In these shifting times of church and culture there has, by necessity, developed various terms to help define what is simmering below the spiritual surface. One such term that has been gaining buzz for quite some time is the word Missional.

In an excellent article by Alan Hirsch for Leadership Journal, he tackles the Big Question: What is Missional???

A missional theology is not content with mission being a church-based work. Rather, it applies to the whole life of every believer. Every disciple is to be an agent of the kingdom of God, and every disciple is to carry the mission of God into every sphere of life. We are all missionaries sent into a non-Christian culture.

Missional represents a significant shift in the way we think about the church. As the people of a missionary God, we ought to engage the world the same way he does—by going out rather than just reaching out. To obstruct this movement is to block God's purposes in and through his people. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.

My friend Kingdom Grace recently blogged some thoughts about being missional in the moment:

In order for this to soak into the marrow of who I am, so that missional is more than an abstraction, it has to start at the most basic places.

In a blog post last summer about the term missional, blogger Blind Beggar (and someone I know from afar right here in Portland!) wrote this explanation:

Let us be very clear about what it is not first. It is NOT a method, model, style, agenda, program, or even an exhaustive theology. Missional is a stance, a way of thinking, a lifestyle.

I’ve often said that missional is a way of life where “the way of Jesus*” informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Jesus follower.

Over at Apologetics Index, a kind of guide for outing anything that smacks of heresy, they have posted a snarky, satirical dictionary of terms for the Emerging Church Movement, including this one:

Missional - 1. Working to make the world a better place instead of focusing on the Fundamentalist concepts of Heaven and Hell. 2. Being like the world to make friends with the world.

I understand the need for defining concepts and trends. Missional is simply a word, and words are vehicles to carry forth ideas. What concerns me is when there is a lot of energy spent on theorizing about a word that far outruns the practice of it. For example, I can sit around and talk about love in coffee bars all day long. What is love? What does it look like? How do we do live out love? But really, the best way to discover the true meaning of love is to love and be loved. To integrate the act of love in our lives requires Acts of Love.

And so it is with this idea of being missional. Talking about it is good, even necessary, very necessary in many corners of western Christendom. But the capturing of what it means to be a missional follower of Jesus Christ is, in my opinion, going to be realized when by our lives we Act Missional.

According to some of the reading I've done on it, I offer this simplistic definition of How to Live Missional:

Go and Love Others.

To be a missional follower of Jesus does not require someone organizing you. It does not need results (gasp!). Nor does the concept of missional depend on gifting, calling, talent, skill, a faith system, doctrine, ritual, or reputation. When I think of missional, I think of love and grace. God is the most missional Being I know. He meets me in my effed up world everyday. No explanation or fanfare. He just shows up.

Do you want to be missional? Are you a leader trying to lead others into a missional way? Go and find somebody to love in a way that will be love to them. Just like God does with you. That, to me, is the whole point of the gig.

While driving on a lonely country highway, I noticed a blur of color from roadside flowers growing near the pavement. I begin to anticipate these wild flowers and kept alert.

Flashes of orange, red and white blossoms scanned by lightening fast. And then, it hit me. These obscure, overlooked highway flowers are no less beautiful than the blooms found in city florist shops.

Their significance is found in what they are, lovely flora growing steadily and stubbornly no matter who’s watching or not. At the end of it all, a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.

Such is my life. No matter if I have a life filled with a kind of faith that is displayed in the showcase of full time ministry, or a quieter kind of faith that exists on hidden roadways inside my inner world. My faith in Christ is no less significant than the faith of a missionary or of a monk. Faith is faith is faith is faith.


(photo by Donna of my garden)

Like flowers, there may be different varieties, but faith comes in all shapes, colors and fragrances.

Faith is our first step of worship. God who is invisible, who cannot be seen or touched or measured, is wowed by the attempt of anyone to trust that He is. This is faith. Whether loud or quiet, it is faith. It is what Tolstoy described as, “…man’s conscious relationship with the infinite universe from which he derive guidance for his activity.”

