Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Dave Tomlinson at North Park

It seems our gatherings are coming in bunches right now. Right after gathering with Tony Jones last week, I'm please to announce that we will be hosting Dave Tomlinson. He will be speaking to us about his new book (which hasn't come out in the US yet), Running into God: Reflections for Ordinary Days. In it Tomlinson investigates the sacrament of ordinariness - that we can run into God anywhere, any time, in any situation, through any person, and how this everydayness draws us into the Story of God.

We will be meeting on February 19th, from 5pm to 7pm in the Olsson Lounge in the Seminary Building of North Park University.

If you are planning on coming, please send me an email- holsclaws@netzero.net.

grace and peace be with you,
geoff holsclaw

Thursday, January 26, 2006

up/rooted.west update - Late-night discussion with Tony Jones

This past Sunday we gathered at the home of Kristine Socall in Winfield for a special late-night discussion with Tony Jones, the National Coordinator for Emergent. The forty or so of us that were there had a good time connecting with each other, sharing food, and hearing Tony share with us about the past and future of Emergent.

Tony began by telling us the story of how Emergent originated as a dozen or so friends committed to exploring the intersection of theology and church ministry. Several books, conferences, and a whole movement later, Emergent has evolved as one of the major "servers" (to use Tony's Internet analogy) of this thing called the emerging church. Tony described his vision for Emergent to become a way of connecting and resourcing people who share similar visions for the future of the church. He also talked about his desire for Emergent to become a place where people with good ideas and something to share with the larger church could possibly get their books and materials published and publicized.

Questions from the group for Tony ranged from "What's the difference between the emerging church and anabaptists?" to "What's wrong with Stanley Hauweras?" to "Does a focus on social justice obscure the gospel of Heaven?" to "How does holistic medicine intersect with the emerging church?" to "Is Emergent becoming too institutionalized?"

We are grateful to Tony for taking the time out of his schedule to visit with us. We are looking forward to possibly getting together for a similar time with Dave Tomlinson, author of The Post-Evangelical, who will be at North Park University for a conference in a few weeks. We'll let you know when we find out more about that.

We'll also be having another up/rooted.west gathering sometime in February. I'll let you know as soon as we pick a date. Keep your eyes peeled for that as well.

Peace,

Mike Clawson
up/rooted.west co-coordinator

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Special up/rooted gathering with Tony Jones

Just in case you didn't get the Evite I wanted to remind you all that our next up/rooted gathering for January will be a special discussion with Tony Jones, the National Coordinator for Emergent and author of several great books, including The Sacred Way and Postmodern Youth Ministry. I hope you can join us for an informal yet informative conversation with one of the leaders of the emerging church.

Because of Tony's schedule (he's in town to speak at Wheaton College) we'll be meeting on Sunday, January 22nd at 9pm. We'll be meeting at Kristine Socall's home at 26W325 Torrey Pines Ct, Winfield IL. Despite the late hour we're already expecting 30 people, and space is limited so if you haven't RSVP'd yet through the Evite please do so. If you didn't get the evite for some reason, please let me know ASAP if you are planning to be there. You can email me at mjclawson@hotmail.com.

Also, if you are coming, please bring some drinks or snacks to share.

I'll look forward to seeing you all soon!

Happy New Year!

Mike Clawson
up/rooted.west co-coordinator
http://www.up-rooted.com