the idea camp

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12
Mar 09

Creativity: The Monkey And The Fish and the church

monkey-fish-parableFor my participation in the Dave Gibbons’ blog tour last week, I was given a copy of Dave’s new book The Monkey And The Fish: Liquid Leadership For A Third-Culture Church. Third-culture and the whole premise behind how Pastor Gibbons explains it has really spoken to me. I feel as if even though I feel more American than Japanese (in a cultural context), some aspects of engaging in various cultures connects with something in my inner being. At the heart of my soul I feel a kind of oneness with everyone. It’s as if I’m cross-cultural and multi-generational.

So, I eagerly sat down to read the book last night and felt a little disappointed. I wasn’t particularly fond of the writing style and felt as if Dave shared too many different voices in this book. Funny thing happens when I approach things like this with my own set of expectations. God always seems to hit me upside-the-head and show me the error of my ways. The more I read, the more it exposed questions I had. The more I wondered if the church is ready for this kind of culture shift. Finally, I realized what I believe the blessing of The Monkey And The Fish is going to be. I will be using it as a catalyst to facilitate conversation and deep thought within our core group of Revolution Church Sacramento as we prepare to gather for the first time tomorrow night. A lot of things I had thought of, but probably couldn’t quite express verbally or as concisely are presented in every chapter of Dave’s book. This is going to be a great tool that can be used to help us find our mission and do our part to embrace the third-culture concepts in a way that not only speaks to each of us in the church, but also causes us to be relevant to our community. As my friend Charles T Lee commented in an online chat last night, “The Idea Camp will never end.” How true (possibly prophetic) that statement really was!

My analytical, orderly mind saw randomness and too much input from other people in this book, but my creative aspect caused me to wonder “what if?” and to just listen and hear others speak to this and let Dave’s thoughts speak to them…to let Dave’s thoughts speak to me. Tomorrow is going to be a good night…a memorable night…a historic step forward for our community. I can’t wait!

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4
Mar 09

The Idea Camp: Post-camp thoughts…art of networking

One of the things I wanted to do at The Idea Camp was to get some ideas on networking. I’ve done a lot of networking in the past for gaining business clients, but never really networked much to gain resources. As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I am not much of a social person. In fact, I’m pretty introverted normally. So, The Idea Camp was a place I could push my limits a bit.

DJ Chuang has really helped me gain an understanding on networking. He is more than a follower on twitter or a friend on facebook, but he truly gets how to build relationships. Obviously Charles T. Lee gets networking as well since in his interview with me he revealed that he knew most of the facilitators prior to hosting The Idea Camp.

Anyone can jump on twitter and just follow thousands of people and get reciprocal followers and look like they have a lot of influence, but that really isn’t networking. It’s more like broadcasting.

What sets DJ & Charles apart from the crowd? It’s their willingness to listen and then try to help others network as well. It’s their interest in the individual that matters. I remember once how DJ Chuang first came into my life through following my youtube channel. Then, by my following his blog I sent him an email which then turned into a phone call, which then turned into a tweetup at The Idea Camp, which then became a bond between us. I consider DJ a friend now. With Charles, I remember tweeting about how I really wanted to get to The Idea Camp, but wasn’t sure I could get coverage for an event that was happening that Friday night which I led every month, nor was I sure I could afford the travel. Every time Charles would just tweet back, “Just commit to come down. You won’t be disappointed.” Honestly, I don’t think anyone would have missed me if I had not gone to The Idea Camp. However, Charles made me feel like I was important. He cared about me and my presence. Now that I know Charles a little more, I am compelled to stay in touch just so I can see how I can help him with his causes and ministry and continue learning from him and reciprocating the love any way possible.

In the end, the art of networking isn’t about the network, but it is about you. What are you trying to gain from networking and how do you choose who to network with? Having 123,830 twitter followers does not make you a networker, it generally you a twitter whore. Better to have 50 people in a sphere of influence where community and lasting relationships are developed then to be the rockstar of the twitter community. Do you care about relationships, or just how many people know who you are?

Thanks to DJ Chuang and Charles T. Lee, I feel blessed and priviledged to sense their caring and kindness to a nobody like me that at one time felt lost in the world of networking, but now feel like I have learned how to do it properly and responsibly. The Idea Camp made this a reality for me.

How do you network and why? Would appreciate your comments.

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technology / the idea camp — 1 Comment
4
Mar 09

The Idea Camp: Post-camp Thoughts…Technology And Social Media

social-media-techOne of the things I was really looking forward to at The Idea Camp was a chance to hear people bouncing ideas off of each other, especially in the area of merging technology with the church. In the end, not a lot of ideas were really opened up, but many people came with lots of questions. In particular, the questions were about technology and social media.