No matter what that activity is.

Faith, like wild highway roses, exists for the quiet sake of existing. It's beauty no less when unnoticed. Such is the common life of faith on the backroads of this thing called life.

For the third year in a row an assembly of emerging church women leaders has gathered together for mutual enrichment and collective snynergizing of networking and knowledge sharing. This is called Convergence. The love child of Kelly Bean, Deborah Loyd and Karlene Clark, Convergence is not a womens retreat or typical Christian womens weekend gathering.

"F@ck that," I just overheard a young woman say in conversation to another woman. The language is loose here, unchurchified, a bit gritty at times. Thoroughly refreshing. A few moments ago another woman was blowing on her harmonica, the bluesy riff a fitting soundtrack for the funky and cool setting of The Edgefield where we are gathered.

About 85-90 women are assembled here from as far away as the midwest and Canada and also a few women from southern California and San Francisco. There are Baptist women, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Quaker, Evangelical Free, church of God, and many non-denom followers of Christ and also women who are not affiliated with any kind of structured church. It is a wonderfully diverse group of women not only in denominations, but also in age. We have among us young single women as well as silver-haired grandmothers. There is not a single hint of ageism, as my friend Mimi calls it.

One of the things about Convergence is that there are no speakers or scripted workshops. Those things are great, and certainly have their place in big group gatherings, but Convergence brings women together and provides a framework for the women attending to learn from one another by mostly listening to each other.This morning, for example, we divided up into small groups of about five people. We spread ourselves out around the hotel, in our rooms and quiet places where heartfelt conversations could safely be had. Each woman in each group was given 15 minutes of uninterupted time to talk about her role as a leader and also about the areas she needs encouragement. We also told one another what we hope for in our lives, about our futures as the mothers and daughters of this great, glorious Woman known as the Bride of Christ.

Lest I lead you to mistakenly wonder if this was some kind of Embrace-the-Feminine-Mystique experience, let me clarify that that is not the case. Empowerment? Yes. Abso-effin-lutely yes.

This afternoon, we were invited to volunteer to for topics of interest we'd like to lead. One group that was particularly popular was rounded up by one of my Bridge sisters. She threw out the topic of sexuality and invited all-interested women to join her for a lovely soak in the soaking pool that is on the property. Another group had as it's topic, "Discussion about the downward path of servanthood versus the upward climb of the corporate ladder." Doesn't that sound intriguing? Another group was organized around for women interested in exploring the question, "Where are the women in the emerging church movement?"

I came armed and ready to lead a group in an art activity. Seven women joined me to create collage art. I brought a bag of supplies, of magazines, pretty papers, mod podge and scissors. It was a wonderful time of storytelling as we cut and pasted and together created art. I'll post some pics later.

Which brings me to art. One of my favorite things about Convergence is the art. Space is made for an art gallery and handmade art that is for sale. I brought three works of collage I've done over the past year that have been well received. One woman asked me if they were for sale! My friends Donna and Crystal brought photos to sell. Jody, a Native American woman from Vancouver, Washington, brought some beautiful native jewelry she made and was selling for very reasonable prices. Cheryl, whose last name escapes me, is a fabulous mixed media artist. She displayed several kinds of pieces around the theme of trees.

(I will post pics when I get home later tomorrow!!!)

Another favorite thing about Convergence is our time of music, singing and worship together, Angie and Mimi from my home church, The Bridge, have traditionally led our worship times. This year other musicians were part of their ensemble. Great musicians, these women, and what a great chorus of singing and harmonizing was created as we turned our voices heavenward, Love it, love it, love it...

This is one of the very few conference type things I am willing to give time and money for. I am stingy when it comes to handing over my hard-earned cash or time-strapped life to these kinds of weekend gatherings. But Convergence is worth it. The value of the cost is practical and attractive to me ($60 registration which includes four outstanding meals!!!). And the lodging on site is affordable as well.

