Wednesday, April 11, 2012

skeleton notes from first day of Q


Hey everyone -- for those who are interested, here are the unfiltered notes from Q yesterday. A lot of this is just quick notes to myself so it may not all make sense to you. But if you want to see some of what the Q content looks like, this should give you an idea:

Andy Crouch: Power

A "good news to good news" story in scripture (including the first two chapters of the Bible and the last two)

How does this relate to power?

Power as "the imperative"
Geeky Jean Luc Picard reference

"let there be" as jussive rather than imperative

deepest power is not force but creation, deepest corruption of power is not violence but misapplied creativity, which is idolatry

Every idol promises two things: You shall not surely die (you are not contingent or bound by other forces); You will be like God

Misusing our creative power to "play God" is Injustice (when we as idolaters pretend to be God)

"Poverty is the result of someone playing God in the lives of someone else." Some guy in India

NOTE: Steve Jobs looks like an owl.

NOTE: It's funny when people say things  like  "Q for you."


Mark Batterson: Church and Place

5 convictions:
1.     there are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet
2.     we need lots of different kinds of churches because there are lots of different kinds of people
3.     the church ought to be the most creative place on the planet
4.     we ought to be more known for what we're "for" than what we're against
a.     paul didn't go into the aeropogus and denounce the false philosophies, he competed for the truth
b.     Michelangelo: critique by creating
5.     the church belongs in the middle of the marketplace

movie theatre "business" as outreach in DC area

Mel McGowan: visioneering

David Brooks: Humility

Bing Crosby on VJ Day said, "We don't feel proud, we feel humble, we feel glad we got through it."

A bigger victory dance for a "two yard gain" than for winning World War 2.

Traits that we no longer teach to people:

1)   There is a battle within ourselves. "he that conquereth his own soul is more powerful than he who conquers a city"
2)   A bias against self-preoccupation
3)   A sense of vocation
4)   An element of "seemliness" (a commitment to social equality)

Shift happened: people started to be told that self esteem/self love was important

Narcissicm test: 30 percent increase in narcissim score over the last several decades

3. risk
4. rise of polarization
5. moral inarticulateness
            * raised a generation to find their own opinions about moral issues
            * in the absence of the

What can help?

1. Examplars: finding and celebrating people who are humble
2. Philosophy: rediscovering philosophers who believe in the depravity of humanity
3. manners (public-spirited): suppressing passions in order to achieve the greater good
4. a better viewpoint:


Reducing Abortion – panel with Rebekah Lyons, Jenell Williams Paris, Sarah Brown, Angie Weszely, Johnny Carr

Jenell Williams Paris:
Sarah brown: making contraception a bigger part of the conversation; not only trying to push abstinence (75% of young evangelicals having sex before marriage) but also saying, if you do have sex you should use contraception to prevent pregnancy
Angie Weszely: statistics show that the vast majority of women will continue to have their baby if they feel love and support rather than shame and shunning; create a culture in our churches that is all about acceptance and support

Johnny Carr: normalization of adoption decreases the number of abortions; taking the shame of adoption and abortion off the table…

Q question: Do you believe that churches should advocate contraception for their single 20-somethings?

Yes 66%
No 34%

Jonathan Merritt: A faith of our own

The new shape of Christian political Engagement

Culture war characteristics:
1.     highly partisan
2.     narrow agenda (i.e. abortion and gay marriage for conservatives; social issues for liberals)
3.     divisive

New generation:
1.     independent
2.     broad agenda
3.     civil
4.      

Sherry Turkle: Alone Together (@sturkle)

Story one: Should students keep their cell phones under the desk; "we are not as strong as technology's pull"

Story two: on a panel for "etiquette on the internet"… can I ignore the checker at the supermarket to text? Etiquette people said yes, Sherry said, let's treat the checker like a human being

Story three: on a radio panel about Siri; expert on the panel says that Siri could take the place of a psychiatrist, let the machine take the place of the person, if you can't tell the difference then let the machine do the job…  a machine as psychiatrist…

we're "alone together"… we're distancing ourselves from each other to be closer to our technology

we're here but we're also "somewhere else"… we want to control where we put our attention;

we run from conversation, we think that "little sips" from twitter are the same as interacting in "real life"

can robots really take the place of people with empathy and so on?

Note: alarmist? Warning us about artificial intelligence and "fog of technology"; she thinks there is a difference between conversation and connection

13 year old, when told his grandfather could have a robotic companion, "Don't we have people to do those jobs?"

steps to get us to a better place:
·      conversation that takes time and involves solitude as a should be a value; create sacred spaces in your home that are technology free
·      MOST IMPORTANT: take the time to really listen to each other, even the boring bits because when we hesitate and stutter that's when we reveal ourselves to each other

Hans Hess: organic Entrepreneurship

People receiving sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics in their meat, giving them an immunity to the antibiotic when they became sick, leading to innefectual antibiotics when they became sick

Communion is with bread and wine, not wheat stalks and grape juice… how we prepare food matters

2.5% of food consumption is "sustainable"

food price and oil price linked

we've interrupted the natural cycle… using petroleum based fertilizer to reinvigorate soil

farmers do not make money on "commodity crops"; government subsidies necessary; about 20% of cost goes to GM seeds, the other 20% to modified fertilizer

polycultural farming is local, sustainable, has robust value chain and resilient ecosystem free of petrochemicals

Bittersweet Zine. Bitterwseetzine.com
How can we engage with good things happening in the community and inspire people to engage alongside people of faith and teach them that God is not dead, the church is not idle

Chidi Achara: Fashion Imagery

Works for a major American fashion brand

He's a "creative salesman" whose job is to show you images that make you want to buy and become a loyal customer for that company

Three (uh oh make that two) brief observations:
·      as a society we worship youth
o   even organizations like Levis which has a lot of middle aged people in its consumer base
·      fashion imagery will always challenge taboos and what is happening in the world and society
o   united benneton's "unhate" campaign

fashion speaks to the pursuit of freedom and democratic ideals in all areas of life

Gideon Strauss: Principled Pluralism

How do we live together given our deep differences?

