Christian Fight Club, or, Putting Your Organization Out of Business

Thanks to Baxter Underwood for connecting me to the Society Room Movement. 

Society Rooms are a new, yet historical way to explore issues of faith and culture in the context of an action-oriented, group learning environment. The Society Rooms of the late 1600's and the Clapham Circle of the early 1800's are riveting examples of small gatherings of leaders that would convene, dialogue, learn and work together to renew their culture. Society Room studies are designed to challenge your innermost beliefs and preconceived ideas about life, faith, the world and your cultural responsibility. When forward-thinking, culture-shaping individuals convene around the purposes of God, positive societal change can happen - expressing a fresh vision of the Christian faith.

I am fascinated by this concept -- including how it dovetails with the Megacommunities Movement that I blogged yesterday -- that the way to change society is to align key thought leaders around a shared vision for a better world.

What better calling for a FundVisor than to dedicate their life towards not simply raising funds for their organization . . . but inspiring a vision for a better world? 

In Dallas, you can see how this played out through Bill Lively's inspirational work on the campaign for the Dallas Center for Performing Arts.

I am convinced that this same type of approach helped Tom Leppert to sell the vision a Dallas convention center hotel.

And where would The Bridge -- Dallas' homeless assistance center -- be without the hard work of Mike Rawlings, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and their leader Mike Faenza? These leaders connected to the work of folks like Larry James and John Greenan in a way that elevated the entire discourse away from "selling a homeless shelter" to "ending chronic homeless in Dallas."

The best line in all of this came from Larry James at Central Dallas Ministries: "For Dallas cannot truly be a home to anyone until it can provide a home to everyone."

What would it take for your organization to lift its work from "selling its services" to inspiring your donors and volunteers around the impact of your mission?

What would it look like for you to be so successful that you put yourself out of business? 

At the end of the day, that should be our goal... to not simply do our work, but do it so well that society transforms itself to remove the needs that we address. 

Or, as Master Phil Cubeta has said, perhaps this would be a Sisyphysian labor.