CQ

Follow this link to watch a fifteen minute Frontline documentary on the power of Micro-loan’s. Over the past month Marta and I have begun loaning funds through Kiva and are believers. This documentary specifically highlights the work that Kiva is doing in Uganda. Give it a shot!

 UGANDA: A little goes a long way (VIDEO)

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Last spring I had the opportunity to visit New York City with our choir. Our hotel was right at Grand Central Station and we frequently traveled by subway to get from one place to the next. The New York subway system in the eighty’s and early ninety’s had a reputation of being a very dangerous place, but on this trip I felt perfectly safe as we maneuvered through the subway system.

Something seemingly small happened in the mid to late nineties that dramatically changed New York’s increasing crime rate. Malcom Gladwell describes this phenomenon in his book, The Tipping Point. Gladwell believes that epidemics of ideas, products, and movements develop and grow out of the introduction of the right people, message, and context or environment. In New York City, new leadership believed that the context of an environment of graffiti and broken windows encouraged criminal behavior. Their idea was to begin a campaign to systematically clean up the subway.  To their surprise, the crime rate declined monumentally and almost overnight. The ripple effects of this change have altered the overall perception of New York City. In this case an epidemic of pride in one’s city, which in turn led to a decrease in crime, was set in motion by the removal of graffiti.

As I read through Gladwell’s book over Christmas, seeing example after example of the tipping point factor in action, I could not help but begin thinking about the elements that could begin an epidemic within our own school community. I started by dreaming about what that epidemic might look like.

Imagine if you will a learning community where people are captivated by Christ, motivated to take initiative in learning, and inspired to discover their purpose in God’s economy and kingdom. Learning is a very high value in this community and it is experiential, meaningful, and inspiring. The relationships are life-giving, joyful, supportive, and encourage a high level of excellence. This community is not static and joins Christ in initiating significant movements, working to connect people’s greatest passions with the world’s greatest needs.  The young people that emerge from this community have been exposed to excellence in the arts, athletics, and academics. Students are becoming independently motivated learners because they see how what they are learning is equipping them for their journey beyond this community.

I envision an epidemic of enthusiastic rich learning within a Christ-centered community.

In many ways we already possess what is required to begin a spiritual and learning epidemic within our community. This fall we outlined a vision document that communicates in ideal language what we believe God is calling us to pursue over the next three years. We are now beginning to pursue specific strategies to bring that vision to reality. This four page document simply put speaks to the following elements of our school:

Listen – We seek to be a community that begins all purposes with God’s purpose in mind. We are intentional about listening for that purpose.
Relate – The development of healthy relationships within our community is foundational to learning and pursing a life of influence for Christ.
Inspire – Instructional methods in the classroom and extracurricular experiences are developmental, holistic, learner-focused, and encourage the development of a passion for life-long learning.
Discover –Through unique experiences we are able to challenge students to begin the discovery of Gods values, mission, and passions in their lives. 
Lead- We believe that our students can change the world and we are intentional about developing them as Christ-centered leaders.

Gladwell describe the type of people, message, and context or environment that when combined can initiate an epidemic of ideas, products, and movements. Although his thoughts are not directly from a Christian perspective, elements of his message and case studies confirmed for me that our vision includes these elements (the right types of people, messages, and environment) and could lead to a significant learning and spiritual movement within our school.

Let me give you two examples of how this may already be occurring (there are more).

I believe that when students are inspired to learn and begin to discover something they are passionate about, beautiful things happen. If you visit our science lab each day at four o’clock you will see students engaged in active and self motivated learning. This did not occur until we developed a new science team who established a new learning culture. The science team is very relational and has focused on the science inquiry method, a learner-focused approach, and frequent hands-on lab exercises.  Something has happened within this area of our school.  We have students that are passionate about science like never before. We also have better equipment, because people appreciate what is happening and are eager to give. Our science department has now become one of our greatest strengths; we have more students interested in pursuing science and a greater ability to direct resources toward the program.

Another example started very humbly this fall. Three junior students came to me with a heart of compassion for our school and a desire to do something to encourage spiritual growth. They have a vision to see Westside become a place of passionate devotion to Christ. As we talked about this we thought the best place to begin would be to pray. So, we committed to praying each week on Wednesdays at lunch with a listening heart. It was just the four of us all fall and a very simple effort.

During spiritual emphasis week some amazing healing and spiritual encouragement occured within our school. There has been a steady movement of students seeking God in new ways. We have had some powerful chapels and life altering spiritual conversations with students. We have twice as many applications for the Thailand trip this year. God is bringing some amazing people and opportunities into our community that could have tremendous spiritual influence in the lives of our students.  God is actively transforming us into disciples. I believe that part of this movement within our school comes from the faithful devotion of a few students who have taken the lead to pray.  I believe that increased and sincere prayer has been the tipping point that is beginning a spiritual movement with our school.

I want to be a part of a movement that brings glory to Christ, don’t you? Let’s join together in prayer as we seek to begin a learning and spiritual epidemic at Westside.

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