10,000 Hours...

Here's an article I just haven't been able to get out of my mind over the last week or so: http://snipurl.com/5kyv1

It maintains that there is no such thing as a "natural genius" at almost anything -- that in almost every field extraordinary accomplishment is almost entirely accounted for by hard work. 10,000 hours of hard work over many years.

This idea - that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice - surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours. -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/malcolm-gladwell-outliers-extract

Most often, that 10,000 hours is accomplished in roughly three hours per day on average for 10 years.

"In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals," writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin, "this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years... No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery."--http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/malcolm-gladwell-outliers-extract

What do I spend that kind of time on? I guess it must have been my unspoken and unrecognized ambition to be a world-class TV-watcher, computer game player, and internet surfer! I'm so ashamed...

Well, here's a change of course -- I want to come to have world-class expertise in discipleship and character development. Today, in what I intend to become a new habit, I am up at 5 am to begin investing 3 hours per day in transparent discipleship. At 43, I'm late starting this I know. But by age 53 I hope to be an expert at learning from Jesus how to live this live and at being shaped by him in the best person I can be. I want to do this in a way that allows anyone who is interested to see what I'm doing, what I'm learning, what I'm wrestling with.

Short updates will be posted to Twitter -- I'm @texastwister. More lengthy matters will be blogged here.

What are you investing 10,000 hours towards?

Social Media in Ministry and Discipleship

I have several growing convictions regarding the so-called "social media" applications
(Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, YouVersion, LinkedIn, and MeetUp are just a few examples) on today's internet:

• These are disruptive tools and technologies whose impact on society is only beginning to be understood. Think about all the ways that the automobile changed US society. Television. The PC. Some changes were positive, some negative -- but once the technology existed, disruptive change was inevitable and influenced our culture throughout. Old ways of doing things were abandoned -- new opportunities arose. Those who understood early the implications of these changes were better able to respond to them -- sometimes for self, sometimes for the Kingdom. To illustrate what I mean, consider this video:
  

• Much of the revolution revolves around "community" (real or artificial). This seems to present real opportunities for the church which also, when it is seen in it's truest form, is substantially about community -- and one of the most genuine expressions of it that the world has ever seen.

• Many believers will be (already are) participating in these internet communities and finding value in that participation. This, too, presents ready-made opportunities for the Kingdom.

• The impulse to recreate "Christian" versions of these communities is fundamentally misguided! We've all seen the efforts: Come to this site -- It's like "MySpace", but for Christians! Try _______.com, it's like YouTube but without the questionable content. This is monastery thinking. There may be some corner cases in which it is appropriate, but it shouldn't be the way most of us live our online lives.

• Instead, we should live our lives online in the midst of our neighbors -- joining in their communities and allowing them a taste of ours. I try to use Facebook, Twitter, YouVerse, and a blog or two -- but not exclusively for religious thought. Instead, I'm in communities with whom I share an interest in technical topics. And those who follow me due to our shared interest in Linux, get a glimpse on a regular basis of my passion for discipleship and the value I find in sharing life with other believers. I'm in touch through facebook with friends from earlier stages in my life -- and as they check to see how that geeky bookworm they knew in high school has made out in life, they see where I find the strength to deal with issues we have in common (like parenting teenagers!).

• This approach is not without risk. There can be huge barriers to understanding between those who see things through the lenses of our culture and those who see things through a Kingdom world-view. As an extreme example, witness the disconnect exemplified in the comments to this blog post. Some see this story as a beautiful and touching account of God working in the life of a precocious and charming child. Others see it as horrific child abuse. I'm dismayed at the apparent lack of interest in understanding across the divide and reminded that religious persecution lurks not so far beneath the surface of our veneer of civilization. And yet, the solution is still not to withdraw to the monastery and post such comments only where they'll be understood by all who read them. Rather, we engage more fully in the communities of our neighbors so they have opportunity to see us as real people who love our children, are interested in life, who struggle with problems and temptations, but who are being made into new creations -- fit to live in the Kingdom of our Savior.
  

One of my current quests is the exploration of how these tools can be effectively used in ministry and the Christian life. How can they be used for more effective evangelism? How can they be used for more effective discipleship? How can they be used to help people move from the experience of an artificial substitute for real social interaction to the experience of a genuine community that provides tangible support for the struggles of life?

I hope that you'll help me answer those questions? What are you or your church doing that is working? Send me your stories, via comment or via email (scottpurcell78750@gmail.com). Let's work to grasp the implications as quickly as we can and seize the opportunities presented for use in the kingdom!

Scott