johnnylaird

I've migrated! New johnnylaird blog

2010-04-07T21:53:00.002Z

You've arrived at the old johnnylaird blog.

Thanks for coming

Please head to the NEW johnnylaird blog here

mi casa es su casa

Why do you cry? He has risen

2010-04-03T20:14:00.004Z

Why do you cry? He has risen

Why are you weeping? He's not dead

Why do you cry? He has risen

Why are you weeping? He's not dead

He paid it all on that lonely highway

And his anointing I can feel. He shed his blood

For my transgressions

And by His stripes we are healed

Music & lyrics by Kirk Franklin

Greenbelt

2010-03-26T17:28:00.000Z

The Laird crew have pretty much decided that we're going to head off to the Greenbelt festival later this year.

It will be a first for me, and something I've been meaning to do for years now.

Greenbelt have launched a new site today, and made some announcements about the line up.

Wanna come?

HT to Greenbelt for the image

New site from Moot

2010-03-26T16:07:00.003Z

Nice to see that the lovely people at Moot have given their website a springclean.

Clean lines, tidy aesthetic , pared down and simple.

I like it.

HT to Moot for the image

Ragamuffin Carlos Whittaker coming to UK?

2010-03-26T10:45:00.002Z

Word is Jesus following Uberblogger and Worship leader, Carlos Whittaker is coming over to the UK during May.

Last night Los tweeted:

Hey UK. Looks like the wife and I will be heading out there for a bit in late May. Let's book some nights of worship!!!

This is good news.

Here’s hoping for a hook-up...

Ragamuffin Soul
More on Los at johnnylaird

HT to Los for the image

Lovely Atheists and Jesus followers

2010-03-23T10:58:00.004Z

Last year when the UK initiated Atheist Bus Campaign was in full swing I think there was a little spike in the ancient and ongoing debate between Theists and Atheists. The argument often descends into childish or spiteful rhetoric and head honcho, top banana amongst the non Believers, Richard Dawkins is regularly described as “shrill”. I’m sure “shrill” is Dawkins’ middle name!

It can actually become quite boring. If ever you’ve read the comments section in any of The Guardian’s articles on faith you’ll know what I mean.

Sometimes I wonder if we’re getting it all wrong.

I’m sure a much more rewarding and edifying experience would be to bring together some of the less strident, but no less compelling voices...not to debate, not to argue, not to score points, but simply to hang out. You know – eat some food, enjoy a walk in the woods, make sandcastles on the beach, look at the stars...whatever.

In my head, I’ve kinda compiled a short list of Atheists who I think are completely top people – inspirational in their field, interesting and seemingly in love with life.

I’ve come up with a similar list of Jesus followers who have really informed my own way of looking at Scripture and walking the Way of Jesus.

I’d love to bring this bunch of folks together.

I’ve got a funny feeling they’d get along famously

Any thoughts?

Any obvious omissions?

Lovely Atheists

Eddie Izzard
Billy Connolly
Dr Brian Cox

Jesus followers

Desmond Tutu
Rob Bell
Brian McLaren
Erwin McManus

Rob Bell in London with Chapel Street, and Jim Wallis on the way

2010-03-18T18:39:00.006Z

Kudos has to go out to Chapel Street for hosting an excellent evening with Rob Bell in Westminster, London last night.

For an organisation still in its infancy, the guys at Chapel Street were the hosts with the most!

For the record - and for the naysayers out there - Rob spoke very clearly and principally about Jesus, the Cross and the Resurrection in his “Drops Like Stars” presentation.

Clearly, Chapel Street mean to carry on as they have started as they shared news of the “Social Justice Tour” later in the year, when they bring Jim Wallis to the UK.

I once blogged that Chapel Street were “One to watch”. Perhaps more than ever this is the case.

The amazing story of the ministries of Russ Rook, and those of his friend and cohort Phil Wall is one that deserves to be told more completely and shared more widely. Through Roots, ALOVE, HOPEHIV and now Chapel Street these are a couple of men of God, who have regularly found themselves walking in places where God has been doing his stuff. Clearly there are things to be learned from their experience.

HT to Chapel Steet for the images

Friend of the geek...

2010-03-18T16:45:00.003Z

One of the ways I describe myself is a “friend of the geek”. It sits in there nicely alongside “Connector, communicator, change agent, blogger & social activist... friend of the geek & radical"

One of the chief geeks I consider myself to be a friend of is Chris Hinton of Geek Speak.

Today he poses the question....” Are online friendships “real”?

I know what I think.

Got any thoughts?

HT to Chris for the image

Media Day at The Salvation Army Kettering

2010-03-16T17:03:00.004Z

On Saturday May 8th I’ll be exploring & speaking about how we can use Twitter, blogging & other Social Media stuff in ministry at a media day held The Salvation Army in Kettering, England.

Other folks will be talking about sound engineering, presentation software, the use of video etc, whereas I’ll be concentrating a little more on community, tribes and connections...and stepping outside of the Church bubble.

The organisers are also hoping to arrange a video link up with the guys from the US to talk about MediaShout.

There’s no website per se for the event, but there is a registration place here, if you want to check it out.

Brian Kelly Photography

2010-03-13T21:14:00.002Z

I’m quite partial to a beautifully captured image, and you could do a lot worse if you wanted to see some than to check out Brian Kelly’s glorious new website. Not only are the pics themselves wonderful....the site is pretty elegant as well.

Brian first came my notice when I was impressed by some excellent shots he’s taken of Pastor and Author, Ed Dobson for a book and website project called Living Jesusly.

Both Brian and Ed hail from Grand Rapids, Michigan...as does Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church.

All 3 guys are worth checking out

• More about Ed on johnnylaird
• More about Rob on johnnylaird

HT to Brian for the pic

Problogger.....then who?

2010-03-09T17:40:00.003Z

Let’s assume Problogger’s Darren Rowse is your – and most other blogger’s - #1 port of call for blogging tips & inspiration.

If YOU were to choose only ONE OTHER guy to watch, who would it be?

When you make your choice, unpack it a little, and explain WHY?

HT to Darren Rowse for the pic

Stuart Pendred sings....Carol Jarvis and Murray Greig play: Celebration Concert for ANDY GREIG - Bedford - 23rd April

2010-03-09T14:07:00.005Z

If you read johnnylaird regularly, you’ll know that I’ve been dragging my old carcas around various long distance runs in recent months, at first in aid of my buddy Andy Greig, and now in his honour, as Andy died in November having fought a brave, dignified and inspiring battle against bone cancer.

Another one of my dearest and longest standing friends, the wonderfully talented Stuart Pendred has done so much to push this whole thing of friends trying to help each other along, and has been invited to perform in a Celebration Concert in memory and celebration of our friend Andy, at The Salvation Army in Bedford....somewhere - as kids - Stuart, Andy, me and a whole tight knit gang of kids spent countless happy hours, days, doing the stuff that close friends do. They were magical times that have left me with some amazing memories, and friends I will love forever.

All proceeds from the concert will go towards Andy's Angels - the charity that was set up during Andy's illness.

Stuart spoke, sang and held it together wonderfully at Andy’s funeral.
Another of the musicians who offered their tribute on the day was the amazing Carol Jarvis, regarded as one of the best trombonists in the world. Carol has toured with many of the world's top orchestras and has also performed with Seal and Sting. Her playing is just beautiful. Sublime.

Andy’s cousin Murray Greig will also be featured.

As the Principal Trumpet player for Opera North as well as being Trumpet Tutor for both the Royal Northern College of Music and the famous Chethams Music School, Murray is truly one of the UK's best trumpet players.

Check out Stuart’s site for more details

Spanish getaway

2010-03-09T13:35:00.004Z

If you and your family fancy a short break in Spain, here’s the skinny...

Some really good friends of mine have a great little place that I’m glad to help them promote, cause it’s a top place and I love ‘em.

It’s stylish, very comfortable and close to the beach.

They’re top folks, who’d be happy to shoot you an email more details on cost, availability and stuff.

If you want to know more, leave me a comment and I’ll hook you up with them.

Disclaimer: This is all straight & genuine, but I do get a little kick back for coffee money should you book through me....just sayin’!

I did it....just!

2010-03-08T11:07:00.003Z

I managed another 13.1 mile stagger yesterday in memory of my dear friend Andy Greig.

Excellent day - beautifully sunny, but a bit chilly.

So good to hook up with old friends again.

HT to 42Run for the image. More available there.

Forge America

2010-03-05T11:44:00.006Z

I was stoked to discover today that Forge are kicking off in the US.

Originally an initiative out of Australia, driven in large part by the work of Alan Hirsch and Mike Frost, who get so many mentions on my blog I’m fearful they might think I’m stalking them.

I’m not...really I’m not...I just think that between them they have the best handle on what it means to be missional in the West in the 21st Century, so it’s worth keeping a close eye on what they have to say.

My noodlings about Mission”Al”
My noodlings about Frosty

Forge America describe themselves like this:

Forge is an innovative mission training network that seeks to equip Christian leaders for mission in a first world setting.

Forge recognizes the enormous cultural shifts that have occurred in the world over the last few decades and is committed to developing leaders who can live and serve incarnationally, who have a holistic view of life and mission and who are able to re-think church structures recognizing that one size does not fit all.

Forge encourages the dreamers, entrepreneurs and the risk takers in our churches to boldly seek new expressions of church and new approaches to mission so that we can be genuinely connected to the heartbeat of our communities.

The Forge dream is to see both new missional communities birthed and established churches encouraged refocusing on the task of mission within their communities

Forge has emerged at a time when it is widely agreed that we find ourselves in a new mission context. In our present cultural climate most experienced evangelists and missionaries recognize that intentional mission responses and church planting is the most effective approach. Forge is a bold initiative that specifically addresses these challenges by linking experienced mission practitioners with emerging missional leaders. Forge aims to focus its energy on developing leadership that can understand the missional challenge and proactively develop strategies, approaches and teams, to be able to take the church onto new and uncharted ground.

You may want to check out the forthcoming Forge Missional Imaginations Conference in April, hosted by Wheaton.

Forge’s National US Director is fellow Aussie, Kim Hammond

As a double whammy bonus on this post, here’s a great little interview with Alan conducted by Andrew Marin of Love is An Orientation, and a link to Churchplanters conference where Hirschy gives a great lecture on the whole Missional deal....it’s really worth taking the time with a coffee to listen to this presentation if you want to get some perspective on this missional business (you have to give ‘em your email address)

“Bring It To Life” Missio Dei

2010-02-27T23:57:00.002Z

Now, you wouldn’t expect a member of the famously teetotal Sally Army to run a Guinness ad on their blog, but - heck - Ireland won the rugby today, so that’s my excuse!