Last thing, and then I'll wrap this up, the takeaway for me of Convergence is this: Woman, be who you are and do what you are called to do. In the company of women, there is a solidarity that as the gender who has suffered injustice and exclusion. Womanhood in The Church does not have a great track record. Many strides have been made to dismantle gender inequality, yet there are still many roadblocks towards women in spiritual leadership in the body of Christ. Crazy. But true. Just tonight a panel discussion of women were asked how to deal with such sexism. "Be who you are, don't worry about intimidating men with who you are or what you're called to do. Be and Do what you know to be true for you." The consensus was that for some women this will mean they will need to leave their faith communities if inequality is the norm. For other women, it will mean to stay in this kind of climate and be a voice of education and wisdom for other women (and men) in that place. But for all women, the rallying cry is this:

Embrace wholeheartedly the woman that you are and the gifting and calling that is inside of you.

Convergence. If you're a woman of faith who feels disconnected from the greater sisterhood of women who are progressive thinkers, tinkers and practitioners of Christian spirituality, then plan to attend next year. Follow your urge to converge. It's worth the effort.

Bigger is not always better. Bigger churches bring with them bigger budgets and bigger programs and bigger overhead and bigger staff needs.  And with it comes bigger headaches and especially a bigger disconnect between leadership and the people who they serve.

I am not anti-growth when it comes to faith communities. Hear me out. I am not in favor of big churches that are so big they now resemble a religious franchise rather than a spiritual home. The use of corporate language such as "worship specialist" or "executive pastor" is concerning to me. Why not just really put it out there and call your church God-Mart?

Small is better. Leaders are accessible, people are visible to one another. Transparency and honest, authentic relationships become the norm rather than the exception. That is, if your small church is healthy and nurturing. Toxic faith and toxic leadership is no respector of size.

Last week I was confronted by two personal incidents of poor judgment. Not a catastrophe. But they were lapses of judgment in areas of responsibility that I have at The Bridge (my small church).  Because we are such a tight-knit community, Deborah, a friend of mine as well as one of the pastors of our church, was a mere phone call away. No secretary to screen my call. No business hours to pay attention to. I called my friend, who is also a pastor in my church, and asked for guidance. Because our community is small, the leadership is accessible.

In the other incident, I was  contacted swiftly and directly and led into a discussion about the situation and how to proceed.  This involved two other leaders in our church. Again, accessible. Transparent. Direct. This is spiritual community which is really friendship in the climate of faith.

I know that many people thrive in Big Church. I am not one of them. I need the companionship of a group of people who not only know my name but also know my kids and my husband, my whole family. I thrive in an environment where my personal weaknesses are not held against me. This bolsters my willingness to be open and honest and avoid living dishonestly on Sunday.  My friend Erin says that church taught her how to lie. The family of faith known as The Bridge is teaching me how to be honest.

Small is faster. Closer. Able to navigate quickly through tight places. Like a small boat along side a cruise ship, the little vessel can get to places that the Titanic never could. I know the reverse is true. I would never cross the ocean in a dingy if I could avoid it. But I would never go fishing or rafting on a humongous boat either. 

Small is sexy. It arouses me to let my guard down, to come out of hiding and show my true colors, the invisible part of me that I fret about.  The intimacy that small can bring is impossible for me in a crowded place like a Big Church. I just can't manage it. I know how to perform and Do Church in a big house of faith. But I cannot let my flaws bleed out. It might mess up the carpet.

And here's the other thing:  because I embrace the wisdom of small communities and all the little details that make our church a family-like atmosphere, it helps me value the small things in other places of my life.

The sexiness of being and doing small now has a big place in my heart.

One of my favorite bloggers, Seth Godin, posted this today about authenticity:

Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not "being who you are".

That's because 'being' is too amorphous and we are notoriously bad at judging that. Internal vision is always blurry. Doing, on the other hand, is an act that can be seen by all.

Be sure to check out his entire posting. It's short, Seth is a snappy blogger who gets to the point quickly. And his points are almost always sharp. This one was especially sharp for me.

