Creating Community from Nothing Presentation

Hey everyone here is a great link to summarize a few of the sessions and a few power points from the sessions at the event!

http://emergingumc.blospot.com

if you just want the MP3s/podcasts then go here:

The Emerge Detroit Podcast

This is a freaking awesome site and podcast BTW! (love ya Carl!)

And I think this is the first official podcast with my voice in it! So enjoy!

————————————————
I think this is a FREAKING cool logo:

————————————————
OK, Tiffany and I were in Michael’s the other day and I just had to buy these:
There will not be any question as to the gender this year of our Christmas Tree! Can’t wait to hang them!
—————————————————–

Oh and this one has a great story behind it!…As some of you know, I was at an “emergingumc: a gathering” event in Nashville, TN this past weekend! It was great and a fun time was had by all!

Now a few of you need some background on this picture. The unofficial headquarters of most of the world wide denomination of the United Methodist Church is found in Nashville. And the building that we had all of our sessions and discussions in was the General Board of Discipleship of the entire United Methodist Church. (GBOD for short). The building that the beer truck is parked in front of is this building! It was so funny that i just had to get a picture of it!

(now, please know that the truck was unloading across the street to a restaurant, and NOT to the GBOD, but it was too classic of a statement!) God bless yall, and KUTPs!!!

Hello to everyone who finds this blog from the, emergingumc: a gathering event! This past weekend! It was great getting to know you all and meeting most of you! I pray that we take the discussions and passions that were shared and expressed to the rest of the communities that we find ourselves in, or find ourselves called to move into. Blessings! And KUTPs!!!

Please feel free to contact me or any one else to keep the relationships up and going!

Oh and were you not there? then please head over to the emergingumc blog to read a few of the suggested resources that the presenters suggested…they can be found here on this post.

Also, it is a possibility that a few podcasts might be made available for a few of the breakout sessions and such, but they might take a little time to get the post production set up and working..but look for them soon on the blog….God bless yall!

(I promise pictures are coming, I just need to find some time)

And, so this weekend I will be traveling to Nashville to attend the EmergingUMC: a Gathering. Gary and I will be speaking, and the entire gathering will provide a bunch of presenters that are doing “Emerging/missional” Kingdom work. Taylor intentionally desired to bring in people who are doing and being the work and not so much those that stay in the ideology realm. So, I am looking forward to getting to know and meet fellow co-servants in the Kingdom and hopefully sharing a little bit about what God is doing in Th3 Waters and I believe in the UMC, and the Kingdom as a whole. I hope to blog a little bit more often while I am down there.

Oh and Did I mention that Halo3 came out and I beat it last night! I did not get to play it at all the week it came out due to the trip, and so Brad (a GREAT FRIEND) decided that he would play it through with me online and let me experience the main game, before I started to get too deep into multiplayer. So anyway… if you are a halo3 fan…be sure to beat it on Legendary, there is a different

thursday october 4

preconference option: a gathering with the nashville Emergent cohort
11:30- 1 @ the flying saucer

registration 3:30-5:30 p.m. at scarritt-bennett

dinner and conversation at scarritt-bennett 5:30-6:30 pm

evening prayer and plenary: 7 p.m.
“streams in the emerging landscape and your ministries:
a conversation and cohortation”

missiology
worship
spiritual formation
theology

facilitated by taylor burton-edwards

night prayer: 9:30

friday, october 5
breakfast at scarritt-bennett 7:30 am

morning prayer: 8:30

emerging ministries 1 9:00-10:00
organic gatherings in greater cincinnati dg hollums & gary gibson
indigenous mission in an urban arts community jim walker
emerging in a traditional congregation in west virginia melissa rudolph
an emerging regional young adult network carl thomas gladstone

break 10-10:15

a key group conversation 10:15-11:30
women and emerging/Emergent elizabeth buxton

noon prayer and lunch options 11:30
love feast hosted by dg hollums

emerging ministries 1:00-2:00
organic groups in florence ky dg hollums & gary gibson
indigenous mission in an urban arts community jim walker
an emerging regional young adult network carl thomas gladstone
emerging in a traditional congregation in west virginia melissa rudolph

break 2-2:15

a panel conversation: emerging and the institutional church 2:30-3:45
emerging and the um connection susan cox-johnson
pcusa: an ic (formerly) supporting a movement chip andrus
emergingumc and gbod: confessions and hopes taylor burton-edwards

mid-afternoon eucharist 3:45-4:30

emerging ministries 4:30-5:30
organic groups in florence ky dg hollums & gary gibson
indigenous mission in an urban arts community jim walker
an emerging regional young adult network carl thomas gladstone
emerging in an institutional church chip andrus

dinner and evening with your cohorts
or bible fight club hosted by jim walker

night prayer (for those who are back) 10 p.m.

