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Friendship Quote=rich

27 Jan

“Friendship is acting out God’s love for people in tangible ways. We are made to represent the love of God in each other’s lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God’s love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God’s behalf in the lives of people that we’re close to, reminding each one who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more divine into daily life. We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can’t always see from where we are.

True friendship is a sacred thing, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves. We have to give something up in order to get friendship like that. We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect. We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us. We have to overcome the fear that when they see the depths of who we are, they’ll leave. But what we give up is nothing in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us. Friendship is about risk. Love is about risk. If we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it’s something else, but if it’s really love, really friendship, it’s a little scary around the edges.”

Shauna Niequist

exciting weekend to come

20 Oct

backlot

This weekend WinShape Camps C3 will hold their first ever Creative BackLot.

As we plan and prepare for the summer, we are bringing in a team of creatives and former staff to dream creative elements of this coming summer.

Be in prayer for us, and look for updates to come.

It should be a fun weekend here at the Connect World HQ!

celebrate then evaluate

6 Oct

Evaluation is a process that is hard to turn off for a leader. In any environment you walk in as a leader, you tend to become a critic and evaluate every little thing.

We know there are times, places, and seasons for this. But for many of us, it is hard to turn off.

But I wonder how many of us operate our of a “fix-it” mode? We see things not as they should, so we spend energy figuring out how to fix the problems.

I have been a part of organizations that you would think, “fixing what’s wrong” is their mission statement.

But one thing I have noticed in my short time with Connect is the mode we evaluate from; CELEBRATION.

Celebration is a part of who we are. High 5’s and Shouts are normal. People making a group announcement by stepping outside their office or sending an email happen daily. We eat and play together. We actually like coming to work with each other.

We celebrate all day.

And I haven’t felt us operate under the “fix-it” mode of evaluation.

What if we all spent more time celebrating?

We operate out of celebration that leads us to want to push further towards greatness. This is an uplifting process. This is a joyful and fun process. This can allow the leader to look forward to evaluation.

No one wants to stop and consider all that is wrong. But if you spend more energy on all that is right, the right gets pushed aside and weeded out.

We celebrate to the point where the good rises to the top, the not-so-good sinks to the bottom. Then we scoop off the top and run with it to make it even better.

Celebrate today. Throw a party. Spend some time thinking how your ministry, church, or organization has been a change agent in your and your communities’ life.

Celebrate.

Celebration Based Evaluation.

Celebrate.

chasing donkeys

22 Sep

Saul’s story of running into the prophet Samuel started with Saul chasing donkeys.

Saul’s father gave him the task/job/role/assignment of chasing the lost donkeys. He even had Saul take an assistant with him. An assistant to the donkey chasing son.

But Saul took up his role. He chased a donkey, and didn’t do so well. But with the assistants money in hand, went to a holy seer in hope of finding the donkeys.

Sometimes I chase donkeys. I get tasks and roles that feel like I am just chasing a donkey. Some feel unimportant and minuscule. Sometimes I have been given roles that I feel overqualified for. Or I just feel like a failure at what I have been given, whether it is a lot or a little.

Saul chased the donkey and found his new seat on the throne of a Kingdom.

David brought the cheese and found a giant.

Today I will chase a donkey. We have a seat at the table of a King already.

The task is holy. The role is massive. Be the kingdom. Be love. Chase a donkey. Connect…

XM Radio is Audio

21 Sep

I listen to XM Radio in my car each morning. I eat my toast, drink my coffee, and switch back between Headline News [XM123] and ESPN Radio [XM140].

Normally I switch stations when commercials come on. Even though XM used to be the place with “no commercial interruptions.”

If it isn’t bad enough, I pay for radio to inundate me with advertising, sometimes it is bad advertising.

Today an ad played that stated: “now look at this…”

XM Radio is Audio.

The company recycled an ad from TV. Some advertising department approved this ad to go to XM. That person recycled.

The “recycling problem” has me wondering what we recycle that misses the mark because we didn’t create new and fresh. It wasn’t even, for this company, that they just recycled. It was the blatant disregard for the target customer. Did they not know I was in my car and could not see what they were asking me to look at?

It is quite humorous in all honesty. But it does make me stop to consider if I am recycling that which doesn’t make sense. Am I asking people who can’t see to look?

be fresh…

[this guy has some interesting thoughts on it… STORY]

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