{"id":491,"date":"2013-12-15T03:48:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T03:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=491"},"modified":"2014-08-13T20:57:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T20:57:05","slug":"next-station-piccadilly-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/next-station-piccadilly-circus\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Station… Piccadilly Circus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For many years I have dreamt about someday visiting Europe, especially the city of London.\u00a0 This past September my dream came true, and it certainly did not disappoint. In late September, my wife and I boarded a plane for London to participate in my second travel advance through George Fox Evangelical Seminary.\u00a0 Throughout my time in London I learned many things,\u00a0 but none greater than the insight of connections<\/strong>.\u00a0 Connections with dear friends, historical places, a new age and missional movements.\u00a0 These connections, much like London\u2019s subway system named the UNDERGROUND<\/strong>, took me to new places in my soul, mind and understandings.\u00a0 I am deeply grateful for these connections.\u00a0 The following learning synthesis is a reflection on how my time in London changed my soul and is still currently forming me.<\/p>\n

Personal Interests\u2026\u00a0 <\/strong>It was my first time on the London \u201cUNDERGROUND\u201d, we had been riding for approximately 10 minutes when I heard the over head announcement, “Next station, Oxford Circus, this will be the connector for the brown line.”<\/strong>\u00a0 Little did I realize that over the next ten days I would be connecting to more than colored subway lines via the UNDERGROUND, but rather significant soul shaping ideas, sights and people.\u00a0 As I reflect upon my time in London, four significant areas of connection emerge.\u00a0 First, the connection with dear friends.\u00a0 As I began my time with LGP3 almost 16 months ago, I remember our first significant meeting.\u00a0 Excitement was mixed with being nervous, in fact, if I\u2019m honest it felt a little like my first day in Jr. High.\u00a0 People were great,\u00a0 staff was amazing, cohort members were personable, yet, if you asked me, \u201cHow deeply will I get to know these people over the next three plus years?\u201d, I\u2019m not sure how I would have responded.\u00a0 \u00a0Entering the doors of the Hotel in London, I was caught off guard by the depth of relationships which have been formed among LGP3.\u00a0 I would truly count each of them as deep lifelong friends<\/strong>.\u00a0 These friends have taught me about their respective cultures but even more about myself and the culture in which I come from.\u00a0 Their perspectives, friendship and care for each other became so evident throughout our time.\u00a0 A powerful example of this depth came on the day of the LGP3 presentations.\u00a0 As each person presented, fellow cohort members were helping each other, cheering one another on, and truly capturing a team dynamic.\u00a0 There was no competition!<\/strong>\u00a0 We truly desired for each other to succeed, be sharpened and the kingdom built.
\nSecond, I was struck by the impact, visiting historical places had on me in a formational way.\u00a0 Evensong at Saint Paul\u2019s Cathedral,<\/strong> communion at Westminster Abbey<\/strong>, visiting the London Tower<\/strong> and watching the sun set over Big Ben and the Parliament<\/strong> while dining along the Thames.\u00a0 Each were profound moments in connecting to historical figures and those who have gone before us.\u00a0 What I had read about all my life, I was now experiencing first hand.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 On the last day of our time in England we were able to travel by train to Oxford.\u00a0 While in Oxford, we were able to visit the Bodleian Library and dine at The Eagle and Child.\u00a0 The simple yet profound connection to scholars such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien is hard to describe in words.\u00a0 Below is two pictures from our time.<\/p>\n

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\nThird, almost immediately during my time in London I was caught off guard by the pace.\u00a0 On our first night riding the UNDERGROUND<\/strong>, I was literally swept up by the pace in which many were moving throughout the subway system.\u00a0 I very quickly learned to keep right, or simply get run over.\u00a0 The progression of pace paralleling the speed of change was staggering.\u00a0 This same concept emerged during our time at LLOYD\u2019s<\/strong> of London, our tour through the business district, observing the construction of a new London and the simple yet profound pace that Londoners walked on the streets.\u00a0 Below is a picture painted by a street artist in Leadenhall Market adjacent to LLOYD\u2019s of London.\u00a0 The blurring within this picture captures the pace of our new age well.\"image\"<\/p>\n

Fourth and lastly, I was struck by missional movements happening in profound ways throughout London.\u00a0 Sitting with Jeremy Crossley, while next to the Bank of England and listening to his heart on simply being present with God and then others<\/strong>.\u00a0 Simply profound!\u00a0 As I am reflecting, I can\u2019t help but connect Jeremy and his leadership to what Friedman spoke of in his book Failure of Nerve: Leadership in an Age of the Quick Fix, specifically in the area of leading from a position of health in the midst of a potentially hostile environment.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Equally as impacting to Jeremy Crossley was Steve Chalke from Oasis Church. Steve\u2019s passion, drive and conviction in which he spoke, was inspiring.\u00a0 Uniquely his ability to release well, and model a form of the hedge hog concept written about by Jim Collins in his book, \u201cGood to Great\u201d, has allowed Steve to grow Oasis hubs all throughout Europe.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 His lack of need to control was inspiring.\u00a0 I also respect him a great deal for his position on using influence and speaking into significant issues of our time.<\/p>\n

