Reflections on the Global Connections Leadership Community 1.1

By: Eric Swanson

From March 3-5 Leadership Network convened the first gathering of the first Global Connections Leadership Community at our facilitation space in Dallas. “Facilities facilitate” and there is no better facilitation space than this 1,200 sq ft. space for gathering people around conversations that make a difference in the world. Perched on the 9^th floor, the space has large windows on three sides and overlooks downtown Dallas. One attendee, who designs office space came up to me during dinner and bemoaned the fact that most companies designed their buildings with a “theatre in the basement” where employees could hear presentations and speakers. That’s not how Leadership Network facilitates Leadership Communities.

  We started our time with each church sharing their current model of ministry along with a picture of what they did best and where they were stuck. Each of the 12 churches is doing at least one thing better than the other 11 churches. Perimeter is leading in going after world-class cities, Crossroads Cincinnati, majors on mutuality, with over 1,500 congregants working with their partner church in Mamelodi, South Africa, The Crossing is huge on orphan care, while Pantano Christian really gets asset-based community development. Every church has something to add. One interesting note: One of the first churches to report said, “As far as we know, we’re the only western church working in Northern India. By the time the “Trade Show” was over, we discovered almost every church was working in Northern India (See Bonnie Randle’s Map.)

  Over the three days, churches moved from “What was” (together we worked on a 12 foot panorama of 2000 years of missions history), “What is”—their current reality, “What could be” (We had a couple of great mind-expanding exercises where churches discovered how they could fulfill their mission by doing the exact opposite of what they historically had done (We called this the George Constanza Exercise) along with how their impact could be expanded even if they had a three year restriction of travel. It is in constraints where creativity blossoms. We finished with “What will be” where churches created a 5-year strategic plan, along with a 6-month Action Learning Plan (Time-bound measurable statements of accomplishments).

The talented LN team was A+. Great facilitation, Websites, and food! At 3pm on Thursday our catering coordinator, Lupita Cardosa, brought in an ice cream street cart replete with ice cream truck music. Nothing like a couple of Drum Sticks to make my day.

We will meet three more times over then next two years. My plan is to launch one additional group each of the next four years. I fully expect that what we do will shape the future of global missions going forward and help create the “new normal.”

For more information on what is involved in being a part of these future groups, write to bonnie.randle@leadnet.org and she’ll get you the info.

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