But it’s not the rugby I want to talk about.

It’s the wonderful ad that’s been running on TV in the UK at the moment, and there’s something about the “Bring It To Life” tagline that is interesting to me.

Guinness have shifted from the “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait” slogan to the a new line of “Bring It To Life”. The ad “World” shows a bunch of guys loosely playing God and creating a world of their own - one that looks a little like LOST on a very bad weather day:

I read that previous ads based on the ‘Good Things...’ slogan were “firmly rooted in the experience of drinking in a pub”. Guinness say their famous brew is also increasingly popular at home and the company were looking to find a way to persuade more people to experience Guinness “wherever they were.”

The Creative director of the ad said this was “based on a product truth which reframes the drink making it more contemporary and relevant to a new audience” (and the way they now consume alcohol.)

The interesting thing to me is that some of the language that could slip very easily into a conversation about faith and Church.

I’m not convinced about the validity of the search for the “contemporary and relevant” in and of itself, but I am stirred by the sheer size and awesome grandeur of this world we live in, and the way it speaks to me of God.

I’m also blown away to think that we can experience God the creator....wherever we are; and that includes in the pub!

Church: Crowd or Community?

2010-02-26T21:01:00.004Z

Mosaic’s Erwin McManus nails it with this great preach that you can catch – in audio or video* - at the Mosaic Podcast, and calls out his own community. (Who I have massive love for, BTW)

“You have to decide whether you just want this is to be a place where you come to observe or a place where you want to have community and communion”

“I don’t want you to come to Church. I want you to BE the Church”

Strong stuff. Challenging as ever. Great lessons to be learned.

Thanks, Erwin.

One of the Scripture passages quoted in this preach is the wonderful Micah 6:8 (New International Version)

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

(*This particular message is entitled “A Fresh Start for Mosaic”)

HT to Bluefish TV for the image

St Paul's Cathedral - Global Poverty Project Churches Launch

2010-02-24T14:02:00.000Z

Tonight hundreds of people will gather at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral for the Global Poverty Project Churches Launch.

I’m glad to be among that number to listen, and learn more about this significant initiative.

There’s no ”us and them...”

2010-02-23T21:28:00.002Z

What a deeply sad clip

Now, strangely enough, I don’t have a problem with guns per se. There are plenty of good folks in the US and beyond who use them sensibly and responsibly in hunting and sports, BUT...and it’s a big but...the easy availability of guns to the criminal world has to be addressed.

I don’t know what the answer is, and I don’t know enough about the culture to really understand it , but it’s certainly troubling that someone like Shane Claiborne is given such short shrift here and it raises all kinds of questions about Empire, Kingdom and nominal Christianity.

I wonder how many of the folks responding to him so vehemently released how well known he is, and how far his influence reaches?

Click for more on Shane Claiborne and The Simple Way

Croydon Churches: Java for Jesus

2010-02-23T18:32:00.006Z

I’m looking forward to Croydon Churches Forum Leaders Breakfast tomorrow, part of which will be a presentation from the Nationwide Christian Trust where they will outline their vision – described as Living Oasis - for how some of the old Wesley Owen Christian bookstores can be reinvigorated and used for mission and ministry in their local contexts. This nationwide chain of Christian bookstores has recently been victims of the recession and have been in various stages of liquidation and flux in recent months.

Now, it may seem obvious to Christians that there is need for a high street outlet for Christian resources – books, DVDs, music etc, but I’m quite intrigued to hear more about the vision, and what impact such a retail environment would have on the broader community.

A cursory look at the associated NCT and Living Oasis websites seems to show that - aesthetically at least - the initiatives seem to have both feet planted firmly in the realms of “Churchianity”.

Good books about faith are important – so important - and I dearly wish my own ecclesia would read more often. I’m a massive advocate that Jesus followers should be well resourced and well read, yet I think we have to caution ourselves about creating environments that only appeal to people who behave like we do, look like we do, and share our cultural points of reference. Beware the Holy Huddle.

NCT also mention a move from “Maintenance to Mission” on their site.

Again, this is right up my alley, but the thought occurs that we still need to understand and explore – corporately and individually – what is means to follow the Missio Dei. Do we need to create our own Christian coffee shops, or should we be drinking our Java for Jesus in those places – those “third places” that already exist?

It can be done – and done well, though, as shown by church.co.uk’s recent Hub coffee shop review.

Please don’t assume this post is wholly negative. I’m just exploring and sharing my own internal ramblings, and committing them to the blogosphere!

Blogging Bishop of Croydon, Nick Baines will be at the breakfast, so it will be interesting to hear his views.

HT to Pernell Goodyear of The Freeway for the image

Brian McLaren in London

2010-02-22T15:43:00.004Z

I’m looking forward to catching Brian McLaren speak when he visits church.co.uk in Waterloo this Sunday evening.

Having read a number of Brian’s books, long been inspired by much of what he has written and been hugely impressed by his grace when on the wrong end of criticism, I’m sure it will be great to hear what he has to say, particularly as his new book – A New Kind of Christianity – has just been released.

It’s good that church.co.uk continue to bring such vital voices as Brian to their home community of faith, and we in turn get a chance to hear them first hand. Thanks guys!

As an aside, check out the great review their Hub coffee shop got recently on the Londoner’s Eye website.

Check here for previous mentions of Brian on this blog

Number 9 Football

2010-02-22T11:39:00.003Z

Yesterday evening (Sunday) my Church – The Salvation Army in Croydon – started a couple of new initiatives.

Initiative # 1

It was great to hear that 26 people turned up to take part in the first “Number 9* Football” event at the Power League venue in the town on Sunday evening. It’s so important to get out there – out of our Church buildings – and just be with people where they are. Team events like football (soccer) are so good for all kinds of different reasons – the opportunity to bond and feel part of something shared as community; the chance to meet and engage with people from different backgrounds. The sheer rush of getting out and doing something that gets the heart pumping.

...nice to hear it was so well supported.

(“Number 9” has clear footballing connotations, but it is also the ”number” of our Salvation Army Church – the ninth in existence, and the first to established outside of the Sally Army’s initial roots in the East End of London in the late 1800s)

Initiative #2

On the same evening, a new Small Group was started, which is always encouraging.

Word is it was a good night, and one of the excellent NOOMA vids was used as a resource. The NOOMA stuff produced by the guys at Flannel is just fabulous for exploring faith, spirituality and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Highly recommended.

HT to Treehugger for the image

NYCLU vs The Salvation Army

2010-02-17T22:36:00.005Z

I stumbled across a few interesting, but slightly fuzzy news pieces via Twitter this evening regarding an announcement from the New York Civil Liberties Union regarding The Salvation Army:

Here, here and here

The NYCLU’s statement includes this staggering couple of sentences, which I would guess would fill most Salvationists with incredulity.

“Though The Salvation Army is a church, a firewall for years existed between its religious arm and its social service arm. This allowed The Salvation Army to perform its responsibilities as a government-funded social services agency in the New York metropolitan area diligently and without injecting religion into its provision of social services”

I’m still trying to take the whole issue on board, because sitting here in the UK the story is so imbibed with a US world view and political perspective that I might be missing a trick, but the notion that we as The Salvation Army would be doing the things without Jesus being at the centre....or center...seems to be misunderstanding what we are about.

Would love to hear what you think

There are a few similar ramblings rolling around the same subject:

HT to Rob Noland at Revolution Hawaii for the image

Plywood People

2010-02-17T20:55:00.004Z

Glad to see that all round top man Duncan McFadzean is part of the Plywood People tribe.

I’ve been a fan of Duncan’s entrepreneurial & socially aware initiatives for several years now as evidenced by the multiple blogposts mentioning his name , so it’s good to see that he’s has a strong connection with the equally inspirational Plywood people.*

Plywood People: An innovative community addressing social needs. We hope to inspire conversation between the privileged and impoverished through communal places, social experiments and awareness campaigns.

*I highly recommend a visit to their site. There’s a whole raft of stuff you may want to get involved in

Hoping for a meet up next week, bud!

HT to Plywood for the image

Bromley Trombone workshop featuring the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet

2010-02-17T18:46:00.001Z

Although it clashes with a similar event on the same night with my home Church and we are geographically close, I wanted to give the Bromley Trombone workshop featuring the Black Dyke Trombone Quartet a little plug for a few reasons:

• The guys from Bromley are top guys, so merit my support for that reason alone.
• Clearly they’ve tried to engage with their audience by directly emailing all the trombone players they know.
• They’ve gone to the trouble to create a website, FB group, blog and got themselves on Twitter...so are using the tools available to promote the day

Now, if I’m being completely honest, it’s no longer the kind of thing that floats my boat, but you have to give credit where credit is due. They are plugging it as hard as they can, and in a way that may well result in more people attending their Workshop than had they not put the time and effort in.

For that...they have my support.

Hope it goes well, guys!

WIRED: If you liked this....you’ll like this

2010-02-16T22:23:00.003Z

Hot on the heels of the little post yesterday about Blaise Aguera y Arcas’ Augmented Reality demo (hence If you liked this....you’ll like this) , this news from WIRED Magazine continues to take us into the realms of technology that was the stuff of techno dreams only a few years ago, with this incredible new interactive digital magazine hook up with Adobe. It’s really impressive stuff.

Look out for WIRED Creative Director Scott Dadich's super deep voice though! He may mash up your bass speakers!

WIRED has been one of my favo(u)rite reads for years, and has been referenced a few times before on this blog:

For old stuff, check here

Augmented Reality: This is wild!

2010-02-15T18:25:00.001Z

Blaise Aguera y Arcas rocks the house at TED with this amazing Augmented Reality demo.

As an added bonus, you should visit the mindwarping “Running the Numbers” images from Chris Jordan on Blaise Aguera y Arcas’ company site, Seadragon.

Embrace Life

2010-02-12T16:23:00.000Z

Edify

2010-02-11T22:58:00.000Z

This video from The Salvation Army’s Edify program in Oz is just amazing....a great work

Halogen TV: New Social Media Manager

2010-02-11T11:46:00.003Z

Knightopia’s Steve Knight has announced his new role at Halogen TV. I’m glad he did, because his new gig has introduced me to Halogen, which looks like a great initiative...massively impressive.

