I think I’ve decided to do my research for my masters on the use of social media in church-based youth work in Scotland.  I could of course change my mind again but on reflection this seems to be something that would be both interesting and worth doing.

I’d still like to have a go at ‘does youth work work?’ but think that might make a better large scale project for me and my lovely colleagues at the URC.

So, If you’re reading this and are involved in church-based youth work in Scotland let me know so I can come and interview you and your young people some time in the new year.

Anyone with any ideas and/or suggestions, please feel free to contribute said ideas anytime you like.

And I’ll try not to bore you all.  Honest.

Last night I had the privilege of filling in for Thomas, the regular co-host of the Something Beautiful Podcast. Thomas is ill and so asked me if I could step in and chat with Jonathan about his interview with Dave Schmelzer, author of Not The Religious Type.

Jonathan and Dave talk about stages of faith, signs and maths, then Jonathan and I have a chat about some of the issues raised in the interview.

This episode of the Something Beautiful Podcast is now avaialable HERE!  Have a listen and let us know what you think!

America lived up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence last night.  This was the day that America grew up.  This was the day that the promise that all men are created equal was realised.

Change was the message, but I think in the end that people voted for Hope.  They voted for the hope of a positive outlook, the hope of a positive world view and the hope America was built on and is embodied in Barack Obama.

This election has shown that people are ready to embrace a future which embraces all.  People are hungry for leaders who will rise above the tit for tat of party politics and grasp higher ideals.  The world is ready for hope.

I mentioned that I had recoreded a discussion on Tribes for the Something Beautiful Podcast… well it’s edited and part 1 is online now… HERE.

Some further thoughts:

Tribes are everywhere.  We are all part of tribes.  Tribes form around interests and passions.  Tribes are big and small.  Tribes share a sense of purpose and belonging.

Godin’s book is one that all churches should read.  Not just church leaders.  But church people.  This is a book for leaders.  Some of those leaders are already leading tribes but some are waiting for their moment or waiting for their tribe.

So, what’s the book about?

Faith, Religion and Heretics.  Those aren’t necessarily words you would expect to read in a marketing book, but then Godin isn’t just any marketer.  He’s a heretic.

Faith, according to Seth, is a good thing.  Faith is something we all share.  Some have faith in God, others faith in Apple or Starbucks but that faith is mostly that the world can be better, that we can do better.  Faith helps us to reach further, to attain, to aspire.

Religion, well that happens when people who share a faith get together and start a club.  There are rules for the club and sooner or later those rules become more important than the faith they were made to celebrate.  This happens because people want to protect the status quo.  People want to preserve their faith.

Heretics are the people who lead change.  Martin Luther was a heretic.  Joan of Arc, Ghandi, Rob Bell…

Rob Bell?  Yes, Rob Bell.  The connection is that heretics change the rules.  Bell started a new church.  A new kind of church.

The thrust of Godin’s argument is that there are lots of people who are waiting to be led.  People are dissatisfied with the status quo.  Others have left their religion and are out there with their faith waiting and hoping for someone to come and lead them.  Waiting for someone to inspire them.

These people need leaders.

Leaders are all about how it could be.  Managers are about how it is.

Leaders are about what’s possible.  Managers are about what is.

Leaders deliver change.  Managers deliver the status quo.

Simple really.  Leaders lead.  People want to be led.  They want to form tribes around ideas and create movements.  Once the tribe is formed the leader’s role is to tighten the tribe.  To find ways to bring people together, to deepen relationships and to grow the tribe… if the tribe wants to grow.

Sound familiar?  Sound like something you want or need?  What’s the catch?

Leading is hard.  It takes committment and effort.  It takes people who don’t mind being called a heretic.

Seth Godin’s audiobook Tribes is available on iTunes ahead of the release of the book in a week or so.

This evening I’m meeting up with Thomas aka Headphonaught for a chat about Tribes (book or audio), the new book by Seth Godin.

Our chat is being recorded as part of the Something Beautiful podcasts so I’ll try to speak clearly and even make sense.  All I’ll say for now is that I liked the audio book and it resonates with lots of the things I’ve written about and spoken about over the past few years so expect lots of soapbox rants!

Patrick Awuah makes a passionate case for why a liberal arts education is vital to help educate leaders in Ghana.

I think his idea is transferable.  Here in Scotland there are now far too many courses around these days that teach you how to do one thing in one way.  They don’t teach you how to think, to problem solve or to create.  That works if the thing you are trained to do never changes.  But that’s not life as we know it.

It’s been a while since I blogged about the West Wing but all the presidential race in the USA has reminded me of why I love the programme.  It’s smart, intelligent and inspiring because it doesn’t go for the lowest common denominator, unlike the American voters who showed in their last pick for President they very much favour the lowest common denominator.

In the season where Bartlet runs for his second term he ends up in a debate with Ritchie, the Bush-like Republican nominee.  Ritchie give a ten word answer to a question, the political silver bullet.  Bartlet’s response should be every voter’s response, “What are the next ten words?”.

Why on earth would you want to pick the most powerful man in the world based on a two minute soundbite with a one minute ‘discussion’?  Isn’t this much more important than that?

Toby once said ‘No-one likes the smartest kid in the class.”  Maybe that’s true but wouldn’t you want the smartest kid in the class to be the one in the most complex job in the word?

I’m home for less than 24 hours between a team meeting in Derbyshire and a training event in Nairn.

It’s funny how ideas come together.  The other night I watched a couple of TED talks.  One was from Eve Ensler of Vagina Monologues fame who spoke passionately about ’safety’ and how people who try to stay safe miss the point of life, to live it.  I also watched Philip Zimbardo talk about how good people turn bad.  A fascinating, if rushed, talk about his work exploring what causes ordinary people to to evil things.

Finally, on Wednesday at my team meeting we spent the morning hearing Martin from Spinnaker Trust’s thoughts on Nehemiah and his rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and how Nehemiah inspired and enabled people to build walls and gates.

I’m not sure where this thought is going but it seems to me that walls work two ways.  They keep people out and they keep people in.  I’m not sure either of those is a good thing but gates also seem to serve similar purposes, to let people pass between in and out.

I was struck by Ensler’s talk, particularly her story of a brave African woman who was brave enough to stand up against genital mutilation in her culture.  It seems that if she had sought safety then nothing would have changed.

I was struck by Zimbardo’s thoughts on how people do what their environment tells them to do.  It’s not necessarily about being told to but being in a culture which makes it ok or infers that you should act in a certain way without checks or balances.

I was struck by how Nehemiah wanted to restore the city but to do that he needed to build walls, to define it and to defend it.

Sometimes it seems that our desire to keep people safe actually puts them more at risk because walls divide and gates, while allowing people through usually have gatekeepers who check that only the right people come and go.  Walls create in and out, them and us, for us and against us.  I like the idea of Nehemiah mobilising the community to restore the city but I’m not sure we will restore our cities by building walls.

Over the weekend at NYA2008 we spoke about the power of social media to bring people together for good.  I wish I’d checked all my RSS feeds because Ypulse have a great article linking to 10 youth activism sites.  All great examples of how the web can be used to organise people and bring them together around an issue.

The paralympic games are astonishing.  The athletes have every reason not to take part in sport.  In most places it’s hard enough for able bodied people to get involved in sport but support and facilities for disabled athletes is so much harder to access.  These men and women are amazing.  Their spirit, determination and sense of fair play is inspirational.  What a shame we don’t get the same blanket coverage on TV.  Why is that?  Do we think people aren’t interested?