Deep Shift--Brian McLaren

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DeepShift / Everything Must Change NewsIssue #17 February 27/2008 In This Issue Message from Brian Message from Linnea Quick Links Register Now! DeepShift Website Buy The Book
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MESSAGE FROM BRIAN

Dear Friends -

"I had no idea there were so many people in Dallas open to all this" - that's the comment I heard most often last weekend at our third stop in the Everything Must Change tour. Participants seemed so glad to meet each other and a lot of new connections were made.

It was another excellent weekend - our hosts at Cliff Temple Baptist Church and the great team of Dallas/Ft. Worth volunteers made the experience a complete pleasure for Linnea, Tracy, Jo and Will, Eric and me.

The other comment I heard several times... "I've been uncomfortable with the religious status quo, but I didn't know what to do about it. This weekend is putting all the pieces together for me." As I was packing up to leave, one participant handed me a note that said, "For the first time in all my conference/retreat attendances, I am leaving not feeling guilty and overwhelmed by all the things I must do to be obedient to God. Rather this time I am set free to begin on the way to being part of the new framing story that God calls us to. I truly believe God now can accomplish more through me!"

There were two special highlights for me in Dallas. On Friday, we had a private luncheon with the local sponsors; it was a good and honest dialogue about what it's like to work among the poor and to seek to involve local churches in service and advocacy. I was struck again about how hollow and shallow it would be to try to live a Christian life that consists of singing songs, studying the Bible, listening to sermons, and so on - without being involved as agents of change in the world around us, especially relating to the growing global crises surrounding our planet, poverty, and peace.

Then on Saturday morning, as we're doing in each city, we had a special gathering for church planters and participants in emergent cohorts. We have an hour of Q & A, and I was struck by how much these folks "get it." We started deep and went deeper because of the insightful questions folks raised. Their insight and passion give me a lot of hope.

There were so many other rich conversations - for example, meeting a recent college graduate who organized an anti-torture demonstration on her Christian college campus, a woman who owns a large manufacturing business and is leaving with new inspiration to deal with the environmental impact of her business, and a man who had left the Christian faith and was now coming back with renewed hope and a fresh perspective. I was also surprised how many people introduced themselves to me as former pastors: whether through burnout and bad experiences or simply a new sense of calling, they had changed careers and were putting together a more holistic understanding of faith now as "normal" people. The range of denominations was again encouraging - Baptist, Pentecostal, Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic.

So, there has been a lot of encouragement in each of our first three cities. All of us feel that something is percolating and the center of gravity is shifting in a positive direction.

We're really grateful to all of you who have been part of our first three cities. We look forward to seeing more of you in Tampa, DC, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, New York, and Goshen. If you've been thinking about coming, we hope you'll sign up now - and we hope you'll spread the word to some friends.

Linnea passed on this beautiful quote from Gordon Cosby:

If men and women today began by the thousands experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ in a transforming way, there would simply be no place for their expression of experience to fit into present-day straitjackets of Christianity. Protestant or Catholic, neither one is structured to contain a mass of devoted people who long for spiritual depth. We are structured towards infancy.

When I imagine what Gordon is dreaming of - people "experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ in a transforming way" - I think they would express their experience with Christ not just through "religious" activities like prayer and singing...but even more, through their daily lives, in the ways they care for the planet, work for justice for the poor, and build bridges of peace. That's what we're hoping to encourage among the beautiful people we're meeting around the country this spring. That's the revolution of hope.

Thanks, as always, for your interest and prayers -

Brian McLaren

Also, the video of The National Cathedral Forum I participated in on 2/17/08 is at this link.

MESSAGE FROM LINNEA

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update for those of you thinking about joining us in San Diego, Chicago, Seattle, Kansas City, NYC: The Bronx, or Goshen... we are extending the "Just in Time" registration fee, which is due to end this Friday. So tell your friends to register soon for one of those stops.

In addition, if you have a friend who has already attended an EMC tour stop in Charlotte, Boise or Dallas, or has registered for one of our upcoming cities, ask them to share with you the discount code we sent them to give to their friends.

People are connecting all over the country to a deeper call of living the Way of Jesus, to each other on the journey, and to action to impact the world crises: planet, poverty, peace and purpose. Won't you invite others to Connect?

With joy,
Linnea