books: Churches, Cultures and Leadership

via amazon.com

I'm eager to check out Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities by Juan Martinez and Mark Lau Branson. Both of these men are faculty at Fuller Seminary. Martinez is a respected Anabaptist and Latino leader whose perspective I've grown to deeply appreciate especially. Over at The Missional Network site, they say this about the book:

Over the next several months we are looking forward to volumes from Mark Lau Branson and Juan Martinez dealing with missional leadership in the midst of culture change and multiple ethnicities. The book is published by IV Press [...] Watch for interviews and updates on this book on the web site.

The book will be released in May 2011.

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Dismemberment Plan is Back!

via latenightwithjimmyfallon.com

And of course, Fallon has already had DP on his show now that they are reunited! Just as he captured Jawbox some time back. If you have not heard of this act, take a peek here and here. They haven't lost a thing in their seven-year hiatus. Still incredibly tight, intricate and catchy tune-makers. Hopefully, they'll make some arrangements to come this far southwest! You can watch for tour dates with me and learn more about Dismemberment Plan here. And you can check out NPR's interview with the band here.

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Paulo Coelho and Sean Parker on Ethics/Values

via youtube.com

This dialogue between Napster/Facebook elite, Sean Parker and Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist among others, is great. There is a couple interesting things that I noted though. At the beginning of the clip (00:25) the two are discussing the importance of values, ethics. But as I read further on Coelho's blog, I noticed a post on ethics of leaders.

Putting the two together--which is a bit unfair I know--there's a distinction and difference between personal and social ethics. Social ethics take a higher value while personal ethics seem a bit fuzzier, as long as your social ethics are high.

Like I said, I know this is pulling two references out of context. But they do appear on the same page of his blog if that counts for anything (kind of like when I said that I was going to post more substantive material and then the next post was a zombie attack checklist). But this seems to be a common and current thread within our culture. We want a higher social ethic while simultaneously demanding loser standards for our own personal behavior.

Does this work? Can you have one without the other? Isn't a culture built upon the ethics of those individuals that make it up?

I'm curious to hear your opinions. I have my own. But I'll hear from you first.

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temporary shelter IV - partnering together

via mymodernmet.com

What happens when institutional, multi-site, emerging, missional, house and mega churches from one city come together?

It sounds similar to one of those, "A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar..." jokes. But it's not. These are all terms that might be used to describe the various churches that have come together to make the temporary shelter at FPC happen. They are only labels, which are almost always insufficient and limiting. But it gives a glimpse of the variety of folks that have come together under one conviction: that the good news of the Gospel is good news to the poor. On one night, someone might be sharing about her wealthy, globe trotting friends. The next night, another person is talking about their own struggle to find work. People with much and people with little have come together to do this.

And it has been a beautiful thing to observe.

The guests themselves are not much different in this respect. In fact, they have fewer reasons to trust each other. The streets seem to make folks lose this fast. Yet, even while they each have significantly different stories, daily patterns and routines, they are building community together--they are housemates over the next several weeks afterall.

Watching people learn to trust and love again has been a beautiful thing to observe.

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temporary shelter III - warm conversation

via woostercollective.com

Tonight, FPC's temporary shelter opened. I showed up for my late shift to find a couple people still up.

I sat down next to them and said, "You're up late! Why aren't you taking the chance to get some sleep?"

"It's just nice to be with other people." one man said.

I take for granted what a gift it is to be able to sit in a warm room, sip coffee and just be in conversation with others. It seems simple. Maybe unimportant. But for at least a couple of our guests, it was irresistible-what they needed tonight.

The conversation ranged from one subject to another. Then, one woman said, "Wait. Listen." We all became quiet and listened. Someone was snoring deeply from the other end of the room. Both of those guests still awake looked at each other knowingly and smiled. I looked at them with a puzzled expression.

"That means you're doing what you set out to do," said the man to me. He leaned forward, "Sober people don't sleep that deeply on the streets."

The woman looks at me and says, "They feel safe... Well done."

Thanks to all of you that are making safety and warmth available to these folks for this limited window of time.

Posted via email from jason evans

temporary shelter II - a family affair

via woostercollective.com

I read to my kids before they go to bed just about every night. It is a ritual that we all look forward to. I sat down with them yesterday to talk about how I would be missing this practice at least one night a week for the next 6 weeks. They do not like it when I miss this practice and make that very clear to me when I am taken away for meetings. I had to prepare them ahead of time. So, I asked if they were willing to make this sacrifice and share me with these friends who First Pres' will be providing shelter to for six weeks. They were happy to hear about the shelter. In fact, they wanted to get involved. So, my wife and my in-laws, along with my kids made a plan to come join us once a week for a few hours and bring a meal to our guests. My daughter Paige wants to organize a spoken word night after one of our meals together.

This was a welcome response. But there was still more. I told my oldest boy, Matty that one of those nights was going to fall on his birthday. I told him I was sorry, but I needed to be at the church and we would do something over the weekend. I didn't know how he would respond. He quickly looked up at me and said, "Can't I have my birthday with you and the guests? We can come over and have cake together." I almost cried. I'm proud of him and his sister.

I cherish their willingness to put the needs of others before their own and involve those less fortunate than they in their own lives.

Posted via email from jason evans

temporary shelter I - conviction turned reality

via media.dezineweblog.com

When the city's decision about the winter shelter location was delayed, I made mention of my disappointment on Twitter and Facebook. For many of us, this wasn't just an societal concern. The faces of friends, members of our faith communities, came to mind when this issue arose.

