experience god project (EGP)

here in seattle, we have something called the EMP, a multi-media "see, hear, touch, taste, smell ... " living experience of rock and roll.

EMP is postmodern, so the goal is not just for you to "learn about" music, but to experience music in a multi-sensory way.

this week, church of the apostles' u.k. version labyrinth was launched (cheers jonny and steve!).

in the midst of war, the labyrinth is a welcome oasis of sanity and calm... a true "EGP" where folk can pray, experience and express what words alone can't.

there are still three more thursday evenings to catch this EGP in seattle. for more info. see cota's website

how to meetup

i have become worried about my recent lack of a truly social life. i used to have a social life, but the church plant thing has been all consuming... 75 hour work weeks and the like... but now that the "baby" is three months old and crawling a bit, mama is gonna try to sneak out on occasion and meet up!

"meetup" uses web tech to foster flesh and blood, flat-structured, non-hierarchical, p2p community (a lot like the emerging church). so, got a topic, a passion, a quirky hobby? then find others with the same strange inclinations in any city around the world and meet up

10 commandments ( 2 versions for 2 tribes)

a few days ago in usa today, i read about new cowboy churches popping up all over the west. very cool, organic and authentic to that culture. rock on! included in the article were the "10 commandments for cowboys." also cool. here they are:

cowboy 10 commandments

"just one god
honor yer ma and pa
no tellin' tales or gossipin'
git yourself to sunday meeting
put nothin' before god
no foolin around with another fellow's gal
no killin'
watch yer mouth
don't take what ain't yers
don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff"

i luved these so much that the lord inspired me (or maybe it was too much wonder drink?) to pen a version 4 my postmodern cohorts. so here they are:

karen's native pomo x10c

1 source code
props 2 parental units
don't spam or slam
show at church
ultra props 2 god
no doggin'
don't take no one out
garbage in = garbage out
no 5 finger discounts
check the green eyed monster

just plain kuhl

the philosophy behind the kuhl site (linked below) is so vibed like the emerging church, it is amazing... theo-blogians are also pomo nomads... connected by fat pipes and wireless networks, and stoked on premium java and a love of the adventure that is the emerging church.

this kuhl site is non-church related. the two pals behind the site are doing their own pomo-nomad thing, but they are of the same vibe tribe as theo-blogians. and don't miss the links to view their ultra kuhl video journal entries. click "journals" then video journals (and it helps to have fat pipes).

* (and hey andrew, you gotta begin doing some more of these video things at some of the events you throw! i miss the ones you had up from epicenter awhile back).

if my little apostles church ever can afford a digital camcorder to give to our two 19 year old geek captains, we'll try to do some kuhl video journals also.

this is just plain kuhl- check out wired nomad

i think i'm gonna start to do a few more "andrew jonesian" type posts... short, sweet and sharing cool tidbits of info.

lately, i've been ranting and waxing theological... as my tribes (episcopal and lutheran) are driving me crazy, because as an aggregate, they have not yet done the paradigm shift to fit the emerging culture.

because of this, my basic deepdirt style has centered on giving "mini theo-treatises" on whatever topic, usually motivated by one of my many pomo alice wandering in a modernist wonderland experiences.

my doctoral student hangover does show on occasion, but i hope it does not get too out of hand... i decided NOT to be a prof. in a seminary, so i've bagged pushing on to write that dissertation. instead, i've found myself being a gardener for god in the dirt here in seattle and a part-time "profess-ing nomad and theo-blogian" with my trusty apple i-book logged on to various free wireless networks in cool cafes all over seattle and wherever else god takes me. (and i like my new deepdirt graphic of an apple computer in the dirt! the pic is from a free wallpaper done by the folk at burnkit.

in the past 6 months i've done three seminary lectures and six workshops/seminars. in may, i go to fuller seminary in pasadena to do some lecture things on "nu trends in worship," so the profess-ing side of me is getting attended to in a pomo-nomadic way that i dig.

well, there i go again! so much for my simple post! so i'll try again in the next post - a short, non-treatise post about two kuhl and interesting websites. andrew you do inspire me in so many ways!

news flash, the CAN WE REPRODUCE? reality show is also open to any mainline church (united methodist, pcusa...).

why let the episcopal church have all the fun! actually, all the "mainline" churches have become "sidelined" and are equally in need of a basic church planting birds and bees refresher course. the sidelining needs to end, as mainliners DO have unique perspectives, insight and gifts needed by the emerging church, but we mainliners will have to get back on the missional playing field in order to offer those gifts.

