Rich Kao

Small group idea:  Not "Research & Development" groups but "Read & Discuss" groups; in essence it's like a facilitated book club, except in our case it will be for spiritual growth.  I'll be leading one soon, and there's a few things I like upfront about this format. 

One, it involves accountability because everyone has to read. 

Two, it's interactive, as there will be lotsa open questions and dialog, thus high participant involvement. 

Three, it allows us to capitalize on great books, classics or recently released. 

Four, it takes a load off of having to prepare materials, when better stuff is already out there. 

Five, it's facilitated, so quality control is there, and wonky conclusions are not propogated. 

Six, it's a great vehicle for me to deepen people's devotion and discipleship through critically acclaimed writings. 

Seven, it's a great way to increase knowledge that people can go back to; they have to buy the books. Prov. 23:23. (With sermon listening, they may not take notes, and if they do, they may not go back to them). 

Eight, it forces people to just read (a great life skill). 

Nine, expands people's teaching diet; not just having to listen to me on Sunday's.

Ten, they can turn around and "teach" others - multiplication!

Our first round of reading will be Mark Driscoll's trilogy series entitled "A Book You'll Actually Read"...1) On the New Testament, 2) On the Old Testament, and 3) On Who is God?

Love this write-up from St. Mary's-Bryanstone Square, a hopping church in London, and related birth home of the famed Alpha Course.

Church belongs to God
We believe that God must be allowed to do with his church what he wills. God caused our church to come into being through unusual circumstances, he’s protected us and he has caused us to grow. We seek to follow God’s direction as he works through us.

Church belongs to the people of God
Obviously people are very different and this always poses a challenge for anyone wanting to bring them together for a common purpose. We aim to establish a community life that diverse people can own and where everyone can play.

We have come to believe that some people are motivated above all else by such values as risk-taking, impact-making and stimulation – we call them ‘adventurers’. Others are more motivated by relationship, friendship and acceptance – we call them ‘carers’. There are also those who value integrity, honesty and authenticity – we refer to them as ‘truth-tellers’. We believe that people reflect these important drives or motivations in different balances and although we are all meant to grow up into mature expressions of all three, we tend to identify more readily with two out of the three sets of values. We believe these drives reflect real differences of temperament and that it is important to understand what motivates you because it is indicative of the kinds of gifts you have, the aspects of spirituality you will find easier and the kinds of people you will find more difficult!

Generally, churches don’t reflect all of these drives properly and tend to turn their distinctive visions into the drives the leader is most comfortable with! Hence some churches are evangelistic and some are more pastoral etc.

In our view church is church
This means that we must give full expression to adventuring gifts (apostolic and evangelistic), caring gifts (pastoral) and truth-telling gifts (teaching and prophecy). None are optional. The absence of the right functioning of any one causes the church to remain immature.

We are an immature church but we are trying to grow up.

Great interview with my 2nd favorite CEO (Steve Jobs is first; although Bezos is close to overtaking Jobs in my ranking; much better EQ).  (I know, he also looks like Seth Godin).  Application & commentary in underline are mind.

Since founding Amazon in 1994, he has revolutionized retailing. Now he's out to transform how we read.

No one has been more surprised by the success of the Kindle than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The electronic book reader has become the online retailer's bestselling product. Bezos spoke to NEWSWEEK'S Daniel Lyons about the device, how the Apple tablet might affect it, and the next phase of digital distribution.

Excerpts:

Lyons: Amazon had an amazing year despite the bad economy. How did you do it?
Bezos: It is the basics. It is focusing on selection, low prices, and reliable, convenient, fast delivery. It's the cumulative effect of having this approach for 14 years. I always tell people, if we have a good quarter it's because of the work we did three, four, and five years ago. It's not because we did a good job this quarter. (Gotta put in the hard work of sowing, and the reaping will come. Gal. 6:9. When the farmer plants the seed, it comes up in due season, not instantly - Jas 5:7; important mind set for church planters.)

Amazon started off as a retailer. Now you're also selling computing services, and you're in the consumer-electronics business with the Kindle. How do you define what Amazon is today?
We start with the customer and we work backward. (Laser focus baby; knowing your audience, your target, whom you serve maximizes success & impact; no confusion.  Big debate:  Does the church start with God or the seeker and "work backwards."  I've been in this debate 20 years.  My answer:  It's both, but you start with God.) We learn whatever skills we need to service the customer. We build whatever technology we need to service the customer. The second thing is, we are inventors, so you won't see us focusing on "me too" areas. We like to go down unexplored alleys and see what's at the end. Sometimes they're dead ends. Sometimes they open up into broad avenues and we find something really exciting. (Don't be afraid to fail; Prov. 24:16; creativity is contagioius.) And then the third thing is, we're willing to be long-term-oriented, which I think is one of the rarest characteristics. If you look at the corporate world, a genuine focus on the long term is not that common. But a lot of the most important things we've done have taken a long time. (Amen! Invest for the long haul; exponential effect takes hold in the back half of the curve, not 1st half; Jesus spent 30 years in training, 3 years in ministry; no short cuts, trust your investments to create unstoppable momentum down the road.)

Continued here....

Number #2 operating principle of the incubator church is Excellence.  In "What Matter's Now" famed author Tom Peters riffs on the 19 E's of excellence.  Great expansion of what it means to pursue excellence.