LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Connection doesn't happen on its own. You have to design your gatherings for the kinds of connections you want to create." Priya Parker

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month, I'm going to dive into a few quotes from Priya Parker, the author of the book, The Art of Gathering. I've been talking about this book for the past few months, and I thought I'd choose a couple of her quotes on the importance of gathering together just to encourage you to explore the book more deeply.

To read past quotes & thoughts.... CLICK HERE.

I love the line of Parkers quote above that begins with: "Connection doesn't just happen on it's own."

That is so true! I think that sometimes we assume that we only need to invite people in, and the rest will just happen.

In her book, The Art of Gathering, she really spends the book talking about being INTENTIONAL. Sometimes her words are so obvious, but I found myself relating so much to my lack of intentionality and the lack of effort.

Getting people in the room is just part of the event. Getting people to truly connect with each other is a whole other issue.

I remember an event I was leading a couple of years ago, and this young guy on my team came to me with an idea to help people connect. My first reaction was, "this will never work." I knew the Community, and I didn't think they'd respond well to being pushed out of their comfort zone. However, after thinking about it, I gave the guy a green light, and he did his thing, pushing people to engage in genuine conversation in a room of over 200 people. The results? People Loved It! They engaged, they enjoyed it, they commented on it, they built new relationships and they had fun.

I had to realize how many times I haven't tried new things because I didn't think this could ever work! (Good call Austin!)

Helping people truly connect takes being intentional but it also means taking some risk.

How have meetings you've attended been INTENTIONAL in helping people connect?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The way we gather matters. Gatherings consume our days and help determine the kind of world we live in, in both our intimate and public realms. Gathering - the conscious bringing together of people for a reason - shapes the way we think, feel, and make sense of our world." Priya Parker

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month, I'm going to dive into a few quotes from Priya Parker, the author of the book, The Art of Gathering. I've been talking about this book for the past few months, and I thought I'd choose a couple of her quotes on the importance of gathering together just to encourage you to explore the book more deeply.

To read past quotes & thoughts.... CLICK HERE.

I've always understood the importance of bringing people together. I've been doing that my whole life: meetings, gala's, special dinners, celebrations, outreach events, leadership teams, church, young people, teams, sports events, community groups and on and on.

Much of my job is about connecting with people.

Parkers quote above is something that is just resonating with me: "The way we gather matters."

While much of my life has been about gathering people together, I wish I could say that most of my energy went into planning these gatherings.

Sadly, as I look back at the thousands of opportunities, I realize that I didn't always put my best work into it.

I remember one time as a brand new youth pastor, I probably had been on the job for 4 weeks. I was riding my motorcycle down the road, on the way to a youth group meeting, and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. For the past 3 weeks, I had given them the 3 Bible Studies I had in my pocket, I had pulled out some games, and I had basically "winged it", and now, just a month into the job I realized that I needed to plan and prepare what would happen. I was just 21 years old and I remember thinking to myself, "I'm in trouble!".

I have not idea what I did that night, and I'm pretty sure no ones life was changed because of the words I shared, whatever they were.

I regret that I had a room full of a couple of hundred young people and I didn't think it important enough to prepare something for them that would minister to them and challenge them in their faith.

Gratefully I learned the importance of a team, I learned how to plan and prepare and I learned to prioritize my time and energy to fulfill the basic purpose of my job! Oh to have those opportunities back....

As we explore these quotes and thoughts this month, I want to challenge you to think about your NEXT GATHERING. Think about the next time you're going to bring people together around a purpose, and simply ask yourself some questions that bubble up through this conversation and let's see what happens along the way.

Think about a gathering you attended that impacted you, or created a moment to remember?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month we've been talking about PACE, and I want to leave you with this last quote today.

To read past quotes & thoughts.... CLICK HERE.

It's interesting that I would write about PACE while in a really busy couple of weeks.

Once again, this weekly blogpost is much more about me and what God is teaching me than it is about anyone who might read this.

Friday evening, Gina and I went on a walk at the beach. It was a wonderful end to a very full week, and as we walked, we just enjoyed the beauty. We saw dolphins swimming, we saw rain clouds in the distance, we saw surfers in the water, we saw the sun setting and the glorious images of light through the clouds on the water. It was beautiful.

It was also life-giving. Walking with her, taking that in, slowing our pace to get out of our routine, it's so healing.

When I think about this quote from Emerson, here's what I'm thinking:

• If I would just slow down, notice the things around me, see God's beauty in everything, breathe deeply, then I could understand what the "pace of nature" is all about.

• If I could learn to be patient, to not rush things, to not power through things, to learn to pause, to learn to wait, then I could understand what pace is really all about.

• If I might understand that this isn't a SECRET! Everyone talks about pace, everyone talks about the impact of a hurried life yet we keep moving and increasing our pace. It's not a secret!

I hope that this month as you've looked at these quotes and thoughts on PACE, you've been challenged and encouraged to look deeper into your own pace and the motivations for how you do life.

Funny thing... I received more comments from the post on September 16th when I shared, "I'm pausing today to catch my breath and find my pace". People sharing that they felt the same way.

Don't ignore it. Find your PACE. Look at nature to find and understand the secret. It's all around us!