Have you moved from your home town or neighborhood? Ever go back? People remember you as you were, not what you’ve become. I’m from a very small town. Not that many people remember me, now, but when I had been gone only 10 or 20 years, people would remember taking up collections to buy razor blades for me (only guy in town with a beard in 1968, I guess) or some of my other youthful transgressions.
Maybe even if you still live in the same place and you want to improve yourself–maybe as a writer or speaker–and people say “She’s only someone we know.” We do tend to place people in categories and refuse to let them grow and excel. Somehow only people from far away know what they are doing.
Jesus discovered this truth about life. He had been touring the small cities in Galilee teaching and healing and followed by large crowds. Then he made it to the town where he grew up. “People” said, “He’s just the son of a carpenter, what makes him so great?” They could not see what he had become. They could only see what he had been–a little boy learning from his father. And Mark says that he could do no great miracles, only healing a few people.
Malcolm Gladwell in his book, “The Tipping Point,” discusses the spread of ideas (taken from a study of the spread of epidemics). One of his three points is “The Power of Context.” The environment around you has great impact on you and the work you can do. It affected Jesus. It affects you, too. Surround yourself with negative people, and you will find it hard to succeed.
That is one of the potentials of church that often falls short. If your church, which is your support group, is negative, does not encourage everyone to use their talents to the fullest, then every individual who wants to make a difference is affected by the disease of despair or disillusionment. However, a faith group intent on encouraging each other to exercise the fullest of their talents can generate awesome results.
The concept of an “unconference” is one where you go to a conference that is not highly organized, but that participants determine what they want to discuss (within the bounds of the conference organizer) and then go to the small groups where the indepth discussion takes place. There is the “Law of Two Feet.” If you are in a discussion where you are neither participating or learning, walk to another group.
If you are in a community that discourages your initiative, use the Law of Two Feet. Find one that is supportive.
Faith Venture 
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