Solar Crash... Where heaven and earth collide.

Help wanted…

Lon — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:59:12 +0000

This is my annual call for help with projects I’m working on.

Artists – music, spoken word, drama, dance, visual arts, writing, sculpting, fashion, AV, graphic design, experience design, other random interesting talents, etc.

Leaders – creative folks with a love for the city of Toronto and a passion to see goodness spring up everywhere – visionaries, community developers, event organizers, board directors, etc.

Supporters – planning, logistics, finance, networking, research, ideating, etc.

Coders - we’re looking to expand our team of geeks for social good – below are the specifics we’re hoping for

- Experience with mySQL/PHP web application development
- Abillity to quickly learn and work with 3rd party API’s, collaboration tools, and the latest web technologies
- Familiarity with the Symfony framework, Facebook Clatform/Connect would be an asset

and /or

- UX/UI design experience – ability to translate PSD’s to CSS/HTML
- Work with and create original designs and eye-candy – typography, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
- jQuery/Javascript/AJAX would be highly valuable

If you or someone you know might be interested – let’s get connected!

Poets, Prophets, & Preachers

Lon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:42:35 +0000

A seminar for teachers, preachers, speakers, leaders and pastors serious about reclaiming the art of the sermon.

I’m really not big on conferences at all. But I’ll be at this one.

I’ve got someone looking to share half a ticket with (one registration gets two people in). Let me know ASAP if you’ve got one or know of someone with one.

My cheap cell phone plan doesn’t work in the States – but I’ll try to get some online access if possible. Contact or twitter me if you’re in the area. Would love to connect with some real people while I’m there.

Here’s a taste of what’s on the schedule:

The Original Guerilla Theatre (Rob Bell)
The Story We’re Telling (Rob Bell)
Returning to the New: An Introduction to Tranformance Art (Peter Rollins)
How Technology Shapes the Sermon (Shane Hipps)
The Fig and the Failure of Language (Rob Bell)
Fumbling Around with Your Radar (Rob Bell)
For Those With Ears to Hear: Parables and the Lost Art of Provocation (Peter Rollins)
You are the Medium (Shane Hipps)
The One Thing I’ve Never Heard Someone Talk About That Has Changed Everything For Me (Rob Bell)

Update: I think our ticket situation is taken care of thanks to the glory of twitter. You can also follow the twitter hashtag #ppp09 to follow along as well.

Poets Prophets Preachers If I
Rob Bell interviews Shane Hipps on technology Rob Be
Flickering Pixels I

Befriending our Gay Neighbours – Synchroblog

Lon — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:45:06 +0000

Photo by jk5854

Bridging the Gap invited me to do join their syncho-blog today as they’ve gathered over 60 Christ-followers, both gay and straight, to break open conversations on christianity and homosexuality.

Wendy of New Direction writes a great introduction

The culture wars surrounding the topic of homosexuality have sucked up tremendous resources, have left devastated casualties in their wake, and continue to perpetuate polarization and enmity – most clearly seen in the divide between the Christian community and the gay community. The diversity and divisiveness surrounding gay issues is staggering. Even the above statement needs to be unpacked. The sense of polarization is not simply between the Christian community and the gay community as if both of those communities were completely monolithic and mutually exclusive. Rather, we see fractures within the Christian community and disagreements within the gay community. In the midst of this wasteland are gay Christians – a diverse group of people too – who often find very little safe harbour on either side of the divide.

Several years back I had a series of conversations with a friend of mine who I consider a serious and honest follower of Jesus struggling with his faith and sexual orientation. I’m pretty sure I responded with kindness and tolerance, but that’s just the problem. Tolerance is too low of a bar. I don’t think I had a clue of what conflicting emotions and hurt he was feeling. He needed more than my acceptance and tolerance. I often wish I could go back and offer him the love and embrace that I now know.

Even when we speak of tolerance, it seems like we’re reaching down, beneath us, to accommodate another person. And there are times for that. But I don’t think we in the church, realize just how far down we’ve already pushed the gay community. Christ calls the church to be a community known by our love. We are so far from that today.

My views on homosexuality have continued to evolve over the years. If anything my devotion to Christ has deepened, while my understanding of the human person has widened.

