Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

my halloween costume

we're having some friends over tonight for some fellowship & trick o' treating. apparently halloween is big time in our little old school neighborhood. i think we are prepared with our carved pumpkin and decor, have the candy, set up with some grub, but i realized yesterday i don't have an outfit... then i remembered, i have the scariest outfit ever!

okay, so i did this last year.. why mess with a winner?

monday photoblog: lost creek cave

went camping & caving this weekend with the youth and some good friends. checked out lost creek cave outside sparta. good fun cave, not too technical and you can sorta choose your own adventure. will be uploading some pics onto the youth community flickr.

it was quiet

it was quiet, but two years ago today this blog was birthed. for blog's second birthday i thought i might expand on the blog name, which i think is the longest blog name out there.. if not, it atleast competes.

"hit the back button to move fwd" was just an expression that came to me about where my life was in the technology of culture, but spiritually set in the past of monastic practices. since birthing the blog, i still find ways to navigate forward by looking at was in the past.

so with whatever future you are moving forward into, i would suggest going back a bit, it has done wonders for me.
shalom, -g

need a surge of laughter

okay, so erin & watch the 1 versus 100 game show last night or the night before (this week has blurred). what was funny is how we talked about how easy the questions are to start a "round" and in introducing a new gameshow. daniel just showed me this video of a friend of his who couldn't figure out a surge protector (atleast in time), and missed the 100 dollar question of "who wants to be a millionaire."

try number 4

this weekend marks the 4th election try for the episcopal diocese here in tennessee to elect a bishop. i'll be there, blogging some i suppose, watching the chatter on episcopal blogs, talking with friends, doing some instant messaging, and doing some website updates. should be fun, i just hope this time we are successful.

feel free to check in with me & help keep me company.

10:23am: quite the morning. i showed up at the cathedral at 8am to find out that their internet was down (people, please don't buy bellsouth, it's horrible). had a really great Eucharist at 8:30am (sat with dixon & sally, jody helped serve). singing had a great spirit to it. the dean of sewanee chapel was back again to give a sermon. i really like him. his message was simple, there are some things at stake today. discerning a leader for the diocese, but there are somethings that are not at stake. namely a triune God who lords over all the church, that doesn't change. i thought somewhat poinant the gospel reading of John where Christ says, they hated me before they hated you. relevant i believe because there has been so much politiking the prior three elections. there was a great spirit in the air, i felt a bit more optimism than the prior elections.

at the conclusion of the service we tried but couldn't get the internet working, so i'm now hanging out at mcdonalds down the street updating the site as i get text messages. i must say, this isn't as bad as i thought, i've got college game day going on in a nice corner. not too shabby

10:40am: first election is invalid due to 2 extra votes. obviously i'm not there so i can't give great account to this, but probably someone didn't check in this morning before they voted. numbers look initially like there are two viable candidate, but no one is near the majority needed at this time.

11:20am: two elections in, both invalid. not sure who becomes the candidate that people will atract towards. certainly if people don't agree on something we go home today with an empty seat.

on other notes. i'm still going to hang in mcdonalds, bellsouth is blaiming internet whoas on the cathedrals network. oh well. any friends want to come and keep me company? it's not bad, michigan football game just started up. not my fav team, but big 10 action will have to do.

11:30am: the third ballot came out actually valid, but no election. jay & i agree, we're pretty much okay with our umc way of electing bishops. since i'm sitting here by myself, i'm watching this conversation (it was the most active last election series). these folks just repost the election results, not sure why, that's what i'm here doing, anyone can check them out here, plus they refresh with real time. the conversation there is pretty typical.

11:55am: bored... yup, got some church folks stopping by at the moment, so there is some nice people watching and eavesdropping on conversations. waiting for the lunch break, maybe someone will come and keep me company. since i'm bored i decided to take this picture of my humble space.

predictions... i'm predicting that bauerschmidt gets the laity votes but comes up short for clergy. the compromising candidate then becomes paden, but it won't happen today. why! why!

12:03pm: number 5 is in, going to do one more ballot then break for lunch. boy am i hungry.. wonder what to eat

all quiet on the blog front. this was last time compared to this time.

