You go, story girl!

I’m working on a justice non-profit focused on helping poor folks and Christian workers who serve among them tell their stories. Gotta get that kind of stuff online and in the old media too. I think you might be helping create an important model for what may eventually become a new (and very old :^) way of communicating old things skewed old and new enough to get a hearing.

I really appreciated Bill’s call to immediate authenticity. Always good to limit the bs factor as much as possible and give current practitioners the first crack at making sense of the challenge.

But I also appreciated a few other folk’s comments that limiting input to those types restricts wisdom and the potential advance of the work. Theorists and the experienced have a lot to contribute. Most folks don’t serve on the front lines in especially difficult situations over the very long haul. When on the edge, seems to me you’ve gotta get help where you can find it.

One key element that struck me from Jason’s comments. If you don’t have experienced senior leaders who can lead a credible ’story hour’ you’re going to struggle as a church or as a non-profit. Seems like getting those kinds of people in place as soon as possible–especially for a ministry committed to planting holistic churches among the squatter poor in the developing world–is sort of important. Sometimes younger, more gifted, more experienced and less spiritually mature people are the best choices to lead a ministry like that as long as they get help from older and wiser and less experienced people who aren’t threatened by their loss of positional status.

In the interests of authenticity, Jason isn’t actually a rocket scientist. He writes software that rocket scientists use to do their thing :^).

I think we often learn more from what fails, doesn’t work, etc., but not enough of us are willing to put those stories out there. I wonder, Bill, if those who are just talking without doing are in that place because what they are trying has failed or because it is simply untried. Two very different things.

That post is awesome! Thanks for sharing the link. One of my close friends down here is a DJ and I have seen first-hand how hard she works. I would say it is definitely as hard as playing an instrument.

And I hear you on the theory stemming from what we go through. I guess since I know you and know your context, I read you with that in mind, so you never feel like a talking head to me

and speaking of rocket science… check out this post about an actual DJ/rocket scientist:

http://gnatural.blogspot.com/2008/05/dj-scientific-nasa-scientist-by-day.html

Hi Erika,

Nice site you have here. I like reading the things you write because you are a good writer and communicate your thoughts in a clear and concise manner. I like both theory and stories. It’s really timely that I should stop by here this morning I guess. Lately I have been bothered by this sort of idea, “Who gets to be heard?” Bill K. and many others would tend to write someone like me off. I have a ton of thoughts and theories, but the ‘living it’ part is kind of thin. I recently was thinking of this. Who should listen to my ideas when I don’t live them myself? This is not a matter of intentional hypocrisy, it’s far more complicated than that. Even so, the bottom line is this, how can I talk about reconciliation and unity in the Body when I’m not an active part of any such group? Does the fact that I have been a believer for 35 years mean nothing? Has it been a waste of time for me to read and study or it is just a personal hobby? I like to think that knowledge has its own intrinsic worth. In my world, all truth is GOD’s truth. I want to learn from many sources. I listen to those who are both younger and older than me. Although I no longer regard myself as an Evangelical Christian, I try to listen and learn as much as I can from that tradition. I wonder if I’m making sense here any more. I feel this tremendous tension because I’m in a limbo place regarding fellowship with other believers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and stories. I am sure that those who read your posts regularly are greatly blessed by GOD.

Peace,

Shlomo