Sunday’s after the park I go down to the underpass. There I do the same as I do in the park, give a warm meal but mostly hang out and talk. This past Sunday we had finished loading the truck backup and a group that we had been visiting with left and was walking down the street. My son and I were still hanging out when a lady with the group came running back yelling for help. One of the guys with them had roughed her up and threw her in the bushes. She was afraid that the guy who roughed her up was going to do something to one of the other guys and asked if we would help (they asked not to have the cops involved). So, my son, one other guy and myself jumped in the truck and went to help. To make a long story short, we got everyone back to the underpass without anyone else getting hurt. As we all stood there talking, the lady came up and gave me a hug and said “Thank you, you’re the only normal that has ever cared enough to help.”  -Denie in Boise, Idaho

Denie, like Ken Loyd and the HOMEpdx crowd here in Portland, Oregon, choose to break the script that most of us Normals have with people who are on the streets. There is like an unspoken code between Us and them. We ignore them, and they leave us alone.

My normalcy keeps me safe inside an insulated boundary of ignorance. If I keep my eyes averted from looking at the scrawny panhandler on the corner, then I won't feel curious compassion to know his story. Or his name.  If I cross the street to avoid crossing paths with a homeless person, then I've kept my normal routine intact of only coming into contact with other normals. I avoid the discomfort of coming face to face with someone whose life reeks of failure and defectiveness. Navigating myself past the broken lives that litter my city's streets and freeway ramps, I am able to pretend that my society is healthy and normal. When everyone I know lives indoors and keeps up with the status quo, then I develop a world view that a person only needs to work hard and want a better life (indoors) to have one.

...is it normal to not care and turn a blind eye, if it is then I don’t want to be considered as normal. I want to be abnormal...

 I read a quote somewhere recently about Christ followers need to not only care for the poor, but  need to know the poor. That is abnormal. That is the kingdom of Jesus, which is abnormal in contrast with the kingdom of self and the kingdoms of the world. The way of Jesus is to care and connect to the most vulnerable and broken.  It is not normal for people of means to pay attention to people of no means.

Normal is overrated anyway. I don't want to be normal. I want to be like Denie.

“Are you still on about that?” said my friend Tracey in her brilliant English accent. We were sitting at her kitchen table in the upscale fishing village of Sai Kung in Hong Kong on a lovely October afternoon. . My husband and I had lived in Hong Kong years prior, and had always wanted to return with our kids. Now we were finally here.
Tracey had been my best friend during those Hong Kong years. She attended our wedding. Now, twenty years later, here we were with our children reminiscing about life and wondering how we all of sudden had gotten so old.
"You're still on about that?" she asked when I lamented that sometimes I feel like my life is going nowhere, that I've somehow missed the calling of who I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing. “I’m just not sure what I’m meant to be doing. What does God have for me?”
Jerry, my husband, wandered in from the balcony overlooking the other homes below. Passion flowers blossomed on a carpet of deep green vines below the terrace. Our boys happily playing video games while Rose, my teenaged daughter enjoyed some peace and quiet locked away in Tracey’s bedroom.
“There’s an obsession to be used by God,” said Jerry as he joined in the conversation. Just like that. Jerry nails it. A man of few words, I had learned in our twenty years of marriage to listen up when he offers his insights.
Tracey and I nodded our heads in agreement. All three of us have been Christ followers for decades. Between the three of us it collectively adds up to more than 85 years. We know a thing or two about the pressure of the Christian life with output. We’ve all heard countless life-changing sermons about how to be great for God, the importance of doing ministry for Jesus.
Ugh. The M word.
“What is a ministry?” asked Tracey. “I call it the M word. Ministry is meant to be your life. It’s who you are, it’s not just what you do with other people to make yourself feel great as a Christian. That’s why I can’t be bothered to go to church. I can’t bear being someone’s ministry anymore than I can bear being told I must discover my calling, which is just code for ministry. I hate that word.”
Jerry and I have always gotten along so well with Tracey, and this was a big reason why. Long before there were discussions of being church rather than doing church our British friend Tracey who’s lived in Hong Kong her entire adult life, was unapologetically rejecting this form of religion, even if the name Christian was slapped all over it.
“Is it really necessary to be recognized by other people?” she continued. “I want God to be in my everyday life.”
And that was it. The lighthouse of hope to the stormy sea of angst that rolled inside of my world. I want God to be in my everyday life.

