Churches vary greatly, but one of the largest associations of evangelical congregations in Austin was birthed from young adults, grew from young adults, and plants from young adults.
Our congregation (not part of that network) is one of the rare places where I interact deeply across generations, economic classes, and social classes from professor to auto mechanic. I couldn’t reliably predict someone’s politics. No congregation is perfect, but a common mission crosses a lot of divides.
Thinking about Maslow’s hierarchy, the auditorium scene sounded like an effort to impart a religious experience. But “change the world,” at your current employer or your startup, does not qualify on its own as Meaning. It is just ambition’s projection of power. One can imagine all sorts of powerful, malevolent, Meaningless ways to change the world.
To elaborate on the management, not engineering, failure: nice domestic marquee credentials for the most-visible leader, but... How much credence was his input given among other leaders? How high-quality were his lieutenants and the teams they led? This is the kind of issue that only gets flagged from the deep work of your team.