This past week my wife, Sonya, and I took our little boy to spend 5 days sailing the Caribbean. We felt very privileged to be part of the inaugural (I’m certain it will happen again!) re:create cruise run by my friend Randy Elrod. The cruise was actually a conference in disguise and we had great speakers – Randy, Michael Hyatt, Pete Wilson and Ken Davis. Along with those experts, the room was filled with about 100 other people who each have incredibly unique and inspiring stories. Some of the stories we knew, some we learned for the first time.

The time was, for us, a mix of vacation and inspiration and we came back feeling rested and energized – something important in my life and in my work. There are others who have blogged about the details of the cruise, the speakers, the weather, the ports, the food, etc etc.. but let me tell you about something that I learned this week.

I’ve known Randy for four years. I’ve attended his recreate conference since 2007 and it’s safe to say that it has changed my life. The inspiration, knowledge, education and connections that have come out of that conference have been invaluable but the greatest  result has actually been discovering my tribe. Through recreate I’ve found a group of people who have similar passions, dreams, desires, challenges, faults and limitations. I’ve become part of this group that extends all over North America and around the world – I really feel like wherever I go, I’m already connected with somebody there because of recreate.

So what did I learn on the cruise?

I learned that this tribe is legit.

Yes, we only see each other once a year. Yes, most of our conversation happens over twitter, facebook, blog comments and email. Yes, I may or may not recognize you based on your profile photo. But the community is legit. We now live in a world where social networking has become the new small talk – I no longer need to have “catch up” conversations with friends (new or old) because I already know what’s been happening this year, some of the things they’ve struggled with, some of the victories they are celebrating.

How do I know the tribe is legit?

• It is growing. Of the 100 or so from our group on the cruise, only a handful had been to a recreate conference in the past. Yet I heard the same thing over and over again – “I feel like I’ve found a new community to be a part of.” … “I’ve heard so much about all of these people and I already feel like I know them!” … “If this is anything like the recreate conference, I want to be a part of it!” At the beginning of the trip, I had never met Kim & Rob, Scott & Idelette, Sam, Ben or many others but I know that five days later, they feel like they’re part of the tribe. And they are.
• It is encouraging. I know there are some who began the cruise doubting their abilities, doubting their story, doubting even their place in the event they were attending. By the end, I was hearing incredible stories of encouragement – people realizing (even for the first time) that God had written a story through their life that was worth telling, people understanding they had been created to create and needed to live out that reality, people being reminded that there are others struggling with the same kinds of things they are. It takes a special group of people to help others move from point A to B in a short time like that.
• It is safe. Like I mentioned at the beginning, Sonya & I brought our little boy with us on the cruise. Anderson just turned 7 months old and while we were definitely missing his 3 big sisters at home while we were away, it was great to spend some quality time with him. And.. we were not the only ones enjoying quality time with our little mister! Many moms and dads away from their kids loved holding him, cuddling him, getting him to smile (not a difficult task!) or just having him in their arms. Yes we’re parents of four kids and yes we’re pretty easy-going.. but we felt zero reservations with any of these people having time with our kid. Why? Because they’re like extended family to us. Some of them we’ve known for years, some of them we only met on the boat – but how is that any different from your own extended biological family? We were more than happy to share Anderson with these friends because they are like family to us.

So is this just a big recreate promo push telling you to jump in and join us at the next conference? Maybe… But the bigger story is that you need community – and community needs you. It’s out there waiting for you to find it. And whether you have it through your family or not, through your church or not, through a group of people who are passionate about the same things as you or not – you need community and community needs you.

What will you do with that? Will you just let the opportunity pass you by? Assume that you have nothing to add to the conversation? Assume that we together won’t be better off than we are apart? I don’t believe that’s true. There’s a community out there waiting for you to join them. You need that community and that community needs you.

Don’t believe the lie that you were created to do life on your own, that you’re supposed to have all the answers, that you need to be strong enough to get through stuff on your own. We need each other – we need you and you need we. That doesn’t mean recreate and the tribe around it is the answer for you but I promise you that there is a community somewhere out there waiting to be found that will change your life forever. For me, this is it. This is my tribe.

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If you want to catch up with some of the people from the cruise, search twitter for the #recreatecruise hashtag or see the list here -recreate cruise 2011