Some Cool NLF People – Part 1

I thought I’d start a series of posts on cool people in our New Life Fellowship community.  I know, I know, everyone’s cool, so hopefully I can highlight more and more people as the days progress.

1) Karelyn Siegler – Karelyn’s an artist/art teacher who teaches at different schools such as Parsons, Kings College, and the New School.  I get regular updates from her about work that she’s doing with students, inspiring them to dream about art, their lives, and the reality of God.  You can find out more about her at her website, but yes, very cool.  Plus, she’s a great swing dancer and has been part of our Forest Hills community.

2) Helen Sung – If you haven’t heard already, Helen is an exceptional jazz pianist.  You can read her bio at her site to get a sense of how she’s got mad skillz.  And you haven’t heard her play!  Which, of course, means you must go out to see one of her gigs sometime.  She’s really breaking new ground in jazz as an Asian-American woman (unintentionally, I might add – I don’t think she knows what an inspiration she is!).  Word.  She’s also been a regular volunteer with our worship/arts community, and she’s a great person to talk sports with – yes, any sport.  Btw, you can become a fan of hers on facebook here.

3) Omar Morales – Aside from being a hilarious guy, he’s an elementary school teacher who leads a men’s group at New Life while also leading a youth group for people who want to know more about God.  If you hang out with him for 5 minutes, you’ll realize why kids love him and you’ll hear a random story from his life that will have you rolling on the ground somehow.  I had the privilege of also watching him hit the most incredible 3-pointer in the history of NLF basketball.

4)  Joe & Anna Philip – Joe and his lovely wife Anna are on our Philippines team this year, and although Joe’s a Yankee fan, he’s one of the most fun-loving, easy-going, sports playing, music sounding, food-making renaissance men out there.  Oh, and he’s a doctor.  Anna rivals Joe’s prowess in all of the above while working in the business world and carrying a huge heart for marginalized, disenfranchised people.  I can’t wait to hang out with them in the Philippines.

A Beautiful Mess

There’s some fascinating discussion taking place on the following blogs:

Soong-Chan Rah’s Blog

The Deadly Viper Blog

Here’s another blog from Eugene Cho that has a perspective that I largely agree with.  Thanks for posting this, Eugene.

Basically, Deadly Viper is a movement that encourages people to foster greater character and integrity in their lives.  They use Asian images (kung-fu, Chinese language characters, other martial arts, etc.) as part of their marketing campaign.  Some of their material (not all), has been found to be offensive to the Asian American community.  I found one of the videos to be really off-putting as a Korean-American.

In sum, here are my thoughts.

1)  I’m all about Deadly Viper. Their content is about character and integrity and living a godward life.  I’m down with that, and I think Mike and Jud should be commended for trying to promote this kind of life.

2)  I don’t know either of the guys personally, but everything I’ve heard from them and about them has been positive. Personally, I know that if I meet either of them I’m going to tell them both that I’m a fan of what they’re doing (sans some of the videos and images related to DV).  

3)  Even good people can have blindspots - This is why we need accountability and community – and a diverse community certainly helps.  I don’t think either of these guys knew the kind of outcry that would come from the Asian-American community.  I can safely assume this because again, everything I’ve heard about these guys from mutual acquaintances is that they’re great guys, and I know that they have friendships and relationships beyond the white community.

As another example of blindspots, someone came up to me recently at New Life and said, “You have mad chinky eyes.”  I was shocked.  I immediately wanted to react a certain way, but I knew this person, and I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, so I corresponded with the person privately, sharing that I know this person to be a wonderful character, but I wanted to point out how I was shocked to hear this from this person.

Sure enough, the person apologized profusely and said “I really didn’t know!”

These kinds of incidents happen more often than not – even in NYC, even at New Life Fellowship.

4)  I’m also a big fan of Soong-Chan’s – For all five of you who read this blog (one of which is my wife), you know that I’ve highlighted his book The Next Evangelicalism a few times.  I think he brings a prophetic voice to Evangelicals, one that calls us to reflect on issues of race and power.  Please, please, please read his book if you have a chance.

With that said, even Soong-Chan has blind spots – just like me, just like you.