Here’s what they say about themselves:

Halogen TV is network devoted to empowering entertainment. Halogen TV’s content, based on the core elements of justice, purpose, connection and beauty, speaks to the core of who people are then encourages and empowers them to realize their potential and leave their mark on the world around them..

Steve was another one of JD Blundell’s 10 Kingdom Bloggers to watch list at the beginning of the year. I snuck in there too!

Congrats on the new gig Steve. Looks like it’s gonna be quite a journey!

Red Letter Days...words of Jesus: New iPhone App from KORE

2010-02-11T09:06:00.003Z

Today, my good friends at KORE have released a new iPhone app – Red Letter Days - for easy access to the words of Jesus... and nothing else.

The app contains verses from eight different versions of the Bible and is designed for iPhone geeks anywhere as an instant source of inspiration and challenge from the words of Jesus.

The Red Letter name refers to Bibles that are printed with the words of Jesus in red ink to emphasise His words and teaching...something that sometimes gets lost in the wash of religiosity every bit as much as any attacks from strident Atheists.

I love this quote from actor William H Macey

...in this day and age of religious wackos taking over the world I do love quoting Jesus and reading some of the things he said in the Bible. Because it's so disarming, so simple, so true. It cannot be argued with. "Let he who is without sin..." Oh man.

Spread the word!

For more references to KORE on johnnylaird check here

Commissioner Joe Noland

2010-02-10T19:49:00.004Z

I once - a couple of years back - flagged Joe Noland as one of the few senior Salvation Army leaders to be actively engaged in blogging.

Two years on, nothing much has changed, but Joe continues to churn out some really thought provoking stuff.

His latest post on uniform wearing (he says he has a love/hate relationship with it) & Salvationism has a real resonance with the way I see things – even though I don’t always feel the necessity to make mention of the liberal and conservative worldviews. As a Brit – even one who almost reluctantly accepts that label – I don’t quite connect with that requirement to show we are bipartisan, or more accurately not aligned to any number of political mindsets as a movement.

Here are a few selected highlights:

Salvationism is a two part word: Salvation + ism. The salvation part is never changing – the same, yesterday, today, forever (The conservative part). Ism, by its proper definition is “a movement” – always changing: “Mobile, fluid, robust, pulsating, progressive, maturing – Genesis in motion.”

In other words, our methodology needs to stay relevant, inclusive and flexible in order to reach the last, the lost and least (The liberal part).
you will find that good, calculated, risk-taking begins to dissipate as mission metamorphosis into institutionalism. Early day Salvationists were risk-takers for the right reasons. Let’s take this primitive concept and make it contemporary, sans the traditional, institutional regulations and regalia. For many that’s too scary (risky) to even think about.

I also like the quote he includes from Commissioner Harry Read:

"Salvationism is an engine-room kind of word, for within its robust, energy-exuding frame pulsates the heart of the Army. Here, the essential beliefs of the Movement, its active, maturing and progressive concepts, its love and service-centred ministries, all reside in a living, quick-to-respond balance for the benefit of mankind."

HT to Joe Noland for the wonderful pic
Follow Joe on Twitter

Synod on religious broadcasting

2010-02-10T11:18:00.003Z

I’m interested to hear that the Church of England’s Synod will be discussing broadcasting on faith issues today. It looks like the premise is that there’s not enough, and that the BBC (and the other channels?) is in some way marginalizing Christian TV output in the UK.

I’ve been thinking about this for some time – not so much about the amount of time devoted to Christian shows - but rather the quality and content of whatever is presented, and indeed how authentically representative it is of the Christian community in all its breadth and diversity.

Where is the good stuff going to come from?

Can we see some more radical voices?

When you consider too the way Christians are depicted in TV drama, documentary and film, we are left with a fuzzy caricature of reality with few genuine sightings of regular Jesus followers on the box.

It’s largely Dot Cotton, the stuffy English vicar archetype and a bit of Cliff Richard thrown in for good measure.

Here’s hoping today’s discussions throw up some good points.

Salvation Army Tee for Haiti

2010-02-10T10:24:00.004Z

...loving this fabulous Salvation Army inspired tee from Orlando based designer Hydro74.

The best part is that profits from sale of the product will go to support The Salvation Army's ongoing relief work in Haiti.

Thanks to the guys at WARdrobe for bringing this good lookin' tee to my attention, and HT to Hydro74 for the pic.

Hat Tip to theWeir

2010-02-06T22:25:00.002Z

I’ve been doing a lot...A LOT...of reading blogs about blogging in recent days. There’s some excellent stuff out there, which has been helpful, inspiring and tangibly positive as I move ahead in the journey I’m on at the moment.

(If you don’t know anything about the journey, there’s some stuff here and here, which will at least give some background)

I’m working on a post that will summarize the places that I’ve found personally useful at some point very soon.

That said, it was refreshing that one of the blogs I’m finding myself completely blown away by is Chris Guillebea’s quite brilliant The Art of Non Conformity – Unconventional Strategies for Life Work and Travel.

This is not about blogging per se, but is the more expansive story of Chris’ life as a writer, traveller, and un- conventionalist. There’s so much good stuff that I just have to keep going back.

I have to say a big

Thank you!

to theWeir – yeah, I know! I don’t get the name thing yet either - for introducing me to The Art of Non Conformity, as well as reminding me that I really must get round to reading Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents

Hat Tip to theWeir for the image

Kore

2010-02-02T21:39:00.001Z

It was really good today to share some time, some coffee and some spectacularly varied choices of cake - beetroot & seed, orange & lavender or prune & armagnac - (Google it. I had to...) with Matt and Juls Hollidge from KORE.

There’s something really inspiring about people that you feel an immediate connection with, so when I first met the guys at Digimission a few months, I knew there was a good deal of common ground.

So, today was an affirmation then of that original inspiration for me, as we were able to explore quite how many points of connection there really were – books read, events attended, many mutual in-the-flesh and online buddies, a passion for mission, a desire for the Church to connect with culture. It was exciting to be in the same space with so many ideas fizzing around.

KORE has a wide portfolio of creative resources and other initiates for Jesus following communities.

I’d suggest you explore the site to see if there are ways they could support you.

Check out Shibboleth:

Following in the tradition of master storytellers, Shibboleth is a series of modern parables for a church tucked up in bed..............................zzzzzzzzzzzzz............

Wild Thing from KORE uk on Vimeo.

Great to hook up, guys!

Missional in 2 minutes

2010-02-01T20:26:00.002Z

This is not the whole story, and obviously only a two minute snapshot which largely ignores the Biblical roots of missional Church, but I think it’s a reasonable starting point to get a notion of what missional is all about.

If you want to go deeper – and you really have to if you want to really understand the roots and reality of missional Church - go and read some Hirsch and Frost, or check this vid out over a coffee.

Here’s a more expansive explanation from Alan Hirsch

I always try to give an acknowledgment the source of any video I post on here, but I struggled a little to find the precise source. I was kind of in the same quandary at The Well Mission’s Andrew Feil, whose cheeky wee comment made me smile.

...found this on Tim Chester’s Blog, but he got it from the Missional Church Network Website, who found it the twitter feed of Alan Hirsch, who got it from Jeff Maguire’s YouTube...

Charles Lee Double Whammy

2010-01-29T23:24:00.003Z

I’ve been meaning to give my friend Charles Lee – the brains behind the Ideation and the Idea Camp - a little shout out here for some time now, so knowing he’s the latest featured guest on the wonderful Something Beautiful podcast gives me a reason to do this. It’s bound to be worth a listen.

Charles has also given a really interesting assessment of his recent speaking gig at a Salvation Army’s Boot Camp for Youth Leaders on this recent blog post.

I was stoked with this particular observation:

In addition, it was encouraging to see a diverse movement of people working together to do good in the world. By far, it was one of the most culturally diverse gatherings I had ever been to. Loved it!

...Something Beautiful...

HT to Charles for the image

Sensational Salvationist Soul

2010-01-28T14:21:00.006Z

Massive...massive...MASSIVE thanks to Eric Himes, who posted this incredible vid featuring Swedish Salvationist Samuel Ljungblahd, on the WARdrobe Facebook Group*.

(*Adding Salvo gear such as tunics, epaulettes, crests, shields, t-shirts, hoodies, jackets and hats to supplement your daily wardrobe)

Samuel’s dueting with Gospel legend, Kirk Franklin..or rather with one of Kirk’s singers Nikki Ross, and they just hit it completely out of the park! Awesome R&B tinged gospel.

Delighted, too, to see that Samuel gave the “Salvation Army salute” at the end of his amazing performance: a finger pointed heavenwards to indicate that what he did in performance...was actually an act of Worship to his God.

I was just noodling around in the FB group because I love the imaginative and creative way some folks are mashing up The Salvation Army uniform these days, recalling those early, rootsy days in our movement’s history when the uniform was perhaps an outward sign of the renegade, and less of the bowing to convention or internal culture, so Samuel rocking an old style “stand up” Salvation Army tunic with blue jeans got a mention.

Discovering Samuel Ljungblahd was an immense bonus.

Sartorially, the whole WARdrobe thing reminds me a little of Bill Booth Revial Machine in the 70s.

If you are a Salvationist, you might want to check the group out. I hope it makes you smile.

If you’re not a Sally – just enjoy Samuel’s Sensational Salvationist Soul

You Have To Check It Out!

8BIT

2010-01-28T09:44:00.007Z

I’m just taking a few moments to give a quick shout out to the guys at new Church hotspot and community at 8BIT.

Here’s what they say:

“The 8BIT Network’s Mission is to resource the Church with timely, relevant, practical, and exceptionally valuable content.”

ChurchCrunch – currently their flagship blog- is a place I’ve been checking out under the radar for a little while, and I like what I see, so I’m excited about this initiative.

One of 8BIT’s head honchos, John Lee Saddington, who blogs at Human3rror, already has a raft of cool looking stuff out there in the cloud, so I’d say we’re going to see some really useful, clean and aesthetically pleasing stuff coming from them.

Sounds good to me…ones to watch!

Hook yourself up with 8BIT via Twitter

HT to 8BIT for the image

New tools & woodshedding

2010-01-27T15:28:00.010Z

Having alluded to my plans to initiate

“some kind of increased & enhanced online activity”

in this earlier post about my life in 2010, I thought I’d sneak out a little about where I am with this, outline some of the useful resource sites I’ve been frequenting and explain – in case anyone reading this doesn’t know – what “woodshedding” is.