12:16pm: lunch break, ballot 6 will be announced after lunch.

1:04pm: a change of scenery is good. i had to go to cumberland transit and pick up some gear for this weekend. i'm going camping with wife & the youth community once this is done. since i was out i figured i'd stop and get lunch at my fav place in downtown, alektor cafe

1:41pm: so the 7th ballot went up with candidate bauerschmidt looking pretty good. i don't know if the necessary votes will make it happen for him. paden picked up some small votes again, could my prediction be in the making?

1:54pm: ballot 8 went up a few minutes ago. candidate bauerschmidt only needs a few more clergy votes to have an election. although my prediction might be wrong, i won't mind having my saturdays back. mostly though, i think the diocese could use some leadership.

2:07pm: ballot 9 went up and bauerschmidt is looking like he might get the votes. maybe not next ballot but maybe before the end of the day.

in other news, i just chowed down on a tuna melt at alektor and am now washing it down with my pressed pot of coffee. yummie! for those in the middle tennessee area or visiting, you need to come by and find a little slice of heaven.

oh, and if you come on saturday, you get to hang with my boy dan greeson.

2:43pm: so i'm keeping busy sipping my coffee and answering the phone for various reasons. erin's having a day, keep her in your prayers. the 11th ballot just went up and we still don't have an election, but it's close. not sure what it'll take to get to where we have an election. thunder is keeping me company while he tries to sell houses. i'm ready to nominate him for bishop if this doesn't end sometime soon.

3:27pm: well, a few minutes ago i posted the news. i'm sure it's already spreading. we have an 11th bishop for the episcopal diocese of tennessee. gonna sign off on this day, although, i do have some last minute biz to tie up.

i'm who?

Jesus said to them, "Who do you say that I am?"

The well schooled theologian replied,

"You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships."

And Jesus said, "What?"

thanks terry for the laugh

Jesus said to them, "Who do you say that I am?"

The well schooled theologian replied,

"You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships."

And Jesus said, "What?"

more of me than i thought

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 17 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

divine nobodies

giving a shout out to my buddy jim who has a new book out called "divine nobodies." jim has become a cool friend through the cohort. he's worked at willow creek, done the house church, all seeking a way to live a faithful life with God outside of the rigid pieces of institutional religion.

for us local folk, he'll be at cokesbury on november 18th for a book signing @ 3pm. stop by, tell him gavin sent ya, then tease him a bit

how did i miss the monastery?

stephen just made my day.

i'm not sure how i missed this, but 'the monastery' has made it stateside. i had followed on jonny's blog the happenings of the bbc show 'the monastery' last year. i wanted to watch the show over the internet, but it wouldn't stream for some reason overseas. so i had to wait... well, the wait is over.

it's a new version, a couple of fellas descended upon Christ in the Desert (one of my future monastery retreat destinations). i'm hoping too that in watching i can catch up with monk andre and lawrence who used to be cool bloggers.

this might be the first time i'm going to really try and figure out my digital video recorder thing, or hopefully indemand (i have a handle on that piece of tech). don't know how i missed this one, but thanks stephen for the info, as stated, you made my day!

for the stewardship campaign

our church is coming up towards our stewardship campaign and sunday. i don't know how successful this will be, but anything is better than the same old ones many of the methodist churches keep doing. more @ www.thechurchyouknow.com

flickr photos post

Br
  South Carolina Gamecocks vs Vanderbilt 
  Originally uploaded by gavoweb.

uploaded some new flickr pics, now i'm just playing around blogging from flickr.

got some pictures up from last weekends wedding in south carolina and this past weekends usc vandy football game.

photoblog: sanctuary

sanctuary of church of the resurrection visted by brian mclaren

our first big thing

erin & i have been married for one month now. through our years of dating/courtship we have had many moments where we have made some big decisions, car/house/dinner. we've always felt good about our decision making. this was probably our first big thing as a married couple.. the design for our first jack-o-lantern.

