A few years back, I had the opportunity to go up to the San Juan Mountains, just West of CO Springs – for a father-son retreat. My father died 14 years ago, so he wasn’t with me on this trip (that would have been gross, very awkward, and like a bad sequel to Weekend At Bernie’s).
Reflecting on that time, I remember that we rode horses from 11,000 feet to 14,000 feet in elevation. The horses were strong, beautiful, and patient. Once arriving at our campsite the Rancher then called our attention to watch something that I’ll never forget:: he gave some type of signal to the horses that it was okay for them to run free now – with a smooth start, but with power that literally shook the ground, about 25 horses took off running over an enormous area that was not fenced in. They ran hard, they ran fast, but most of all, you could tell that they were running free. This passionate freedom went on for about 20 minutes until one by one they began to settle down, gather back near one another, and started to graze. And when called back into a safe area where they could rest together – they came back – (actual photos below)
During a recent conversation with a friend, he began to share about the need for leaders to allow those working with them to run free and trusting that if the vision is aligned and the trust is built, that we can allow others to run free without the fear that they may run off.
So how much freedom do you give those who are around you, who work on you staff or team? How does this relate to where you are? What are the consequences or possibilities of letting people you lead run free?
When asked, “How long will this Third Place thing last?” – My answer is simple, “The very moment we no longer have a need to consume beverages or have human contact – the need for Third Places will be over.” This is not a trend, this is a necessary fabric that must exist in every community; it is the place where lives come together in a beautiful mess of authenticity.
The church should be leading the way in asking the question and bringing valuable answers to how we can Design for Community. Many things have occurred to create such a time as this, where the church is being given the opportunity to go back to the center of town both figuratively and literally. And if we choose to use the same methods and approach that we have the past few decades, then we may miss a ‘once in our lifetime’ opportunity. Stewardship is not about simple ‘occupancy of space’ but about seizing the ‘opportunity of place’. Now is the time we have been given to open our eyes and invest our resources to help fill the void of Third Places that has been left in too many of our local communities.
Third Places are essential ingredients if a church is serious about Designing for Community – because, when thought through and designed properly, they create, enhance, and sustain community. It is when authentic community is to the point of sustainability, that the best chance of making an impact to and through generations is realized. Sustainable Third Places leave a legacy when we go beyond settling for copying trendy mainstream and instead being tapping into our most valuable resources – humanity fuel by God’s imagination.
From Ft. Walton Beach to a development in the Philippines – correspondence continues to pick up pace with phrases like “I feel God wants us to go back to the center of town…”; “… I feel called to go back into the marketplace as the church…”; “…to be the church 7 days a week in and for our community”. What I am really being asked is, “Michael, how can we Design for Community?” That said, there is still a tremendous need for increased understanding and more intentional design along with proper business and ministry planning for those who want to create community whether within the more traditional walls of a church in the more classic times of meeting or in the times, places, and ways of doing church that are not as common – yet.
Understanding the social needs of people is an integral part of understanding their spiritual needs. I have been having the conversation about Third Places for about 15 years now – I have tried to quit it twice like a bad habit, but two things stopped me – first, there is no rehab program for people passionate about trying to communicate the importance of fully understanding this amazing tool and second (the most important) – God would not let me; which I’m sincerely thankful for, because we’ve not even seen the tipping point yet and it has never been a more exciting time to Design for Community. The terminology around Third Places has existed for about 25 years; the concept and human experience has always been.
In the roles I serve in, I am in daily conversation about the design and intentionality behind creation and sustainability of Third Places. Let me offer this analogy – the local church is a piece that fits in a bigger puzzle that is the community; the community is not necessarily a piece that fits inside the church. Once through the common preliminary questions about Third Places and what’s happening today – this question almost always comes up, “How do we find a balance between being overt and covert?”
1. Add Value First: stop looking past the cliché that the church needs to contribute to the community it is in and stop merely consuming from it – this must change;
2. Stop denying that the church is a Business. We are business persons – going about our Father’s business. Go from “We’re non-profit and good at it” to “We unashamed to make a profit and do good things with it”;
3. Love With No Strings Attached: never forget to love because you were first loved; give knowing it will we given beyond your imagination;
4. Start the conversation & trust God for the conversion: this goes back to the serenity prayer of doing what you can do and not trying to do what you cannot do.