I limited myself to 10 thoughts for starters:

1. I couldn’t care less if there is or isn’t a gay gene

2. We are so much more than our sexual orientation. Sexuality ought not be the primary divider when it comes to faith in Christ.

3. Having said that, pushing homosexuality to the peripheries doesn’t seem to do it justice either. If it is the cause of your oppression, it’ll likely be fairly central to you.

4. I believe there are biblical default modes of life ie. a covenant relationship between a man and a woman, work, children, cultivating life, caring for creation, etc. But does veering off from any of this make you any less human? or sinful?

5. There are some very strong biblical passages warning against ‘unnatural’ behaviors that we need to honestly struggle with, along with the thousands of passages on caring for the poor.

6. Sexuality is not clear cut. For example how do you respond to individuals born intersexual (with both sexual organs)? Could these conflicting physical expressions also be a ‘natural’ expression of something much deeper for them, and many others?

7. Christians often feel righteous and reasonable when they say ‘hate the sin, not the sinner’. But how do you do that when that ’sin’ is so deeply a part of who that person is?

8. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with identification – I do however have a problem with over-identification – whether it’s about your sexuality or your christianity. Identifying with certain labels ought to help us, not reduce our humanity.

9. If we trust that God is sovereign, just, and loving – why does it seem like christians act like he’s not, when we interact with those who are gay?

10. If there is a cultural war between the church and the gay community, we lost the battle ages ago when we abandoned the culture for our traditions.

You can order the Bridging the Gap DVD series here.
Check out a diverse array of thoughts from 60 other bloggers on the right column here
Follow the twitter hashtag #btgblog

What do you think?

One size fits all?

Lon — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:09:58 +0000

Joe Manafo just sent me the documentary he made with Nathan Colquhoun, called One Size Fits All?

What is God doing on the fringes of Canadian culture? Flying under the radar of pop-Christianity, experimental churches are quietly establishing genuine Kingdom outposts in settings both feared and forgotten. ‘One Size Fits All?’ uncovers the obscure story of these Canadian missional communities and its leaders.

It’s very different from the Hip 2B Holy documentary that was on Global TV recently, and while that had it’s place, One Size Fits All, is so much more representative to me of the direction God has been taking the church.

There’s nothing else like this that I’m aware of from a Canadian perspective.

People and communities that are featured in this include:

Rob Abbott, theGig – Kitchener, ON
David Brazzeal, Curieux – Montreal, QC
Nick Brotherwood, Emerge – Montreal, QC
Gary Castle, neXt Church – Kingston, ON
Kristen Cato, The Open House – Vancouver, BC
Kate Dewhurst, The Agora – Halifax, NS
Al Doseger, Rustle – Kingston, ON
Cyril Guerette, Freedomize – Toronto, ON
Pernell Goodyear, FRWY – Hamilton, ON
Jamie Howison, St. Benedict’s Table – Winnipeg, MB
David Manafo, The Gathering Café, Montreal, QC
Kyle Martin, The Open House – Vancouver, BC
Paul Moores, Living Room Church – Vancouver, BC
Joseph Moreau, Ecclesiax – Ottawa, ON
Greg Paul, Sanctuary – Toronto, ON
Helen Ramfield, St. Benedict’s Table – Winnipeg, MB
Kim Reid, The Open Door – Montreal, QC
Domenic Ruso, The Embassy – Waterloo, ON
David Sawler, Lighthouse – Glace Bay, NS
Brad Sommers, Pax North – Halifax, NS
Scott Williams, Club 365 – Mission, BC

And there are so many other stories that weren’t captured and have yet to be told.

Check out the trailer below, and buy your copy here. My hope is that denominational leaders who are holding vacant buildings and the purse-strings to the future will see this… and maybe, just maybe, they’ll creatively invest in carving out a new path for being the church in Canada.

What about Norway?

Lon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:32:38 +0000

In my earlier post on the demise of Europe (as we know it) and the related video, there have been a number of comments regarding how it’s due to us turning our backs on God.

My friend Veemak just sent me this below cartoon. Click it to enlarge.

What do you think?

A city that thinks like the web

Lon — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:15:31 +0000

View more Microsoft Word documents from Mark Surman.

I participated in Government 2.0 online last year, but just got around to going through this talk by Mark Surman of Mozilla. He offers a great primer on technology and how the open source movement relates to civic engagement. My favorite insight was towards the end where he states that if people actually thought that the government was listening, they would actually jump aboard and get involved.