5)  Emotionally Healthy Maturity and Skills are important – Whenever conflict arises and offense is taken, it takes gospel-strength, maturity, skills, and wisdom to be non-defensive and non-offensive.  At New Life, we often speak about this in terms of differentiation, and it’s almost impossible to have a constructive conversation about touchy subjects like race without it.  This means the following skills are helpful:

- Listening/Incarnating

- Speaking and Articulating Feelings

- Healthy Complaints with request for Change

A discussion can quickly lead to an argument without EH skills, and sooner or later, offensive and defensive language is everywhere.  For examples of this, see my marriage.  Haha, sorry, honey.

But I think this discussion found in the blogs quickly went offensive and defensive, unfortunately.

6)  In the discussion between DV and Prof. Rah, I’m torn that this conversation went public. On one hand, public discussion gets the word out and effectuates change.  On the other hand, public critque stings more than it’s usually intended.  Could this discussion have taken place privately and extensively and effectuated change? I don’t know, but a big part of me wishes this was so.

It doesn’t help that ultimately, I like what Prof. Rah and DV are about.

Moreover, remaining “quiet” or “quieter” about the issue would have further accentuated the particular pain in the Korean-American experience – not having a voice that is heard.

Ultimately, what would the loving thing have been?

7)  I believe the loving thing goes back to listening, speaking, requesting, and forgiving well. From everyone involved.

8)  Beautiful, Disappointing, Hopeful – This discussion, like so many others on race and the gospel, has become one big Beautiful Mess.  I love that this is what the Christian Journey often looks like – beautiful and disappointing, all at the same time.

And yet, we are called to Radical Hopefulness as we wade through this Beautiful Mess.

Gotta Love it.

Recent Thoughts

Here are some recent thoughts I’ve had lately:

1)  It’s killing me that the Clips gave the game away to Phoenix last night. I’m probably 1 of 15 people in the world who care about this, but such is my life.

2)  I’m sad to be missing the Young Adult Retreat this weekend, mostly because I know it’s gonna be a fabulous time.  I’m also bummed I missed the marriage retreat last weekend.

Myself, Andy, and Rich at Catalyst.

3)  I’m still processing my time at Catalyst. I think the conference brought out a lot of my issues with race, alienation, and identity.  At the very least, I’m still really grateful for our time with Andy Crouch.  We have to find a way to get him to New Life.

4)  I’ve read some cool books lately, especially Things Hidden by Richard Rohr, and The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker.  I’d highly recommend both, although I must warn you that it will take some time to ponder what these gentlemen seem to be saying!  These two books have found their way into sermons I’ve preached recently too.

5)  I think Cal’s basketball team is overrated. I thought the same of our football team this year, but yes, I’ll go ahead and publicly say that I think #12 is really high for us.  We don’t have the athleticism to hang with the top tier teams.

With that said, I’m very very proud of where our basketball and football teams have come.

I’m bummed I can’t make the Cal game at Madison Square Garden in November.

6)  I love NYC. With all of its outlandishness (dirty, crowded, noisy, etc), there’s still no place like NYC.  The people, the vibe, the food – all aces.

7)  I love Top Chef. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this captivated by a television show.  Maybe Survivor season 2?  My favorite this season is Kevin.  He, Richard Blais, and Dale Talde are my favorite contestants ever.

I never thought I’d say this, but on Wednesday, for the first time in my life, I was anticipating a television show more than the World Series.

8)  Tina’s the best.

Our Philippines team thanks you for all your support!

9)  I’m excited about our Philippines Trip in November. Whenever I hear of another person lending their support, I am humbled and grateful beyond belief.  I am so honored to know you, our team, and the Harners who have given their life for their community in Cebu.

10)  I’m very fortunate to have the brothers that I do. The past few weeks we’ve had a chance to celebrate Evan and Eli’s first birthdays.  Whenever I have a chance to spend time with my brothers and their families, I get replenished in ways that I don’t anywhere else.

And my nephews are so dang cute.

Our Family Photo @ Eli's 1st Bday sans Phil and Viv.

11)  I love our staff team – current and past. I’ve met and worked with some incredible people at New Life Fellowship.  I am so ridiculously blessed to know them.

One day, we’ll get a group picture taken on a digital camera.

