This morning, I was reading about the Boston Bombings, when I tripped across this quote:

Who might use such a device (as a pressure cooker bomb)? The first possibility would be individuals following al-Qaeda’s recipe, imagining themselves to be furthering its goals by carrying out a “do-it-yourself” attack. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been publishing “open-source ” instructions and ideas for how to commit low-level terrorist attacks, and Westerners hoping to participate in the “jihad” are urged to carry it out at home. It’s too risky to travel to Pakistan to get trained; jihadist volunteers are too likely to get caught. Instead, volunteers are urged to carry out their own low-level, leaderless attacks.

Which left me wondering… if we are truly dedicated towards our cause… why do we not “open source” everything more? Open source is a philosophy that promotes free redistribution and access to an end product’s design and implementation details. When we freely share cooking recipes, which has occurred since the beginning of time, we are open sourcing. Each freely shares what they know and each offers their own variations in measurements, ingredients, etc. based on their own tastes or expertise.

In church work / youth ministry, we need more who are willing to open source that which  they know and have seen works.  The model of codifying it and selling it all into a binder is a business model that does not empower a  “do-it-yourself” spirit in a local effort.  It only encourages lazy adherence and  comfortable dependence… which is not in the spirit of a jihad, a religious duty to engage in the "struggle" of "striving in the way of God.”

If methods of violence and hatred are open sourced to low-level, leaderless actions, should not love, discipleship, and evangelization?

I’ve been working on a project that might just encourage group experimentation in youth ministry programming.

I’m not going to say a whole lot more just yet….

but

what if

it kinds sorta looked like this???

Would you be game for it?
Why ??
Why not???

So, I’m sitting in Morgan Schmidt’s workshop on Saturday at OpenBoston, and caught this nugget as something that I will likely be working with a lot…

Morgan suggested that our interactions on discussions with faith with young people can all be lifted from Tina Fey’s 4 and 1/2 rules of improv

Rule 1. The first rule of improvisation is to AGREE. Saying “no” grinds invention, innovation (and improv) to a screeching halt. Obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with what everyone says. But saying YES reminds you to respect what your partner has created and to start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you.

Rule 2. The second rule of improve is to not only say YES, say YES, AND. In improv, you agree and then add something of your own. If your partner starts with, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say “Yeah…” the skit has stalled. But if you respond with, “What did you expect? We’re in hell!” things keep moving forward.

Rule 3. The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. Don’t respond with questions. Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. Speaking Valley Girl (ending every statement with a “?”) does not work, either. Instead of saying, “Where are we?” make a statement like “Here we are in Spain, Dracula.” This may be a terrible start, but it leads us to the best rule:

Rule 4. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES only OPPORTUNITIES. The next big laugh is just around the corner, as well as beautiful happy accidents. Many of the world’s great discoveries have been an accident. Bad glue created sticky notes (Post-It® Notes). A bad test for a medicine for hypertension created the right medicine for erectile dysfunction (Viagra®). Both true!

There is a video link here which covers the above starting around the 3:30 mark.  Fey says she uses the above as a philosophical approach to her life and I can see that.  I certainly appreciate the positive attitude of it all.

There were many leadership lessons from Sunday night’s Super Bowl that have implications for leadership and youth ministry.

1. The fake field goal “failure.” On a fourth and nine on the 14 yard line with three minutes left in the first half, the Ravens with a good lead already in hand, faked a field. Snapping the ball directly to the kicker, Justin Tucker  ran the ball around the lift end and ended just one yard and one final clean block away from a first down.

This call was the first fake field goal in Super Bowl history. The failure came from foregoing an additional three points… But the success came from forcing the Niners who had yet to sustain a successful drive to start very deep in their end of the field with not much time. The Niners went three and out on their next possession. The decision was for taking a risk for greater gain by trusting your own proven capabilities.

2. Complete the Play. After the two minute warning in the first half, Raven quarterback Joe Flacco launched a long bomb to Jacoby Jones

(more…)

Time goes by so quickly, It is always helpful to hit the brakes on a birthday and take a brief glance in the rear-view mirror (where objects might appear closer than they really are) before focusing down on the road before us

Today is a day that we have celebrated before… At 47, as have been many of celebrations of this day, I was working and travelling. At 48, I could barely acknowledge it. At 49, was I really at the top of my game? Probably not. At 50, there was shepherding ducks and expressing gratitude. At 51, there was reflection on digital chutzpah. At 52, there was comment of the confidence that comes with experience. At 53, we prayed. Life lessons at 54 were discerned regarding seeking joy.

