{"id":1487,"date":"2014-05-24T12:10:33","date_gmt":"2014-05-24T12:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2014-05-24T12:10:33","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T12:10:33","slug":"why-community-building-is-powerful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/why-community-building-is-powerful\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Community Building is Powerful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fwhy-community-building-is-powerful%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/allHandsIn.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-653\" src=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/allHandsIn.jpg\" alt=\"allHandsIn\" width=\"500\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/allHandsIn.jpg 500w, https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/allHandsIn-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As human beings, we\u00a0have fundamental need for connection to each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All thriving organizations that I have cared about seemed to have a strong sense of community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Great communities\u00a0are life giving, authentic,\u00a0and naturally generate an impact.\u00a0\u00a0 You can try to lead by fear, intimation, or force people to follow you because of your &#8216;title.&#8217;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I&#8217;m starting to realize that one of the most powerful ways to\u00a0promote positive change is community building.<\/p>\n<p>Some events from this past week have &#8220;hit me on the head&#8221; and forced me to pay attention to this fundamental idea we call community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In my church, I have had the opportunity to lead a wonderful music ministry serving our high schoolers.\u00a0 (Check out their website at <a href=\"http:\/\/sacredheartlifeteen.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/sacredheartlifeteen.org\/<\/a> ) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When I think about some of my favorite moments of living in Middle Georgia, I think of this tribe of passionate and talented young teens.\u00a0 Even though our group plays once a month for church, it was so meaningful to hear stories of how they inspired our church members young and old.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I&#8217;m proud that they set an example of service and prayer by sharing their time and talents.\u00a0\u00a0 By learning how to make music together and prayerfully making something beautiful,\u00a0 they lead people to a more profound place in their faith walk.\u00a0\u00a0 Through our relationships, I&#8217;ve been inspired to be more prayerful and be a better musician.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I&#8217;m truly humbled that the Lord gave me this opportunity to serve with them.\u00a0 They really rock!<\/p>\n<p>As we finished off this year and played our last songs, I honestly started getting &#8220;choked up.&#8221;\u00a0 The sound of the teens singing a beautiful\u00a0&#8220;Ave Maria&#8221; just really moved me emotionally.\u00a0\u00a0 It was like &#8220;someone&#8221; was hitting me on the head saying &#8230;. &#8220;Michael&#8230; You really need to pay attention to this moment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As I started doing some self reflection on some of my favorite experiences in life (in business, in family, in church), all of these experiences were connected to great cultures of community.\u00a0\u00a0 You can see the power of community in our best innovations and our most meaningful experiences.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Church impact:<\/strong> I have been blessed to be a part of many church families where I can really see lives changed for the better.\u00a0 The Lord&#8217;s hands is community.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Technology impact:<\/strong> In a technology circle, I really love my Android phone.\u00a0\u00a0 This technology, however, would not be possible if a community developers had not decided to work together to share their talent and create a potent free operating system called &#8220;Linux.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0 Linux and other free UNIX operating systems are the fundamental building blocks making our IPhones, IPads, and Android devices possible.\u00a0\u00a0 These pieces of software were created out of a love of the craft of software.\u00a0\u00a0(not profit motive.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Business impact:<\/strong> In a business context, I have had the pleasure of fostering a learning community we call the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1060\" target=\"_blank\">EntreLeader book club.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0 <\/a>( click the link for more details)\u00a0 It&#8217;s a weekly event that I cherish.\u00a0\u00a0 It&#8217;s fun getting to explore meaningful business leadership books and support each other in growing.\u00a0\u00a0 So far, we&#8217;ve covered the following books: &#8220;EntreLeadership&#8221; by Dave Ramsey, &#8220;Beyond the Obvious&#8221; by Phil McKinney, and &#8220;Good To Great&#8221; by Jim Collins.\u00a0\u00a0 It&#8217;s been fun to see the innovations big and small from our team of EntreLeaders.\u00a0 (Big high five to <a href=\"http:\/\/entreleadership.com\" target=\"_blank\">Dave Ramsey <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/chrislocurto.com\" target=\"_blank\">Chris LoCurto<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Education impact:<\/strong> I am very inspired by my personal learning network of educators.\u00a0\u00a0 I aspire to have the &#8220;heart of a teacher&#8221; in all that I do.\u00a0\u00a0 So.. I love learning from the educators who are passionate about serving their students and making a difference.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you teachers for all that you do to change the world!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;m still growing in the art of community building.\u00a0\u00a0 I still have a lot to learn.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted to close this reflection by sharing a free book that I&#8217;m reviewing.\u00a0\u00a0 Check out the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artofcommunityonline.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Art of community&#8221; <\/a>by Jono Bacon.\u00a0\u00a0 While the book focuses on growing &#8220;technical&#8221; communities, it&#8217;s still offers great practical coaching that applies to every organization. (nonprofit, club, nonprofit)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Jono Bacon is a really fun writter too.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What are some of your favorite blogs, ideas, or tools for building community?\u00a0 We would love to hear from you!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fwhy-community-building-is-powerful%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As human beings, we\u00a0have fundamental need for connection to each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All thriving organizations that I have cared about seemed to have a strong sense of community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Great communities\u00a0are life giving, authentic,\u00a0and naturally generate an impact.\u00a0\u00a0 You can try to lead by fear, intimation, or force people to follow you because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1488,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}