Some Beautiful updates

I don’t normally plug our podcast here too much (at least I don’t think so) but thought I’d give you a heads up on some great interviews we’ve had recently and a few that are upcoming.

Be sure and check out somethingbeautifulpodcast.com to listen to all our past, present and future shows.

This week on the show we have the first part of my interview with Greg Garrett. Garrett’s an English professor at Baylor University and also a lay-pastor at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas. He recently wrote a great book – “Stories from the Edge A Theology of Grief” based on the summer he spent as a chaplain in Austin, Texas. I talked to Greg about how he dealt with his own personal “demons” and how he was led into the chaplaincy and some of what he learned in the process. Great stuff.

Also, last week we talked with Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. Batterson recently released his second book, “Wild Goose Chase” and we talked about the book, the adventure of chasing the Holy Spirit and how Batterson has seen it play out in his own life.

Coming up we have the second half of my interview with Greg Garrett, as well as an interview with Frank Viola and a two part interview with Trucker Frank (aka Frank Schutzwhol).

I think they’re all stories worth talking about (whether you agree or disagree with the particular story) so be sure and check them out and let us know what you think.

Also, if you have a story, poem, or message that you think our listeners would love to hear — send it to us. You can send it as text only or if you’d like to record it in your own words you can send an mp3. Send all your submissions to :: somethingbeautifulpodcast (at) gmail (dot) com.

www.somethingbeautifulpodcast.com

Mainframe v Distributed Christianity

I had a great chat with Frank Viola yesterday, can’t wait to share it on the podcast in a few weeks.

We discussed his book Reimagining Church along with the idea of organic churches. Thought this was a great illustration shared by @darrinreeves today (you can click on the images to see them larger) ::

Which would you prefer? Which do you feel like you’re apart of? Which would you rather be a part of?

web 2.0 rant

[rant]

So I love this idea of ambient intimacy. I love that I can get to know the folks in my community better and better through things like twitter, and facebook status updates and even their blogs.

I love that I can learn so much about people in short 140-character thoughts and quotes and comments throughout the day.

But I’m also getting annoyed that twitter is starting to become a “link dump” and/or a “read my new blog post!” @tonyjones twittered about this last week and I originally thought, well that’s a bit unkind – then I realized how many text messages (aka noise) I get throughout the day that are nothing more than “read my new blog post!”

I hate it because while I don’t mind seeing these things in facebook’s news feed or on my twitter friend feed I also see them in my RSS reader. So having an announcement about them show up on my cellphone as text messages really bugs me.

I know, I know – everyone just wants to plug their stuff — and honestly I’ve plugged a blog post here or there too. But I guess what gets me about the whole scenario is that for those folks I chose to go the extra mile in getting to know and actually opt-in to get their tweets sent to my cellphone (rather than just following them via the web). I don’t need a reminder to check your blog. And the fact that you automatically send me announcements every time you update your blog (rather than just highlighting the really good stuff) — or send a mass of tweets 3 or 4 times a day that share all your blog posts from the last several hours — makes me that less interested in following you or subscribing to your twitter feed. All the automatic posts just add to the noise and turn me off.

Am I making any sense? Maybe not — but I guess that’s why it’s a rant.

In full disclosure, the encounter blog and website are setup to automatically post a tweet anytime and every time a new blog post is updated and/or we post a new announcement or podcast to the website. So you can probably rant and rave about that and argue that I’m being biased (maybe this is where my rant/argument falls apart). However, I would argue in response that both the blog and the website are updated on a fairly limited basis and I’m/you’re not following the encounter twitter feed because you want to get to know someone better – it’s setup as a “news/announcement/prayer feed” for folks interested in encounter.

So there you have it. What say you?

[/rant]

I better post a link to this via twitter to be sure everyone knows about it and responds. 🙂

[rant continued]

update :: I also hate reading RSS feeds that don’t show the entire blog post. I don’t want to have to click “read more” or “this post continues elsewhere.” Just put the entire blog post in your RSS feed — PLEASE! I’m dumping a lot of RSS feeds right now that make me click on another link to read — it makes the entire point of RSS rather pointless.

[/rant]

Lauries procedure today

For those interested or curious I found some info on Wikipedia about the EP study. She may also have a heart ablation (I’m hoping that’s the right link/description) as well — depending on how the EP study goes.
Ill post updates on my Twitter feed :: twitter.com/jdblundell

Hurricane Ike re-tweets

My co-worker just pointed out that I’m now famous – a hurricane re-tweeted me.

For those of you unfamiliar with twitter and/or re-tweeting – it’s similar to a Hat Tip (HT) on a blog. When a tweet (twitter message) is considered good – it’s re-tweeted by all those who like it. Usually labeled with an RT and the user’s name and copies information from another twitter user.

related ::
follow hurricane ike on twitter

the great emergence conference

Plans have been made for the Great Emergence Conference to take place in Memphis this coming Dec.

The book is based around Phyllis Tickle’s upcoming book by the same name.

The Great Emergence National Event is a unique and freshly designed event built on innovative adult learning techniques including interaction, participation, and inspiring content on the current state of and future possibilities for Christianity.

Around the four main sessions with Phyllis Tickle, participants will also enjoy the daily office — thrice daily times of prayer — based on Phyllis Tickle’s bestselling book, The Divine Hours, in the majestic and historic Cathedral of St. Mary in Memphis, Tennessee, which will be bedecked with Advent greenery.

Memphis and St. Mary’s Cathedral hold a pivotal place in American history. Memphis was the scene of much racial strife during the Civil Rights Movement, culminating with the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. The next day, hoping to quell a burgeoning riot, many of the city’s pastors, priests, and rabbis gathered at the Cathedral. In an impromptu move, the dean of the Cathedral took the processional cross from the church’s altar and led a procession of the city’s clergy down Poplar Avenue to city hall, where they petitioned the mayor to end the sanitation strike that King was in town to protest. As an important location of the emergence of civil rights in 20th century America, Memphis and the Cathedral are a poignant place to discuss the emergence of the church in the 21st century.

Along with Tickle, a number of folks will be hosting workshops during the event (I think half of them have been on the Homebrewed Christianity podcast)::

Tony Jones, national coordinator of Emergent Village and author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier

Doug Pagitt, founder and pastor of Solomon’s Porch (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and author of A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-Filled, Open-Armed, Alive-and-Well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in Us All

Peter Rollins, founder of ikon (Belfast, Ireland) and author of The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief

J. Brent Bill, executive vice president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations and the author of Sacred Compass: The Art of Spiritual Discernment

Lisa & Will Samson, members of Communality (Lexington, Kentucky) and co-authors of Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live

Joseph Myers, author of Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect

Tim Keel, founder and pastor of Jacob’s Well (Kansas City, Missouri) and author of Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor, and Chaos

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, co-founder of Rutba House (Durham, North Carolina) and author of New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today’s Church

Karen Ward, is Abbess of Church of the Apostles, Seattle, an intentional, sacramental community in the way of Jesus Christ.

Sybil MacBeth, is a mathematics instructor, a dancer, and a doodler. Her 2007 book Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God introduces a prayer practice that is meditative, visual, active and playful. She lives in Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, Andy, who is an Episcopal priest.

If you’re interested in going – sign up now. The cost is $145 with early registration or $195 after Nov. 5.

Register online with coupon code JBLB (won’t save you any money but if I can get 20 folks to sign-up then I’ll be able to join you there :-))

find out more at www.thegreatemergence.com