Alright... here we go.
How do we lead in the third culture?
Third culture leader is focused on the fringed, focused on the misfits more than the masses.
Steve Jobs is a good example of a thrd culture leader.
*third, sorry.
"1 million people follow her twits .... er TWEETS!"
(That was hilarious, by the way...)
The fringes, the margins they lead the movements!
How does vision typically move in the church? We start in the center, move to the executive board, then to the congregation
But for God, he starts on the fringes and....
What keeps us back from loving the fringes and the people on the fringes?
It's our metrics. It's how we measure success....
Can anyone actually live up to the metric system of measurement we have set up in our churches?
(Dave Gibbons ins great, by the way.)
He's telling a story about how his church started out successful, got burned out, and then lost money and church members.
Most of the world doesn't understand American success, but they DO understand suffering.
Failure is success to God.
What's more valuable than the people in your congregation??
(Nothing. That's the right answer.)
Do you have time to listen to the story of the people in your church?
How many of these people do I actually see? How many of them want to be seen and I'm just not seeing them.... I need to start seeing people!
Weakness guides us more than our strengths.
Relationships TRUMP vision.
We don't need more visionaries in this world, we need more relationaries.
We need a different set of metrics in the Church. But most of us aren't going to choose it. So God's going to allow some pain into our lives....
He's telling a story about how he wanted a huge building for his church but didn't get it.
Talking about listening to the Spirit, how he said "maybe the church is more about what happens outside the church walls than inside."
You need to apply the 70/30 principle. What's your 70%? In the past it was programs, sermon prep, admin...
What if you switched that around? What if you spent 70% of your time developing leaders and 30% on programs?
I'm going to hang out with people who aren't like me. Now my office is in one of the most dangerous cities around.
I read people who are different than me, go to conferences where I don't see the same people every year.
The Medici effect = when you get differing opinions, great illuminations occure.
*occur.
Let the local leadership (of our satellites) lead the way and decide for themselves what will work best in their context.
Obedience is more important than passion for the third culture leader.
Jesus didn't FEEL LIKE going to the cross... But he was obedient to it.
There are four acts to obedience... 1. Deeper collaboration
2. Communal living. Maybe some of us need to choose to live together. Families that stay together and learn to live together.
Maybe we live together in the same neighborhood, eat each other's food, etc.
3. Prayer. The church doesn't believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Do you really believe that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you?
4. Radical sacrifice. Are you willing to die to your own values? Material possessions in your life? Are you willing to move to a different culture?
Telling a story about how his mom had to endure some severe suffering in life.
She died in a hit and run accident after divorcing Dave's dad.
His mom endured some severe sacrifice... Sacrificing her wants and needs for him.
"My mom, she was pretty and lovely, but now ... She's beautiful."
"My mom was a third culture leader."
And Dave is off the stage.
Here's a link for Dave's book:
www.amazon.com