yup, i took home a cracked pumpkin from last nights pumpkin drop that i felt could be salvaged. being a surprise, we had not decided on a favorite look or style to a pumpkin. so we went through a process of going through various eyes, then nose, then mouth.. we got the eyes easily enough. the nose was equally easy.. the mouth was the tough one.. old school zig-zags? teeth or no teeth? big circle?

we jumped off map with our decision, quite a stretch for amateur carvers, but in the end, we are rather proud of ourselves.

is this your calling card?

since moving into our new house, we have had a great time getting to know our neighbors and our neighborhood. lots of interesting & nice people, but what is most fascinating is the activity on our front porch while we are gone to work.

erin & i have become front porch folk talking about our days and just relaxing before the days end. with this though we have an elaborate set up of citronella candles to keep the bugs away.

over the summer & these last few weeks we've noticed the movement of our candles. sometimes they disappear and reappear, we find them on the steps or on the sidewalk. we have our usual suspects, but this latest caper we noticed the culprit might have left their calling card. could this be a serial candle stealer who is teasing us?

are there any good texas churches?

john is trying to help one of his youth find a good church in fort worth area of texas? can some friends chime in and help a brother out.

super jesus

your thoughts? i kinda like it. not as much as teenager Jesus, but it's some hall of justice flare.

:: link ::

do you believe me now?

as we reported back in september, it's official that president greenway has resigned from asbury. don't know when people were allowed to talk about it, but i keep getting hits on the subject. so i decided to check out the status and found a couple of bloggers speaking about the recent (and not so recent) resignation. i suppose our information was credible.

the talk of our youth community

i showed this at youth the other night as a little attention grabber. it went with the lesson on how things go wrong when people hold too tightly to rules. bit of a stretch, but it's all the talk now. funny thing is, the girls were amazed that there are bathroom etiquette rules for guys.

problem with being pastor

today marks the end of stand up against poverty, month of action. with this event ending, poverty doesn't end, but it conflicts with me as i have come to find that one of the greater hindrances of doing the things that i consider to be missional and aiding to relieve the ills of poverty is the church.

honest, as a pastor i find myself spending time maintaining the daily stuff of the youth ministries of the church. this may just be for now, as this month we are selling pumpkins fundraising for our ministries which keeps me close by. we have two retreats coming up in the next few weeks, my own personal family reunion, and then advent which is always a busy time in the life of the church.

i don't blame the church, but i have these moments of frustration that maintaining the church can really hinder a missional life. now, my missional life might be the people of the church, i can, and do, accept that. however, if i can't lead a life that i think Christ is calling us all to be how does one model that? how does one teach that.

maybe this comes back to ongoing argument of ministry versus program... i don't know

over the summer i had probably one of my more powerful experiences of life in Christ as i played with some of our less privileged children of nashville. i had no answers for these kids & youth, so i just played, talked, read to, and joked with them praying God was moving through them & me. i would love to continue to allow those relationships grow, but i can't seem to get out and do that.

thanks for putting up with my ramble. shalom, -g

youth on staff parish committee

my buddy john, has brought out a good topic from his conversations in class about the book of discipline.

¶ 244.2a of The Book of Discipline 2004 states (in part) concerning the makeup of a Pastor-Parish Relations Committee:

One of the members shall be a young adult and one member may be a youth.

john goes on to say that his polity professor says that youth do not have the capacity to deal with the tough decisions that occur within the staff/pastor parish relations committee. to this statement under our current make up of the church, i'd agree whole heartedly. our churches don't always run as a spiritual entity, they run like businesses, and a teenager doesn't need to be subjected to the business tactics with the context of a "church" or they will be scarred for life. businesses make some ruthless decisions, some are very hard & conflict with the conscience of the persons making them, but they go with them, many are done with malice and greed laced over them, some are just boring and have no real ties to the greater good & vision of the business. so i say, no, don't put an impressionable teenager into the midst of that.

but if we want to be the church, then i say yes, they are more than capable of being on the pprc/sprc.

what does this church committee look like?

