Rich Kao

Great video by Pastor Craig Groeschel.  All I want to say is, "Folks, let get the job done.  Don't worry about failing.  Let's go all out for Jesus."

Great post by Pastor Steve Murrell, as follows:

Picked up an old book the other day. It was buried deep in the back on my bookshelf. Read it about 30 yrs ago, when i was a new believer.

Radical quotes from DeVern Fromke's classic, "No Other Foundation" about generosity and planned poverty:

- "William Carey went to the mission field with a salary of $250 a year. While in India he was hired by the government to teach in a university for $7500 a year. Carey continued to live on $250, giving the rest to the work of the Lord. That was planned poverty."

- "John Wesley began working for $150 a year. He gave $10 to the Lord. His salary was doubled the second year, but Wesley continued to live on $140, giving $160 to Christian work. During his third year, Wesley received $600. He kept $140, while $460 were given to the Lord. That was planned poverty."

- "William Bordon died before his 26th birthday. He had given his entire fortune of $25,000,000 to the work of the Lord before going out as a missionary. That was purposeful poverty."

- "What about Moses who rejected the name, the fame, the power and the wealth of Egypt, only to suffer affliction with the children of Israel? His choice was premeditated. He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures in Egypt."

Fromke goes on the write about the "deliberate and dedicated frugality" of the Macedonian church, the "sacrificial spirit" of Paul, and the "planned poverty" of Jesus.

None of these people were "poor" because they were lazy or lacked the intelligence to become financially successful - rather, they choose to give rather than horde.

Modern believers in our materialistic culture seem to have lost the passion for extravagant generosity.

Great article from Harvard Business publishing on sleep.  In particular the little tips on getting more from your sleep are helpful, and yes power naps do work!  Click here for article.

Ok...We're going public with our idea, right here!  This is part post, part an invitation to come and join us.

Part of our strategy in building a "flat & happy" church is to leverage technology and Web 3.0 tools to connect and build community in our church and around the city. Can't build a building? No problem, we have ways.

Whoosh! Introducing our Digital Town Hall concept where our church's internet destination is not a website but a Town Hall, where you can connect with others. Blog away. Twitter hourly. Post pictures. Upload a video. Write a review. Contribute to our Wiki.  Download resources for your impact group. Access training videos. Connect to our online seminary. Find great meetings spots. Listen to a sermon.  Even grab a digital cup of coffee. 

And here's where we need your help.  Calling all programmers, coders, techno-geeks that drink Jolt and eat Doritos for breakfast.  We love you and we need you!  There's awesome new flash and 3D technology emerging, new social media elements and tools, new connectivity arcs we've never seen before, and we'd like to incorporate and meld it into a rocking Town Hall site. 

Pay?  Zero.  This is a revolution. 

Move to Vancouver?  You don't need to...we'll do this work colloboratively across time zones and countries if we need to. 

Upside?  Bragging rights to being part of a cross-functional, grass roots, multi-time zone, cross-generational, inter-disciplinary, transnational team that builds the first ever Digital Town Hall that could be used as a pattern for other organizations, businesses, NGO's, universities and more around the world.  We might actually get rich together!

If you're interested, email me at richkao@shaw.ca.  If you know of someone that would be interested, send them this post.  If you want to post it in your local Craigs' list city, go for it.  

Let the revolution begin.  

Let it be said it started with you!

Broad, not tall; out not up. We're aiming to be "flat & happy." In a city (Vancouver) where it's difficult to find land and develop space (zoning laws are highly restrictive; dozens & dozen of churches are meeting in existing facilities), we are aiming to thrive in spite of not having a building, or maybe as a result of being forced to be creative in our context.

Flat organizations are exciting.  It's people driven.  It's organic.  Ownership is spread out.  Overhead is low.  Each person acts as an ambassador, not the "staff."   The city becomes our "sanctuary;"  coffee houses, university canteens, community centers.   It's grass-roots and has more a movement like feel.  It's fun. 

More posts later on how we are looking to structurally and practically make our church flat.