Unpacking Ideas

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”   – The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Nobel Laureate, Peace, 1989 “What matters today is not the difference between those who believe and those who do not believe, but the difference between those who care and those who don’t.”   – Georges [...]

This year our team consists of 8 adults and 7 youth (representing two United Methodist churches from our community). We are heading to Summers County, West Virginia to join teams from churches in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania and Pleasantville, New York. Personally, I’ll be glad to hang around a bunch of yankees for the week!

In short, transformational leadership, whether we are talking about national policy or change for my local congregation or nonprofit, requires tenacious long term vision. Leaders who ask us to scuttle our long term common good in order to relieve our short term discomfort are not leading us anywhere. And we know what the Cheshire Cat said.

I had begun to wonder why we were making these expensive trips across the world every year. Why were we spending so much time and energy and money just to visit with a group of teenagers? Grisha taught me something very important. They feel forgotten. Without family members for support, these teenagers often wonder if anyone notices them, if anyone even remembers them.

Who is the point? Well, if you are a leader in a congregation or a long-time member, then you are not the point. Ouch. Sorry. Seems to me, if we are to take Luke seriously, the “point” are all the folks who are not yet with us — either because they don’t believe yet, or are turned-off from Church, or don’t feel welcome, or are afraid of us for some reason.

I think the true test of effective transformational leadership is when a leadership team sticks to the long term plan for change even when the changes are small. A leadership team is effective when it clings tenaciously to each incremental change, as long as its in the right direction.

As a regular kinda’ guy in a local community — maybe I’m a volunteer for a local non-profit, a teacher in a school, a volunteer in the local church — I need to trust that the leadership team I follow is absolutely, unequivocally dedicated to the mission of our organization. Without that level of trust in my leadership team my willingness to follow them wavers. My commitment to our organization depends greatly on my perception that our leadership team cares singularly about the mission of our organization. To the extent our leadership team becomes distracted by other priorities, my commitment weakens.

On the Pine Ridge Reservation (and other Native American reservations) things are different. Let’s look at one example: Shannon County, SD, located entirely on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Over 85 percent of its residents are Native American (highest density in the U.S.). Based on per-capita income Shannon County is the second poorest count in the U.S. The child poverty rate in Shannon County is 52 percent. Over half of the families in this county are living below the federal poverty level with children in their home. So, tell me, how are their children?

It’s simple. Let’s say we will protect our children and babies. Let’s say we will feed all of our children enough. Let’s say we will do whatever it takes to keep more of our babies alive. The rest we’ll worry about later.

If you would like to hear more about our upcoming trip or last year’s trip click over to the “Orphan Care Project” above. If you would like to consider joining us on the trip to Ivanovo next June — great! Send me an e-mail at jeff@unpackingideas.org to let me know. You don’t need any prior travel or ministry experience to qualify, only a desire to go (far) to help the orphans (and a few extra bucks). Maybe you are not able to travel next June but you still want to help in some way — very cool. Let me know what you have in mind. Periodically I’ll post an update here about our planning and what we need for the orphan graduates

Here’s the central idea, or the “one thing”. Surely you recall Curly’s “one thing” in the movie City Slickers. Yes, transfer of learning is important. Yes, a balanced approach to effectiveness is important. Yes, shared leadership is important. But the central idea I most care about is that our mission must become flesh. I am not satisfied with the words of our mission. The idea of our mission is not enough. I want mission incarnate. Mission must become flesh.

The idea of economics is not new. The word is taken from the Greek oikonomia, which in the first Century roughly meant “household management”. Today, while we are managing more than a household, the question is the same: How do we manage the limited resources available to us? I.e., How do we run our economy?