Culture Center Summit

Culture Center Summit
Cambridge, MA
August 13-16 (starts Thursday evening @ 7:30pm)
$75/person
Registration due TODAY (7/31)
Brochure

This year's conference is focused on the practical side of actually living out vibrant, "centered-set" faith. In addition to the main speakers, each participant will sign up for one of three tracks consisting of 4 separate breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon. The tracks are as follows:

PASTOR TRACK -- Led by Dave Schmelzer and Charles Park, this track is geared specifically towards to pastors and church leaders around the specifics of leading a centered-set church. Topics of discussion will include: centered-set preaching, language choices, structure of a service, and structure of a church.

WORSHIP & THE ARTS -- Led by Christopher Greco, Casey Corum, and David Linhart, this track is geared specifically towards worship leaders, artists, and musicians. Topics of discussion will include: centered-set worship, the role of worship within the larger service and different models of approaches, personnel and resources -- recruiting, equipping, resourcing and pastoring different teams, recording, gigging, and running art events.

LAITY -- Led by Brian Housman, Val Snekvik, and several others, this track is geared towards those interested in pursuing vibrant faith in their own great, secular places. Topics of discussion will include: having vibrant relationships with those around you by crossing the moat, living out centered-set faith in your area, praying for your six, tips on having great faith conversations, running SEEK, running a Leap of Faith, and other practical ways to pursue a life of vibrant faith.

[note: today is the last day for registerion..so run, don't walk, to join in this great time, right now!!]

our sustainable faith

…if you haven't taken time to consider the sustainability of your faith journey and embracing what it takes to journey through life with sustainable faith, my sacred companion and good friend dave nixon and his wonderful wife jody offer retreat and rest at the convent, every time i go there, as soon as i enter the place it's like a big sigh of relief...like entering a sacred and safe place...

dave is also mentor and teacher who facilitates the sustainable faith school of spiritual direction, as well as an erstwhile founding presence and leader at that most awesome and hospitable faith community they call vineyard central…

just another day with Jesus

just another shot of red wine
to chase down the broken bread
so i can bleed again on the streets
following my Saviour’s precious bloodshed

just another soul forsaken
by a world too busy to care
so i cast this bread on the waters
alongside hope in the public square

just another day with Jesus
staking my tent at the gates of hell
invading the enemy territory
me and you and Immanuel

beyond admittance...deep access

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
John 12:42-43

i have talked before (actually both here and here) about some of the highlights of reading through the gospel of john during lent. john 12 made me pause to consider and reflect...

i mean, here you have some of the elite who believe in Jesus, but cannot "come out for Him" because they might get thrown out of synagogue/church, right? how sad. i think this might relate to some of the conversations relating to andrew marin's book: love is an orientation

are we being modern pharisees in the church today, keeping people from a deeper access to Jesus, a more radical access to Jesus, a true "come as you are" to meet and be with Jesus?

i mean, according to hebrews, not only are we supposed to have access, but we can foster the relationship of others with Jesus, thus cultivating their own deeper access, even access to the throne room of God.

i like this perspective from dave schmelzer at not the religious type and his popular post on mysticism at a distance:

"...If nothing else, this teaches me that people will work very hard to get even a small sense of closeness to God. What are you hoping for on those lines? Do you have a sense that there's a greater connection to God out there than you've yet experienced? Do you think about that very often? What about the mystical life appeals to you?"

i recently went through some really, really great training at the formational prayer institute with terry wardle at ashland theological seminary; while teaching us to be empathic caregivers, one of terry's points was that the church needs more and more to become the text rather than throwing scripture at people. instead of merely quoting: "perfect love casts out fear", what would happen if we actually loved people in such a way that fear was cast out?

so, are we in the way?

are our pre-conceived notions (and at-times false constructs) of Christianity keeping others from experiencing Jesus or "coming out for Jesus?"

