If you were thrown into the natural environs of the most ancient humans, would you be able to start a fire?

No matches. No lighters. No magnifying glasses.

Well, not immediately, but you would soon learn.

Would you survive?

Yes and more. You would thrive.

How do we know this? Because our species has been there and done that. At some point in our prehistorical past, our species domesticated fire, brought it into our homes, and created a new future.

That’s what “Makers of Fire” (Day 1 of M) is all about: Learning How to Survive in a Primal Context.

Going Primal

In terms of the Christ-following movement, what could be more basic, more fundamental, more primal than making disciples? It is the “making fire” of faith.

But many of us have lost the skills to make disciples in the same way that many of us can no longer ignite a fire in the wild. One reason is all the stuff that stands between us and our raw, natural environment.

For example, every morning many of us step into our cars, turn the ignition key, and magically fire up the engine. Of course, many of us have no clue what actually happened in there. Same for the lights in a room, our iPads, or the heater that keeps us warm on cold nights.

We are far removed from the processes that make things work.

Underneath the shimmering silver case of our Apple computers is a layer of technology that many of us don’t understand. And that technology is layered upon a prior generation of technology and so on. We separated from the invention, persistence, innovation, triumphs and failures of those craftsmen, artists, designers, inventors, and explorers who have made the technology we use possible.

The stark truth is this: the fact that we inhabit the 21st century doesn’t mean we really know how stuff in the 21st century works. Ask yourself this question: If you were suddenly transported 1000 years into the past, would you be able to invent electrical light?

Exactly.

In fact, we know neither how to make fire like our prehistoric ancestors nor how to make the stuff we daily use in the 21st century.

Our experience of 21st discipleship suffers from the same distance. Many of us experience Christ mediated by the religious institutions that have been created by those who layered them on top of the work of others. There are layers between us and the raw, natural environments around us.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. We can enjoy the advances we have made. But how can we enjoy the gains while at the same time not losing those essentials we need to survive?

MAKERS OF FIRE

At the end of his time on earth, Jesus turned to his disciples and told them, “disciple the nations.” In his instructions, there is no separation between the action of “disciple making” and those for whom the action is taken, the “nations”. By “nations” Jesus meant those peoples not shaped by the stories of Israel and the gospel. He meant the “outsider”.

But that is so naked and raw that we cannot hear it. In order to deal with this, we substitute “the church” or “new believers” where Jesus says “nations”.

We would prefer Jesus’s words to mean, “make better Christians”, rather than reach, touch, and make better humans. We would rather think about making disciples “through” the church or “of” the church, rather than “of the nations” because we have forgotten how to interact with the primal environs and can work only through the layers of institutional technology created by those who’ve gone before us.

However, many of us are discovering that we don’t know how things work “in here” either. The church, the programs, the institutions are technologies that many of us do not understand. They are layers of technology created by others and we often just come in and turn on the lights without knowing how the thing really work…or don’t work.

In short, we know neither how to make 21st century disciples not do we know how the first disciple makers applied their craft.

From within the church, many of us stand too distant from those Christ instructed us to disciple (the nations) and, as a result, our own discipleship is hindered.

Speaking in general terms, our culture is revolting against a blind consumption of goods, services, and experiences, and promoting a return to primal acts of creation. Take for example the wide and growing use of the term DIY. That’s “Do It Yourself” and the movement (music, publishing, arts, crafts, remodeling, etc) related to it. One way this movement has taken expression is the Maker Faire. The point of The Maker Faire is “make something” yourself and then bring it to the faire. In 2010 the Faire extended itself into Detroit and New York City. Community-driven, independently produced Mini Maker Faire events inspired by Maker Faire are now being produced around the World.

A Shift in Paradigms…

Like the modern-day Maker Faire and the feat of survival in the prehistorical wild, Makers of Fire is also about something primal. It is about making disciples and making movement. We want to make fire. We want to start a raging, out-of-control blaze that sweeps across the nation and to the ends of the earth. In order to get there, we need to harness the super powers we were given to create a spark and kindle a fire.

Because of the prevalent “educational” model of disciple making, many of us immediately think about “curriculum” or “programs” whenever we think about discipleship. But what if our imaginations have been sequestered by the prevailing “educational” model that, by itself, reduces rather than unleashes human development? Making Fire is not about a discipleship program nor a discipleship curriculum. It is about something far more primal. It is about the disciple-maker and the environs within which disciples are made. We ask, how did Jesus develop people who could develop outsiders? How do we, like him, start in the wilds and make a fire?

What do you think?

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This short article is about two things.

1. First, it explains a little about my short eBook, “Discipleship in the Way of Jesus“.
2. Second, it explains why Day 1 of M is called “Makers of Fire”.

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Futurist and author, Rex Miller, walks the M audience through the “technological imperative” and the seismic shifts that are rocking culture.

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M is created by the International M network.
For more information about future M events …

Twitter: @theimn
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheIMN

And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter.

M is created by the International M network.
For more information about future M events …

Twitter: @theimn
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheIMN

And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter.

Leadership is about making choices.

