Application Starfish & Spider V

1. Circles
When we say circles we mean to say that we don’t have a defined leader within your movement – there is no hierarchy. I’m not talking about your leadership team or weekly meeting here, but rather, the movement that you’re a part of in a specific pocket of people. Instead of rules and regulations, there are norms. Apache followed Geronimo because he picked up a rifle and began to fight. His influence came from the way he lived his life and not his title or position. By keeping your movement a circle and not a pyramid you allow others to lead and take ownership for their slice of the mission.

2. Mission & DNA
While all of the movements around campus will be diverse and even autonomous from one another, continuity and solidarity will come from the mission and DNA. You will be separate and different, but when you step back and take a look at the broad picture of reaching every group of people on campus you can see that you’re all going toward the same mission of putting the gospel within arms-reach of every student on campus. We must lead with a clear and compelling statement of our mission to launch movements everywhere. Further, it’s significant to have a unified understanding of what a movement is. Yes, adaptation, mutation and customization will happen (good!) but we must start with a common mission and shared DNA. It is this common ground that allows us to let go and trust as other students purse the mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. Preexisting Network
Rather than extract a football player by asking him to come over here to follow Christ, why don’t we share the mission, give him the DNA of a movement (Movement Launcher), and let go. Instead of extracting the football player we, in effect, infect the entire football team with the Jesus virus. It catches. Soon a football player comes to faith who has a girlfriend on the softball team. Instead of extracting her, he shares the mission, gives her the DNA of a movement (Movement Launcher), and, in effect, infects the softball team with the Jesus virus. I use sports teams because they are easily recognizable, but there are preexisting networks of students all over campus. We don’t extract, we infect.