“Captain’s Logs” are quick, weekly snapshots of how things are progressing across the ministry. Subscribe for the latest with Lightworks!
Captain’s log, stardate: June 6, 2022
High/Low(s):
High - We found out we were accepted into Praxis Academy Ventures! It’s an extremely exciting opportunity as we long to continue growing as founders and forge community with others building missional ventures. It is an honor, and if you knew the circumstances of our application, you would see it was by God's hand! Participating in the fall program will give us access to mentors, coaches, training, and an incredible network of peers doing similar work.
Low - Last week that was definitely a hard week, including attending the funeral of a former coworker, among several other things.
Learning - We’ve released a portion of our MVP! But after the last captain’s log, I realized that it’s still too early to call it a full-fledged MVP. I’m super excited that we’re pushing code and getting parts of our product in front of users to gain feedback, but it’s not quite a full experience yet. Effectively, we’ve released the wheels of a skateboard, but not the whole skateboard yet. Just means we’ve got lots to learn along the way!
Something I’m processing:
It’s weeks like these that remind me that life & ministry in the Way of Jesus doesn’t operate by the world’s definition of productivity — producing as much as I can, as fast as I can, to impact as many as I can. This Christian life can look as simple as caring for 1 person, 1 friendship, or 1 stranger.
This past week, I was reminded just how much relationships are the lifeblood of this life as I attended my former coworker’s funeral. I saw first-hand how much he poured into my life and the lives of many others. And in the end, it was the relationships he shared that were worth far more than completing any one database migration or accomplishing a quarter’s goals.
I don’t want to live by silicon valley’s standards. There’s a lot of things I’m grateful to learn from that culture - lessons in how to build amazing products that change lives, lessons in rallying teams of people to accomplish impossible tasks, among others. But what I don’t want to emulate is the burnout and destruction of personal life that is so prevalent in startup culture. There is far more to life than accomplishments, goals, or money. And nobody taught us that very thing better than Jesus (John 15).
I’m thankful for the lessons my friend & coworker taught me, both in life and in his passing. It’s important and valuable to work on big, hard projects. But it’s way more important to care for the people you meet along the way.
Prayer Requests:
Pray for tenacity in the middle of difficult weeks. ‘Tis the season of blocking & tackling it would appear. Pray we’re able to keep making steady progress on releasing parts of the MVP and gathering great user feedback.
Praise God for health! Leah’s been doing much better these past 2 weeks!
Please pray for us as we figure out logistics over the next two weeks to be in-person for Praxis Academy for a week in August.