Grass Roots Living Part II

The Process 

It all starts with the people.  No social, political, or economical entity that has withstood the tests of time started from an iron-fisted leadership.  No one person or group of persons dictated how things would be.  They sought the opinions of their constituents.  The people fashioned the entities into what they wanted.  When they deviate from the wants of the people, the people put them back on track.  It all starts with the people. 

One person has an idea.  Be it an idea for an activity, service, or product; someone conceives an idea.  That person shares the idea with others.  Those people jump on the bandwagon to make that idea actually happen.  The founders then invite others to join in implementing the idea.  Finally, the idea becomes a full-blown reality that is continuously gaining momentum and supporters.  That is the Grassroots Movement; the process by which synergistic movements gain their perpetual motion.

New location for Blog

Beginning Feb 15, there will be no new posts to this site.  Instead please visit bcmcheyenne.org.  This site will contain all new postings realting to Baptist Collegiate Ministry at LCCC.

Thank you,

Aaron Bell

Grass Roots Living Part I

You gotta build from the ground up

When one builds something – a building, home, bridge, etc. – they start with the foundation.  The land and the support structure are the first thing built, not the last.  Likewise, governments, social groups, political movements and Christianity have grown in such a grassroots way.  When “building” a church you don’t start by spending hunderds of thousands of dollars on a building to have a once a week Sunday service; you start by meeting with individuals.  You found a small group.  Members of the group invite friends, then they invite friends.  You then have one large group that is trimmed down to be several small groups.  The last thing built is the “building” we often call ‘the church.’

Tea & Talk

 My freshman year in college, my dorm RA was trying to come up with an activity for everyone on the floor to “just hang out and relax,” something that would promote community.  I rapidly suggested the title.  She loved it and we started promoting Tea & Talk every Thursday night; making hot tea and coco in the foyer for all who wished to partake.  The program gained momentum and was continued into the next year.  However, at the end of my sophomore year, everyone involved moved out of the dorms – including myself.  Everyone who attended Tea & Talk moved in with someone else who attended in one way or another (we were a really close knit dorm floor).  After one semester of being without each other’s company, I and another former attendee revived the weekly night of community.  There were many nights of just the two of us having tea and cakes at her place, but we soon grew to having old and new friends regularly attend.

I am now working on continuing the “community promoting” event as I work to minister to college students.  Every Thursday night at 8 PM in front of the LCCC library, I have hot water for tea, coffee and coco with cakes and other snacks on occasion.  So come and join us as we talk about life experiences, complex scientific theories, recipes, home projects, the latest in entertainment, and anything else you may have cross your mind.