Mark Scandrette

Help me create some buzz. I have free galley copies of SOUL GRAFFITI for the first 10 bloggers who email me with their mailing address. (Of course I would love it if you read the book and post review comments on your blog). Please contact me at mark AT reimagine DOT org. Thanks!

Next week we are heading to Washington, D.C. for a family learning trip and book promotion. We are also looking forward to seeing friends. We thought that before we venture to Europe together we should stop by this nation’s capitol to study U.S. government and history. I will also be visiting Emergent cohorts in D.C. and Baltimore, promoting SOUL GRAFFITI. Here are the details, in case you live in the area:

Monday April 9: The D.C. Emergent Cohort at The Harp and Fiddle in Bethesda, MD 7-9 P.M.
Tuesday April 10: Baltimore Emergent Cohort at The Bare Bones Grill Ellicot City, MD 7-9 P.M.

Yesterday in the mail I received 15 advanced copies of my book SOUL GRAFFITI. It was a cause for an impromptu celebration with my family and our housemates including a mid afternoon glass of wine and dark chocolate all around. I told the kids, “See, papa was really writing a book in all those hours I had to spend away.” It was fun to hold the product of this labor in my hands— and even more fun to read it, pleased with what I found on the page. If nothing else it was the best book I could write in 2006.

Here’s an excerpt that relates to what my week has been like:

So many of the problems in our world seem to elude our comprehension and our ability to resolve them. The psychological effects of famine, war, or domestic abuse linger long after the hunger is gone or the fighting has ceased. Some situations seem beyond mending—I think of chronic generational poverty and mental disorders as two perplexing examples. Where power and human will are involved there is great resistance to change. Anyone who follows the path of a healer will eventually come to face the limits of human intervention. Dealing with these challenges and ambiguities should not make us throw up our hands in despair or retreat into passive complacency. In Mark, we see the story of the disciples of Jesus coming to him frustrated because they could not cure someone who was demon possessed (in the language of our time this might mean mentally distressed). Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). When we reach the limits of our abilities we can call on a power greater than ourselves. At times I’ve laid my hands on a neighbor who is passed out drunk, praying for divine help when treatment programs and other interventions have failed.

Jesus accessed the power of the kingdom to heal people who were sick, disabled, or mentally ill. And he promised his disciples, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12). Peter the disciple saw a lame man begging near the temple and said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). The man got up and walked. Is the apparent scarcity of miracles in the First World evidence that we lack faith or compassion? Perhaps Peter didn’t have any money because he had already given it all away. If we believe that all problems are essentially related to the spiritual, then we are invited to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor and then beg God for miracles for what we cannot do ourselves.

Last week SOUL GRAFFITI received a favorable review in Publisher’s Weekly. Though my editor suggested that the reviewer didn’t seem to quite “get” the nuances of the books message, it is still good news to get a favorable review. I’m told that distributors rely on reviews in Publisher’s Weekly to decide whether to promote a particular title. I’m discovering the long and complex journey a book goes through from conception to birth in the public market.

As many of you know, my book SOUL GRAFFITI is being published by Jossey-Bass Wiley and is due to be released in mid April.

I’ve very excited about this project and its potential to connect with an audience that may be skeptical about Christianity and organized religion, yet curious about the message of Jesus– or longing for a way of life that is more holistic and integrative.

What is the book about? Soul Graffiti explores the message of Jesus as an invitation to embrace life as a sacred journey— learning to collaborate with our Maker’s intentions to bring healing and greater wholeness to our world. Through stories and reflections, Soul Graffiti addresses the questions, “What was the essential message of Jesus and how can we inhabit that message as a way of life?” What if everything matters? Soul Graffiti, is an invitation to explore the life and teachings of Jesus as a pattern for pursuing a spiritual path that is fueled by compassion, creativity, community and connection.

I’m inviting friends and acquaintances to help create some buzz about SOUL GRAFFITI. Book stores and distributors pay attention to consumer interest. One of the best indicators of this is prerelease orders on Amazon. COM. Amazon is offering the book at a rate that is substantially lower than the cover price. See http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Graffiti-Making-Life-Jesus/dp/078798437X

I’m convinced that if we want to see a different and better tomorrow, change often begins with new ideas and stories that inspire new action— and this is the kind of public conversation I hope to create through the release of SOUL GRAFFITI.

Over the next two months I plan to send out occasional excerpts from the book to give you a sneak preview. Below you will see what people are saying who have had a chance to read the manuscript.

Thanks for your interest in my life and this project!

–mark

EARLY PRAISE FOR SOUL GRAFFITI:

“Mark Scandrette guides us in this beautifully written and brilliantly illustrated book along a path towards actualized spirituality in a postmodern world. The book provides new avenues to ancient truths.”

—Tony Campolo, professor of sociology, Eastern University

“Through Mark’s rich insights and reflections, and especially through his stories … about Jack, Richard, Gary, Caroline, Emperor Arcadia (you’ll never forget him!), Michelle, Beryl, and many others, you’ll get an honest and inspiring view of what ‘the emergent conversation’ is really about, and what it’s for.”

—Brian McLaren, author/activist (brianmclaren.net)

“Soul Graffiti is not so much a book as it is an encounter—a deadly serious encounter—with a Christianity that is urban, American, un-institutionalized, and now. If you truly like your own Christian walk just the way it is, you definitely should not read this book.”

—Phyllis Tickle, religion analyst and compiler, The Divine Hours

“Scandrette guides us down a winding, beautiful path through an urban park of whole-life Jesus-y spirituality. It’s a story-weaver’s bountiful spread - filled with chocolate and wine and artisan bread—of the present Kingdom of God. See that the Lord is good, indeed.”