 This is a message of demotivation.

Many people live their entire lives in unspectacular quietness. There is no striving to discover the fullest potential of a divine life purpose  or for the fabled 15 minutes of fame. Life just rambles along the highway of day and starry road of night.

The older I become the more I am content to say that being an average, ordinary human being is enough. Discovering our potential is some kind of modern mantra, but it's a brutal one. Fulfill your potential or else your life is a waste. I reject that.

I say, understand that the value of your life is not determined by your accomplishments or failures. Embrace the reality of who you are, a son or daughter of the Creator God.

Whether we stagger out of the bar or strut on Wall Street or swagger across the platform of ministry, the beauty of who we are endures beneath the shiny successes or miserable failures of our lives.

The Powerful God of the universe set up shop in an ordinary Hebrew teenaged girl. From there, the Son of God made his entrance as the bastard son of a poor man born inconveniently and in a barn. Mary had to have had some moments of doubt about whether or not she was on divine assignment. "Where's my five-star birthing suite," she may have wondered as she labored amidst the stench of animal waste.

There is nothing motivating about the birth of Jesus to wow us towards prosperity or success. It is demotivating, a story that deflates the human ego and confronts the absurdity of man's pride. God, very God lands the physical expression of himself through an illegitimate birth to a non-descript couple who have little to no economic or social power. It's as if God is saying to all of humankind, Let me show you how the low way is my way.

God seems attracted to the  ordinary,  to simple gestures of humanity. Maybe this is why Jesus hung out with so many everyday schmucks. Maybe this is why he hangs out with me.

(illustrated Failure artwork by Kevin Sprouls)

Last week I defragged my computer and did a virus scan. It has been running kind of sluggish so some housekeeping was in order.

Last week I listened to Len Sweet, author of many kinds of progressive Christianity books and articles, describe the church's need to be defragged and rid of her viruses.

to defragment (third-person singular simple present defragments, present participle defragmenting, simple past and past participle defragmented)

1. (computing) To run a process that collects fragments of files and sorts them into contiguous sections on one or more hard disks or hard disk partitions, thus speeding up file management.

I later asked Len, in a Q and A time, If you could defrag the Church of only one virus, which one would you choose?

"Wow, there's so many," he said. He paused, thinking about it, and then finally answered, "I’m not sure I’d call this a virus, but let me be contentious here. For 30 years we’ve done nothing in the church but talk about leadership. And in the last 30 years we’ve had a leadership crisis- the church is doing the worst it’s ever done. It’s hard to find the word leader in the New Testament"

He added more about the need to emphasize followership rather than leadership in the Church. "Paul didn’t think of himself as a leader: “follow me as I follow him.” He is a chief follower of Jesus."

Astutely observed. I think he's right. There is an unspoken sense of leadership in the church as being somehow a promotion of one's spirituality. This might be in part due to the business-like atmosphere and model that many churches mimic. Pastorol teams are often made up of prominent businessmen and wealthy members. It may not be intentional, but it certainly sets a tone that to be included in leadership is to be promoted within the faith community as if it were a job promotion.

Nothing wrong with job promotions. But the Church is not a business. She is a bride, she is a kingdom, a carrier of the life of Jesus. And he said, Follow me.

The great illusion of leadership is....follow this link for the rest of this quote....

Yesterday I attended the Recalibrating Concepts of Church seminar at George Fox University's seminary. Wow. That's a sentence-full.

Chuck Conniry, the vice-president and dean of students at the seminary invited me to attend as a journalist. I met Chuck last year at an Off the Map event in Seattle. I was writing an article at that time about the phenomenal success of The Shack, and he kindly agreed to be interviewed. I enjoyed a wonderful exchange with him in that interview. He is a very engaging person and exudes a warmth I did not expect from a career academic. I was thrilled when his assistant contacted me with the invite.

