An Evening with Spencer and Tod, and PresbYmergent and Karen Sloan

So, last night I did a session with The Oozy guy Spencer Burke. We were at the Cascade People's Center in Seattle. Wow, it was fun! The water reclamation pump kept making noise behind me, and it reminded me of coolness of the place. They were recycling their water for use in the sinks, and toilet. Each time I heard the pump, I thought, "I like this place." Tod Hunter spoke about his view of what's happening in church - he runs Alpha for the US, and use to be the president of the Vineyard Churches in the US. Those are some deep credentials. He and Spencer did a question/answer interview thingy for about 45 minutes, then I did the same thing with Spencer. Spencer is Mr. SoCal Cool, so it easy to do these kind of things with him, but it took an interesting turn, because people automatically began to jump in with questions, and from that point it was a question and answer thing going on for the next 45 minutes. Talking about Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft to Christians can be a lively discussion, and this was one in which people were seriously interested in learning to understand Neo-Paganism without being judgmental. What a cool group of people. Fun time. Before the event I was hanging out with PresbYmergent girl Karen Sloan, and her PresbYmergent gang at an Indian Restaurant run by a Greek guy - great edgy Indian food - I had pomegranate chicken - yeah that rocks, simply by the name. After the evening event we went to a Belgian pub with some of the same gang. Broward's in the Fremont District is a Belgian pub with 150 beers on tap. I think it may be Karen Ward's favorite pub.

Catching up on Blogging the Conference

Yesterday afternoon John Smulo and I taught on "Loving Witches and other missional mythbusters."

It was a one hour and 10 minute workshop. John is so good, so smart, so gentle. It was fun teaching with him. Both John and I are finding people who know about us, and have been wanting to meet us. This world of blogging is a major reason for this.

The workshop went well. It was a very receptive group. Some of them had friends, and loved ones who were in Wiccans, or Pagans, and weren't sure how to deal with it, but for the most part understood that they needed to remain accepting, and loving. Others were simply wondering how to relate to the Pagan community, although they did not know any Witches. As is the always the case they will discover that they do know Neo-Pagans. Regularly, John and I discover that we train people about beliefs of Neo-Paganism, and then when the Christians walk away from the time, they discover in a short amount of time that Wiccans, Druids, or Pagans in their neighborhood, or workplace, and they had never realized it. They actually become excited, and honored to discover that their Pagan friends are willing to "come out of the broom closet" to them - this is the way it ought to be. Christians should be like Jesus, Who is someone we can all feel like we can come out to.

Richard Twiss Quote - He Cracks Me Up

"When I became a Christian I was told that 'old things are passed away and all things became white.'" Oh man, this guy rocks. I will say once again - I want these native Americans to come to Salem in October!

First Night and Morning at Off the Map

Wow, Jim Henderson runs a cool event! Good jazz, indie hard rock, and short interviews with Brian McLaren, Richard Twiss, Rose Swetman, Tod Hunter and others. I was interviewed last as "and now for something quite a bit different, this guy is from Salem - yeah that's right THE SALEM, Massachusetts, and he makes friends with Witches."

Today John Smulo and I will be teaching a workshop at 3:30 here at the conference, and then tonight I will be at another venue with Spencer Burke and Tod Hunter.

People I met so far:

Richard Twiss - wow, what an intelligent, funny character. I want the native Americans to come to Salem this next Halloween.

Sherman adn Sidell Bradley - This is an amazingly talented black couple from Cinicinnati. We had a wonderful discussion about their ministry, and the divide between black and white America. I have a lot to learn from them. He is one smart, and passionate fellow, as is Sidell also - and dang! she can really sing.

Spencer Burke - Met him for a few moments, and will do the Friday evening with him - cool beans.

Brian McLaren - I had breakfast on Friday morning with Brian, and got a ride to the conference with him. I was so pleasantly surprised at his interpersonal skills. he cares about people, and what they believe. He is a great listener, and wonderful in dialogue. Oh yes! that is what a minister of the Gospel should be like.

Hanging a little with Jim Henderson - rode with Jim to and from the conference on Thursday evening. I just love hanging with Jim. My favorite moment: Jim said, "Preachers with great oratory skills often are not good with personal relationships. I think this might be because they spend their time learning to speak to large groups, and don't learn to deal with individuals..." (pause followed by the next thought) "maybe I'm being too generous, and they are really just asses." I said, "Yeah that's what I was thinking."

Talking at the hotel bar with Christina from Pittsburgh - She was with her business friends who were at a meeting dealing with power company business. We talked about Salem, Halloween, Witches, and then the Kingdom of God. I would not be surprised to see her visit The Gathering next Halloween. She was really interested in what we were doing.

Happy Celtic New Year! from Seattle Area

So here I am in Kirkland, WA getting ready to go to the Off the Map Conference. JJ the Smu made it, so we will be able to teach the workshop together. I bumped into Helen Mildenhall in the foyer of the hotel a few minutes ago, and JJ the Smu and I who are rooming together will head to the Conference location - a Foursquare Church, mind you, in about an hour to get orientated for the conference.

I will get interviewed for a few minutes tonight by Jim the Master Interviewer. Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 I will teach a workshop on "Making Friends with Witches and other Missional Mythbusters" (or some title like that) with JJ the Smu, and then Friday night I will be involved in some kind of interview event with Spencer Burke of The Ooze fame.

JJ the Smu will be live blogging - we're not sure if it will be on his website or the Off the Map site yet.

I will be adding stories from our October in Salem to this site, and to the church blog as well over the next few days.

Get John Smulo to Off-the-Map

John and I are supposed to teach together at the Off-the-Map conference. Well word out is he needs help to get there. Wanna Help? Check out the help call, and see if you have a few bucks to help.