"surely?"

Showed this at Eikon yesterday, adorable!

authentic, but how?

"Authenticity" has been the craze in churches. "It's all about being real, man." "Be yourself". We've done this at times for sure at Eikon. I read up on all the postmodern books on learning to show authenticity.

Here is a way of understanding authenticity.

Standard economic theory assumes that buyers are rational creatures who observe supply-and-demand laws. But in the past 20 years, a school of behavioural economists has emergd to point out the obvious: We don't simply look at price and quality anymore, we decide how we feel about a computer or even a pair of socks before we buy. What we want to feel when buying a product is if it's the genuine article.

Apple products are genius. Some see the iphone as a silly pose; others find Apple products genuine because of their unique design and "think differently" posture. The crucial factor dividing success from failure in the next several years will be whether business, and I argue churches is perceived as real or fake, authentic or inauthentic.

Ok, so I buy into the authenticity craze. It's a good thing to be sure. The number one reason why people are leaving the church is because it feels fake, dishonest, inauthethentic, doesn't embrace the real self. We get that.

So the question thus becomes: how can a church deliver authenticity? In a recent article I came across on new business paradigm models, the author suggested 2 that are very applicable to churches.

1) Churches can choose to be transparent and strive to be what they say they are. Brand it up, say it out loud, put in in the church bulletin, say we're an open, authentic church. I've seen this. We've tried this at Eikon. I'm not saying it doesn't work. But the question we finally asked ourselves: Why say it, just be it. Unlike a consumer product, you can't fake authenticity. This feeling is like a thick cloud of smoke to someone unchurched or experiencing your space for the first time. They feel it almost instantly.

When we discussed this in the beginning, we had to ask ourselves: are we really prepared to allow people to speak their minds? Are we prepared to embrace the messy, the chaos, the questions most churches don't want to air? Are we prepared to open up our sermons for criticism, and perhaps Q @ A time? Are we prepared to let people interject during the gathering to disagree? Are we prepared to open ourselves up and say we're not sure? Are we prepared to say we don't know sometimes? Are we prepared to admit fault and error?
Now of course these aren't the only ways to display authenticity, but they sure are the more visible one's, and strong indications on how far you're willing to take it.


2) Another strategy is to poke fun at their marketing excesses and admit their inauthenticity. The best reactions we get out of people are when we make them smile. Poke fun at ourselves. Admit our checkered past and admit we make mistakes. No need to speak about it more than that. Let your actions speak for themselves. The quick tendency is to want to tell everyone that you're creating this "authentic" space, but talking about is counterproductive.

The reason why Apple is so successful is not because of their advertising, but because they genuinely have a following of people who believe in their products.

Authenticity? Yes. But before following the bandwagon, ask yourself if you really know what that means. I work on this on a daily basis and am still learning to live an authentic Christian faith.

Momma Malmborg

Good to have Kate's mom in town for a few weeks. She's been making some killer gourmet meals and oatmeal for breakfast every morning.

It's just good to have a mom around, I'm not gonna lie, I like to be coddled sometimes. She and Kate took off this evening to meet some relatives in Engalnd.

Just finished the film for the Scottish Government, finished a daunting essay and now have a few days to c h i l l o u t! Some reading, some praying, and getting ready for sunday at Eikon.

Easter at Eikon

WATCH HERE



check out a slideshow of our day at Eikon yesterday.

stranger

Traveled to Exeter by train late in the evening and ended up at this old victorian home converted hotel. I guess I was one of the only occupants for the night, which triggered some initial foreboding, allowing my dark imagination to go hunting for striking similarities to the hotel in Pscyho.

To my nice surprise, they put me up in the honeymoon suite "because I looked exhausted and deserved a nice place to sleep". I sat downstairs for a while and the night manager walked in and offered me a sandwich. How could I decline? So after a few minutes he came in with a lovely sandwich, salad, juice, a pint of beer and a chocolate bar. How splendid. We then entered into one of those unexplainable moments where you connect with someone so well, if just for an evening.

He had just moved into town and had been in th royal army, spending time in Bosnia and Northern Ireland. It's hard to describe, but just for that night, we kind of needed each other. I know that sounds strange, but he shared some stories of struggling to adjust to life at home and I shared some of my experiences abroad. I'm not one to open up to strangers and I got the impression of him as well, but we seemed to understand each other. It seemed he'd been looking for that for some time.

When you live abroad, the tendency towards misunderstanding and misinterpretation is more often than not. It even gets to the rare moments when you wonder if anyone really gets you. It was a fulfilling moment to discover that two complete strangers with entirely different backgrounds and cultures, through shared experience and conversation could deeply connect.

All I can say is, you never know what's going to happen when you travel. I guess that's why I enjoy it so much.

Two Four

Two Four is incredible! A whole different world to be honest. The facility is really smart and the staff is mostly 20 somethings wearing ripped jeans and vogue hair styles. There are loads of state-of-the-art editing suites.

During breaks, I walk by the editing suites on either side of us and see hit television shows and BBC documentaries being edited down. The broadcasting and film world has always been a huge source of intrique for me, I'm enjoying being able to get a taste of what's on the inside.

I'm partnering with them in the creation of this film and am in the last leg of trying to edit it down. Put in 26 hours in the last two days. There has been a english filmmaker named Will that flew up to Edinburgh the last month to help with filming and we've just spent another 26 hours together in a small editing suite, let's just say we've gotten to know each other pretty quick.

Editing is such an art in itself. It takes a high degree of creativity which is where I really enjoy the process. Where it loses me is in the minute details and the rigorous repetition. It's a good tool to have in my bag though, who knows where these filming opportunities are taking me, but the curiosity inside continues to flourish.

film project

Flew down to Plymouth, England wednesday to meet with Two Four broadcasting, the largest broadcasting company outside London.