—Mark Oestreicher, president, Youth Specialties

“Soul Graffiti chronicles Mark Scandrette’s brave exploration into an intentional, lived Christianity. In a world numb to religion, inhabiting the way of love may be the only apologetic left.”

—Sally Morgenthaler, www.trueconversations.com

“In Soul Graffiti, Mark Scandrette strips away the religious traditions that cloud our view of Jesus and gives us the courage to investigate the transformational message. If the challenge for churches and for individual followers of Christ is to live out the gospel, this is the help we need.”

—Nancy Ortberg, Founding Partner, Teamworx2

“Soul Graffiti is creative, inspiring and challenging in equal measure. Mark has a wonderful way with language weaving together stories, metaphors, and insights that combine into a poetic call to take seriously the radical nature of Christ’s life and teaching and live it out in our own communities.”

—Jonny Baker, Church Mission Society, London, UK



Yesterday I finished reviewing the page proofs for SOUL GRAFFITI. Its hard to tell when this project will finally be complete. I’m waiting to celebrate until I am holding the finished product in my hand. When I got the copy for the jacket cover this week it was fun to see kind words from several other endorsers.

“Soul Graffiti is not so much a book as it is an encounter—a deadly serious encounter—with a Christianity that is urban, American, un-institutionalized, and now. If you truly like your own Christian walk just the way it is, you definitely should not read this book.”

“Mark Scandrette guides us in this beautifully written and brilliantly illustrated book along a path towards actualized spirituality in a postmodern world. The book provides new avenues to ancient truths.”

“Soul Graffiti is creative, inspiring and challenging in equal measure. Mark has a wonderful way with language weaving together stories, metaphors, and insights that combine into a poetic call to take seriously the radical nature of Christ’s life and teaching and live it out in our own communities.”

Its been just over two years since my grandfather, Dr. Onas Cudley Scandrette died at 91 years old. My cousin, Chunky Blood, has written me recently inquiring about things I might remember about grandpa. Sometime knowing more about where we come from helps us makes sense of who we are becoming. I still think of my grandfather alot– as a signpost fading into the past about where I come from and where my destiny lies. I remember being at the hospital just after he died. I was sitting in a chair beside the bed where his body was beginning to stiffen– his mouth still open. Next to him was my dad on the phone making funeral arrangements. I could hear my sons running around out in the hall. That moment gave me an enduring picture of the cycle of life– where I have been– the child out in the hall, where I am, and where I am headed: middle age, older adulthood and mortality.
I found a place to write offer a tribute to him in SOUL GRAFFITI:

“My other grandfather, Onas Cudley Scandrette, could not have been more different than Grandpa Ray Clow. He and my grandmother Mary lived in a college town near Chicago where my grandfather was a professor of psychology. Their home, instead of being decorated with church craft bazaar knick-knacks, knitted Kleenex box cozies, and dinosaur bones, was furnished with 1950s modern furniture, shelves of art and psychology books, and walls hung with black and white art prints and paintings—including signed lithographs by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Thomas Hart Benton.
Grandpa Onas looked the part of an eccentric college professor, wearing thick glasses, suit jackets, and a derby hat as he drove his red MG convertible through campus. He dabbled in mountaineering, experimented with Pop Art, and was an accomplished photographer who corresponded with Ansel Adams. In his basement there was a dark room where he perfected experimental print techniques that he documented for publication in photographic society journals. I rarely saw my grandfather without an SLR camera around his neck.
He also wrote down and told stories about his childhood experiences and wrote romantic and philosophical poetry exploring the human psyche. Academically and personally Grandpa Onas was interested in the intersection of faith and humanity—particularly the psychological dimensions of human spirituality. He was a lifelong fan of the Hebrew Psalms because of their resonance with subjective human moods and motivations. Raised in a religious tradition that regarded the arts and culture as “worldly” and the cravings of the body as shameful, he sought to find God in the pleasures of human creativity.
Always a bit of a hipster, Grandpa Onas wore the latest running shoes, was the first person I knew to own a personal computer, and gave me recommendations about his favorite rock music. For birthdays and Christmas he and my grandmother gave me art supplies and books. They took me to museums and galleries where I recall seeing Andy Warhol’s car crash sculptures, the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, and the assemblage sculptures of horses by Deborah Butterfield. From Grandpa Onas I learned to explore the goodness and beauty of God revealed in humanity—through the arts, philosophy, literature, history, and the study of cultures.

I’ve been in the process of asking friends and colleagues to review the manuscript of my book, SOUL GRAFFITI, which will be released by Jossey-Bass Wiley on April 13. I was a bit surprised when my marketing editor suggested that writing the book was only 10% of the work involved in seeing a book project become successful. I’ve come to understand that if we really believe change is neccessary and possible, we have to do what we can to let our collective voices be heard. And this is what I hoped to accomplish when I set out to write SOUL GRAFFITI. Here’s what a few of my friends are saying about the book:

FROM AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST BRIAN McLAREN:

When I heard that Mark Scandrette was writing a book, I knew it would
be good, partly because Mark is an artist and poet and I knew he would
be good with words. But even more, I knew that Mark is living a
beautiful, gritty, honest, and hopeful story that deserves to be told.
Now that I’ve read Soul Graffiti, I can say it’s even better than I
had hoped. Through Mark’s rich insights and reflections, and
especially through his stories … about Jack, Richard, Michelle,
Gary, Caroline, Emperor Arcadia (you’ll never forget him!),
Beryl, Michael and many others … you’ll get an honest and inspiring
view of what “the emergent conversation” is really about, and what
it’s for. If you’re a young adult, maybe alienated with conventional
Christianity and trying to figure out what way of life to follow - or
even if you’re a middle-aged or older adult feeling the downward tug
of complacency and cynicism, here is the book you’ve been waiting for.

FROM AUTHOR SALLY MORGENTHALER: