Methodism

in case you missed them : weekend linkage

April 4, 2008 By Gavin Richardson

unless the rain continues this may be the last blog post for the weekend. these are some links of interest that you might have missed, i hope not too.

before the big list. two things

the wifey has started blogging as a hybrid of business and her own commentary. go say hi to my fabulous half the "bug babe." my music city blogger friends should take notice. she will have some great stuff once she gets going.
if you have been following our conference whoa’s of late with a restructuring and ‘new vision’ for children and youth ministry. check out jay’s recent posting on what he sees that it will take for reconciliation between youth, children, camping, young adult, older adult ministries practitioners and our conference leadership.

now on with the links

connect : david’s testimony

April 4, 2008 By Gavin Richardson

at our church, we have found ourselves living out this seven year vision & discernment as one purpose "becoming apprentices of Jesus Christ." we have three loves, God neighbor and self. wrapped up in five practices of, worship connect grow serve share. all that to say, we are doing video testimonies on how we live our these practices. so with my digital camera, my battery ran out on my camcorder, and a few hours of late night work. this is our video for ‘connect’ sunday.

the music is by carl thomas gladstone and comes from his "the wesley project: volume 1" which is adaptations of wesleyan hymns. so there are parts of the music that might sound really familiar.

digital community : rating conference websites

April 3, 2008 By Gavin Richardson

i have been exploring this digital community stuff a lot lately. only recently have i started writing about it. yesterday i posted on the methoblog a idea, a dream, for a community driven educational collective. i suspect it will be about a year before it really takes off, but between now and then i am excited for the prospects of it.

in other news, revj has posted his ratings for the south east jurisdiction conference websites. i think he was a little too kind. but i can be sorta a snob when it comes to web design.

reminds me that church marketing sucks does a church website review series. there is also the directory of great church websites.

christian educators fellowship : look for me

April 2, 2008 By Gavin Richardson

so it is pretty much official. i will be teaching two workshops (social networking & another tbd) and doing a few other ongoing cool things at the christian educators fellowship conference at albuquerque new mexico in october.

cool, thing, current plans are that erin will be coming with me. i never make it out west, so this is a treat and i look forward to seeing some new folks and new scenes. so make your plans to look for me. &:~D

jonathon & a bunch of other local friends will be there doing stuff.

they have a running blog as part of their site.

my second life : the methodist cyberchurch

April 1, 2008 By Gavin Richardson

so in one of my postings yesterday. revmom brought up checking out the cyber world of "second life." now i have never been a simulation game or virtual reality person.. i’ve never been a that person at all. so this world is quite foreign to me. however, i do see this coming as one of the next mission fields or the next social networking medium being avatar based.

so i followed her instructions.. and then got left on my own, i think i canceled the reminder/guide thing they give you for the orientation island. wandered aimlessly, lost my clothes, but then got my digs back on and made it out into the "real" world.

now an interesting part was walking around and seeing people that you know are people somewhere out there in the actual world. i didn’t talk with anyone. i am shy that way. i didn’t mind bumping into them as i still had a hard time walking straight for some reason. i made it over to the koinonia church. it was quite pretty.. for something not real. i checked out the list of services and all that. i don’t know when, but i’d like to make it back to see the church in action. i had a seat in the cozy sanctuary area. after that i wandered

i stumbled upon, not to far away from koinonia church was a methodist church. low and behold part of the british methodist church at that. they had some wesley stuff, organ, bell, the whole set up. i even tried to preach a sermon.. to no one of course. then it was over to some other really odd places..

i ended my stop at a monastery.. a nice peaceful time to rest after teleporting and flying all over the place. yes, flying & teleporting, this is real you know. &:~D

i don’t see this being my thing. but in ways, this was engaging, fascinating and fun. time consuming as well, so maybe i can be quicker next time to get in and out. who knows. i do think if you have yourself some energy to take on a bit of a challenge it is worth it to familiarize yourself with this or another world. there are seeking people in all parts, even flying around in a second life.