Donald Miller recently shared that, when he was younger, he was a victim of a twenty-something mind thinking he had to succeed right now… Therefore, he often set short term goals of becoming successful NOW

In hindsight, he offered this truth: If you set a goal of peaking at 65, you’ll succeed at 25 and keep succeeding for the rest of your life.

This past fall, I had a realignment of my thinking, even before I read Don’s post.  He encourages us all, not matter our age to do excellent work over the long haul out of long-term vision. We stated this month with a few resolutions, here’s another: Work on the effort of winning small battles year after year rather than trying to win the whole war today.

God’s blessings on all those who have and will be with me over the long haul.  What a ride!

In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliners: The Story of Success (which I listened to the audio-book during many thanksgiving weekend travels), he discusses the impact that a culture has upon leadership.  (He devoted a chapter to plane crashes caused in part to deference to one’s betters; a lack of speaking clear truth to power.)

I have many observations regarding the book and many more about the impact of culture.  In youth ministry, do we pass along the prevailing culture or are we helping to form cultural enclaves that might make a difference for the individual? <image source>

Over Thanksgiving, I visited my brothers,  As is our nature, we organized a family football game before folks departed.  There was two purposes to this 1) to recreate our own experiences of playing in the street outside our family home with a combination of simple calls (down and out) and specialty trick plays (flea flicker or double reverse) which we wanted to pass down to the next generation; and 2) to tire out the kids with activity and fresh air before they loaded into the cars for long travels.

My youngest brother deferred to my play call because he trust that I will listen to suggestion, equally distribute the ball, and will be imaginative and clear.  My one nephew, Jackson, was most energetic about the game and playing so he got the call just slightly more than the others… but…

If a goal yard dive was called for him, he went end around for the touchdown,  If a double reverse was set up, he ignored.faked the second handoff and went for yardage and not another reception.  Basically, he redesigned and wildcatted every call I made for him.  Innocently, at one point, he suggested to me, “Uncle Scott, did you see that I have made every one of your calls into something better???” I responded, “Surer have, Tebow.”  My bother, his father, made eye contact with me and acknowledged that there would be some conversation with my wildcat nephew during the long car ride.

Now, the Tebow tag may have been unfair to the Jets quarterback. This year, the former first-round pick has been confined to an extremely limited role on offense and to duties as a personal protector on the punt coverage team. He has been doing the job assigned. As a Bronco, Tebow made the magic happen with his own inventiveness and ability.

Yet, I don’t want him on my team.  To truly be a star, you’ve got to play “team” and clearly appear to play “team”.  A star makes everyone stronger and better, not just themselves. A leader makes decisions on behalf of others, not in spite of others or for their benefit alone.

When working with your team, don’t wildcat it all by yourself and make sure to have a conversation with the professional collaborator or volunteer who might make choices that my nephew had made one holiday weekend. <image source>

Seek the Happiness Advantage as you work your way towards the new academic year. Train your own brain to be more positive:

> Consider the stuff that you are grateful for each day.
> Call attention to the stuff which is positive around you.
> Exercise and mediate (or pray.)
> Be kind to others, offering praise.

Consider “the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality.” Change the lens and you not only change your happiness, but change all the outcomes of your life at the same time.

Yea, I do have a bit of a competitive nature… So, when Seth Godin posted this list, it spoke to my sensibilities. He suggests that we outsmart or (/and?) Outlead; Outcare; Outmaneuver; Outinvest; Outlisten; Outconnect; Outgive; Outlearn; Outwork; Outspend; Outrespect; Outinnovate; Outrisk; Outpersevere; Outinspect; Outproduce; Outrisk; Outlove…

Meanwhile, we still Invest, Inspire, Invent, Influence.

Are there any more in’s and out’s to our shared ministry?

Newsweek recently profiled a quick story of overcoming failure from world class violinist Joshua Bell.  Now, I’ve been a fan of Bell’s ever since he played a concert in a Washington Metro station just to make a point that we should pay attention to what is going on around us.

Bell tells of being in competition as a young person with a piece that had a very difficult, challenging beginning – - – that he completely “messed it up worse than (he) ever could have imagined.” In the end, he stopped, restarted, and did wonderfully as the pressure to be perfect was now off.  Lesson learned: For me it was a major revelation, and it taught me that when you take your mind off worrying about being perfect all the time, sometimes amazing things can happen.  The article is worth a quick read and certainly is a story worth retelling.    <image source>