Wifi was severely limited Limited at the conference so no live blogging – plus I didn’t bring my laptop around with me for the first time in my life… the iPod touch did just fine.
This isn’t really a recap, I can’t sum up my thoughts well at the moment, other than it was very good.
Two images that stuck with me… below is the bucket of cash collected for a pastor who was fired in the middle of the conference – just for attending it.
This is a biking video that was shown that I think depicts the beauty that can be created with just about any art-form taken seriously, including preaching.
A seminar for teachers, preachers, speakers, leaders and pastors serious about reclaiming the art of the sermon.
I’m really not big on conferences at all. But I’ll be at this one.
I’ve got someone looking to share half a ticket with (one registration gets two people in). Let me know ASAP if you’ve got one or know of someone with one.
My cheap cell phone plan doesn’t work in the States – but I’ll try to get some online access if possible. Contact or twitter me if you’re in the area. Would love to connect with some real people while I’m there.
Here’s a taste of what’s on the schedule:
The Original Guerilla Theatre (Rob Bell) The Story We’re Telling (Rob Bell) Returning to the New: An Introduction to Tranformance Art (Peter Rollins) How Technology Shapes the Sermon (Shane Hipps) The Fig and the Failure of Language (Rob Bell) Fumbling Around with Your Radar (Rob Bell) For Those With Ears to Hear: Parables and the Lost Art of Provocation (Peter Rollins) You are the Medium (Shane Hipps) The One Thing I’ve Never Heard Someone Talk About That Has Changed Everything For Me (Rob Bell)
Update: I think our ticket situation is taken care of thanks to the glory of twitter. You can also follow the twitter hashtag #ppp09 to follow along as well.
I’ve posted many times questioning the effectiveness of preaching before, however this past Sunday was definitely an example of working more creatively, not harder, while creating a deeply meaningful experience.
I’ve been wanting to experiment with this for quite a while now, and with my voice blown from speaking the night before, this was the perfect opportunity (also great when you’re in a time crunch)
All we did was set up the projector and I typed on the screen in silence. Stacks of paper squares were handed out and the community was invited to write whatever the Spirit of God was putting on their hearts – Scripture, questions, prayers, struggles, insights, confessions, commitments, etc. … that’s it.
It was a great collective and collaborative experience. I didn’t filter anything, and what was shared was so much more profound than anything I would have preached. The more ‘quiet’ members of the community also felt encouraged and liberated to voice what God had been speaking into their souls through this venue.
Without a doubt, one of the biggest draws to my site via search engines has been the Rob Bell resources page.
Along the theme of thanking my readers, and thanks also to some digging and networking, I think I’ve got something many of you might be interested in.
Contrary to popular legend, Rob Bell did not kick off Mars Hill Bible Church preaching from the book of Leviticus, but it was the first series they launched into soon after for a whole year.
The first message was actually entitled “What is this babbler saying” from Acts 17 describing the name of the church as Paul spoke at Mars Hill.
I know I’ve said repeatedly that I only link resources and don’t distribute content, but this one’s just too good to hold back.
Keep in mind this was before the wide adoption to mp3’s and so this copy was digitized off of a cassette tape, and Bell’s voice sounds a bit off, but it’s him. I’ll try to keep this one up until I get in trouble for it.
So here it is.
The first ever message by Rob Bell on a Sunday back in ‘99 when the church first planted.
In our seminary, expository narrative preaching is emphasized quite a bit.
Where traditional sermons have multiple points that are supported in a variety of ways, in narrative preaching the stories and metaphors are the points. The key is that with any good ’story’ tension is created and held for impact until nearly the end of the sermon.
I’ve been thinking about this ‘methodology’ and I think it can be taken a step further.
There is… umm… a sexual art-form known as tantric (I had to look it up to verify) that is known to be a spiritual encounter involving a prolonged engagement where tension is held to the end, but there may also be ‘releases’ throughout the experience as well.
I think this form of preaching might be more helpful in our culture of short attention spans while weaving a captivating story till the grand finale… Tantric Preaching. You heard it here first.
The day I finished up a 30 page church planting proposal, I began digging into Shane Clairborne’s book The Irresistable Revolution. Two days later, I finished it and was wrecked and questioning all the visioning, plans and, strategies I had jotted down regarding church planting.
I was humbled and reminded that very few of us are capable of doing truly great things, but every one of us can do simple tiny things with great love (to paraphrase Mother Teresa).
Here are some resources I’ve tracked down regarding Shane, The Irresistable Revolution, and the New Monasticism in no particular order