okay mainliners, here is a concrete, "real world" chance for you to sink your teeth into helping midwife a real emerging church plant.

it would be more than RAD if some missional pcusa or umc church beat out the episcopalians and helped to fund the apostles, seattle church plant! if so, then the true post-denominational emerging church will get a small boost (at least in seattle, the most non-churched city in the u.s. of a).

announcing: CAN WE REPRODUCE?- a new national contest and reality show for the episcopal church

*(caveat- this post has some classic "rant" characteristics) so do be offended, and do open your hearts to the love and emergen-cy situation behind the barbs.


i hate reality shows, so it pains me to try and launch one, but because truth is stranger than fiction, here we go.

this new reality show is aimed at the episcopal church, an institution i love (though i'm not much into institutions). my church plant, (apostles, seattle) is also attached to the lutherans, but as i need to do my reality shows one at a time, i'm starting with the ecusa.

many have seen (and i have not seen, but have heard about ad nauseum) those savant level shows "the bachelor" and "the bachelorette," well, this new show "CAN WE REPRODUCE?" is a national show, searching all over the country to find some episcopal parishes, diocese, and individuals who are stark raving mad enough to step up to help seed fund a real life church plants- apostles, seattle.

the aim of the show is for the apostles plant to be "courted" by established suitors who wanna help the episcopal church do something long forgotten in this tribe - "reproduction" or "church multiplication," and not just any kind of reproduction (like cloning more modern paradigm churches unable to swim native to the postmodern era) but by doing something way more rad... by specifically stepping out in a few major urban diocese across the nation to "wabi-sabi" seed fund the start-ups of a small handful of churches, visioned by postmoderns,who have been called by god and have a heart to be native evangelists (not foreign missionaries) among their own mostly non-churched peers.

if only a few "emerging church" or "missional lab" parishes were barn raised, then other diocese might catch the missional virus and begin to empower and fund their own local "mission labs" appropriate to their own zip-codes. then maybe our denominations will stop ignoring and begin supporting and clearing the backfield for postmoderns who can be the "agents of future," critical to helping the modern church make the quantum leap into the new postmodern mission context. this is the only way "the wabi-sabi church" can ever develop and flourish.

it is all about wabi-sabi" as andrew jones says. well, a very few of us "episcopal wabi," are looking to hook up with some episcopal sabi... the older, wiser, established or endowed churches... we are not complete without each other. the wabi can't function right without the sabi and visa versa. so we are seeking you sabi, so please respond, we need your help to move together into god's future.

this is not about a modern derived mega church expansion plan, as the majority of wabi-sabi churches will be smaller, quirky, modest and multiple (think rabbits, not elephants, in the post modern context), this ethos of the "treasure in clay jars" or "mustard seed into flowering bush" IS what is coming... as "a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.... a beauty of things modest and humble... a beauty of things unconventional." (leonard cohen, wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers).

this reality show, is well, REAL. any episcopal church or individual that steps up to be sabi and work with me on this wabi-sabi plant will be named, right here on this blog!

will any episcopal churches step up?
will "20/20" remain on paper with no incarnate reality?
do we have any interest in being agents of god's future in the emerging culture?
will we put any real resources behind church multiplication?
will we help seed fund a REAL emerging church plant? (hopefully, the 1st of many)
will wabi-sabi be birthed in the ecusa?

stay tuned for the next exciting episode of CAN WE REPRODUCE?

all interested parishes, diocese and individuals (who want to actually help seed fund in REALITY) can contact karen ward

my church plant (apostles, seattle) has little funds, but big dreams... we are seeking to raise $200,000 to launch a non-profit cafe/art gallery for god in seattle. we need both small and major donors. click below to make a tax deductible donation. if you are a major donor, please contact me off blog at: karen@apostleschurch.org

i ain't oprah, but here we go...

digital storytellers by len wilson and jason moore: at last, a book to save the world from the "modernist use of powerpoint in worship hell." if you want to torpedo boring ppt. bulleted sermon points from a modernist pastor who thinks he or she is now hip because he or she is using technology, read this book! better yet, buy the book and send it to the modernist pastor and do his/her congregation a big favor. read digital storytellers

gen x religion, ed by richard w. flory & donald e. miller, provides an accurate "npr like" documentation of religion, as actually practiced by xers, and even reflects theologically on xer subsets (like the goths) and on the phenomenon of piercing among us.
and, unlike many other xer books (filled with clever quips by boomers about xers), this book was written by serious sociologists of religion (many of them xers) who actually researched and studied churches founded by and for xers. amazing and authentic...
read gen x religion