Browsing: Julien Smith

The dynamics of community and culture seem to be the same, wherever you may find yourself.

For example, I work in campus ministry. The university community is unique and as a campus missionary of sorts, I must know the culture. I must learn its language, find its gathering places, and know its nuances. I must submerge myself into the community if I want to effectively develop relationships with college students, earn their trust, and ultimately earn the right to share the gospel with them.

Essentially, I must become “one of them.”

(And, may I say, it’s a rough job. Somebody has to go to all those football games!)

Tic-Tac-Toe is a boring game. I can’t think of the last time I lost a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. I bet you can’t either. And you know why? It’s because the game is too simple. You can be a master at Tic-Tac-Toe, but no one will care.

You’ve got to play a new game.

In the second (and third) part(s) of chapter 2, Brogan and Smith discuss steps 2 and 3 of gaming (see Mary Beth Stockdale’s post for step 1). Here they offer two ways to improve your game: hacking and programming.

Accomplishing a goal requires following some type of procedures, but to Make it Your Own Game, you need to find the “Gatejumper” key. Gatejumping is…”what happens when you find a better way to do things while everyone else is too busy to notice.”