Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

where is gavin these days?

i haven't been asked where i've been of late so much as "what i'm doing now?" which is an acceptable question since my leaving the paid staff church work back in july. the last few months have been a real ride emotionally and spiritually (not sure if those are completely seperate but for purposes of this sentance they are). i've run the gammet meeting/talking/chatting with people i respect a great deal on what they might see God's plan in my life. my general idea is that i was so close to myself that i needed help stepping back and looking in through the window. through this process i've identified some short term and long term places i'm putting my creative and passionate self into. thought i'd share those with you, so we can skip the "what are you up to now?" question.

All American Pest Control: this might be the most visible of the entities of late because for the past month or so i've been pretty chatty about my work with All American Pest Control. This is our family business and Erin has been working there for the last 7-8 years. We will eventually finish a purchase of the company in about 4-5 years from her mom & dad and we'll be sole owners. So, in the spirit of doing anything for the family, i've been crawling houses of late to help tend to our historical customers allowing our other employees to focus on some of our more current and up to date protection services. i am also helping erin our with promotions, marketing, and social media aspects of the company. you can follow the adventures of my life in pest control by following on twitter or facebook.

Sticky Sheep: this is one has been in the brewing for a year or two now. my buddy john ellis & i had spent a number or conversations talking up the mixtures of church & business, specifically marketing. we started writing a book on these conversations and we are still putting that together. in the mean time we figured it is time to start sharing these connections. you can engage in our little musings by hitting up the site or checking our twitter or facebook presences.

 

Proof Branding: this is an exciting project to be a part of. i'm joining in with long time friend sam davidson and a crew of others whom are especially creative in a full service branding company. my part in the team is to help translate and work with the church communities that wish to rebrand themselves. this would cover communications, marketing, design, creative directions, and more. i've been working independantly with with first presbyterian church youth in nashville before the launch of proof this past month and have had some real successes and enjoyable moments. you can follow the tweets of sam & matt via proof and the news on facebook.

YouthWorker Movement: is something that i'm really jumping into as my youth ministry passion. i am helping to put together a vibrant and transformational entity to help my beloved, and struggling, united methodist church & fellow wesleyan youth ministries. i've partnered up with charles harrison and a team of others i getting things mapped out and ready to roll next month. if you want in on the braintrust of a vast community of people you should get plugged in with the youthworker movement. in the short term we will have a new email list going out next week. a new website will launch in january (a temporary one will be available next week). in the spring we will be putting forth full service curriculum options from a wesleyan youth ministris perspective. through all this you can keep up on the 'movements' via twitter or facebook as well.

thanks a quick gist of me, if you want to talk further on any of these projects or hire me or my friends give a shout via email gavoweb(at)gmail.com is still my email. i'm pumped to get creative!

in another note: the company that hosts this blog is going in some different direction, so in anticipation of some crazy server issues. i'm going to be moving this blog over to my own hosting options sometime soon.. maybe when i have a minute not doing other cool stuff.

@stickysheep : new venture from the brilliant mind of @johnwellis & myself

john ellis and i started hanging out about two years ago and chatting on all things business, church, marketing, web, technology, family and more. eventually some of our thoughts and conversations about the business church marketing technology stuff had us thinking, "we need to write this stuff down. there might be two or three people who want to hear this." so we started writing a book (scary i know). as we are developing the book we have gone and launched "sticky sheep" our concepts home portal. so if you are interested in some of the new ventures of me and/or want to get a glimpse of this collision of business and church then subscribe. i plan on doing a weekly wrap up, such as this, of what have been my musings over there as well.

this week in sticky sheep

• sticky paper is great, but it's getting seen that is the stickiest
• giving up control to the freshman team sticks
• what is the best ever social media campaign

you can also check us out on facebook & twitter of course.

in support of a tent city and homeless #savetentcity

today i ran into Quita, asking her "you have a few papers for me?" and she responded with a sigh and a "yes, you know what these are all about?" myself along with my buddy jason had a nice chat with her about her travels since being displaced from tent city during the flood. she had her housing voucher paperwork and said more than a few times "it's not my permanent solution." we hugged and exchanged our pleasantries and went along our ways.

in the last year and a half God has moved me around some people that brought me in touch with this community of people i was aware of but never knew. note: as a church staff person it is rather interesting that it is hard to be with people who have no home. many times they carry with them little value to the church, except a 'mission' or 'outreach' cause. many times, those are charitable in nature and hurt an eventual goal of getting folks off the streets.

as i have been finding my way these last few months and meeting folks in the homeless community i've given my support; in small acts, prayers, needed resources, and just being to the folks at "tent city."