First up, my good friend JD Blundell was kind enough to make mention of me planning to beef up my online activity on his post “10 Kingdom bloggers to watch in 2010”, which in turn has turned up on Darren Rowse’s influential Problogger site.

New tools – resources I’m exploring:

Wordpress

A migration to Wordpress is looking likely for my new main blog. It seems to be it’s going to give me what I’m looking for aesthetically and in terms of the bells & whistles I'm looking for. Thankfully I’m picking the brains of buddies who have the technical nonce and good design taste to help me pull together a smokin’ new look!

Problogger

Problogger has been a regular landing spot for me these last few weeks, as it’s quite probably the best single resource out there for anyone trying to intelligently explore how to create revenue streams through their blog. What I like about Darren is that he’s not a fast buck, “get rich quick” huckster, but rather someone who seems to operate with an impressive level of integrity.

Recently I’ve read a post by respected online buddy Fernando Gros about “Pure Blogging”, transparency and honesty where he asks the question

“How upfront are we about our reasons for being in this game?”

This is a timely reminder for me in this transitional period for me and my blog.

Will my new site have a commercial element? Yes it will.

Web Worker Daily

Another great site for resources, ideas and inspiration is Web Worker Daily – great for someone who has recently migrated from office to home office. It’s rammed with good stuff

Freelance Advisor

At this point, I’m spending a little less time with this than the other sites, but Freelance Advisor’s local – i.e. UK - perspective is helpful, and I suspect may be increasingly so. There were a couple of podcasts that were interesting light relief during those early days of this journey when the UK was on lock down because of the January snow.

If it floats your boat check out “Making a living without a job” Part 1 and Part 2

Woodshedding

...perhaps a little off topic, but it you ever were a jazz aficionado, you’ll be familiar with the concept of “woodshedding”, that preparatory time when a jazzer takes them self away to the “woodshed” – a place of privacy and seclusion; hones their skills, works on their chops, does the ground work, practices like fury, getting ready to come unleashed themselves to the world.

I doubt any “unleashing” is going to go on, but this is the place I’m at right now. I’m woodshedding.

The first time I heard the term, I think it was in relation to the mighty genius that was Jaco Pastorius.

You may not want to check our any of the sites, podcasts or links I’ve suggested above....but you really do need to check out Jaco. For me, there has been no better bassist.

Never forget....

2010-01-27T09:55:00.003Z

Haiti: A response from this Salvationist, a response from The Salvation Army

2010-01-26T20:01:00.001Z

I’m posting this with a slight sense of hesitancy.

I’ve struggled to say anything at all about Haiti. It’s almost too bad, too horrific..beyond my understanding.

To tell the truth, l was pretty angry with God. I simply didn’t - and still don’t - understand why things like this happen.

However, I have been heartened by the World’s response.

The optimist in me hopes that somehow the future will be better than the past has been for my Haitian brothers & sisters who are hurting and grieving so much right now.

It has been inspiring too how my tribe has once again geared up, rolled up their sleeves and found themselves in the front line, trying to serve those so desperately in need.

In all honesty, I don’t much care if you decide to direct any help you can give for Haiti to The Salvation Army – just help any of the great agencies involved - but I’m happy to promote The Salvation Army’s efforts by including a vid in this blogpost.

Haiti Disaster Relief 60 sec PSA from Communications Bureau on Vimeo.

Happpy Burns Night!

2010-01-25T16:01:00.001Z

Hoot!

2010-01-23T00:37:00.002Z

I’ve stumbled upon the excellent work of locally based uber photographer Phil Aylen.

The pics are really....really brilliant. Top quality stuff.

Why "Hoot"?

Check out Phil's Twitter handle.

Love it!

Something Beautiful: Pernell

2010-01-22T10:11:00.003Z

Something Beautiful is always worth a listen. The guys have for a couple of years now been putting together a really excellent podcast every single week which is a fabulous resource...that has become a community.

Right now, the latest show – in fact the last two shows – feature a good friend, Pernell Goodyear.

Pernell is one of the key guys at the amazing Freeway community in Hamilton, ON, and has brilliant things to say about Jesus stuff, deep community and missional Church as he shoots the breeze with Thomas on this Something Beautiful double whammy.

Absolutely definitely worth checking out Pernell’s story.

It’s real.

HT to Pernell for the pic

Old Forge Vid: Frost, McLaren and Mr Bass

2010-01-18T23:11:00.003Z

Check out these snippits of stuff from Forge Australia Dangerous Stories 2 National Summit for the emerging missional church from way back in 2007:

Powerful stuff that had slipped under my radar.

TEDx Orenda

2010-01-18T15:25:00.006Z

It’s a little late, but...just a little catch up on the TEDx event I attended this week in London, compered by leading technology writer Bill Thompson, and with a pre-recorded video introduction by Howard Rheingold, the man credited with coming up with the phrase “virtual communities”.

The speakers & video presentations had been lined up with three headings in mind; Fun, Funding & Functional

FUN

Pat Kane

Talking on the subject of “The Play Manifesto”, and taking his cue from the iPhone cupped in his palm, Pat was cerebral, passionate, engaging, erudite....but ironically enough, not particularly playful. That’s not to say Pat wasn’t dealing with the subject at hand. He was...and with some authority, but it seemed he was pitching a little high, perhaps influenced by the expectation that he was presenting to a room of tech savvy educationalists. My guess would be that the gathered group was perhaps a little more diverse than that, and would have been entirely comfortable with a degree of “fun” and silliness.

However, I’m going to go away and dig into Pat’s website on the subject. He’s clearly got a lot of important and viable things to say about play and technology, so I’m sure it’s worth investigating further.

I’m also going to dig out some of my old Hue and Cry albums. Mother Glasgow will forever remain one of my favourite ballads, and no one does it like the Kane brothers!

The full text of Pat’s talk can be found here.

Hadley Beeman

With a subject of “The Muppets and the Nature of Innovation”, Hadley Beeman explored the universality of those furry creatures, how learning and Human–computer interaction often handled in different ways across the generations and the subsequent tech developments as a result of those studies. The inclusion of the Muppets was at once a clever device for a section headed “fun”, also a tacet acknowledgement that Jim Henson’s Muppet Show alumni and their cousins over at Sesame Street (now 40 years old) have had a massive impact on Western society, particularly that of my generation. I’ve seen mentions already of Barack Obama being the first “Sesame Street President”

Lilly Evans

Next up – via Skype which worked like a dream – Lilly Evans (self described on Twitter as "Late night maven, practical IT geek, telling truth to power, rebel with cause, mother, mother-in-law and wife but teenager at heart") began her “How to let children take part” presentation with a challenge for each of us to find one word to describe ourselves and share with someone sitting close to us in the room. I have to confess, I become so embroiled in the train of thought that question provoked that I largely missed the content Lilly presented. I guess I’ll have to wait for the vids to appear somewhere online to catch up.

James Proud

18 year old (yet looking even younger) entrepreneur and founder of Giglocater was refreshing in his simple, stripped back & straight to the point single slide presentation of “Why school didn’t train me to be an entrepreneur”. James struck me as someone who’d be making his mark whether digital technology was available to him or not. This young gun is a confident and smart cookie, and one to watch in the future.

FUNDING

I’m not sure either Alfie Dennen or Dougald Hind’s slots had much to do with funding. They were both much more inspirational that the dullish “funding” title they found themselves in.

Alfie Dennen

First up, Alfie was able to offer up a raft of creative & sometimes quirky web initiatives he has “given wings” to over the last few years. I can imagine many of these projects were cooked up over late nights bouncing mad ideas around, reaching a conclusion of “wouldn’t it be good if we tried this” or “you, know it might just work”. I like Alfie’s way of thinking. He was more fun than funding!

Dougald Hine

Dougald’s subject of “Engaging the community in meaningful purpose” was the talk that seemed the most natural fit for my word view, and he didn’t disappoint. There was simply so much I could try to recall, that you’d be bombarded with more links and references than you could cope with, so in the interest of getting straight to the source suggest you head here - explore and engage. One thing Dougald did talk about that really resonated with me was his urging that we rethink what shops are for. A lot of shopping now takes place online, so we need to think about how shop spaces will be used in the future. Dougald’s assertion is that “markets” in are as old as human settlement, and are not going away anytime soon as physical places of congregation dialog and exchange. (Perhaps to the some allusions to Ray Oldenburg’s Third Place?)

I would love folks like Something Beautiful’s JD, Thomas and Stewart to have been able to hear Dougald if no-one else at TEDx Orenda . There were so many points of connection that would have been fizzing ‘round the room.

..also kinda reminded me in many ways of the mighty Shane Claiborne. Maybe someone can organize a hook-up?

Check Dougald online for more background.

Sara Haq

Next up was the previously unscheduled yet inspirational Sara Haq came to the stage to talk about her globe spanning journeys exploring creative learning, humanity, social media and shared connections. Good stuff!

FUNCTIONAL

London cabbie Lee Cox talked about the type of learning that is required to acquire “The Knowledge” – the almost mythic and encyclopedic grasp of London’s spidery and organic mess of a road system, as well as giving a useful plug for @tweetalondoncab

Caroline Bosher

Caroline – self styled – “Special Agent on a mission to transform businesses through exceptional branding & connections” seemed somehow a little out of step with the TEDx ethos. There was a small reaction in to the corporate and squarely commercial language in the #TEDx live Tweets.

I missed Maz Nadjim

I had to leave before the end of Caroline’s spiel just to be sure I wouldn’t get delayed as I headed back to deepest Surrey on this first day of being able to safely travel through the snow, so sadly I missed Maz Nadjim.

Another one to catch when the TEDx videos are posted.

...love some feedback from you guys...

Big HT to Digital Maverick for pulling together this excellent evening.

Shalom and Shalvah

2010-01-15T23:04:00.003Z

Today I read these words written by Eugene Peterson, and in the process learnt a new one – shalvah.

...The words shalom and shalvah play on the sounds in Jerusalem, jerushalom, the place of worship.

Shalom, peace, is one of the richest words in the Bible. You can no more define it by looking up its meaning in the dictionary than you can define a person by his social security number. It gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God's will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave, or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.

And shalvah, security.

It has nothing to do with insurance policies or large bank accounts or stockpiles of weapons.

