Companions,
In ongoing conversations with several of you, online and offline, I'm looking most seriously right now at 4 possible venues for our second gathering...
Indianapolis, Indiana (home of Lockerbie Central UMC)
Greater Cincinnati Area (near Th3Waters/Florence UMC and several other connections)
Dallas, TX (home of Perkins/SMU and the methemergentlab)
and back here in Nashville, TN (home of country music among other things!)
So... I'm asking y'all to help me decide location among these viable options. (Technically, I have to make the final call, but I want all the input and reflection on that possible).
AND... I'm needing from you as well a sense of when in late fall would work best for you to be part of this gathering...
For me right now the available times are:
October 1-3
October 8-10 (but this might be the same as an emergent event-- but can't tell since the calendar on emergentvillage is down... anyone know?)
October 22-24-- would coincide with 350.org Action Day (October 24)
November 12-14
These are all Thursday-Saturday time frames.... chosen because that's what we chose for last time based on your input, but that's up for discussion!
So... Where... and When?
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
A Must-Read Blog
Companions,
The General Board of Discipleship, the United Methodist agency where I work, has been downsizing during this past year. Initially we did this with the idea of aligning the organization to address two new realities-- a) the Four Focus Areas and this agency's response to those and b) the reality that the 2008 General Conference left us with a budget that would not allow us to keep our current staff in their current roles at their current (much less increased) salaries. Then, by the end of the year, the elimination of an additional 15 positions was announced as a response to the economic downturn and its effects on our funding streams-- both church giving and interest income from our reserves (which make up a significant part of our revenue stream).
One of those whose positions was not continued was Dan Dick, former Director of Research here. His work was often posted on what is now the former GBOD Research blog (it's been taken down now) and was consistently raising good questions (often provocative ones!) based on solid research. I've linked to his former research blog here more than once. (Most recently, the post "When Christian Education Doesn't").
The good news is that Dan is still publishing the results of his research online-- at a new blog he calls "United Methodeviations." The title of this post links directly to his blog. It is absolutely worth reading and following.
I would like to invite all readers of this blog both to read his blog, AND to recommend other must-read blogs. I'll compile these into a larger "emergingumc must-reads" roll on this blog.
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
The General Board of Discipleship, the United Methodist agency where I work, has been downsizing during this past year. Initially we did this with the idea of aligning the organization to address two new realities-- a) the Four Focus Areas and this agency's response to those and b) the reality that the 2008 General Conference left us with a budget that would not allow us to keep our current staff in their current roles at their current (much less increased) salaries. Then, by the end of the year, the elimination of an additional 15 positions was announced as a response to the economic downturn and its effects on our funding streams-- both church giving and interest income from our reserves (which make up a significant part of our revenue stream).
One of those whose positions was not continued was Dan Dick, former Director of Research here. His work was often posted on what is now the former GBOD Research blog (it's been taken down now) and was consistently raising good questions (often provocative ones!) based on solid research. I've linked to his former research blog here more than once. (Most recently, the post "When Christian Education Doesn't").
The good news is that Dan is still publishing the results of his research online-- at a new blog he calls "United Methodeviations." The title of this post links directly to his blog. It is absolutely worth reading and following.
I would like to invite all readers of this blog both to read his blog, AND to recommend other must-read blogs. I'll compile these into a larger "emergingumc must-reads" roll on this blog.
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
The Shack... Missional or Not or What...?
Companions,
I read The Shack on Monday. If you would like to engage some of my questions and critique and praise of it, go over to my wall on Facebook and go back to Tuesday (2/3) when I put up 5 wall posts with a whole bunch of citations, critique, and some praise. (If you want to see it, you'll need to become my Facebook friend-- but I'm pretty easy to find given my last name!).
Basically, I think this book, if only because it is so widely read, should be read by all of us here. Whether one likes it as literature or as theological statement, its sheer circulation/viral distribution through US culture (at least) means it's a must read to engage the conversations with all sorts of folks that it might bring up.
I don't want to get into a huge conversation about the book in general here. If you haven't read it, just go read it. If you have, don't spoil it. I think folks just need to read it.
So for here, I have just one question with three possible answers (multiple choice) and an essay portion for those of you who have read it:
Is the Christology/theology developed in The Shack missional? Or not? Or what? And if so, or if not, how so (or not)?
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
I read The Shack on Monday. If you would like to engage some of my questions and critique and praise of it, go over to my wall on Facebook and go back to Tuesday (2/3) when I put up 5 wall posts with a whole bunch of citations, critique, and some praise. (If you want to see it, you'll need to become my Facebook friend-- but I'm pretty easy to find given my last name!).
Basically, I think this book, if only because it is so widely read, should be read by all of us here. Whether one likes it as literature or as theological statement, its sheer circulation/viral distribution through US culture (at least) means it's a must read to engage the conversations with all sorts of folks that it might bring up.
I don't want to get into a huge conversation about the book in general here. If you haven't read it, just go read it. If you have, don't spoil it. I think folks just need to read it.
So for here, I have just one question with three possible answers (multiple choice) and an essay portion for those of you who have read it:
Is the Christology/theology developed in The Shack missional? Or not? Or what? And if so, or if not, how so (or not)?
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
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