i've done this for a reason. i believe in a process and a place. there needs to be a place that people can land when all the bottoms fall out. if the world falls out from under me i have back ups and places to go. we are richly blessed in that manner. but many do not have those options. so there is a need for a place to land.

but that place isn't the only need. there needs to be a process and the people to help getting folks back to where they want to be. as i've been around the tent city community i believe and am seeing the people who have gotten involved in bridging relationships and helping folks pick themselves up and get back into the life they dream for themselves.

homelessness is complex and this doesn't address all the needs, but a place for folks to build from is, and needs to be, an option. so that is why i support a tent city

"As I Grow Older" : on with my dream

recently in my change of life i wandered to a different part of the book store, leaving the religion section behind this time. i bought a poetry collection of langston hughes. hughes i remember from my college studies as he was one writer that "i got".. (even though i'm not black or at any level oppressed.) i loved his jazz feel to his poetry & never felt it was trying to impress me with overthought just honest reflection and emotion.. maybe i'm feeling down now and a bit beaten so it works for me. today i'm sharing this poem from hughes call "as i grow older." i know contextually we're not in the same place, but it feels the same.. that's the beauty of art.

As I Grow Older 

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun--
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky--
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

two letters : one result

two letters went out to our church community today. first one from me

Dear HFUMC Youth Community,

In Deuteronomy there is a really dynamic scene where Moses who has led the Isrealites through the wilderness since the Exodus exclaims that he is no longer directed to lead the tribe. He speaks to his apprentice Joshua and tells him that it is he that God wishes to lead the tribe into the promised land.

It is with that scripture in mind and a very heavy heart that I write this note to share with you that my employment at HFUMC as your youth pastor will end effective immediately. With the direction of the church my gifts and talents are not the match they once were for the ministries of the church as an employee. As tough as this is to accept, Erin & I are at peace with this and hope you find that as well. We plan to be at church on Sunday, but will not be leading any activities as we begin to identify who we are within the church community in our new roles.

Know that I love you all, have loved being in ministry, a part of your families, and seeing us all grow together. It has been my honor to be a part of your last five years. As we redefine who our family is in the midst of the church we hope that those relationships stay the same even though the nature of what brought us together has changed.

I don't know who your Joshua is but I am praying for that person and the 'unique community' that I know you to be.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You
May the Lord Make His Face Shine Upon You & Be Gracious Unto You
May the Lord turn His Face upon You & give us peace.

Shalom
-gav

 

&:~)

second one came from our staff parish

After much thoughtful prayer and deliberation, your Staff Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) concluded that the final necessary element in the staff reorganization was an overhaul of the youth programs of our church. Therefore, effective immediately, the positions of Director of Youth Ministries and Director of the New World Generation Choir are open. Searches will be launched to fill both positions. In the interim, Associate Pastor Brad Holliman will assume leadership of the youth division, assisted by the adult leaders and volunteers already engaged in youth ministry at HFUMC.

All previously scheduled Youth programs and activities are expected to go on as planned. If you would like to help with these programs as a leader, chaperone or driver, please contact Brad Holliman.  Any changes to the calendar will be communicated via e-mail, Facebook or the Corner website, so check in before finalizing your plans.

Our prayers go with Gavin Richardson and Tiffany DePriest, and we thank them for their contributions to our church and its ministries. Please watch the newsletter and other church communications for more information about the searches in the next few weeks.

The Staff Parish Team

moving on...

what we've learned is : "children will become like the people who teach them"

i am a big fan of ted talks, no news there. this particular talk eluded me till now. erin was shown this as part of a one of her ceo training programs. i'm glad she did. you will to

save tent city : our latest efforts

starting yesterday my buddy brian & i started working with some other, less techie types, on gathering materials for tent city nashville. our big effort is getting drop sites around middle tennessee and putting out information through a new hub site http://www.savetentcity.com

so that is where i will be the next few days. if you can jump in and help do that. tent city relief efforts are different than those of the many displace homeowners in middle tennessee area. tent city residents will need tents, sleeping bags, tarps, and other camping/outdoor equipment. they also will need toiletries and clothes as well, but primarily our first efforts are to help with establishing the community, infrastructure and housing.

@NashTraffic davidson country road closures list

this list of road closures was sent to me via our neighborhood watch guy. you can also check in with tdot's traffic watch to catch up with more up to date accidents and video camera shots.

