Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Upcoming gatherings to start '07!

Conversation Wednesday - february 14 @ 10:30 a.m.

With a new year upon us, we are hoping to encourage you forward. For the next couple of months we will be looking at N.T. Wright's 'Simply Christian.'

This is a means for us to together evaluate our lives in light of the kingdom message of Jesus. Our gatherings will allow for those of you who have read the particular section to lead us in conversation. We also want to allow engagement for those who have not had the opportunity to read the material.

I encourage you to engage in this discipline with us for the next couple of months. Order the book at Amazon or elsewhere and begin reading. Show up for 90 minutes of good coffee and conversation with the hope that the message of Jesus has the potential to bring God's goodness to broken places and people within our lives.

For our conversation in February --> We will be looking at the first section of 'Simply Christian.'

place:
the bite
151 Ottawa Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI
(616) 451-8000


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Emerging Women Midwest Gathering
Beyond the Castle Walls—Re-Imagining the Kingdom
March 16-18, 2007
Stronghold Conference Center
Oregon, IL


Emerging Women are gathering again this March in a castle retreat center outside of Chicago to "Re-imagine the Kingdom." This gathering is open to women of all ages and cultures, ministers and lay-persons , from all denominations, and at all points on their journey s of faith. You are invited to a weekend of reflection and worship, theology and praxis, teaching and learning, and (of course) friendship, food, and fun.

We will explore the stories of women who re-imagined the kingdom by challenging the dominant assumptions of their cultures in order to serve God. We will re-imagine our worship as we explore our spiritual voices and how we connect with God. We will examine how the church is being re-imagined in our emerging, postmodern world. Our time there together will refresh us and give us a vision (a new imagining) for our spiritual lives as we serve in God's Kingdom.

We invite you to add your voice to the conversation. We expect to learn from and encourage each other – through our stories, our knowledge, our questions, and our passions. This is a gathering of community and its outcomes will rest on what the community has brought to it.
The Emerging Women Midwest Gathering will be held March 16-18 (Friday evening til noon Sunday) at the Stronghold Conference Center (http://www.strongholdcenter.org/) in Oregon, IL. Oregon is in NW Illinois, about two hours from Chicago. Limited airport runs from the Chicago area airports (Rockford, O'Hare, and Midway) will be provided.

We will be staying in dormitory-style housing in a modern-day castle. The cost for the gathering is $140, which includes the registration costs, 2 nights lodging, 4 meals, and snacks. There are a very limited number of private rooms and family accommodations available (at extra cost), so please contact us as soon as possible if you require either. Some scholarships and student rates are also available and you are also invited to help contribute to the scholarship fund. Visit www.emergingwomen.us to register.

We hope to see you at the castle. Help us out by spreading the word and let others know about this gathering. If you would like a file of the event brochure to print out for your church, school, or group please let us know.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

january happenings...

Christmas is less than half a breath past us; a new year has arrived several days ago. And I'm increasinlgy realizing that we need to be intentional about our theology.

I hope your Christmas was filled with much awe as we celebrated the birthday of Christ coming to earth. With three young kids in our home, it has been a wonderfully good holiday season this year.

It has also been difficult to watch so many pastors on television being interviewed on various shows and hearing them share such bad theology in recent weeks. Reflecting on these things, I am increasingly believing that the emerging church has some good stuff to share, and it needs to be heard if we are to sound like anything other than total freaks in our culture.

During the month of January we have a couple of amazing opportunities that cost nothing.

The Janauary Series at Calvin College has much to offer. The two particular opportunities I want to pass along are:

January 5 - N.T. Wright on 'Simply Christian"
January 18 Miroslav Volf on 'Fee of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace."

AND - N.T. Wright will also be at Calvin Seminary on January 6.

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Conversation Wednesday - january 10 @ 10:30 a.m.

topic: discussion on N.T. Wright from Friday the 6th at the January Series... and most anything else that comes up related to living into the kingdom...

the bite
151 Ottawa Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI
(616) 451-8000

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The 2007 Emergent Philosophical Conversation “What Would Jesus Deconstruct?
A Conversation about Justice”a conversation with John D. Caputo, and featuring Richard Kearney

REGISTRATION IS LIMITED TO 250 PARTICIPANTS
$145 before March 1, 2007
$160 after March 1, 2007

Eastern University, Philadelphia, PAApril 16-18.

Find more information here.

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from someone in our network...

Dear Friends,

This is a link where you can download Derek Webb's new album called Mockingbird for free! He is a great Christian folk singer/prophet and is doing this to get people talking about the issues in his songs. Just in case you have a slow internet connect, you should know that you have to download the album. The files are mp3s.

http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1002965192&msgid=3451542&act=43D&c=32652&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freederekwebb.com%2F