Hey there. Just thought I'd say that.

My posting 'round these parts has been sparse of late, which is due mainly to school stuff. I've read well over 1500 pages of books and articles in the past two weeks, in addition to my normal work responsibilities. At about this time next week (that's 11:30pm on Sunday, for those of you who are keeping track), I hope to be polishing up my written work for the semester, and then I hope to sleep and breathe a little more than I have been. With the launch of inter::mission and some additional coursework I'm required to do, this semester has been extremely challenging. It appears that I'll emerge intact, but definitely tired.

Oh, speaking of inter::mission, we did our final teach-in of the Fall quarter this past Thursday. I interviewed our newest staff member, Johnson, who literally just came back from the jungles of Peru, where he spent the past three years. He's a good guy, with some great stories and perspectives, so that was fun.

On Friday, Michelle and I also celebrated 11 years of marriage. We were going to go try an Italian restaurant we hadn't been to before to celebrate, but our house got something close to 5 inches of snow yesterday, so we had to stay closer to home. Thankfully, the point is my beautiful wife and our life together. Good times.

We also got a visit from my bud, Petey, who was here with his wife and daughter from Corvallis, Oregon. Walked through Pike Place Market and Left Bank Books. Picked up some posters by Nikki McClure - terrific, hopeful, thought provoking artist.



So you see, I've been a busy boy! Apparently, no time for blogging, because I'm doing too much living. I'm guessing it's better that way.

Peace.

Labels: blogging, family, friends, inter::mission, Seattle

Wow, this has been a heavy set of days for me. Having come off of two conferences last weekend (one of which involved around 12 hours of driving round trip to attend), I've had a heavy school project working - hard work on structuring my dissertation and outlines. Much frustration here. I know the work will pay off, but oi! It's funny, because words and writing and ideas have always been pretty easy for me, but there have been multiple moments this week where I've felt the same as I did in my college chemistry classes - completely stuck. I'm making small breakthroughs, so no worries. I'm just whining.

In better news, we had another teach-in with inter::mission last night. Good times. I made enchiladas, guacamole, and some cinnamon tortilla chips. Tasty, if I must say so myself. Mike Gunn, pastor of Harambee Church in Renton, WA joined us for a discussion of gospel and culture. I really enjoyed that a lot. Mike is skillful at reading culture, as evidenced by his movie reviews over on Hollywood Jesus. His approach to culture is in the tradition of Lesslie Newbigin. He also made reference to Kevin Vanhoozer's book, Everyday Theology . . . though that mention made me sad, as that book has been sitting unread on my desk for the past two or three months . . . even now, it's only about thirteenpointfive inches away from my left elbow, mocking me, taunting me, daring me to lay aside the piles of school books I'm already delinquent on . . . but I digress. Mike hammered the Christian ghetto culture more than the culture of the bigbaduglyworld, which is a no brainer for some of us, but a stunningly new approach for many. All in all, it was another stellar evening at The Purple Door, and another signal that we're continuing to move in a quality direction.

Labels: conference, culture, inter::mission, school, the purple door

In the middle of a busy week, where much of my time has been spent thinking about the fires in SoCal, our work with inter::mission here in Seattle moves on. We had another one of our teach-ins last night. One of our staffers, Lindsay, threw down on some Poppy Seed Chicken for dinner - outstanding! Our student from Turkey made some yummy Turkish coffee, too. Then my good friend, Ed Park, pastor of Sanctuary Church, led us in a conversation about spiritual formation and mission. He really nailed it. He tied the dynamics of formation into the theology of mission in a way that was holistic and real. Quite honestly, it was very helpful to me personally, on the same level as Dallas Willard in some ways. Ed has been doing missional, relational, and incarnational church planting in the city for a while now, and it's evident. If I could just get him blogging . . .

The community of students living at The Purple Door is really becoming a great group. We've been blessed with a remarkably diverse group. One student from Turkey, one from (East) Germany, one from China. One of our students has lived in multiple countries, growing up in a family engaged in medical missions. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to be doing dishes in the kitchen after dinner's over, and hearing the laughter of students enjoying relationship late into the evening . . . despite having heavy school workloads. I know staying up late and being social are sort of par for the course for college students, but they're doing this stuff within the context of spiritual depth and connectedness. The school year is young, but I'm really pleased with how good it's gotten already. More good times to come.


Our next teach-in will be November 8. Mike Gunn, pastor of Harambee Church in Renton, WA will be leading us in a conversation about mission and culture. I'm really looking forward to that.

Labels: friends, inter::mission, the purple door

Those of you who know me, or have been tracking with this blog over the past couple of years know that much of my work has involved building a thing we're calling inter::mission. It's a dream that began before I was hired into my position, so I don't take credit for it, except that I've had the fun of giving vision and some structure to it. I won't go through everything that's involved (you can learn more about it on the inter::mission website if you want). Basically, it's a live-in experience for students (and a few non-students) which attempts to re-orient life around our identity in the Kingdom of God, and our joining with God in mission.

About two years ago I began work on this thing, and have been working to build it ever since. It's morphed a few times from its original form, but we officially kicked the thing off a little more than two weeks ago. One of the things it involves is a weekly "family meal" on Thursday nights. We eat together, hang out together, and talk about life together. On alternating weeks, following the family meal, we have teach-ins around Kingdom and mission. My goal is to primarily utilize guest speakers for these teach-ins. In Seattle, we have access to so many innovative, catalytic, super smart people who are actually practitioners, so we're able to make this happen.

Last night, we were honored with a visit from Karen Ward, Abbess of Church of the Apostles, as our first outside speaker/conversation leader. She talked a bit through the history and ethos of COTA, and about urban monasticism in their context. It was a really good time for the students. Definitely stimulating and challenging. She talked about the way they approach their neighborhood, Fremont, with the mentality that their whole zip code "belongs" to the church/parish, and how it's the role of the members of the church to serve and minister to the church, regardless of belief, lifestyle, affiliation, or status. Good stuff. Karen is such a humble, kind, and warm person, but with focus, creativity, and the best kind of leadership skill.

The past couple of years, and especially the past few months have been such a busy, maddening sprint to get this dream fleshed out and ready to go. And trust me, we're far from embodying a ton of what we have in mind. We're a small, quiet bunch right now, and continuing to add students to the mix little by little. But last night, as I sat and listened to Karen, and looked around the room, I got the sense that yes, this thing is really happening. It was one of those beautiful moments that wasn't self-satisfaction, but thankfulness for God's blessing and gifts. I'm really glad I got to be a part of this, and watch it develop. I'm even more glad that I get to continue helping nurture it and be a part of it.

Our vision for inter::mission is to help liberate young adults to experientially own their missional vocation. This is where we begin.

I've blogged recently about how easy it is to get caught up in the negative side of critique - especially those who are in any way affiliated with the emerging church vibe. There's a role for it, but talk is cheap if we're not actually paying attention to building a better way forward. For as long as God gives it to me, inter::mission is my humble contribution.

Labels: blogging, emerging church, friends, inter::mission, Seattle, the purple door