Home of the IMN Signature 7-Day MENTORING IMMERSION
another IMN solution…
Keith McNamar —
IMN Field Operative —
Tribes and Heretics:
A Real World Application of Seth Godin’s “Tribes”
—Have you ever been thought of as (or even called) a “heretic”? Rest easy, you may be in great company, at least according to the newest book, Tribes, by bestselling author, Seth Godin. Read the rest of this entry »
Just a friendly reminder because we want to see you!
Register for the Human Event before October 31 and save on tuition.
The HUMAN Event
Orlando, Fl
Feb 5-6, 2009
Hope to see you there.
another IMN solution…
The Super Powers Department –
IMN Global Network–
IMN Field Operative and Featured Writer –
Dale Swinburne
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Energy.
Where does it come from?
How much does it cost to fill up on?
How can you use it most efficiently?
When is it wasted?
All of these questions have been prominent in the news recently. Of course, they all were in reference to the madly inflating prices of fuel. We all wanted to know how high were the prices going to go? Where could we get the cheapest gas? How can I make my fuel last?
But the more important connotation of these questions would be in reference to the energy we expend every day. The energy it takes to get out of bed, get out the door, get to work, get your work done, get back home, get ready to do it again.
What about that energy? We should be as careful about our personal energy efficiency as we are with our fuel efficiency.
You see, very often we waste the energy that gets us through every day. A strengths based approach to life prevents this. By spending our time and efforts in areas in which we are not talented we spend more energy than we generate. We create an energy deficit. In an effort to improve our weaknesses we spend valuable personal resources with very little results.
How can we become more energy efficient? Research has shown that it usually follows that the things you enjoy doing with your time, those things that really energize you, are usually the things that are allowing you to use your talents the most.
The beauty of it is this, when we are using our strengths we aren’t expending energy but generating it. That’s efficiency. Imagine a car that didn’t just use small amounts of fuel but instead generated fuel. (You conspiracy theorists can argue about whether it would ever make it to market or not.) We have that opportunity though. By spending our time operating in our strengths we are increasing our stores of energy, not depleting them.
Now the skill we need to develop is identifying those things we love doing and what strengths we are utilizing. After we’ve done that we should order our lives around those things that are energy producers and not energy sappers.
The truth of it is not only will you benefit greatly from this approach to your life but so will the people around you. They will be experiencing you at your best. They will be experiencing the best you have to offer this world.
Spend your time trying to improve your weaknesses and not only will you expend large amounts of energy but you will also experience little success.
Spend your time perfecting your strengths and you and everyone around you will experience your very best.
What do you think?
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–> Hear Dale Swinburne as he talks about recovering your energy for leadership at the Human Event/ Feb 6-7, 2009/ Orlando, Fl
–> If you enjoyed this piece, try the companion piece, Where do you get your energy? at Into the Mystic.
–Today’s Post from the IMN’s Super Power Headquarters is brought to you by the Ghost Who Walks, the Phantom:
The Adventures of Cigar Company
IMN Global Network
IMN Senior Field Operative
Mike Harris
Cigar Lover’s Unite
“Some men need a smoky place to talk about life”…
START: One year ago, I sat with a good friend in his garage, puffing on a cigar and talking about life. The two of us had gathered for this experience a few times, and though neither of us were big talkers, we both thoroughly enjoyed the rich conversation. We came to the conclusion that some men just need a smoky place to talk about life.
At some point in the midst of lush swirls of smoke our conversation shifted to friends who were struggling in life’s circumstances. Past attempts to invite these friends to church were mostly met with gracious “no thank you’s.” As smoke circles continued to swirl around our heads, we lamented our inability to help our friends. Then, an idea emerged. “Do you think our friends would meet us here in the garage to smoke a cigar and if the conversation happened—to talk about life?” We pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down names of men we knew who enjoyed cigars. Then we added some names of men whom we weren’t sure liked cigars, but we’d ask and find out. Then we prayed for each man on the list. In that moment, something changed in us, and a new thing was born.
Now, one year later, every Tuesday night, anywhere from 8 to 15 guys meet either around a fire pit or in a smoky garage to puff on quality (and occasionally less than quality) cigars and talk about life. We end our evening the same way we did a year earlier—we stop and pray for each other and for men we know who are struggling in life’s circumstances. We even gave ourselves a name—Cigar Company—a name that grew out of watching the series “Band of Brothers” together.
When Alex asked me to write some articles on cigar gatherings, I thought—should this be a series on great men who smoke cigars? Or, a series about men who were great because they smoked cigars? Or, a series just about great cigars in the mouths of notable men? I’m not sure I’ve figured out the answer yet, but I will say this—I look forward to Cigar Company more than any other event of the week (and that is saying a lot)! Every Tuesday, I can’t wait to get together with these men. We all enjoy good cigars, and in a year’s worth of Tuesdays, we’ve smoked quite a few. But cigars are not what keeps us coming back every week. It’s that our lives have been shaped and changed to be more like Jesus.
As I’m writing this, its late Tuesday night and I just returned home from Cigar Company. We ended the gathering around 9:00, but I stayed and talked with two of the men for another hour and a half about their personal experience of following Jesus with more passion. It was a beautiful (if I can use that word in a men’s article) conversation. And as I drove home I thought about how these two men have grown over this last year. Some may argue that I’m just blowing smoke (get it—blowing smoke), but I believe it was the smoky place that created the context for God to shape their lives, and for that important conversation to take place. Yes, some men do need a smoky place to talk about life—and for that reason Cigar Company exists.
What do you think?
Voxtropolis
IMN Global Network
IMN Field Operative
Hermann and Adel Du Plessis
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
It has been fourteen years since the bells of freedom rang in our country. With the passing of a decade and one half, the euphoria of a new beginning is being forgotten by all the challenges we face in South Africa. Adel, my wife, and I have been involved in church planting in impoverished squatter camps (what we call them) as well as in leadership development over the last twelve years.
