Andy Darnell’s Mindmap

I am taking part in a group blogging project about Seth Godin’s Book Tribes over at Church Crunch. We each are taking a section of Seth’s book and jotting down our thoughts…leading the discussion for the day. My day has finally come!

Long before Seth Godin assembled the book Tribes,  long before he actually wrote the entry on his blog about Sheepwalking, there was The Far Side cartoonist, Gary Larson. From time to time, I find myself in a situation that brings one of his cartoons to mind. It was the same this time. I remembered this one cartoon when the one heretic sheep is standing amongst the flock. “Wait! Wait!  Listen to me!… We don’t HAVE to be just sheep!”

Seth defines sheepwalking as:

The outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them brain-dead jobs and enough fear to keep them in line….in our age of increased reliance on new ideas, rapid change, and innovation, sheepwalking is actually on the rise….when we go to hire that labor, we search for people who have already been trained to be sheeplike.

So, I believe the goal of this little blogging project is to discuss how we can apply some of the leadership principles of Tribes to our personal circles, ministries, and the local Church.

While I try not to sheepwalk, there are always those cases when my time, talent, and treasure is unable to be fully engaged in the event or project and this in turn results in me sheepwalking during that event. I’m gonna do just enough to get us through. Maybe I’ll take notes so that next time we can do something more dynamic or with greater impact. Maybe next time we’ll take some risks and push the creativity to a different level.

If you’re like me, next time ends up looking a lot like this time.

Then… there are those times where I can tell that entire groups of our organization is sheepwalking. In attempts to fill the gaps with volunteers, we decide that the only requisite factor is whether or not you can fog a mirror. We get sheep, because we basically tell them, “We just need sheep.” I wonder what would happen if we were to set the bar a little higher and give them freedom to do amazing things. The fact of the matter is, there are people who have gifts that I just don’t have.

I’m reminded of an example recently where one of our senior members realized that one of the “fancy” chairs in the lobby had a rip in the fabric. Me… I don’t truly know what to do with that. Him… well it turns out that he used to be a seamstress (is that the masculine term for it) at General Motors. He took it upon himself to fix that rip. He chose not to be a sheepwalker as he took the gifts and passions that he had and used it as a love offering to God and the Church.

So how do you manage to fight the sheepwalking tendencies that affect us all?

In preparation for my post tomorrow, I decided that a few of you may want some background. I’m taking part in a group blogging project at Church Crunch based on the book Tribes from Seth Godin. Read more about the project here.

We’re a little more than halfway through the book at this point. Each participant in the group is taking a few pages to lead the discussion. I decided to compile a quick list to all the posts so far in case any of these topics seem interesting to you. (I also did this sort of selfishly so that I could be sure I went out and read each post. Enjoy. Then come back tomorrow as I tackle the next 5 pages.

1. #Tribes – Day 1 – Needs
2. #Tribes – Day 2 – MVPs
3. #Tribes – Day 3 – True Leadership
4. #Tribes – Day 4 – Stability is an Illusion
5. #Tribes – Day 5 – Creating a Movement
6. #Tribes – Day 6 – Are you Badgering, Begging, or Calling
7. #Tribes – Day 7 – How can churches attract “fans” and keep them?
8. #Tribes – Day 8 – Let’s Hear it for the Little Guy
9. #Tribes – Day 9 – Heretics and Fear:Tribes Group Blog Project
10. #Tribes – Day 10 – Criticism
11. #Tribes – Day 11 – Deciding to lead
12. #Tribes – Day 12 – Leadership is a Choice
13. #Tribes – Day 13 – Curiosity
14. #Tribes – Day 14 – So Why Do It
15. #Tribes – Day 15 – Permission for Change
16. #Tribes – Day 16 – Rock Climbing Faith
17. #Tribes – Day 17 – Religion and Faith
18. #Tribes – Day 18 – The Easiest Thing; Take the Follow
19. #Tribes – Day 19 – Leaders Go First
20. #Tribes – Day 20 – ME! Come back tomorrow
21. #Tribes – Day 21 – Santos Samayoa
22. #Tribes – Day 22 – Luke DeMoss
23. #Tribes – Day 23 – Kevin Gilbert
24. #Tribes – Day 24 – Jason Jeong
25. #Tribes – Day 25 – Adam Herod
26. #Tribes – Day 26 – Gavin Baker
27. #Tribes – Day 27 – Cleve Persinger
28. #Tribes – Day 28 – Adam Shields
29. #Tribes – Day 29 – John Gruber
30. #Tribes – Day 30 – John Saddington

So our tribe over at Church Crunch is group blogging through the book Tribes. It should be a lot of fun. I’ve got about a month until my time comes up on the rotation. I plan to hit a few topics along the way as well here on my site. This is day two.  Here are my thoughts about Tribes from from Day 1

So for today the section talks a lot about having  ”something to believe in.”  I recently had a friend who mentioned beliefs. My friends in highschool used to joke  that this world was really just a matrix world that existed in one of our friend’s brain. We often joked about this. Now, imagine that I held on to this belief with strong convictions. I will argue with anyone that my friend is a god and he controls and reads our world like a comic book.