...and also, how do we react when some are more in love with the approval of men rather than the approval of God?

see the text, be the text...bring the scriptures to life!

sirens of eternity

o, these sirens of eternity
their cry delves deep down inside
as they forge an undiluted path
a trajectory with which i collide

the Eternal Glorious One
His kind caress gently applied
the piercing pain do i embrace
for He refuses to cast me aside

these sirens who toil with song
their exquisite skill does assuage
while their stirring is like a break
in my most cruel, gilded cage

as if the sea of myself was parted
a miracle of exodus to restage
eternity swelling in my heart
the Ancient of Days to engage

thus these sirens weave their song
with the best acute intent
this haunting, vulnerable ode
with joy underlying the lament

moreover they thus dissemble
my deep, dark discontent
as suddenly my face is alight
with the warm wisdom of contentment


…this Faith has me risking
words of a precious delight
right here, right now,
in this divine Wind and Light

…this Hope has me seizing
upon present moments to tell
right here, right now,
this God-in-us to dwell

…this Love has me dreaming
a world we will ignite
right here, right now,
in our common and shared earthy plight

underground vineyard

i know i have mentioned my erstwhile acquaintance jason coker before when i wrote about his great ministry of generosity: twoshirts.org

generosity is priceless.

[you can also catch one of the featured articles concerning human trafficking at towshirts.org, authored by some suspiciously familiar guy from the central maryland vineyard...the article is called: let justice roll]

jason is out in beautiful san diego now, and has begun fostering a collection of neighborhood communities called underground vineyard...be sure to check it out, especially his take on discipleship as fitness which is scarily like what i wrote (brilliant minds thinking alike) this past spring - for those who journeyed together with me in the kingdom cohort spiritual formation group earlier this summer at the central maryland vineyard this is exactly what we were doing!

he's also fronting a great event called the micah film fest...the micah film festival is a collaboration between a few local community groups and businesses who are committed to the cultivation of justice, mercy, and humility in the world. Through the celebration of these virtues in the art of documentary film we seek to connect people with others who are working for redemptive transformation around the globe. if you are in the area, be sure to check it out!

around-the-horn - guest blogging again

this month has been quite a month of guest blogging for me, from the midwest to the UK and now back to boston and then home again...

in the tradition of summer baseball, i feel like i've just batted-the-cycle, or maybe i need to guest blog at my own blog to bat-for-the-cycle or maybe i'm just the baseball being thrown around-the-horn...

• today i'm guest blogging (with a post entitled: does future's-thinking help us?) at the not-the-religious-type blog with dave schmelzer (dave is also pastor of the greater boston vineyard)
• yesterday i was guest blogging (with a post entitled: deep church, deep wells) in the UK at the deep church blog with jason clark (jason is also pastor of the vineyard church sutton in the UK)
• earlier i was guest blogging (with a post entitled: the interconnectivity of justice) in the midwest at the one step closer blog with ken wilson (ken is also pastor of the ann arbor vineyard)

anyway, if you missed them, you can still check them out, as the conversation may never end and another voice is always welcome...

guest blogging in the UK

...today i am guest blogging at the deep church blog run by jason clark and paul mayers and their friends...

jason is the senior pastor of the vineyard church sutton in the uk, on the outskirts of london.

jason is also a great "reflective-practioner" and follower of Jesus currently wading into his Ph.D. program researching theological assessments of consumerism and secularism, and the implications for ecclesiology.

What is deep church? "Deep church is far more than an ecumenical dream of coming together across the barriers of ignorance and predujice: it is predicated upon the central tenets of the gospel held in common by those who have the temerity to be 'Mere Christians.' This commonality in the light of post-Enlightenment modernism is greater and more fundamental than the divisions and schisms of church history. Deep Church, as its name implies, is spiritual reality down in the depths - the foundations and structures of the Faith - which feed, sustain and equips us to be disciples of Christ."

check out my guest post: deep church, deep wells

ubuntu

a thunderous truth springs forth from the heavens,
and the earth shudders under His significance

confusion rests on their faces
stirs their very souls
having laboured in chains for so long
is this hope at last on the horizon?

restless now the malevolent ones
to have their final say…
to impart their last burdensome kiss

yet He will let them roam no more…
the time has come: redemption draws near

confession shall be uttered
a simple word of ownership
for the path of liberation

stands before us even now

shall we stand together?
this people…this life…
bound through solidarity in our profession
for if truth be told

i cannot be who i am

unless you can be who you are
as we are given over to each other

it is no wishing well before which we stand
tis the very precipice of eternity

will indeed shame be our legacy
or shall we take up redemption

and leave the weight of glory in our wake?