for starters, we don't care about time. we take all the time because we are all about the people and that is what we are agree to serve. whatever time it takes, that's what we do. we serve with people and we take time to get to know them and where they are at, what contexts & surroundings do they have going on that will frame their decision making. we sit in discernment, waiting on that small voice of God to whisper into the hearts of God seeking people the mission of this particular church. this is the beginnings of a gathering of Christians who will be set to make some hard decisions, but they come together in care for their congregation and the community assembled, with those people in mind it makes it hard to come in with a decision and egocentric agenda already in mind and faithfully push it onto others.

this might look like, going around the room discussing the happenings joys & struggles of their life at that time. one or two long pauses of silence for everyone or to rest ones heart of all the junk that was happening before gathering. a liturgy or responsive ritual that brings everyone into the fold of community. focus stories, sharing a story or two of the fabulous things or people that each person has seen or met in the community since last convening. a teen, can thrive in this environment as the older members have to take notice, they are put on the same field of being open, honest and vulnerable to each other. a teen is generally open and honest, it's the adults who have the most difficult time with that. from this point there isn't a better than, but an even ground where everyone is supportive of the other.

note: in our youth ministry team meetings, we spend 20 minutes in silence and then prayer over a bowl of names. the names contain youth that are active, not active, once were active, came once, or faceless (some missionary business cards) in order to prepare their hearts for the people that they consider when making youth group decisions. it's amazing the hard decisions they have made, giving up older conveniences and accepting new challenges.

secondly, don't let dreams die! youth & teenagers are dreamers, they have the world ahead of them and they have grand dreams (those that are allowed to dream). don't kill everything that comes out of a teens mouth with, "the budget this" or "the budget that" or "codes."  those things are important yes, but the church was built and spread on dreams. dreams of a man named Jesus. when it is cutting staff positions for the sake of paying the bills, dream something instead of just circling the wagons to maintain the status quo of comfort. if it's safe, if it's welcomed, the teen will share dreams and inspirations that the older guards won't have the capacity to come up with, or wouldn't dare challenge to share or be laughed at.. but if dreams are allowed, then youth can thrive & some of your church dreamers will smile too.

note: to finish my example, i've had youth (and adults) express interest in fundraising (what that looked like i don't know for sure) on my behalf to give me a better salary when the church wouldn't. i expressed that it's the church responsibility to make that decision, which if a youth were on that committee and allowed to get that blessing, it might have worked out.

3rd the covenant. as we have had a covenant made unto us, it is only right that we covenant unto each other. if the foundation is set in the beginning and an environment is kept that maintenance is not the only thing a committee is deemed to do, a youth is able and willing to keep a covenant of faith through the church in participation with a sprc/pprc. when they feel heard and that they have exhausted all ideas, decisions, and options they can maturely make the hard decision of; letting someone go, hiring someone that is not their favorite, shifting job focuses, etc. they can handle this because this has been allowed to be a movement of God's shaping and not a business practice handed down by someone who has made a fortune on the backs of the voiceless.

note: from our experience our changes have happened very well without much (there is always some) complaining. although, the complaining moves away when our youth ministry team can speak to the spirit and circumstances surrounding that decision.

we have been blessed because we seek to do things differently. we spend time together, discern & pray, we listen, we dream, we talk & converse, we listen, we move where our hearts are leading us. if a committee worked like this, i think they'd be blessed to have the voices of their teenagers on a sprc/pprc.

a new title

while i was away last weekend i received a package letting me know that i am notw a member of the Order of Saint Luke. i had considered becoming a oblate of Saint Benedict at one point, but this felt much more comfortable with the methodist roots, occassional gathering, yet still promoting the practices of prayer, liturgy, sacraments, and education.

there are not many members here in middle tennessee, so i'm not sure what contact i'll have with the group other than my own practice. maybe the cyber chapter. i know revmom is a member, any others in the blogosphere?

