Jims ThirdSpace

Catalyst 08

I didn’t make it to Catalyst this year, but am already looking forward to Catalyst 09. I’m having to get my Catalyst by reading what others are sharing about their experience. Fellow blogger Marla has some great sessions summaries you need to read. All are great, and Andy Stanley’s session is something every leader needs to read: Catalyst 08: Andy Stanley Closing Session. Check her blog, Coffee Shop Journal out at http://coffeeshopjournal.com/.

Marla, thanks for the good reporting.

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Tags: Andy Stanley, Catalyst, coffee shop journal, Great place, Leadership

Wear your colors….

College Colors Day seeks to celebrate and promote the traditions and spirit that make the college experience great by encouraging fans, alumni and students to wear apparel of their favorite college throughout the day. So get in the spirit and wear your colors.

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Tags: college football, Great place, UGA

Thirdspace in Nicaragua

Yes, Nicaragua does have third space venues, but they are definitely not what you find in North America. I went in a cyber-cafe and found a world of old pcs, older monitors (that the owners would beat on the back to keep the picture flickering on for you), temperatures that were in the mid 90′s, no door, and a steady stream of people coming in to get copies made on a fax machine. One of the best things I saw were power strips that were duct taped together then to a metal rack, that were completely loaded up.

While I was dripping in sweat watching the action, I started talking to one of the locals, Pablo Blanco. I asked him if it was always like this, and he said it was a great winter day in Nicaragua. Just another day in paradise.

Check out my latest light hearted looks at Mission Nicaragua in my Scrapbook.

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Tags: coffee, Great place, Nicaragua, Pablo, third space

Who’s number one?

Heard some new numbers this week about coffee sales. It must be the “dog days of summer” when coffee sales are news worthy. (ever wonder where the dog days of summer came from) ?

In 2006, Starbucks was the place where more Americans bought cups of coffee than any other place. Then in 2007, a new number one took over, Dunkin Donuts, shoving Starbucks to number two. Then, in 2008, Dunkin Donuts was a repeat at number one, but McDonalds came in at number two pushing Starbucks down to number three. Does anyone see a trend here?

No wonder Starbucks is taking a long hard look at themselves. It’ll be interesting to see how they come out of this time of testing. I think the long term outlook is great with some short term inconveniences.

Maybe the other players (coffee sellers) have shoved them down in sells, but I don’t see a surge in groups of people building community at Dunkin Donuts (except for Cops and Firemen), or other people rushing to McDonalds to surf the net, and talk to a Barrister, who can actually be engaged in a conversation.

Yes the coffee costs more, but it’s all about the presentation, the atmosphere, the community.

Do you want to wipe up Happy Meal residue or listen to McCartney, JT, or Bono?

What do you want, a Walkman or an Ipod?

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Tags: coffee, community, dog days of summer, Great place

Three questions and answers for tomorrow…

Here are the three questions with answers for tomorrow night:

1. What do Monica Lewinsky, Don Drysdale and Rick Lucas all have in common?  Today is their birthday.

2. What do a skimboard, an ipod and a magazine all have in common?  They are all on Jimmy’s take-to-the-beach list.

3. What do David Beckham, Usher and Hillary Duff all have in common? They all have  perfumes named after them.

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Tags: community, Great place

Maybe being stoopid is relative

I feel better today knowing we’re not all getting more stoopid. I heard today about the Space Elevator Conference that is exploring ways to revolutionize space travel. People have talked about a space elevator since 1895, and word among the very smart (not stoopid) people is that it’s doable with enough money. If we can get one to work, it’d cost $100 or less per pound to carry things into space, compared with current costs of $2,000 to $60,000 a pound! Of course not all the very smart people agree that it will happen, but they can conceptualize how it would-could work. I get it a little, but am stretched to think it’ll ever happen. Where would we get enough elevator music to play on an elevator trip to outer space? Would people overload a space elevator like they do elevators in buildings? Could the space elevator get stuck between floors? Would Otis service a space elevator?

I guess how smart you are shapes your questions, and your answers. My questions aren’t being asked at the Space Elevator Conference. The conference is dealing with the hard questions. My questions don’t need answering until they get their answers.