List of Davidson County Road Closures as of 9 a.m. Sunday:

* Antioch Pike at Harding Road
* Antioch Pike at McCall Street
* Barnes Road
* Beech Bend at Footpath
* Blue Hole Road
* Bluff Road
* Brownlee / One Lane
* Buena Vista Pike
* Bull Run Road at Ashland City Highway
* Clay Lick Road
* Culbertson Road
* Curry Road at Briley Parkway
* Daycove at Morton Mill
* Dodson Chapel Road
* Donelson Pike at Harding Place
* Drummond Drive at Wildview Drive
* Edmonson Pike at Nolensville Road
* Elm Hill Pike at Massman Drive
* Ezell Road at Harding Place
* First Avenue at Riverfront Park
* Glengarry at Curry Road
* Harrison at Rosa Parks Boulevard
* Hicks Road
* Highway 100 between Ensworth and Temple Road
* Highway 70 at Hooten Hows Road
* Highway 70S at I-40
* I-24 between Hickory Hollow Parkway and Briley Parkway
* I-24E at Shelby Avenue
* Lebanon Pike at Central Pike
* Lickton Pike at Old Hickory Boulevard
* McCrory Lane / One Lane
* McCrory Lane between Poplar Creek and I-40
* Mill Creek Road
* Mt. View Road at Hickory Hollow Pkwy.
* New Hope Overpass
* Old Glenrose Avenue at East Thompson Lane
* Old Harding at Morton Mill
* Old Harding at Sawyer Brown and Poplar Creek
* Old Hickory Boulevard between I-24 and Dickerson Road
* Pettus Road
* Philfree Court
* River Road at Indian Creek
* River Trace at Libble Road
* River Trace Drive
* Sawyer Brown Road at Todd Priest
* South Harpeth Road at Harpeth River
* Tent Circle North at Rosa Parks Boulevard
* Tulip Grove Road

@predfans Brooks is geared up for the game tonight

brooks is geared up and ready for tonights predators playoff game. i'm pretty stoked as well.

Blog posted here.

adventures in golf : when not to trust the on course gps

went out today to play a fundraising golf tourney, at hermitage golf club, for conference camping scholarships. had an eventful day with my team, the highlight being that a drone the 18th green (no small feat, almost pee'd my shorts I was so surprised). sadly this par 5 was out of my reach.

Blog posted here.

what you think you have right about your communication is wrong : saying and communicating is different

i know when we meet as a staff we talk a lot about the need for better communication. it is a huge pain in our b'hinds. so i'm totally spinning in thoughts stemmed from rev. dan dick's latest posting on communication misconceptions of our 'good' communication that undermine actual good communications.

here's his three hit points.

I believe there are three main problems we encounter that prevent or undermine good communication: 1) confusing “transmitting” with communication, 2) over-reliance on information as the most important part of communication, and 3) making assumptions about what people “know.”

currently i'm wondering what push of information i do and how different that is from actually communicating to folks? in the size ministry i have, its impossible to pick up the phone and call everyone, not to mention many folks would rather not have a phone call (or they will tell me so). i might have become so conditioned to this that it is my norm. i actively use twitter cause i can spew out information, but if no one communicates back i just move on. did i ever really convey an idea? does that mean i should start blogging regularly again since its more of communicating an idea/plan/dream/rant/etc.?

what can i do better to help with communicating to you? my church peeps? my family? my internet networkings?

in the meantime, go check out the rest of dan's thoughts on communications.

me speaking & talking : here & there for your amusement

next week i'll be doing some of that speaking thing that i do.

wednesday thru friday i'll be in and around the dallas area for the united methodist reporters communicators conference. i'll be leading a churchy discussion based off the keynote speakers thoughts on new media strategy. the possibilities of that conversation could be amazing, so i'm excited to get to lead that. the next day i'll sit on a panel with a bunch of social media geek / church nerd friends on, what else, social media. that will be easily enjoyable. hope we can bring some stuff to the table that challenges everyone in the room. that's the task i'm giving myself.

flying back on friday and then on saturday is up early to volunteer with podcamp nashville and put on my session of 'sex, lies, and social media.' that's going to be interesting & a whole lot of fun. vegas is betting my awkward statement and subsequent blushing will be an over/under at 4 (its just 20 mins of talking otherwise it'd be much higher).

unfortunately, if you are not already signed up for the communicators conference then you'll have to miss me this go round, but you can still sign up for podcamp & check out me and some of the other fabulous minds of technology and what they are thinking about.

so long my friend : nashville no longer talking

noticed today that nashville is talking is ceasing to exist as the blog portal for the nashville blogging community.

truth be told, it probably ceased to be the main portal some years ago when brittney left and the whole chaos ensued at nit & music city bloggers was birthed for a short while.

