Seeds of Change

This post originally appeared on the Michigan Dads blog in October of last year.  Given my immediate focus on By Dads, For Dads, I thought it would be worthwhile to share with all of you here.  Be a leader dads.  Be a leader.

Isn’t it a great feeling when like minds come together? Over the past couple of weeks, this has happened for me in conversations that I’ve had with Matt Eder,Dave Peckens, and Elena Wollborg.

Let me give you some background. On September 29, TEDxDetroit was held at the Detroit Institute of Arts. In typical fashion, the Detroit blogger community stepped up and shared their thoughts on what TEDx Detroit meant to them, myself included. As I read through some of them, I came across this post from Matt Eder on Michigan Dads.

At that moment, it hit me. I’ve been trying to figure out “the thing” that I wanted to do to help metro Detroit. It involved my kids and it involved helping people. We can all talk about changing Detroit or renewing the city but in the end change really only happens when you can influence and encourage people to jump on board and help you.

In my immediate circle of influence is my family. My kids are at an age right now where they are soaking in everything. Complete sponges. My thoughts immediately turned to volunteering in the community in order to teach my kids a lesson in humility and serving. So that’s what we’re going to do with Matt, Dave, Elena and our families. We’re still developing the idea and the platform so stay tuned for more details.

Our larger hope is that people will see what we are doing as leaders of our families and see the value in what we are doing and want to join us. Can we be that mustard seed that encourages others to take the next step of action? I really hope so because when something small can blossom into something huge, people take notice.

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” ~ Mark 4:30-32 (NIV)

For me, my future is solely dependent on the foundations that I lay for my kids. I believe this is what God expects from all of us that are parents. The only way for us to lay this foundation is to invest our time with our kids. We need to be there and lead them or else someone else will and it might not be down a path we want.

So I encourage all of you parents, especially the dads, to lead your families before someone or something else does. You have a tremendous influence whether you know it or not.

Just for fun, I thought I’d share with you a video from last weekend as I was hanging out with my boys on a Sunday afternoon at The Village of Rochester Hills. We had a blast running around and as you can see the smile on their faces made it all worth it.

The time for feeling good is over…time to DO something

I attended TedxDetroit today and I walked away feeling great and inspired but then reality set in quickly.  The time for feeling good is over.  It’s time to do something with the “feel good” emotions many of us left the Detroit Institute of Arts with.  Lately I’ve been frustrated when the talk in my Twitter stream is filled with things like:

“Now that I’m inspired, know my greatness, and have the confidence to share my ideas…what’s next?”

I’m not frustrated with the person making the statement but rather the sentiment behind it.  This is just one example of something I saw today but is a common theme in some of the conversations I’m a part of.  Now I’m not saying that I always act on my ideas and inspirations but if change is truly our motivation, it begins with even the smallest of steps.

When it comes to Detroit, there are countless numbers of people in the circles I run in that are hopeful and optimistic at the opportunity that is in front of us.  We all know the saying, “things can only get better.”  That is such an accurate description of the area I live in but it can only get better if we begin to DO some of the little things to get the change ball rolling.  One of the little things I’m talking about is Detroit Servathon.  I recently wrote about it (click here) letting you know what it was all about and how you could help.

Students from Oakland Christian School clean up the area in Detroit they hope will be the site of a new playground

Yes, this is self serving because my kids go to one of the schools participating in it and I want them to learn the lesson of volunteering to make good things happen.  However, this also is challenge to all of you who want to do things to change Detroit and our region.

I’ve seen how this area rallies around voting competitions to push the local contestants to victory.  I’ve seen you vote Team Detroit SXSW (David Murray, Brandon Chesnutt, Henry Balanon and Audrey Walker) on to victory during Chevrolet’s SXSW competition earlier this year.  I’ve seen you vote The Victorious Secrets on to victory in both Fox Sports Detroit’s April in the D Contest and FreeCreditScore.com‘s band competition.

Those were great stories because they involved people from our community and I don’t want to take anything away from them.  What I hope is that you will vote for this project on the final day of voting to see if you can get $50,000 to Detroit Servathon so the students can build the playground for the kids of Detroit.  The opportunity to DO something is right here and it’s not that hard.  If you have a computer or a cell phone, you can do this.

Here are 3 ways you can vote:

1. Text your vote to Pepsi at 73774 with our project code 102331 in the message area
2. Click HERE to vote for DetroitServathon
3. “Like” the Pepsi Refresh Application on Facebook, download the app, search for “Detroit Servathon” and VOTE

After you vote…SHARE the information!  This only happens if you DO something.

Stephen Clark shared the #backchannel story at TedxDetroit today.  The one thing that stuck with me was when he said that the news was traditionally, “we talk and you listen.”  With #backchannel, the news is now “you talk and we listen.”  Well I talked and Stephen listened and we were able to get the story on the news yesterday.  It’s not a huge project but one that is making a positive change and I took the chance by asking Stephen to consider airing the story and he did.

I know this isn’t the last time I do something like this to promote change rather than talk about it.  Will you do something to keep the ball rolling?  You might be surprised at how easy it can be.