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Tags: Great place, space elevator

Three questions for Wednesday

These are the three questions (with answers) that will be asked at supper Wednesday night:

1. What do Monica Lewinsky, Don Drysdale and Rick Lucas all have in common? Wednesday is their birthday.

2. What do a skimboard, an ipod and a magazine all have in common? They are all on Jimmy’s I take to the beach list.

3. What do David Beckham, Usher and Hillary Duff all have in common? They all have perfumes (scents) named after them.

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Tags: building community, Great place, no way

Building Community – Part Two

Here are the next five community limiters:

6. Be physically present but mentally absent
When talking to someone, pretend to listen by nodding your head and saying “uh huh” while you are really thinking about what show comes on TV later that night. Basically, just don’t engage anyone on any level. After all, you’re just there to put in your “time” and then get on with your life.
7. Don’t share a meal
If you goal is to avoid community, this step is of the utmost importance, don’t ask people to lunch! Sharing a meal is an intimate thing that creates deeper relationships. So, when someone asks you to lunch fake a stomach ulcer or something, just get out of it.
8. Stay very, very busy
The busier you are, especially on a Sunday, the less time you have to “deal” with people. In fact, attempt to be so busy that when speaking to someone you never even stop walking past them as you say hello.
9. Make your default response “everything is great”
People will always ask how you are doing. Make sure that you have your “default” answer ready so that when they ask you are ready to say, “everything is great!” This must be your default response, otherwise you might actually let on that your life is not perfect, or worse, that you are struggling. This colossal mistake could lead to deeper conversation and deeper relationship. If you are going to really avoid community while in church, this is probably your best weapon.
10. Don’t show up
This is definitively your best method of avoiding community overall because there is no community where there are no people.

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Tags: community, Great place, Simple Church

Building Community

We’re exploring ways to build community at my church. We get mixed signals from people that attend our church about the friendliness of the people. Maybe muddy-signals-based-on-longevity is a better descriptor.

New people walking in the door tell us we’re very friendly, that they felt welcomed, that people were very nice to them, all good things. More established attenders, (the more established you are the more entrenched you are and the more you are connected to other entrenched attenders), will comment:” Who are you talking about?”, “I don’t know that family”, “I wish there was a way to get to know the younger people”, not very good feedback.

To help create opportunities for creating community we’ve started doing some mixer things on Wednesday around the mid-week-church-meal. The Wednesday mixer opportunities will help only a sub-group of the church. This summer we’re taking it to a new level. We’re hooking our Sunday services to our Wednesday night experience, with Wednesdays being cross generational, very interactive and include everyone in your family, except for the youngest preschoolers. Artificial summer family units are being created to mix people up. It’s going to be fun.

With all that we’re doing to create community, I think it would be good to look at some things that limit or tear down community. Here are the first five community building limiters that we can experience during a Sunday morning worship service time (the time when most churches have the largest number of people on campus:

1. Keep conversations short.
   You are busy, you have a lot to deal with in your life, if you talk to someone you might get close to them and that takes time and energy that you don’t have. Just keep it short and sweet, don’t bother talking about anything more than the weather. If you don’t know a person is hurting, then you don’t have to do anything about it.
2. Always sit in your “assigned” seat
   By always sitting in the same seat you always sit around the same people. These folks know the deal, and stick to the appropriate 30 second conversations: weather, sports, how the new preacher is doing, etc. Also, this keeps you from having to venture out, meet new people, and possibly sit next to someone you aren’t familiar with.
3. Avoid new people
   It’s one thing to deal with all the people that you already know at church, but it’s another to actually meet new people. Seriously, you aren’t good with names; you don’t have the time, or the energy, so just walk right past anyone you don’t know. After all, they won’t notice that you totally avoided them.
4. Come in late
   Don’t overlook the beauty of this one. By coming in late you totally avoid even the 30 second conversations. And (bonus), you avoid the new people! It just makes life easier.
5. Leave immediately after the service (or early)
   This has the same benefits as coming in late, with the added benefit of getting on the road more quickly to beat those other churches to eat. This way you get out of that crowded church building so that you can go sit with your people and eat a meal. If you add this method with the coming in late method you could go to a church for years and never meet anyone.

Do any of these sound familiar? Tomorrow is Sunday. Look around and see how many people are using some of these five community limiters. Take a look at yourself. You may be surprised at how you may have fallen into a routine that employs some of these five. Tomorrow I’ll share five more.

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Tags: community, Great place, Simple Church

Marla hits the deep ball

Check out this great coffee shop, Third Space, Marla has discovered:

http://coffeeshopjournal.com/2008/05/29/blue-joe-coffee-lake-oswego-oregon-a-great-third-place/

A Florida franchise would be nice, but it would loose that hometown feel.

Sigh.

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Tags: coffee house, Great place, third space