Some of you are engaged in the art of starting new enterprises. As you begin, you face important decisions.

• What business are we really in?
• Who is our audience?
• What else is out there?

I recently flew into San Francisco to visit with social and spiritual entrepreneurs, Gordon and Leanne Wohlers. Gordon and Leanne are engaged in a very challenging field and I wanted to treat them to something special. So we headed over to a restaurant Leanne had heard about in North Beach called The Stinking Rose. It was there that we learned something about the power of focus.

The Stinking Rose is a restaurant that loves garlic. Loves.

We began our evening with an appetizer called a “bagna calda” which is a dip of garlic cloves, olive oil, and a hint of anchovy all soaking in a hut tub.  We ordered three dishes. The first dish was a Zuppa di Pesco which is a soup comprised of mussels, crab, fresh fish, calamari, and shrimp in a spicy tomato and brodetto in a garlic sauce. The second dish was a Chicken asparagus pasta which included fettuccini, roasted tomatoes, garlic, and pine nuts. The third dish was a garlic prime rib –served medium rare– infused with garlic and basted in garlic served with a side of garlic mashed potatoes and a creamy spinach.

Are you smelling a theme? Everything on the menu had garlic. The text at the bottom of the menu read:

“We season our garlic with a little bit of food.”

Talk about focus.

Have you ever wondered how narrow or broad your range of products or services should be? If you’re staring a new church do you feel like you have to offer all the programs and services of those larger churches? If you’re starting a cafe do you feel like you have to cater to multiple audiences? Whatever business or movement you are starting, the Stinking Rose is instructive.

Imagine those early meetings when the idea of a garlic restaurant was first discussed. I can hear the objections…

• What about those people who don’t like garlic?
• Does every dish on our menu need garlic?
• Won’t people mind if they leave smelling like garlic?
• Would it kill us to have one dish without garlic?

But focus brings clarity. Once the focused vision to launch a restaurant that specialized in garlic was birthed, it shaped everything.

Q: Who is the audience?
A: Everyone who obsesses over garlic.

Q: What should we have on the menu?
A: Garlic with food on it!

Q: What about the people who don’t love garlic?
A: There are many, many other restaurant choices for them. But how many restaurants exist specifically for people who love garlic?

Q: Does everything need garlic?
A: Of course we can create dishes without garlic, but why? We are The Stinking Rose.

Whatever your enterprise, consider the exercise of focusing …and focusing until the thing you seek to do becomes really clear.

Focus helps you know who you are and what you are all about. It helps you make decisions because of the clarity it brings.

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M is created by the International M network.
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1) Social Entrepreneurs who start for-profit businesses that have a profoundly embedded social conscience in their DNA. Their concern is not just the “bottom line” but the net benefit they bring to their community.

2) Non-Profit Social Entrepreneurs who start social movements.

3) Spiritual Entrepreneurs who give shape to new communities of faith, hope, and love. A good number of the M network are “church planters”. A church planter is someone who starts a new church. We consider the activity of church planting a type of entrepreneurship that falls within the category we call Spiritual Entrepreneurship.

What is entrepreneurship?

According to the Meriam-Webster Dictionary, an entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.”

The word entrepreneur comes from an Old French word meaning “to undertake”. An entrepreneur is one who undertakes some task –in our usage here we mean a business or cause — with “initiative and risk.”

When we think of entrepreneurship we often think of those people who reach out to venture capitalists and secure millions of dollars of funding for some high-tech enterprise. But the young mom who is busy making and selling jewelry from home, the singer song writer who makes a living performing his music,  the “web guy” who freelances coding and designing are also, whether they know it or not, entrepreneurs. They have launched and are managing a small business. Not every entrepreneur starts with tons of capital. In fact, most don’t.

What is an entrepreneur like?

Entrepreneur and financial guru, Dave Ramsey writes, “Entrepreneurs, as a whole, are natural risk-takers. They are confident and know what it takes to get the job done. Nothing gets in their way.”

William Sahlman of the Harvard Business School says that Entrepreneurs are  not  risk seekers.  They are reward seekers and are more than happy to let others take the risk.

Two smart guys. Opposite ideas. Whatever the case about the psychology of an entrepreneur with regard to risk, all entrepreneurs whether through temperament or circumstance or need venture out into the world to get something done.

I have personal experience with entrepreneurs – people who see opportunities, take a step of faith, and get things done. Everyone in my immediate family (My mother, my two sisters, My brother, my first son) has launched and runs at least one business. Their composite persona has five remarkable traits. Each one shares to some degree or another in each of these traits. Let’s call this composite persona M. M is characterized by (1) the ability to see opportunities beyond the resources immediately available to them. She is (2) willing to work harder, longer, and do what’s necessary to survive and succeed. (3) M loves to create opportunity for others (in the form of jobs, experience, or community). (4) M does not know how to quit. She does know how to redirect. And, (5) M is generous to a fault.

These traits are not necessarily the traits of all entrepreneurs, just the ones I know really up close and personal. But I’d like to think that these traits tend to characterize the kind of entrepreneur that populates M.

