Big Sur EFCLC Day 2

Incredible day yesterday. We started the day with Fast-Fire Updates, in which churches report out on what has worked well, their greatest success, biggest surprise, where they are stuck! Normally we do these through a verbal report but yesterday, each team drew four pictures that represented this information. This was a great addition. Since the last time we were together participants read four books on innovation--the Meddici Effect, Seeds of Innovation, Heroic Leadership and The Art of Innovation. So for the next exerccise we had teams gather, share what they learned, then report out on principles and applications to externally focused ministry.

We broke for an hour and a half before dinner so folks could relax, hike and enjoy the beauty of the Big Sur Coast. After a fabulous catered dinner John Handy gave his first presentation on the call to adventure. Every great endeavor begins with a call to adventure. John told about his history with Mattel and examples of calls to adventure, beginning with a film clip by JFK--"We want to go to the moon, not because it is easy but because it is difficult...to measure the bet of our energy and skills." Interestingly one of the participating churches is University Baptist Church in Houston. UBC has 6 or 7 astronauts in their church and many NASA folks. Harold Draughn was a flight director during the time of the Moon shots. He is part of the EFC team but could not make it to this gathering. We do have with us Wayne Young (pictured). In 1962, at age 27, Wayne joined NASA when NASA had a mere 100 employees. Wayne was given charge of guidance systems (working with contractors) the lunar module and eventually the Shuttle program. "We were young guys! We didn't know we couldn't do it!" The director of the program, Chris Kraft was 33 years old!

John also pointed out that innovative employees keep innovating over 25-35 years. As they employ the best of their skills and experience, the ideas just keep coming.