as revmom told me once. if i want to claim it i have a new title that goes as brother gavin richardson o.s.l. hmmm.. that could take some getting used to

alternative christmas

i know it's well before halloween and i am one of the many that gets miffed about christmas stuff taking over the world before thanksgiving. but, here i am propping up world visions alternative christmas catalog (link is to the uk version). admittedly, i didn't know you could do this except through the heifer project (you still can do the same through heifer) until shane talked about it last year. it's different, giving to others instead of yourself (you know you always buy something for yourself when you purchase presents), purchasing something that is really needed for a family versus something that is very optional and forgettable for another family. even if it is one purchase, if all those christmas celebrants bought something can you imagine the impact it could have on the world?

emerging versus emergent

in looking for another possible video, i saw that dj put up this video of mark driscoll discussing a difference between "emergent" & "emerging" church. i like his conclusion of becoming missionary in america at the end.

he's back

as mike mentioned he might not have left the blogosphere completely, but he's certainly thrown his name into the sphere. bishop willimon is back as the peculiar prophet. now, my critique of his blog was that it was just another place to post his weekly letters to the conference. there was never any actual conversation, which i feel is what is the spirit of the software.

my advice, as a more high profile person blogging, i might hold all comments for approval so as to avoid many rambling or off conversation comments to help keep a manageable conversation. other suggestions, take them or leave them

• throwing out some new blog only content
• maybe some simple questions, get a pulse of the community
• some experiences of meeting various people, censored conversation with hauerwas
• do some audio blogging of charge conferences (if you go to any)
• mp3 version of the generic sermon given to parish's

a 2nd chance blogger meet up

so last week at the leadership institute thing & umerging colloquy i hung out with some of the usual suspects in jay, jonathon, and new friend stephen (revfife). had dinner with clif guy (appian way) & jim walton (churchtechmatters.com), chatted with susan cox-johnson (amethodistemerging) and more. but i'm kinda miffed that i missed out on joel betow & jason woolever, and who knows who else.

so, here is a bit of a proposal for all us methobloggers.

we are still working on the "internet is our parish" technology/bloggers conference. we have a funding agent to help get it off the ground (yeah! it's going to happen), the first full event to be planned in conjunction with the congress on evangelism in january '08 in new orleans. they have been kind to work along side us giving space to do a side conference that could easily blend into a pertinent conversation for their focus. when we shopped the conference we had many individual conferences that wanted a piece, which was affirming. we are currently setting up a small gathering workshop/bloggers conference for this years coming congress on evangelism in january '07 in myrtle beach. the concept is simple, you would come to the congress as a participant, but we'll put together a series of workshops, blend of advanced and hands on beginner, with a methobloggers dinner scheduled at some point in the event to promote networking and Christian friendship. nothing major, but something to start bringing the blogosphere together.

not sure who is already planning on coming, but if you are not give it some thought, atleast promote it on your blog. if you are going to be there, shoot me an email and we'll do some blog collaborations.

want to be my friend?

so i joined up with facebook, much like lynnette did, on a whim. problem is, i don't have the network connections that the system was set up to house (schools, large company). so i'm having a difficult time searching for friends. i give up

anyone out there want to find me and be my friend?

sam, thanks for being my only friend.

irresistible revolution

this past weekend i picked up on a whim 'irresistible revolution' by shane claiborne. the word i got on the street there was that some liked it, some didn't, so i didn't plan on buying it. however, book impulse takes over and i am defenseless against it (i also picked up a methodist history book & secret message of Jesus by mclaren).

i started reading it out loud on the ride home with jonathon and have enjoyed it since. it's not a high theology book, very accessible to the masses, probably an excellent book for youth and younger adults. i am reading it more as a diary of sorts, than a ministerial text, which helps me to laugh at shane's humor and side jokes. it also gives some perspective on what emotions are behind what he writes. example being, his chapter on going to iraq could almost be interpreted as a "if i don't come back, this is why i gave my life" type of letter.

the only knock on this is that one can get down on themselves that "this is what i've wanted to do" type of internal dialogue as i think many of us get onto ourselves when we get convicted by the spirit. shane goes with that which is admirable & worth lifting up. as i go through the pages i'm not sure what more i'll find, but i am enjoying the thoughts, stories, and prayers of shane in this collection.

umerging: can we have a discussion?

