by Jason Joyner | Jun 12, 2012 | Blog, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, organic church, Outreach Saga, who needs the right date anyway
Putting the wrong date on an invitation is usually a bad thing.
Last week I told how our home group was planning to meet in a local park, next to a low-income apartment complex. We decided to have a free BBQ, but we didn’t want to do a “bait-and-switch,” so on the flyers we delivered to every apartment we told them we’re inviting them to hang out with us and talk about Jesus. They knew up front what we were doing. We planned it for Sunday morning from 11-1.
The flyers went out on Thursday, June 7. We talked, planned, and most of all prayed. We got burgers, watermelon, chips, and cookies together and got together early to prepare and wait for people to come.
We waited.
Finally we talked to one guy. We told him we put out flyers. “Oh, the ones that say ‘June 6’ with no day of the week on them?”
Yes, that would be us.
I’m certain the computer automatically put the date of when it was done. So we now had 50+ apartments, 100 burgers, and 0 people.
We decided we’d better go knocking.
We went around to each complex again, inviting people to come. My wife and I knocked on the door of one woman who was fairly sick and couldn’t come out into the windy cold weather. We said we’d bring her a plate of food. My wife nominated me since I’m medical and the woman was visibly ill. I brought her a plate and got visiting with her. It turns out I had something left over from my mom that was used twice and would be a good help to this new friend. She was very excited to get something that would help her in her illness, and I was excited to give her this device after holding onto it for several years.
I came back to the park and we had several people come and go. I think we ended up with around 20 adults stopping by, with many kids as well. The cool thing about this is it was a good number for us to start with. Between our group of 9 adults, we got to talk to everyone who came for at least a few minutes. I got to meet a couple of guys who were happy to hang out. They liked that people gathered at this park to spend time with them. I talked with them, learned about some of their troubles and their lives. I never had to force it, but I was able to share about Jesus with them.
Everyone in our group had similar stories. It was an amazing time. We wrapped up and I think we all were thinking, “Why hadn’t we done this before?” It was so simple. We served people. We treated them with respect and listened to them. One of our group had prepared a talk, but it didn’t work out.
We hadn’t even decided what we were going to do next week, but we had such a good time we realized we should go back again and build some relationship. We might move to other parks during the summer, but for this week we’ll take the next step. Even though the wrong date could have torpedoed our plans and our resolve, God was good to give us what we could handle.
If you have questions about what we are doing or how things went, I’d be happy to discuss it. We’ll see what the future holds.
—
by Jason Joyner | Jun 6, 2012 | christian fiction, critics, plank-eye, Writing Wednesday
I haven’t read it, but My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade is causing a stir in Christian fiction circles. The reason? It mentions poker, has words like “crap” and “boob”, and other such nefarious deeds.
It points out the side of CBA fiction that can be considered puritanical or judgmental. I don’t have a lot of input on this debate today. I’ve been working lately on missional stuff, so I haven’t gotten fully into the writing world again.
I have internet buddies who have discussed this in thoughtful ways. Mike Duran tackles it today in his usual way – challenging the status quo.
Also, my friend Nicole Petrino-Salter reviewed it. She predicted negative reviews at Amazon, and discusses the self-appointed judges of Christian fiction and the idea of *gasp* having fun.
I hope the reading linked here is stimulating. If you know of other posts regarding this issue, please share in the comments below.
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by Jason Joyner | Jun 6, 2012 | Blog, christian fiction, critics, plank-eye, Writing Wednesday
I haven’t read it, but My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade is causing a stir in Christian fiction circles. The reason? It mentions poker, has words like “crap” and “boob”, and other such nefarious deeds.
It points out the side of CBA fiction that can be considered puritanical or judgmental. I don’t have a lot of input on this debate today. I’ve been working lately on missional stuff, so I haven’t gotten fully into the writing world again.
I have internet buddies who have discussed this in thoughtful ways. Mike Duran tackles it today in his usual way – challenging the status quo.
Also, my friend Nicole Petrino-Salter reviewed it. She predicted negative reviews at Amazon, and discusses the self-appointed judges of Christian fiction and the idea of *gasp* having fun.
I hope the reading linked here is stimulating. If you know of other posts regarding this issue, please share in the comments below.
—
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog, Christian life, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, Outreach Saga
Life is interesting, and you never know when you’re going to hit a curve in the road.
Through a series of strange and unusual events, my family and some dear friends have found ourselves not associated with any organized church. My wife and I had been in a situation where we were between churches before, but we left a church that was getting off in theology and practice and it took us a while to find our last church home. This circumstance is different though.
