With So Much Drama in the NPC...

Well, not really. Not much drama yet at the NPC (National Pastors Conference) which I'm currently attending for class and spiritual growth and training...etc. San Diego is cool, with a spring/fall type weather right now and I'm excited to be in Snoop Dogg's home state and bring some love from the East to the West.

I've nearly been up 24 hours as I write this, and I told a few people that I'd try to share some of the in's and out's and going-on's as I hung out in San Diego and got to be with some emergent type folks for a few days, and figured I better start today posting or the week will slip by.

honestly, with the last month off of school, and having finished a few books in the month off, I feel like i've had a lot i've wanted to share, yet haven't found the words for a lot of it. maybe part of it is that i'm still figuring out what is good for me to share on the blog. maybe part of it is that i've been taking pictures of birds? part of it is that i put a lot of pressure on myself to say something significant that will contribute to "the conversation" but sometimes i have some processing to do before i say anything out loud. and part of it is that i finished a collection of essays by Wendell Berry titled Sex, Economy, Community, and Freedom: Eight Essays that was humbling, convicting and contextually appropriate for much today's issues (war in Iraq, globalization, local economy, sustainability). all i'm saying is that if you haven't read any of Wendell Berry's stuff...you should start soon.

i'll post more on Berry maybe tomorrow, since i finished that book as the last of my "i'm not in school right now and can read whatever i want list" on the plane this morning. but tonight, i'd like to stir the pot a little with a metaphor from the critical concerns course i went to today and will finish tomorrow led by Brian McLaren and Richard Twiss called "Return to the Bible". Twiss, a Native American of the Sioux people is co-leading the seminar with Brian and the first 5 hours of the course have been great thus far. they started with taking questions and surveying the group to learn about where many of the people at the seminar were coming from and then went on to first describe the need to move out of a foundational epistemological system in a more post-modernist epistemology that constructs a web of knowledge and understanding rather than a wall or foundation.

beyond all that came what i thought was a profound missiological insight and metaphor recalled by Twiss and told by many as a Mission Legend: Bring the gospel as a seed into an indigenous culture, rather than as a potted plant, so that when the gospel which was planted as a seed begins to surface it will be expressed and understood as a manifestation of the indigenous culture. I think that this is a truly beautiful and wonderful metaphor, and offers profound insight into the necessity of preserving the relationship between culture, theology, and the gospel. this is especially true in light of Twiss' heritage and story riddled and tarnished with the story of "Christians" destroying much of his community and chance for redemption of Native American practices, not to mention the need for a contextually appropriate mission amongst the people first occupying the country to its own people without being oppressed. any thoughts?

rock the vote!

Hey friends,

If you haven't already, it is time to vote. Friends of mine from the band Harp 46 who helped lead worship at the last senior high retreat, have been at many of the great emergent conversations/conventions and other events...and are just freakin' cool...have let me know that Nuc's book Understanding Groove is up for some awards in a couple of places. Nuc is the percussionist along with Posido on bass and April on harp to make up Harp 46. If you have had a chance to hear the band, know them at all, or just want to help out some friends of mine...take a minute to vote for Nuc and his book as the best book on drum theory to come out last year.

Here's where to go:

1. DRUM! Magazine Poll: Go here, and then go to question #38- you have to click on the "submit" arrow to get to the next page of questions... but you do not have to answer ANY other of the questions to do this. On Question #38, scroll down to highlight the book titled "Understanding Groove" and then click submit and you're done.


2. Modern Drummer Poll: Go here, and after filling out your information for registering for the poll, be sure to UNCHECK the box if you would not like to be put on their mailing list. Scroll down to "Method Book" and the book title is "Understanding Groove" and the author is "Nucleo Vega."

The deadline to vote is April 15th, but take the time and vote today!

Here's a pic of the band from the fall retreat last year:

a little help

So I sort of alluded to the idea that I will be working on an essay for a book to be published later this year or early next year with the two guys over at The Nick and Josh Podcast (or see their blogs over on the right in my blogroll). They have a pretty fun, interesting, don't-take-yourself-too-seriously series of insightful podcasts that feature interviews with all kinds of people associated with Emergent (e.g. Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt) while also going outside of the box a bit to meet with people like Sammy Andraos a Christian exiled from Lebannon during the bombings by Israel, or musicians like Derek Webb (who is giving his latest CD "Mockingbird" away for free right now).

One of the things that has come up in the rapid growth in listeners has been a desire to find ways for other young voices in the church to have a chance to speak up. So the idea of publishing a book (perhaps even yearly) has been born out of a desire to provide space for new voices at the table of both the Emergent conversation and the church at large.

I thought this was a great idea, and last week I emailed Nick and Josh about the idea of writing about the need for a generous dialogue amongst the current church leadership and the rising generation of leaders that will soon come into the places of leadership in the church (both locally and globally). (April you may remember a conversation that I had with Sheila about this in some email conversations that she talked to you about?) So, I have a lot of work to do still in writing the peice, but I must say that I am really excited about the opportunity to write...

One of the neat things that is happening in the publishing of this book is that we are using an on demand publisher and editing the book ourselves to help cut down on the costs. One of the ways that we could use some help is in offsetting some of the actual publishing costs. Nick has graciously offered to give all of the money of sales of his cd "qara"(you can see a picture in the top right of this post) as means of fundraising for the book. Cost is $6.50 for his album of some good music, and the proceeds go towards helping a group of young authors find their voice in the church conversation. (To buy, go to Nick's blog and click on the album at the top right of his sidebar, which will take you automatically to a paypal transfer site).

No matter what, whether you can help by buying a cd or not, I'll keep you posted as the book progresses, and I look forward to sharing with you more as things happen...