Looking For A Team To Build Something New

Do you ever have an idea of something that could be really cool?  I have been working through and dreaming about an idea for a while now, but I know it is not something that I can carry on my own.  So I am looking for a team of people who want to pursue a dream with me.  Now I will tell you the story.

A lot of churches out there do small groups or life groups or cell groups….whatever you want to call them.  The Bible is very clear that we should be in community with each other.  I have been in small groups for a long time as both a leader and a participant.  Some groups have been really good and some have been really messy.  I have run into a common problem with small groups lately.  We are all busy people and it’s sometimes difficult to take time to go meet for small group on a regular schedule.  I was in one small group that met every other Friday.  On Thursday night or Friday morning, I would begin receiving emails about where we were meeting.  Often group would not happen because we could not get our schedules together.  I have also felt disconnected from a small group before because I did not live as close to the group as everyone else did.

But I have found another way to connect with people that I believe can take small groups to a whole new level.  You are reading my blog right now because you know me or you like the kind of stuff I share here.  If you have been a reader for a while, you have gotten to know me at least a little bit.  Some of you leave comments and take the next step of interacting with me.  I have made several friends because of blogs and Twitter.  Those relationships developed because of random connections or someone was looking for something and people find each other.

I truly believe that the Internet  can be fertile soil for small groups.  I believe that you can connect with people in deep and meaningful ways using technologies available to us.  Before your mind begins to run through your opinions, I want to say that the Internet is not able to replace proximity.  I can’t give you a hug or personally deliver homemade cookies to you through Twitter or Facebook.  But I can have a video conference and have a conversation with you over coffee.  We can see each other as we talk and interact without hiding behind words typed on a blog.  What is even better is that we can setup a video conference and invite multiple people to web cam in and join a real conversation.  You can go to small group online from anywhere that you have an Internet connection.  Connect from home.  Connect from a hotel.  Connect from Starbucks.  You can travel for work, go on vacation, or just be really busy with stuff at home and still connect with your small group.

<———————–Long Post Intermission – Get a drink or snack and come back. ————————->

I am envisioning something a lot bigger than just small groups though.  As I began investigating ways to connect people online, I found there to be a lot of potential for more.  I wrote a blog post a while back about having a problem finding a mentor in my life.  Well, I have been using the blogs of other leaders to glean an education from.  Essentially, I use what people share online to learn and develop myself in different areas of my life.  I am sort of mentoring myself.  The only problem with that is that there is no personal investment.  When John Maxwell writes a blog post, he doesn’t think about me specifically when he writes it.  I am taking in a lot of information, but the accountability and the challenge isn’t there.  But I have stumbled across something that I am calling group mentoring.  It is mentoring in groups where we invest in each other.  In the last couple of weeks, my friend Joseph and I who met on line have helped each other out with things.  He wrote a blog about needing help with what to read in the Bible.  I was able to make some suggestions on where to start and how to mix it up.  Because I know him, I had insight to what would be good for him.  Just yesterday I wrote a blog about struggling with goal setting and prioritizing and he was able to drop some valuable advice back at me.  One day, I am mentoring Joseph, and the next day, he is mentoring me.  Imagine what help and encouragement could be received in a group of 7 people.

I also have a great passion to help leaders to lead.  More specifically, I want to show people who don’t think that they are leaders how they really are leaders.  I think that there are a lot of people out there who are leading and don’t know it.  They need help and encouragement from other leaders who have been there.  There is a lot of valuable and free help available to us, but we are either too busy to look for it, or we just don’t know where to look.  I am willing to bet that there are great blogs that you follow that I don’t even know about because I haven’t come across them yet.

What I am envisioning is a place online free and available to anyone.  A place where we can take advantage of the power of community to connect people with purpose and develop leaders.  If you are looking for a group of people similar to you, check it out.  If you want to start a new unique group and are looking for others to join, check it out.  Need a mentor or want to share your life experience with others, check it out.  Have you found yourself in a leadership position and need some tips, check it out.

I want to create a community of resources for the busy, the lonely, and the overwhelmed.  I need a team of people to help me accomplish this.  If you feel like this is something that you want to help build the foundation for, you can get in touch with me through comments here on this blog.  You can also find me on Twitter @churchpunk.  I want to setup an online meeting with those interested to discuss further what this could be and how you can play a part.

Thanks for reading my long post if you made it this far.  I hope we’ll be in touch soon.