by the degree that these two dynamisms interact. Along the way comes another statement:

"Facilitating emergence means first building up and nurturing networks of communication in order to “connect the system to more of itself” p.122

And this statement connects back to the letter of Mark Stephenson and to his concerns. Mark complained that it seems like a lot of energy is going into conversation, that we hear the same things again and again..

But in all this talk we are building relationship, unleashing creativity, and establishing support for one another as we become bolder to dream our dreams.

"If we dream alone, it remains merely a dream. If many dream together, then it is the beginning of a new reality..." Elisabeth Fiorenza

There is plenty more grist for discussion here.. the acknowledged tension between form and freedom (structure and spontaneity), as well as the need for a transition in leadership paradigms. Some links:

Creativity and Leadership in Learning Communities (Capra) PDF

moving can shake the crap out of you

it seems the best way to get a new look at life is to move cross country. now, i am not sure if it because i spent the better part of the day team driving with my wife; or that we had to deal with three kids and a dog; or if it was the fact that we were not connected for over a month - we did not have lap tops at the time of the move; or if it was just that i got to see some amazing things on the drive and spent a great deal of time talking with the women i love - who knows, all i can say is moving sure does shake the crap out of a person.

on the trip i came toa realization that living on the edge is f fun, but rather hard to deal with at time. but more, i even think that what we see as the "edge" is simply a bad spot to be in. so, one says, 'welcome to the edge.' keep in mind, being on the edge means you have people behind you wanting to push and people in front of you wanting to pull - and it takes all you have to simply hold onto the ropes and find a place to stand.

i think the idea is to just be the one God called, and let the others be the others, and let them flap all the gums they desire. for awhile there i was concerned with what cason and others say - and i found myself "picking sides" - and soemtimes i did not agree with the side i picked, but i picked it because it was against the side i did not want to belong too; or felt i should not belong too. then, i drove cross country and took a new position - i think it was all the time away from the "in your face emerging" that changed me and mellowed my thoughts - but for me, the "edge" is not the radicals on either side; they are simply voices that hold no meaning to me, so i let them go; they are the ones with the rope. for me, the edge is a place where God moves us to be and see the vast open spaces before us - and share his vision with us. it is a place where we come to the realization that who we are is based more on our standing with God, then with what someone else thinks. i have come to the conclusion that in that stance i need not defend, define, or explain my views - they are what they are. some will agree, some will not- but all in all i am the one God made and called to this path - and God is the only person i am accountable to.

man, moving can truly shake the crap out of a guy :)