The root meaning is leisure - the relaxed stance of one who knows that everything is all right because God is over us, with us, and for us in Jesus Christ. It is the security of being at home in a history that has a cross at its centre.

It is the leisure of the person who knows that every moment of our existence is at the disposal of God, lived under the mercy of God.

If I – and Eugene – have understood shalvah correctly, it works for me, and it’s the place I find myself in at the moment.

Shalom and Shalvah!

Book Haul 2010

2010-01-15T22:28:00.003Z

Now that my luggage has finally arrived – a week and a half since we got back from the US – I’ll be able to dig into my annual book haul.

Here are my new reads:

The Year of Living Like Jesus...by Ed Dobson

First off the bat, I finally managed to get a hold of a book that I’ve been looking forward to since last year, and have mentioned here numerous times: Ed Dobson’s The Year of Living Like Jesus. Already it’s proving to be an inspirational read.

Clearly, for someone who tries to be a Jesus follower, there’s going to be a lot in there to grab the attention, (Ed starts a book with the words

“I don’t like the word Christian”)

but I think it would be a good read for anyone. As you’d expect from a Pastor, Ed is a great story teller, and he conveys the journey through his year with wit and grace. The guy’s got some smarts too! So far, I’m loving it!

HT too to Brian Kelly for the excellent cover shoots. Brian is a quality photographer!

Then, three titles which explore an area that’s really floating my boat at the moment – blogging, social media tools and how they are affecting the world we inhabit.

Crush It! ...by Gary Vaynerchuk

Only today, I discovered that both Steve Knight & Jason Clarke had given Crush It! - which I bought on the basis of a shout out in the Inc magazine I’d picked up along the way – a thumbs up, so check out what Steve & Jason have to say. I respect their opinion.

Socialnomics – How social media transforms the way we live and do business...by Erik Qualman

I picked this up on the basis of a tip off from Krish Kandiah at last year’s Digimission event. I’ve not had the chance to dip into it, yet, but I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a goodie. Erik was kind enough to reply directly to a Tweet I sent when I bought the book, so he gets props for that if nothing else.

Viral Loop..by Adam L Penenberg

I’ve skimmed through Viral Loop already, having been drawn in by the cover (I know, I know....you can’t judge a book....), but I did start to wonder if this one was a little behind the beat in terms of the corporate examples it cites, but I’ll hold that in reserve until I’ve read it properly. Penenberg certainly has the credentials, as a Professor at New York University. I’m kinda hoping my reservations will be blown away, but we shall see.

The essential

Obviously, I had to get myself a new Moleskine diary for 2010, and a stash of mags to read – Fast Company, Inc, Trailrunner, and couple of editions of DWELL.

Let’s see how long it takes me to get through this lot.

What are you reading at the beginning of 2010?

Check here for more of my ramblings about books.

Headphonaught’s Pix

2010-01-15T11:35:00.004Z

I wanted to give a little shout out to my good friend & Something Beautiful Podcast co-host Thomas Mathie AKA Headphonaught, who’s experiencing a bit of overdue success with his photography with being used for album artwork and featuring in a book about Glasgow.

I love it when I see friends’ creativity and enterprise being recognized, and Thomas is one of the most creative and enterprising out there!

Good to see, mate..

HT to the Headphonaught for the image...

Reclaim

2010-01-15T11:00:00.005Z

Reclaim Promo from Communications Bureau on Vimeo.

Today in Atlanta – and into the weekend - The Salvation Army holds the RECLAIM event.

There’s an outstanding roster of speakers and workshop leaders, including missiologist, author & all round top bloke Alan Hirsch, the wonderful Phyllis Tickle and Pete Rollins, who has recently made the move to the US from Northern Ireland.

Hirshy has had numerous mentions on this blog because of the impact of his writing – together with his buddy Mike Frost – on my understanding of what it means to be a missional – sent – people.

I love it when our tribe reaches out to other wise voices to help inform what it is to re-engage with mission...so important for a movement that sometimes struggles with the balance of it's calling as a radical Jesus following mission movement and the challenges of also being a massive global social service agency.

It’s good too that some of the workshop themes are taking on the hot potato of human sexuality. I’m willing to be knocked down on this, because I haven’t researched the facts on this, but I can’t remember a time when a Salvation Army conference has dealt with it in such a head-on fashion. I’m glad the initiative has been taken.

We’re on a journey.

Wish I was there!

I’m looking forward to hearing how it went...

One Word

2010-01-14T11:42:00.002Z

Last night – along with a roomful of others - I was asked to describe myself in one word. One word alone, and then share it with the person sitting closest to me.

Now, that’s not such an easy task when you are put on the spot and asked to come up with something quickly. Sometimes my brain simply doesn’t come up with the required answer right away.

In my mind I wrestled with a few options for a second or two, and finally plumped for “FOLLOWER”.

Although it was a split second decision, I did struggle with whether this was the best word:

• Was it a little negative? If I’m a follower, does it mean I’m not a leader? Am I carried along at the behest of someone...or anyone?

• If I’m a follower, do I have no thoughts of my own?

• Will this single word convey what I mean to the person I’ve been asked to share it with?

In the end it felt right, because I am a follower – and for me, that has no negative connotation.

I am a follower of Jesus...a follower of The Way

There’s a passage in Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis that sums this up much better than I could:

Everybody is following somebody. Everybody has faith in something and somebody.

We are all believers.

As a Christian, I am simply trying to orient myself around living a particular kind of way. The kind of way that Jesus taught is possible. And I think that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live.

This isn't irrational or primitive or blind faith. It is merely being honest that we are all trying to live a 'way'.

I'm convinced being generous is a better way to live.

I'm convinced forgiving people and not carrying around bitterness is a better way to live.

I'm convinced having compassion is a better way to live.

I'm convinced pursuing peace in every situation is a better way to live.

I'm convinced listening to the wisdom of others is a better way to live.

I'm convinced being honest with people is a better way to live.

This way of thinking isn't weird or strange; it is simply acknowledging that everybody follows somebody, and I'm trying to follow Jesus.

Change

2010-01-12T01:07:00.002Z

I’ve blogged a little about the life change I’m going through at that the moment here, so having stumbled upon this piece – 10 Ways You Can Embrace Change - from Real Simple* on CNN site, there were a few things that really resonated with me:

(*a mag I’m not particularly familiar with!)

Seek out new perspectives. Zen practitioners cultivate the "don't know" mind; they work to assume they don't know anything and in that way see the world fresh. This is a great way to approach change -- as an opportunity to start anew, to consider all possibilities.

Try something new and slightly scary. Why? Because now is the time to explore what it is that you really like. Catch yourself off-guard and see what happens.

Be skeptical of common wisdom. It's dangerous to live in the aggregate

Shed your old skin. Discard physical clutter, tired ideas, old routines. Seeing things through another's eyes can help.

A few things to ponder there.

How do you deal with change?

Rob Bell Drops in the UK

2010-01-11T20:01:00.003Z

Good to know that Rob Bell’s Drops Like Stars tour is coming to the UK in March.

This is what Rob says about Drops

We plot, we plan, we assume things are going to go a certain way and then they don’t and we find ourselves in a new place, a place we haven’t been before, a place we never would have imagined on our own, and so it was difficult and unexpected and maybe even.

Tragic and yet it opened us up and freed us to see things in a whole new way. Suffering does that— it hurts, but it also creates.

How many of the most significant moments in your life came not because it all went right, but because it all fell apart?

It’s strange how there can be art in the agony…

The Drops Like Stars tour is a two hour exploration of the endlessly complex relationship between suffering and creativity—

Here’s the line up of dates.

Tickets are available here for London March 17th event

If he’s a new name to you; for more on Rob Bell’s ministry check out Nooma and Mars Hill, or follow Rob on Twitter.

HT to the Rob Bell site for the image

Nomadic digitribe

2010-01-09T22:18:00.004Z

Today’s Weekend Guardian has an interesting piece about those nomadic types travelling the world whilst kicking it as online entrepreneurs and digital mavens.

I was particularly interested to read the stories of Jon and Lea Woodward, and Viperchill’s Glen Allsopp, who between them have a clutch of online businesses that are definitely worth checking out if you are interested in exploring what it’s like to live, work and connect in the digital space.

Oxted Digerati

2010-01-09T21:29:00.003Z

Although we live in a small – some would say sleepy –semi rural English town, complete with beautiful Norman Church and park with a cricket green – there’s quite an interesting cross section of bloggers and other social media users here, who are gradually connecting through various Tweet ups and cursory gatherings in local pubs and coffee shops:

• My guess is Big Blue Meanie may have been one of the first of our bloggers. He’s got to be the granddaddy!

• There’s Crossy’s Rural Phloggings for occasional, but rather beautiful photographs of the area.

• Jonathan Jensen blogs on all things mobile & digital at SevenDotZero

• Gavin Dove with his close-to-2500 Twitter followers

Thanks to SevenDotZero we have a healthy and active Twitter tribe who keep each other informed of all the local moving and shaking.

There are also a few SMEs like Footprint web design and Quick Thinking

Am I missing anyone?

I’m happy to be corrected.

HT to Crossy for the excellent Oxted pic

24/7 prayer

2010-01-08T19:44:00.002Z

...spotted this interesting plate on the freeway during my recent visit to the US.

Just reminded me of the good guys at 24-7 Prayer

TwentyTen: I am released!

2010-01-08T17:45:00.004Z

OK.

This is a biggie.

During all of the time I’ve been blogging, using Facebook and Twitter etc I’ve been very careful with my online presence to say very little about my previous day to day working life in the electronic music, audio & video product industry…concentrating rather on my life as a follower of Jesus trying to live as authentically as I can.

This was not some secular/sacred issue. I made that online separation simply because I wanted to be defined not by what I “do” in my career, but rather by what I “am”. In fact over the years I have become ever more convicted that it is this attempt at walking the way of Jesus that defines me; weak, faltering and broken as I am.

Now that maxim will apply more than ever:

Here at the beginning of 2010 I become a free agent.

I am released!

My employment came to an end just before Christmas, due to a merger within the corporate group I have been a part of for many years.

Together with my family – and with a lot of prayer – we’ve just been trying to discern where we go from here.

We feel this is gift of God (perhaps more accurately a hefty kick) to make myself more available to Jesus stuff in whatever form that takes. Expecting that there will perhaps be more time than before, I’ve already stepped out and started to take the initiative to get involved in a few things that I have a passion for, and are close to my heart.

