The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Tipping Point Review

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

The Power of Context

(Rich’s Note: Here’s a book that’s worth a read if you’re getting ready to launch a revolution or change a church)

When it comes to epidemics, a tiny percentage of people do the majority of the work. I’m looking for a few exceptional people energetic, knowledgeable, influential among peers.

Use lots of testimonials!

Idea: If a friend signs up because of your recommendation, send them a $25 gift certificate, coupon, training voucher, case of spam, etc. Reward the raving fans.

The Law of the Few: One exceptional person, through social connections, energy and enthusiasm and personality, spreads the word. Word of mouth is perhaps the only kind of advertising most people respond to anymore. The only reason you’ll spend big bucks at a big buck restaurant is if a friend recommends it.

The only reason they’ll come to a conference (and spend a day of their most valuable currency – time), come to your church, even listen to what you have to say is if a friend recommends it.

When it comes to starting an epidemic, there are only three kinds of people who matter.

1. Connectors

We don’t seek out friends, we associate with the people who occupy the same small, physical spaces we do.

2. Mavens are the influencers. When they talk, people listen.

3. Sales People know how to get people to sign on the line, make a commitment. You need all three types if you’re going to reach a tipping point.

Six degrees of separation doesn’t mean everyone is linked to everyone else in just six steps. It means that a very small number of people are linked to everyone else in a few steps, and the rest of us are linked to the world through those special few. Your social circle is not a circle, but in reality, a pyramid. At the top of the pyramid is one or two people who are responsible for connecting you to all the rest. Your social circle is not yours. It belongs to one or two connectors. It’s more like a club that the connector invites you to join. People with a special gift for bringing others together are Connectors. A Connector knows lots of people. Between 20 and 40 the number of people you know roughly doubles. There are a small group of truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.

The Stickiness Factor means that a message makes an impact. You can’t get it out of your head. It stiiiiccccks in your memory. Stickiness is a critical component in tipping. Unless you can remember what I tell you, why would you go out and do what I suggest?

If only one person witnesses a problem, they’ll help. If 40 witness it, they won’t.

 

Writer's Almanac:

Angie Witmer just e-ed:

From today's Writer's Almanac: It was on this date in 1521 that Martin Luther was declared an outlaw.
Made me think of you. Keep up the good work!

Lauren Needs Your Help

Hey Friends in the Twin Cities Metro Area,

 

Lauren Redpath, the winner of the first "Outstanding Young Musician" Award from our Faith Inkubators Foundation, needs your help. Her email is below.

How about all the FINKs in the Metro Area crashing the party and showing their support? I'm in Colorado on sabbatical and can't make it.

 

Could you bring a truck load of young adults over for a little outing and make her day?

 

Thanks much,

 

Rich

Conversation: CLUB 3 Degrees show June 9th
Subject: CLUB 3 Degrees show June 9th

Rich

I need your help. On June 9, 2005 at  7:30-8:15PM I will be performing at Club 3 Degrees, 113 North 5^th Street, Minneapolis. It is, in my opinion one of the best local venues for Christian music. I am very excited to have the opportunity to perform there with my band.

Club 3 Degrees will be evaluating my performance and more importantly documenting the number of people I draw that night. If enough people come to see and support me they will allow me to perform there again.

I am inviting you to come out at 7:30 and watch my 45 minute performance. When you arrive they will ask who you are there to see, also Club 3 Degrees has a cover charge at the door.

This night really means a lot to me and I would appreciate your support. I hope to see you June 9^th if not before!

Thank you so much!

Lauren Redpath

Home Church

This just came in from a friend of a friend.

It’s one of the ministries of this church:  <http://www.missio-dei.com/>

Interesting. What do you think? Is this the future, one of the futures, or a back-to-the-future of the church?

Rich’s “Top 20 Best Sabbatical Books I’ve Ever Reread”

This was my short list of sabbatical books to reread. As far as I'm concerned, you won't do any better than this if you're looking for something to take to the woods or the lake this summer in each category.

The Brain

1. Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Grain Tells Us About Our Kids (Strauch)

2. What Makes You Tick: The Brain in Plain English (Czerner)

3. Brain-Based Learning: The New Science of Teaching and Training (Jensen)

4. Secrets of the Teenage Brain (Feinstein)

5. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Edwards)

 

Marketing & Systems Theory

1. The Experience Economy: Work is Theater & Every Business a Stage (Pine & Gilmore)

2. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference (Gladwell)

3. All Business is Show Business (McKain)

4. Good to Great (Collins)

5. The Fifth Discipline: Strategies and Tools for Building Learning Organizations (Senge)

 

Church, Faith & Future

1. The Divine Conspiracy  (Willard)

2. Culture Shift (Lewis & Cordeiro)

3. Faith Entrepreneurs (Caldwell & Kallestad)

4. Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions (Barna)

5. What Would I Believe If I Didn’t Believe Anything (Groff)

 

Just for Fun

1. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Gladwell)

2. The Pentagon’s New Map  (Barnett)

3. Why People Believe Weird Things (Shermer)

4. Prodigal Sons & Material Girls (Dungan)

5. At Home in Mitford (Karon) (A friend and I are forming a movie company to produce this whole series)

 

 

 

 

Book Preview

Has anyone read "Spiritual Brain: Integrating Brain Research and Faith Development" by Barbara Bruce (Abingdon, 2002)?