It seems that people are hearing about twitter, yet not quite understanding it. It seems some are hearing about facebook, but not quite getting it. Unfortunately, I truly believe that if we don’t keep up with the pace of tech and social media we will get left behind. Some are willing to let the rest of the world pass them by.

I must admit that as technology oriented as some people think I am, I am really behind the times. I started with myspace and didn’t like it, but found that the kids in my youth ministry wouldn’t return calls or emails, but would reply to myspace messages. Then I tried facebook about 2 years ago and hated it. It was so plain and everyone else’s page looked the same…it was homogeneous with no personality. However, I soon realized that once again, friends that wouldn’t respond to email or phone calls, were responding to facebook messages. So, I adapted and have learned to like facebook because it is convenient and I can update through my cell phone while on the go. Next came twitter, which was just so boring and voyeuristic. I signed on with twitter July 31, 2008 and after barely breaking 100 followers last December, I now have over 770--an increase of about 670 followers in just the past two months. I’m not even really trying. It’s taking off like crazy with more new connections being made daily! These are people I wouldn’t ordinarily get to meet without a tool such as twitter.

iphone-thumbnailAt some point, with cell phones such as the iphone being able to do just about everything a notebook computer can do, email will be obsolete completely and even sms messaging could fall by the wayside as twitter and facebook take over.

As speakers were on the main stage, we in the live audience and all viewing the streaming webcast could use cell phones to text message the speakers with a question that would get answered. Programs and schedules were not printed and distributed online in advance of the gathering. Off-site meetings for lunch were coordinated via tweetups. It was quite a sight to see so many people moving along the conference halls knowing where they were going because they were plugged in.

The Idea Camp protwitter-logo-thumbnailved to me that I need to stay connected with others and continue to develop my networks. I got a chance to connect with several people that I had only known through twitter such as: @charlestlee, @djchuang, @jonathanhochan, @cynthiaware, @laurencetom, @marcpayan, @gregatkinson and @scotthodge. Social networking facilitated conversation and connection, but I have to admit that meeting face-to-face really solidified these friendships. I am now a real face that had a chance to engage with them in dialog and vice-versa. Even some people that I had not connected with previously, but followed on twitter came up to me and introduced themselves such as @joshchow and @nellechang.

I’m learning a lot through my journey in social networking and using technology and new media. have a funny feeling that we haven’t even scratched the surface yet and there are more exciting new ways to connect coming on the horizon. I’m looking to implement some of these technologies for open communication within our church plant later this August.

Do you have any takeaways from The Idea Camp in regards to tech or social media? Maybe you have an interesting way you are implementing tech into your ministry? I’d appreciate seeing your ideas so please comment with them!

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3
Mar 09

The Idea Camp: Post-camp thoughts…Q&A with Charles Lee

charles-leeAfter experiencing all there was at The Idea Camp, I realized that Charles Lee was everywhere. He seemed to have a million responsibilities, yet was always at peace with how things were going, fully focused and prepared. Remembering how things seemed to come together for this event so quickly, I wanted to pick Charles’ brain and see if he’d share his thoughts on the process and the future of The Idea Camp. Just who is this superman and what caused him to faithfully see this event through? Charles was so gracious to reply and I am honored to be able to share his thoughts with you in a Q&A session:

Q: What was the impetus that got you to take action for creating The Idea Camp?

It was birthed out of a season of reading about the cultural shifts towards open-sourcing and crowd-sourcing. The basic premise was that the “crowd” is usually wiser, faster, and more innovative than structured leadership, especially in light of the growth of the internet. I began to think what these ideas would mean for people, businesses, organizations, and even the Church. In addition to these areas of impact, I began to consider the conference world; a world I had spent some time in as an organizer (both small and large).

I threw some of my inclinations about how conferences could possibly change to a handful of friends in that world. They had very little idea as to what I was up to, but they gave me great advice about the possibilities. During one of these meet ups, DJ Chuang turned me onto the notion of “unconferences” (i.e., self-organizing and self-run conferences where participants led the way). This is where my “hybrid” concept came in. I took the notion of an unconference and adpated it into our current format of conferences to create a unique experience called the Idea Camp. I then added elements that were eco-friendly (no printing), reproducible in format, technologically up-to-date, relationally-based, and simple to understand.

Q: How long was it from the point of being an idea to becoming a reality on February 27th & 28th?

The idea was birth about 6 months prior, but the actual web-based movement really didn’t kick off until November ’08.

Q: Did you have personal relationships with all of the speakers/facilitators beforehand? If not, how difficult was it to approach someone new with the idea and get them to commit to participate?

I had personal relationships with most of the speakers/facilitators beforehand (probably over 80%). There were some that signed on through friendships, but the majority were people I knew would do a great job given our past experiences together. In other words, it was not difficult at all to have people jump on board. Quite honestly, I was so humbled by the fact that many of them initiated involvement when they heard about it.