The Recalibrating gig featured five innovative thinkers within American Christendom today.

• Mary Kate Morse, who is a professor of leadership and spiritual formation at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon and also the author of Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space, and Influence

• Alan Hirsch, Missional Leader and author of The Forgotten Ways, The Shape of Things to Come, and his newest work, ReJesus

• Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA and author of several books including The Emerging Church and They Like Jesus, but not the Church
  

• Frank Viola, author of several books including Pagan Christianity and Reimagining Church. His newest work, From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, will be available next month
  

• Len Sweet, a professor of evangelism at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and is a distinguished visiting professor at George Fox E.S. as well as the author of numerous books including The Gospel According to Starbucks and his newest book, So Beautiful, Divine Design for Life and the Church
  

• Lance Ford, co-founder of Shapevine, an online community and source for missional Christianity

I was like a little girl in a candy store. Each speaker was compelling and imaginative, stimulating my intellect as as well as my spiritual creativity.

This was my first time to hear any of these folks speak, and I've not read a single book any of them have written. Wait, hold up, um, I did stumble upon Dan Kimball's Emerging Church book at my neighborhood Goodwill store. I was on youth staff at the time and it looked like a good youth ministry resource book. I shelved it and pretty much forgot about it for the longest time. I finally cracked it open and skimmed through it when I began to hear buzz about what is known as the "emerging church movement." That is a familiar term for many of you, but knowing most of my readership, this is a useless label, and really, that' what it is, a Label to help define a growing group of like-minded Christ followers from many corners of Christendom who are rexamining the identity and practice of Christianity in the 21st century. (This is primarily a Western, caucasion movement dominated by theologians, church leaders and bored house cleaners...that would be me...just saying...)

I've been familiar with all of the speakers by name since there are many in my corner of the blogosphere who have read and reviewed their books. One of my fave bloggers and downright kick-ass writer, Kingdom Grace, has posted in-depth reviews of some of these author's books, especially Frank's books. I noticed at his website that he has a short blogroll on his sidebar that includes KG. So before I even met him I liked him. A friend of KG's is a friend of mine, even in the vaguest cyberspacish sense of the word. (and, for the record, he also has John Smulo on his blogroll. John is someone I've come to respect and enjoy through our contact with Off the Map.) So Frank, no matter what they say about him, keeps good cyberspace company.

I think I got the greatest takeaway listening to Alan talk about our need to ReJesus, such as in Reboot, or ReFound. This was inspiring to my tired religious bones. The arthritic ache of trudging uphill in the snow and against the wind to Be Church when I've been so well-trained to Do Church gets me tired out at times. Alan's back-to-the-basics of Jesus is a timely word for me.

Dan Kimball is a hoot to listen to. He uses powepoint slides wisely, injecting humorous and relevant images to amplify his point, such as the story about a young woman telling him, "Pastors are creepy." From there he launced into a essayesque observation that pastors have an image problem, and part of it is deserved. Pastors who are overly insulated from their own communities are not truly pastoring. You cannot pastor who you do not know. Preach on, brother. (and yes, I did write essayesque on purpose. I'm a wordsmith. Enjoy my art.)

Mary-Kate spoke about power, which reminded and inspired me how it is the way of the kingdom of Jesus to use whatever measure of power we might possess for the greater good and to share that power with others, whatever it might be. I wish I had been present to hear more of her talk, but the truth is I was out in the lobby schmoozing with Jim Henderson. I said schmoozing, not smooching! (geez, guys, keep it real, as in real clean!) Whenever I go to events of this kind I always have significant Lobby Time. It's the unoffical meeting-within-a-meeting place. And it's where the coffee is usually found.