Traits of an M Entrepreneur

M entrepreneurs see possibilities and opportunities. Their resources, no matter how small, are not a barrier for success but their launching pad. Their greatest resource is their personal energy, ambition, enthusiasm, vision, creativity, imagination, and love. To these there is no limit.  They think BIG and are willing to smart small. The only regret they’ll have is letting opportunities get away from them because they were too afraid to act.

M entrepreneurs are industrious. They know that working for yourself requires as much energy, attention, dedication as working for someone else…and much longer hours and more responsibility. Being an entrepreneur isn’t for those who are looking for an easier way to make money. But an entrepreneur thrives and has fun in the context of relentlessly pursuing opportunity and seeking the rewards of their ideas and labor.

M entrepreneurs are fueled by gratitude. They do not think the world owes them. They do not feel entitled. They feel grateful for the opportunity to express themselves by finding a need and filling it in their own unique and creative way. They work smarter and harder than others and LOVE creating opportunity in the form of jobs or experience or community for others.

Failure is part of life. M entrepreneurs are resilient and relentless in pursuit of their goals. Even when they suffer severe setbacks in life they operate with a knack for starting to move forward from exactly where they are without complaining or whining. They are a perfect example of that old saying, “If life gives you a lemon, take that lemon gratefully and sell and serve and negotiate like crazy until you have lemons to give away to others. After all, where would all those seafood restaurants be without the guys with the lemons? Lemons are indispensable.” It’s all about how you look at it.

M entrepreneurs are generous. They know that the world is connected in ways we cannot imagine. They know that touching someone with kindness and compassion spreads the love around the world. They know that people are more than objects to exploit for building profits, and that profits should be used to make people, families, and communities more human.

Are any of us perfect in these regards? Nope. We’re a mixed bag of obsessions and desires and compulsions. But to become these kind of people in the world is a worthy calling. So whether you’re launching a for-profit, or a social movement, or a non-profit, or a new community of faith, we at M salute you and ask that you embrace and advance these M traits into your world. “May the odds be ever in your favor”.

What do you think?

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M is created by the International M network.
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Create the future. I’ve been hearing some form of this idea since the 80′s. “The best way to predict the future,” it is said, “is to create it.”

I’ve been thinking about the future since I was 5 when my grandfather told me he would live to see the year 2000.

“Why will you live until the year 2000?” I asked him.

“Because there will be dancing in the streets,” he said.

That positive and hopeful image changed me. And when I heard and believed the gospel it reinforced the words my grandfather spoke. When I think about the future through the lens of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I see dancing.

Most of my life long reading has been about the future. So, I’m not sure when I first heard the phrase about the best way of “predicting the future”. Whatever the case, I have seen “create the future” thinking moving from the background to the forefront among Christ following people.

I lived in LA for some 20 years and, as a city, Los Angeles is in the future. But the church in Los Angeles was largely stuck in the 50′s. In fact, the church around the world as an institution is dedicated to preserving the past. Every Sunday we rehearse the things God did…in Israel, in the early church, in Jesus…in the past.

In church, we remember.

The book the church reads is an ancient one. True, many churches seek to apply ancient wisdom to the present moment, but the emphasis is always on bringing forward the past.

Because the Christ following faith is based on it’s history, we would never want to lose this emphasis on our ancient stories. We must remember.

And, because the Christ following faith announces a risen Christ who is with us on the great adventure to disciple the nations, we also want to keep the emphasis on our present experience of being with Christ. We must experience the reality of the Kingdom now.

But what of the future?

One place where the church actually faces outward and forward is through the disciple-making process we call church planting. (Part 1 of these thoughts on “What is Church Planting? touches on church planting as a disciple-making process ) Church planting is disciple-making process that anticipates and creates new communities of faith. In other words, church planters work to create future communities of faith with future new disciples of Jesus.

Because the audience for a new church is that population of people who do not yet follow Christ, we have the incredible opportunity to create future communities of faith that reflect God’s vision of the future. Too often our churches are more expressions of our immediate past than of His future.

To launch a new community of faith means that we can take what we’ve learned from the past and unlearn the bad stuff. We can create new future communities of faith that more clearly reflect the world changing stories we rehearse. Because old churches become rigid as they rehearse the old in their particular way, it is often far more difficult for them to enter into the future. Too often they are concerned with saving the past. But with new churches, this is not a concern. With new churches, we can create the future.

But according to what image do we form our ideas of the future that we are to create? We have a story, the story of Christ, that serves as the future image towards which we shape the human story. I suggest that Jesus is from the future. He is what and where the human story is going. The best way to predict the future is to create it. The best way to create a human future is to care about the things Jesus cared about, to love the ways he loved, to lead the way he led.

Remember the ancient stories.

Experience the reality of the Kingdom now.

Create the future.

What do you think?

IMN Resources
Missional Part 1:
Discipleship in the Way of Jesus by Alex McManus
$3.00
Purchase Now

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M is created by the International M network.
For more information about future M events …

Twitter: @theimn
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheIMN

And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter.