We have a young neighbor, Jefferson, who loves to make tedious tasks into a party. In fact, he likes to make everything into a party. He has re-written our church's mission statement ("We are called to impact our world with the love and the message of Jesus Christ") into "We are called to impact our world with the love and the message of Jesus Christ in partyish sort of way. It has kind of become our neighborhood motto these days.…
As most of you know, I'm still processing all that I heard at Q last week. If you missed them, you can find my Q posts further down in April. Q is an amazing conference in that it brings together people from all backgrounds, cultures and persuasions. As my husband David said several times, during the course of Q he wanted to stand up and cheer for the person on stage and at other times he wanted to stand up…
This is a cool little coffee shop that we found in SOHO yesterday while walking off all the espressos we found in other coffee shops! David and I were struck with the design of the shop, the colors, and of course the aroma (which happens to be the name of their coffee blends). In fact, as visitors to NYC, we found a couple of things appealing about this coffee shop that would, in fact, be not so appealing at home.…
One of the best parts of Q has been the 3 minute sessions, where participants can get up and explain their projects in 3 minutes or less. There were a couple of really interesting presentations this morning with links to go check out. Some of the guys who organize Q have started giftcardgiver.com. The theory is simple: send them your odd amounts of leftover giftcards or cards to places you don't love. They will use them to help homeless, poor....people…
Day Two has started with a bang. It was an early morning, but even I think it was worth it! Louie Giglio started us out with a reminder, as culture shapers, to honor the past while moving forward with the church. I loved his illustration. In Hong Kong, designers retained three ancient trees and an ancient house while building a skyscraper around it. He also talked about Chris Tomlin rewriting Amazing Grace. My chains are gone, I’ve been set free…Honoring…
Day one at the Q conference has drawn to a close, and I am exhausted! But what an interesting stretching day we had. Some highlights from the late afternoon/evening sessions: During a 3 minute session Scott Harrison spoke about his brainchild, Charity:. Charity: is not an overtly Christian organization, but it is dedicated to raising money to drill clear water wells in developing countries that have no good drinking water. This guy has just been faithful in doing seemingly small…
Chuck Colson lead out the speakers with a great reminder that God has given us a cultural commission to transform our culture for the kingdom. He reminded us to do this in a winsome, loving way. Leroy Barber spoke very eloquently about Martin Luther King's beloved community, and how that should look in the world. One of his points really struck me. In the early church climate of RADICAL Christianity, one of the ways this faith was worked out was…
We are on our first lunch break from Q and already the conference has been worth the trip. Gotham Hall, where it is located,is very cool and very funky. In the center hall there is a circular area FULL of circular tables, where we are seated. In an interesting side note, the Q organizers intentionally put members of the same party at different tables, to promote interaction. If I were to pick one highlight so far, it would actually be…
I am getting excited about our trip to the Q conference in NYC coming soon! If you haven't heard about it, check out their website. I will be attending the conference from the perspective of the future intersection of the church and culture. I see so many new and unusual connections between the world we live in and the church we love, and I am hoping Q helps clarify my thinking on the subject. So stay tuned for blogs from…