on friday we had a conversation lunch with bishop jones and schnase. it was nice to have the presence of the two, and they were good natured. the problem with this discussion is that two languages can't have a discussion, especially if they don't know they are speaking different languages.

i know i've had my troubles speaking to people with a postmodern lingo. i think it actually kept me out of a few jobs, it can be that dramatic. so i suppose it wasn't so strange to find myself (ourselves) in a mix of postmodern/modern language with a fair mix of bishop speak.

the whole thing got people in crazy state of chaos. i'm not sure what/how the bishop's felt but after the whole deal (which you can read jay's notes & thoughts) there was an emptying and unifying spirit. nothing tangible (defined by progress for the church) came of the discussion, if we could call it that, but there was a foundation that was set. the foundation is set on a knowledge that there is a huge gap, even from our progressive leaders of the institutional church and those who find themselves in the midst of the emerging culture.

umerging: the voice of brian mclaren

you may have read of some of the frustration with the system as far as us emerging methodists at the umerging colloquy & leadership conference. there was one great voice to speak to everyone. brian mclaren. i thought i'd share some words that i think are poignant.

recapturing the center

• Our ministry is centered disproportionately on self
• “for God so loves the world” - what if we loved all the world
• but it’s under great danger through human sin, when all they think about is self
• stop loving yourself first of all, but start loving the world first of all

the center: liturgical, social action, evangelical, charismatic
each has something to offer, and you don’t want to loose what you started with, but you want to come to the center

a fringe: tree growth, a new ring, are the churches that are emerging
the outermost ring expresses the tree’s engagement with outside conditions

there are three worlds

• pre-modern: a world without books
• modern world: world of nation states and systems, today’s theologies are based on the modern world, and world of books
• emerging world: a world without books, they have the internet
• it’s not that the emerging world is against Christianity, it’s that no one has communicated the world in their own language
• be like a loving missionary, pioneer missionary, to go into the emerging culture learn the culture and contextualize the gospel for them
• not all have the calling, but the Holy Spirit does not give you a calling to condemn those that do

the church has to embrace all levels of the church

emergence and convergence

• medieval church had a modern crisis and diverged into a conservative way and liberal way
• conservatives started defining themselves and reacting to each other increasing polarization
• they are separating themselves, but we’ve had this “post modern interruption” and these two groups are oblivious to this interruption
• and they stand to become equally irrelevant as they continue to try and fight old battles
• those that break off come to the missional church or generous orthodoxy

provocative question: does Christ’s church have a mission or... does Christ mission have a church? it doesn’t matter the answer as any answer will take you into a good direction.

• this is our time to answer this, it’s not a dress rehearsal
• we live in a world that is orphaned and it’s washed back up on our doorstep
• it’s a great situation for resurrection

state of the united methodist church survey

i get these things from friends of the general agencies every now and then. thought this worthy of putting out there to help garner some participation.

Dear Annual Conference Youth and Young Adult Contacts and DCM’s,

Please make sure this is passed on to your youth ministers and campus ministers so they can pass it on to their young people.  Peace, Jay

Survey to Help Assess State of Church for United Methodists

It is so important for young people to participate in this project. Please encourage youth and young adult ministers to pass this on so the church can get a better understanding of these age groups- it can only help the UMC as a whole.  I feel this is very, very important ministry and a chance for people to really hear the voice of our young people.

UM youth and young adults are encouraged to participate in an online survey to help collect information for the denomination’s State of the Church project.  The Connectional Table of the UMC sponsors the project. The survey can be found at UMC Survey. Only take it once.

Survey-takers judge how important prayer, worship with others, financial giving, Bible study, and working for social justice is to their religious life. They also are presented with a list of issues facing the world today and asked how important it is for the church to focus on each issue.  Other questions focus on how the church operates as a connectional system, its organizational structure, and the effectiveness of pastors. 