It is not time for the church to try and go underground, attempt some subtle version of bait and switch, or adapt to the saying “If you can’t beat em’, imitate them by setting your imagination on the shelf”. Instead, now is the time for anyone wanting to BE the church in their community to recognize that it is when we have a full awareness of the those around us, an attention to details such as the engaging all five senses, and by making ourselves available in the places where real life takes place that we find a great starting point in the overdue conversation for how the church can lead the way in the mandate to Design for Community.
By creating sustainable Third Places inside our facilities and for our communities, we will be able to bring the church back to the center of town and put the front porch back on America.
Still amazing – in 2009 – on So You Think You Can Dance – Melissa and Ade met with Tyce Diorio to learn a contemporary number. The theme of this dance is breast cancer. Performing to “This Woman’s Work” by Maxwell.
It’s amazing the many ways we express emotions and relate in our pain and in our hope.
I can’t imagine a world without music, a world without song, or a day when I don’t need to just slow down and Breathe. The video in this post is one of many that share this song by Ryan Star – Ryan has been an artist for years – I started following his work after his time on Rockstar; a reality show that was looking for artists in that genre.
I don’t know who’s reading this or who will watch this video – but if you need to just Breathe – let this song, this music, this art bring a little more air into your lungs today – and know that tomorrow will take care of itself; it has enough worries of its own.
When asked, “How long will this Third Place thing last?” – My answer is simple, “The very moment we no longer have a need to consume beverages or have human contact – the need for Third Places will be over.” This is not a trend, this is a necessary fabric that must exist in ever community; it is the place where lives come together in a beautiful mess of authenticity.
The church should be leading the way in asking the question and bringing valuable answers to how we can Design for Community. Many things have occurred to create such a time as this, where the church is being given the opportunity to go back to the center of town both figuratively and literally. And if we choose to use the same methods and approach that we have the past few decades, then we may miss a ‘once in our lifetime’ opportunity. Stewardship is not about simple ‘occupancy of space’ but about seizing the ‘opportunity of place’. Now is the time we have been given to open our eyes and invest our resources to help fill the void of Third Places that has been left in too many of our local communities.
Third Places are essential ingredients if a church is serious about Designing for Community – because, when thought through and designed properly, they create, enhance, and sustain community. It is when authentic community is to the point of sustainability, that the best chance of making an impact to and through generations is realized. Sustainable Third Places leave a legacy when we go beyond settling for copying trendy mainstream and instead being tapping into our most valuable resources – humanity fuel by God’s imagination.
From Ft. Walton Beach to a development in the Philippines – correspondence continues to pick up pace with phrases like “I feel God wants us to go back to the center of town…”; “…feel called to go back into the marketplace as the church…”; “…to be the church 7 days a week in and for our community”. What I am really being asked is, “Michael, how can we Design for Community?” That said, there is still a tremendous need for increased understanding and more intentional design along with proper business and ministry planning for those who want to create community whether within the more traditional walls of a church in the more classic times of meeting or in the times, places, and ways of doing church that are not as common – yet.
Understanding the social needs of people is an integral part of understanding their spiritual needs. I have been having the conversation about Third Places for more than a decade now – I have tried to quit it twice like a bad habit, but two things stopped me – first, there is no rehab program for people passionate about trying to communicate the importance of fully understanding this amazing tool and second (the most important) – God would not let me; which I’m sincerely thankful for, because we’ve not even seen the tipping point yet and it has never been a more exciting time to Design for Community. The terminology around Third Places has existed for about 25 years; the concept and human experience has always been.
In the roles I serve in, I am in daily conversation about the design and intentionality behind creation and sustainability of Third Places. Let me offer this analogy – the local church is a piece that fits in a bigger puzzle that is the community; the community is not necessarily a piece that fits inside the church. Once through the common preliminary questions about Third Places and what’s happening today – this question almost always comes up, “How do we find a balance between being overt and covert?”