The cool thing is God is using this circumstance to allow us to experiment and try doing church or the Christian life a new way. The friends that are with us are all mature believers, who have walked with us for a while. We know each other well and have been through the normal ups and downs of church life together. We’ve had a heart to reach out to our community for a while, and have done some things to reach out in the past.
Now that we’re not tied to an organized church and don’t have to hold to a certain set of expectations, we’ve been praying and decided to use this season, however long it may be, to try something different. Perhaps it is radical. Maybe it is more of what we should be doing all along.
Our little group is going to spend Sunday mornings trying to reach out to people who aren’t in church. We’re going to meet in a neighborhood park, invite the people around, and have a time of sharing Jesus with whomever comes. We’re trying to make it relatable with stories and testimonies and just spending time with them. If it is relationship building we want to do that, but if it is straight evangelism we’ll do that. Ultimately, we’re going to try to do whatever the Lord speaks to us about doing.
We have friends watching out for us, so we’re not being lone rangers. We are taking time together to study the Word, pray, and worship as we’re lead. We may not have much worldly success, but we realize you don’t change the world, or change your city, without taking risks.
We’re not mad at church and we bless all our friends who serve faithfully there. It seems at this time that the Lord has something else for us.
If you are so inclined, I would certainly appreciate your prayers. Our group (working on a name!) wants to see Jesus lifted up in our community, and we’re trying to be willing to whatever comes up in front of us. If you have questions, let me know and I’d be glad to answer them the best I can. As this seems to fit the theme of “Mission Monday” rather well, I’ll post about our adventures from time to time.
For now, it is a new day!
—
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog, Christian life, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, Outreach Saga
Life is interesting, and you never know when you’re going to hit a curve in the road.
Through a series of strange and unusual events, my family and some dear friends have found ourselves not associated with any organized church. My wife and I had been in a situation where we were between churches before, but we left a church that was getting off in theology and practice and it took us a while to find our last church home. This circumstance is different though.
The cool thing is God is using this circumstance to allow us to experiment and try doing church or the Christian life a new way. The friends that are with us are all mature believers, who have walked with us for a while. We know each other well and have been through the normal ups and downs of church life together. We’ve had a heart to reach out to our community for a while, and have done some things to reach out in the past.
Now that we’re not tied to an organized church and don’t have to hold to a certain set of expectations, we’ve been praying and decided to use this season, however long it may be, to try something different. Perhaps it is radical. Maybe it is more of what we should be doing all along.
Our little group is going to spend Sunday mornings trying to reach out to people who aren’t in church. We’re going to meet in a neighborhood park, invite the people around, and have a time of sharing Jesus with whomever comes. We’re trying to make it relatable with stories and testimonies and just spending time with them. If it is relationship building we want to do that, but if it is straight evangelism we’ll do that. Ultimately, we’re going to try to do whatever the Lord speaks to us about doing.
We have friends watching out for us, so we’re not being lone rangers. We are taking time together to study the Word, pray, and worship as we’re lead. We may not have much worldly success, but we realize you don’t change the world, or change your city, without taking risks.
We’re not mad at church and we bless all our friends who serve faithfully there. It seems at this time that the Lord has something else for us.
If you are so inclined, I would certainly appreciate your prayers. Our group (working on a name!) wants to see Jesus lifted up in our community, and we’re trying to be willing to whatever comes up in front of us. If you have questions, let me know and I’d be glad to answer them the best I can. As this seems to fit the theme of “Mission Monday” rather well, I’ll post about our adventures from time to time.
For now, it is a new day!
—
by Jason Joyner | May 30, 2012 | Blog, May-hem, motivational tricks, Writing Wednesday
Welcome back.
I’m talking to me, not you. Sorry if that confused you.
(Not to be rude – I’m glad you’re here too!)
It has be a crazy month, with a major event that basically sucked up a lot of time, emotion, and mental energy. Thus the blogging has been a low priority. The writing has been a little lower.
So what do I do if I have a major interruption to my projects?
I usually take months to get back to it.
This isn’t the recommended method, so I’m trying to discard it today. I don’t have a lot of good advice for this, except to say that I don’t want my writing to be another casualty of the month of May-hem. (Couldn’t. Resist. Pun.)
Even though I don’t have a witty piece of advice or a fantastic writing story, I’m at the keyboard. I’m getting something out there. Thank you for your indulgence as I get back on track. The first step to getting back?
Writing.
At least that part isn’t rocket science.
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by Jason Joyner | May 30, 2012 | Blog, May-hem, motivational tricks, Writing Wednesday
Welcome back.
I’m talking to me, not you. Sorry if that confused you.
(Not to be rude – I’m glad you’re here too!)
It has be a crazy month, with a major event that basically sucked up a lot of time, emotion, and mental energy. Thus the blogging has been a low priority. The writing has been a little lower.
