It’s committees — not superheroes — that change the world

David LaMotte’s TEDx Talk has empowered thousands — especially those counting on the Spirit to work through committees

October 5, 2024

David LaMotte is pictured having delivered his TEDx Talk in Asheville, North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of David LaMotte)

Author, activist, speaker and songwriter/musician David LaMotte, who’s spoken and performed at many PC(USA) gatherings over the years, has a unique take on how true change occurs in the world.

It’s generally not because some superhero swoops in at the last minute to save the day. Rather, it’s through the often tedious but productive and faithful work of committees.

For his recent TEDx Talk, “Why Heroes Don’t Change the World,” LaMotte, of Black Mountain, North Carolina, used some of the material he related during an APCE workshop in 2020 and in other venues. Among LaMotte’s books is “You Are Changing the World Whether You Like it or Not,” published last year. The study guide that accompanies the book can be ordered here.

“This was really challenging for me. I spend time on stage for a living, and I’m generally very comfortable there, but this is an 18-minute talk with virtually no ad-lib, no notes, a very tight time limit and one chance to get it right,” LaMotte told Presbyterian News Service about his TEDx Talk experience.

“The really beautiful part … is hearing from folks who are saying that they are encouraged by it, or that they needed this particular word in this particular moment,” LaMotte told PNS.

In his TEDx Talk delivered in Asheville, North Carolina, LaMotte first dispenses with the hero narrative, despite the number of Hollywood films that depict it. “Fortunately, there’s another narrative. It’s a lot less popular, but it has the added benefit of being true,” he said. “It’s called the movement narrative, and it says, if you want to address a large-scale problem effectively, what you need is a lot of people moving in the same direction and doing a little bit each.”

In his talk, LaMotte distinguishes between the story he learned as a child of Rosa Parks’ arrest on Dec. 1, 1955, for not yielding her bus seat to a white person, and the more complete version of the story he’s learned since.

“Here’s what nobody told me in elementary school,” LaMotte said. On the day of her arrest, Parks had already been a civil rights activist for more than 20 years, including a dozen years as secretary of the NAACP chapter in Montgomery, Alabama. No one had mentioned to young LaMotte the existence of the Women’s Political Council, an organization of more than 200 African American women organized into three chapters around Montgomery. A year before Parks’ arrest, the WPC had written to the bus service provider, informing the company of WPC’s concerns with the company’s practices and explaining they planned a boycott if changes weren’t made.

No one told young LaMotte about Jo Ann Robinson, the WPC president who quickly called for a bus boycott that began the Monday following Parks’ arrest. With help from two of her students, Robinson overnight arranged for 17,500 flyers to be mimeographed and distributed announcing the boycott, which had in fact been in the works for months.

Once the boycott began, Parks was one of those who dispatched rides for anyone who couldn’t walk to where they needed to go in Montgomery. “She went right back to the movement work because she understood that the movement work is what moves things forward,” LaMotte said during his talk. “That’s why we call it movement work.”

“So, friends, I’ve got bad news, and I’ve got good news. I’m going to do the bad news first, and it’s really bad news, so brace yourself,” LaMotte said during his talk. “You know what changes the world? Committees change the world,” he said, eliciting laughter from his audience. “It’s true. People getting together to figure out what needs to be worked on, who’s going to do what, when we’re going to meet again to make sure we did it. That really is how the world changes.”

“It’s not naïve to think you can change the world. It’s naïve to think you can possibly be in the world and not change it. Everything you do changes the world, whether you like it or not. We need you. So, what changes will you make?”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: David LaMotte’s TEDx Talk

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Katie Snyder, Project Manager for Digital Fundraising and Interpretation, Ministry Engagement & Support, A Corp 
Jeya So, Associate, Training & Leader Cohorts, Theology, Formation & Evangelism, Presbyterian Mission Agency 

Let us pray

Sometimes something as simple as a cross made from otherwise useless wood becomes a reminder of the faith of a believer who, because of Christ, has also been given a second chance. Let us carry that reminder with us today and every day. Amen.