Craig Ventner and Dr. Frankenstein  
          The man who sequenced the human genome has figured out how to use a computer to completely design the genetic code of an organism. He and his team can mess with the genes almost as easily as you can edit an essay in Word.
          And yet.
          And yet once the strand of code is generated and turned into organic matter in a Petri dish, it just lies there. It’s not alive.
          The motive force -- the spark that brings it to life -- is missing.  Ventner still needs to insert some organic tissue, something living, something alive, to transform the project into more than an inert mass of genes.
          Surprisingly, that’s precisely your opportunity.
          Not to buy a Petri dish and a bunch of organic materials.  No, the opportunity is bigger than that -- it’s to see that all around you are platforms, opportunities, and entire organizations that will come to life once you are driven enough and brave enough to contribute the initiative they are missing.
          Poke the Box , Seth Godin

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“MCLE messes with your head” by Tammy Nelson
          We’ve been participating in the Missional Church Learning Experience for almost a year now and I have one thing to say about it:  MCLE messes with your head.  Now, I don’t mean that in a bad way.  Sometimes we get so comfortable with our patterns and beliefs and way of doing things that we never bother to question why we do what we do. MCLE throws that whole way of being out the window. 
          Let me try to give you a taste of what we have been wrestling with in the last several months.  I think the best way to do that is by exploring together the definition of a missional church.  Simply stated, “a missional church is an authentic community of faith that primarily directs its ministry focus outward toward the context in which it is located and to the broader world beyond.”  How could this be difficult, right?  That’s what we thought going in. Boy, were we in for a surprise!  With my time today, I can only cover the first few words of the definition.  “A missional church is an authentic community…”
          The first word that we really discovered was harder than it looked was “authentic.” I never realized how difficult it really is to just open up and share thoughts, feelings, motivations, and the like. Authentic means putting forth who we really are, sharing our reactions and not hiding behind masks. I really noticed that when one of us it able to bravely put forth their authentic selves in our meetings, it helps all of us relax and share without fear of looking weak, displeasing someone or being belittled when we have ideas to share.
          “Community” is another word that seemed simple until we really began to go through the process.  I mean, we, the church, come together around a common theme, often weekly.  We share prayers and worship and sing.  It sounds like community, doesn’t it?  But I discovered as we delved deeper into the MCLE studies, that our group has begun to evolve into a deeper idea of community. When we are able to bring our authentic selves to our tasks, a strange thing happens to our community.  Several times, when one of us has finally come to a realization about something that has been difficult for them during our exercises, we take time to celebrate the new awareness. I think that we celebrate because once we become aware of the difficulty; it is much easier to work with.  Meetings can be tense at times since we are all discovering our growing edges, but it is truly exciting to have the breakthroughs. We can suddenly talk about things that had brought frustration and dissension among us previously. I am finally coming to understand what the Bible means when it talks about encouraging one another and lifting one another up in love. 
          MCLE has been a frustrating, wonderful, fearful, and exciting time of growth for our group. We are learning what it means to work together as the body of Christ that the church was designed to be.  We are discovering the distinction between what “I” want or need and what “we” want and need. Sometimes one of us can feel like we are spinning our wheels or may want to bang their head in frustration when they feel like this new, life-changing, amazing idea that everyone else is going on and on about is something they have known for years. The important thing we are learning is to not stop listening or to drop out because we have those times.
          Instead we are learning to act like one body and find parts of the project that resonate with each of us.  Some of us are good with people, others are good with numbers. We are extroverts and introverts. We are full of ideas and we are full of action. We are frustrated beyond belief and we are encouraged beyond our fears. We are becoming an authentic community and I am so glad we signed up for the ride!
 
"Church Group Throws Picnic Lunch"
Click here to see Interfaith Homelessness Network and our very own Gene Bass in the San Leandro Times!