So what do I do if I have a major interruption to my projects?
I usually take months to get back to it.
This isn’t the recommended method, so I’m trying to discard it today. I don’t have a lot of good advice for this, except to say that I don’t want my writing to be another casualty of the month of May-hem. (Couldn’t. Resist. Pun.)
Even though I don’t have a witty piece of advice or a fantastic writing story, I’m at the keyboard. I’m getting something out there. Thank you for your indulgence as I get back on track. The first step to getting back?
Writing.
At least that part isn’t rocket science.
—
by Jason Joyner | May 23, 2012 | Beckon, Blog, CSFF, ideas, Tom Pawlik
Yesterday I gave my review of the CSFF Tour May feature – Beckon by Tom Pawlik. Today I wanted to discuss some of the ideas behind the book. This will necessarily feature…
|
| SPOILERS! |
You’ve been warned.
The town of Beckon is founded at the entrance to a series of caves, where a pre-Columbian tribe lives underground and undiscovered. The tribe lives extraordinarily long lives because of a special compound called perillium that is produced by a nest of freaky cave spiders. The tribe offers human sacrifice to the queen of the spiders, and in turn they get access to spider gunk that keeps them alive. The villain Vale found these caves in the 1800’s and has a deal with the tribe to keep outsiders away in exchange for a fountain of youth.
The only problem – the people of Beckon will die a horrible death if they go a day without perillium. Vale uses this to control the people he’s lured there, but he is a prisoner of the tribe himself.
This sets up an interesting moral dilemma for the characters. The book is broken into four acts, with the first three acts introducing someone who stumbles upon Beckon, and the final act is the resolution of all of their stories. The third story focused on George, a businessman in his 70’s who would like to retire and enjoy his wealth. However, his barren wife Miriam has contracted Alzheimer’s, and isn’t really there anymore. When George is offered a chance to heal her in Beckon, he jumps at it.
Miriam’s dementia is not only reversed, but she de-ages to her 20’s. Old George can’t keep up with his frisky young-again bride. However, when Miriam learns the cost of her treatment (they can’t leave Beckon, and people are sacrificed), she denies further treatment. Her faith helps her not fear death, but George is pushed to the edge by Vale. A long-time member of Beckon, Amanda, has developed reservations about what they do. Her perillium is withheld by Vale as a warning to George. George can choose to save Amanda’s life or keep Miriam healthy and alive, as there isn’t enough room for both women. George allows Amanda to die for Miriam’s sake.
Even though Beckon wasn’t my favorite book, I enjoyed the crucible he puts George and Miriam in, and the thought of “what would YOU do for health or life” that is presented to the reader. Beckon isn’t mindless entertainment, and I really like that (I think I would’ve liked Beckon a lot if it engaged me sooner). Pawlik sets up an intriguing choice in the town of Beckon, and I like how George isn’t perfect. He is a good guy overall, but he can be pushed to a horrible choice when he lets Amanda die. It is a major test to sacrifice his wife for a stranger. The bold plot point and the implications it leaves for the reader is a major strong point for this book.
What do you think? How far should we go as a society for health and vitality?
There are other opinions of Beckon out in the rest of the CSFF Tour. Becky Miller keeps an updated list of tour posts here. Be sure to check them out as well.
—
by Jason Joyner | May 23, 2012 | Beckon, Blog, CSFF, ideas, Tom Pawlik
Yesterday I gave my review of the CSFF Tour May feature – Beckon by Tom Pawlik. Today I wanted to discuss some of the ideas behind the book. This will necessarily feature…
|
| SPOILERS! |
You’ve been warned.
The town of Beckon is founded at the entrance to a series of caves, where a pre-Columbian tribe lives underground and undiscovered. The tribe lives extraordinarily long lives because of a special compound called perillium that is produced by a nest of freaky cave spiders. The tribe offers human sacrifice to the queen of the spiders, and in turn they get access to spider gunk that keeps them alive. The villain Vale found these caves in the 1800’s and has a deal with the tribe to keep outsiders away in exchange for a fountain of youth.
The only problem – the people of Beckon will die a horrible death if they go a day without perillium. Vale uses this to control the people he’s lured there, but he is a prisoner of the tribe himself.
This sets up an interesting moral dilemma for the characters. The book is broken into four acts, with the first three acts introducing someone who stumbles upon Beckon, and the final act is the resolution of all of their stories. The third story focused on George, a businessman in his 70’s who would like to retire and enjoy his wealth. However, his barren wife Miriam has contracted Alzheimer’s, and isn’t really there anymore. When George is offered a chance to heal her in Beckon, he jumps at it.
