ReSTART

So I've done a poor job in the last year of keeping the conversation going. Mainly because I was so burned out trying to do too many things. Sorry everyone that has been waiting for some gatherings!

In September 2010 on the 13th at 8 pm in Falls Church, VA, we're going to kick-off our ReStart! I'll be working to line up some presenters to share stories, theology, and conversation. I'll post the list as it becomes a reality. Stay tuned!

Tom Lynch

Sept. NoVA Emergent Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

So we've had some really great discussions the last couple months and have seen some new faces and old friends.

This month, Mike Croghan will lead us into the world of sound bites as he shares a bit about the upcoming October Christianity 21 Conference in Minneapolis. 23 female theologians, speakers, pastors, and presenters will gather to share and engage participants in holistic, communal, and innovative experiences and discussions/presentations. The website for Christianity 21 is: http://christianity21.com/

We'll gather at the following place on Monday, September 7 at 8 pm:

(Look for the "Cohort" sign if you're new - usually sitting at the tall tables near the entrance)
Dogwood Tavern
132 West Broad Street
Falls Church, VA

Can't wait to see you all and enjoy the evening together.

Cheers,
Tom Lynch

July Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

At our next meeting I propose we do the following:

1) Meet and Greet for new visitors (Let's make a push to have some new friends join us...spread the word and invite some people or get reconnected)

Let me know how many people you will bring with you that are interested in having some good conversation.

2) Talk church planting. I'm going to get together sometime in the near future with some folks from the DC Cohort and would love to be able to share some thoughts from one of our meetings.

Our gathering information is same as last month (plenty of parking behind tavern):

Monday, July 6 @ 8 pm (Look for the "Cohort" sign if you're new)
Dogwood Tavern
132 West Broad Street
Falls Church, VA

See you all soon.

Peace,

Tom Lynch

June NoVA Cohort Meeting

Greetings Cohorters?!,

So my wife and I leave for Italy tomorrow and I wanted to be sure to get a note out to all of you about the June gathering. Can one of you send the "reply all" reminder the Saturday or Sunday before? Any volunteers?

I've resigned my "3rd job" and will be using some of that thought energy on our cohort gatherings. At our next meeting I propose we do the following:

1) Meet and Greet for new visitors (Let's make a push to have some new friends join us...spread the word and invite some people or get reconnected)
2) Decide a gathering format for the next 4 months

I personally would love to get to know some of you better and hope we can connect on a more significant level.

Our gathering information is as follows:

Monday, June 1 @ 8 pm (Look for the "Cohort" sign if you're new)
Dogwood Tavern
132 West Broad Street
Falls Church, VA

See you all soon.

Grace and mercy,

Tom Lynch

May Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

We're gathering on Monday evening to talk about the recent meeting regarding Emergent Village on Monday, May 4, 2009 at 8 pm.

Let me know if you're planning on being there. Also, we'll be needing to to change location because the Starbucks we've been meeting at has changed their hours.

Location info below...see you Monday night.

Tom

Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎ - (703) 534-3111

Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Information and blog post that we're talking about below. Hope to see you all there.

April Cohort Gathering

Hello Everyone,

Well we missed our March meeting and that is my fault but I'm back on top of my life (as much as that is possible) and hope we can pick up in April. Also, please invite someone if you think they'd enjoy the conversation.

Recently, Mike C. posted an interesting post on the "Restless Church" website in which many of us are members. I think this will be a great discussion starter for the next couple gatherings. I've included an excerpt below and also a link to the whole post here:
http://www.mendingshift.com/2009/03/25/the-remerging-church/

As usual we're meeting at the following:

Hope to see you there. Please let me know if you're coming since the place we gather is quite small and if we add a few more we might need to move locations down the street to a different Starbucks.

Gathering Specifics:

8 pm - April 13, 2009

Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎ - (703) 534-3111

Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Excerpt:

Jeromy Johnson, in a short, beautiful essay, captures precisely what I hope this "restless church" thing is about - or could be about, if it ever really gains momentum. Here's an excerpt:

A remerging of the willing. This is how I believe history will define this time.