New Knowledge\u2026 <\/strong>In the area of new knowledge, three key themes emerged during my time in London.\u00a0 First, a new global society is being birthed from among an old world.\u00a0 Buildings and streets which have stood for hundreds of years or maybe even a millennium, are now being dwarfed by new neighbors which capture a new global identity.\u00a0 This new society immersed in a digital landscape, runs parallel to the old modern world while at the same time being its own distinct reality.\u00a0 Global cities such as London, provide opportunity to influence and lead culture change.\u00a0<\/strong> These key cities transform culture, which in turn impacts a greater society.\u00a0 In this new coming world,\u00a0 the ancient and the future live simultaneously.<\/p>\n

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A second theme which emerged is the need for the church to be embedded into society.\u00a0 With society moving so quickly, immersed in the need to produce,<\/strong> a great need for parish modeled churches is beginning to arise.\u00a0 These parish churches being geographically located in the tribe of their neighbors.\u00a0 No longer asking others to come to them, or having to produce the best attractional entertainment to build sustainable numbers, churches are confronted with a simplistic return to offering the sacraments to others.\u00a0 This same reality I am currently observing here in the United States, predominately in city centers.\u00a0 Third, I observed and experienced the need to think globally while yet living locally.\u00a0 This is easier said than done!\u00a0 I use this language all the time, in fact I even teach a course named the Glocal Church.\u00a0 Yet, once returning from London, the stark realization is that so many locally simply only know local.\u00a0 Sharing with this community must be thoughtful and well contextualized.\u00a0 Otherwise, your voice becomes white noise in a sea of information.<\/p>\n

Practice\u2026 Since our advance in London, I have continued the process of working out digital influence within the bounds of keeping a healthy formation and rule of life.\u00a0 After beginning to see and understand the future, through witnessing a global city like London, I have become even more intentional in crafting my formation through a balanced perspective of ancient practices combined with futuristic digital influence.\u00a0 These connections have proved to help in the area of capturing Sabbath well. A second practice I have implemented since my time in London is body power dynamics.\u00a0 After listening to MarkKate Morse speak on this subject, I realized I\u2019ve thought about this subject, but never really have taken the time to develop my formation around these engagement principles.\u00a0 Throughout the fall I have been intentional about body presentation within individual and group meetings.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 These principles have been simple, yet profound.\u00a0 This area of study has added a new paradigm of relational dynamics in which i will continually be developing through years of life and ministry.<\/p>\n

Application\u2026 My practice and application since the London Advance parallels my connections stated in the personal interest section.\u00a0 First, caring for and staying in touch with dear friends from around the world.\u00a0 This fall I have been more intentional with praying for, speaking words of encouragement and catching up via skype and facebook.\u00a0 These connections have been profound for my own growth, encouragement and ministry.\u00a0 The sharpening which has taken place has refined my thoughts, interactions and professional ministry. Global relationships such as these have enabled me to live out of what Charlene Li calls, open leadership.\u00a0 Open leadership being a place where social technology parallel with global relationships provides a platform where one can be refined and lead from an open authentic posture.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 The second of these connections, historical places has continued to shape my understanding of global Christianity.\u00a0 After having visited Westminster Abbey, Saint Paul\u2019s Cathedral and The London Tower, my understanding of history has been transformed.\u00a0 I love history, and particularly European mid-evil and renaissance history.\u00a0 Experiencing each of these places has given profound understanding into the church of the past and how we have arrived at the church of the present.
\nPrior to joining LGP3 with George Fox, I was beginning to retract from technology and the emerging digital society.\u00a0 Not for reasons of disagreement, but rather to gain health and sustainability in life.\u00a0 Since participating in LGP3, I have regained a new understanding and skill set in the area of leading by influence through a digital society.\u00a0 This has allowed me to continue in the process of living out of a place of healthy rhythms.\u00a0 It has also given me a platform in leading others within my current organization to a healthier influential place in the area of education, training and soul shaping.<\/p>\n

Synthesis & Methodology\u2026 Throughout this fall, cohort reading selections have again transformed my thinking.\u00a0 These authors along with their concepts have refined my thinking in multiple disciplines.\u00a0 Each has made a contribution to the my over all dissertation research in the area of, \u201cRestoring Burnout Ministry Leaders Within A Western North American Society.\u201d\u00a0 The following is a visual journey of London and my experience this past fall.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [5] MaryKate Morse, Making Room for Leadership:\u00a0 Power, Space and Influence (Downers Grove, InterVaristy Press, 2008), 64.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [4] Charlene Li, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2010), 193.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [3] Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leading in an Age of the Quick Fix (New York, Seabury Books, 2007), 110.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2] Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap And Others Don\u2019t (New York, Harper Collins Books, 2001), 94.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1] Anthony Elliott, Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction (New York, Routledge Press, 2009), 246.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many years I have dreamt about someday visiting Europe, especially the city of London.\u00a0 This past September my dream came true, and it certainly did not disappoint. In late September, my wife and I boarded a plane for London to participate in my second travel advance through George Fox Evangelical Seminary.\u00a0 Throughout my time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,204,203,62,211],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-london","tag-londonadvance","tag-ve","tag-visualethnography","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1826,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions\/1826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}