Respondents are asked to offer opinions about what the church needs to do to attract young people as members, to voice agreement or disagreement with the official denominational policy on homosexuality, to list their primary reason for becoming members of the UMC, and to express how hopeful they are for the future of the local church and the denomination as a whole.

sunday photoblog: fall sky

cor youth room explosion

i've heard of the rock wall in youth rooms, but never got to try one out. wanna see some more of the crazy youth room pics?

worship feast prayer stations: viewing party

apparently with our new cdrom project out, this must be our first viewing party. i must say, i was completely nervous about the whole deal. i had to walk away. there is something about a creative process that opens you up more when people have the ability to watch and subsequently critique.

one critique i had when telling someone here about the project was how typical that we (the church) has created a resource on creating something that is should be organic/communal in nature. i agreed, but this wasn't supposed to be the end all be all (although in the notes inside the package it calls jonathon and myself "experts") but a starter for those who want ideas or something to inspire confidence and creativity.

no one can critique this more than i, but from our simple viewing party, it met with some great reviews. still nervous, i hope this isn't worship feast prayer stations only sale either.

umerging pilgrimage day 1

we made it!! j-norm and i made it to jacobs well, but not without some fun. while on the phone with a friend, apparently my speed got a bit higher than the state patrol would have liked, so we got pulled over. no big deal, i think the server was down and we got off with a warning, jonathon says it was because he was praying the rosary. i didn't know he knew how to do that.

we got to the church, but not without breaking another traffic code, no police, so we were fine there. mo, welcomed us, showed us around and then we went out to lunch and talked youth ministry with an emergent mindset. probably the coolest thing for the church is the level of deprogramming. that is such a refreshing approach.

caught up with jay and chatted with tim keel, the pastor of the church. then we were on the road, but not before making fun of jay's rental toy car for the weekend. made it to the hotel and then took a nap.

after good rest we were up and on our way to the first gathering of the umerging colloquy. dinner was anticipated, but probably not as much as the trip to the megachurch. we just walked in and to our event (fashionably late) but the size of the exterior of the church was enough to take in for the time being. after dinner we headed to our place downstairs in the basement, had some space for worship and then discussion of wesley and the emergent church. that was very good, but went way too fast for me. for those that know me, it takes a bit for me to process thought. i felt we moved on quicker than our discussion wanted. i know we have an agenda and all, but it would have been nice to sloooow down.

on the way out the greatest surprise was stopping by the cokesbury set up for the cor's leadership event. turns out the worship feast prayer stations cdrom is out! who knew, i certainly didn't, jonathon didn't either. it was a crazy surprise.

headed back to the hotel. hung out and talked with some of the other folks and will now retire for the evening. some photos from the day at my flickr. jay has a list of bloggers, there's another one to add to this list i know of. it'll be currenty by tomorrow i'm sure

God, forgive us for the things done and left undone. we hope to do better tomorrow. -amen

blogging ummm-erging

jonathon and i have been doing what we've joked as our "midnight megachurch run." we left town around 10:30 and are crashing somewhere west of st. louis... the plan, to make it to this methodist emerging church colloquy, but before that a stop by jacob's well, and then taking over jay's room cause we'll need a nap before we are able to get into our hotel room in kc. more later as we hope to bring oddities of terror to the umc..muhahahaa!!

shane claiborne in nashville

Talkback Session with Shane Claiborne”
Sunday, October 8 (4-5pm)
Belmont UMC, Parker Hall
Shane claiborne, Soughtafter speaker and prominent Christian activist

All members and Friends are invited to engage in Conversation with Shane about his faith journey thus far, community and recent book, The Irresistible Revolution. Childcare and light Refreshments will be provided. If you need Childcare, please contact Rebecca Griffeth (383-0832 ext.27) by October 4.

Shane’s Bio
A founding partner of The Simple Way Community, Board member of the Christian Community Development Association, Author of The Irresistible Revolution (Feb 2006/Zondervan)

With tears and laughter, Shane unveils the tragic messes we’ve made of our world and the tangible hope that another world is possible. Shane graduated from Eastern University, and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. His ministry experience is varied, from a 10-week stint working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, to a year spent serving a wealthy mega-congregation at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago.