i enjoyed that community of folks at that point, some of the people i'm still in conversations with today. {in fact, have to thank newscoma for tipping me off to this.} back then you looked for the 'fresh rolled blogs' and knew when your site got linked because hits & comments would take off (well, for someone small time like myself). i remember going to the first barcamp cause all my blogger friends were planning on going, which was the first time i met many folks.. remember sitting next to rob robinson & recognizing him immediately because his hat & outfit was exactly like his thumbnail pic on his blog (yes i teased him about that one). met kate o in line with john carney (john whom i've known for years) we were all first in line (well, kate was actually first).

fast forwarding: that medium, that town square, we all met & built our friendships and community on ceases to exist. since those days of nit i can safely say that twitter, facebook, or anything since has garnered the loyalty & passions that the nashville is talking site did for us some four or five years ago. (gosh, has it really been that long?).

i would love some new place find some of that community. but alas, not all good things are forever & nashville is talking served a great place in my cyber musings life. so much so that it impeded into my real life, which i was more than okay with (it just took some explaining to the wife). so long my friend, nashville is talking. (i want to say some 'long tail' ulogy comment, but its just not quite there, so assume i said something clever & smile)

pondering : when in the soul of the serene disciple

When in the soul of the serene disciple

When in the soul of the serene disciple
With no more Fathers to imitate
Poverty is a success,
It is a small thing to say the roof is gone:
He has not even a house.

Stars, as well as friends,
Are angry with the noble ruin.
Saints depart in several directions.

Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away his halo with his cares,
A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.

Here you will find
Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.
There are no ways,
No methods to admire
Where poverty is no achievement.
His God lives in his emptiness like an affliction.

What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions.

by thomas merton, selective poems of..

photo by paul stevenson creative commons

#10yearsago : what i want back & what i'll gladly leave behind

so all my rowdy twitter friends are doing this #10yearsago tweets. i thought i'd actually create a little list and see what i can remember from the last decade.

• i moved to nashville and began "my career" in youth ministry the first days of january 2000. since then i've staffed at three churches, one secular hiatus career, and a stint at rei.
• i might not have owned a cell phone 10 years ago.. its hard to say. my first phone was some sprint flip open phone. i'll have to do some investigating on that one.
• 10 years ago, socially, i wasn't married and didn't have a child.. so that stuff is relatively new
• in the last 10 years i've had my work published in a few books, a cdrom project, and a number of articles.. i think that's pretty cool for someone who needed spell & grammar check to get out of university
• i actually graduated from college 10 years ago. i wasn't finished with my degree when i left the university of alabama. i told them i was going to nashville to finish up (my internship) and take a job offered to me. they told me my gpa wasn't high enough to leave town for my internship, i said tough, i'm going.. a few months later & a lot of paperwork, i had a college degree. (i didn't do the graduation walk for another year when little bro got a grad degree)
• 10 years ago Coe was my companion.. she was younger then and a little more spry & mischievous. she would open the gate to the house i lived in at that time and would go rolling in the dirt at the mulch company behind our house and thru some woods. would also take my brothers corgi with her. bath's were a regular occurrence in our house.
• 10 years ago darren & i would pontificate the deepest theology for some 25 yr old dudes over cigars and cheep beer in our backyard..
• 10 years ago my house had an answering machine... i suppose it also had some phone attached to a wall with like 500mghtz of power where you can walk down the street talking. big time!!
• 10 years ago i was thinner... care not to expand on that further.. 'expand,' sorry, wrong wording
• 10 years ago i remember watching the millennial celebrations all freakin day long
• 10 years ago i watched the music city miracle on a fuzzy tv that didn't have cable hooked up yet (remember, check out #1, just moved to nashville)
• 10 years ago had no idea what blogging, twitter, facebook, were (cause they weren't invented silly).. but i did build a kick-ass youth group & website with a bunch of java script enabled games

so the many things that did happen the last decade will have to wait for another posting.

what were the things you were doing 10 years ago?

a heretics advent : how do you give thanks

A Heretics Advent from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

i read this little parable for our youth the first sunday of advent. we were coming off the thanksgiving holiday and it seemed poignant. i share with you to ask the same thing i asked of our teenagers. 'what are you doing to not live into this parable.

here's what i am encouraging you to check out.

