Let's get this community started!!

Welcome to my introductory post.  

Psalm 133:1, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers [and sisters] live together in unity!”

I am really looking forward to connecting with all of you.  I believe open and authentic [splash humor in there, of course] conversations have the potential to unite all of us together as a body of believers.  I am glad you are here and I look forward to your contributions to our conversations.  Conversations are for us to share ideas and learn from one another in the process. It absolutely demands listening and talking in equal degrees.

I'm so pumped!! This is going to be awesome... anyway.

In our face to face and online community we are going to have four guidelines.  I would like these guidelines to apply to, both, our online community and face to face community.

1. Listen from your heart
2. Speak from your heart
3. There is no need to rehearse what you are going to say, spend your time listening
4. Keep it short and simple and sweet

Your role:  Your role in this process is to brainstorm ideas, ask questions of me and others.  Put your best foot forward for Denver Christian Schools both online and face to face.  Contribute regularly and prayer even more often than that.  Or as Donn Hansum has challenged us to, prayer for 2 minutes per day for Denver Christian Schools.

Culture:  The culture of our online and face to face community needs to be one where everyone feels they belong.  From the youngest student to an adult in the community.  Every member of this community needs to feel like they are seen, heard and respected.  Any dialogue that occurs either online or face to face needs to be Christ-like and uplifting.  This does not preclude us from disagreeing, but we will remain Christ-like throughout.  Our face to face and online presence will be one where all parties feel emotionally safe to share from their heart.  When we meet face to face, we will meet in circles, no matter how big or small.  Circles by their very nature help to create a sense of community.  When we meet online I want you to imagine we are all meeting in a "circle."

II Corinthians 5:20 -- "And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us."

Humor:  Remember, the best stuff on social media is often the stuff that makes you laugh or feel good, but not always. Throughout this process we do not always have to be serious or directed in our online or face to face conversations.  If you do attempt humor just make sure the humor is light, we want to do our best to avoid any misunderstandings.  This is one of the real struggles with online communication, lack of voice tone and body language and no way to immediately clarify a misunderstanding. 

I John 4:19 -- "We love because he first loved us."

Thank you again and I look forward to chatting with you all.

Blessings,

Tyler