Sierra Leone Conference, AKA: NYC part 0
Posted by jOe
This past weekend I got to meet a lot of interesting people including the Sierra Leonian ambassadors to the United States and Germany. The conference itself was also very interesting, not only because of the people, but because of the thrust behind it. Truly a conglomeration of people who care deeply deeply about the success of this small west African country--wether it be the education, clean water, or clean living, all were together brainstorming about the future.
It was quite encouraging.
There is something inherently smart about being able to introduce yourself as Smart. Because it's your first name.
Smart.
Jack and our host, Steve.
My good friend Denise who travled with me. She actually posed for a picture, but I thought this was a little too quintessential to pass up.
Tomorrow: NYC part 1
Today I’m on a plane
Posted by jOe
...to Pennsylvania. Which means nothing more than I'm a day away from arriving in New York. Denise, my coworker and good friend, is from Brooklyn, so whenever she's in the area (the top, right part of the country, that is), she tags a trip home.
This time I'm going with her. And for the last month she's been on serious count-down every time she's walked past my desk. We'll be there for exactly 31 hours, but I've been secretly adding up her list of must-dos, and it's clocking in somewhere around eight days.
It'll be good.
There will be pictures.
Speaking of pictures. I took some of those.
This is along the lake a couple blocks from my house. I used to always drive this way until they started doing this...
[sad face]
Kristin
Posted by jOe
Kristin and I were driving the other day, and one of those Ooo, wait, stop! moments happened.
I was the one ooo-wait-stopping, for the record. It was around seven-thirty, and the Sun was coming in long, low strides. Everything was glowing with warm and soft evening light. I shot this on my 50mm with a pretty shallow depth of field, f/3.5, because I wasn't interested in too much background detail. I used a low ISO, 320, and a shutter of 1/160 which is fine to get a sharp, handheld shot.
My blog has taken a decidedly scripted direction, but that only because... well, because I haven't taken any pictures lately. But I have great plans to change all that. Great plans.
See.
More soon.
Another Guest Blogger [Beau Bredow]
Posted by Beau
I feel honored to contribute to [JOE] blog. I met Joe about 5 years ago at Metairie Baptist Church, a suburb of New Orleans. Joe and his brother Sam were looking for a new church and met my brother (Chad) at the first church they attended...and that was that.
My brother makes a big impact on everyone he meets, and typically not a good one. I was on staff or maybe just a member at the time. I even convinced Joe to help me out with a program for elementary aged boys on Wednesday nights at church and to go to camp with them. We had fun and Joe bought a camera, so in a way I single handedly kick-started Joe's photography expeditions.
My name is Beau Bredow, and I am a Baptist minister living in Lakeland, Florida. I oversee the elementary children's programs and Bible study programs at Scott Lake Baptist Church. I am married to Andrea--you guessed it: Bredow--and we have a two-year-old son named Blake, and another child on the way (coming in February of 2011). I am a Christian (a person who does his best to love Jesus and show His love to others through words, actions, and lifestyle).
Not sure what I will write about each time. I have my own blog, but the topics I discuss there are direct more toward church ministers and church ministry, but much is applicable to life, leadership, and relationships. Before this gets too long and boring, I'll tell you now. I want to talk about TRIBES.
Seth Godin is, well, I am not really sure what exactly he is or does, but I heard him speak a few years back at a leadership conference where he talked about his new book called tribes. (You can download a free audio book here). At first I thought, what does this have to do about anything? After all, when I spend 300 dollars for a conference, it had better be about me. Years later I am still thinking about the tribes concepts.
Tribes are: groups of 3 or more people with at least one thing in common and have a leader. Anyone can be the leader, but typically the person with the most passion or interested naturally becomes the leader. People are asked to be part of these tribes (groups) and are expected to participate and be involved with whatever the purpose is while promoting it to others.
Think about groups on Facebook, AA classes, social groups, Tea Party, politics, Bible study classes, Trekies, Vampires, Harry Potter, Disney, Red Hat Society, Mason's, Justin Bieber followers, Twitter, or as simple as a I-am-so-cool-I-have-my-name-tattooed-on-my-arm tribe (which I started, but canceled). I was sharing tribes with a friend, and she just could not get the point or the importance. I told her to start a Facebook page for red-haired, curly headed girls. The purpose to discuss hair styles and products for their hair and bond with other red-heads. Not sure if she ever did it, but if I had red, curly hair and was a girl I would join it. It's informative, holds a status of belonging, and gives useful tips; these are things everyone is looking for, even for something as superficial as hair.
I think Joe has strong potential when it comes to tribes. When there is something Joe cares about, buys into, and finds reward in, he takes off and leads it. Photography, music, New Orleans, movies...
For me, what stands out are the principles found in starting Bible study groups. Once I have a leader who is passionate about sharing the Bible with people I can start the group (tribe). He or she as a leader will invite people to be part of it. If the group is, say, for young-marrieds, he will find all the young married people he can find to be a part of the group. The group needs to be marketed broadly, but defined specifically to those that qualify. The group is open to both those in the church and not a part of the church. The group's purpose is to share life together, discuss the Bible, meet regularly, and start more tribes.
