DC

After weeks of prayer and pondering, finally felt confident in making the move to Washington DC.

We're going to work with an awesome ministry in Washington. I will hopefully be involved in media and missions, something that we're both deeply passionate about. Looking forward to getting some work with an NGO focused on post-conflict recovery.

NCC is an incredibly innovative church. They're one church meeting in four locations (union station theater, ballston theater, Georgetown, and Ebeneezers Coffeehouse). They own and operate the largest coffee house on capital hill, most recently winning the best coffeehouse by AOL City Guide in Washington DC.

With 70% of their demographics being single twenty-somethings and dechurched or unchurched, NCC is making a tremendous impact on not only the local community in DC, but influencing the influencers that work in government and international organizations.

Check out their core values. It'll give you a flavor of what they're all about. Love it! Excited to be able to serve there starting this fall.

worked it out

Been in a cave known as the library the past few weeks. I'm in tunnel vision for my dissertation. I usually don't worry about essays. The stakes are high on this one though. I'd love to pursue a PhD someday, so the dissertation is kind of a preamble.

Did something stupid the other day though: Got inspired to change case studies on my topic a few weeks ago with only a month remaining. My adviser couldn't believe me! He cc'd the director of my program suggesting he was no longer suitable being my adviser.

For 10 minutes, I had no adviser on the most important essay in my 21 years of education! Let's say my heart was pounding, could have been serious.

.......worked it out:)


Back to writing. Sigh.

Unplugged

Registration is climbing and coming in on less than a month to the Unplugged Europe Conference!

We wanted to keep it under 50 for the sake of intimacy and conversation. I think there are a few spots left.

Among other things, I'm amped about having Joel and Mark out from NCC. Beyond being family, they're bright, innovative leaders in the Church and will have a rare opportunity to spend uninterrupted time with them in their busy lives.

One of the things we're doing? Golfing St. Andrews!

Site is Live

Finally got my photography website live. Feels good to have it finished with some minor tweaks still required.

What's really nice is how quickly I can change backgrounds and images around when need be.

How about some feedback.

I can take criticism:)

Click HERE

criticize by creating

Had a refreshing time speaking with Adam, the student ministries and worship leader at Centrepoint church here in Edinburgh. Got to share about our story of coming to Edinburgh and the challenges of launching a church. They launched Centrepoint almost three years ago, so they're just ahead of Eikon and was a joy to share openly of the joys and difficulties of it all.

One of the things that stuck out was the quote I often share with others: "criticize by creating." Michelangelo was on to something when he coined that phrase almost 500 years ago.

I became cynical and complained about Christians and the Church for several years into my early twenties. Some of it was justified, some of it my own hypocrisy. I wasn't doing anything about it though. It really wasn't until the call to help start a church in Edinburgh that I finally sensed the challenge to act.

When you do finally act, many fall into the trap of defining themselves for all the things they are not, rather than what they are. That's a cyclical mindset, that's easy. It's much harder but much more healthy and productive to actually talk about who you or your organization are going to be and how that will be accomplished.

Bottom line; take your complaining and do something about it.

Centrepoint

I finally went to Centrepoint Church here in Edinburgh. I met a guy at 2am and got to talking about faith and found out he'd recently discovered Christ and was attending this church that met at a movie theater in town.

Great vibe! Worship was really genuine, very warm and welcoming and had a high percentage of young people participating in the service. I got to meet some of the staff at the end and connected immediately. In fact, Tim Dilena, a pastor in Detroit whom my home church has partnered with for years spoke there last month. Just some random relationships in connection.

Had some synapses firing after meeting them. I'd love to see them attend Unplugged in August, the potential for relationship with Eikon is there.

Seems like we instantly go for the differences between us in the church world, doesn't it? Didn't feel that with these guys. Really sensed a genuine interest in Eikon's ministry as well as sharing about theirs.

I know this is easy to say as I'm leaving, so I'm talking to myself as much as anything: I've seen very little collaboration with churches in this city. There is far more that unites us than divides us. We need to be living that more amongst the greater Christian community.

sick leave

-I met up with one of my mates today and he had just come off 4 weeks of sick leave having the flu. 4 weeks!

