Want to see pictures (taken by Krista Jefferson) of a recent worship gathering at The Freeway? Click here.

Labels: friends, photos, the freeway

Up until a couple days ago, I didn't have an office.

I used to have a home office. But it was taken over by the family for the computer and crafts, and whenever we have guests who need a place to stay (which is far more regularly than you might imagine), and for storage... and the room was re-named "spare room." I didn't mind at all. I am used to working wherever, finding wireless cafes, working in our living room, setting up shop at our coffee house (where I also don't have an office), etc. But that's the beauty of office to go.

But I had noticed my productivity and creativity were beginning to suffer lately. Especially since my role has become far more administrative as of late.

My daughter, Samantha - who will be ten in June and is growing up and becoming a young lady way faster than I'd like - wanted to switch rooms with the "spare room" because the "spare room" has a big closet (the biggest one in the house). "Why does a ten year old girl need a big closet?"... well, apparently that's a stupid question. So two days ago we switched the two rooms. She's growing up. We even had to buy her new bedding and accessories because her old stuff was for "little girls."

Samantha switching rooms is a move far bigger than switching rooms. It's allowing her space to grow up a little bit. Now, that's hard for a dad. Really hard. It seems like just yesterday that I held this little blonde baby in my arms and rocked her gently and thought "man, she looks like E.T." Now she needs a bigger closet?

Anyway, this meant that I had the opportunity to reclaim some office space (at the suggestion of my wifey... but I think she was just trying to soften the blow of my daughter growing up on me). So, I have set up shop in my new space. I am away all weekend, so I will paint it early next week because it's too "little girl" for me too.

Already, it has enhanced my productivity and comfort as I work. Hopefully, that will transfer into more creative thought. I'll try and post some pictures so you can all see where the magic happens.

Labels: family, personal

This video is of Cake... and it's delicious.

I was first introduced to Cake in 1996 when I lived in Barrie where I was a youth pastor. My friend, John-Mark, who has recently returned from Ghana where him, his wife and their two girls were missionaries for two years, played "Fashion Nugget" - a Cake CD - in the car one day and I instantly fell in love.

The funky drums, bass, and guitar, along with the catchy rhythms and unique vocal styling's won me over. I have been a big fan ever since. In fact, I have said on many occasions, when probed for such information, that they are one of my top five favourite bands of all time. I can often be seen and heard singing loudly to Cake tunes in my car. Cake makes me happy.

Music has always been huge in my life. From using music as therapy and escape from family feuds, to playing in several bands, to being a radio DJ for a while, to my church leadership experience, etc. I want to explore my life in music in some subsequent posts, bit by bit.

Labels: music, personal, videos

Other posts in this series:

• Missional Church? Be Prepared To Lose
• Missional Church? Be Prepared To Get Dirty
  

Local churches that are networked locally and regionally have the best possible chance to incarnate the gospel in a neighbourhood. Whether a denominational church or an independent church, whether a house church or an established church, local Jesus-communities need to help each other, inspire each other, resource each other, and "work together for the good of the city" [that's TrueCity's tagline - TrueCity is one of the networks The Freeway is involved in].

Gone are the days when, like an island unto themselves, local churches could hoard their resources, build their own kingdom, run all their in-house programs, and maintain "their" thing alone, etc. Well, maybe those days are not gone... but they should be.

What we need to continue to do is re-imagine ways to work together. We need to ask the question together, "What is God up to in this place?" and then find out how we can collaborate in order to join him.

How has that played out at The Freeway over the years? Or what networks are we a part of?

Resonate - www.resonate.ca
A few years ago a group of friends and I decided to start a Canadian network "of people seeking out Jesus Christ in a world and country that is transitioning from the modern to the postmodern era. [Resonate] is a group of people who are looking at new ways of living out the faith in holistic ways."

Through Resonate we have started regional Echos [a series of conversations hosted by Resonate on theology, worship, church and Christianity in today’s rapidly changing culture], a national e-mail discussion list, and local Greenhouses [which are basically organic networks for church planters and those interested in creating new forms of church. We get together about every six weeks all across Canada, we tell stories, we inspire one another].

Cultivate Gathering - www.cultivategathering.com
A couple years ago, tired of the "same old, same old" conferences and big name speakers spouting off what they wrote in their latest book, and realizing that networking and conversation was the way we wanted to learn, we started a learning party to gather folks and create conversations, tell stories, and inspire one another.

Cultivate has allowed us the opportunity to hob knob with very cool people who are doing new and exciting and innovative things in the church in a distinctly Canadian context. Most of these folks "fly under the radar" of traditional networks/conferences/etc.

TrueCity Network - www.truecity.ca
TrueCity is a local Hamilton network of "churches working together for the good of the city." They host a conference once a year, They have neighbourhood networks of leaders and people from various geographic regions in Hamilton. They help and inspire each other.

We are still really finding our way in TrueCity [and they are continuing to find their way as well] as we have only recently gotten involved, but the friendships we and partnerships we are making so far have been invaluable to us. On Thursday this week I will be attending an all-day meeting with the TrueCity to help figure out the next steps for the network.

Allelon - www.allelon.org
We, at The Freeway, have been learning from Alan Roxburgh and others at Allelon for just over a year now. Him and I have really hit it off on a personal level as well.

This spring we are launching an Allelon Training Centre [the first one in Canada] which aims to "provide practical, affordable and flexible training for all church leaders. Delivered by men and women with hands-on experience of mission in the United States and Canada, the program aims to enable leaders and potential leaders to transform their thinking, their lives, and their ways of being church." You should go and read all about it, and consider registering for our Summer Institute.