• 61st Avenue umc & the last minute toy store: little ole’ 61st ave umc is putting together its annual “last minute” toy store to help families in hardship provide some toys, food, and sometimes a christmas tree for over 3,500 children here in nashville. toy store starts at noon on friday and goes thru Monday. join me on friday by driving yourself over. volunteer orientation starts at 12. The Toy Store will stay open till around 6:30pm when the last shoppers go thru.
• send a message of hope to our growing church in cote d’ivoire, west africa. there is a lot of need, and when there is need a little hope goes a long way. send some encouragement.
• check out advent conspiracy, get yourself aware of the conditions people live in outside your world. spend less, give more, love all!
• maybe you are just a cool person who cares
• volunteer at the community care’s fellowship or nashville rescue mission
• become aware of local and global issues.. maybe the world AIDS or water problem

we're all gonna die : so who is your digital executor

saturday i spent my day at barcamp nashville 2009. barcamp is one of my fav days of the year. that along with podcamp are when i get to really hang with the geeks of nashville's tech community. one of the sessions i took in was dave delaney's session titled "we're all gonne die!"

i like dave's presentations because they are never quite what i expect them to be and his gift is that he doesn't try and cover everything in his braintrust. i say that's a gift. anyways, i recorded his session for your viewing pleasures with my notes & thoughts to follow.

Dave Delaney : We're All Gonna Die : BarCamp Nashville 2009 from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

my notes:

• what is going to happen to our content when we die?
• when die what to do with email, paypal, websites, domain names, web hosting fees, facebook, etc.
• facebook will close off profiles to new friends when someone is confirmed as having passed away, but will keep the account live for friends to visit.
• need a "digital executor," someone who knows all your stuff to keep your digital footprint going
• i see this necessity as much as leaving a 'digital legacy' much like the last lecture was from a dad to his children.
• facebook/myspace/blogs become a new place of mourning for a loved one or friend as they pass away. taking the place of the makeshift memorials on roadsides, fences, building walls, etc.

this was an interesting chat with erin after this, exploring the 'digital executor' idea. i'd thought of what might happen to all this stuff i do if i were to pass away. erin knows my passwords that i use and could figure out how to get into each account should she feel that need. however, her expression was, if you died i wouldn't want to mess with that stuff, so it'd be better to have someone to handle that stuff.

so i'm contemplating that.. who would you put in charge as a digital exector? friend, family member? someone you are close to or someone that is close to your wife/family who they are comfortable talking to?

chris brogan on evangelism : being there before the sale

chris brogan : be there before the sale : relationship in marketing & evangelism from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

so i took in that live web event last week with chris brogan and i've been pondering on some of what he said and i'm reading in "trust agents." he wasn't at all speaking to a church context, but as with most things (but is becoming much easier in todays business environment & language) i turn it around into some church framework.

one of the things chris brought out were some stories of 'trust agents' who were "there before the sale." it was one of those quotable moments as you could see heads dive into notepads and laptops typing.

it reminded me from a time last summer where i hosted a conversation with regular church going folk & those who are disenfranchised with the church and might call themselves non-religious or spiritual but not religious put together by my friend jim palmer. one of the stories that really stuck with me from a participant was how they were put off that the friends they made in their neighborhood, invited them to church, eventually helped them come into Christ, then left them hanging as they moved onto some other couple. this person then found out that this was a process of that church and they were to go befriend new people to bring them to the church as well.

so what makes up evangelism in when our common framework makes up some commodity sale & that conflicts with how people want to be treated & how we improperly fix some consumption to grace? is there a way in which one could just "be there" with people and not try and control the workings of God to force a sale of salvation, but allow God's mystery to work?... i don't know, maybe you have some ideas

help me help children find a new home : miriam's promise & my heart

many of you have been with me for a number of years on this blog and you know quite a bit about me. you might know that i like trips to crazy monasteries, make fun of my celebrity look alike status, used some of the worship resources i've put online, shared in some deep conversations, and some not so deep.

one thing i have not shared openly is my care i have for children & youth within the foster & adoption process. as a child, looong ago in my birmingham years (those i call my impressionable south years), our family was a foster family. we hosted many kids of various ages that were needing a new home. some were abused children, some were given up for adoption for whatever reason and young and older ages. the older kids would generally stay in the same room as my brother & i (sporting some massive double bunk beds). the younger ones would stay closer by to my parents.

i vaguely remember names and as the years have gone by the faces get blurry, but the impression of having so many kids coming through our home hopeful for a permanent home placed in me a heart for them. tho, at the time, admittedly i wasn't always the nicest of boys to them.

fast forward some 20 plus years i have adopted Miriam's Promise as one of my causes that i champion. they are a methodist affiliated program (which means they get support from our church in name and personal devotion alone, they are not funded by the umc) and that partnership has allowed me to get to know them very well. they have a wonderful staff and board of directors made up of people i respect tremendously. i have a number a few youth from our youth community who have been adopted through Miriam's Promise which is neat to connect with. and who knows, even though we have Brooks now, erin & i have talked a number of times of adopting into our family because we know the need is out there.