A remerging of those who don’t want to put aside their differences for unity’s sake, but want unity to be found in recognizing and embracing the beauty in all of our differences. (Paul’s description of the Body comes to mind for me here).

A remerging of those who realize they don’t need to seek permission from the “top” to unite and walk together in love, but now see that Jesus already gave them permission to unite and then prayed that they would.

A remerging of those who choose reconciliation, healing, and forgiveness over entrenchment, division, fear, and anger.

A remerging of those who choose to toss aside the rules and theologies that divide, and choose to embrace the healing freedom that really does exist in Christ.

Amen, and amen, and amen.

February Cohort Gathering

Hi folks! It's Mike Croghan, filling in for Tom this month with updates - we usually meet on the first Monday of the month, but...well...the first Monday sort of crept up on us. So why don't we meet on the second Monday instead?

8 pm - February 9th, 2009
Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎
(703) 534-3111
Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Discussion Topic - Tom suggested "Stories of Prayer" - people sharing times of meaningful prayer and what that looked like. I'll add this spin to it: I, personally, would be particular interested in talking about times of prayer that were helpful in contexts of ministry, discernment, and/or community. But, as always, we will of course talk about whatever we want to. :-)

Hope to see you there!

December Cohort Gathering

We had a wonderful talk last time about McCain/Obama and the Church. There was some helpful conversation about peace and violence that reflected the thoughtfulness of those present for the gathering. Well this is a "save the date" for our next gathering which will be as follows:

8 pm - December 8, 2008

Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎ - (703) 534-3111

Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Discussion Topic - The Great Emergence: "Hearing Stories From Those That Attended"

If you're going and willing to share thoughts from the two day event can you email me so that I know we have a "storyteller?" If we don't have any storytellers we'll be discussing the changes at Emergent Village and our local cohorts response to them. Listen to the new emergent village podcast or check out the emergent village website for more info.

Let me know if you're coming! It is nice to know how many seats to pull together.

Cohort Meeting (New Location)

So we're hoping that we can get a good showing this coming Monday night for a conversation. Our friend Mike C. has proposed a couple conversations and I think one of them is perfect for this coming Monday.

"The Emerging Church in [McCain/Obama]-led America"

We are changing locations to hopefully draw a few more people. We will be meeting at:

Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎ - (703) 534-3111
8 pm, Monday, November 3, 2008

Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Cohort Gathering and More

Hey Everyone,

Here are some upcoming gatherings that you all may be interested in. Hope to see you there.

Tom
________________________________________

Northern Virginia Cohort Gathering
October 7, 2008; 8 pm
Glory Days Grill
3059 Nutley Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
Phone (703) 204-0900
http://www.glorydaysgrill.com/locations/fairfax/index.htm
Vienna Metro Accessible
__________________________________

MBC Coffee House with Tracey Howe
Social Justice and Spirituality
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008; 7 pm (Free)
3455 N Glebe Rd Arlington VA 22207
http://www.restorationproject.com
Sponsors:
Memorial Baptist Church
Convergence
John Leland Seminary

The Great Emergence

Hey Everyone,

There is a group getting organized to head to this event in Memphis. It should be a great time. Hope you can make it. Here is the info: THE GREAT EMERGENCE

If you want to jump in with some folks that are going shoot me an email at novacohort@gmail.com

Tom

Late Post! Sorry! Gathering Tonight

August 4, 8 pm
Glory Days Grill
3059 Nutley Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
Phone (703) 204-0900
http://www.glorydaysgrill.com/locations/fairfax/index.htm
Vienna Metro Accessible

Hope to see you all tonight. I think there are some great conversations to have in light of our friend Mike's recent email. If you don't know what I'm talking about come find out!

Tom

Church Basement Roadshow...not to be missed!

Thursday July 31: Washington D.C./Baltimore, MDWesley Seminary/American University
Unless otherwise noted, all shows begin at 7pm.
$10 Suggested Donation at the Door

American University: Kay Spiritual Life Center
Write a reviewPlacement on map is approximate
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 885-3320‎american.edu

May 15, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 15, 2008 –

Emergent Church Leaders Tour the Country in an RV with a Rollicking 21st Century Roadshow Revival of that Old Time ReligionThe Church Basement Roadshow: A Rollin’ Gospel Revival.” The tour featuring Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette will hit thirty-two cities across the U.S., with a message that combines old time revival flair with a 21st century gospel. They’ll preach, sing and sell healing balm in church basements from San Diego to New York.

