Will Mancini

I read a simple observation this week that continues to haunt me: Walk into a first grade classroom and ask the kids to raise their hand if they can draw. All of the kids will raise their hand. Ask if they can sing. All of the kids raise their hand. Ask if they can dance. All of the kids raise their hand. Ask them if they can read and only some will raise their hand. Now do the same exercise with a ninth grade classroom. The results are opposite- the only time they all raise their hands is when asked about reading.

Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Where does our extreme capacity for imagination go?

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… Eph 3:20.

Weeks after IKE has wreaked havoc in Houston, I continue to reflect on the amazing phenomenon of clarity. People so long for clarity that an event like an impending hurricane actually creates a unique energy, focus, and even pleasure for people. I watched neighbors who generally don’t express passion or purpose in any vector of life, suddenly become filled with both. It is actually pleasurable to know that you are right where you need to be, doing exactly what you should be doing, even when there is a looming threat. Think about it. For a couple of days before IKE hit, people had 100% clarity and a total distraction-less life.

Shouldn’t everyday hint of the benefits of this kind of clarity?

The last reflection I wanted share on my time with Alan is twofold: First I wanted to share how much I appreciated Alan’s personal presence. Evangelicals too easily evaluate an individual’s ability by their skill to communicate only. But Alan’s impact was ten times more powerful through his personal presence. What I appreciate about Alan is his laid-back demeanor couple with the thoughtfulness of a nutty professor and the heartbeat of a kingdom visionary. His visionary impulse came through in two ways: first he reminded us that world history hinges around small gatherings of believers that dare to dream big. Second, he repeated often the following assertion: “Every believer contains the potential for world transformation.” Most vibrant thinkers who have lived more than 48 year might find this statement overly optimistic. Do you?

Secondly, I want to urge you to read “Forgotten Ways” and wet your appetite with the premise that great apostolic movements have six irreducible elements. Here they are:

– The center and circumference is driven by a simple confession: “Jesus is Lord”
– Disciple making is the irreplaceable core task
– The movement seeds and embeds the gospel with a “Missional-incarnational Impluse”
– Apostolic Environments constantly push initiation and innvation
– Organic systems must be embraced over broken structures
– The movement experiences Communitas, not Community…you will have to read about this yourself!

Phil Cooke has done ministry leaders a great favor by compiling helpful insights and exploring the relevance of branding from a church perspective. The subtitle of this book released early this year is “Why Some Churches an Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don’t.” The leading question of the book is “What do people think of when they think of your ministry?” Phil’s emphasis in the brand discussion is helpfully flavored by a ministry-friendly definition: “At its core, branding is simply the art of surrounding a product, organization or person with a powerful and compelling story.” There are not many books in this category as few books dare to fuse faith and marketing. One thing I particularly appreciated is that Phil brings some needed insights in favor of branding the church while acknowledging the downsides of “chasing relevance” to an extreme.

The strength of the book is twofold: first is Phil’s authentic passion for the kingdom forged with a solid track record of brand-building for ministries. Second, is Phil’s distillation of principles, practices and proverbs from the business world filtered through ministry values.

The limitation of the book, albeit minor, is double-barreled. The first thing is that Phil is not weaving a coherent argument through the book, but rather, provides a patchwork of observations and insights. The second limitation is that Phil’s experience with ministry dominated by strong personalities of charismatic flavor. This tends to skew insights on branding more toward the individual and not the organization. Nevertheless, these minor points do not eclipse this solid contribution and valuable resource for a rarely treated topic.

I highly recommend this book for any church leader, and it is a must-have resource for any church communications professional. The thousands of designers working every-day to keep our churches communication savvy will appreciate one of my favorite quotes from the book: Better design isn’t just decoration; its connection. See my selected quotes.

My parents 40th anniversary was yesterday and my favorite part of the day was watching them page through a wonderfully created storybook of their 40 years of marriage. Everyone at the party marveled and never-seen-before pictures and familiar favorites all brought together in one book, filled with testimonies of life impact from the people my parents have faithfully blessed. It was hard keep the tears back the entire time.

Every organization has the opportunity share a similar experience, although few rarely do. At Auxano we discover it through a group exercise we call the “Best Of” stories, where we make individual work groups compete at finding and retelling the stories of deepest meaning and notable impact. This experience never ceases to be incredibly inspiring! As the stories are gathered and retold, we encourage leaders to recreate a “hall of fame” walk-thru for others. Why shouldn’t leaders be in tune to the church culture at this level? Is not the local church a collection of people, called out by God, with a specific story that transcends individual programs and single generations?