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Ignite

Today begins Ignite, a Leadership Initiative of the Rocky Mountain Conference. It is a program that has slow-cooked over the last few years, which means it’s tender and has a unique tastiness to it. That means that there is a lot of anticipation for it.

Our hosting team is Erin Gilmore, Corbin Tobey-Davis, Todd Smiedendorf, Sue Art, Larry McCulloch, and myself. We’ve been meeting over the last nine months to build our team and imagine this program. We will be hosting participants over the next nine months. There are 32 of us in total.

Our location is La Foret, a really beautiful facility high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs. It is expected to snow today, but then melt off later during the week.

So, much is in place. Our physical set-up. Much of our design that we will review and improve a bit more today. There will be a mix of teachings, ceremony, exercises, food, rest, and time to encounter each other. These kind of spaces are needed. As the intensity of world needs grows, we need well-held spaces in which to be thoughtful and kind.

Our three purposes in particular:

  • Deepen our own being: We believe if you grow the person, the world gets better. We will learn who we are and become grounded to our being, strengthening our capacity to be the leaders our institutions and communities need.

  • Amplify our relationships: We believe you can’t be human alone. We will develop a strong and trustworthy community where you can be vulnerable and loved.

  • Be church in a different way for times such as these. The challenges of our time are everywhere, even in the people we minister with—after all, faith communities are where many go to make sense of such times. This requires a centered and evolved leadership paradigm of going together, not alone; of growing relationships, not isolation; of learning collaboration, not competition. Ignite is about taking that path of learning and evolving together.

Ready, go!

 

 

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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature
is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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