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About admin

In the process of starting a new grassroots movement in downtown Vancouver, Washington. In the process of fighting terminal cancer. In the process of learning to be a better neighbor, husband, father, Christ follower, and friend. As initiators of the Grassroots Conspiracy we hope to be a part of a movement of hope, imagination, and transformation in our developing downtown neighborhoods.

Stealin’ a Blog: How to Suck at your Religion

In my opinion it is so incredibly important to be able to laugh at yourself at times–even (and especially) things that you value. Granted there are many things that are inappropriate to make light of but in my (very humble) opinion faith in Jesus is not one of them. (He did, if I’m not mistaken, create humor in the first place. I think he likes a good joke)

So while I don’t agree with EVERYTHING written in the sarcastic article linked below…it makes some pretty flippin’ awesome points that are both funny, offensive, and…yes, dead on.

Enjoy.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

It Takes a Village: Video Blog 7-20-12

A new video blog where I’m chillin’ on my back porch musing about doing life with an amongst all you people.

Enjoy!

You can also view it by going here: http://su.pr/9hWJ0z 

The Myth of the Toy Story

All of Pixar’s Toy Story movies capture the same narrative that many of my kids’ books tell. It’s a story told and retold again and again in children’s literature–and I bet that if I was more of a student I could find evidence that it’s told in other genre’s and realms of literature as well.

Here’s the theme: who care’s about Mr. Potato Head? Who cares about Slinky? It’s all about Woody. It’s all about the important doll or toy that has lost his position of prominence. Who cares about the fact that Woody has been dominating the toy pyramid for years, that Mr. Potato Head has never had a prominent place in the hierarchy of Andy’s love–the fact of the matter is that we absolutely do not want Woody to lose HIS place. When Woody loses HIS place we all grieve and seek proper restitution. It’s all about getting the top toy/doll back into it’s place of prominence. Only then do we feel like the story has its proper ending.

Right?

I could list you title after title of children’s books that tell this same story. We hate when loss is experienced…even if it is loss that does nothing more than allow that character to experience what virtually every single other character in the narrative is, has, and will experience. Everyone else knows what it feels like to be kicked off the bed. All the other toys get it…and we don’t care. We only care that the dominate toy is now experiencing pain in a new way…and we grieve with him/her through their pain. No body was grieiving the fact that the Slinky dog wasn’t on Andy’s bed at the end of the day. Nope. We grieve Woody’s loss. Slinky had so little to lose…so who really cares right?

What is this phenomenon? Is it that we don’t like watching people experience loss? Is it that we’re simply uncomfortable with it, with the grief and pain it brings? Is there truth to the idea that we don’t like the implications it might have for ourselves–that those of us with control or power in our world fear losing it? Because what intrigues me most is that this is a storyline that in many areas we adamantly stand up against. We tend to love the traditional Disney storyline of a down-and-out sports team that overcomes all obstacles and becomes a winner. We love underdogs, we love rags to riches stories, we love that narrative because it gives us hope. Right?

But, strangely, I’m realizing (and attempting to articulate) that we also love this alternative narrative that itches that spot in the middle of our back that we can rarely reach. There’s a secret tickle back there of which we rarely speak of–a tickle that we crave to be itched even if it’s no good for us (clearly my itchy metaphor doesn’t work so well). We love underdogs because we want to be the underdog that overcomes…but more often than not we are NOT the underdog. More often than not we are Woody, we’re the toy with privilege and power who is terrified of losing it. And virtually all of us hate change!

because change always brings loss

and loss always brings some level of pain

and pain reminds us of our brokenness

and brokenness reminds us of our vulnerability

and vulnerability reminds me that I don’t have control

Is this why at church we sing “praise and worship” songs so readily while avoiding songs of grief and lament? Is this why we celebrate the young instead of the old? Is this why we have so little room to talk about brokenness less it cheapen our conversation on health?

Is it because we want to avoid anything that reminds us that we just might not be the underdog–we may, God forbid, be Woody–we may be living in fear of losing the system or structures of power that have long given us the identity that we need desperately desire. And if we lose that…well…if we lose that then we just might have to face a level of pain, discomfort, and change that…God forbid, will bring us face to face with our vulnerability, our brokenness, and the actual truth that we do not have control over our lives as we once thought we did…and that freaks me…no, wait, I mean you out.