they are having their annual golf tournament fundraiser on October 12th and i am trying to raise $4,000 dollars for our teams totals.

as i see some numbers, if everyone in my readership of blogs, twitter, facebook, and newsletters "chipped in" $10 then we could easily achieve this goal. $10 dollars is not ordering 1.5 starbucks drinks, 1/2 of a meal on the town (for one person). that isn't much. if you can give $20 or more, that'd be amazing too. you can set your giving, but please give. just use the "ChipIn" little meter above, it is secure, i've used it many times in giving to other causes.

help me help children find a new home, give to Miriam's Promise

shalom, -gav

reflections on weeding : glad God is patient

Reflections on Weeding from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

so i finished weeding out my neglected garden (which i need to go back to since this was recorded a few weeks back) and i had some thoughts.

Matthew 13 The Parable of the Weeds

24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 "The owner's servants came to him and said,'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 28"'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

i am glad that i know a God which is patient in sorting out the weeds & wheat instead of how we in the christian community often argue who is in & out.

reflections on gardening : why i suck as a neighbor

Reflections on Gardening from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

so its been a long summer & as seems par for the summers my yard falls in disarray at some point. this summer, at this point, it was our flower gardens which were overrun with weeds and i didn't tend to them. much like my own soul (and i'd guess others as well) things that were not bearing of any beauty or worth creep their way into my life and overrun that which i want for myself.

tending to the yard, in my eyes, feels like it has a lot to do about my care for being a neighbor. its not that i want to have some envy of the neighborhood, quite the opposite, but i my yard might be the conversation i have with someone as they walk/drive by.. (not to mention i have my best conversations when i'm actually outside doing work on the yard) .. and i'd like for those to be positive experiences.

so its a deep breath day & hard work day to clean house (or in this case garden) and find ones self at a place of peace where you can begin to move forward. this is me, reflecting on a little gardening.

new erinandgavin : moving kinda

way back in the day i created a website for erin & mines wedding. the info and pictures stuff, like that. well, i've continued to keep the site and i finally got around to creating our family site. it's still erinandgavin.com in part because even as we have kids we see them as joining our journey, not that our lives will circulate around our kids.. well, that's our idea anyways. so we've started up our own little family blog of stuff. i'll still be here doing whatever it is that i do now. but over there we will be sharing our life happenings. so go ahead and visit & subscribe to www.erinandgavin.com

brooks foster richardson : our new little addition

its been a crazy few days. after going down to birmingham for a baby shower with my family, our little baby apparently thought it a good idea to come out for the party. when we got home late saturday night, erin's water broke early sunday morning. being at 34 weeks it is protocol to induce labor to avoid any kinds of infections which can do more harm than being born early. so at 4:56pm on sunday we welcomed into the world brooks foster 'the pellet' richardson. i posted a bunch of photos from his birthday and his first day. here's a little gem of a video we took his first day.

bringing back the blog : an idea for the future

i basically took the month of june off from blogging, in case you didn't notice.. part was work induced, part was family induced, mostly though, i needed to take a break & figure out how to come back to blogging and feel good about it.

i figured to come back july 1st.. oh well.

the new ideas to the blog, will be to integrate more video commentary & teaching into my postings. this will mean less posting (which probably should have happened years ago), but hopefully a broader sharing of thoughts in not just the written medium but branching into video. we'll see how that goes. my goal is to integrate one to two postings a week in that format.

another spot too, as fillers to commentary, is to put in more practical looks into youth ministry & technology. its my calling & i've strayed way too far from it in the past few years getting caught up in some big church things. i still love the big church stuff, but i've been narrowing my 'responsibilities' and helping to distribute talents to some of the networks i've developed over these last 15 years of ministry so to tend to my flock God blessed me with more fully.

i might fall off what stool i was on in the big church landscape, but that is totally cool & totally necessary. not really sure how i got there in the first place, probably my own pride & ambition. regardless, i'm feeling really good going into this new phase of ministry & how to share it with others.

looking forward to reconnecting with you all again soon.

shalom

-gav

long time no post : i do have a plan

hey all, as you can see i've been sort of on a blogging hiatus. a few things seem to have brought this on.

• i've been increasingly asked to do projects (and asked to be a part of a few) that are taking up what blog time i've had.
• church life (for which pays my bills) has been blessed with some great growth & renewal opportunities. the opportunities need a great amount of attention.
• family life, erin & i are expecting child (if you hadn't already heard) and some of the prep stuff for that is adding on
• i want to be a lawn master! when i was a kid i mowed the lawn.. now i am now trying to figure out how to grown lawn & flower beds & all the extras. i figure i can start to live out loving neighbor by having a kickin lawn. not to mention i get to see & chat with all the neighbor folks when i'm outside. its a good thing
• i've been twittering, probably a bit too much that is arguable, which has been a lot of my commentary and conversations in social media spectrum.
• i am playing more golf. more on that later. but its a good thing for me... well, when i play okay. somedays are just bad.
• there is probably more, but this seems a sufficient list.

with all this, i'm not killing or shutting down my blog. with the time away i have a new vision for trying to take this medium and use it to its fullest. i won't reveal the whole plan, but i will resurge again with posting regularly, but not daily. personal stuff is going to move over to our family site and i am going to devote this space to the projects, ideas, training, etc that i am becoming a part of.

God has really blessed me with some excellent understandings, some name recognition, and a the coolest community of people to associate with. so i cannot see a reason to not be a part of the methoblogosphere & cyber communities. thanks for hanging with me

shalom
-gav

not a bad view : still on vacation

this is our little walk out view from my room in saint michael's maryland. here for my cousin anton's wedding. apparently where the ceremony is at the house featured in wedding crashers. is that prophetic in some way?

monday music : my uncool favorite song

there is something about josh joplin that i really love. he's only had one marketable hit, but then again, the grateful dead only had one top hit song too.. anyways, i just love his obscure song "i am not the only cowboy." if i had to guess why, its resonates with me lyrically. i like the white boy psuedo rap stuff cause i might actually be able to pull that off. note: he does a lot of talking & joking before this song actually starts, ffwd to about a minute & half in.

 

blogging towards enlightenment : discovering your virtual self

i've been doing some guest postings over at matt cheuvront's 'life without pants' blog talking up spirituality and social media. last week we talked about enlightenment & blogging today we are talking about discovering your virtual self.

got check them out, let me know what you think. lay claim to some of the stories & expand on them. did i mention that my latest posting i actually use capitalization? yeah, it was wreaking havoc on matt post editing

introducing pellet : who happens to be doing bi-cept curls

Pellet doing Bi-cept curls

i have posted this one facebook & twitter, but for my solo blog readers i am happy to introduce you to "pellet" who will be joining our family in september.. well, i suppose pellet has already joined the family as they've made quite the impact on wifey.

we have named you pellet cause we were tired of trying to say he/she before any reference of you. even though you are now the size of a chicken tender that's been half eaten we're still stuck on the name pellet.

view some of the first pictures of pellet from thursdays ultrasound.

archie carver jr. : may you rest in peace

this morning i received word that one of my dads, archie carver jr., passed away after his long battle with liver cancer. he didn't talk about his cancer battle much, but i believe this was his third onset that he had to take on treatment for. he passed away this morning, march 9th, 2009, around 8:30am with friends and family with him.

i will alway remember archie jr. for his quiet michievous-ness about him. in the big crowds of friends we'd find ourselves in at church he'd be the quiet one with this sneaky smile on him. telling jokes in his head, laughing at the rest of us trying one up each other,.. i'm not really sure, but that smile was always there. i know he wasn't always the quiet one, but i'll always see that face, that michievous smile and i'll smile myself.

archie was beloved by his friends. he was an active part of the cancer society in hendersonville, and many joined the cause on his behalf. last years relay for life was held in his honor as a survivor even. he was getting treatment in tulsa for the last 6 or so months. as is liver deteriorated and prognosis became grim a number of their friends left for tulsa to be at his & terri (archie's wife) side. yesterday his sunday school, at first united methodist, class spent the whole hour plus in prayer for their friend. they joked it would have been archie's favorite class to spend it in prayer without any real lesson.

you will be sorely missed in our church family archie. take rest & hope that you have been a part of something special in your friends & family. your children are wonderful extensions of yourself and terri, tiffani, archie III, and william.

may the Lord Bless you and Keep You. may he Heal you and Hold you. may he allow you to help cook some great eats for that communion of saints. until we meet again. shalom

update:

visitation is set on thursday, march 12th from 1-2pm, with celebration service beginning at 2pm and food afterwards, at hendersonville first united methodist church.

just call me daddy : then pray for said child

excited to report that erin is pregnant and we are going to welcome our first addition to this richardson family since we got married (the two dogs are from dating years).

it's scary to think that i'm going to be a dad..

