Mark Scandrette

I did a talk on the concept of THE JESUS DOJO at The River Community in San Jose on Sunday. You can downloard this talk for free here. I have also posted the chapter called ENTER THE JESUS DOJO on the SOUL GRAFFITI BOOK WEBSITE

I’m excited that SOUL GRAFFITI is going to paperback, which will make it more affordable and widely available. I’ve had a chance to add an author’s note for the paperback edition, explaining a bit more about the meaning of SOUL GRAFFITI and who the book is written for:

WHY A BOOK CALLED SOUL GRAFFITI?

What would you write on walls or sidewalks about your spiritual questions and longings if you could do so anonymously? In every literate society since ancient times people have acted on the impulse to scratch their names, their questions, their wisdom or their subversive messages upon walls and other public spaces. Graffiti, as a medium of deconstruction,  reveals a primitive hunger for renewal that makes space for what is emerging. This book is for people with honest discontent and heartfelt questions about what it means to be truly spiritual in the times and places where we live.

You and I are alive during a time that many believe to be one of the great turning points in history—a  time when previous constructions are breaking down and we search together for solutions in an increasingly complex, mobile, interconnected, and fragmented world. This is a time of great possibility– for healing, reconciliation and greater awareness about how we can live together in harmony with our Maker on the planet we call home. Yet these changing times have created fault lines, particularly within religious communities. As I write there is widespread intrigue and controversy about what some describe as “the emerging church.” I suggest that this phenomenon, rather than representing a particular group or movement, is the historic and pervasive process of our response to an ever evolving and emerging flow of human consciousness. In this sense, the church of Jesus has always been emerging—wrestling with what it means to follow his message and teachings in particular times and places. I believe we are invited to add to the many scribbles of soul graffiti on the walls of our religious landscape as an integral part of the messy process of becoming.

Graffiti, in its most provocative form, is a tool for revolution that sounds the alarm and calls us to action.  Among forward thinking people and younger generations there is tremendous dissatisfaction with religion as usual—a quest for perspectives and practices that integrate body, mind and spirit with moral, social and political conscienciousness to address tangible needs and opportunities in our world. This book is for people searching for an integrative spiritual path that is not merely a way to believe, but a way of life. I like to think of this book as a tool for the revolution—a collection of ideas, stories, and experiments that can awaken you to take new action to bring greater wholeness to our world.

We can’t forget that most often graffiti is a form of vandalism.  There is perhaps nothing more disruptive, scandalous, or criminal than the possibility that God might actually be speaking into our history and humanity, spraying a message of subversion onto the hard brick walls of our souls, disrupting our assumptions, guiding us toward a new way of being human and inviting us into the freedom we fear through the frailty of a messiah/prophet. This book is for people who recognized the enduring scandal of the life, message and sufferings of a 1st century rabbi called Yeshua.

Experts debate at what point graffiti crosses the line from art-crime to art work. Gradually the voice of dissent can become the voice of hope, generosity and beauty. It is my hope that we can move from being “haters” to creators—imagining and working towards a different and better future together. If we don’t like the way things are, we can collaborate with our Maker to seek the kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”  This book is for people who want to make beauty with their lives—expanding the boundaries of love in forgotten and unlikely places.

Here’s an event I will be speaking at in late February.  I think it will be an important gathering space for people pursuing emerging, missional, monastic and mosaic streams of renewal.  God is conspiring through a new generation to re-imagine and create new expressions of discipleship, community, church and mission and to make a difference in our rapidly changing world. At this festi-val of imagination, we will bring together leaders from the emerging, missional, mosaic and monastic streams of renewal to explore new models, discuss tough questions and create ways to be a difference and make a difference in our churches, communities and God’s world. As far as we know, this is the first time that such a broad range of new conspirators have come together to communicate, connect and create with one another.
Join Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution, Karen Ward of Church of the Apostles, Efrem Smith, co-author of The Hip Hop Church, Dwight Friesen from Mars Hill Graduate School, Julie Clawson, an emerging church planter, Mark Scandrette, author of Soul Graffiti, Christine Sine, author of Godspace, Tom Sine, author of The New Conspirators, and others for this festival of imagination.
We are racing into an increasingly uncertain global future in which the middle class, our poorest neighbors and our planet will face daunting new challenges. In this festival of imagination, we will in-vite you to create innovative ways to engage these challenges in a way that reflects something of God’s new order.
We have three very clear goals for this festival of imagination:
1.    to communicate creative models of what new conspirators are doing to address these challenges;
2.    to connect leaders from all four streams in order to share lives, stories and concerns;
3.    to create new ways to advance God’s new order in our world, in our lives and in our churches, in response to the growing challenges facing the poor and the planet.

This event is sponsored by Mustard Seed Associates. Our partners include: Emergent Village, Mars Hill Graduate School, Northwest Hot House and Trinity Lutheran Church. Course credit is available from George Fox Evangelical Seminary and Northwest University.

The New Conspirators: What in the world is God doing?
Join us at Bethany Community Church in Seattle, WA,
on February 28, 29 and March 1, 2008 and find out.
For more information visit: thenewconspirators.wordpress.com
REGISTER online at: thenewconspirators.eventbrite.com

Join new friends at this festival of imagination to communicate, create
and connect to what God is doing through this quiet conspiracy.