Love Without Agenda » purpose

Why We’re Giving Away Our Book

Jimmy Spencer Jr. — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:55:39 +0000

I posted this question “Ask us why we are giving our book away for free” I went and took an hour or so nap—— and came back to 10 people who wanted an answer. So here you go. Our book is about you. It’s about the meaning of life— it’s about us loving ourselves and other people. It also about how to actually be that type person from the inside out– and finally its about— all the things that stop us from living and thinking like that. Its my take on what practicing christianity is supposed to be: love without agenda anyways… The main force on this planet eroding our ability to see people as valuable is this mindset of being a perpetual customer— that no matter where we go or what we do—— the world (and the people in it) are simply here for our use…and we just fail to see people as valuable. people become fuel for our desires people become fuel for my success people become fuel for my emotional Read more...

“Playing Church” article from Neue Magazine

Jimmy Spencer Jr. — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:11:17 +0000

I was very happy to see the folks over at Neue Magazine (www.neuemagazine.com) reposted an article I did for them last year about “Playing Church.” It’s an article about my journey of faith, and me realizing that building a church wasn’t he only way for me to discover my purpose. I hope you all like it. Check the article out on Neue’s very cool book viewer on their site and post what you think.

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can I see your ETHOS?

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:44:33 +0000

My 3rd son was our first to join a mental sport, not football but robotics. While I was happy for he and his friends to have all the gifts that being part of a sport brings to ones character, I met -more- at my first standing in their midst.

I was instantly overcome by the feeling, vibe or ETHOS in the room. I had never felt or seen anything like it in a competition based group setting. As a disclaimer I will say that I directed youth groups and camps for years and am no stranger to the world of kids, teams and to the “how to compete” discussion.

Instantly while standing in the room of robotics students, I was aware of JOY. calm joy. not zany and chaotic kids vying for attention. CREATIVITY. not wacky emo stuff where kids strive to be different and yet are just like the other dressed in black purple haired kids they hang with. The kids dressed with creative self expression. non-emotionally expressive engineer types did the macarena. they named their own teams: exploding bacon, thunder chickens , chipenguineers, cheesy poofs and the like. INTELLIGENT Read more...

what is your C.Q. ?

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:47:15 +0000

I LOVE I.Q. tests. I love the information on emotional intelligences E.Q..I think about integrity quotient I.Q. I love to study people, groups, interdependence, interaction, culture, birth orders, temperaments, learning styles and the like. As i have progressed from being a staff ministry leader in an organized church setting, to its structurally opposite: organic community, I have discovered that there is indeed a “COMMUNITY QUOTIENT”. A community quotient is a measure of ability to live in community. It is a powerful life skill. Taken from the simple observation of folks who have learned to live in community along with me I can look back and assess Community Quotient Characters: 1. Humility-understanding oneself as an vital part of a whole. Humility ultimately leads to all of the proceeding C.Q’s. Humility naturally kills competition and consumption mindsets, replacing them with collaboration and giving. A community mindset is the antithesis of a consumption mindset-the 2 cannot coexist. It is the soil in which another can grow along side you as is Read more...

canned peas living

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:48:06 +0000

I was at my parent’s home for a recent holiday. My parent’s parents were immigrants and so my parents earned all they have the good old hard workin’ way. They LOVE to tell stories of the past as much as i love for my children to hear them. People who work hard for their things often value them more than their actual market value; creating what we fondly call ‘pack rats’. Grandpa and Grandma’s basement will be the worlds greatest estate sale some day complete with old post cards, cubs beer cans, kirby vacuum parts, cigar boxes, wooden toys that were too good to play with, tools and old magazines that look like newspapers. Seated around the fireplace, my kids and I were reading some of these old newspaper/magazines. WOW. so funny. The women wore aprons, pantyhose, pumps and pearls at home while cleaning; cigarettes were cool for men, women were about the home and ‘it’s man’, and all the ads were about items that made the woman’s job easier-hence “to make the mans castle shine!. EASY. More convenient. Iron easier. Read more...

why nobody?