Yankees and Yankee Fans

I was disappointed that the Angels lost (and the way they lost with playing uncharacteristically sloppy baseball), but man, this Yankee team is scary.  They’re really built to win a 5-game or 7-game series this year with their three frontline starters and solid bullpen.  And man, Mo is lights out.

I saw this interview with AJ Burnett after the game, and he said that the most impressive part of Mo’s game is his confidence.

I must say, there’s no other closer in baseball who inspires the same confidence.  Even when K-Rod was having his record season, I’d get nervous every time he pitched.  With Mo, it’s over.  I had resigned defeat when he ran onto the mound in the 8th inning.  If Joba would have still been in the game, I’m 85% sure the Angels would have rallied.

Me, Peter, and smug Yankee fans Mike and Alan. This photo was after an Angel loss to the Yanks a few years ago.

By the way, I wanted to make a comment about Yankee fans.  One reason I’m not so deflated by this loss is because it was to the Yankees and not the Red Sox.

What’s ironic about this is that I used to like the Red Sox, and I rooted for them to beat the Yankees every year.  However, something changed after I actually lived in the New England area.

It wasn’t a particular episode or event that changed my perception of Boston… it was a gradual annoyance with the fan base… in every sport.

Keep in mind I was there before and after the World Series win in ‘04.

The ‘04 win only exacerbated one of my grievances against the fan base – they got even more irrationally passionate and defensive.  SN:  One exception to this is Bill Simmons, who is irrationally passionate but not as defensive.  I love reading his Boston stuff because he’s admittedly irrationally passionate… and hilariously so.

It’s just hard to argue with a Red Sox fan or talk trash to them.  Things get personal.  Moms and families get thrown under the bus.  Insults are made.

I thought Red Sox fan would chill out after they won a couple of championships, but in my experience, it’s gotten worse.

But with Yankee fans, it’s different.  And I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I actually respect Yankee fans.  Now, many of them are bandwagon fans, and it’s ridiculous and maddening that there are so many of them in every opposing stadium, but in my experience, they’ve been really good fans.

Yankee fans are passionate and smug, but not mean and derisive.  Sure, they talk some trash, and they’ll ride you for rooting for an opposing team, but there’s a certain calm arrogance that accompanies their passion.

When talking to them I don’t get the feeling of “You’re dumb and we’re gonna destroy your team!”.  Instead, I get “It’s going to be fun beating your team along with the rest of the baseball universe.  I think you should join our cause instead of agonizing over there.”  Or, I get “Hahaha, that’s funny.”  Smug.  Overconfident.  I rarely sense defensiveness.

I’ll give you this example.  Back in ‘03 when the Yankees were battling the Marlins in the WS, I remember talking trash to Mike Favilla at the beginning of the series.  He, of course, was his usual Yankee-loving self, and brushed off my statements.

When the Marlins actually won the series and Beckett pitched like a maniac, I remember gloating about the win and calling Mike and telling him how thrilling it was that a smaller salaried team took it to the Yanks, Clemens didn’t get to go out on top, yada, yada, yada.

Mike laughs as I’m talking, and then he says with complete sincerity:

“It’s okay, Beckett is a free agent in a couple of years.  He’ll be in a Yankee uniform by then.”

That’s the mentality of Yankee Fan, ladies and gentleman.

I think Jeter and Mo carry the same persona.  A-rod didn’t… until this year.  Tex and CC have the same mentality, it seems.

I think winning (and the willingness to spend $) breeds that type of confidence.

If I were in Mike’s shoes and someone was calling me after the loss, I would have done the following:

- Complained about the Umpiring

- Ignored the Phone Call

- Made Disparaging Remarks about the opposing teams players.

- Made Disparaging Remarks about the city of the other team, and tell them how much better our city is than theirs.

Losing breeds this kind of irrational, emotional passion.  I think I’m finally understanding what Danny has been talking about regarding Cal fans.

I’ve come to the realization that I despise Red Sox fans because that’s precisely who I am when it comes to my teams – irrational, defensive, angry, and melancholy.

That’s what losing can do to one’s outlook.  I grieve for you, Met and Jet fan.

But I stand in solidarity with you.

And even if I may respect you Yankee fan, I still stand on the other side of the fence with Mr. Met.

And I must say, the food and feel of Citi field is so much better than the new Yankee Stadium.

See what I mean?