I have never met a person that did not wants friends, to be included, find purpose in what he or she is doing, and not to be judged for what he or she believes. These groups are very easy to get into, but if the follower (participant) does not hold up their part of the agreement to attend, participate, and promote the group, he or she will need to be removed because the group is the more important than the individual person. Some people want to make these groups broad, vague, and inclusive; but smaller, exclusive, and targeted groups have the most success, and they are the ones that people want to belong to.
Think about a person standing on the outside looking into what he or she really wants. He will do anything to get into the group, even start a new group of his own.
For me Tribes is important for developing Bible study groups. What kind of tribe(s) do you want to start or be included in? And as a side note, if you want a Power Point with Notes on Tribes email me, and I can get it to you.
Until Then,
Beau Bredow
beaubredow@gmail.com
http://beaubredow.blogspot.com/
the Beau & Joe Show.
Posted by jOe
Beau is a close friend of mine who moved to Florida about a year ago. I miss him and his family, but their move was in obedience to God, and that is above all things, the most important.
I sent Beau a message a little while ago asking him if he'd be a guest blogger. While typing the sentences in that email, I couldn't help but laugh at recalling one of my favorite "Beau-stories."
Here it is. We used to teach RA's together (in case you're not familiar, think Christian boyscouts with a focus on missionaries), and one night for some unknown reason we were both without a planned lesson. A dozen small, hyper boys...and us. Without a plan.
No fear. Enter the "Beau and Joe Show."
Not only did it save the night, but it was a requested for many nights that followed. In short, we created a Beau/Joe-centric Jeopardy with a white board, colored dry erase markers, and more enthusiasm than should be considered sane. But it worked!
When I think back, we weren't trying to trick them; they knew our character, because we were their teachers each week. But by creating this ridiculous game so off the cuff, we were actually spending time with them in a fun and entertaining way. Houdini once said, "never try to fool children, they expect nothing and therefore see everything." That's only true if you've ever worked with children.
I am excited about what Beau has to say tomorrow, and I know you'll love it, too!
By the way, he's got a blog. All the cool kids are doing it. Bam.
to err
Posted by jOe
As I have undoubtedly mentioned before, I love to collect quotes. These quotes, from time to time, pop back into my head. Probably more circumstantially than anything else. One of which is by Jim Morrison (I know, I know...). He says, "I think of myself as an intelligent, sensitive human being with the soul of a clown, which always forces me to blow it at life's most important moments." That makes me laugh.
to err
More eloquently put Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe writes, "a clever man commits no minor blunders." Have you ever thought of that in midst of screwing up? I mean right in the dirty middle of the moment. Makes you feel a little better?
Maybe.
to err
At this point I almost feel obligated to mention Shakespeare's "to err is human." But I won't.
to err
Our erring gets a lot of airplay. That's probably because we do it so much.
As a Christian, one is called to an extremely high standard. Higher than anything here worldly around us. Sometimes I treat this Standard more like my 74 pound duffel bag I didn't check and am now trying to cram into that ridiculously shallow overhead compartment (that was clearly designed wrong in the first place)--all the while I can feel the mounting waves of frustration oscillate from directly behind me as a swelling line of people wait to find their own seat and cram it in their own too-small overhead luggage compartment. And, by the way, you'd think there would be some camaraderie here as they're all about to attempt the exact same thing I'm failing at right now.
[long sigh]
That's more what I see happening with my Standard. Too bad God didn't make it more economical.
to err
If it bothers you that you mess up, that's okay. If it hinders you, that's not.
The two are not cause-and-effect, although, often without a thought, they are accepted this way. If you've ever learned to do something, play an instrument or develop a skill for a new job, the first thing you learn is there is no magic bullet, no fast way to get to the finish line. It's a matter of hard work. That's it.
That is exactly the way our Standard works. We mess up, we try again. And since our mess ups are inevitable, we can't hold on to them as excuses or couches for our guilt to veg-out on.
Sometimes we have to strong-arm our humanity and move forward simple because we were told to. To cut all the confusing fat of happenstance and emotion that grays so many decisions, it's helpful to remember the Knowledge we have is consistent and firm.
As the G.I. Joe PSA's from the 80's said, "Knowing is half the battle."
~jOe
P.S. I would never in good conscience end a post with knowing is half the battle if it were not said by a G.I. Joe.
Don't hate.
fish.
Posted by jOe
"This is it. Let's do it."
I can remember, that's what I was thinking at this moment as I watched the boat being made ready for the water. My own silent peptalk.
That was the start of a three-day live-in-a-cabin fishing trip I took last year. I can totally handle the cabin (I don't even mind regular camping), but it's the fishing that did me in.
I don't particularly like the taste of fish to begin with, so the extra toil of pulling them out of the water and making them tasty appeals to me about this much less. That, and I'm not really the "be patient and wait" type. As a side note, I'll have you know I spent my entire childhood believing the be-patient-and-wait trait was a grown-up gene.
Then I became a grown-up.
But the trip turned out okay. I survived. And my initial looming fears of boredom and extreme anxiety almost completely resided in my head.
As I write this, it strikes me, I'm not really into the nostalgic, throw-back posts (although my good friend Katie is doing it flawlessly on her blog right now). But I came across these pictures when I was looking for pictures of my Dad for last Friday's post.
It was a funny and unusual situation for me to be in, and I wanted you to know.
There.
What I’m listening to…
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