Discipling By Jesus

This week Ernie and David go around and around on whether:

• To be worried about the recent drop-off in attendance on The Great Reset
• We need an explicit code of conduct
• It is more dangerous to study scripture with or without an agenda
• "Love More Like Jesus" is a sufficient statement of purpose
• Ernie is merely inarticulate or deliberately deceptive about his goals

David finally agreed to put that last point to the test by identifying "what your secret cows are, put them up as suggestions for the group, then watch you try to deny them."  Or at least let us know if he decides not to follow through on that.

References

• Automated Transcript
• TGR-S4E7 Loving More Like Jesus
• Code of Conduct (Contributor Covenant)
• Response to "man cannot be trusted with the government of himself" (Thomas Jefferson)
• TGR Code of Conduct (new)

Ernie leads off by asking his three favorite questions:

1. What do you want
2. What do you fear
3. What price are you wiling to pay

Janet's chief desire is to Love More Like Jesus (or equivalently to draw closer to Him). Her fear is self-sabotage, and she is willing to pay the price of discipline to overcome that.

This led to an extended discussion on the apparent necessity of suffering for spiritual (and emotional) maturity. They identified three types of suffering (circumstantial, voluntary, and inflicted), as well as how those categories sometimes blur as we mature. 

We wrap with Janet sharing her challenges with staying productive during this season.  That nagging voice in our head can be a useful taskmaster, but ultimately (like the Law) we want to replace it with a nurture teacher.  Perhaps next episode we can figure out how to be, have, and create more teachers like that...

References

• Automated Transcript
• Ernie's Rules of War
• C.S. Lewis on Pain

In his latest attempt to explain his vision of The Great Reset, Ernie lists three ways his vision differs from monastic (and by implication evangelical) spirituality:

• Decentralized vs Hierarchical
• Incarnate vs Extractive
• Practice vs Knowledge

David was very helpful in teasing out shared definition of words, to the point where they seemed to reach at least a basic level of understanding.  Is this stable enough to form a foundation for future discussions? Stay tuned to find out!

References

• Automated Transcript
• Benedectine Order
• The Rule of Ernest the Sinner

Ernie is joined by two old friends from his Pasadena days who work in missions.  They are both enthusiastic proponents and practitioners of Discovery Bible Study (DBS).  DBS has been used successfully with hundreds of disciple-making movements, although (at least until recently) they have not had much success in a Western context.

Could this be the tool The Great Reset needs for "vulnerably encountering Jesus by obeying Scripture together?"  Is this the tool Jesus wants to use to free us from Western intellectualism so we can read with our heart, soul, and strength, not just our mind? What will it take to get the rest of The Great Reset on board?

Stay tuned to find out!

Resources

• Automated Transcript
• Last Tuesday's The Great Reset (ValueStorming)
• Discovery Bible Study
• Disciple-making movements
• WEIRD: Western, Educated, Industriaized, Rich, Democratic 

Ernie and David both share their excitement at the strong emotion shared during last week's episode of The Great Reset, though Ernie was more upbeat in his assessment of how well the group did (and would) handle the conflict. David reiterated his concern that both the conflict itself, and the difficulty the group has handling it, stem from a lack of clarity around the group's purpose.

After going around and around about the supposed difficulty of defining novel relational experiences, David joked that he could do better. When Ernie jumped on that, he conceded that it would be a lot of effort to get everyone on board. Instead, he offered to put together a draft combining elements we agreed on with traditional church mission statements, as a starting point for the two of us to discuss further.

Stay tuned to find out how it works out!

Resources

• Automated Transcript
• Last week's Great Reset: ValueStorming
•  Mission Statement (Echo Church)

Ernie and Janet review recent discussions with The Great Reset, and Janet shares how transformational Scripture has been in her own life. Ernie confesses his uncertainty how to study the Bible in a way that leads to obedience, rather than mere knowledge. Janet pitches the Bible Project, which leads to a discussion of the ongoing transition from static linear curriculum to adaptive ad-hoc feeds. 

How will this play out on Season 5 of The Great Reset? Stay tuned to find out!

Resources

• Automated Transcript
• Romans 12:1-2
• The Bible Project
• Walk through the Bible
• Bible Storying

Ernie and David finally manage to articulate a problem that they both care deeply about:  helping larger groups of Jesus-followers practice the type of authenticity and accountability usually only seen in intimate fellowship groups.  David wonders if this is hard because leaders see it as their job to preserve the integrity of the institution.  He sees this as something requiring generational change, whereas Ernie claims this requires more structural reformation. 

Can they build on this insight  to come up with a Grand Solution for The Great Reset that will satisfy Ted? Or will they get mired down intheir inability to agree on basic terms. Come back next week to find out!

Resources

• Automated Transcript
• TGR-S4E7 Loving More Like Jesus
• Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy 

Janet and Ernie discuss her attempts to adapt Dr. Gary Sweeten's Apples of Gold relational training during Season 4 of The Great Reset. They both agreed it was an incredible learning experience, but Ernie felt that one of the key learnings was that the "education" paradigm does not work well for a peer group of adults.  Instead, he advocated re-integrating content around concrete problems the "user" cares about, rather than trying to aggregate users around a pre-defined curriculum.

References

• Automated Transcript
• Relational Practice (TGR-S4E3)
• FishBowl Dialogue (DJ+EP)
• Edutainment (Wikipedia)
• The Bible Project (Videos)
• TedEd (Youtube Channel)
• A Critical Review of Constructivist Theory and the Emergence of Constructionism (American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences) 
• Jobs to be Done in the Education Industry (JTBD Radio)

HeartSync is a powerful ministry that helps people bring their deepest pain into a transformational encounter with the person of Jesus Christ.  Steve  joins Ernie to discuss how he discovered HeartSync while writing his book, and how this fuels their shared passion for seeing Jesus bring unity to a fragmented world.

• Automated Transcript
• Seven Mountains (Generals International)
• Renewal Christian Counseling Center (Steve Fair)
• Journey into the Divided Heart Book (Amazon)
• HeartSync Ministries (Father Andrew Miller)
• Morningstar Ministries (Rick Joyner)

Bill and Ernie geek about how JavaScript's prototypical style of object inheritance is more adaptive and flexible than class-based inheritance (even if ECMAScript 6 gives in on that point).  What would it take to move The Great Reset, and civilization, in that same non-hierarchical direction?