This oughtta be good!

Taken at First Presbyterian

I'm going to be speaking at a few places in the next few months. If you happen to be at any of these, please come hang out and say "hi!"

On Saturday, October 6 at 6:30 p.m. the Collective is throwing another house party! Dr. Ulrich Duchrow from Germany will be hanging out with us and speaking on the Global Economy and Empire from the Vantage of the Victims in the Philippines, Middle East, and Colombia at the Hawthorn House (3143 Hawthorn Street, San Diego). Dr. Duchrow is a professor of theology with special focus in economics and ecology. His international work is vigorously ecumenical and interfaith. He has authored books such as Property: For People, Not For Profit among others. Visit Jubilee Economics Ministries website for details of other speaking engagements during his visit.

Please leave us a comment to RSVP.

See you then.

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Listening to: James Brown - Night Train

The Evans' clan has been on a summer road trip since Friday. We spent the night in Bakersfield and drove into San Jose for the Mennonite Church USA Convention on Saturday. We're staying here through Wednesday a.m. and then we head up to San Francisco.

We weren't too excited about staying in Bakersfield but it was a good halfway point and by the time we got into town we were glad to stop at 3am. We lucked out on Saturday morning finding a cool, local diner for breakfast (see Paige's self-potrait drawn at breakfast). And an independent and organic coffee shop on the way out of town.

I spoke on Sunday evening at the Urban Leaders Network event and then today I led a panel discussion today and spoke on another panel about new models of church. Thanks to all who helped put that together. A highlight was meeting Nekiesha Alexis-Baker one of the minds behind JesusRadicals.com. Also, met a bunch of other great folks doing great stuff in urban settings. Got to talk with Tim, one of the developers behind the Anabaptist Network and Young Anabaptist Radicals which was cool too. He spent sometime in the UK with Stuart Murray.

Overall, the conference has been fun. Hanging out with the family has been a blast. Speaking kinda wears me out so we got lunch at a great vegan deli, Good Karma, ran through the park and have been chillin' in the hotel room ever since. My talk last night got mixed reactions. The benefit of me being an outsider with this group (we're Anabaptist out of conviction, not heritage or need for ecclesiastic resources or politics) is that I could say things that others would get in trouble for. They can't really do anything to me, except tell Fuller not to let me in. But the PSWMC has got my back I'm pretty sure.

When I give talks, I usually don't script out the whole thing. But I'll post my notes later on for those who might be interested. Right now, my daughter wants to play.

From Psalm 104:
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works-

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.

Having children, my appreciation for nature has increased so much. When you watch a child as a lady bug crawls on her hand or splashes in the waves or sees their favorite color in a sunset you look in their eyes and see an amazement, a wonder you realize you may have lost. In that moment, they are worshiping their Creator- soaking in and appreciating what he has given to them so freely and abundantly.

I'm constantly amazed at how concerns around the environment have become political. Even more appalling is how right-wing Christians will cry 'conspiracy theory' when global warming is spoken of. It's shameful. I despise being associated with people such as this most of the time. It is God's creation plane and simple. Who cares who else is for taking care of this globe, our scriptures and theology would seem to make it very clear-at leat it has to me-that we are responsible here. It is our duty to care for this place. And yet, here in the US, at least, we destroy it with our tongue-in-cheek jokes and shameless consumption of the natural resources that not only damage the earth but often result in the slaughter of those that live near access to those resources. How can the same people opposed to addressing global warming also talk about world evangelism? If you want to reach people, you better take better care of the land they stand on... or there won't be anyone to "reach out" to.

So, today we make plans for our garden that we will plant as an act of worship and appreciation to our Creator. We will attend the Earth Day festival to celebrate the gift given within Genesis. And we will show our gratitude tonight as a community, pledging our solidarity with all that is good that God has created.

My friend, Sunil Sardar will be speaking at the Cornerstone Festival this summer. Here's some info on what he'll be speaking about:

PostColonial Missions in India: Preaching an Un-"Christian" Christ:
Fed up with the ancient oppressions built into their Hindu faith, millions of lower-caste Indian Dalits — known as "Untouchables" — are actively looking for a new faith, one that can give them dignity and sense of value regardless of their social class — and offer the hope of overcoming a system that locks people into their classes forever. Christianity is certainly a very real option for many Dalits today, but the name "Christian" carries with it from West to East certain negative conotations and its own history of oppression. Sunil Sardar, the founder of Truth Seekers International, is an Indian Christian who has been working creatively within this difficult environment for many years. Part of his task involves separating the true Gospel of Jesus from the seemingly monolithic cultural and historical face "Christianity" presents to his people. Another part of the task has to do with communicating the Gospel from within the authentic cultural context of his people. Based on his experiences, Sunil has much to say about what it means to "contextualize" the Gospel within a given culture in a way that does equal justice to the message and the cultural context.

Yep, it's been awhile. As I almost always say when I need an excuse, 'Lots has been goin' on.' I've been on an truly incredible inner journey over the last couple of months... I think I'll come back to that later, let's just say it's been rough but good. On another note, we went out to Ohio several weeks back for the Feast of St. Patrick's. Really rich time for all of us, the whole family. The kids were loved by older kids and so much Jesus-ness was demonstrated to them by kids under 18 years of age... I don't need to tell you what that automatically says of their parents.

But speaking of their parents... those folks are my personal Justice League. My son loves the Justice League. All of the most amazing super heroes are right there, in one room, working for the good of the world together. Could it get any better? In his mind, no way, not unless some of the Marvel characters joined the party. About once a year I get to hang out with my personal Justice League: all my heroes in one room. Even when we're surrounded by defeat, tragedy they save my sorry ass every time. I love them for it.

An added benefit to the trip was Matt Casper was able to come out for the weekend as well. Matt and I got to have a dialogue in one of the main sessions, talk about his book and field some questions. If you weren't there you can listen to it here. It was fun. Brooke and I also did a workshop on sustainability and the Kingdom of God and I think that was productive (if you were there, I'd appreciate any feedback).

Speaking of Matt, dude's getting all kinds of press these days. His book is now out and you need to read this. I know he's a friend, so I'm biased but I really think Matt is a great writer and you'll get a lot out of it. A website for the book should be up soon. His band, Hell Yeah, just got a review in City Beat. You can check out the piece here. This is a photo from the last show I played with him.

Another friend of ours is getting press too! Brooke and I were flipping through the magazine GOOD and saw this ad with our friend Sebastian, creator of Califas Journal and a great film maker in it. Pick up the issue, visit CalJo's site too... there's also a short piece on the creators of Wooster Collective-which is a fabulous website.

One last thing, if you're from the Anabaptist world, you might find this interesting. I'm speaking at the Mennonite Church USA biennial convention in San Jose this summer. I'll be speaking to the Urban Leaders Network (or something like that) meeting at a pre-convention event as well. I think the best place to find info is here. Let me know if you'll be there and maybe we can grab coffee. The added benefit for me is that the family is coming along and we'll be hanging out with the Sharps and Joel and Katie after the event... Can't wait. Alright, that'll have to be it for now.