so there are a few (like 2) of you out there who have come up to me recently and said, “why did you stop blogging?” after my ego comes down from realizing that there are a couple people that actually visit this site I find myself diving into my either one of two reasons. The first one being that I don’t think i believe in blogging anymore. yes, i know, it is a strange thing not to believe in. but everybody i know who has a blog has had at least one blogging crisis where they wonder why they continue to blog. this must be mine. on my good days i think blogging is a good way to get thought out and to communicate with friends and family that are a far. On my bad days i think of blogging as a self-indulgent, narcissistic forum. This blog does both of those.

the second explanation is that my audience has changed. and anyone who has ever written anything for public consumption knows that when it is written there is always a face, or two, or many that are at the forefront of the mind. this facilitates what language is used, how ideas are expressed, and much more. and since i have graduated from MHGS that crowd is not my audience anymore. for the most part my audience seems to be people in europe, south america, and the occasional person from alaska. strange? yeah, i think so too.

so here i am, with some spare time on a monday afternoon typing words onto a screen that will soon be read by who knows who and less than 2% of people respond, the other 98% simply consume the information without adding, or subtracting from what i say. so why do i do this, it seems to be futile at times.

maybe that is why i stopped?

in addition to the above two reasons, i have stopped blogging because there is way too much to update you all (the two of you) on. so much has changed in the past 3-4 months. i finally got done with MH and am in the process of understanding what it means to not be a student for the first time in my life, i got a grant through the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) to do community development and reconciliation in Urban Seattle, I quit my job as Associate pastor at Wits End Church, I am in conversation about opening a small business in Urban Seattle, Brooke and I may (in less than 5 week) own two condo’s, and i backpacked/hiked over 80 miles in 4 weeks.

so, all that to say, as Kai (the name of my non-profit) takes off this blog will be changing, and look for an announcement (soon) about the Kai website going public.

So I was talking to my brother today and he mentioned that Bill Clinton was on “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central. Now, Brooke and I have limited basic cable and so we get the networks and about 200 public access channels, but no Comedy Central. That was when he mentioned that comedycentral.com posts alot of their stuff online. Brilliant I thought. Because even more than I miss not having ESPN I miss Comedy Central.

So I headed on over to comedy central.com and found their “motherboard” This is where my day got funnier, and boredom watching “Deal or No Deal” was instantly turned into excitement. Plus, Bill Clinton had some good things to say. For your viewing convenience, i put the links below (total viewing time of roughly 9 minutes)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

peace
joel

This book will change the world.

Ron Carucci, Coo Mars Hill Graduate School and Co-Founder of Pathways Consulting and personal friend and mentor has a big day tomorrow. For tomorrow is the release of his first solo book, called Leadership Divided. As a friend of his I have gotten to watch the metamorphosis of this book over the past two years. I have prayed over the original proposal, helped come up with the original title (which its a bummer it isn’t the final title Dying to Lead) and had the amazing privilege of reading and editting the manuscript.

The beauty of all of the things described above is that Ron embodied what he preaches in the book. His main thesis is that there is a division in leadership, primarily between generations and Ron spends the book naming the division and laying out some ways that he thinks we can move forward together, instead of divided. And for those of us that have attempted to lead in any setting the fact that a division exists is obvious, what isn’t obvious, and thus necessitated the book, is a way forward. Typically what Ron calls ‘incumbent’ leaders and ‘emerging’ leaders just give up on each other because both thinks the other is flawed in their acting and thinking. This is a problem, and could be the demise of companies, churches, and non-profits if it isn’t addressed.

This book is also not your typical leadership book that ou can pick off the shelf, find the five values, and start applying them tomorrow. Ron knows that doesn’t work — well it does, but much like a band-aid works. This book calls for and seeks reconciliation between parties, and most importantly, it doesn’t place the blame of the ‘division’ on anyone. Therefore, at the foundation of Ron’s thought is a true change of character of both the ‘incumbent’ and ‘emergent’ leader if we are to move forward with any level of sustainable health. This is a beautiful call to companies, big and small, worldwide.

Now for the sales pitch, if you are in any leadership role and you find yourself struggling with a collegue that is a generation (or two) older or a generation (or two) younger than you then please read this book. But read it slowly, meditate on what Ron suggests, and before you apply anything that you learned, talk it over with a community of people — maybe even those you want to ‘apply’ it to.

peace
Joel

p.s. Ron — If you read this, know that I am personally grateful for you writing this book. I have reaped the benefits of your struggles with this material and have found that you are a brilliant leader, but behind the brilliant leader is an extravagant, honest man who seeks to see this world become a better place.

Brooke and I are back from our 36 miles trek in 136 degree heat through the grand canyon. Some brief highlights of the trip are: getting chased by wild turkeys, being hissed at by a rattlesnake, and getting ‘trapped’ at camp because of flash flooding everywhere.

