The Abilene (TX) MRT Experiment at this point includes Ron Longwell (picture to the right), Austin Brown and Kent Smith. In order to help pay attention to what they are hearing from the Lord, Ron has started a blog. Here's part of the blog post from this last week...
Ron talked about "laying pipe," in Abilene, particularly related to a conversation he and Kent had the previous week with a couple interested in exploring more organic forms of church. Ron feels like we have limited pipeworks to nurture a potentially great influx of wounded people. Austin commented that we must believe that God will provide resources commensurate with the people he is sending.
Kent commented on the need for harvesters and stressed the importance of praying Luke 10:2b. He noted that there are a whole cadre of people in Abilene who get what we're about and are on the way, naming about seven individuals or families. At the DNA level, these people are all moving toward what we're about. Kent has a sense that the deliberateness of what we're doing needs to rise a bit.
This strikes me as an idea that other regions may want to try. At the heart of the MRT concept is the priority of paying attention to what God is saying/doing in each of our regions. A blog is one way to do that. Plus, it creates another avenue to learn from each other.
What do you think? What is your MRT learning about keep track of what you are hearing from God?
John
To access the Abilene MRT blog, go to http://abilenemrt.blogspot.com/ Consider subscribing to it.
Sean and I are daily CO2 partners in addition to being a small team in the MRT 2.0 experiment. Because we both have IT backgrounds we decided that online SASHET and VIRKLER would work well for us. I don't recommend this for everyone, but for us it's been really good.
ReplyDeleteWe use Google Wave, creating a new wave each day and adding notes on our heart feelings and what we each sense the Lord is saying to us. We now have a full record going back to the first week of December. We use clickable links to make navigation easy.
We decided to try summarising our VIRKLER notes on a weekly basis and it's been fascinating to see an overview of the journey. I need to spend some time studying it.
But the point I'm making is that without intending to do so we have been journalling the entire CO2 process and since we've been meeting weekly for MRT, we've been taking notes on that as well. Personally, I strongly recommend journalling. If you haven't already, give it a try.
A blog is one good way to do this (I use a private blog for my own personal journal and planner), Wave is another, or you could keep a pen and paper diary. The technology isn't as important as the principle of keeping notes. Keeping a shared journal is particularly helpful, I think.
Being able to refer back and see the patterns and rhythms of Father's involvement in our lives is one of the benefits, but there's another. Writing things down helps fix them in the mind as well.
You can read partial notes from our MRT meetings and also a wider selection of posts on our involvement in mission.
Great idea Sean! Google Wave is a neat way to collaborate. I have some invitations to it (since its still invitation only) if anyone here needs one.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of invitations - Ron - it looks like your Abilene blog is readable by invitation only - I'd love to subscribe! Could you send me the invitation link?
Our community here in Chicago is using Ning as a way to develop a sense of network cohesion. Its sort of like our own Facebook, or "collaborative church bulletin!" - We have lots of writers and bloggers in our network - and we've developed a "blog magazine" for members to see the latest and greatest from around the network. Its been wonderful seeing the sparks fly through this daily network "epistle"! :)
This is the link to the "magazine": http://bit.ly/UGNblogs
Hi Mark, send me an email to rlongwell@mac.com and I'll send you an invitation.
ReplyDeleteNice to have you tech savvy guys around to expose us to the latest and greatest!
ReplyDeleteI have been working on a blog revolutiondenver.com. My intent is to start telling stories soon. I am going to work a little harder at suppressing the teacher inside and unleash the journalist/story-teller.
So far I have tried to instruct a process of SASHET and some disciplines for growing in attentiveness to the Lord.
During our last meeting, I tried to take notes during our listening time. After the meeting I then sent a brief summary to the other couples.
ReplyDeleteMy thought is to resend that to everyone the night before our next meeting; then during our time ask God and one another what else God has been saying in those areas.
I'll let you know how that goes. But I like the blog idea too...I'll see what the group wants to do.