Experimenting Our Way With Jesus

I’m almost embarrassed to share this with you but quite a few years ago I created a bit of an experiment. I’m a bit embarrassed because the content of this experiment is slightly childish…but to my credit it was done back when Facebook was still young, new, and fresh to me. Groups and pages and “liking” things were all new ideas and concepts that I was still exploring.

So I created Pit Stains.

It was an experiment to see if something as idiotic as this could randomly, on its own, get a following. I’m not sure if having 135 followers after a few years is considered a valuable experiment or not. That’s the thing about experiments: success isn’t measured simply by achieving a goal as much as it is by what you’ve learned. The reason I’m not sure it was a successful experiment is because I’m not sure I’ve learned anything whatsoever. At the very least I still get a bit of a kick out of the drawing I made…and isn’t that enough?

At Grassroots we talk a lot about experimenting. Honestly we are not at a place where we have initiated many experiments, but at the very least it is a part of our verbiage, a part of our identity, and is projected as a part of our defining behaviors.

Experimentation is important because very little will keep a group from calcification. Over time every group will work itself toward being defined by a more rigid set of ideals, structures, or systems. While none of those are bad things, I do think that (at least for what we’re attempting to do) acquiescing to rigidity or creating a stiff and inflexible identity is unhealthy and counterproductive. When following the Spirit of God (always moving and very fluid) and working amongst and in partnership with humanity (always moving and very fluid as a whole) it is impossible to stay healthy and stagnant at the same time.

Experimentation, I believe, is one of the keys to keeping a sense of fluidity and creativity amongst us at Grassroots. It invites us to explore the words of Jesus in meaningful ways. It invites us to move past the fear of failure because in experimentation failure teaches you just as much as success (probably more actually). It invites us into a way of life defined by journey over and above destination–something that I think is hugely valuable for an as you are going missional mentality.

It must look different in every context depending on what you’re seeking to learn, who you’re partnering with, what questions you have, what stories you’re interacting with (I’m thinking here of the Jesus narrative primarily), etc. So I can’t speak much into what this all may or could look like. What I can say is that the Grassroots Conspiracy and all of its co-conspirators seek to be defined by an experimental mentality where we are continually caught up in the vastness and mystery of following Jesus in and amongst the beautiful and messy creation of God. I think I can safely say that questions and ideas will range from

  • How often should we meet together…and where should we do it and why and for what purpose?
  • If scripture tells us to care for orphans and widows what implications does this have for my widowed cranky neighbor down the street and how might the GC community shape an experiment to better live out this text within my own reality?
  • How might we follow Jesus’ words to love your neighbor as yourself if many of us struggle to love self?
  • What if, in an attempt to ‘turn the other cheek’, we gave up partaking in any violence whatsoever for six weeks? How would that shape our media choices? The Bible stories we read? The way we speak about political opponents? The way we love our spouse? The type of chocolate we purchase?
I can imagine question after question from huge to seemingly mundane where an experimental mentality could wholly change our outlook on life, on theology, on love, or on marriage. or. Or. OR it could be as simple as inviting us to not take ourselves so seriously, to let us off the hook a bit for doing everything exactly right every single time all of the time.
Maybe we should just experiment a bit and see what we learn. Who knows, maybe we don’t all have it figured out already?

 

If you want to read a great book about experimenting within the ways of Jesus, you must read Mark Scandrette’s book Practicing the Ways of Jesus. It is absolutely dynamite. No joke.

Please Don’t Hate Me: Video Blog 7-16-12

So this is my first venture into video blogging–something that I’m going to try to do more often. Some feedback may be valuable for both you and I…though in no way am I truly going for high quality video as much as I’m shooting for functional quality matched with a standard of “good enough” content.

The bulk of this video is centered around Tuesday’s (July 17th) fundraiser at Kiggins Theater in downtown Vancouver. It should be a killer night with great music, great drinks, great raffles (no, seriously), an amazing silent auction, and tons of other great stuff. Please come down not only to support our family but to support the continuation of a movement as this fundraiser is no longer just about our family but about  a 501c3 that is dedicated to the type of movement that Jess and I are passionate about: to see a grassroots movement of people finding life in an amongst our downtown ‘Couve neighborhoods!

You can also view it here: http://su.pr/32RnWA

(also, can I say that at this point in time, I find it really amusing to see the videos that are being connected to this video on my google sidebar! It’s like a bunch of teenage girls talking about dating or something! I haven’t actually watched them…but they look awkward…and very unconnected to my content…and…awkward. Here’s hoping it changes at some point! Ha!)