Labels: church planting, leadership, the freeway, training centre, writing

We spent the whole day outside today because it was beautiful out. We rode our bikes, did sidewalk chaulk art, played some sports, took a walk. Good times.

I snapped a few photos, if you're interested:
Link

Labels: family, photos

Podcasts and a review of our recent Cultivate Gathering will be online soon. For now, enjoy some pictures of the day: Link

Labels: cultivate, photos

O happy day.

I found this on several blogs this weekend. It's the creed of the Massai [an indiginous African tribe]. Absolutely beautiful.

We believe in one high God, who out of love created the beautiful world. We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and [humanity], and showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by His people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch Him, and on the third day He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Labels: prayer

Cultivate Gathering: Spring '08 [a learning party for those interested in creating mission-shaped churches] is coming up at The Freeway next Saturday, March 29th. There are still a few spots left if you want to register.

We have split the day into three segments which have been selected to create dialogue in the area of leading [and planting] missional communities that move back into the neighbourhood:

• planting [grassroots storytelling]
• neighbourhood [living incarnationally]
• leading [forming community]

In each segment we will hear the story of some folks who have been asked ahead of time, then we will have an open mic time for anyone in the room to add their two cents to the segment, and then we split into discussion pods - open space style - to create conversations with one another on various topics with each segment.

Some pretty cool people are already registered for Cultivate this time around. I look forward to spending the day swapping stories and inspiring each other. Why don't you come?

www.cultivategathering.com

Labels: church planting, cultivate

• Last week I spoke six times in seven days. Tiring. I spoke at The Freeway twice, at SCD twice, and at Innovare [a gathering for Canadian Salvation Army youth workers] twice. All of these events were fantastic, but I was tired at the end of it all.
  
• Cultivate Gathering is coming up quickly... it's happening on Saturday, March 29th at The Freeway. If you haven't already done so, you should register. It's a good time, for sure. Cultivate is a learning party meant to inspire church planters and those interested in creating mission-shaped churches.
• In April I will be speaking at a big youth event in St. John's, NFLD. I am excited because I get to travel with one of my good buddies and visit a place I have never been. Hopefully, I will find something challenging and inspiring to say to the youth gathered.
  
• In May I want to go out to Vancouver, and I am looking for places to speak in order to help pay my way. I don't have any dates nailed down yet, but if you know of a venue that would possibly be interested in having me, please drop me a line: pernell@frwy.ca
• This summer we will be launching an Allelon Training Centre in Hamilton which I am directing. We are hosting a Summer Institute from July 7-11. The two courses we are offering are "missional church: it's nature and purpose" which I will instruct, and "mission-shaped groups: structures for missional formation" which Alan Roxburgh will instruct. You can register for the Summer Institute courses here.
  

Labels: leadership, speaking, training centre

Since moving to Hamilton in 2001 to start The Freeway, I have not really had an office space. There is a room in the basement of the coffee house which I could use as an office, but it's in the basement [no windows], it's not wheelchair accessible [important for me to be accessible to all members of our community], and it's too quiet [I have grown used to being in community to work and be creative... I enjoy collaboration and synergy].

I work on the go a lot... in cafes, restaurants, my house, etc. Our staff meetings and cohort meetings [and any other meetings or appointments I have] are usually in public places such as our coffee house.

In order to accomplish the work I need to do, being mobile is super-imperative. The following are pieces of technological genius that help make me more productive in my transient state:

My Sony VAIO FE series notebook. I've had it for almost a year now, and I still love it. It's still in great shape, works well, has never crashed [knock on wood].

My only complaint is that the video card is not the best in the world... I may upgrade that.

I have never been a big fan of Macs [and my tribe The Salvation Army won't approve of purchasing Macs as we have a national IT department, so standardization is important - they only allow certain brands of PCs, etc.]. And I have thoroughly enjoyed using PCs. I have blogged before about my feelings about Macs... I haven't changed my mind.

Sony gets mixed reviews about its notebooks, but I have been pretty impressed with mine. In fact, it is highly likely that my next computer will be a VAIO.

My BlackBerry Curve smartphone. I picked this up in January in hopes of having easier access to my e-mail while in transit. I wasn't sure I'd like it because the keys are pretty small [I am not much of a texter], but I got used to it and now I am really happy.

The GPS feature is pretty cool, and having access to the internet while on the road is handy... maps and information about places are good when travelling places you have never been before.

The camera in the Blackberry is really good too. In fact, the pictures are as good as any digital camera I have owned [not that any of my camera's have been very good].

It's funny, I always thought Blackberry's were kind of dumb, but the busier I get, the more I appreciate accomplishing more while I'm on the go.

My iPod Classic. All my tunes, a bunch of my photos, and a whole whack of videos, and still room to expand. Nice.

I love listening to music [especially ambient] while I am working and creating. And recently I have started downloading some podcasts, something I never thought I'd enjoy.

I find it handy to take presentations with me wherever I go, store files and photos, and share my videos and stuff with people while I am in conversation with them... don't worry, I still doodle on napkins while talking.

I just purchased my iPod a few weeks ago. Now I wonder how I ever lived so long without an iPod... OK, that's an exaggeration, but still.

In a future post I will tell you about all the software I use on my computer [most of it is free]. Jordon Cooper recently did that and I found it so interesting how similar our lists of software are.

Labels: blogging, leadership