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:44:13 +0000

Back in 2005 LWA had a speaking tour named the NOBODY tour, prior to our Stop Consuming Campaign, which some of you have heard of. Not many more than nobody were part of the Nobody Tour, but you gotta start somewhere. I still love the name nobody….. i love the name nobody for in my mind it attempts to take back a truer definition of success than our culture defines as success. I want to have eyes that laser in at the great in the somebody God created in everybodybut that the world puts in a garbage can and labels as nobody. I hear so many people feel like “nobodies” : nobody = is a child who does have one adult that they are crazy important to is the feeling of one with great spirit -left unheard is the uncredited woman behind a great man is the man of greatness left disrespected is any of great heart and noble means is one who has great invention yet unvalued one of great words-yet unread those who move mountains with prayer one of great intelligence-without a pedigree a beautiful woman- in a simple body and man of great strength -in a small Read more...

live WHY-do HOW

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:54:22 +0000

true or false: 1. all questions are valid ( whether innocent or cutting and sarcastic) 2. there are sometimes “front questions” (or question pt 1 of 6) 3. which cover up “the real question”(often non intentionally) 4. they have a personal feeling behind them (true, think about it) 5. they provoke thought (some people dont like that) 6. they can be good answers. (i learned that from jesus) 7. they can highlight or mask (intentionally) 8. the feelings and reason= attitude behind the question, shapes the question 9. a question can reveal true feelings and reasons (question behind the question) 10. the question is therefore far more powerful than their innocent face all true. —————– a question is very powerful. it is a window into a brain. it is a hand that can move a thought. a question is very important. especially when shaping a vision. —————– have you ever thought.”why doesnt he answer my question?”or: “we cant get him to answer a simple Read more...

the freezing point of a leader

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:57:09 +0000

my son is studying chemistry in college, he wrote me yesterday to tell me that he has 3 labs. yes, the lab. hands on independent discovery. theory tested. reality defined. problems solved. most of us like the lab part of class. cool equipment. dangerous work, bunson burners, safety goggles, chemicals that explode and burn and do cool stuff. important work discovering life and death and how it all works in between in my own lab of life i have noticed : that leaders have a freezing point. anyone of of us, when leading just like water, alcohol or oxygen there are freezing points in our lives: places where one moment we were one way and the next… ……………we are are very different our old alive, moving, working as made to be becomes frozen…………. oh, we swear we will never freeze and then in frozen state its too late only the unfrozen can rescue us it looks like this in my living leaders lab: a passionate person they go into life with hope to use their talents to make a good mark on this Read more...

i want real sheep hair

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:11:13 +0000

i recently hunted for and purchased a rug through craigs list. which is where i always “shop” by the way. i was looking for a hand knotted wool rug. not a machine made nylon copy rug. wanted the real deal. why-? -ive tried the nylon-poly rug deal. thought id save money. olefin claims to be indestructible and stain proof. i had a real wool rug as well. under a test of 3 boys and a zillion other boys ages 2-10 running through our home daily, sometimes with squirt guns, some playdough, spagettios, glitter, pop, ketchup, syrup, and mostly: mud; mud mixed with leaves; because the boys would go outside and bring in bugs to freeze in ice cube trays (for science homework) everyday, which added some fun to my adult parties! were my olefin rug and an old fancy Persian wool rug. ((note to kids: that last sentence is called and extreme run on.)) so-my fancy Persian wool rug lived on. the stains always cleaned. it looks amazing. the olefin one looked like a rug that raised a family who ate ketchup on it everyday. the wool is soft- the olefin always was a little Read more...

do we need rules?

Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:21:51 +0000

we love the idea of spaces with no rules we love the fill those spaces with rules we want rules for others but not ourselves anarchy. communism. paganism. cults. open system. corporate system. hell. heavan. strict parenting. buddy parenting. one day one of my kids said “mom, how do we have a good family if we have no rules?” another said” yea, do you ever say no?” as you listen to these questions, your mind may jump to this picture of me and my kids laying around in a pig sty home smoking weed. please abstain. i have said no a few times. we dont have rules because we live by one simple value: mutual respect. and it works out which is nto always the case, i know i am blessed. we live well because we chose to add on top of that another value: love. its truly beautiful. in some way it could be called invisible rules rules come into play when any part of the group doesnt chose to live by respect. right? a rule is then placed into play in order to protect from damage. we dont want to go there. but we normally we have to some folks put rules Read more...