A Foolswork Update for Late May

Last week I was invited to Dallas to attend a gathering at The Leadership Network on Church Planting.  I had no clue what to expect and I was simply blown away!!!!!

The big wow for the week, I now understand exactly what Foolswork is and have the vocabulary to describe it to others. 

Foolswork is an Apostolic  Multi-site Organic Church that primarily gathers in first and third places.  Our philosophy is a Missional church with the emphasis being on our community first.  Community is defined as our members/ attenders, our neighbors and their neighbors.  We have a desire to have an impact on those in our community and our neighbors through our community activism.  Our mission field is near and far and our desire is to connect with a specific people group in a far away place where we can return for years of continued shared learning.  we are not teachers we are life long learners and we choose to follow a carpenter named Jesus.  We are apostolic by design.  

Let's unpack these words:  Multi-site states that we have communities in different states and ultimately different countries.  Organic church is an idea of a small gathering that grows and lives and divides into other gatherings and moves without the structure of an Attraction Model church.  (Build a building and gather people to the building.) 

Missional Church is one that sees our neighborhood as a mission fiend.  Most Attraction Model churched are program or ministry based in their approach.  In other words we are not seeking to find believers and move them to our gathering we are actually seeking to find the un-churched and gather them into a meaningful community.  

Community defines three people groups in Foolswork: 1) The people that gather regularly, 2) The community in which we reside, and 3) The people outside our neighborhood to the ends of the world.  Wherever we start a mission our goal is to be there for an extended amount of time. 

We follow Jesus of Nazareth.  I am sure someone will come up with a reason to extend this statement however, we like it simple.  we choose to be seen as foolish to the world and wise to God's Kingdom.  (John 7:47, 1 Cor 4:10, 2 Samuel 6:11-21)

Apostolic is the idea that there is an order and system for Foolswork.  For example Morgan and Drew are launching groups this fall and they have both been directly trained and taught by us.  We know them.  Morgan and Drew will encourage leaders that do not know us to take the online training and launch their own groups in new places.  This is an Apostolic Model.  

We gather in first and third places.  A first place is where you live and a second place is where you work and a third place is in north america Starbucks.  The first College Station gathering is planning on a Laundry-mat.  The Katy gathering was originally in homes but moved out to restaurants and coffee shops.  

We will be utilizing a centralized training systems called Foolswork Universiy™.  This program is available in two methods: 1) in a mentorship relationship with a qualified trainer or 2) via the web.  All of our training will be available on the web.  Courses being developed include:  

- How to start a group.

- How to gather people.

- Where to meet and why?

- Planning and ideas for community events, Social Justice, and community involvement projects.

- Start a Cluster (aka Take the 30 day challenge)

- How to make the 30 Day Journal.

- Overview of THE365STUDY.

- VCL Training.

- Foolswork The Basics

- Multi-Ethnic Theology 

Foolswork is unique in that we have weekly content available to all groups in many forms.  The leaders of the group can login in to the website and attend a weekly Foolswork University course that will walk them through that weeks lesson and the research behind the content.  This training is in two sections: one for the teacher and one for the music leader.  They can also watch the weekly lesson on the site taught by one of our gatherings.  If they choose to use the video of the gathering instead of teaching the lesson live they have the ability to download a DVD version with high quality video.  Also available for download are the charts for the weekly music, the teachers notes, powerpoint, and handouts for the week and more.  

The complete weekly gathering is available online.  We anticipate that there are three potential viewers of the weekly gathering: 1) the teachers looking to learn, 2) the members of a gathering that missed the meeting and 3) internet only members of Foolswork.  

The new website is in early Alpha development and will hopefully be in Beta in the next few weeks.  Please review the site for all input once it is up and functional.  We also need a few dollars to get the ste programed once we have a working beta build.  

Attached is a picture of the Alpha Foolswork home page....

Icons for the new web site

So I am looking for four new icons that we can use on the new website to communicate our method of reaching others intentionally (Foolswork Clusters) - How we join in community (Foolwsork groups) - and  our movement (Mosaic Church.)  

We start with an image of the individual - You.  

Then we ask those individuals aka friends and their friends to join us on a 30 day experiment in community and spiritual journey.  This group gathers for up between 8 and 20 times in the span of 30 days.  There is a set reading material that all re

ad prior to gathering.  The gathering take place literally wherever the cluster wants to meet.  They have five things to accomplish in the 30 days: Read and talk about the readings, get a meal together, join a Foolswork Group in a community event (outreach,) Spend time making the booklets for the next group, Learn about the 365 Study.

Notice how the members of the Foolswork Group have their arms touching each other.  This is where real community begins.  The Clusters really don't get connected enough in 30 days to start a community.  This is where we do life together and life and laugh and worship in a home or coffee shop or in a Laundry Mat. 

 There is leadership and music and teams and very important community impact is not an event but a regular lifestyle.  

Now we see the idea of a large community forming of all people and groups.  This is when we have a weekly gathering in a central place.  The idea of the icon os that we are the same but different.  Regardless of our background we are connected.  This is Mosaic!  We are Mosaic.  We represent the rainbow of colors and that God has created in his people.  

Some websites I am thinking about right now...

www.6billionothers.org

pangeaday.org

www.noujaimfilms.com

Laughter Yoga

There is the guy in India that has developed Laughter Yoga... How cool is that? The idea seems simple enough to me... You gather a group of your friends to streatch and do some excercises (we all need that you know) and then when you are good a limber ... well... you just... LAUGH will all you got!

This is my kind of therapy!

http://www.laughteryoga.org/

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

So I'm watching this show today on the web and there is the band from a refugee camp in Sierra Leone. They have formed their instruments from what they have to bring music and hope back to their fellow refugees. In one scene a guy formed a cymbal from a car's hub cap.

This to me is a sign that Hope lives in all of us.

Some fancy promoter has them now with some equipment and they are on tour... http://www.sierraleonesrefugeeallstars.com/ If you get tickets you better bring me with you.

Hey - Isn't that what Matt V. call the band back at the Vineyard? I knew they looked familiar.

Current Summary of Foolswork et al

Here is a summary of the past 10 days or so of our ideas and work.  Not everyone has been in on all the conversations so I thought I should open the dialog up to all.  I have copied much of this from an email I sent to Kris at First Baptist Church in the Heights so if some of the sentences don't make complete sense then just chalk it up to me have the writing skills of a Panda.  

We have identified three areas that we will emphasize.  The Weekly Gathering - Small Group System and a Gathering system.

The Weekly Gathering will initially be on a weekday night like Thursday.  The elements will be based on our Celtic Knot diagram.  We have started gathering a list of artist and musicians for this gathering.  Also we have been talking with other teachers about joining us in this venture.  

Foolswork  It looks like we could have up to six locations starting by the end of the year.  (Including one in North Carolina, one in Dallas and two in Arkansas.)  

Our original idea for foolswork of being a web-based church gathering that had cells literally world wide is growing.  The guys in Dallas as considering joining us to make this a reality.  The North Carolina (Drewboy) and one of the Arkansas sites will be at college campuses.  Morgan is considering attending TAMU in the spring of 2009 and she plans to open a Foolswork there. 

And the Gathering system - we are calling these groups Clusters and they are a 30 day experiment in community and shared spirituality.  This group commits to a 30 day group reading schedule and a set of meetings.  When they gather they discuss the readings.  They also complete two projects in that time.  Our exit for the members of these groups is two fold: 1) they start a group of their own and 2) they join an existing foolswork gathering.

The one Year Reading Program - This is the system that a Cluster uses for their start and then encourages the others to continue individually or with a cluster they start for the next year.  This program is Monday - Saturday with Sunday as a rest day.  M W F - we read a OT passage and a NT passage with an optional reading that is extra Biblical like the Chicken Soup stories but more relevant to our audience.  T Th SAT we have a Psalm and a Gospel Message with an optional non biblical reading as  well.  

The six weeks prior to Easter as well as the six weeks following Easter there is a going deeper set of optional readings.  These double up the readings for the day so instead of 5 minutes it will be 10 minutes of reading.  

Also we are working on both a printed and electronic journal system.  Morgan has created a mock up for the paper based system.  She says it is really cool but tells me I can't see it until next weeks meeting.  For the electronic system we started talking to the guys that wrote the Kindle Joy website (www.kindlejoy.com) about making a site out of our yearly reading system.  

Putting the Word Out - I hope you are all starting to recruit your friends and neighbors and people you meet on the street.  I have been on the phone this week with several people at College of Biblical Studies talking about this new venture and they are all going to start talking about it to their friends and students.  We have a need for additional leadership: a leader for our artisan community and a group of pastoral teachers for a culturally diverse background.  (Please keep in mind they need to share our DNA of a heart for the misplaced - outcast and rejects form the church as well as those who have never considered the case for Christ.  We are not building a church we are building a community.) 

Some small additional things - 1) I exchanged emails with a pastor of a church in Hawaii this past week about us.  He was amazingly kind and generous.  2) has anyone made contact with Loc Tran about the Vietnam trip? 

Thank you for being a part of this venture.  

Crashing Forward,

Richard

One more thing... 

Relationship with Mosaic Church in Little Rock - Guys I hope you are reading the book we presented last week by Mark Deymaz.  Mark and I have spent several hours on the phone the past few days and I am really excited about the possibility of us being in relationship with his church.  Among many things discussed if we join with them they want to integrate Foolswork into their entire system of associated churches.  They will probably adopt our Cluster system as well.  So please read the book so we can have an open discussion about the possibilities of joining with Mosaic.  (FYI: This is not the Mosaic in California.)  

Jammie Breakfast and now intorducing Jammie Church

We have a tradition in the Hunt house called Jammie Breakfast. The was it works is everyone in the house including any guest must go out to eat breakfast in their pajamas together. This has been a source of fun and a unique bond has formed with our family... Ask our friends that have run into us at McDonald's in our PJ's or better jet ask Morgan she got to go one Saturday morning.

Jammie Church rocks! First you all gather around the warm inviting little computer screen and surf on over to lifechurch.tv and join the internet campus. It is so cool. They ask you questions and you can click a button to raise your hand and say yes... or go out into the lobby to talk to people... Or lay on the floor of you own comfy room and all worship as a family and get some really good bible learnin'. Coolest church I have ever been to... But then we did have the air conditioner set to ice cream.