by Lon on September 7, 2009
For those of you who are new to the site, a bit on what Solar Crash is.
Some of you might know it as an event that occasionally emerges in Toronto, and others simply as “Lon’s blog”, but when I grabbed the domain solarcrash.com the name was loaded with meaning for me.
SOLAR refers to the sun. We hear of it most often in connection with solar panels. (I get tons of hits here on people looking into when there might be a solar energy stock market crash). I liked the solar panel reference because there’s a sense of not simply soaking and absorbing an endless supply of light but its energy is channeled for something useful.
Solar also invokes an image of the the stars or the heavenly realm. There is something infinite, mysterious, and divine that surrounds us even though we may not be able to tangibly touch it.
CRASH is an analogy I got from Erwin McManus six years ago. He talked about how a group of rhinos is called a crash. Even though rhinos can’t see very far with all their speed and weight they make a massive impact wherever they go together, much like the church ought to.
Crashes are never clean. The image of crash carries with it brokenness, sacrifice, and very intimate contact. A crash ruptures the status quo.
SOLARCRASH brings together the incoming reality of the heavens crashing down on earth. It’s not simply a joining or a handshake, but something much more chaotic, and I’d say more beautiful. It’s where uncontainable hope and oppression meet. It’s where the way things are, and the way things ought to be, find a way to become friends. It’s a glimpse of good news, everywhere you look.
My hope that this is a site that speaks to human beings at the deepest levels. Those of faith, without, and everyone in between.
I hope to continually blur the lines between the sacred and the secular (The only difference being that the secular doesn’t quite realize it’s sacred, yet).
Friends and other like-hearted individuals are also invited to share their thoughts here (let me know if you’re interested). For the most part right now, much of the content will be shaped by my own life and story, which has its limitations.
I am the son of an immigrant blue-collar chinese family, engineer by training, who went from working in the IT industry of corporate America to leading a local church. I’ve been blessed with a beautiful wife and child along the journey, and a growing passion for fresh expressions of church, community development, creativity, technology, and the city.
If you’re still interested you can continue following along on this website or get the latest by subscribing via the RSS feed or email to get the latest posts delivered to your inbox.
[Image from andreyphoto]
by Lon on December 15, 2008
I’ve listened to Seth Godin’s Tribes audiobook several times over on my ipod touch these past few weeks.
The premise to the book is simple enough, a Tribe is a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea.
It’s odd that the church of Jesus Christ has the greatest leader, with the greatest story and the greatest ideas, and yet such a seemingly splintered and weak tribes people.
One fascinating insight from the book is the idea of tightening the tribe. Deepening the tribe, rather than expanding it. I wonder if after centuries of focusing on mass evangelization and conversions we’ve ruined our own tribe.
Another interesting quote was “Ultimately, people are most easily led where they wanted to go all along.”
So often it seems like the church at large tries to get people to go where they have no interest in going in the first place.
What would it look like if we were creating and leading distinct and peculiar tribes through our churches rather than maintaining programs or growing numbers?
Godin created his own triiibes network (which I was a day late on getting in before the book came out). Even though he advertises for people to join in the book, you’ll notice that it’s closed for new comers, because his tribe voted to keep it ‘tight’.
Now I want in even more.
If only our churches were this appealing.
by Lon on August 28, 2008
I’m going to spend the next while writing a series of posts about The Solar Crash Event from conception, to planning, to the night itself, to post-event thoughts.
Being a part of a dozen weddings every year, I kept thinking of what would it look like to put just as much time, energy, and maybe even money, into celebrating something besides the love of two people, as great as that is.
And when you think about weddings, it seems like just about anybody can pull them off. Weddings aren’t limited to a certain personality type, skill set, or demographic. It’s just a couple with some ideas they want badly enough to make into a reality, and it just happens. Of course, weddings come in all forms, flavors, and sizes, but they’re beautiful celebrations nonetheless.
It then dawned on me after all my years of declaring my disgust for details and things that revolve around organization and planning, maybe I could throw a meaningful celebration of wedding-like magnitude, and maybe it could inspire others to do the same across our city? And so it began…
Below is one of the art pieces that were displayed at the solar crash. This one is by Cindy Kwan and friends who sowed together a dress, and then ripped it up, desecrated it with paint, and then covered it with a clean white veil in response to the theme of the night.
I’ve got a few ‘projects’ in the works that I can use some help with…
If you, or someone you know, can help with any of the following contact me.
- I’ve got two web startup ideas that I don’t see being done that would help advance the kingdom – I’m looking for interested individuals with web programming skills.
- I’m hoping to throw a party towards the end of summer… a little Solar Crash Bash… all proceeds going to a water-related cause. If anyone knows of good venues in Toronto or better yet has hook-ups for good deals please let me know.
- I’m also looking for artists of all kinds. I’ve got musicians to magicians lined up… but the more the merrier. Do you, or someone you know, have some latent talent you’d love to share with the world?
- General networking. right at this moment in my life, I’ve got some time for it. For those of you who know me, or follow along on the blog, is there someone you know that you think I should meet, in person or virtually? These days I’m really interested in new expressions of church, community development, the city of Toronto, simpler living and spirituality, the future of the church and planet earth… but really any good conversation will do for me these days. Pop me a message.
For those of you who are new to the site, a bit on what Solar Crash is.