Jones, author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier; Pagitt, author of A Christianity Worth Believing; and Scandrette, author of Soul Graffiti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus, are part of the emergent movement, a decade-old phenomenon of pastors, missionaries, artists, theologians, authors and “regular people” who are rethinking church and Christianity for a globalized world. Controversial for their “nothing is too sacred to be questioned” doctrine, Jones, Pagitt, and Scandrette have acquired many fans and critics based on their writings...(follow the link for complete release)

Hope to see you all there!!

ROADSHOW RELEASE

Next Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

We had such a good group come together in June for our first meeting in Arlington at Ri Ra. Good times and great to meet so many new people.

Out next gathering is going to move out to Fairfax (since that is where everyone was from anyway). We'll meet near the Vienna Metro station at (walking distance):

Monday, July 7, 8 pm (Look for Cohort signs at the tables)
Glory Days Grill
3059 Nutley Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
Phone (703) 204-0900
http://www.glorydaysgrill.com/locations/fairfax/index.htm

Can't wait to see everyone and thanks Mike for finding us a more central location.

Tom

Shane Claiborne in DC

This is a copy of an email a friend of Emergent sent out about Shane's visit to DC. Hope you can make it.
_________________________________________________________

Shane Claiborne (author of the Irresistible Revolution) and Chris Haw’s new book “Jesus for President” just came out. It’s a book that insightfully seeks to grapple with the question, “How do we navigate our allegiance to state and our allegiance to Christ, especially when they come into conflict?”

I am on the coordinating team that is bringing the authors and some of their colleagues to DC to talk about the book and the topic. I hope you can come and will spread the word to your communities (publicity materials are available at http://www.jesusforpresidentindc.org/publicity)!

Friday, June 27 at 7PM Calvary Baptist (755 8th St NW, Washington, DC) Tickets are free, but you need to register at http://www.JesusforPresidentinDC.org.

Have no idea who Shane Claiborne is? You should definitely pick up a copy of Irresistible Revolution. I’ve personally given away over 200 copies of it. Check out the Jesus for President book reviews on the site as well http://www.JesusforPresidentinDC.org.

Please plan to come and don’t forget to spread the word to your friends. It’s going to be a great night!

Myanmar/Burma Relief

Hey Everyone,

Here is some info on the Myanmar crisis. This group does a really good job getting their aid to the right places immediately because they work through the Baptist groups already in country. They're all local people. Below is more info. Think about posting at the very least so we can help spread the word about the needs in Myanmar. Here is some info:

MYANMAR UPDATE: Click here for info on the Myanmar/Burma disaster. Please click here to give to the Myanmar relief fund.

Basically, the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) already has people in country because they work through local Baptists. The article covers more. An outside assessment team is waiting for visas like everyone else but it appears they've already made contact with local Baptists. It is likely your aid will get to those people quickly...at least it is likely to arrive before the massive international aid makes it into country. Also, start posting a couple of these things to your blogs if you can so we can spread the word.

"Meet and Greet" of the Northern Virginia Emergent Cohort

Everyone is invited to our first cohort gathering on:


Monday, June 2, 2008
@ 8 pm


Ri Ra Arlington
2915 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
(3 Blocks from the Clarendon Metro)
________________________________


We'll be gathering for our first time to meet some folks and talk about what this cohort could look like. Hope you can make it and feel free to invite anyone you think may be interested in such a gathering where conversation about church, theology, friendship, philosophy, and culture are the order of the day.

Hope to see you there. Email me with any questions @
novacohort@gmail.com

Tom

Wesley Seminary to offer M.Div. in Emergent Ministries

We thought folks might be interested in a new degree program being offered through Wesley Seminary. Looks like they'll offer an M.Div. in Emergent Ministries. Check it out here for more information.