"an impossible task:

conviviality and "convicted civility" (from Mouw) lacking in Christian culture

"we live in a time of God's patience and we are not called to coerce our neighbors to conviction, but instead to invite them through our coexistence"

"because we confess that Christ is risen we can engage in our public life in a mode that is not anxious."

Pluralism is our reality, that does not mean that we have to surrender our principles, instead it enables us to practice a principled pluralism.

Immanentize the eschatron (? What the heck? Awesome picture…) center of public justice

"Symphonic justice"

Roberta Ahmanson: The civic duty of arts patronage
"we become what we worship"

Discussion: Richard Land and Jim Wallis

Wallis: how do Christians change the world? Christians should not worship at the altar of politics.

3 things kindom people do: serve the common good and seek the welfare of the city we are in; seek a civil discourse; find common ground (five "common ground" areas to discuss with people: what does this policy impact fr the poorest and most vulnerable, undocumented immigrants, abortion reduction as a goal in the society and supporting strong families, supporting liberty; a foreign policy that creates peace rather than warfare)

Land: agrees that politics are not where we worship. We're citizens fo two kingdoms, the US and the kingdom of God; the church is the colony of Heaven.  Political parties are human invnetions that will manipulate and exploit you if you let them. Churches and religious leaders should not be endorsing candidates, we must look for candidates who endorse  us. Big changes in the two parties over the years (both have become more ideological than geographical). Bi-partisanship getting more difficult as dems and repubs are moving away fromone another ideologically. Must have civility in disagreement.

Immigration reform
Wallis: two signs at the border: no trespassing and help wanted. How do we help people caught between these signs?

Land: Secure the workplace, then secure the border. We have an obligation to those we have already allowed into the US. We need to allow them to come out of the shadows and let them become full legal citizens. The immigration system is broken in every way it can be broken. It's virtually impossible to immigrate legally. Need to overhaul it completely all at once with bipartisan support. Comprehensive immigration reform will likely increase bottom of the scale wages by as much as 12%.

Budget
Wallis:

Conversation: Glen Paauw and Phil Chen:  Anew way of engaging scriptures

Glen: Removing "helps"… chapter headings and call outs and notes and put the emphasis back on the TEXT. Just allow the reader to see the scripture on its own terms. Took out columns, red letters. A "Bible restoration project"

Phil: "Glo"… two things that come to mind, the first would be that the generation that I grew up in we think of the medium differently, not about paper. Paper is a metaphor. Glo is a visual Bible. Virtual tours, 3d, animators to rebuild 1st century Jerusalem.

SPOKEN BIBLE project: crowdsourcing an audio Bible

First century vs 21st century Bible

CHAI LING – GENDERCIDE

NOTE: Cute. She called Gabe "gabby."

Allgirlsallowed.org In Jesus' name, simply love her.


The Heavenly Man…

Cultural lessons: how she came to America and listened to Madonna and watched Sex and the City and thought "this is cool" without realizing the issues it would create spiritually

Johnny Carr – Adoption Journey

Has 5 kids, three adopted; two adopted from China, all three adopted are deaf

If we're going to preach and teach adoption, we're going to have to support and minister to the families who have adopted. If it's tough for a church to take care of kids with medical disabilities, imagine the families 24 hours, 7 days a week. Privilege and honor to minister to these children.

Adoptionjourney.com

Ed Stetzer –  the Future of Discipleship

What does discipleship look like? How do we see changed people become change agents?

I;m no t a prophet, I'm not the son of a prophet, I actually work at a non-profit organization.

There is a discipleship deficiency: only 47% say they have been discipled; 39% have never been disciple, 43% have done neither
Moving people from behavioral modification to gospel-based living

From good people to servants
·      primarily about the gospel
·      leads to practical living
·      determined to see transformation

8 attributes of discipleship
            1. Wow. He is going fast. No way I can get all those.

where truth, leaders and posture overlap, robust discipleship takes place

BYRON BORGER – Why Books Matter

"The Apostle Paul didn't order his books from Amazon." Ha ha ha

books are gifts from the body of Christ to the body of Christ

Amy Julia Becker

"perfect" children… how people describe their babies; how the technician describes the baby's measurements on an ultrasound

Down's babies…

Cameron Doolittle – Jill's House

Children with severe mental difficulties

Jill's house: having a night or two off a month


Michael Cromartie interviews Ross Douthat – Media, Faith and Politics


His new book "Bad Religion"looks awesome, great interview...

PRAXIS
Rare genomics
Matchbook Learning
Sinapsis

1 comment: