Mark Scandrette

I will be in sunny San Diego February 5-7 to connect with friends who are facilitating the Emergent track at the National Pastor’s Convention.

If I’m a good boy my buddy Doug Pagitt said I might be able to say a few words in his Critical Concerns Course. If you happen to be in San Diego and want to connect drop me a line (mark(at) reimagine.org

I’m traveling through the heartland of Northern California doing a series of Perspectives Lectures for the U.S. Center for World Missions. I’m teaching on: Living in the Rhythm of God: an exploration into kingdom theology.

Sunday night I spoke in Lodi, Monday night in Oakdale, and tonight in Brentwood. I’ve stayed with wonderful people who have offered warm hospitality– and its been fun to connect with people from all walks of life who are seeking to follow the way of Jesus.

I’m helping to organize this little experiment:

A quick update on Emmaus Road, a Bay Area Emergent Cohort.

In 2006 we gathered in a variety of venues to promote generative friendships among missional Christians. We met in locations around the bay area for meals and discussions on a variety of topics– and in the later part of the year a group of us committed to meeting once a month over six months for a more intensive Peer Learning Community. In 2007 we’ve decided to try a
topical approach.

The conversation continues in 2007 with a series of theological discussions we are calling: The Sugarlump Theology Salon

WHEN? Feb. 15 at 7-9 P.M.

WHERE?

Sugarlump Coffee Lounge
2862 24th Street @ Bryant
San Francisco CA 94110
(415)826-lump

TOPIC: How Mass Collaboration changes everything. Contextualizing ecclesiology in an era of a participatory world view and a culture of mass collaboration.

DISCUSSION FACILITATOR: Dr. Linda Bergquist, adjunct professor at Golden Gate Theological Seminary, missional strategist and lover of theology.

You can prepare for this discussion by downloading a sample chapter of the book Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything and also I Corinthians 12.

Wikipedia defines salon as “a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings”.

The Sugarlump Theology Salon is a gathering of Christian theologians and thinkers in the San Francisco Bay Area who meet in order to share and discuss their ideas and get peer feedback from one another. In the tradition of “The Inkling” (the literary group of C.S. Lewis’s and J.R.R. Tolkien that met in a pub for readings and criticism of their own work) we meet in a
coffee house (the San Francisco equivalent of a pub) called the “Sugarlump Coffee Lounge”.

We will determine the topic for the next monthly Salon following our initial discussion.

Please R.S.V.P. two days prior to this event by contacting Derek Flood:
derek.flood@yahoo.com

Looking forward to connecting!

Last weekend my son Noah and I went with my friend Charley Scandlyn to Yosemite for four days. Charley was officiating a wedding and we got to tag along and enjoy the solitude of the Valley. I had always wanted to see Yosemite in the winter and it was spectacular! Noah and I had a great time hiking and walking on top of frozen lakes and streams. As a special bonus we were invited to the wedding and to the wedding feast at the fabulous Ahwahnee.

After almost a year apart my friend Justin Dillon and I got to have breakfast together yesterday morning at Tartine. For the past couple of years Justin has been promoting an album with his band Tremolo. More importantly he has used his album, Love is the Greatest Revenge, to promote efforts to end human trafficking through a fund he established. Serendipitously Justin has been networking with record companies and Hollywood film studios on a project to develop a Television special (ala Live Aid) to end human trafficking. While we were eating breakfast the President of Virgin records called and he recently sat down with T Bone Burnett to talk about being involved in the project. I admire Justin’s persistence in being an advocate for the causes of justice in the entertainment industry. When he is not having meetings in Hollywood he supports his family by painting houses in the East Bay– and if all goes well he will be the unpaid executive producer for this television special. Way to be subversive.