A Sustainable Faith Conference: Reflections & Recap.
Let me get my 1 complaint out of the way (in addition to my gripe from yesterday). I’m not sure why every conference feels the need to have “worship” music before every session. It’s not just even conferences, but it seems like anytime anybody says the name of Jesus in front of a microphone, that some slow songs need to be sung to transition into that. I find it odd. I certainly understand the formative role that music and songs can have in the shaping of a community, but I don’t get the point of the sing along. That’s just me. Nick thought the same thing while at Deep Shift. It probably has more to do with me not being in a church for 2 years, but the whole music thing just creeps me out at times.
But enough of my negativity. Here’s what I like about Emergent events and what I loved in particular about the A Sustainable Faith Conference. This isn’t a sales job but you did miss out and you’re a fool of a took if you don’t try to make an effort to go next year.
1) I love meeting and hanging out with new people. It’s a crazy thing when you can know not a single person going into a weekend and leave with countless new friends in less than 3 days. This is why I think there is so much value in the emergent conversation. It places an insanely high value on friendship and hospitality.
2) Nick again stole my thunder on this one. But I love events that are sponsored by the cohorts as opposed to them being big, blow-out conferences. When they are sponsored by the cohorts they are much more relaxed, organic, and low key in nature. The two cohorts (Tampa & St. Pete) who sponsored this event are made up of some really great people who definitely know the art of hospitality and humility. Jon, Josh, Joe, Natasha, Chris, Charity, Rick, Bethany. When cohorts sponsor events, you get the luxury of crashing on the futons of locals and getting invited to meals at homes. It really underscores the values of what emergent is all about.
3) I’m not a huge fan of keynote sessions. Not because of the speakers (unless of course you’re the aforementioned speaker), but because I can’t sit still for more than 30 minutes. And when you start dabbling with 45 minutes to an hour for a keynote. . . well I usually check out and start drawing things that look like a pegasus/centaur mix in the pages of hymnals. But the great thing about emergent conferences are that the best conversations usually happen outside of the sessions – over a pint of beer, reclined in a chair, on the car ride down, over a pack of cloves. For me there is more formation that happens in those spaces than in sitting and listening to someone talk for an hour or so.
4) I like being able to throw shit against the wall and seeing if it sticks. A lot of times and in a lot of spaces you aren’t allowed the opportunity to really bounce your crazy ideas, thoughts, and reflections off of other people without fear of getting burned at the stake. Or either you hang out with people who think you’re a nerd for even spending time thinking about such things (not naming any names). But at emergent events you meet people who have a) either already thought about what you’re thinking or b) are gracious enough to let you act like a heretic for a bit.
So those are my reflections in detail.
In short . . . I loved the people. Was put off by Frank Viola. Think Chris Haw is a genius and is thinking about stuff ahead of the curve. Troy Bronsink doesn’t get enough cred for being brilliant. Danielle Shroyer is in a whole different league. Tim Keel knows more big words than Tony Jones and is the James Earl Jones voice of emergent. Cohorts are cool. Food is good. St. Pete is nice. Dreadlocks aren’t romanticized enough. No matter what event you go to you’ll always have Christians trying to be trendy. You’ll always see a lame Christian shirt or two. And everybody thinks it’s cool and wants to be liberal until they realize what they have to walk away from. I made a big step towards being a social butterfly as opposed to being an anti-social recluse. And I have a real tendency to be pretentious.
Jeff
Wednesday, 6. February 2008 um 8:18 am Uhr
A “Clank of the Belgian Beer Glass” to your recap. You took the words right out of my mouth.
And though I thoroughly enjoyed the musical artists, I agree it had a forced formula-ish feel to it. What I thought was awesome was when these same bands played Friday night at the Uptown Bar. There is just something more “right” about listening to the music and the message in a “real life” venue with the smell of smoke and beer vs. the “church-lady” smell (no offense meant to our host).
joshua
Wednesday, 6. February 2008 um 8:30 am Uhr
josh,
thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. I feel you on the music piece (thanks, troy) and i am really trying to think of entirely new ways to structure an event like this. I think i kinda went w the typical format because we threw this thing together in only 3 months. Now we have 12 months to plan, so next year will be 4x as better. I can honestly say that the highlight of my weekend was spending invaluable time with Chris Haw. I got more education in 2 days with him than i have in the past 6 months. And for those who got the impression that he is “angry”, well, it’s very easy to miss his dark sense of humor, which as he has told me, keeps him from falling into despair. To quote you, josh, “i fuckin love chris”.
