Idea Camping Live: Engaging Local Poverty

February 28, 2009 //

This morning, started with panel discussion, Engaging Local Poverty, with Mark Horvath, David Ruis, Greg Russinger and Grace Yi.

I came in a little bit late, but the panelists shared some really important parts of what it means to engage people (not just developing more programs):

The church must move from event-driven, sales-quota organization to a compassionate heart.
Compassionate = to suffer with. If you’re going to live as one who is socially involved, must learn reciprocal relationships with others, learn to suffer with them. Attitude: I’m going to invest in others, rather than swoop in and save them.
Attitude of have’s against the have-not’s breeds arrogance. Mercy, not sacrifice; friendship, not condescension.
David Ruis:We don’t really know if we’re helping unless we’re listening
Mark Horvath: If every church just helped one homeless person, thousands would be helped in every city
Online question: If a church gets the message loud and clear and wants to start a friendship-based outreach — Greg Russinger: Takes time, listening, the monastic disciplines of attentiveness, reverence for another human being
Greg Russinger: Welcoming the stranger creates disequilibirum in your life. Of all the things Jesus lists in Matthew 25,welcoming the stranger most reveals your heart, including judgments, biases, etc.
Move away from NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude

Tags theideacamp

Categories church, communication, innovation, ministry

Idea Camping Live (Almost!): Session 2

February 28, 2009 //

Much to the credit of The Idea Camp, last night’s main session was filled with so many great ideas that it was hard for slow-blogging me to keep up… So, this is my almost-live blog from the session! The live Twitter feed is definitely worth following — instant feedback on what’s resonating with people, shared insights and interesting responses.

A huge part of my experience so far has been listening to people’s stories. There really is a collective wisdom happening here, and it was great to share a nice dinner at In-N-Out with friends, among them LT, Eugene Cho, Paul from Vox, and Todd Hiestand. Got to hear a little more about the International Justice Mission story from Daniel Li. The need for justice for the oppressed in the world is overwhelming; may God continue to guide the faithful work of IJM to serve those in greatest need for justice.

First, we heard from the people behind Deidox — “short films telling true stories of an active God.” The Dei refers to God, the dox to documentaries. Interesting approach, especially the Radiohead-esque pay what you want strategy.

Next, Dave Gibbons spent some time talking about innovation, and brought John Park (from Google) and Maxim Carp to the stage to interview. Dave talked about the disequilibrium, and its associated fear and stress, cause a person to go laser in focusing on a perceived threat. It helps a person deal with the immediate problem, but limits one’s macro-perspective.

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Tags theideacamp

Categories communication, community, design, faith

Idea Camping Live: Join Us!

February 27, 2009 //

If you’re not able to join us face-to-face, you can view the live stream for The Idea Camp here.

There is also a great live Twitter feed at The Idea Camp mobile site here (the mobile site also has a printable schedule — going green by putting the schedule online!). Already great tweets and insights going out…

Tags theideacamp

Categories communication, community, innovation

Idea Camping Live: Session 1

February 27, 2009 //

Here at NewSong in Irvine – just had a great lunch with Laurence Tom, Dawn Carter, Dave Ingland and Idea Camp web guru Daniel Li and starting the first main session of The Idea Camp!

The ethos of the Idea Camp is collaboration, friendship and innovation. We just watched a short film, Benched, about ways we can practically benefit and bless our neighborhoods. Charles Lee is interviewing Jeff Shinabarger about dreaming for our communities and then acting on those dreams. For example, Gift Card Giver took about two years to decide if it was going to be worth pursuing (which, it turns out, it was!).

Questions are coming in already via text — “Did you get any pushback from the city when planning for the benched project?” Response, “Sometimes you ask for permission, sometimes for forgiveness!” But since they’ve launched out, there haven’t been any problems.

More to come!

Tags theideacamp

Categories communication, community, ministry, missional

Friday Freebies: Go Green!

February 27, 2009 //

From the Read Green Initiative, you can get a free one year magazine subscription. There are some pretty good titles from which to choose, including Popular Science, US News and World Report, and iPhone Life.

Get the Emo is Awesome/Emo is Evil compilation free from Deep Elm, featuring tracks from the likes of Planes Mistaken for Stars and Appleseed Cast.

And, if you’re hungry, you can get a coupon for a free frozen entree from Kashi until March 15th or a coupon for a free Quiznos sub.

Categories freebies