It’s time to recalibrate.

Early signs seem to be focussed towards authentic missional discipleship, connection and some kind of increased & enhanced online activity - influenced in part because I have been inspired by those over the last little while who by their living, writing, sharing, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, grace and love have impacted me more than they will ever realize.

JD, Thomas and Stewart are among that number with the Something Beautiful Podcast and JD’s book, St Peter's Brewery - Chris with Geek-Speak - Sam Radford with his Awaken stuff, Duncan McFadzean with his Seven Men projects, Chris and Dana at Blue Door TV, the remarkable transitional journey of Chick and Margaret Yuill...the list could go on and on!

I've never been much of a bread head, so it will be my passion that will drive this thing. In many ways I want it to be a vehicle to help others, as much as help myself. I'm excited to see how it evolves.

Also, I guess I've been recently quite inspired by former pastor, Problogger and friend of Tall Skinny Kiwi, Darren Rowse, and although I don't expect to be earning 6 figures anytime soon(!!), I am interested to explore just a little of what might be achieved. Over the longer haul, though, I've really been taken by how many of my buddies have just gotten off their butts, and taken leaps of faith...

If we’ve connected in any way since I started blogging YOU are part of my story, for that I thank you.

There’s a phrase that I picked up from renowned missiologist Mike Frost that has real resonance for me and my family at the moment. We are

“Following the Missio Dei into Strange Places”

I am excited about what God has in store for us!

If you want to join me on the journey or think I can in some small way support you on yours, feel free to get in touch with me on Facebook or Twitter

We would ask for your prayers.

Much love...in his dust

Angels in Milton Keynes

2010-01-07T21:40:00.002Z

You will remember that I was inspired by my dear friend Andy Greig AKA Grumpy Old Git to get off my backside and run.

Well, in 2010 I will run again, now and forever in memory of Andy; this time in Andy's home town of Milton Keynes in the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on March 7th:

Please support if you can, and spread the word.

Be an Angel!

TEDx

2010-01-07T18:48:00.004Z

For me, some of the best hook ups and events often happen quite by accident, so I’ve got high hopes for the TEDx Orenda* event I stumbled on via Solobasssteve’s Retweet about sister event AmplifiED '10 when I was doing some random post midnight web surfing.

Now, Steve doesn’t know me from Adam, but he’s an interesting voice worth following on Twitter...as is his Mum, Joan!

Steve was earmarked as a “maven” and networker by Jonny Baker at the recent Digimission event, so that’s a fair recommendation.

TEDx events have been spawned out of the massively influential TED – Technology, Education and Design - conference initiatives that have brought together in community some of the most fascinating and creative thinkers on the planet.

So, having read about it I was sure pretty much right away that I wanted to get along.

You might want to explore it too if you are interested in the digital space we inhabit, networks of networks or just hearing a sterling line up of speakers, including Pat Kane, now of The Play Ethic.

I'll be looking for Linda!

"In the spirit of "ideas worth spreading," TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxOrenda where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxOrenda TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized."

In Clover

2010-01-07T17:23:00.008Z

Clover 60 Second Video from Clover on Vimeo.

I’ve tried to give credit where credit is due - particularly in the case of Citysalvos – but there have been times when I’ve bemoaned the lack of effective, engaging and aesthetically pleasing Salvation Army Corps (Church) websites out there at the moment. Feel free to let me know if you know of any good ones...

With that in mind, I figured I’d give a shout out to the guys providing some of the best tools I’ve seen out there for Church websites, to encourage anyone involved in this area of their respective ministries – Salvation Army and beyond - to check it out.

For me, Clover websites seem to offer an elegant solution that is genuinely up to speed with today’s web standards.

Check them out!

(and be aware I’m a friend of Clover)

It's a funny old day!

2009-12-17T09:54:00.003Z

...yes it is!

Salvation Army on NPR...some thoughts

2009-12-15T17:06:00.002Z

I’ve been listening to this little NPR show about The Salvation Army, having picked up on it from a Tweet by my good buddy, J D Blundell.

As a Salvationist I found myself troubled on a few points:

First off – even at this busiest of seasons in The Salvation Army calendar – it’s important that you have a genuinely representative voice speaking on your behalf.

It’s probably safe to assume that author Diane Winston is a friend of The Salvation Army, but I didn’t get the feeling she was an authoritative voice or even fully up to speed on all of the details of some of the situations being discussed.

Secondly, although Winston’s assertion that

“Theology is not big in the Army. I mean, once you get past that they're rock-hard Bible believers, it's what they do that really counts”

is not wholly without foundation, it’s a way too simple assessment of our relationship with theology. More needs to be said by solid representatives who speak from an authentic and global viewpoint. I’m certainly not qualified to do so, but the statement is unsatisfactory, and needs way more unpacking.

My next worry was Winston’s assertion that

“The Army is a fundamentalist Christian group”.

I baulked at this description of the movement.

To me that seems way less than accurate and open to erroneous interpretation. The word “fundamentalist” comes loaded with meaning and puts us in a largely negative place, which seems to be at odds with what we really are at our heart.

Fourth up, there’s the hot potato of The Salvation Army’s various recent “controversies” that have been played out largely on the internet.

We’ve been hit hard – really hard - online, and opinions have become more embedded about who we are and what we believe. Blog posts have fed on blog posts (some are so off the hook, it’s scary), and the viral nature of it has allowed fact & fiction to merge into a fuzzy mess on the web and other media.

In relation to The Salvation Army supposedly being anti-gay, it is a label we’ve been saddled with in the last few years – I think unfairly, but I can see why it’s happened.

It seems in the US we’ve become public enemy #1 for many of our brothers and sisters in the gay community, and for me this is a great source of sadness.

(Check a few more thoughts on the subject here)

As a movement, our stance on the sexuality of members is reasonably small c conservative, pretty much in line with the Anglicans, Methodists etc in the UK, most Protestant denominations in the rest of the world etc. It’s also not exactly one of the big issues which define us, though. There are many many more significant barometers for measuring The Salvation Army’s corporate persona.

I say this, not to defend our position, just to say it’s not unique to The Salvation Army. I think the reason we’ve got the anti-gay label goes back to the fact that we are a Church…but we are also – particularly in the US - that a Social Agency that employs people – all kinds of people.

As a 46 year old man who’s been involved with the SA my whole life, I can barely remember hearing any negative teaching about homosexuality from our platforms and pulpits. (Although I have heard preachers preach about being welcoming to gay men and women, and exhortations for us to be ashamed of ways we may have failed to be inclusive). I have heard plenty of preaches about our responsibility towards the poor and the marginalized though.

In my own experience, I have almost always seen all people treated with kindness, love & grace, although I’m beginning to wonder if The Salvation Army needs to find a gracious, informed, global – rather than exclusively North American – and most of all Christlike response to the kind of hammering we take periodically

As far as I’m concerned we’re called to love God, and love others.

I guess my final point of concern about the broadcast may be the one many fellow Salvationists will struggle with. I’m becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the word “Evangelical”, not because I have issue with being evangelical (with a small “e”) about my faith, but rather that I am becoming nervous of the connotations that come with being labelled “Evangelical” with a large “E”. I don’t want to be burdened by the notion that somehow we as a movement become attached to or aligned with a particular political word view that is too closely associated with one political party, or locks this international movement of which I am part to a North American mind set.

Don’t get me wrong. I am huge fan of the US and its people. I really am, but it’s wrong for people to look at The Salvation Army as a wholly American institution. To do so creates an erroneous impression of how the Army globally & locally thinks, breathes and lives.

It’s wrong too to closely associate our movement with any particular political worldview. Salvationists come from all sides of the tracks politically and within the local context they find themselves in.

Most of all, we need as Salvationist to see ourselves and be seen as people who follow the way of Jesus.

HT to SAYNETWORK for the pic

8 Years!

2009-12-15T16:59:00.003Z

Eight years ago today I married my wonderful wife.

Janet has given me so much.

We are blessed with two amazing kids.

We have a home that is filled with laughter

We try to hold each other up as we walk the way of Jesus together

Life is good!

J

Grim

2009-12-07T12:45:00.003Z

I survived the Grim Challenge!

It was tough going for this newbie runner, who likes the occasional pie, but I got to the end...eventually!

My inspiration for the run was my buddy Andy Greig who blogged at Grumpy Old Git, so this one was for you, mate!

Looking the worse for wear, I'm pictured with Andy's sister and brother in law, Lindsay and Mel.

Charles Lee, Boot Camp Three

2009-12-04T15:21:00.002Z

I’m delighted that The Idea Camp’s Charles Lee is going to be speaking at The Salvation Army’s West Coast Youth event Boot Camp early in 2010.

…some nice synergy there…

HT to BC3 for the image

Digimission...a rambling response

2009-12-04T14:52:00.006Z

I’ve been trying to find a few minutes to scribble down a few thoughts on the excellent Digimission day put together by the Krish Kandiah and his team at the EA to explore how we Jesus followers navigate the digital age , but it’s been mad busy since.

Right off the bat it’s important to say how good it was to have even seen such an event in the taking place at the moment in the UK. I think it’s fair to say that in terms of how the Church is engaging with this new digital age we’re a little behind where people are at in the US.

Having said that, there was enough of a good cross section of folks present at the London event to encourage me that there are people who are really getting to grips with what it means for us individually – as bloggers, Facebook and Twitter users –corporately as Churches, organisations, tribes of all sorts…as we wrestle with how we do Church today.

The mix of speakers was pretty good, each bringing a slightly different perspective to the table.

Jonny Baker was first up and for me seemed to be the most comfortable and familiar with this new “low control” Web 2.0 environment. A long time, influential & well known blogger in the area of missional Church and Alternative Worship, Jonny inhabits this world with a sense of ease that means that his experience seemed to be more integrated into the whole of life, rather than absorption with the technology for its own sake.

So, there wasn’t much of a feeling of “this is the tech, and here’s what to do with it”, but rather a more expansive and ultimately more helpful exploration of interconnectedness, mission, social media and relationship in the West in the 21st Century that drew in “Small World Theory”, networks and the writing of Clay Shirky.

Top stuff from Jonny!

Maggi Dawn’s approach seemed to be to start from a different but no less inspiring place…from that of a writer, and the “Vicar” of her blog.Clearly the relational – even Pastoral - aspects of blogging are high in Maggi’s priorities, and I liked fact she described blogging as a relational form of writing, a real point of resonance for someone like me who values so highly the level interaction and engagement that is possible now.