During the recent war in Iraq, Shane spent three weeks in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team (a project of Voices in the Wilderness and Christian Peacemaker Teams). Shane was witness to the military bombardment of Baghdad as well as the militarized areas between Baghdad and Amman. As a member of IPT, Shane took daily trips to sites where there had been bombings, visited hospitals and families, and attended worship services during the war.

Shane is a founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped to birth and connect radical faith communities around the world, many of whom have become known as a “new monasticism”, which produced the book Schools for Conversion. These communities seek to follow Jesus, to rediscover the spirit of the early Church, and to incarnate the “Kingdom of God” -- a way of life standing in stark contrast to the world of militarism and materialism. At the Simple Way, their little revolution is lived out locally, as days are spent feeding hungry folks, doing collaborative arts with children, running a community store, hanging out with neighbors, and reclaiming trash-strewn lots by planting gardens. Shane and The Simple Way do much work to expose the fundamental structures that create poverty and to imagine alternatives to them.

Shane serves on the Board of Directors for The Christian Community Development Association, one of the largest national associations of faith-based organizations whose pillars are Redistribution, Relocation, and Reconciliation. Shane writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus. He is featured in the DVD series “Another World Is Possible” and is the author of the book The Irresistible Revolution.

sally is blogging

i'm excited to say that my long time friend sally chambers has started blogging for herself. she's been a great friend and youth ministry colleague over the years and fan of erin & myself. i think she has a wealth to offer the church of the world, but has been maybe a bit bashful up until now. she won't take the world by storm, but be ready for a quiet voice that is willing to sit on the side and give inspiration to those who need it. she started doing a youth group blog sometime ago, but this is the best news of the day that she has started on for her own reflection and pilgrimage.

:: a pilgrim's heart ::

our vows

from me:

I take you, Erin, to be my wife,
and I promise before God and all who are present here
to be your loving and faithful husband
to join with you and to share all that is to come,
to give and to receive,
to speak and to listen,
to inspire and to respond,
and in all our life together
to be loyal to you with my whole being,
I will serve you with tenderness and respect,
and encourage you to develop God’s gifts in you
as long as we both shall live.

from erin:

I take you, Gavin, to be my husband,
    and I promise before God and all who are present here
    to be your loving and faithful wife
    to join with you and to share all that is to come,
    to give and to receive,
    to speak and to listen,
    to inspire and to respond,
    and in all our life together
    to be loyal to you with my whole being,
    I will serve you with tenderness and respect,
    and encourage you to develop God’s gifts in you
    as long as we both shall live.

note: i'm so glad the grooms party noticed how erin put on her game face for the vows, that was totally excellent. she went from somewhat teary-eyed to a total gamer, even stood a little taller

i'll get back to you

i'll get back to you.. honest, this might take me awhile

i love returning to voicemail, email, text messages, bills... priority goes as such

• bills, luckily you are the smallest of numbers, but rather important
• email (work & personal), let's be honest, 300 of the 500 don't matter anymore, the others, well, it's easier to get with you
• voicemail cell phone, thank God that my service only holds 15-20 messages at a time.. you 15.. maybe tomorrow, those i saved.. i'll assume we talked already
• voicemail work, you probably called my cell phone, so i'll assume we talked and will get with you the same time as everyone from the cell phone
• bloglines... apparently most everyone was chatty, some 1000 plus blog posts as of this morning. don't be upset if i just scan the thoughts and catch up with you along the way

wow! what an awesome experience!

hey, we are back!!

thanks to all that came to support erin & myself and our marriage some two weeks ago. it was sooo great to see so many folks that love us and support us. never imagined that the sanctuary would be full the way it was.

we jetted off for our honeymoon after that. a lot of being lazy, catching some sun (i actually have a tan) and spending days at the spa or shore.. awesome!! i'll share more and put up pics as well as the poparazzi of photographers that were at the wedding.

the plan for blogging is much. 1. i want to chronicle more of the wedding ceremony and experiences to archive for future (part of my vow to tell the stories of our family for the future, figure this helps) 2. will be heading out on wednesday with jonathon in tow to catch up with some methodist emergent folks for that umerging colloquy. i'm planning on blogging that one a bunch.

thanks again, love you all!!!!

shalom, -g