I'm currently directing a short documentary for the Scottish Government. Some could argue that I'm outside the parameters of "ministry" but that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm working on a project that focuses on community engagement and what better opportunity to learn and serve than doing good for the community through using technology and actually getting out into local areas and asking probing questions.

Feeling so blessed to have opportunities like this open up.

Ex-Church

I am literally in the middle of Eikon's gathering right now typing on the free wireless available. A new day, what can I say.

We're in the middle of our "Ex-Churh" service which explores what it means to do church. We are experimenting and experiencing new ways. I find my heart so filled because we're serving God in a 5S/3D way. Using all 5-senses and experiencing in a 3-dimensional way.

We had a few people get up and read scripture, sing songs, read poetry, sing psalms. Then spent a half hour soaking in God's presence. One station has a newspaper that allowed people to read through what's going on in our world and ask God to look at it through His perspective and pray for what's been laid on our hearts. Another station was for communion, another to light a candle of praise for one thing He's done in our lives, another full of pictures of family and friends that we can pray for.

I find myself reading in Ephesians chapter 1. One of the things I like to do is change the tense and read it as if it's a prayer. So, here's my prayer for the morning:

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed ME with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because I am united with Christ. Even before He made the world, God loved ME and chose ME in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt ME into his own family by bringing ME to himself through Jesus Christ. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased MY freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave MY sins."

I pray blessings on those who read this today, that the Lord strengthen and speak to you in new and fresh ways.

another good night

Just had our 6th Open Mic night and it was fantastic. We're trying to keep the night fresh every month, so this time we changed a few things around and added in a short film. We kept the performances shorter and allowed for more social time.

The night just gets better and better.

Just found out that the Rush festival in May, which is the pre-festival festival will kick everything off through Eikon's Open Mic. Pretty big deal for us because we're going to be plastered on over 15,000 flyers.

Had an artist paint with eggshells as well. So many talented artists in this city.

Also had a college missions team from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Great group that were eager to help in any way they could.

project idea

Mike and I have put together Project Idea, essentially the Research and Development (R & D) branch of Eikon. Building a creative team has been on my heart since we arrived and we now feel like we've got a solid foundation to build on our innovative capacity at Eikon.

I do research for a social policy consulting company every once in a while, and I love their solution sessions because they plaster blank posters all over the wall, give everyone markers and have a go at it.

For 3 hours, we sat and discussed each other's passions for creativity in church and faith and how we can use it as a catalyst for striking our imaginations and exploring new and fresh ways of experiencing God and challenging our perspectives.

Great quote: "if the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, you're at the beginning of the end." One of our core values at Eikon is maintaining an adaptability to change.

Some fantastic ideas came up and I'm excited to implement some of these. I'll share some of what we've come up with over the coming days.

(Break)lin Falls

I've ascribed to this formula:

Change of pace + change of place = change of perspective.

One of the ways of keeping things fresh not only in our marriage, but simply for personal growth is enacting 24-hour retreats. For us, it was spontaneous this time. We just knew we were on empty with each other and needed a little getaway.

So refreshing though! We went to Breklin Falls in the highlands. Amazing what just getting away from the familiar and everyday does. We went to some bed and breakfast, then did a bunch of hiking and reading together on sunday. It's not often we take sunday mornings off, so it was nice to "do church" together.

you were cc'd

I'm am now doing a "cc" to everyone on this blog:) I got this in my inbox a moment ago. Excited to see what happens in these initial meetings. Kate is heading it up and did an awesome job this past week.

"Hey All!

As most of you know, this Sunday evening at 7pm I'd like to have everyone interested in hearing more about Radiate over to ours. We'll just be rehashing the vision, furthering the dialogue, and addressing any questions you might have...I'd hope that after this night we'll have a decent sized group of committed folks interested in moving forward.

Again, if you have any questions between now and then, please don't hesitate to get in touch! I've texted some other people as well, but don't have their emails...so if you know anyone you think might be interested in being involved, please pass this along!

Looking forward!

Best,
Kate"

I'm excited to unleash this incredible amount of potential for impacting university students in Edinburgh. It's a HUGE need! Going to university is exciting, yet without a degree of balance, our ideas become skewed and not properly challenged, and pretty soon, the faith we once had becomes undermined by a stack of more important things in life.

Creating a space for students to challenge their faith and put it into action is massively exciting.

breath of fresh air

My dad has a way of bringing fresh air to our lives over here. I think it was really timely. There are some things that we're trying to work through both personally and in looking towards the future.

We're now in the stage of wondering what's next? Continue in Scotland? Go somewhere else. We have some ideas, but nothing is grabbing us quite yet. Our commitment is until this coming August but we want to continue to be sensitive towards God's direction for our lives. We love it here, we just want to feel a peace of continuing or pursuing what isn ext.

Lots to ponder, lots going on right now, lots lots lots. It was good to just slow down and spend some time with family. My dad has such wisdom, such a calmness and confidence in his strength in God.

As I usually do when I depart from my parents, I shed a few tears as I walked away from my dad this morning as he took off for home.

Thanks dad for being so timely.

visitor

My Dad flew in a flew days ago. He's in town to help bring the balcony at the Forest up to code and also set up some lighting scaffolding so the Forest and Eikon can have better access to professional lighting.

In photography and film, knowing the right kind of lighting and controlling it is one of the most important distinctions between a good shot and a great shot. Stage lighting is really important in the presentation of an event, it can make a huge aesthetic impact.

It's so good to have my Dad in town, though I wish my mom was able to drop in as well. They are our biggest supporters and I love when either of them is able to see first-hand what is going on over here.

He brought loads of American food too: charleston chews, mac 'n cheese, you know the usual:)

He flew in, and in typical fashion, he went straight to painting our kitchen.