We heard too from Adrian Warnock via a pre-recorded video, which of course meant something of a one way dialog, which perhaps was slightly at odds with the “connected” thread I was taking from Jonny and Maggi. Interesting footnote for me that Adrian had intentionally switched off his comments on his own blog. I guess I’ll have to do some detective work to see if I can figure out the back story there, as I’m less familiar with Adrian’s web presence than I am with that of Maggi & Jonny.

Third up in the flesh speaker was Mark Meynell from All Souls Langham place. Mark’s approach seemed to me to be rooted in his missional heart. There seemed to be an intentionality about Mark’s approach that was interesting.

Ahead of the event, and one of the deciding factor in getting me to attend at all was knowing that Shane Hipps would be featured – albeit via a live online hook up from Phoenix AZ – where it would have been a great deal warmer than the freezing venue.

Shane’s Flickering Pixels has been on my book list for a while now, so it was good to hear what he had to say. I’m looking forward to checking out the freebie book that came my way for being an early bird booker to Digimission.

Krish himself wrapped up the day. He’s no techno-slouch, so I would hazard a guess that we will continue to see more days like this in the future. Bring it on.

The bottom line for me is this is the world we’re living in. We have to engage with it, and understand it. We need to speak the language.

Fabulous to hook up with Richard Hall and the guys from Kore (a website well worth the look)

Thanks to all for a great day!

• More lucid and sensible reviews than mine from Everything Christian, Church Mouse, Richard Hall and Andy Moore• Watch Digimission here:

The St Peter’s Brewery Story

2009-12-02T17:15:00.004Z

Knowing that my good friend, Jonathan D Blundell was recently about to publish his first book - St Peter’s Brewery - I was fascinated to hear the back story of the book, and wanted to find out more.

I shot JD a few questions so he could unpack it a little for me:

JL: What were the seeds that made you start in the first place?

JD: As far as the seeds for the book, I guess it really depends on how far back you want to go. I've wanted to write and publish a book for some time now. I never really settled on a topic though as far as non-fiction goes and started 2 or 3 other projects along the way that never really went anywhere. I even started one a while back that I blogged as I wrote but I lost interest in the storyline and moved on.

When I heard about NaNoWriMo.org, I decided I'd take them up on the challenge. Essentially the challenge is to write a novel in one month (the month of November). Write at least 50,000 words and you "win." I wasn't sure I could do it, but having a deadline and focusing solely on writing and not going back and editing along the way.

I initially came up with the idea of a drifter, or a loner who worked at a post office (not sure why) who comes to find out the importance of community along the way. A few ideas led to another and St. Peter's Brewery was born.

As I wrote, I found myself calling on a number of situations and experiences I've had personally, as well as the experiences and stories people have shared on our podcast. So in many ways, the book I wrote is biographical, just the names, times and exact situations have been changed :-).

JL: I'm not sure if I've properly understood the process that even got you to this point? Did the book evolve in a planned way, or have you found yourself at the point of publishing almost by accident?

JD: Once I finished writing the book I wasn't totally sure what direction I would take with the book. I knew I'd like to see it through to publication, but wasn't certain about it. I decided to take a month of, do nothing with it and essentially let it lie. I did however print out the initial draft in "book" form at our local copy shop. I printed a copy for my mom for Christmas as well as Laurie (JD’s wife), Trucker Frank and myself.

Their responses were very positive so I decided to move forward with preparing the book for publication.

I asked for volunteer editors and sent the book to 4 or 5 people as well after the first of the year. I received 2 edits from those 4 or 5 and I began my own process of editing the book. Editing is not something I get a huge thrill out of (as I've mentioned on our podcast :-)) so it became a bit of a chore for me. I had hoped to have the book edited, corrected and ready to print by summer but it just kept getting pushed back further and further.

Finally as November 2009 approached and I debated taking part in NaNoWriMo again, I decided to take the month and really focus on finishing the book.

So the past few weeks I've finished all the suggestions I found in my original edit, the suggestions made by those who edited the book for me and read through, edited and corrected it again 2 more times (and I'm sure people will still find things we've missed :-)).

After that, it was a matter of getting the format right and finalizing the cover. I've laid the book out in InDesign and designed the cover in Photoshop and formatted the Kindle version with HTML. Now it's just a matter of finalizing the cover and we're off to the races.

Of course self-publishing has its drawbacks. There's no giant marketing arm behind the book, no upfront money, just me, word of mouth, what publicity I can get on social networks and Amazon.com.

Of course the upside is, using CreateSpace.com, my book will automatically be added to Amazon's vast catalog, I'm not out any money up front (it's a print-on-demand service), and I get more money per book that I sell (vs. a contract with a publisher).

JL: It’s the 1st time I’ve read a book using the familiar author’s technique of using elements of real and known people to form the characters of the novel, so it’s been very cool - as I know the author - to recognise some of the guys in there.

Aside from those snippets of real life that have made it into the St Peter’s Brewery in one way or another, what other literary influences do you think you may have thrown into the mix?

JD: I'm not sure I have too many varying literary influences, but there may be some in there that I'm not fully aware of.

I've started reading more and more over the last few years but I read very little fiction. I read "The Shack" by William Young this past summer (2009), after my book was already written. Before that, I re-read the "Chronicles of Narnia" series right before the first movie came out and also read Frank Peretti's "Piercing the Darkness" in 2005 or so. Other than those few books, I primarily read non-fiction, which probably influenced content much more than style.

Of course I should probably point to my Mass Communications degree and several years of working at local newspapers as having a big influence on my writing style as well. Journalistically, I always try to let the subjects in the story tell the story. I try to keep my thoughts and opinions to a minimum. That's probably why you see so much dialog in the book.

JL: What’s next for JD the writer?

JD: Well, I guess to begin with, a lot of grass-roots marketing! :-) Self-publishing definitely has it's ups and downs. One of the downsides is you're not only responsible for the writing of the content but also the editing, layout, design and marketing of the book.

So I think I'll see how well this book does and then go from there. I've had a couple people as if I'll write a sequel to the book. I'm not sure I want to go that direction yet. I imagine everyone will want to know what happens with Jimmy and Kim but I also like leaving that door open to the reader's imagination.

I was very tempted to start another novel this past November as part of the 2009 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) but decided to hold of this year and get my first novel ready for publication first. Perhaps next year I'll take another shot at a novel.

At some point I'd like to take a stab at non-fiction. Perhaps something related to church history, current issues of our faith or maybe even something biographical. There have been a couple folks I've considered really delving into and researching, so that may be the next project down the road.

It'd be great if I could figure out a way to make a decent living off of my writing (both with books and my blog) and focus primarily on it and the podcast but until then, I'll stick to my day job.

JL: If St Peter’s Brewery was made into a movie, and there was a trailer playing in the movie theater, what would the voice over guy with the deep voice be saying about it?

JD: Wow. Great question! Do I get to pick who plays the various parts?

Whenever I think of the movie guy it always reminds me of over dramatic or horror movie trailers. I'm not totally sure that would fit this particular story/movie but let's see if I can answer your question either way.

A young man... trying to escape his past...

A pub.... in the most unlikely of places...

A group of friends... all finding sanctuary...

Within St. Peter's Brewery... a sanctuary for all.

Based on the New York Times bestselling book, by Jonathan Blundell.

Take a fresh look at an old love story.

St. Peter's Brewery

Coming to a theater and pub near you.

Christmas 2010.

Ha ha! Maybe I should have used that for the back cover instead! :-)

• JD would like to invite anyone reading johnnylaird to come join in the discussions on the St Peter's Brewery website whether they've read the book or not.

• Join in with the Flickr group and share pictures of your own favo(u)rite sanctuaries

• St Peters Brewery at Amazon’s Kindle store here, with paperback version on the way soon.

• JD Blogs at Stranger in Strange Land and is co-host of the Something Beautiful podcast with Headphonaught and Stewart Cutler

The Peace of Jesus

2009-12-02T17:03:00.000Z

There are not many of my posts that I would intentionally repeat, but this one bears repeating this Advent and again and again..

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

May you and yours feel the peace of Jesus this CHRISTmas time...

Pax

J

2love

2009-11-25T11:30:00.003Z

Once again, another great Sally Army site coming out of Australia – this time from the 2love youth crew.

In the Salvation Army world, Australia seems to have really grasped the power of the internet.

It’s encouraging too that there seems to be some synergy between Oz/US/Canada as the gap year opportunities for Australian Salvation Army kids point them in the direction of amazing ministries like Order614, Revolution Hawaii and Ignite.

With leaders like Jim Knaggs regularly using Twitter and blogging at TCSpeak, other initiatives like Salvos Out There, CitySalvos and the Make Your Mark Officer Training site there is a level of connection and sense of ease with this at once emerging and ubiquitous technology which marks them out as front runners.

It does, though, make me wonder if we in the SA in the UK are falling behind in terms of understanding and using this technology as we – corporately – engage with the world and each other.

HT to 2love for the pics

(BTW, Anyone notice Steve Chalke lurking with his friends the Sally Army?)

Shifting sands in the Mid West

2009-11-21T15:29:00.005Z

It’s interesting to me that two of my favo(u)rite bloggers, Carlos Whittaker and Scott Hodge both announced some major new initiatives in their live/ministries on the same day.

Scott announced his new senior pastor mentoring program for pastors leading Church communities in transition, and Los dropped a surprise by announcing his move to Soul City Church in Chicago, for some radical incarnational living….pretty much on Scott’s doorstep, btw!

Scott uses the phrase

“deep in the trenches on transition”

in his vid. That has such resonance for me right now.

Exciting Announcement! from scotthodge on Vimeo.

I also like Soul City Church's emphasis on whole life 7 day a week discipleship.

Inspired by, and praying for both you guys!

Cardboard

2009-11-20T15:41:00.003Z

A friend of mine was working for these guys….but he had to pack it in!

I was thinking about it, but I don’t think I’m really cut out for it.

Good job really…cause I hear they’re about to fold!

Badda boom!!

HT Contemporist for the pics via Benjamin Boccas

Speak Human Please

2009-11-17T13:39:00.002Z

I’ve got to say a big thanks to my friend Eric Bryant for pointing out this excellent post from Charles Lee, creator of the Idea Camp.

Charles in turn is quoting something from Erwin McManus when he was talking about the inability of many faith leaders to “speak human.”