Is it worth the $?

Reading Media

Love it, hate it, ignore it, tolerate it: it won’t go away. More than ever before, movies, music, computer games and magazines are the cultural language of this generation. A missionary knows they have to know the language, culture, and religion of their mission field or none of their messages will get through. One might argue that music is the language of youth. Do you know what they are listening to? Further, movie stars and rock stars may be the priests of this day. Games like Final Fantasy actually have shrines online. www.ffshrine.org Tabloids, teen magazines, and websites are the sacred scriptures. Websites, blogs and instant messaging are the communal gathering sites.  I could give you a list of must-see movies, must-hear albums and must-experience bands, but the truth of the matter is, many of them would be out of grace and favor by the time this article is printed. If you are going to understand the media and languages of your contextualized culture, you’ve got to ask your own kids to tell you what they listen to, what they watch, who they buy (or pirate), and why they like them. Better yet, have them bring the DVDs and CDs to you for a listen. Have them print out the lyrics or recite the movie dialogue and tell you what messages they accept and don’t accept and why. Have them teach you the video games they play. Have them take you to the websites they visit and show you how they can be in 12 instant message conversations at any given moment. If you want a real education, spend an hour or two as a student of your students and let them take you into their world.

The Best Continuing Education

Wayne Gretsky was once asked how he became such a great hockey player. He answered, “I don’t go to where the puck is, I go to where the puck is going to be.”

If you want to study the future of youth ministry, you are out of luck. You can’t study the future. You can only study the inhabitants of the future. Make yourself a student of these living books and you might finally get yourself a real education.

(PS: I may go back to Rollie in ten years, buy him a steak and ask him if I should get my doctorate again. Or maybe not. Somehow I already know what the answer will be.)

Reading Houses

Reading Houses

You want an even better continuing education? Home visits may be out of style in some circles, but they’re always full of insights. If you can weasel your way past the door for a piece of pie, you’ll learn more in 30 seconds in a teens’ room than you will in 30 hours of interviews. You’ll learn more about the state of a parent’s mind by walking through their front door than you would in an day of idle chat. What’s the feel of the house? What’s the condition of the house? What are the pictures on the piano and the posters on the walls telling you? Is the house cared-for? Are there isolated televisions and isolating tech centers in separate rooms? If you want to read a family, read their house.

(Tomorrow: Reading Media)
  

Reading Parents

Reading Parents

If the future of both youth AND family ministry is a concern to you, it may be worthwhile to start taking a few parents out to lunch once a week. Find those with little ones, teens, and adult children who’ve grown and gone away. Bring different folks in different situations together around a table and ask them to tell you their hopes, their fears, their regrets, their proudest moments. What were the biggest mistakes their own parents made with them that they don’t want to duplicate? How are they going to insure that their children inherit the best of their qualities and not the worst? What’s the plan?

(Tomorrow: Reading Houses)

Reading Teens

You want to know about the future of youth ministry? Don’t read 100 books. Don’t read my books. Read 100 teenagers.

When was the last time you sat down one-on-one with a teen and asked, “So, what matters to you? Who matters to you? What are you listening to? What albums are you buying? What are you watching? Who’s watching you? What are you eating? What’s eating you? What do you live for? What would you die for? When was the last time you cried? Laughed? What don’t you understand about adults? What don’t most adults understand about you?”

You want a real education? You don’t need a year off. You don’t need a Winnebago. Go to the mall. Go to the school cafeteria. Volunteer to chaperone a class field trip. Volunteer to hold the chains on the sidelines at the football games. Ask the “fringe” kids in your neighborhood to introduce you to the roughest kids they know. Ask the Queen Bees and Wanna-Bees to teach you something about their world. Ask the Jocks. Ask the Nerds. Ask the Always-Talkings and the Never-Been-Heards. Then listen. Really listen. Take notes if you have to. Bring a voice recorder. Ask questions, then get really silent and wait. Wait. Shut up and wait.

Listen with more than your ears. They say that 75-85% of communication is non-verbal. Listen with your eyes, your heart, your senses. What are they wearing? Listen to that. What symbols do they sport on their clothing? Their tattoos? Where are their eyes while they are talking to you? What are they saying? What aren’t they saying? Become a student of this slowly opening book. Do a little of this every day and you’ll have a real continuing education.

(Tomorrow: Reading Parents)