1. Add Value First: stop looking past the cliché that the church needs to contribute to the community it is in and stop merely consuming from it – this must change;
2. Stop denying that the church is a Business. We are business persons – going about our Father’s business. Go from “We’re non-profit and good at it” to “We unashamed to make a profit and do good things with it”;
3. Love With No Strings Attached: never forget to love because you were first loved; give knowing it will we given beyond your imagination;
4. Start the conversation & trust God for the conversion: this goes back to the serenity prayer of doing what you can do and not trying to do what you cannot do.
It is not time for the church to try and go underground, attempt some subtle version of bait and switch, or adapt to the saying “If you can’t beat em’, imitate them by setting your imagination on the shelf”. Instead, now is the time for anyone wanting to BE the church in their community to recognize that it is when we have a full awareness of the those around us, an attention to details such as the engaging all five senses, and by making ourselves available in the places where real life takes place that we find a great starting point in the overdue conversation for how the church can lead the way in the mandate to Design for Community.
By creating sustainable Third Places inside our facilities and for our communities, we will be able to bring the church back to the center of town and put the front porch back on America.
I’m crazy blessed to serve on a team of amazing designers, architects, and simply creative people atLIVE Design Group. We get to do a lot of cool projects, but I really can’t find the right words to share when I think about communicating the enormous fun it has been to help with NWHCM & the aHomeInHaiti project – The Miriam Center.
And the amazing help of Shaun King & team, Eva Longoriaand the communities of actors, athletes, and artists via TwitChange. Thank you all so much for what you’ve done, are doing, and will continue to do to help create a place for children to receiving love, care, and learning. This is an initiative – a start to something that will be sustainable for generations. I look forward to hearing stories for years to come………..the fun has really only just started.
If you didn’t know about or get a chance to participate in TwitChange – you can still get involved by visiting aHomeInHaiti.org and making a donation. Thanks for pouring into the lives of others.
A special thanks to the great team at Leadership Network for the invitation to pour into the lives of other this past September 9th on the NINES. It was an honor to share along side so many wonderful leaders.
Third Places have always been a way of life. Decades ago, the suburban sprawl put too many inside their garages before they could say hello to their neighbor. Today, even as we get more tech savvy, that has not, nor will it ever replace human contact and the authentic engaging of all five senses.
I recently discovered a new Third Place in the Birmingham area that the great people from B-Metro Magazine have done a recent article on – so I’ll just let you read it….
Mardi Gras beads, strings of lights, birthday banners, and snowflakes adorn the rafters of the tin-roof shed, creating a wonderland of deranged splendor. Beer bottles are lined up, and yellowing images of singers, sidemen, and Delta bands stare down from the juke-joint walls. Mismatched chairs and tiny tables fill up as neighbors and blues-loving nomads drift in to stake their claims. The wild-eyed feline on a painted sign proclaims this as “Gip’s Place—Where All the Cats Play.
Word spreads underground about this Bessemer mecca for blues-lovers. On almost any Saturday night, the place is packed. Wailing harmonica and rifts so raw they tear at the soul fill the air with pulsating sound. As the night goes on, some dance the boogie on the precious few inches of available floorspace.
Henry Gipson, affectionately called Mr. Gip, allows that he’s had his place since 1952, for “nigh on 60 years” including a few years his brother ran it “before he had to leave town.” He has hosted such blues greats as the late Willie King, Curtis Files, Big Mike Griffin, Kent and Cedric Burnside, Kenny Brown, Liz Brown, Roscoe Robinson, and The North Mississippi All-Stars.
Lightnin’ Malcolm joined Elliott and the Untouchables at Gip’s Place in an unforgettable session that lasted long into the night. Sam Lay, a musician who played with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Bob Dylan, is legendary to the regulars. The list goes on and on. Most bluesmen jump at the chance to play here because so few places like Gip’s still exist.
No one–maybe not even he—knows exactly how old Mr. Gip is. Hank Moore and Lenny Madden, who “discovered” Gip’s Place back in the late ’70s, say they celebrated his 85th birthday at least four or five different years. The son of a sharecropper, Mr. Gip worked for many years as a railroad man. Now he owns Pine Hill Cemetery and still digs graves with his backhoe. His passion, though, is singing the blues. After the main show is over, he often takes part in informal jam sessions that may not end until 3 a.m.
