Lessons From an Aircraft Carrier Group, Part 2

So, I pushed my brother a little in his early response. After all, what are brothers for!

Regarding the plan and strategy I asked: "Would you say this is what it takes to 'move a fleet?' Does this pattern still hold if you are 'on the fly' or in the middle of a lot of changes... or maybe even a battle? Does urgency change the decision making process with a crowd or does it narrow the focus in any way?"

He replied, "... we 'fight as we train, train as we fight.' We try to stick to the plan, but like the saying goes, 'all plans change as soon as the battle starts and you meet your enemy.'"

Later Brother said, "... look at C5ISR- Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. Yes, urgency can but does not always change the decision tree or process- which is why each commander (battle group commander, ship's commanding officer, airwing commander) have a staff of folks who specialize in rapid data analysis and decision processes (sometimes that works, sometimes not)."

I think there are plenty of implications to consider for both church and Church in these lessons.

How does church train in ways that match the reality of the mission? What are the individual and group implications for such a training approach? Or have we so lost, or muddled, our mission goals that we this is meaningless?

Who is doing rapid data analysis? Who specializes in decision processes? How do these various roles and systems share information and interact? How does the process change with urgency? What roles are most critical to your church/Church accomplishing the mission?

I've sometimes used the imagery of moving a church/Church being similar to moving an aircraft carrier. The more I think about it the more I wonder if many of our current US churches just aren't built for mission or for movement.