Q: If you were to do The Idea Camp all over again, would you change anything in the process?

I think I finally know what kind of individuals are needed to run an Idea Camp (if there is to be another one). For this first one, we really didn’t know which elements would work. Fortunately, most of our concepts did work out well (Big relief!). The beauty of this kind of gathering is that everyone, including speakers/facilitators, wanted to help with whatever needed to take place. I think the clarity of vision elevated people’s involvement at all levels.

Possible things to change:

(1) Create the role of an Idea Camp consultant to help individual participants with their ideas on a one-to-one level.
(2) Consider developing workshops based on levels of experience. I heard some people were lost or bored because the workshops were not necessarily proficiency-based.
(3) Create more pre-camp meetups on line or in person to facilitate conversations leading up to the Camp.

There are a few more, but I don’t want to give it all away :) (Ideas are brewing…)

Q: What do you hope others would take away from their time at The Idea Camp?

My primary hope was for people to walk with practical tools and relationships with people in order to move a little closer to implementing their God-given dreams/ideas. I wanted the participated to feel like they actually participated in helping someone else along in their own life journey. Also, I desired people to think “Kingdom” before self or even their local church, organization, or business. If we take time to invest in others, the outcome will be far greater than what we could do on our own.

Q: What is next for you?

I have a church to pastor (New Hope) and a non-profit organization (JustOne) to help run. I am also working on several grassroots movements (The Freeze Project, One Voice to End Slavery, etc.) that hope to bring practical change and relief to those affected by the injustices poverty and slavery. In addition, I am working on writing a book about compassionate justice with practical insights into caring for the world.

Q: How can we be praying for you?

Please pray that God will keep me focused on things that matter most to him. I want to embrace fully the world that God so loves. My hope is not to become the next big pastor, activist, or conference-maker. I would rather see all of us move together in his name.

Hoping that you’ll be sure to thank Charles for all that he did to make The Idea Camp a reality and for his selfless service for our benefit. You can find him on twitter: @charlestlee & @theideacamp; The Idea Camp website: theideacamp.ning.com or via facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41051955597. Let’s keep him in our prayers as well.

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social justice / the idea camp — 2 Comments
3
Mar 09

The Idea Camp: Post-camp thoughts…There Must Be More Than This

After returning home from The Idea Camp I was overwhelmed with a lot of thoughts. I felt compelled to share my ideas in a blog post since so many people asked me how it went and what I got out of it. However, so much came about that is going to shape my future that I felt it was best to make multiple posts and share in small snippets.

My first takeaway from The Idea Camp is that when pastors in my generation look at the world and evaluate ministry, I don’t think we quite get it. Collectively we have lots of theological training, hands-in missionary work, and tons of ministry experience. However, we seem to always scratch our heads (some publicly, but mostly privately) and wonder about our effectiveness. We believe there must be more than this.

I am one of those people that know there must be more than this, yet I know that it isn’t up to my generation to find the answers. I believe it is up to my generation to build up and encourage future generations and empower them to go out into the world and share their anger at social injustice and their passion for their fellow man. The transition of power from Generation X to Generation Y is going to be a truly amazing sight to see! This new generation truly gets it, but just needs a hand in finding their voice.  The Idea Camp was a way for some Gen Y kids to have that voice heard.

Taking the stage on Saturday morning were two guys: Zach Hunter of Loose Change to Loosen Chains and Conner Cress of Dry Tears. These two teenagers shared their hearts and passions for social injustices and were living examples that things can get done even without having resources, experienced leadership, or an office, or even a car. That at the age of 15, someone such as Zach Hunter can be so stirred to take a small action that grew into a huge organic movement of changed lives.

Want to know the most powerful word I received from The Idea Camp? It’s when I heard Zach Hunter say that he believed he would see the end of human slavery in the world during his lifetime.  That is the biggest vision I have ever heard of, yet a vision that already has been put into action by a 15 year old teen that after two years (Zach is now 17) is still being cast to us seasoned older people that didn’t quite get it. It’s a dream that hasn’t died and one that reveals the beautiful hope we can have as we entrust and empower the younger generations to rise up and take a stand in the name of Christ. It is so powerful that I threw out my notes for a message I was giving to a youth group the day after returning from The Idea Camp. At 9:00am Sunday morning I tossed out my notes, prayed for a scripture that would illuminate the cause of social injustice and inspire the teens to take action, and at 10:30am shared my newly-changed heart with a group that has the keys to the future in their hands. I share the video of the message with you below in the hopes that it may speak into your life and give you the hope that the world will be a better place through all that God is doing to raise up a new generation of his people to destroy the works of the enemy and take back what is his.


Dave Ingland shares a message on social justice to a youth group from Dave Ingland on Vimeo.

Note: Even though the video screen is blank, the video is working correctly. It takes a moment to queue up once you hit play, so please be patient.

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