No matter how late the Saturday night, Mr. Gip and his wife, who rarely comes back to the shed, will spend all day Sunday in church. “Here’s a real grave-digger who sings the blues all night and prays all day,” Moore says with a laugh. “Only in Alabama!”
And only in Alabama would a gut-busting night of the blues begin with a prayer and a blessing for everyone there. Then come the rules: No cursing, no weapons, gentlemen are to leave only with the ladies they come with, and absolutely no drugs or gambling allowed. Patrons bring their own beverages. Mr. Gip is from the old school; he’s a tall dignified figure in a Panama hat, presiding over his domain with a gentle but very firm hand.
One night Watermelon Slim, winner of numerous national awards for his music, cut loose with profanity on stage between songs. Mr. Gip immediately set him straight, much to Slim’s bewilderment. “Hey, I thought this place was a juke joint,” Slim later complained to Madden. “Yeah,” Madden said, “but it’s Mr. Gip’s juke joint!”
Ever the genial host, the owner makes the rounds with a paper cup of who-knows-what in his hand, smiling and stopping to talk with the patrons, black and white. “Mr. Gip’s heart is so big that he doesn’t see any difference in people. He wants them to come together,” Moore says. “So they do. There aren’t any differences here. They come together every Saturday and just enjoy the music.”
When Lenny Madden moved to the South, he had already discovered Mississippi John Hurt and had learned to play haunting blues on his guitar. A fellow musician heard him play and eventually trusted Madden enough to invite him out to Bessemer. “Mr. Gip was lying there asleep when we walked in,” Madden says. “I played a little Robert Johnson, and his eyes just lit up. I started going down there and then told Hank [Moore] about it.” Soon they couldn’t stay away.
At the time, in 1978, there were racial undercurrents in Birmingham. A constant stream of great blues musicians, most of them black, came through town but their music stayed in its narrow subculture, never advertised to the public at large. Many of these musicians came out to play at Gip’s Place, where they mightily impressed the two new visitors.
The music was too good not to be more widely heard, yet few outside the very modest neighborhood were even aware of it. “A friend of mine was talking about another place, saying that it was the best blues joint anywhere around,” Madden said. “I told her, “Y’all have one right underneath your nose that you don’t even know about!” But it was two more years before the friend ventured to Bessemer.
There used to be only a stage behind Mr. Gip’s house, and music-lovers sat on the ground or perched on one of the old sofas scattered about the place. Madden and Moore stepped up to build flooring and a roof so the building could accommodate listeners more comfortably.
Now the room can be used year-round, but on warm nights people often go outside, swaying around communal tables to rhythms rich with history. Many in the crowd are members of the Magic City Blues Society, which even has a section on its web site called “What’s Happening at Gip’s?” Most, though, are just people who love the music enough to make the trek. They come from all over Alabama and even farther at times.
Roger Stephenson, a British transplant who—except for his accent—seems more Southern than a native son, helps book regional and even national acts for Gip’s Place. Passing around a tin bucket, he oversees the collection of $10 cover charges, which barely meets the expense. If it doesn’t, he and Madden dip into their own pockets to pay the bands.
“We’ve never had a band be disappointed though,” Moore adds. “They respect what this place represents: the tradition. And always, the music.”
People say that the Blues gets in your blood. “It’s in you, and it got to come out,” sang John Lee Hooker in his famous song, Boogie Chillun.
[MT note] Amazing what putting your hands to what your heart is speaking can do….
Standing in the kitchen with my son strapped to my chest in a Baby Bjorn man-harness (shameless plug for Baby Bjorn, yes I will take free stuff). Observing how happy and calm he is with his head against my heart instantly made me start thinking about a few things….
How would I live my life differently if my children were always strapped to my chest? Think about it literally; hearing my every conversation, seeing my every move, feeling my heart for every situation that I find myself in.
When we cry out to God, I believe He straps us to His chest, putting us against His heart. I don’t believe there could be a more safe and calming place this side of Heaven. That made me want to pray – “God, strap me to your chest, hold me so close I feel your heart.”
How would you live differently? Where do you feel safe?
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