Plans and Dreams for 2011 Conference

Not exactly sure, but I think we've done 9 of these conferences now. Plus a bunch of small local gatherings. Now we're gearing up for DSC 2011 in Indiana. While nothing is for sure yet, here's some of what we're

Tentatively planning:
- The Fikes and Paul Grout bringing themselves and their ideas. DSC wouldn't exist without these people, and they'll help us move into the next decade.
- Organizational/personal development and identity work with the Fikes.
- Training, networking and hanging out at Quaker Haven.

Dreaming:
- More local groups sprouting up across the country and beyond caught with the call to grow community, cultivate creativity and follow Jesus. Maturation or healthy ends for established groups.
- New increasingly excellent and creative projects.
- Integration of life and vision. Non DSC spouses and families feeling welcome and catching the vision.
- Entering deeper into the stillness of knowing Christ, anchoring ourselves there and from that - root our lives extending as a gift of love, beauty and hope to others in new ways.
- Discovering new ideas relevant to the areas that matter most to us. And God alone knows what that means for each of us and for us as a loose network of people strewn across this hemisphere like tacks on the floor or stars in the midnight sky.
- Seeing people escape situations, habits and fears that have kept them from living creatively, finding community and following Jesus freely.


The Dandelion Seed Company is a loose network of people called to the crossroads of Art, Faith and Relationship. Sometimes our job is to just stand there. Other times we yell and let people know these roads actually meet. We're building tents and setting them up near the crossroads -- tents big enough for visitors and refugees but light enough to move when it's time.

Great First Tuesdays Call

The first of our First Tuesdays conference call went great. After vision and announcements by Adam and Jonathan, Ben shared about growth and challenges in his life and work over the last six months. Jonathan shared how “practicing the presence” over the last couple weeks has both brought freedom from fear and exposed hidden fears and anger in his life.

Questions and conversation followed, with comments from a variety of people. It was good to hear and learn from each other. We all have things to think about and practice.

Some Where To From Here ideas:
1. Try doing it (practicing the presence of God) over the next few weeks. See what happens. All the theory in the world is no good without real world experiments and personal experience.

2. Read “the Practice of the Presence of God” available here...

3. Triangulate by studying a related subject at the same time (this is something Ben suggested on the call). A couple ideas for related practices/concepts: 1. abiding (John 15 concept), 2. meditation, 3. Worship, 4. monastic hours. See how your growth in practicing the presence benefits from cross-pollination with a related idea/discipline.

Communication, Giving, Movement

Regular Communication.
Generous Giving.
Clear Movement.

RC: We're a network with aspirations to be movement-like. That only works if we communicate. It happens some naturally. To become what we long to become it must happen more intentionally.

GG: We've spent a lot of our ten years frustrated -- at ourselves, our circumstances, at the lack of resources, at the challenge of living out this creative call. One of the things that will get our heads out of our hmmm, and move us forward will be giving. There's a lot of desperate needs and we get the huge privilege of being part of meeting a few of those. We may not have what we think we need, but we have something, so lets give.

CM: To get from the IDEA of growing community, cultivating creativity and following Jesus to the reality of a grassroots movement we must find the path that includes 1. our continual growth (sacrifice and strain followed by profound rest -- rinse, repeat) and 2. our inviting others to walk with us towards this goal, and 3. encouraging, challenging, training and equipping others with what we've learned or been given.

First Tuesdays

We're starting First Tuesdays at DSC! These are conference calls designed to challenge, inspire, encourage and equip participants in one or more aspects of our mission (Cultivate Creativity. Grow Community. Follow Jesus). All calls will include a brief description of DSC's vision, a short update from a DSC member, input from a speaker and time for questions and interaction.

The first one is January 4, 8:30pm EST. It's about Brother Lawrence, the Barefoot Carmelite monk known for "practicing the presence of God."

Next Month DIANA GONZALEZ will be speaking on something relevant. It will be a real privilege to have her with us. She's one of the most interesting speakers you'll ever hear. Feb. 1, 8:30pm.

Living our vision

We’ve been clear for some time that we’re about following Jesus, growing community, and cultivating creativity. It’s time to make that practical in some new ways. As the DSC we need to not just talk about this or even live it on our own (many of us are doing those things in our own lives and communities) but we need to keep intentionally growing and also equipping and training others.

I’m convinced that after years of serious work and sacrifice, mistakes and learnings we have something to share if we’ll take the time to look past ourselves, ask God for direction, and look for opportunities to serve. Most of our communities have isolated creative people in them who need community, need resources to help them develop community, and have never been exposed to the call of Jesus in a way that speaks to them in their language/mindset/framework. We’re just normal people, but I believe we can make a difference in small and big ways.

Some of that difference will come through our songs, videos, paintings, books, blogs and photographs. Some of it will come through conversations with God and people. Some of it will come as we step forward more intentionally towards this three part goal, and invite others to come along with us as we grow.

DSC News

People from Segue in Texas recently put on a creativity workshop with some DSC help. They targeted serious or professional artists (of whatever medium) and had three speakers address the theme "Obstacles." A spoken word artist, a partner in an artist management company and DSC founder addressed the questions:
-What do you do when you are confronted with obstacles?
-How do you overcome them?
-What do you do once you have overcome them?

DSC Millersburg, a group established in partnership with Living Acts (an intentional community house associated with a local church) has been meeting weekly since last spring. Their Thursday night dandelion seed meeting includes sharing recent work and giving feedback. This group is led by Carrie, a veteran of the Charlottesville Project (a 5 year experiment in creativity and community that sponsored DSC events and invested heavily in the DSC vision to grow community, cultivate creativity and follow Jesus). It’s a well-attended group meeting a real need for creativity-focused interaction and friendship in a rural part of Ohio. To learn more, check out Carrie’s blog.

The first Epic Life Studios Internship in Goshen (brainchild of Adam and Megan Fleming) is in full swing. Anna P has been working at personal and creative growth in the context of community and coaching since early fall, and has found the experience profoundly valuable. The Flemings have been developing arts coaching models and practices for several years now and are excited about how the internship has provided the space for people to step back, reflect, be transformed and catapulted forward towards their calling and life purpose.

Video and twitter

We posted a video from the conference. It's a helpful talk about the action-reflection cycle by Rich Meyer. You can find out more on our twitter account.