How do we lead faculty and students to engage mission as a way of life? As movement leaders, we’re always in the process of directing our movement’s imagination toward new possibilities and applications. Henry Ward Beecher once described faith as “spiritualized imagination.” David Fitch, Jonathan Dobson and others suggested the following ways to cultivate missional habits of imagination. I rewrote them for our situation of building movements on the college campus, helping faculty and student to live with more missional intentionality.

We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, just order pizza and put the focus on conversation. When you go out for a meal, invite a non-Christian friend. Or take your family to family-style restaurants where you can sit at the table with strangers and strike up conversations. Have cookouts and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Christian subculture.

Walk, Don’t Drive

If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking around your neighborhood, apartment complex, or campus. Instead of driving to the mailbox or convenience store, walk to get mail or groceries. Be deliberate in your walk. Say hello to people you don’t know. Strike up conversations. Attract attention by walking the dog, carrying along a 6-pack to share, bringing the kids. Make friends. Get out of your house! Last night I spent an hour outside gardening with my family. We had good conversations with about four of our neighbors. Take interest in your neighbors. Ask questions. Engage. Pray as you go. Save some gas, the planet, and some people.

Be a Regular

Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places at the same times. Get to know the staff. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. I have friends at coffee shops all over the city. My friends at Starbucks donate a ton of leftover pastries to our church 2-3 times a week. We use them for church gatherings and occasionally give them to the homeless. Build relationships. Be a regular.

Hobby with Non-Christians

Pick a hobby that you can share. Get out and do something you enjoy with others. Try city league sports or local rowing and cycling teams. Share your hobby by teaching lessons, such as sewing, piano, knitting, or tennis lessons. Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Have fun. Be yourself.

Talk to Your Co-workers.

How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Go out with your team or task force after work. Show interest in your co-workers. Pick four and pray for them. Form moms’ groups in your neighborhood and don’t make them exclusively non-Christian. Schedule play dates with the neighbors’ kids. Work on mission.

Volunteer with Non-Profits.

Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take a Saturday a month to serve your city. Bring your neighbors, your friends, or your small group. Spend time with your church serving your city. Once a month. You can do it!

Participate in City Events

Instead of playing XBox, watching TV, or surfing the net, participate in city events. Go to fundraisers, festivals, cleanups, summer shows, and concerts. Participate missionally. Strike up conversation. Study the culture. Reflect on what you see and hear. Pray for the city. Love the city. Participate with the city.

Serve Your Neighbors.

Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, or fixing a car. Stop by the neighborhood association or apartment office and ask if there is anything you can do to help improve things. Ask your local Police and Fire Stations if there is anything you can do to help them. Get creative. Just serve!

Michael writes: When I read a non-fiction book, I typically observe these ten practices:

1. Don’t feel that you need to finish. Not to be cynical, but most books aren’t worth finishing. I read until I lose interest. Then I move onto the next book. This is the secret to reading more. I also listen carefully to what my friends recommend. If they suggest a book, I am more likely to like it—and finish it.
2. Start with the author bio. Every book flows out of an author’s heart and mind. I want to know something about the person I am going to be spending the next several hours with. Usually, the bio in the book is enough, but often I will Google the author before I start reading.
3. Read the table of contents. I learn best when I understand the context. I look at the contents just like I look at a map before I begin a journey. I want to know where we are starting, where we are going, and how we are going to get there. Note to authors: I especially like annotated tables of contents that give me more than just the chapter titles.
4. Quickly scan the whole book. I like to do a quick “fly over” to sample the author’s writing. I notice how long the chapters are and how they are structured. I might read a few “pull quotes” or subheads. I note his use of lists, diagrams, and block quotes. I am trying to set my expectations for what is ahead.
5. Highlight important passages. I cannot read a non-fiction book without a highlighter. (On the Kindle, I use the built-in highlighter function). I prefer yellow, though I have been known to use pink in a pinch. I highlight anything that resonates with me in some way. The better the book, the more I highlight. I keep lots of highlighters handy in my desk drawer and briefcase. [Jay--I typically underline passages and rarely highlight. If I underline, I write a brief note to myself about "why" I underlined this section or some thot from that section.]
6. Take notes in the front or the margins. I often take notes in the front of the book, so I have a convenient summary of what I have read. I also like to write in the margins. Interestingly, I rarely go back and re-read these notes. They simply help me think while I am reading.
7. Use a set of note-taking symbols. I use the same set of symbols I use when taking notes:
   • If an item is particularly important or insightful, I put a star next to it.
   • 
     
   • If an item requires further research or resolution, I put a question mark next to it.
   • 
     
   • If an item requires an action on my part or follow-up, I put a ballot box (open square) next to it. When the item is completed, I check it off.
     
8. Dog-ear pages you want to re-visit. I bookmark the really, really important passages by folding down the corner of the page. These are usually passages with a quote I want to use in my writing or speaking.
9. Review the book and transfer actions to my to-do list. When I have finished with the book, I go back and do a quick scan. As I mentioned above, I don’t pay much attention to my notes—unless they have one of the three key symbols or the page is dog-eared. If there is an action I need to take, I put it on my to-do list with a reference to the book title and the page.
10. Share the book’s message. As we say. . . “great books are contagious.” They are meant to be shared. I blog about them, teach them to others, and buy multiple copies to give away to friends and colleagues. This is one way to ensure that the message lives on—and is passed on.

Please note: I don’t read fiction this way. I don’t highlight passages, and I rarely take notes. I read novels purely for pleasure.–Michael Hyatt

In addition to the practices above, I regularly:

1. Survey the Index to get another “picture” of the author’s arguments/structure/emphases.
2. I write either TW (for Twitter @jaylorenzen) or CP (mycommonplace.com) or OM (onmovements.com) in the margin to mark for future tweets or posts to blogs.
3. I summarize key thots or diagrams in blank pages in the back of the book.
4. I’m increasingly using Evernote to keep “scanned” pages for future use.
5. I look for an opportunity to “write/speak on/share/discuss/teach” things I’m learning.

Currently Reading these Books….Need to Blog about Them

Christianity is not about Jesus offering, demonstrating, or even accomplishing a new route by which people can ‘go to heaven when they die.” This is a persistent mistake, based on the medieval notion that the point of all religion–the rule of the game, if you like–was to make sure you ended up at the right side of the stage at the end of the mystery play (that is, in heaven rather than in hell), or on the right side of the painting in the Sistine chapel. Again, that isn’t to deny that our present beliefs and actions have lasting consequences. Rather, it’s to deny both that Jesus made this the focus of his work and that this is the “point” of Christianity.

Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this–the finding, the saving, the giving of new life–in Jesus. He has done it. With Jesus, God’s rescue operation has been put into effect once and for all. A great door has swung open in the cosmos which can never again be shut. It’s the door to the prison where we’ve been kept chained up. We are offered freedom: freedom to experience God’s rescue for ourselves, to go through the open door and explore the new world to which we now have access. In particular, we are all invited–summoned, actually–to discover, through following Jesus, that this new world is indeed a place of justice, spirituality, relationship, and beauty, and that we are not only to enjoy it as such but to work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven. In listening to Jesus, we discover whose voice it is that has echoed around the hearts and minds of the human race all along.

Exerpts (Pgs 91-92) from Simply Christian

The foundation of reality is personal and rooted in the Trinitarian fellowship of the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Who is blessed (well-off)?

All who live in the reality of God’s kingdom (his loving rule and reign).

Who is truly good?

All who actually love God and love other people from the heart.

How do people become good?

By becoming students–disiples—apprentices of Jesus.

– Dallas Willard

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