Hero Culture in Neue Quarterly

Click here for a recent story from Neue Quarterly magazine written by my friend and author of The Danger Habit, Mike Barrett. (Mike is also the teaching pastor at the Coast Vineyard in Oregon!)

The article is called "The Hero Culture" is in the "Neue Soul" section and draws parallels between the drivenness and narcisism found within extreme sports and the similar dynamics that often creep into Christian leadership.

You can click here for my full-blown review of Mike's first book, The Danger Habit...which is great reading especially for the summer, so check it out...

mojo in my bones

wearisome world
worrisome groan
this life of voodoo
bitter taste in my bones

chicory is the tint
of this world…nothing new
yet still striving my strained eyes
to glance something askew

shiny is the prophet of main street slang –
itching ears to be scratched
by a lying spirit
with fangs

a tongue from of old
practiced in deceit
words flung like dry bones
cast by a houngan on bourbon street

yet his bones they are silent
no clarity to be found
the present no-more-so
eyes turn toward the ground


then heard is a rumbling
and a shaking that confounds
as saints march forth
a new hope that astounds

angelic is the battle
that looms overhead
His Presence rushing forth
as we rest in our beds

the wicked ones – they flee
at His Presence announced
while others in awe
marked with Beauty pronounced

the symmetry of karma
is wrecked by Another
this shattering Grace
of the Alpha and Omega

no more the brittle bones
do they break beneath me
the old marrow reborn
new Spirit fills deeply

like a heaping spoonful of beans
poured over steaming rice
His Presence rushing forth
filled with new spice

fresh mojo in my bones
a vitality springing forth
the taste of new life
embraced beyond and always thenceforth

Anti-Human Trafficking Advocacy Opportunity

If anyone is in the area and available, this is a great opportunity. Otherwise, you might send an e-mail to your Senators and Congress-person that you are concerned about American Child Sex Slaves and in support of the work of the Caucus on Victims' Rights and the Caucus on Human Trafficking.

peace

steven

______________________________________________

Shared Hope International is headed to Capitol Hill and we want you to join us!

A Congressional Briefing: American Child Sex Slaves are Being Arrested, not Rescued

American children are being sold for sex to American men in the hundreds of thousands every single day. This is child sex trafficking – the victimization of a child through prostitution, pornography or sexual entertainment. It happens in every state, every day. It’s time to face the crisis that is stealing the lives of our nation’s children.

Shared Hope International will publicly release The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America's Prostituted Children on July 21, 2009, at a Congressional Human Trafficking Briefing sponsored by the Caucus on Victims’ Rights and the Caucus on Human Trafficking. The findings and recommendations from Shared Hope International's National Report will be revealed at the Briefing on July 21. The magnitude of the problem will be brought to light, as America’s modern-day slavery is exposed in the faces of children.

Join us! We want to PACK the hearing room and send a clear message to Congress that Children are NOT for sale in American and aggressive action Must be taken to protect and rescue children from this heinous crime.

Schedule for Tuesday:

Congressional Human Trafficking Briefing
July 21, 200910:00 am – 12:00 pmRayburn 2226

Audience: Open to the public

10:00-10:30am

• Ambassador Louis C. de Baca, U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons: Overview of 2009 TIP Report

10:30-10:50am U.S. Department of Justice Panel Discussion

• Andrew Oosterban, Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
• Robert Moosey, Civil Rights Division, Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit

10:50-11:00am Q&A

11:00-11:45am NGO Panel Discussion

• Congresswoman Linda Smith (1994-98), Founder and President, Shared Hope International
• Ernie Allen, President and CEO, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Brad Myles, Deputy Director, Polaris Project
  

11:45-noon Q&A

rock of ages

O abiding Rock of ages
i am crushed and caressed
in our enduring encounter
driven by the risk
of an illuminating trust i cannot fully grasp
daring me to enter the relentless quest
an invitation beckoning us
yet relishing the velocity
in my unsettled convergence
i continually catch the sympathetic echo
of my own previous prayers (again and again)
as i twist in the spin-cycle of life
and blindly grope for a holding
even so, change – my constant companion
casts me into
my own era of tumultuous vertigo
so as to lead me to the edge of our yawning subsistence
decorated with suffering cries and laughing eyes
compelling us to a place of interruption
while we weep and rejoice as one

the stone weighing in the pit of my stomach

beyond

the compartmentalized vicissitude

of unthinking certitude
i arise
from a sticky cob-web vision
utterly off-balance
an instability accentuated
by the stone weighing
in the pit of my stomach
that fiend uncertainty – she who gnaws
at my delicate act of
putting one foot in front of the other
where have You hidden Yourself
O Visioncaster?
have i left You in the deep crevices
of bed-clothes slumber
while i awake to wrestle
mountains and molehills
emerging among the topography of life
courtesy of fertile fears
now set aside by fragile faith
as i am roused
to wonder at the transition
from a sacred moment so profound
to the vague indifference
of the here-and-now
groping wideawake for deliverance
from the grayscale
of living
which tosses me to-and-fro
upon the undulating waves
as i cling to my tenuous conviction

guest blogging in the midwest

...my roots are showing! (i was born and raised in indiana)

today i am guest blogging with ken wilson (senior pastor of the ann arbor vineyard church) at his blog one step closer

ken, along with john odean and myself, will be doing some workshops at the 2009 RE:FORM conference

i really appreciate ken and his passion for involving the church in environmental stewardship, a ministry they call green vineyard.

i also appreciate the ann arbor vineyard, because one of my daily rhythms involves an online resource through them; i pray the divine hours - including morning, midday, vespers (evening) and compline (before retiring) offices - which the ann arbor vineyard has online.

my guest post on his blog today is: the interconnectivity of justice

living becomes sacramental

wordcraft for the feast of st. benedict:

as love descends from my lips
to take root in the heart
that turns out to be
such a fertile womb of faith
the exchange of which
leaves me breathless

and in that breathless brush
with the kiss of death
the fullness of time surges
in but an instance of grace

the dilation of which
plunges me into the depths
of an eternal well of wisdom
momentarily cut to the quick
i put down my clanging symbol

and as the timbre of my garish gong fades
a new source of strength
ascends from the spring of silent insight

and living becomes sacramental –
filled with the Reality to which it witnesses
here-to-for to subsist from faith to faith
in the deeper currents
beneath restless waves
where a hidden love
bears all things

is hope shipwrecked?

late one evening
i caught a vision of a life
one beyond this grievin’
and this terrible strife

my body it shivers

cold spray of the wave
salty mist on my face,
salty tears of a slave

O, Lord, where you gone?
how long ‘til You appear
or are we trapped in this ragin’ storm?
for You never to drawn near

is that the shore...a lighthouse of hope beckonin’?
or is that hope shipwrecked on the reef there despairin’?

O, how we yearn for the righteous shore
long for the taste of emancipation more

shackled we are…in this leaky life boat

will it shatter on the rocks?
or can we make it ridin’ Your tailcoat?

early one morning
i caught a glimpse of a distant glow
in the mists before the dawn
a flashing began to grow

my spirit stirred

with the first rays of light
dried eyes in hope
as I struggle and fight

O, Lord, at last have you come,
is that finally You?
in the end we succumb
released from these chains through and through

is that the shore…a lighthouse of hope beckonin’?
or is that hope shipwrecked on the reef there despairin’?

