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Reflections on DC09
Spent the last few days at the Dynamic Church Conference in Dallas. It’s a conference for users of Fellowship One, a Church Management software from Fellowship Technologies.
Here’s what I like about this software, these people, their passion:
- Passion drives their purpose.
There is a genuine heart and belief that technology can be harnessed to help people become more fully devoted followers of Jesus. - They know that their technology is not the end but the means.
Fellowship One is about all about helping the church clear the administrative barriers to make way for real relationships. - They have an impressive road map.
Ftech has clearly been putting in the work to architect or rearchitect the product to be more agile and responsive to the growing technological needs of the evolving Global Mobile Church (GoMo as @terrystorch labeled it). - The don’t have the answers.
They made it very clear that the users of F1 are vital to drive future developments of the product. They call us church partners…and they mean it.
In my roll @theSanctuary, I see a long relationship with F1 in our future. If we’re diligent about it’s implementation, realistic about putting a SuperTeam around it, and intentional about pursuing the relationships on the other side of the data, this should be a beneficial partnership now and into the future.
Posted by jeremyscheller | 2 Comments
Full-Court Press
Malcolm Gladwell’s recent article in the New Yorker highlights the Full-Court Press. How a rag-tag team of middle school daughters of Silicon Valley programmers, went to a national basketball championship game, because of an outsiders strategy: Effort trumps force, and responding in real time.
Gladwell follows the story with coach Ranadive, a father to one of the girls on the team. Ranadive didn’t take the usual approach to winning basketball games. He wasn’t a basketball player himself. Most of his team were made up of first year players. There were no plays that were executed. No star towering center to dominate the lane. And no long-range shooting guard to sink shots from the outside. Rather, the approach was all about not wasting space and time.
The girls executed a full court press, every defensive minute of every game. The didn’t play the usual game of shoot and retreat. The never let up. They were, at their core, relentless.
Gladwell remarks of the strategy “Playing insurgent basketball didn’t guarantee victory. It was simply the best chance an underdog had of beating Goliath.”
It’s all about effort. When your opponent moves slow, you counter with speed. When your opponent relaxes, you counter with drive. Relentless pursuit can trump brute force.
So, how can the church implement the Full-Court Press?
- Relentless pursuit of relationships (our culture wants us to get something out of relationships. I think it’s wise to think about giving something to relationships).
- Relentless pursuit of relevance (if we don’t speak the language, we will fumble our connection possibilities).
- Relentless pursuit of breaking conventional rules (When convention keeps the game the same, defy it and change the rules).
- Relentless pursuit of the one we love most (When we pursue God, people will follow).
When we engage people, in their language, with a relentless pursuit that redefines the conventional rules, because of the love God has for us, we advance the kingdom of God.
David was a shepherd. He didn’t know he was supposed to bring a sword to fight off a Philistine in a duel. He brought a staff and slingshot. He changed the rules of the game. When Goliath slowly advanced, David sprinted. He didn’t cut off his head, and yet, Goliath lay dead.
God promises a great reverse. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. The peacemakers and the meek will sit atop the kingdom. It’s not the relentless pursuit of perfection, but the relentless pursuit that wins out. A game changing attitude that responds in real-time to the real needs of people.
Posted by jeremyscheller | 2 Comments
This Week in Prefab: iHouse
Prefab, Affordable?
The promise of eco-friendly modern prefab housing is also it’s current downfall: low prices. In order to lower the price, you need to ramp up production. Classic issue of supply and demand capitalism.
A new player in the market.
In walks Warren Buffet and his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway…One of their companies is called Clayton House and they launched a much anticipated Eco-friendly Prefab model called the iHouse, intended to be affordable and accessible as a modern dwelling place.
Personalize it.
I went to the website and configured my own model which included a 2 Bedroom, 1 bath main living quarters with a sun porch that connects to the flexspace that adds a large multi-purpose room, a smaller flex room and another bathroom. I included two solar powered options, a few kitchen and bath upgrades, and priced out a fully modern, small footprint home for $185,000 delivered right to my very own empty lot.
A step in the right direction.
This is a great new option in the prefab world. Hopefully, with the backing of one of the best business minds around, they can start selling these things and lend a boost to the entire prefab market. I think they need to get the price down another 25-30% in order to truly make these things accessible for the average family.
Images from the recent Popular Mechanics article.