Miriam’s dementia is not only reversed, but she de-ages to her 20’s. Old George can’t keep up with his frisky young-again bride. However, when Miriam learns the cost of her treatment (they can’t leave Beckon, and people are sacrificed), she denies further treatment. Her faith helps her not fear death, but George is pushed to the edge by Vale. A long-time member of Beckon, Amanda, has developed reservations about what they do. Her perillium is withheld by Vale as a warning to George. George can choose to save Amanda’s life or keep Miriam healthy and alive, as there isn’t enough room for both women. George allows Amanda to die for Miriam’s sake.
Even though Beckon wasn’t my favorite book, I enjoyed the crucible he puts George and Miriam in, and the thought of “what would YOU do for health or life” that is presented to the reader. Beckon isn’t mindless entertainment, and I really like that (I think I would’ve liked Beckon a lot if it engaged me sooner). Pawlik sets up an intriguing choice in the town of Beckon, and I like how George isn’t perfect. He is a good guy overall, but he can be pushed to a horrible choice when he lets Amanda die. It is a major test to sacrifice his wife for a stranger. The bold plot point and the implications it leaves for the reader is a major strong point for this book.
What do you think? How far should we go as a society for health and vitality?
There are other opinions of Beckon out in the rest of the CSFF Tour. Becky Miller keeps an updated list of tour posts here. Be sure to check them out as well.
—
by Jason Joyner | May 22, 2012 | Beckon, Blog, CSFF, reviews, speculative fiction, Tom Pawlik
Crawling out from the depths, my eyes are blinded by the light of day. Oh, it is time for a new Christian Sci-Fi/Fantasy Tour? I have to climb out from under my rock?
Well, *only* for the CSFF Tour.
This month we are featuring Beckon by Tom Pawlik. You can check out Tom’s blog, website, Facebook page, or even Twitter for more.
Beckon, Wyoming, is not on any map. You don’t end up in Beckon by chance. If you are called to Beckon and accept, there is no leaving, but the choice is to live forever.
The book follows three separate individuals on their own quests that lead them to Beckon. Jack is hunting for clues about his missing archeologist father. Elina is a disgraced police officer tracking her kidnapped cousin. George is looking for a cure for his wife’s condition.
Once they all arrive, they learn the secret of Beckon. And now that they are there, how are they going to leave?
—
Beckon is a book with an imaginative premise, potential for a lot of suspense, and some thought-provoking issues at the heart of the book. I’ll come back to the ideas tomorrow, but I wanted to review the book today.
I wish I loved the book, but it just didn’t work for me. Reviewing books can look at craft, skill, plot, and various other story elements, but sometimes it comes down to the voice of the author. Their writing connects with a particular reader or it doesn’t. That’s my main problem – I didn’t find it engaging.
There are some real strengthens I can identify. The writing is solid in description for the most part and there is a lot of suspense. The sense of danger permeates most of the book, so the plot doesn’t suffer from lack of conflict. The core themes or ideas are very intriguing to think about, and they offer good fodder for moral dilemma in the final third of the book.
Some craft choices affected my enjoyment of the book. He has four sections of the book. Jack, Elina, and George each have their story introduced. Once they all end up in Beckon and the major secret is revealed, the final act begins with their arcs intertwined. My problem was that I didn’t really engage with the book until George’s section in act 3. Until then I didn’t really care what happened to the main characters, and I was reading out of duty for the tour instead of really digging the book. Now, once I hit that point I really wanted to see it through to the end. Several things were predictable to me, but at least at that point I cared about what was happening.
The setting of mountainous western Wyoming is a couple of hours from my backyard. It is majestic country, but I didn’t get a sense of the scenery when things were above ground. A majority of the story is in caves or houses, but I wish the beautiful setting came out more.
Ultimately it comes back to the lack of connection. The book is not poorly written. I wish the first section created more empathy for Jack, because I didn’t have a feel for him or Elina to really care. The prose is solid and suspense is good, but I just didn’t invest until 2/3 or 3/4 through the book. Other readers may engage right away, so if you can try it out I say go for it.
We have a lot of other tourmates with other opinions. I haven’t checked out any yet, waiting to get my thoughts out before I visited them. Now that I’ve given my review, I’ll check out my friends below, and encourage y’all to do the same. Who knows, maybe I’m off my rocker (wouldn’t be the first time…).
Noah Arsenault
Julie Bihn
Thomas Clayton Booher
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Beckie Burnham
Brenda Castro
Theresa Dunlap
Nikole Hahn
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Janeen Ippolito
Becky Jesse
Carol Keen
Leighton
Rebekah Loper
Katie McCurdy
Shannon McDermott
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Joan Nienhuis
Faye Oygard
Crista Richey
Kathleen Smith
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Shane Werlinger
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In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher with no obligation.
