Recently I read about the results of a study done by several prominent universities (unfortunately I don’t remember them as I write this, but they were east and west coast schools known for research I do remember) that determined businesses that have a Dwight Schrute type individuals on teams make better decisions.

For those that don’t know who Dwight Schrute is, Dwight is a fictional character from the NBC show the Office who seems completely unencumbered by social norms or convention. Dwight says and does things that most of society would find to be crazy, but he is devoted to his job, his company and his boss. He works hard, he is successful at what he does, but he does not reach these goals by use of conventional means or methods.

That led me to think about how such personalities, if properly constrained and guided as Dwight is by his boss and mentor Michael Scott who is equally offbeat but in his own ways, are also beneficial within ministries and churches. The Dwight’s, or Dwighteenia’s, are the ones that typically come up with bold and innovative ministries that go and do things that individuals and churches have been unwilling or unmotivated to do. Too many times “normal” Christians, and “normal” churches, will not try anything abnormal or different until they add a Dwight type individual (or individuals) to their circle of influencers or their local body. The mindset is – “This is how things are done because everyone else and every other church does it this way”, until someone challenges it.

The idea that only established means of ministry are the only valid ones, is not the model of a true evangelical ministry though. Look at Christ, Christ operated within the society he was in (i.e. He worked with what and in the place that His Father had provided for Him), but he was not constrained at all by the norms of that society. He hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, fisherman and even women. His devotion was not to what society expected of Him, but to do what His father, His Lord, expected of Him. That was His only goal. Christ model for His followers was to devote themselves to the ways of the Father, to willingly serve in ways / places that others would / will not, thus leading to an abdication of the ways of man and “normal” society. That is the exact model that built the 1st century church and that has spread the gospel since that time.

Even in the old testament we see that the truly effective prophets, leaders and teachers were the ones that did not follow the ways and norms of society, but challenged those around them (their community / their nation), those that knew them personally (their sphere of direct influence), and their followers (their close friends / family) to seek not the ways of the world, but the ways of God. God has not changed how He works, nor has He changed the devotion that it takes for a man or woman to follow Him. The issue is the commitment of His people who find more comfort in their normal / established habits, ways and procedures then they do in their will to seek a new thing, a new path, or a new method when God calls them.

God calls each of us to a unique and special ministry. Sometimes those ministries may follow an established pattern with a well laid out plan. Understand, I am in no way saying that all established models / methods should be shunned. I am simply saying that we all must always remain open too and aware of that odd call, that abnormal call, that call to break out of the box of established ministry models and take a foray into the unknown. The key things to remember in those times is that God will not call you to anything that is #1) not in His will, #2) something that He has not already ordained and prepared for you, #3) anything that will take you away from Him, and #4) He will not abandon you once you undertake this route. God is ready and able to prosper the ministries He calls you too. He is ready and able to establish a new work with you. He is ready and able to take you and yours to a closer walk with Him. He is ready and able to build upon the established foundations a new and incredible thing that is only possible with Him.

So remember to allow God, and those He puts around you, to help guide and direct you to establish some great things in your life. Some of those may follow known / established paths, but some will be new things that bring new ministries into this world. Those will be things that the rest of society does not and will not understand. In the end though it is vital to remember that God will be glorified and you will used mightily if you trust Him to lead, even if people look at you like you are the Dwight (or Dwightennia) of ministries.

On the day when there are stories everywhere (NY Times story here) about a mint 1938 Action Comics #1 (the one which introduced Superman) selling for $1 million dollars, I thought some readers may also be interested in a piece I found at Popmatters about the reboot of the 70’s comic Human Target (i.e. Christopher Chance), who is now being rebooted (retooled) in new DC mini series which mirrors the Human Target / Christoper Chance character currently found within the Fox network offering with the same name. The “new” retooled Chance is less mentally unbalanced, does not rely on acting or props, is more PG13, and is a far more intellectual. Now he is effective due to his brain’s knowledge, not his brain’s imbalance.

I am a student of and big fan of history, but Slate has a interesting story up about a part of US history I knew nothing about. During prohibition the US government had a program designed to taint industrial alcohol where it was lethal if consumed. This was designed to both discourage illegal drinking via the fear of death and also to make it harder for bootleggers to convert the industrial alcohol to “bathtub gin” and alike. Apparently, this program / policy lead to many people dying due to alcohol poisoning when the industrial alcohol was directly consumed or not properly “natured” via reverse chemistry. This is a very interesting story and I encourage everyone to give it a read and learn something about US history that few remember / know about today.

Knoxify writer suzytrotta ask the question on Feb 5th What Stores or National Chains do you want to see in Knoxville? Some do not want any more chains or stores, while others want to see their favorites from other areas of the nations develop some roots in Knoxville. On the 18th Knoxify posted the results and the results were that overwelmingly people want to see Trader Joe’s come to Knoxville. I personally have to join that call and encourage everyone to go to Trader Joe’s website and help put Knoxville on their list.

The Wall St Journal, and about 1,000 other sources, has an interesting story out today about Google’s move into the internet provider building with the announcement of their plan to roll out some test cases (for 50,000 to 500,000) users high speed fibre based internet access. This service would offer 1Gbit (that is right 1 Gigabit) speed. Most US high speed service is less then 10Mbit so this would be a 100 fold increase or more for most US users.

If you look at world wide Inet service the US is fairly middle of the road when it comes to high speed service. Japan and Korea typically offer their residents the highest average speed Inet performance, but those speeds are typically located in major cities, which will probably be the same for Google and any short term services similar.

Found some interesting things on the web about reusing some of the left overs of the IT revolution – old computers, walkman’s, CD / DVD’s that have failed to burn right, etc.

Uses for old / outdated tech times here.
Uses for old / flawed CD’s here.

Well the best bikes built in Old Fort, TN – Justice Madison – have an write up in Mountain Bike Action this month. Go out and buy a copy and then go buy a Justice Madison steel frame and support hand made craftsmanship made by a local artisan.

Oh yeah Justice Madision still has the coolest logo art in the cycling biz no matter what Moots and Seven think.

Engadget covered the release of a new laptop with USB 3.0 built in, though supporting devices are largely vaporware at this time. There are some out there now – a Buffalo external case, an Intel SSD are both mentioned, but more are coming soon. The Engadget piece also discusses competing standards, wondering if this could be a BluRay vs HD Dvd type issue. To me though that is a moot issue as USB 3.0 is backward compatible, where the other standards require new devices to work with them. Time will tell though.

ZD Net has a nice piece up about some of the wider implications of Apple’s new Ipad tablet computer that was announced eariler this week. This product will make other vendors expand and change their products and impact what future products in the Netbook, Ereader, and potentially Smartphones offer.

Honestly I have no interest in buying an Ipad (or an Iphone (I have a Windows Mobile Smartphone) or an Ipod (I own both a Zune and a SanDisk MP3 player)) but I was surprised it came in at $499 base. Anyway, I do think that the Ipad will have wider implications then just being a large Iphone, but I don’t think it will be the uber success that the Iphone and Ipod are in the long run.

I saw a ad for the Buick Questor in 1983 and have thought it was cool every sense. It had a voice activated telephone, navigation, lazer key’s, wireless gargage door control, and numerous other things that we think are cool today. The thing had 14 computers on it, heck that is more then how many are at my house and that is saying something. I found a site discussing the car in detail a bit, and mocking Buick for their lack of 80’s innovation (which is fair) and thought i would share it. Statik’s Answer post here