-My boss had just arrived from holiday and I asked how long it was for:
"Not long", she said, "just 3 weeks."
"Three weeks! That's a long time!" I said.
"I usually take a 6-week holiday every year" she replied!

-One of my post-grad colleagues started work for a think-tank this past year and starting holiday leave was 35 days!

-The average American takes 10 days holiday. 30 days in the UK. 38 days in France. 6 days in Korea.

-The average American works 42 hours. 37.5 in the UK. 35 in France. 50 in Korea.


Some of you may want to move to Europe.

missional church - the short answer

I get asked what "kind" of church Eikon is all the time. Are we pentecostal, evangelical, non-denominational....you get the point. Tony has always stated this and couldn't agree more: Eikon is a missional church.

Here's the short answer of what that is:

Christ told us to go into all the world and be his ambassadors, but many churches today have inadvertently changed the "go and be" command to a "come and see" appeal. We have grown attached to buildings, programs, staff and a wide variety of goods and services designed to attract and entertain people.

Missional is a helpful term used to describe what happens when you and I replace the "come to us" invitations with a "go to them" life. A life where "the flow of Christ" informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Christ follower.

That is why we were in The Forest Cafe, why we have a totally uncensored Open Mic, and why we now moved into a movie theater.

Here's a simple view:
* From programs to processes
* From demographics to discernment
* From models to missions
* From attractional to incarnational
* From uniformity to diversity
* From professional to passionate
* From seating to sending
* From decisions to disciples
* From additional to exponential
* From monuments to movements
* From being to becoming

keep us in mind

Kate and I have some decisions to make in the next week or so that will impact what we do for the next 6/7 months. I can't go into detail yet, but we're needing some extra prayer on making a wise, God-centered decision for our future.

There has been a pretty amazing opportunity fall into our lap in recent weeks and we're really discerning this offer.

Sorry for the ambiguity, prayers for future decisions would be hugely appreciated.

how do you stay organized?

With the vast amount of information available to us every minute of every hour of everyday, I've experimented with several ways of trying to organize and improve my comprehension on so many subjects.

del.ico.us is fantastic. It's a more intelligent program than simply bookmarking. Anytime I read a great article, I simply tag it and write a quick note and tag names. Quick and easy.

Digg.com of course is great for collating the thousands of news feeds throughout the world. It's the most popular feeds decided by you and me.

BlogRovr is what I use to keep track of all my blogs I read. 30% of US population (52% of Japanese) read blogs everyday. I end up spending at least 20-30 minutes reading blogs each morning. It's a great tool.

What has helped the most? I put up rolled poster paper on my wall where I spend a lot of time in my flat and every time I read a phrase worth repeating, I slap it up there. From scripture, to prayer lists, to article quotes and books read; this has hugely helped me retain and organize the bite-sized thoughts.



What do you use to stay organized?

why blog

This is why:

"Hey, it's funny how God works, isn't it? I google images, 'No perfect people allowed' just to look for the book cover picture and your blog pops up first. I read a few blogs and checked out some other stuff and completely loved it! I would like to get to know you and throw ideas off of each other, because I can tell you are a real thinker and I love guys like that......I am currently building a team to start a church down in FL. Wew ill be reaching all we can here in the States and I feel God has led me to your site for a reason......Jason."

I love redeeming technology by enabling relationships like this to unfold.

Anticipating additional God-connections like this to happen in the future.

skye

Skipping stones by the sea, overlooking ancient castles, learning gaelic, spending time with close friends; what an amazing trip we had up to the north of Scotland on an island called Skye.

Maxwell's family (tracing his lineage back over 1000 years) came from Skye, so he gave us an amazing tour of his family's castle and the lands he grew up in. Such a rough and wild landscape. Incredible.

Hanging out on the beach.
Having seafood with Maxwell, Harry, and Pat.



Enjoyed the opportunity to share about the past few years in ministry with Harry and Pat and talk about some ideas for launching a peace and reconciliation organization in the near future.

Following Christ is not boring.