Adel and Niza in Los Angeles
Until about four years ago, I served as a full time ministry worker employed by a church. Our responsibility was to reach out to the blacks, help them with resources, so that they could grow and develop as impoverished communities. As a Mega-Church it was our “responsibility” to have welfare projects. But this was still the old colonial style of missionary work, even though our country had politically changed.
About four years ago I got into contact with the IMN through Mosaic LA and in May 2005 my wife and I met with Alex and some of his crew! At that time God had been prompting us to leave the church and engage the world by working in the corporate environment. We had ideas of helping different cultures to engage with each other, but we were not certain exactly what to do. We knew that the current way of doing ministry was irrelevant and that a new way of thinking was needed. Through our discussions with Alex and his crew in LA, we realized that it is our job to create a new culture in our small, but diverse country.
Hermann and Adel with IMN alumni John Caterson and Octavio Martinez in LA
Since then we were involved in many projects, some more successful than others, but there has been fruit. We try and open our house to all cultures and invite people from different cultures to have dinner at our house. We founded a leadership school where rich, poor, white and black share their struggles as leaders. We present diversity workshops to corporate staffs and have trips on which the rich enter the squatter camps around Johannesburg.
We find the IMN conversation very stimulating and thought provoking. It makes us feel that we are a part of something bigger and we hope to make it to a conference soon, to meet with more of the IMN people. Since leaving the safe waters of full time church staff, we have been challenged in ways that we could never imagine. But we have found some friends on our journey as we work to build the culture of God’s Kingdom in our country. Thanks to Alex and his crew for inviting us to be a part of the IMN.
The IMN :: Heroes Wanted - Safe Return Doubtful | www.myimn.com | www.fight4humanity.com
Russ Murphy (Australia)
My experience with the IMN was a unique one. Partly because I and a few others were responsible for the “I” in the IMN; we took our responsibility as cultural outsiders quite seriously. Partly because chaotic events ensued that my life would be radically different as a result of taking part.
You get out of these things what you contribute to them, so as a youth pastor I was impacted by the learning environments, both online and face to face. The impact came not only through the content, which was usually incredible, but also through the interaction with others who where wrestling with the same concepts in different contexts.
I was amazed at the affinity I felt with my network members as we assembled in Los Angeles for our immersion experience. I was overwhelmed when this same network stuffed cash in my pockets and under my pillow after my mugging at Midnight in Pasadena, and confident of their support and counsel as I navigated the path to a new future.
I’ve gained a network of allies, advocates, supporters and friends that I could not have garnered on my own through my time at the IMN. I’ve been catapulted into a new way of thinking which has in some ways ruined me forever and burnt bridges behind me. I have, without a doubt, been blessed beyond what I could ever have hoped or imagined.
I would not trade a minute of what I experienced.
I found a tribe to run with.
Russ Murphy
For more info …
IMN
7-Day dates, tuition and fees
IMN Global Network
Ryan Offut, IMN Operative (UK)
Ryan’s IMN Adventure
Orlando, FL
Feb 2008
I’m going to set the scene for you, so you can appreciate where I was coming from for my first ever IMN event.
IMN Global Network
Mike Harris, IMN Operative (US)
The Cigar Company
“I cultivate my flowers and burn my weeds.”
~Charles H Spurgeon
What do men, cigars, and the gospel all have in common? In a smoky pole-barn on Tuesday nights, these three ingredients intersect to form a missional community, and last night this missional community witnessed one of its sojourners commit his life to Jesus. Read the rest of this entry »
The IMN Global Network — another IMN solution
Posted by Mike Harris
Men need a reason to get together. Calling a bunch of men and saying, “Let’s get together and talk” won’t make their top 10 list of things they want to do this week. Hell, it won’t even make their top 1,000! That being said, guys do enjoy a good conversation. Yes, contrary to popular myth, men talk about stuff. We just like to talk about things that we’re interested in AND, we need a context that excites us. One context I’m using is Cigars, and I’ll be writing on our adventure in fine cigars each month. Read the rest of this entry »
The IMN Global Network
Posted by: Geoffrey Baines, Edinburgh, Scotland
You need to know I was born in Yorkshire and that Yorkshiremen are particularly careful with their money! I knew that to come over to the IMN 7-Day Immersion from Scotland, where I am now, would be a big ask but the opportunity to be a part of the 2008 cohort came at a very important time for me and I knew I had to go for it. And what an amazing time it was - a deeply penetrating, shaping time.
There is something very special about coming together with a group of people who “get it.” Everyone knows why they’re there and the whole occasion is brimming with communitas. So the themes and subjects and conversations took my thinking and imagining to places they have not been before, with remarkable people who are aiming to go where few churches have been before - the kind of things that others haven’t figured are churches yet.
As I set out on my journey home one of the first things I had to get straight on to was to go through all my notes to extract the really big things that came out of the seven days for me: I was staggered to find there were so many - out of the sessions, conversations, interactions, the hanging out together with intent, and yes, the great meals. I’m thinking that there is something mystical about all of this; there is something happening disproportionate to the timetable for the days. I could mention the huge permission this gives you to think and act in new ways but I think one of the things that came out of it for me was a greater sensitivity to life happening around me. I’m thinking of this as being a sixth sense, something to do with the Spirit as I say, something mystical.
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Geoffrey Baines serves as a catalyst with the Methodist church in Edinburgh
and has just recently completed the IMN’s 7-Day Mentoring Immersion. You
follow Geoff’s adventures on his Voxtropolis blog Future Primitive.
For more Information on the IMN’s Signature 7-Day Immersion.
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