Charles goes to pose some important questions for those who are involved in communities of faith, or in fact any tribe or people group:

• Would someone outside of our organization or business really understand our language and mission?
• Do you spend intentional time developing and choosing words that build bridges and creates access to those on the “outside”?
• Why do you use the words you do and who is it intended for? Think layers and context.

I’ve been asking myself similar questions in the context of my own tribe for a few years now, as I increasing struggle with our tendency to talk in riddles, acronyms and language that was birthed in Victorian times. We Salvationists are so prone to speak in the exclusive language of the insider.
It reminds me of a previous post where I was riffing on a similar theme.

Do I know you?

2009-11-13T15:08:00.003Z

Do you ever have one of those experiences when you walk into a room, and notice someone you think you recognise, but can’t quite put your finger or where or when you know them from?

It happened to me this week at a Moot event.

When I first arrived, as a Moot newbie, and something of a “Billy No Mates” I was just chatting to whoever was kind enough to chat to me (and there were a number of very kind people) when I spotted someone I thought I knew - but for the life of me couldn’t figure out what the connection was.

My curiosity was so profound that I had to ask the guy if we did, indeed, know each other.

In fact, we didn’t, but I was glad to have struck up the conversation. There were multiple threads – mutual Twitter and Facebook friends, a couple of mutual friends here and there and a definite cross over in terms of world view and ideas about Church & community. It’s a reminder to me that we all connected, and I’m grateful to live in an age when it’s so easy to stay so connected.

So much of how we live our lives as followers of Jesus is about…community.

So, say hello to Steve Lewis AKA spiritfarmer.

Check out his excellent blog, and if you see him, tell him Johnny sent ya!

HT to Steve for the pic

Citysalvos

2009-11-13T13:28:00.003Z

…so happy to see a decent Salvation Army church site here at Citysalvos.

This is just a thing of beauty.

Clean, elegant and attractive.

Kudos to whoever was behind this.

Mumbo Jumbo…and none the worse for that*

2009-11-12T17:39:00.003Z

It is a good thing when you do things on the spur of the moment or at least within a day of finding out about them.

I’d stumbled on this blog post on the Moot blog on Tuesday, and by Wednesday evening I found myself at the The London Centre for Spirituality to hear Dave Tomlinson talk and unpack some of the ideas in his new book re-enchanting Christianity

Now, I have to admit Dave Tomlinson was a new name to me, although I did know a little about his previous hang out Holy Joe’s, and as ever did a bit of web trawling to see what I could find out. Dave is currently Vicar of St Luke’s in Holloway.

Having met him, found out a little bit of his story and connected a few of the threads of that story together I now realise I should have been paying more attention!

Dave’s clearly a guy worth listening to on all kinds of subjects. Last night ideas were fizzing on Church and culture.…Scripture, spirituality, sexuality, snot, social networking and social justice …but most of all grace

I’ve added Dave’s book to the wish list that I’m carrying around in my head. I’m sure it’ll be a good read.

Big thanks to Moot’s Ian Mobsby getting the word out, and encouraging me to get there.

* Mumbo Jumbo…and none the worse for that

- a strange name for a blog post. It’s just alludes to one of Dave’s stories on the night that made me laugh out loud.

HT to Dave for the pic

Sally Hoodie

2009-11-09T16:13:00.000Z

Gotta love those crazy West Coast Sally Army kidz!

Not for the first time, they’re coming up with creative little bundles of goodness

NEW :: Salvation Hoodie from SayTV on Vimeo.

For more vids, check here

DigiMission

2009-11-09T13:16:00.002Z

…looking forward to checking out the EA’s DigiMission event in London early in December.

Some really good guests as well as a live video link up with Shane Hipps of Flickering Pixels fame.

Ed’s story: More from Ed Dobson…still Living Jesusly

2009-11-06T16:00:00.002Z

Can I encourage you to check this site – Ed’s Story – and particularly to watch the short movie.

I’ve blogged several times about the inspirational Ed Dobson and am keen more people hear about his story.

Ed’s Story
Living Jesusly

Travelling Jonesberries

2009-11-05T13:34:00.004Z

Having regularly read Andrew Jones’ blog for years now, I don’t know how I missed this other great site - Jonesberries - from the Tall Skinny Kiwi giving the full low down on the adventures of TSK and his family as they criss cross Europe in Maggie the Motorhome.

This is the stuff of dreams – amazing bravery. I’m impressed and ever so slightly envious.

I wonder if the Jones family will ever bump into Croydonite Andy Pag of Biotruck fame?

They seem like kindred spirits.

Still my rock

2009-11-03T16:41:00.001Z

It’s been a while since I put a picture of Janet on my blog, so I’m remedying that today.

She’s still my rock
Still my better half by a country mile
Still my inspiration
Still my love

…a gift from God

TransFORM

2009-11-03T13:02:00.001Z

I kinda already heard a little bit of a buzz about these guys on the web, and Chris’ post at This Fragile Tent drew my attention to them with a little more fine focus.

TransFORM: Missional Community Formation from TransFORM on Vimeo.

There are some good people here, and I like what they are saying…

A prayer for the earth

2009-11-02T09:06:00.002Z

It's not for me to be preachy about this, but I'm also checking out Hopengagen right now. You may want to too

Is it a time to dream?

2009-10-31T23:02:00.001Z

Watch and listen to these wise words from Erwin McManus

Awaken.org Thoughts on the Theme: DREAM from Awaken on Vimeo.

Aaron Neville steps up to help

2009-10-27T16:39:00.003Z

There are a few musicians who really move me almost every time I hear them, and Aaron Neville has to be one of that select group. I don’t know whether it’s a Neville thing, or a New Orleans thing, but Aaron just hits the sweet spot.

So, it’s good to discover that the big man made a special visit to the Salvation Army Center for Hope in New Orleans last week ahead of the release of new recordings towards the end of the year, round about Christmas.

A portion of the proceeds of this new music will be donated to The Salvation Army's Annual Red Kettle Christmas Campaign, which is such a feature of America’s Christmas landscape.

Driftwood

2009-10-26T12:07:00.003Z

I have to give a little shout out to the Driftwood Hotel in Rosevine, Cornwall.

We’ve just spent an idyllic restful family weekend in this fabulously chic yet chilled haven tucked away on the Cornish coast.

For me, the Driftwood was as near as perfect as I could have hoped, from the kindness of the owners, Paul & Fiona and their staff, to the welcoming rooms with the gentle classical burr of the Roberts radio and the wonderful food.

Hopefully we can get back there before too long…it was bliss, and just the top up shot of relaxation we so needed.

Highly recommended!

HT to Mrs and Mrs Smith for the pic.

One Day and Two Futures

2009-10-22T11:35:00.001Z

I kinda stumbled across a couple of important initiatives this week that I wanted to share.

Now, each site is quite dense – beautifully put together and full of information - so there’s a lot to take on board, but I think they’re going to chime with the way I see the world. It may be the same for you… so I’d encourage you to have a look as well.

First up is One Day’s Wages, founded by Eugene Cho and his wife, and launched in full effect this week as part of the global fight against extreme poverty.

The Movement of One Day's Wages from One Day's Wages on Vimeo.

The other one that caught my attention after hearing about them on a Mars Hill podcast this week was the Two Futures Project which addresses the pressing threat of nuclear weapon proliferation

Missio...

2009-10-15T12:43:00.003Z

The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus strike a home run once again!

Taking Heat

2009-10-14T12:22:00.005Z

Thanks to Scott Mocha of CrazyDisciple for bring this great post - Taking Heat - by Erwin McManus to my attention.

One of the phrases that hit me right between the eyes was this one, where Erwin is talking about their community of faith, Mosaic:

“We have a zero tolerance policy for religious jargon or Christianese. We have little room for traditions that mean something to us but nothing to a person searching for God. We will not forsake the Word of God for the traditions of men. We are committed to removing every non-essential barrier between God and humanity. We refuse to allow the Gospel to become lost in our nostalgia or to appear irrelevant because we are.”

It’s a brave stance, and one that often results in them and others like them “taking the heat”.

For me, it’s a lesson to be learned, and one that has increasing resonance for me.

I did it!

2009-10-13T11:56:00.002Z

I managed to complete my first half marathon..

It was hard, but I didn't stop!

HT to Andy for the pic

Half Marathon almost here

2009-10-09T12:17:00.002Z

In May I blogged that I had agreed to run a half marathon, and on Sunday I have to make true on that promise.

I’m actually looking forward to it…big time.

I’ve really enjoyed the preparation and the trailing. It’s given me a new thang that I’ve become interested in, and I guess this run won’t be my last.

There can be no better reason that to run for a friend, so I’m doing it for Andy, and will run as part of Andy’s Angels

We’d really appreciate your support.

Tattoo you

2009-10-01T16:06:00.002Z

HT to Danielle Strickland for pointing me in the direction of this amazing poster for an upcoming Salvation Army youth event in Canada

Inspired, Thomas?

Smile!

2009-09-29T13:13:00.001Z

I'm gonna nail my colo(u)rs to the mast.

I like Barack Obama!

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

CNNGO

2009-09-28T16:25:00.002Z

I just stumbled on this fascinating brand new site from CCN.

I’ve only had a quick scan so far - so this is no definitive summary - but CCNGO seems at first sight to be a entertainment-weighted online crossroads focussed on the amazing cities of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.

The world continues to shrink and bump together.

It’ll be interesting to see how this shapes up.

Grim

2009-09-28T16:00:00.002Z

I’m being encouraged to take up the Grim Challenge…

I’m close to making a decision

This is our earth

2009-09-25T16:26:00.001Z

Angular, funky and fireproof

2009-09-25T13:17:00.001Z

I kinda like this weekend home in Malibu, featured in today’s LA Times.

Angular, funky and fireproof.

There’s a nice slideshow of shots from around the house that’s worth checking out.

HT Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times for the pics

This is our world…

2009-09-24T16:43:00.000Z

This is our world…

HT to Jason Salamun for pointing me in the direction of this fascinating vid.

Paper Birds

2009-09-24T12:30:00.004Z

Croydon Community Against Trafficking is presenting The Paper Birds Theatre Company performing ‘In a Thousand Pieces‘in the town in November, examining the truth about sex trafficking in the UK.

It’s said to be a hard hitting and troubling piece about the illegal trafficking trade, following the story of a young woman sucked into the whole nightmare.

Get there, and get informed.

This is all too real