Or how about this example. A very real oak tree fell on another friend’s house yesterday from the storms.  He told me it crushed a corner of the house and is going to need a good bit of work to both remove the tree and repair the roof. You and I both could go look at the tree that is now leaning on the house and see the real damage made. What if I were to argue with you that there wasn’t a tree on the house. In fact, I’ll argue that that isn’t real water leaking into the master bedroom from the storm that we had. There doesn’t need to be repair. There was no damage.

Am I right or wrong? If you’re honest with me, you’ll tell me that I’m wrong. You see there is an absolute truth. Either there is a large hole on his roof and an oak tree did the damage, or there isn’t. Either my friend Eric has this whole matrix world imagined in his head or he doesn’t.

At the same time, either Jesus was the Son of God, killed on the cross. Pierced for our transgressions. Sacrificed because we are enemies of the only one true God. Buried in a very real tomb. A very large stone rolled in front of this cave. Very real Roman soldiers placing a royal seal on the tomb and then standing guard at that tomb…knowing that if anything happened to the tomb or the body in the tomb, they’d be killed.

Or he wasn’t.

Absolute Truth or Absolute False.

How do we know this truth? Well, we look around us. Look at the creation to see the Creator. Look at the miracles of this life that aren’t chance. Yes, Miracles happen. Look at the natural law that is written on everyone’s heart and know that it is not our flesh that creates this burden of conscience, it is God that holds a mirror to our soul and lets us see how we’ve blasphemed His name and perverted His character. We give the world a lot of credit. But it is the rocks that cry out that Jesus Christ is Lord. Period.

Truth or False.

Passion is an amazing thing. I’m passionate about my wife. I’m passionate about watching my daughters learn new things.  I’m passionate about Space Flight (kinda wierd for me to throw in at this point… but I am) I’m passionate about social media. I’m passionate about the lost in Norcross. I’m passionate about the Church. I’m passionate about my work. I’m passionate about serving those in need. I’m passionate about reading the God breathed Word in the Bible. I’m passionate about praying for fellow servants in the world. I’m passionate about Jesus.

I’m Passionate about all this, yet in the beginning, when God created the Heavens and the Earth. He was passionate about creating an amazing world that we could live in so that he could be with us. Even when I abandoned Him and ran the other direction, spitting in His face, dragging others around me with my “beliefs”. He was still passionate for me.

Jesus took every beat of the hammer. Every slash of the whip. Every spit, Every shout, Every thorn, and was still PASSIONATE about ME! Passionate about YOU! 

Either true or false.

Why do we celebrate Easter? Not because of bunnys or chocolate or chickens or baskets or egghunts or peeps or white shoes or dresses or pink or family tradition or newness of nature. We celebrate because a very real person who was talked about hundreds of years before His birth.  Savior of the world. Died. was buried. Came back to life as He said He would. No one could have stolen the body. His bones are not still in a tomb. He was seen by hundreds of people. Talked to hundreds of people. Both followers and enemies saw Him. The books of the Bible are better preserved and have a higher authenticity value than dozens of “history” books that we easily validate and teach our children.

Tangent from the blogging project. I love all of you. I hope you know that. Please feel free to talk to me about anything. I don’t have the answers, but I know the God who does. His Son Jesus waited on me to come back to Him. Even when I was a sinner, Christ died for me.

It’s all because of Jesus I’m ALIVE.

So our tribe over at Church Crunch is group blogging through the book Tribes. It should be a lot of fun. I’ve got about a month until my time comes up on the rotation. I plan to hit a few topics along the way as well here on my site.

Have you heard of Seth Godin? I first heard about him through a coworker who had read “The Dip.” It was a fantastic read about marketing, leadership, focus. I really enjoyed it.

So for today, the discussion centers around “needs.” My struggle is the desire to fill the leadership void that often pops up. I may not be the best leader. I am a doer. I will serve where needed and it often leads to frustration, stress, and burnout. I’ve been looking at my schedule a little more lately, and know that I need margin. I’ve got to learn to say “no.”

And honestly, that is what this book has been saying to me. Passion can not be created. When a leader is passionate, he or she is going to have a tribe of followers. I’ve got a few passions in me that at this moment in time are not being fertilized because of the “stuff” that I am doing.

This is a short post, but I better stop now before I get to far ahead of the group.

Here’s John’s Day 1 Thoughts on #tribes. Looky, Seth commented.

What do you think?