we are just now telling folks. "pellet" as i like to refer to the child is only 11 weeks along (he/she is actually larger than a pellet, but i still like pellet as a name). pellet will join our crazy clan in the middle of september if all goes as planned. till then, erin has her good days and bad days. we're figuring out what odd diet stuff she craves. so far, nothing way off the ordinary. i'd give her a few more weeks.

thanks for all the well wishes! shalom

podcamp nashville : in the news

newschannel 5 did a quick segment on our 'so called' unconference. i didn't get show, which i thought i might as the camera seemed to sneak up behind me. but it did show buddy john ellis giving his presentation on all things new with google..

monday music : its a landslide

a little tip to jen lemen for weekend reminder of this haunting gem that i just love. at one point i was close to being able to play this song on guitar..

credit crisis in nutshell : modern economics that i can understand

one of the simpler explanations to the economic crisis that knucklehead like myself can understand. tip lifehacker


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

crazy or stupid : something to see to believe

i've been familiar with ice climbing before. when i was regularly going rock climbing & working at rei the idea of ice climbing was way cool, but being in an area that it rarely gets below freezing for more than two days straight it is not something i ever imagined doing myself. now i don't think i could ever imagine climbing iceburgs, but it sure is cool to know people try.

tip to espn

swimming with the characters of nashville : the polar plunge

Originally uploaded by gavoweb.

participated in the polar plunge today as fundraiser for special olympics. it was supposed to be a mission thing we were doing as part of our senior dudes small group. but it ended up just being us adult leaders as our youth wigged out, forgot to get out of work, or had some state hockey tournament.. all very lame excuses if you ask me.

todd's daughter, bailey, was our photographer for the day. so hopefully i can share some other pictures.

immersing in the new media : what has happened to my blogging

i regularly called blogging my spiritual practice. it was a way of reflecting on some idea or challenge that came across in my day. however, if i was honest with myself, the 'spiritual' aspect of my blogging practice was waining. very few times did i really have some thought that was challenging on a daily basis. instead, and probably more healthy as a practice, i was pondering something for weeks or months at a time. but that doesn't help in keeping an active blog going. so i have been feeling like i was putting in a bunch of filler stuff.

well, some of that filler stuff (which i do think was good most of the time, admittedly not all the time) is moving around to other avenues, along with some of my other ponderings. i am more and more using twitter as a way of crossing the town green, sharing prayers, information, links and photos from my day etc. i have also taken advantage of posting within facebook.

i've started to reshape my blog to reflect this change. putting all my lifestream stuff through friendfeed and showing it off on the side bar. i also created a lifestream page that is more expanded.

tricky part to all of this is that there is not a searchable long tail in twitter content. its probably a good thing as i am not sure i want to find 140 character snippets for the first page of all my searches. so what is worthy of sharing for the long term? i'm still trying to figure that one out.

look back into the past : the things that were about this time years ago

in my on going toss out of lifting up some of the archives of this blog from similar time period over the years.

• i jumped in on some oovoo conversations with marketing & tech type people (pretty sure i was the only youth minister participating in the event). that was fun, but oovoo hasn't taken off. tokbox seems to be the next multi person video conference center.
• some ponderings from the desert fathers & mothers on parenting & youth ministry
• everyone can use some new 'faith filled' pick up lines
• an early morning reflection on the homeless in my city
• remember when the nfl was going to sue churches if you had a super bowl party.. seems they have learned from that pr nightmare
• i was again likened to a celebrity.. well, he wasn't so much celebrity then, he's more now
• church shopping & the devices of the entertaining church
• i took the strengths profile test that our church is big proponent of. can you guess what i came out as?
• my abbey journal kept while on retreat at gethsemani. good times, need to get back soon.
• in what is the only time you see capital letters use consistently, my pastor michael williams guest blogged on the theological conversation with miroslav volf
• this is what happens when you are friends with jonathon norman
• thoughts on how justice issues can become an idol unto themselves
• some ponderings on contemporary worship in my church context & how our greater church sold their soul to contemporary worship
• starbucks goes down!

warmth in winter : glimpse into a retreat

this is partially a mobile test post

This is a pic of a core part of our design team for warmth in winter jumping around dancing at the end if another great retreat. they worked harder than ever before to make this one happen and it turned out great. view more photos at our conference flickr & my own flickr set.

lost generation : coolest thing on

this might be one of the coolest, and most truth telling things i've seen on youtbue in a long time. its not long & you must watch the whole thing to get the impact. no, some lame scary person isn't going to jump up at the end (i didn't tell you to turn up your speakers did i?). tip comes from family friend meredith who sent to wifey erin (not sure what it takes to get on meredith's email list but)