Mark Scandrette

Hey everyone,

The Church Basement Roadshow—A Rollin’ Gospel revival is a 90-minute high energy, meaningful and light-hearted show traveling to 36 cities across the U.S. this summer. Three friends from varied backgrounds (Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette) join forces as a team of revivalists in the tradition of the late 19th and early 20th century—to issue a call to join the greatest people movement of all time – to a life lived well with God in the Way of Jesus. Drawing on material from their most recent books, these three friends will use skits, group sing-alongs, spoken word poetry, video and old-timey style preaching to invite audiences into a serious encounter with the exciting possibilities of lived Christian faith in our day.

ROLLIN’… An invitation to join the hope-filled, opened armed, alive and well journey of faith in our day.

GOSPEL’… God’s reconciliation of all things through the example, sacrifice and message of Jesus.

REVIVAL’… imagining new possibilities, collaborating with the creator’s good dreams, and living the risk-taking adventure that is making a life in the way of Jesus

GOALS FOR THE ROADSHOW:

To encourage and inspire local faith communities towards conversation, creativity and common action.
To promote the Revivalists “tools for the revolution”—each of our most recent books. (The New Christians by Tony Jones, A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Paggit and SOUL GRAFFITI by Mark Scandrette)
To bring helping attention and energy to the causes of our sponsoring organizations.

We hope that this tour can bring energy and momentum to local networks of emerging Christians– and wherever possible we will be available to meet with cohorts and networks before of after the show.
We will be coming to cities throughout Central and Northern California June 17-21.

June 17– Fresno– Hosted at University Presbyterian. Chris Erdman. erdmanc AT gmail.com,
June 18– Sacramento– Hosted at Lakehills Covenant. Jeromy Johnson. jeromyj AT sbcglobal.net
June 19– San Francisco– Location and committee chairmanTBA
June 20– San jose– Location TBA committee chairmanTBA
June 21– Oakland– Hosted by Sequoyah Community Church. John O’hara. john AT sequoyahcommunity.org

We need your help. We are looking still for host communities in San Francisco and San Jose. And we are building local revival committees in each city to help with promotion. In select cities we will be doing a half-day leader’s forum on emerging faith issues. If you would like to be involved– contact the local gospel committee chairman in select cities– or contact me if you would like to help host in San Jose or San Francisco–markscandrette AT gmail.com

See more details at www.churchbasementroadshow.com

Thanks for your consideration!

—Mark, Doug and Tony

My friend Mark Van Steenwyck has asked me to help judge a writing competition. See details here

Here’s a workshop ReIMAGINE will be facilitating in early May. I think it will be really helpful to people who dream about new kinds of Christian community. Register here.
CREATING COMMUNITY: IN THE WAY OF JESUS
Missional. Experimental. Generative.

DATE: May 2-4

SCHEDULE:
Friday night 7-10 P.M.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 P.M.
Sunday 9 a.m. to 12 P.M.

COST: $95 Includes 2 nights lodging and 3 meals. Scholarships and student discounts available upon request. Sign-up at www.reimagine.org

LOCATION: Clunie Conference Center 301 Lyon Street San Francisco 94117 (Lyon @ Fell)

In an age of high mobility and social fragmentation, we search for
ways to connect with one another around our deepest values and highest aspirations–to see our Maker’s dreams become as real “on earth” as they are “in heaven.” Simply put, we want to be “making a life in the way of Jesus”–but we don’t want to (and we can’t) do it alone. In this weekend intensive we will explore simple and organic ways we can create communities together–that are missional, experimental and generative.

Over the past 10 years ReIMAGINE has helped cultivate neighborhood-based faith communities throughout San Francisco and around the bay area.

THIS RETREAT IS DESIGNED FOR YOU IF:

* You want to create or participate in an intentional Christian community experiment
* You are part of a community or small group that you hope to see become more intentional, missional or formational.
* You are a leader who wants to learn more about organic and relational approaches to community & formation

SOME OF THE TOPICS COVERED DURING THIS WEEKEND:

* What Jesus modeled and taught about our life together.
* Historical examples of Christ-inspired community and mission
* Community, personal healing and growth
* Cultivating common values, commitments and practices
* Leadership, collective discernment and mutual submission
* Cultural awareness and the development of your common mission & vision
* Embracing the fluid, improvisational and networked nature of community in an urban society
* Hospitality, transparency, trust and generosity
* Love, forgiveness, humility and reconciliation

AT THE END OF THIS RETREAT WE HOPE PARTICIPANTS:

* Have a greater understanding of the nuts and bolts of creating community together
* Identify their next steps for pursuing missional community with others
* Commit to a 2-3 month missional community project/experiment

There will be follow-up project consults for the next 3 weeks. Wednesday nights in May.

THE MARK & LISA TEAM  As our kids become teenagers with more independence, Lisa and I have begun to think about how we can partner in our work more synergistically. This year Lisa has taken over an increasing amount of responsibility on our ReIMAGINE team and we’ve started to dream about common work we can do that fits with our passions and gifts. At the New Conspirators conference in Seattle we taught a workshop together entitled “Intentional Parenting and Missional Living.” Over fifty people participated and were very engaged in the question of how to nurture children in a way that connects them with God’s holistic mission in our world. We shared about how we try to live the seven vows of our community as a family. After our session many people stayed around to talk more–particularly with Lisa. As you probably know, in our family I’m generally the one who talks the most and enjoys the crowd. But in our community and circles of influence  Lisa is sought after as a wise woman with a lot to teach. We find this to be true even among the college students who come to visit us. I really feel like in our family, Lisa shines as someone who quietly lives out our deepest values and beliefs most consistently in the details of life and relationships.  