Nathan
Wednesday, 6. February 2008 um 11:58 am Uhr
Tell me about Chris Haw. What did he say that really stuck with you or bothered you in the right ways?
Cheers.
jessica
Wednesday, 6. February 2008 um 1:14 pm Uhr
holy crap! this has nothing to do with this post, but i just noticed in your header that you are 27!!! DAMN!! YOUR OLD DUDE!
Matt Scott
Wednesday, 6. February 2008 um 2:01 pm Uhr
I wanted to go, but that was a bit of a drive for me. Shame really, but if the Atlanta Cohort does anything like that I’ll be in.
Andrew
Wednesday, 6. February 2008 um 2:06 pm Uhr
Thank God for cloves!
Preson
Thursday, 7. February 2008 um 1:52 pm Uhr
As far as the music goes, I think you may have missed the point. Music is how some people preach, and communicate. I was one of the musicians at the conference, and I really didn’t give a damn whether people sang along or not, it was about me having something to communicate. I am a pastor, I could have just preached in one of the sessions, but I communicate better through sound put to time.
).
We seem to be rethinking allot of things, I would argue that we need to rethink music too. Many of the lyrics that were sung were exactly the things that some of the speakers were saying, but we made it emotional and memorable, and compact (6 minutes or less!
Don’t underestimate “worship” music. After all, isn’t all music worshiping something?
Josh Brown
Thursday, 7. February 2008 um 2:00 pm Uhr
preson. thanks for stopping by. i actually was really into your music. it was good stuff. and oden’s.
i totally value the fact that those are all local and contextual songs. not banging on that all.
but even when you guys played it wasn’t sort of just an informal playing. everybody sort of got together and just watched.
so i agree. we need to rethink music. but i would also we need to rethink how we use it in our settings. i think we still tend to think of it in the same ways as before, and i would just say that perhaps we should rethink how we do it as well. not just the words.
anyway . . . i did love your music. and have actually been listening to your songs on myspace since i’ve gotten back.
check them out here for those who are interested . . .
http://www.myspace.com/preson
Kritter
Thursday, 7. February 2008 um 2:24 pm Uhr
I was fortunate enough to spend some time with frank viola. I just want to say I think he is one of the most delightful people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. If we had more Franks in the world it would be a better place for Conservative, Christian, right wing republican, straight white american males.
Frank Valdez
Thursday, 7. February 2008 um 7:05 pm Uhr
Hey, Kritter. I’m afraid you’re off base here, my friend. Frank Viola is no right winger or republican. He’s an enthusiastic fan of Brian McLaren, with whom he keeps in frequent touch, and that includes “Everything Must Change” and “The Secret Message of Jesus”. Perhaps you should ask a person what s/he thinks before remarking on their politics.
Jon
Friday, 8. February 2008 um 1:10 am Uhr
kind words josh… thanks. Not enough can be said for friendships formed at these types of events. And while there were many I did not get to meet or talk to, I felt like those I DID get to chill with were even more valuable than even the keynote sessions themselves. And for what it’s worth, next time you’re in town you’re welcome to our futon anytime as long as you cool with spooning my dog again… sorry, insider joke there.
corey
Friday, 8. February 2008 um 1:55 am Uhr
“And everybody thinks it’s cool and wants to be liberal until they realize what they have to walk away from.”
True. When you are socially outcast for your “liberal” beliefs then a lot more is at stake then you thought before hand.
I love the picture of Claiborne with his dread locks, its almost as if he has to have them to be taken seriously while talking about “social change” issues.
I mean Bob Marley had dreads and he was all about social change, right?
Challenging the Critiques of Emergent: Introduction | IAmJoshBrown
Saturday, 9. February 2008 um 1:27 pm Uhr
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