I posted pictures of the trip here

peace
joel

Josue brought to my attention that i don’t have a link to RSS on my site. silly silly me. so until i have the 10 minutes to update my sidebar.php below is the address for my RSS 2.0 feed

http://www.joelvandenbrink.com/feed

simple enough

peace
joel

So Michael Frost’s latest book is published and sitting on my living room floor (thanks to Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping). I am a mere 30 pages in and already loving it. Frost, in a way that only Frost can do, takes the thoughts of Brueggemann (post-Christendom exiles) and Hauerwas (story-formed people) and beautifully blends in the story of Daniel and out comes a possible way forward. Brilliant!

What is a little surprising to me though is the change of tone, thus far in this book as compared to the book he wrote with Alan Hirsch. That book was extremely hopeful, whereas, this book has numerous one-liners that attempt to name that the current resurgance of the Christendom church is a waste of time. Granted, this may be true, the audience of this book already knows this and so why re-iterate it? To me, it is the equivalent of saying that modernity has died and we are living in a post-modern era. But, none the less, it does not distract from the thesis of the book.

So if you have $13 and want a good book to read i recommend buying this one — especially if you have any interest in what has been termed (and already abused) ‘missional church.’

And if you do read it, let me know what you think of it by commenting below

peace
joel

So can anybody tell me where June and July and almost all of Augustwent? I know, that in the rhythms of the world they existed, but in my own world they have seemed to disappear ever so slyly.

But, these months, for being crazy busy, fun, and disappearing had affect on my life and those around me. so i know by life changing that these months happened. Without giving an itenerary of things that transitioned i will give a list — in bullet form, or something like that

1. My brothers came out for a week and we had a blast. We went surfing, camping, hiking, to a Mariner game, pike place market, and a whole bunch of other stuff. i think i succeeded in wearing them out.
2. My sister and brother-in-law came out for a week. We also had fun. We went to Hurricane Ridge, Pike place market, kayaking, and a whole bunch of ther stuff around seattle. as well, they headed down to the oregon coast for a couple days and relaxed at B&B’s
3. I am, as of 9:22 this morning, officially, officailly, officially, done with Mars Hill Graduate School. I mailed off my last paper (that had been down for 3 weeks) to the Professor. Strangely, it was hard to send off. It symbolized an ending. The very thing that brought Brooke and I out to Seattle is now done. weird.

so in my digital absence those are the larger things that went on, most of them, but not all of course.

switching gears a little, this saturday brooke and i are taking off to finally do our hike through the grand canyon. i’m stoked, geeked, juiced (all those good cali words). it is going to be so refreshing, and so good. we will return, hopefully, ready to take on the fall season and having plenty of time to process all that went on this summer.

i promise, soon i will be making a rhymatic return to blogging. i still need this outlet. and now that i’m not working 50 hours a week and attending classes, i will have time.

peace to you all
joel

for those of you who this is your only form of connecting with me, I’m still alive. just insanely busy and not wanting to spend any more time on my computer than necessary.

I shall return from my hiatus soon, maybe next week, or the week after that, or the week after that.

until then
joel

Many of you know my good friend Tim Soerens. Many of you also know that him and I have been working together toward a joint mission. Now, many of you know that as of Saturday Tim was diagnosed with the ugly virus Mono.

So I use this post on my blog to send out the prayer troops. If you are the praying type, and even if you are not, please petition God for a quick healing of Tim so that he can get back to life as normal.

If you have a prayer for Tim that you want to type please leave it as a comment here so that it becomes a communal prayer and by visitors reading it is is prayer over and over again.

Thank you all

peace
joel

in lieu of not wanting to be intelligent, or should i say, i’m too tired to think a lot. I have been finding that whenever the urge comes to post something a list is quickly developing. does this mean that lists don’t require intelligence? or, does it just say something about my mood lately? either way, here is yet another list. (thanks to josue for adding to my last one)

Things I learned this week
1. Only 17 percent of americans view the local church as necessary to develop their faith (article here)
2. Never attempt to work 50 hours in 4 days
3. I may go to the only seminary that has the word “masturbation” in a cartoon on the wall of the main classroom
4. Dogs can’t climb ladders
5. Shell gas runs better in my motorcylce then Amoco gas does
6. Many Christians still hold to Retribution Theology (if you sin you will suffer)
7. Tim and I have a working title for our future life’s work — Kai (more to come)
8. Paul Allen is really, really rich, and I drank free beers from him tonight — thank you Discover South Lake Union Center
9. Less than 1/3 of American’s think “W” is doing a good job — the lowest job approval rating in almost 50 years
10. People like lists

peace
joel