We're off!
So we're part of that caffeine in the Holy Spirit?
Yeah.
You're another way?
If there is another way to do unity, I am not a queen.
The Holy Spirit and coffee are not this good, is that it?
This is so good!
That is another reason to go together.
You get to use the HOV.
There you go.
Since that one is jamming up there.
They got it here.
What did you say? Is a pamphlet on steroids?
Yeah, a little bit on steroids.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe that's at least a pamphlet that's worked out a little bit.
Well, without being too grandiose, it's probably not any longer than some of the books in the New Testament.
Well, there it is.
We could actually sit down and read it in one sitting.
All that much people are going to break it up.
That's alright.
What I really like about this is the layout.
It's smart.
That's what I was wanting.
I wasn't wanting smart.
I think we should make an audible version.
We should read it.
Okay.
I put it on iTunes.
You gotta do all of it.
You gotta look at the iPad, M&M, the iPodcast.
You just gotta do all of it.
So we can start the GoGuide Podcast?
Yeah.
Should the podcast be the GoGuide or should the podcast be something else?
I don't know what.
Could just be the GoGuide podcast.
Go is catchy, you know?
Yep.
The Innovations Engagement Podcast is not catchy.
So it seems like one of the greatest DKF cells in these innovations conversations
is encouraging people to miss adopting an outward-facing posture.
Yep.
What's often missing in the conversation about decline is what's our part?
What's our part that is not quite working?
We're gonna do that.
We're gonna challenge ourselves to take a look and maybe confront this inward-facing piece.
So it's the beginning of it.
Decline is associated with that inward-facing posture.
Because if you look outward and the attention to what's happening outside,
you have to change the narrative.
It's not a narrative of decline outside.
No, it's not.
It's exciting and growthful and challenging and full of possibilities.
But if you only have, I mean, it's just a good analogy.
There's an absolute parallel between inward-facing churches and dying churches.
We've got to do something similar and something different than what we've always done.
So I think you did.
I think this is all just a conversation about decline and what's next is all about God.
What is God doing next?
I think we've got a post-World War II sort of great rod in the institutional church,
which had everything to do with our discretionary income and the way we constructed our society.
But, you know, all of that has changed.
The authorities flattened out.
And we're really gonna have to figure out how do we walk through Samaria,
how do we walk through Galilee, connect with people,
be of some good use to them spiritually out of our training and our heart,
and keep walking.
More and more of this, this metaphor of club has been percolating in my brain.
We really have...
Many of us have treated the church like a club for a very long time.
Not just the church universal or even the Episcopal Church,
but this local parish we have called a church.
Well, that doesn't even fit in our polity, right?
It's not. It's parish.
The Episcopal Church is a diocese, not a parish.
That would surprise some people.
Yeah, that's in the book. Read the book.
But here we are.
You know, God saw fit to plant us in now.
And I think that that's...
Many days feels like a burden as regards to the church.
I think on better days, it feels like a great opportunity and privilege to be called into a time
when things are not as clear.
What we've got to do is really rely on spirit.
We've got to sort of get our antennas really tuned to spirit
and figure out how do we as baptized people go out into the world
and increase the celebrity of Jesus Christ.
That's no small thing.
But ironically, it starts with small things.
So, you know, how to be comfortable in the world.
I think if Jesus shows anything, he shows how to be spiritual.
Let's call it, for lack of a better word, in the world.
Mixing up with focus.
Mixing up with focus.