I was very interested to hear what Leonard Sweet would bring to the gathering. I've heard about him for so long. Len, who looks like the scientist guy from the Independance Day movie, you know, the long, gray-haired man who gets toasted by the alien in his own laboratory, except that Len is has silver hair and doesn't wear a white coat, and really, I don't why that film character popped into my head while he was speaking - sorry, I'm rabbit trailing, but I kept thinking about that character while Len was talking about truly deep spiritual things - Len announced to us, "God is up to something huge. But do we know God well enough to be paying attention and to knowing what that is?"

To outsiders, this will sound incredibly grandiose. Yeah, sure ya know what the Creator of the Universe is up to. What other voices do you hear? Yet to those who hang out with the Creator on a regular basis and not just to do all the talking, then this kind of statement is not outrageous, but is actually validating. Jesus said we are his friends. Friends let friends in on stuff.

Ok, back to Viola. Frank, who is very compelling with his public speaking and colorful with his delivery, interjected often about his new book, From Eternity to Here. The cynic in me would interpret this as totally whoring to promote his book and get sales. But that cynical perspective is so often mistaken and I've learned to shut it down and believe the best about people. And, as a writer and communicator myself, I could see that he is truly passionate about the message of all of his books, but especially his most recent work.

He himself declared that this is the most important book he will have ever written. That is quite a statement for a writer who is only in his forties. And yet, the very premise of his new work, that we have each been created for an eternal purpose, not just to get saved, or whatever, but that each one of us is destined to be the glorious bride of Christ (collectively). This is the point of it all, the summation of being created, redeemed, churchlife, and so on. The Grand Plan is the Wedding and then the House. We were created for the ultimate purpose of living forever in unity with God and for God. All roads, in the kingdom of Jesus, lead back to that singular purpose of eternal friendship.

Listening to him, I could hear Bridal Theology, Song of Solomon, the lovesick affection of God for that raging beauty which is The Church. It's a message that I do not think gets nearly enough platform space or page space. (click HERE to read Frank's blog post about the impact Recalibrating had on him)

His book about this comes out next month and for sure I will get it, and when I do I'll review it here. It was very encouraging for me to hear someone talking so on point about this within the context of church leadership.

Lance, let me tell you about Lance, Lance Ford from Shapevine, not Lance Ford the blues singer who I love to listen to online. This Lance moderated the speakers and panel discussion. He did a good job keeping the flow going. I got a chance to speak with him afterwards. I asked him about Shapevine, an online networking and communication resource for progressive Christians. I actually created an account there last year, but didn't really get what the dealio was.

My new acquaintance, Becky Garrison, who is an author and one of the rare religious satirists in the U.S., recently emailed me about some ideas she has for using Shapevine to promote her books and to also help provide a platform for those she writes about. (Becky is all about sharing whatever power she might have which totally endears me to her)

So, within the last month I suddenly find myself learning more about Shapevine and the forward thinking that Lance and his crew have for establishing and sharing digital power for kingdom people of all shapes and sizes. Very, very cool. Keep an eye out for 'em. Next week, Lance tells me, will be the launch of a collaboration between Shapevine and a little magazine you might have heard of called Christianity Today.

I know this is a long post, longer than usual for my blog. So let me wrap it up and make it even longer. (smile, people, smile)

It is curious to me why I consistently find myself in the company of innovative spiritual thinkers, tinkers and reinventors. I am not a pastor, nor a church planter. I'm not educated, nor do I intend to be. I clean houses, and I write. That's it. That's my station in life.

Last night, as I drove north on interstate 5 to get home, I invited the Holy Spirit to counsel me about this. What's up? Is there something I'm meant to be paying attention to here? Is there a writing assignment in this mix somewhere that I'm meant to pursue?

I don't know. What I do know is that God is up to something Huge. I will write about it as much as I can and in all kinds of forms: blogging, journalistic articles, fiction stories, essays, etc... Hearing these brothers and sisters talk with such fierce love for the community known as Church, makes me love her all the more. I want to serve her with my words.

So expect to see more posts this coming year about A Brave New Church and the ordinary, invisible folk who make it so. That is my passion.