While we wait and wait for responses to scheduling church visits, we have much to do around here: helping the kids with school work, soccer and band activities, preparing for birthday parties (Zeke's was in September and Titus' is later this month), slowly transitioning out of 6th Avenue ministries (our last Sunday is the 30th), and still sorting through all the pics, information, and related communications from our recent trip to Berlin and Cairo. There's always a lot to do at this stage, even though it sometimes feels like we're not getting anything done!
Reflecting on Steve Jobs (why not? every other blog in the internet has!) i was totally shocked and speechless when his obit/photo popped up on my Apple homepage when we returned from church. I spent a good bit of time looking at everyone's condolences to the family, remembrances, his Stanford 2005 commencement speech (youtube), and the beginning musings of his impact on the world and society. there were some who likened him to the "Edison of our time"; honestly, i think this undervalues the vast genius of Edison and his technical contributions from which nearly everything else has progressed. However, he definitely could be likened to the impact of Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, or George Washington Carver -- he did not pioneer computing just as these three did not pioneer their contributions; but just like these 3, Jobs took what was and forever altered the way we use, interact, conceive, and have future vision of all things computer related. Jobs took what was previously fantasized in Star Trek and Dick Tracy in/before his youth and made it not just possible, but also brilliantly marketed so that nearly every corner of the globe has seen, used, and impacted by any number of iProducts. Throw in Pixar to that influence and the amazing fact that all of this was achieved in the time he dropped out from Reed College around age 19 till his death at 56--just 37 years--and you have to marvel.
These iProducts have not only infiltrated Church ministry, they have influenced and created envy among clergy -- not only do i write this on a Macbook, i have posted pics and videos from my iPod, and shamefully dream of iPad and iPhone 4S. i have read and contemplated the market strategies and R&D practices of this temporary Apple empire, and i have been challenged and convicted by how little similar drive, creativity, and influence we have for the eternal Kingdom. the tech world, politicians, entertainers, and athletes--nationally and globally--all within minutes tweeted, posted, messaged, and press-released their thoughts and admiration of the influence of Jobs. since the death of Mother Theresa, has there been any Christian leader who could unanimously and similarly be praised and missed for their contributions to the world? within our little tribe of Christendom, the Church of God lost a bright light in missionary/author Cheryl Barton Johnson, and her funeral and memorial services have been a testimony of the impact of this solitary life lived in obedience. in this time of declining Christian influence and bold following, where will the revolutionary, inspirational, pioneering, Spirit-filled, and ironically powerfully humble voice come? As the Three-Worlds team begins to read The Next Christendom, i am reminded that individual may not come from the western or even northern hemispheres.
Speaking of iProducts and reading, i love iBooks, if only for the ability to test-read samples of a variety of books before biting the bullet to buy them all ;) here are a few that i'm gonna have to buy...
The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture that Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy by Steve Stoute
"My role was to be the conduit--the bridge. And so that was the name, Translation, that I chose for my company and to describe what we do. As a kind of pop culture anthropologist, what I also do is help clients find relevant ways to reinvigorate their brand--whether, as a few examples, it's McDonald's, Target, Estee Lauder, Hewlett-Packard, Wrigley, Tommy Hilfiger, Verizon, State Farm, Samsung, a show company or two, or a host of public and philanthropic organizations. In a time of economic upheaval the likes of which we've been living through in recent years, marketer's connecting meaningfully to the new young consumer--the single most powerful purchasing force ever measured, who is currently driving the global marketplace--is a life-and-death brand survival act. This too has to do with translating. No, not in sending messages to be crammed down the throats of consumers, but in extending an invitation, communicating it with nuance and cool. ...along with questioning worn-out assumptions about who wants what and why, and more importantly nowadays, who needs what and why. It requires an authentic, vibrant, hip, and, at times, reinvented means of storytelling--and a rejection of yesterday's rules."
The Two-Second Advantage by Vivek Ranadive and Kevin Maney
"The human brain is a predictive machine. Intelligence is prediction. This is a relatively new concept in neuroscience, coalescing into broad acceptance only in the 1990s and 2000s. While the connection between prediction and general intelligence is generally understood, an even newer--and largely unexplored--idea has emerged in neuroscience: exceptional predictive capability is what drives talent. ...Most successful people are really good at making very accurate predictions--usually about some particular activity--just a little faster and better than everyone else."
EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey"So growing leaders was too refined and calm for me, but growing entrepreneurs was too wild and chaotic for me. So I decided we needed to grow a combination of the two..and thus the EntreLeader was born. I want EntreLeaders to be:
Reflecting on Steve Jobs (why not? every other blog in the internet has!) i was totally shocked and speechless when his obit/photo popped up on my Apple homepage when we returned from church. I spent a good bit of time looking at everyone's condolences to the family, remembrances, his Stanford 2005 commencement speech (youtube), and the beginning musings of his impact on the world and society. there were some who likened him to the "Edison of our time"; honestly, i think this undervalues the vast genius of Edison and his technical contributions from which nearly everything else has progressed. However, he definitely could be likened to the impact of Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, or George Washington Carver -- he did not pioneer computing just as these three did not pioneer their contributions; but just like these 3, Jobs took what was and forever altered the way we use, interact, conceive, and have future vision of all things computer related. Jobs took what was previously fantasized in Star Trek and Dick Tracy in/before his youth and made it not just possible, but also brilliantly marketed so that nearly every corner of the globe has seen, used, and impacted by any number of iProducts. Throw in Pixar to that influence and the amazing fact that all of this was achieved in the time he dropped out from Reed College around age 19 till his death at 56--just 37 years--and you have to marvel.
These iProducts have not only infiltrated Church ministry, they have influenced and created envy among clergy -- not only do i write this on a Macbook, i have posted pics and videos from my iPod, and shamefully dream of iPad and iPhone 4S. i have read and contemplated the market strategies and R&D practices of this temporary Apple empire, and i have been challenged and convicted by how little similar drive, creativity, and influence we have for the eternal Kingdom. the tech world, politicians, entertainers, and athletes--nationally and globally--all within minutes tweeted, posted, messaged, and press-released their thoughts and admiration of the influence of Jobs. since the death of Mother Theresa, has there been any Christian leader who could unanimously and similarly be praised and missed for their contributions to the world? within our little tribe of Christendom, the Church of God lost a bright light in missionary/author Cheryl Barton Johnson, and her funeral and memorial services have been a testimony of the impact of this solitary life lived in obedience. in this time of declining Christian influence and bold following, where will the revolutionary, inspirational, pioneering, Spirit-filled, and ironically powerfully humble voice come? As the Three-Worlds team begins to read The Next Christendom, i am reminded that individual may not come from the western or even northern hemispheres.
Speaking of iProducts and reading, i love iBooks, if only for the ability to test-read samples of a variety of books before biting the bullet to buy them all ;) here are a few that i'm gonna have to buy...
"My role was to be the conduit--the bridge. And so that was the name, Translation, that I chose for my company and to describe what we do. As a kind of pop culture anthropologist, what I also do is help clients find relevant ways to reinvigorate their brand--whether, as a few examples, it's McDonald's, Target, Estee Lauder, Hewlett-Packard, Wrigley, Tommy Hilfiger, Verizon, State Farm, Samsung, a show company or two, or a host of public and philanthropic organizations. In a time of economic upheaval the likes of which we've been living through in recent years, marketer's connecting meaningfully to the new young consumer--the single most powerful purchasing force ever measured, who is currently driving the global marketplace--is a life-and-death brand survival act. This too has to do with translating. No, not in sending messages to be crammed down the throats of consumers, but in extending an invitation, communicating it with nuance and cool. ...along with questioning worn-out assumptions about who wants what and why, and more importantly nowadays, who needs what and why. It requires an authentic, vibrant, hip, and, at times, reinvented means of storytelling--and a rejection of yesterday's rules."
The Two-Second Advantage by Vivek Ranadive and Kevin Maney
"The human brain is a predictive machine. Intelligence is prediction. This is a relatively new concept in neuroscience, coalescing into broad acceptance only in the 1990s and 2000s. While the connection between prediction and general intelligence is generally understood, an even newer--and largely unexplored--idea has emerged in neuroscience: exceptional predictive capability is what drives talent. ...Most successful people are really good at making very accurate predictions--usually about some particular activity--just a little faster and better than everyone else."
EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey"So growing leaders was too refined and calm for me, but growing entrepreneurs was too wild and chaotic for me. So I decided we needed to grow a combination of the two..and thus the EntreLeader was born. I want EntreLeaders to be: 
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