O, how we yearn for the righteous shore
long for the taste of emancipation more

shackled we are…in this leaky life boat
will it shatter on the rocks?
or can we make it ridin’ Your tailcoat?

pierce the illusion

pierce the illusion
of a scattered people
at war with our shattered selves

wrestling with flesh and blood
as defiant powers
smile in their twisted ways
embracing our kindred
with their saccharine slavery

O – how do we right this wrong?

all tangled in their web
deceit weighs heavy – like iron roots
planted in an ancient bitterness

and i feel like a fly
thrashing in the ointment
of our collective stupor
as a holy storm approaches
…from afar

upcoming (ill)usion

just fyi, most of july will be devoted to a short poetry/wordcraft series i am calling (ill)usion. it begins tomorrow and goes every tuesday and thursday through the end of july...

besides my seasonal and liturgical-calendar wordcraft, if you have missed previous wordcraft series, you can check them out now:

• shir-ha-chaundra
• do-you-ever-think-of-me
• visionquest
  

i'll have a few other brief items this month as well ('feast' wordcraft and another of the 'beyond' series) but july will mostly be wordcraft...enjoy!!

blessing muslims

we have had some 'blessing muslims' luncheons at the central maryland vineyard recently (the next on is - i think - on july 26th). in fact, VineyardUSA has begun an initiative being lead by great people like rick love and carl madearis called 'blessing muslims':

Christian-Muslim relations comprise one of the momentous challenges of the 21st century. The relationship between Christians and Muslims is supercharged by terrorism and exacerbated by the fact that western countries are perceived as "Christian" by many Muslims. Negative stereotypes of Muslims, and ignorance has caused the church to shrink back from Jesus' commands to love and to make disciples.

How then can the Vineyard be agents of peace and faithfully bear witness to Christ in such a polarized world? What does a Vineyard approach to blessing Muslims look like?

God has blessed the Vineyard with a unique impartation of power, a heart of compassion and a desire to bless people. We have a stewardship. We are blessed to be a blessing. Or more accurately, we are blessed to bless all nations (Gen 12:1-3; Ps 67). When I think of a Vineyard approach to blessing Muslims I can't help but picture Vineyardites laying hands on Muslims all over the world. Praying for healing, breaking demonic strongholds and blessing them in Jesus name. Muslims are highly receptive to prayer in Jesus name since Jesus was a great miracle worker in the Qu'ran.

A brief look at some of our core values shows how God has prepared the Vineyard for "such a time as this!" We are uniquely poised and prepared to bless Muslims:

• Our commitment to being a "reconciling community" means that we build bridges between Christians and Muslims. We seek to become peacemakers -- in our attitudes toward Muslims and in our relationships with Muslims. As one expression of this, a number of Vineyard pastors, burdened for the plight of the Palestinians are seeking ways to work towards peace and a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• Our commitment to "compassionate ministry" compels us to bless Muslims. Approximately 60% of the world's poor and 80% of the world's refugees our Muslim. As those who have received mercy, we cannot help but demonstrate the mercy of Christ to these needy neighbors - no strings attached.
• Our commitment to "culturally relevant witness" means that we promote creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative approaches to blessing Muslims. We are committed to demonstrating and declaring the beauty and power of Jesus in ways that make sense to Muslims.
• Our commitment to "kingdom theology and practice" moves us to bear witness to the kingdom among all peoples, including Muslims. Thus, we seek to manifest the kingdom in our words and deeds-through physical and emotional healing, doing justice, and exalting Jesus among the world's 1.3 billion Muslims.

here is a great blog post from carl madearis and his daughter's perspective from their time in lebanon:

• we're not missionaries

rick love has a few more writings along these lines:

• peacemaking and respectful witness
• blessing nations in the 21st century

at the vineyardusa national conference in may 2009, the last session was a conversation between rich nathan (an american christian of jewish heritage) and sami awad (a palestinian christian), it's really great:

• heroic leadership: vineyard, forgiveness and the turmoil of the middle east

christianity today's leadership journal has an interesting article recently:

• ministry lessons from a muslim

lastly, also along these lines, check out the really intriguing interview conducted by my online acquaintance joel richardson with adnan oktar, a controversial though very influential muslim leader and intellectual who has written over three hundred books. oktar is very well known throughout turkey and the larger muslim world with literally millions of his books in circulation in numerous languages.