5 Game Changers that didnt make my video for The Nines

On Sep 9 you can watch my video and ridicule it via Twitter at the Nines Online Conference. I chose just a single “game changer” in my ministry to focus on . .  which one I will not reveal just yet. But there were many other game changers, strategic moves, decisions, mid-way corrections, that didn’t make the cut. Here are some of them:

1. In 1995 I moved out of my office and held regular hours at a particular coffee shop in San Francisco where I was ministering. Since then, I have not had an office. A few years later I got my first laptop (a gift from Chris Seay) and I never used an office again. Its good to get out among the people. We are not going to change the world from our offices!

2. Dr Paul Jackson once told me that half my audience were females and if I didn’t read books written by women and try to understand their way of thinking then I would only communicate to 50% of my intended hearers. Game changer!

3. The decision to stream my life and thoughts freely online RATHER than publish in book form was a game changer. I haven’t made any money but I have had millions of page views from people who probably would not have met me if it wasn’t for my online presence.

4. The decision to step down from my church and from leading a very vibrant growing service full of young people and to work off the radar among the urban nomads and global nomads was a game changer. I think it was the right move. One day all will be revealed.

5. Going to them rather than have them come to you. We spend our life on the road [I am writing this from our 4×4 Motorhome-MonsterTruck at an Autobahn stop in Banberg, Germany] going to where God is raising up missional entrepreneurs rather than setting up shop and having them all come to our events. Yes, sometimes we throw a party or event and invite them in but I prefer to hang with them where they live and meet them in their context. Selling our house and buying plane tickets with the money was a game changer. Moving out of our rented apartment and into our truck has been a game changer. We have been to 20 countries this year and has seen some of the most incredible people doing great things for God.

BONUS GAME CHANGER:
To minister as a family instead of a trying to minister as a man with a family. My kids and my wife, and even our dog, are all an integral part of what God has called us to do. That game changer has been great for all of us and has opened up more doors than you could imagine.

I will tell you the big game changer that made the video really soon. Stay tuned.

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

12 Comments

  • Simon says:

    Thanks for posting this, Andrew. It’s all very St Paul – apart from point 2 of course, and the bonus game changer. I’m especially struck and challenged by your moving out of an office 15 years ago, and sharing freely online rather than producing books. It’s such a different model but I admire how it works. Would be interested to know your recommended book list of women authors.

  • Andy Dodwell says:

    Really liking this list…will try to make the online conference on the 9th, but am presenting a research paper in real life myself during the day…
    been thinking about getting a laptop for precisely the reasons you mention…at the moment i meet people in a coffee shop and then go home to ‘work’…doesn’t seem right but i can’t lug my PC down the hill on my bicycle every day!

  • Andrew says:

    andy get a macbook or something. really. somebody help this man!!

  • That family togetherness is what appeals to me so much about what you guys do. It is inspiring.
    I call it an “integrated life”: where all of the pieces of ones life work together for a common purpose, rather than pull apart in separate directions and tear us up. It is great to see how you are integrating family and ministry such that they don’t conflict or compete with each other for time and energy.

  • Hear, hear! You guys have been inspiring me for years. I might as well say “you are the wind beneath my wings” hahah. Keep on keepin’ on, bro! If you guys end up in south Texas (Austin or San Antonio area) during your USA visit, I’d be willing to drive up from Monterrey just to finally meet you all in person. Or unless you guys want to come south o’ the border and experience some “real” Mexican food…!

  • Fred Smith says:

    Where will you be travelling in Texas?

  • Jason says:

    I look forward to seeing your video.

  • tsk says:

    `greg – i wish we had our truck with us – we would be down in mexico in a heartbeat to see you. we spent 3 months there some time ago and really loved it. but since we are bounded by time and space on this trip, we will stay in texas – austin for sure, and probably houston and dallas.
    Fred, we will wait for some invitations in texas but i do need to meet up with E.B. Brooks and deliver a report of the incredible things that God has done through the BGCT initiative [thru the Boaz Project] over the past ten years. i will probably be in dallas to deliver the report to BGCT and in Houston to connect with UBA and thank them for their generous support and prayer. we will be in austin most of the time.
    let me know if there are any events in texas during that time that I should attend. Sorry I will be in san diego too late for The Gathering but I hope it goes well for everyone.

  • Andy, you can get laptops donated or very cheaply. Try craigslist or ebay. You dont need a super powerful one as you can add memory and an external hard drive, just something that will be reliable.

  • Phil says:

    what has been the dog’s finest moment so far?

  • Miriam says:

    i am in awe. You are literally witnessing to the ends of the earth and you technically don’t have a place to rest your head. You are an inspiration. May God continue to Bless you.

  • Andrew says:

    hey – on the question of womens books to read. that advice was 20 years ago. today he would probably tell me to read womens blogs

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