In my first few years of sobriety, as I was rebuilding my life and it felt like every door was closed to me, my AA sponsor would encourage me to stand in the dark hallway and wait for God to open another door.
I am a native North Carolinian and, though I am not as old as the saying is, I remember North Carolina’s logo, “Variety Vacationland.”
Read More
The context I am serving in is a long-standing Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) church that is in the midst of a lot of transition.
Read More![An interview with the Launch & Lead Team [#GivingTuesdayNow, May 5, 2020]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58dd921e5016e1eaf6880878/1589491638950-0DJGC6B7LUP74HIK7CG2/MWF+-+A+Global+Day+of+Unity.png)
Starting with a spark in the sticks, the Holy Spirit has a crackling flame now in a small rural community in Virginia. We have a fledging cradle for the birth of a new thing on fourteen acres along a major highway including a restaurant and motel.
Read More
Jang-Mi Min was a person of private passion. Reserved to most, she was said by those closest to her to have an electric current of desire, for a few things, pulsing through her.
Read More
He wiped the tears from His eyes, sighed a bit too heavily, and knocked the dust off of His sandals.
Read More
We made several significant changes to Launch & Lead during our redesign a few years ago. We were particularly excited about the possibilities created by hosting all fall and spring workshops at the same time and place. This meant that everyone participating in Launch & Lead would have the opportunity to meet and connect with everyone else, regardless of where they are in the process.
I am an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. At many clergy gatherings someone will start a story with the words, “You won’t believe what I was asked to do this week…” And we will end up laughing and saying, “And that is under your job description as ‘other?’” The “other” of a clergy job description is endless, from kissing camels to cleaning toilets.
Meals with a Mission
Read More
The artist depicts the mystery of the Trinity as three rotating orbs, spinning in 3D space, each occupying one plane, yet all intersecting.
Read More
One man’s vision of helping others with “radical hospitality” is spreading common goodness and love across the country [Randy Evans is a current Launch & Lead student.]
Read More
My wife, Nelma, and I both completed a graduate level program offered through the Missional Wisdom Foundation...
Read More
The four-fold practice of showing up, paying attention, participating with God, and letting go of the outcome can be complex. We have been participating and leading experiments that do well, fail, don’t take off, or move in unexpected directions. Our cohort community has been there to share in celebration and ask reflective questions to help us see what is happening to us in new ways.
Read More
Foundations Workshop
by Stephanie McKellar
November 2 - 4, 2017, the newly re-formatted Launch & Lead cohort met in Winchester, Virginia for our first gathering together, the Foundations Workshop.
We begin with spiritual direction, in the safe space of the Rotunda; we are hosted in our weekend by Shenandoah University. Matt Johnson welcomes us to the space with an abundance of spiritual tools to facilitate our spiritual practice.
Read More
It Is Time
by Bret Wells
Since the first cohort in 2011, Launch & Lead (formerly known as The Academy for Missional Wisdom) has been equipping people and teams from all over the US to launch and lead alternative forms of Christian community, and/or provide support to those who do.
Read More
Launch & Lead Student, Diane Rheos
Diane shares here the ways in which she is using the skills she is learning to launch and lead new communities.
A Community in Partnership with a Great Lead Team
The WaySide is an intentional Christian community connected to Fremont United Methodist Church in Portland Oregon.
We are getting to know how we can be supported by our lead team, which we call The WaySide Outside. Together we hosted an all church event on Sunday July 23rd . In Portland each summer there are Sunday Parkway events. The city closes a loop of streets and hundreds of people get on their bikes and make the circuit. The WaySide house-mates suggested the idea of an event to host a BBQ and then participate in the ride. The WaySide Outside Team were enthusiastic supporters. Together we provided a BBQ lunch for everyone in attendance that Sunday morning, and then a group of people decorated their bikes, and rode on the Sunday Parkways cycling route.
Launch & Lead Alum, Mary Beth Taylor
This week’s spotlight is taken from Together: Community as a Means of Grace by Larry Duggins.
Reverend Mary Beth Taylor noticed a different kind of community while she was Associate Pastor at Littleton UMC outside of Denver. Mary Beth, also a graduate of Launch & Lead, noticed that many people enjoyed spending some of their recreational time having a cold beer and some appetizers at the local pub, just like she and her life partner, Steve. She pulled together a small group of people and formed Open Space, a community that meets monthly in a local bar and grill.
Read More
Launch & Lead Alum, Nora Ortiz Fredrick
This week’s spotlight is taken from Together: Community as a Means of Grace by Larry Duggins.
Nora Ortiz Fredrick is a consultant, fund-raiser, and entrepreneur in Anchorage, Alaska. Nora, a graduate of the Missional Wisdom Foundation's Launch & Lead program, noticed that the timing of traditional church services makes very little sense in Alaska. Many people are drawn to Alaska by its natural beauty and the wide variety of outdoor activities is offers, yet churches were asking people to take several hours out of the very middle of their weekends to come into an urban setting in order to sit indoors for worship.
Read More