I wonder how many people we leave disengaged, because they don’t think we actually care enough to hear them out and do something about what they have to offer?

A theology as big as the city… Recent
The emergent church according to Peter Rollins This
Nova Experience… The W

Project SWAP

Lon — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:15:58 +0000

Project SWAP is happening this Saturday rain or shine. S.W.A.P. – Shopping with a Purpose is a charity garage sale with a twist. Food, fashion shows, music, and friends! With all proceeds going to Youth Without Shelter.

RSVP Here.

What creative ideas have you come across that integrate arts and justice in an event?

Do entrepreneurs change the world?

Lon — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:30:47 +0000

Grasshopper.com did a great job with their recent marketing campaign using social media. They created the above video, while a bit cliche, I thought it was nicely done.

The video works because its message rings true of the human spirit. We’re all summoned to create, risk, lead, and change, at least in some area in our lives. Whether we’re able to hear that calling, or do anything about it, might be a different story altogether.

I pour my heart into a lot of different things that I think are worthwhile, but I question if I’m changing the world. I’m in a city of nearly six million where a simple stroll through the downtown core can make you feel like a speck of dust.

I think when you’ve changed a life (including your own), you’ve already changed the world.

Am I thinking too small here? What do you think?

Why tribes, not money or factories, will change the world. Seth
Change or die… I just
Change the world… I just

Flickering Pixels

Lon — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:32:35 +0000

I’ve always been an advocate of integrating faith and technology , but after reading Shane Hipps Flickering Pixels, I definitely need to re-evaluate.

Hipps suggests that technology has already shaped our faith and the way we see the world more than we realize. He borrows a lot from Marshall McLuhan’s theory that “We shape our tools and afterward our tools shape us”.

If you suspect that technology is leading us towards a more fragmented faith, extreme individualism, increased social awkwardness, distorted views on beauty, and taking our imaginations captive… while wondering if there’s anything redemptive in all of this, check out Flickering Pixels.

As one small way of leveraging technology while participating in community, a group of us are co-blogging chapter by chapter reviews of the book on ChurchCrunch. You can see my more in-depth reflections on chapter four here.

Crazy guy #1

Lon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:07:12 +0000

Seth Godin posted this video about a tribe that spontaneously came together at a music festival. He insightfully points out how guy number 2 and 3 make it into a ‘movement’, while guy #49 is irrelevant.

I’m still caught on guy number one. Without the other two guys, he really just looks like one solitary crazy dude. I’ve got to believe that most people who go out on a limb like this do so sheerly for the love of what they do, regardless of what happens. I’ve also got to believe that even passionate crazy dudes feel lonely at times.

What makes you step out when no one else is?

What keeps you going when no one else seems to be joining?

Ever leave someone else hanging like a dancing fool, only to realize you were the fool for not joining in earlier?

Confession: I read the entire twilight saga

Lon — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:01:09 +0000

Six months ago when my back snapped and I was confined to bed, I read through the entire twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Actually I listened to the audiobook, but still, I had to endure the endless teeniebopper descriptions of Edward Cullen’s great physique. (ie. ‘his body shone like diamonds in the sun’, enough to make just about any adult of any sexual-orientation gag).

I doubt many other 30 year old males, especially ministry leaders, or church planters have read through this.

Originally, I just wanted to see what the hype was all about. But, after getting past some of the cheesy writing, I actually liked it.

For parents wondering if they should let their kids read it, I think I’d even encourage my teenage daughter to read it if she was interested. They don’t “do-it” till they’re married in the forth book if you must know.

The whole series provokes lots of great questions for conversation. ie. Whether it is by a vampire or werewolf, why is it that there’s something deeply human about sacrifical love? Can there be something noble about repressing one’s innate desires? Or simply, what is natural?

So yes, I’m a 30 year old male, I’ve read the entire twilight saga, and I enjoyed it.

I haven’t seen the film yet, part of me just wants to leave the story to my imagination.

What do you think?

Rapidly changing demographics

Lon — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:57:16 +0000

HT: Marty Schmidt

Europe a Muslim continent in a few decades?
Can culture really be definied as narrowly as by population?
How might President Obama’s speech in Cairo to the Muslim world shape things?
Where does Christ fit into all of this?