saturday, october 6
breakfast at scarritt-bennett 7:30
morning prayer 8:30

spiritual formation options 9:00-10:00
lectio divina
confession
labyrinth
healing
intercessory prayer
study

a panel conversation: theology and missiology 10:00-11:00
an emerging methodist billy watson
emerging and arminianism jay vorhees
attractionional, extractional,
and missional/incarnational taylor burton-edwards

cohort time and covenant affirmation 11:00

mid-day prayer and sending forth 11:30

so who are these people and why should i care?

dg hollums is the cultural architect for th3waters, a network of organic gatherings based in florence, ky(pastored by Gary Gibson). A recent missional concern is the need to redeploy leadership to make way for more organic gatherings to start multiplying. You can learn more on his blog/website at http://www.th3waters.com

jim walker is a united methodist pastor on pastoral leadership team at hot metal bridge faith community in pittsburgh, pa. One serious missional concern of this community is that it may be growing too fast. See their website at http://www.hotmetalbridge.com.

melissa rudolph is the united Methodist pastor of Leetown UMC, a “traditional” UMC in rural West Virginia that is re-engaging in indigenous ministry in its community. The congregation is online at http://leetnmeth.org

carl thomas gladstone is a united methodist deacon, leader of an emerging young adult ministry at birmingham first umc (detroit area), composer and publisher of new settings of charles wesley hymns, and coordinator of what’s becoming a region-wide network of young adult ministries in the greater detroit area. You can see these ministries online at http://www.emergedetroit.org and http://www.carlthomasgladstone.com.

elizabeth buxton is a united methodist pastor in virginia (farmville district) and has been the leader of the women’s gathering in Emergent

chip andrus was on staff with the office of theology and worship, presbyterian church usa, with a particular focus on nurturing emerging missional churches in the denomination. he is now pastor of first presbyterian church, harrison arkansas.

susan cox-johnson is a united Methodist district superintendent in the missouri annual conference, and an advocate and proponent for emerging missional churches in the um connectional system. her blog is here.

billy watson is associate pastor at st. peter’s umc in katy, texas. the church website is http://www.stpeterskaty.org.

jay vorhees is a united methodist pastor in antioch, tennessee, an active participant in Emergent, and keeper of the methoblog.

=====================
I really hope that as many of you can make it, it really should be a great discussion and a needed one especially in the UMC…but for all of the church as a whole. Thanks, take care and God bless! KUTPs!!!

follow the picture/link and get signed-up! And please please please, help me spread the word!

So, a while back I was told by a friend (love you Betsey) that works in the national headquarters of the United Methodist Church to join a blog called emergingumc. So, I got on, joined up, and started a discussion that grew into great relationships. And now, they have asked me to be a speaker at a new event coming up in October ‘07 to speak about Organic Gatherings and how we are living into a “missional/emerging” way of being Christian. (yeah I know they have not met me so they might not ask me to do it once they do…but hey for now, as far as I know, we are still on, ha ha ha ha) So, here is the information so far and as more comes in I will post it here on the blog… please keep this event in your prayers….Oh and Merry Christmas!
——————————————–

The dates for emergingumc: a gathering are set: October 4-6, 2007 (Thursday evening to Saturday noon). The location will be Nashville, Tennessee. Registration will be limited. We’re still working on finalizing all sorts of other details, including price. We’ll have more news about that by mid-January.

emergingumc: a gathering will be:

• eminently practical– you will share and learn what’s happening where you are and identify and celebrate many ways forward– or downward, or backward, or sideways
• deeply spiritual– in worship, spiritual practices, and the disciplines of Christian conferencing lived from our postmodern context
• institutionally challenging– the “subtheme” of this gathering is “What we want the mainline church to know about the emerging missional church,” and we’re looking to publish the presentations you and others bring to make your voices heard
• authentically missional– not “here’s ten ways to fix your church and get lots of people to come,” but “here’s how we’re discovering and learning to respond to God’s mission in the midst of the people and institutions where we are, and here are some questions we still have”

But above all, emergingumc: a gathering is your event– an opportunity for you as United Methodists who are exploring and birthing the emerging missional church among us to

• share what you’re doing and learning,
• build stronger networks across the connection, and
• amplify your voices to strengthen and deepen the practices of the emerging missional church among United Methodists in particular and mainline denominations in the US in general

So, mark you calendars now!

And keep watching for more specifics in the weeks ahead…