A few thoughtful folks sparked a conversation online in response to my post. They were making a good point, "Why are you pointing your finger at the city? What's the church's duty here?"

A humbling, idealistic response. But this makes it nonetheless an appropriate question. To my surprise, several folks began to honestly ask this of themselves; discussing it, doing research, seeking wise counsel, talking to the homeless on Sundays at Ladle Fellowship and other places and praying.

A couple weeks ago, the elders at First Presbyterian approved the opening of a temporary winter shelter for a limited number of those we have built relationships with through Ladle over time. Last night, the last applications were received. Tomorrow night, we open the shelter for the next six weeks.

We still have volunteer positions that we'd like to fill. It would ensure that some of us get a little more sleep over the next few weeks than we anticipate right now. If you and/or your faith community would like to volunteer, click here and sign up. Of course, you can always contact me with any questions as well.

There's been several people that have put a lot of time and thought into this. Their efforts have been way above and beyond their normal duties. I'm very pleased and honored to be a part of this project and partnered with these people. I'll be committing several of my posts to this experience over the next few weeks. I hope you will join us here to discuss and in serving our friends if you are able.

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christianity and geometry

via illuminations.nctm.org

My 9 year old daughter this evening:

"Dad, Christians and polygons are kind of the same. A triangle is a polygon. But not all polygons are triangles. Followers of Jesus are Christians. But not all Christians are followers of Jesus."

Yeah.

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In Case of Zombies...

via threadless.com

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Blogging Resolutions

via timenerdworld.files.wordpress.com

Yesterday, I posted some thoughts on my personal resolutions for 2011. I mentioned that I want to write more. And this blog is one of those forms I use for writing. But what to blog about? I’ve had seasons of total random blogging. This year I am resolving to be more focused than I have in the past. So, I’ve been thinking about blogging subjects and themes for this new year.

The first is books. I’ll continue to review what I am reading as often as I have time to. Most of it will be reading concerning my school work. But I’ll squeeze in other material as often as I can. Specifically, I want to share some of the books I’ve read with my kids. We read together almost every night. And we have discovered some great books. So, I hope to share some of those.

Secondly, music. I plan to continue the monthly mixtape series and guest mixtape series. Although, I skipped December (sorry). And I am happy to announce that my six year old will be offering the first guest mixtape of the year. Kids got some great taste in music, I must admit.

But I also want to explore the theology and practice of mission a bit more here. This subject is where my studies, vocation and occupation connect. There has been so much wonderful development in this subject in the last few decades. But as someone who has cared about mission in traditional and non-traditional contexts, I find much of it still out of touch with the lives and contexts of ordinary people. So, I’d like to explore subject here as well.

While I am presuming that these will be themes throughout the year, there are few other subjects I hope to approach in shorter themes. For example, I hope to blog a little more about what I’ve learned about being a convinced Anabaptist working in the Reformed tradition. Related, somewhat, I’d like to talk about my evolving thoughts on Christian leadership.

And we’ll see what else comes up over the course of the year! I’m certain there will be other subjects that will come up concerning art, culture, current events, family, etc. But these are the subjects I presume to be the focus this year. I hope you’ll be along for the ride and join in on the conversation!

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2011

via rjdposters.com

Yesterday I wrote, “There are habits I’d like to break and habits I’d like to adopt. I have goals that I would like to reach. There are some new dreams I want to explore and hopes to resurrect some old ones.” Is this simply a fancy way of approaching the subject of resolutions for 2011? Maybe. If so, I have several this year. Some of them I am more serious about than others. But here’s a list of a few:

- Leave the radio off whenever driving alone; listening to God, practicing silence.
- Hold my kids more than my phone.
- Walk to work at least once a week, exercise more often.
- Read a book a week, read the whole Bible in a year.
- Write at least 500 words a day; school work, articles, blogging or journaling (maybe that pesky book Dan and I keep talking about).
- Improve my Spanish (see below).
- Improve my guitar playing (drums are too much work)

But there is one resolution I made in 2010 that I really hope to conquer in 2011: swearing.

When I was in my early twenties, I worked for a moving company. I was the only person on our crew of drivers and movers that didn’t have a criminal record. And I learned the fine art of swearing on that job. Yes, some of those guys were awe-inspiring in what words they could place together whenever someone cut them off on the freeway. Like Ralphie’s dad in The Christmas Story, any one of those fellas “worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.”

Not many years later, I got into construction and found the skill taken to a new level and even crossing into other languages, namely Spanish. But here’s the problem, swearing just sounds unintelligent. It jars people but I think it rarely does more than that. I really started feeling compelled about this when I saw Ian McKaye conduct a Q&A at USCD. McKaye is an intelligent person. Seriously bright and inspiring guy! But I guarantee he loses people every time he drops an F-bomb. Tony Campolo is a fan of placing cuss word into a sentence for effect. But folks pay attention more to the shock of it more than the point intended. Bottom line, I think it’s just too easy. Swearing is the cheap shot; a lazy way to communicate an emotion around an idea. I want to communicate better, manage emotive responses better. So, I’m trying to refrain from foul language in order to fill the space with something... better.

Honestly, I am not bothered by others swearing. I certainly wouldn’t encourage it but it doesn’t offend me. I just simply want to stop swearing myself. So, in order to get serious about this I talked to my wife and kids last year. I told them that I would pay them a dollar any time they heard me use a bad word. I’m doing a lot better.

But, I’ve got room to improve.

I still owe Paige six bucks.

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