Book Launch Party: “Java Wake” @ Austin Java

Hey all you Faith-Activating friends in the Austin area, I wanted to personally invite you to the book launch party of my new novel, Java Wake. Where else could we do this event in Austin besides the Austin Java cafe! We’ll enjoy refreshments, a sample reading from yours truly, a Q&A time, a book signing, …

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Authentic Community: Peacemaking

David McCullough’s masterful biography John Adams gives us a raw look into the relationships between the founding fathers of America.[i]  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were united in their fight to establish the new nation and were the most responsible for crafting the Declaration of Independence together.  However, the two intellectual giants soon became bitter …

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Authentic Community: How to Have Conflict

In my last few blog posts we’ve been looking at how vibrant community comes when members are willing to risk vulnerability and engage in healthy conflict.   Last week we looked at conflict’s out-of-bounds areas, and now we’ll focus on the rules of the playing field.   When to have conflict? The short answer is when …

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Authentic Community: When Not to Have Conflict

In his insighhtful book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team [i], Patrick Lencioniso outlines what causes teams to breakdown and finally either implode or explode.  The first time I read this book I was in a team leader role and was discouraged to discover that we had all five dysfunctions down pretty well! Lencioniso’s thesis is the foundation for …

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Authentic Community: From Chit Chat to Transparency

What keeps our communities as deep as a casual chat in the church foyer?  The problem, as my friend Mark Buckner explains, is that we have competing needs: the need to be loved and the need to be respected.  It feels like I have to choose one or the other.  If people really know me, …

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