THE NEW CONSPIRATORS… a conference hosted by Tom & Christine Sine as part of the launch of Tom’s new book of the same name. In this well researched book Tom, a noted futurist examines four streams of new expressions of the church in the western world: the emergent, missional, mosaic, and monastic. Although our work with ReIMAGINE might be described as emergent, missional or monastic—for this conference Lisa and I were asked to represent  communities who live in close proximity to one another and try to live by common commitments. We spoke on several panels, and in addition to our workshop, I taught on action-oriented spiritual formation inspired by the way Jesus trained his disciples.

Birds have captured Noah’s attention over the past 6 months. With the camera he bought with his own earnings he has passionately been taking pictures of birds. His photography will be featured in an upcoming art show through Reikes Center. (see  his photo of a female Kestral below). 

March is spring break for many students—and for us this means a month packed with visiting groups of students from various colleges and universities. Twenty-five students from Winona State spent the first week of March with us, followed by students from Vanguard University, Westmont College and group middle schoolers and adults from the East Bay.

For many of the groups that visit us, the city offers an eye opening look at the diversity and complexity of humanity, a vision of the future, and an invitation to seek the way of Jesus more fully in every dimension of life.  Here’s what one group organizer had to say about their experience with us:

 “I want to say thank you for sharing with my team this past week.  They really caught on to the vision that you cast for ReImagine and for SEVEN.  It deeply challenged them and their perspective of their role in the church and in their relationship with Jesus.  It came out through the number of deep conversations we had on the drive home. Students forming their own relationship with Jesus separate from that of their parents is a huge part of why I do what I do.  So thank you for giving them something of depth to process.” 

Our day-long prayer and poetry exercise continues to be a favorite trans-formational experience for visiting groups—as they walk through various neighborhoods encountering new foods, people and cultures.  We invite people to look for signs of God in the fabric of the city and to ask for the Maker’s dream and will to be “on earth as it is in heaven.” Groups also join us in service projects in various neighborhoods–  painting and cleaning at community centers and cooking and eating with homeless friends.

Most groups also do a creative art and prayer exercise. This spring we developed a new project in which groups make colorful flags that express their prayers for the city. We hang these sets of flags around the neighborhood to add beauty and a lasting symbol of the intersessions of the students. Groups also spend time with people from our community who work in various professions and challenge the students to find ways to intentionally seek God’s kingdom in their vocational choices and lifestyle.

We do our best to not only welcome students into the city but also into our lives and the life of our community. Lisa and I have each group come to our house for a meal during their visit and we spend the evening with them cooking and talking. Its an opportunity for us to help students process their experiences and further integrate the message of the gospel into their every day lives.   

I’ll be in Seattle next week connecting with various groups. If you live in the area maybe we can connect aroun one of these happenings:

FEBRUARY 28-March 1 THE NEW CONSPIRATORS CONFERENCE with mustard seed associates. Lisa and I will be doing a workshop on Emerging/Missional parenting and I will be doing a workshop called “Entering the Jesus Dojo” on activist spiritual formation.

MARCH 1: The Purple Door in Seattle with The Cobalt Season.

MARCH 2: Wits End Church 10 a.m.Seattle.

MARCH 2: ZOE LIVABLE COMMUNITY with The Colbalt Season, Tacoma. 6 P.M.

Here’s a workshop I am facilitating this spring as part of ReIMAGINE’s Jesus Dojo:

EXPERIMENTS IN TRUTH: a laboratory for personal transformation.

The master invites us to rethink or reimagine our whole lives in light of
the Maker’s dream of greater wholeness for our world.  This workshop
explores the physicality of spiritual formation. If I change what I do in my
mind and body, how will it effect my capacity to flow with the Creator’s
energy & love? (what eat? how I spend my time?  The media I consume? How I
use my money? Who I spend my time with?) This practical workshops seek to
deal with the disparity we often feel between how we want to live and how we
actually live.  Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and facing his
greatest shadows and temptations. Participants in this workshop will engage
in practices aimed at confronting our own shadows and obstacles to the
spiritual life through “experiments in truth.”

Wednesdays March 19th through April 23rd. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Location in central
SF TBA.
Cost: $25  Register on-line www.reimagine.org

If you are new to the bay area or curious about Emerging Faith and the Emerging church, this is a great opportunity to connect with co-conspirators.

Sugarlump Theology Salon.

When? February 24th, 7-9pm

Where? Sugarlump Coffee Lounge
2862 24th Street @ Bryant
San Francisco CA 94110
http://www.sugarlumpcoffeelounge.com/

Upcomimg Topic:

Where does the emergent church stand in relation to this mystical relational faith? Does its focus on contemplative exercises combined with its hostility towards evangelism lead to self-focus? Does its formulation of the Gospel in terms of “following Jesus” and his kingdom lead to an impersonal “way” rather than a relationship?

Familiarity with readings from “mystic” texts such as: St Dionysius, Meister Eckhart, St John of the Cross, & The Cloud of Unknowing, New Seed of Contemplation, etc.   will be helpful in your participation.

Also check out this post by Scott McNight: http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=1001

In order to facilitate the best conversation possible it is helpful for us know how many people are coming. PLEASE R.S.V.P. to this event, by contacting Adam Klein, adam AT reimagine.org

The Sugarlump Theology  Salon is a gathering of 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 Inklings” (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”.

This summer I will be on the road with my friends Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. We will be traveling in an RV to towns and cities across America (and Canada) conducting GOSPEL REVIVAL meetings and connecting with friends who are similarly passionate about pursuing the Way of Jesus in the exciting times we are living in. You can help host us and become part of the show in your city!