Okay, I realize this only describes some Yankee fans (or just Mike Favilla), but this is the consistent feel I get from the fans I know.

A text from Hydie Kim last week:

“Whether I’m confident or overconfident is subjective.  Either way I call it faith.”

A text from Joe Philip last night:

“It was a great series… I actually like the Angels and would’ve rooted for them if they beat the Yankees… sorry bro.”

Sigh.

There’s a spiritual lesson in here somewhere.

Free Falling

Free falling into the realm of unknowing

Nothing to grasp, nothing to cling to

My vision contains my past, my present, and only that.

Will I die?  Will I survive?

What of my family?  My friends?  My future?

Questions deluge my descent.

Craving to know, to see, to understand.

And yet I fall.

And learn to trust.

Inside the Actors Studio with Hilary Swank

Last night, Pete and Jen treated us to a live attendance to the show Inside the Actors Studio hosted by James Lipton, a dean emeritus at Pace University.  I’ve only seen one show before – an interview with Matt Damon – which I found to be fun, entertaining, and very revealing.

Peter and Jen hooked us up with tickets to Inside the Actors Studio with James Lipton

Yesterday’s guest was Hilary Swank, the actor of Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don’t Cry, and Freedom Writers fame.

I had somewhat low expectations after hearing that the interview would be three straight hours with no breaks.  I’m a little too antsy for that kind of stillness, but I prepped myself with a nap beforehand.

Anyhow, here’s the schedule for the taping:

7:00-10:00 – Interview, no breaks

10:00-10:10 – Break

10:10-10:40 – Q & A with Drama students

I must say, I was really impacted by the interview.  Lipton delved into Hilary’s upbringing, background, and little nuances of Hilary’s (we’re on first name basis now, btw) life and work.  I’m a huge Hilary Swank fan as a result of it.

I actually didn’t know that Swank has won two Academy Awards for best actress (for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby).  In other words, she’s a megamegamega star who’s an expert in her craft.  Even I know that that’s a big deal.

Tina prevented me from jumping onto the stage and telling everyone, "You just heard the gospel narrative!"

But hearing her talk, she’s remarkably down-to-earth and level-headed.  Her family was there, and it was really cool hearing from her mom throughout portions of the interview.

Anyhow, here are some things I admire/learned from the interview.

1)  Hard Work is Essential when One Wants to Excel at their Craft

When hearing about Swank’s preparation for different roles, I was amazed at the kind of dedication she put into knowing her characters and being fully prepared to play her roles.  She literally tries to walk in another person’s shoes to prepare.  For MDB, she worked out like a madwoman for 3 months to gain 19 pounds of muscle.  She changed her diet completely to eat protein ever 1 1/2 hours, worked with a boxing coach and trainer relentlessly, and took the train out to Brooklyn in the freezing cold every morning to do it (she said she felt like Rocky)!

I haven’t seen Boys Don’t Cry, but apparently she prepped for this role by chopping off all her hair, completely changing her appearance, and seeing what it was like to actually live like her character (her role was to play a woman who lives like a man, I believe).  In one of the more moving points in the interview, she started weeping at the thought of how it felt to live like her character in NY, and how people treated her differently and suspiciously.

For her role in BDC, she actually only made $75/day in making that film.  However, she was so passionate for her craft, she worked tirelessly to do her best (not knowing it’d be Oscar-worthy) in this role.

In the Q & A session, she said that there are tons of talented people everywhere and in every craft.  However, few are really willing to put in the work to become truly successful (this kind of reminded me of T-Mac and Kobe, for instance.  Similar talent but different work ethics, from what I’ve read.  I might be wrong here, but yeah, that’s what came to mind – sorry Houston fans).  She also mentioned that putting in the work beforehand (ie working on the fundamentals), then gives one the freedom to improvise (This reminds me of John Wooden teaching his players to focus on the fundamentals first – alas, everything reminds me of sports).

I was floored by this.  Recently we’ve been reflecting on 1 Timothy 2, particularly the exhortations by Paul to be disciplined and have a regimented life.  It’s almost like this is a reminder that to grow in anything, there is slow and hard work necessary for excellence.

In other words, there are no short cuts, and this is true in every facet of life.

2)   Our Lowest Point can Be Our Turning Point

There were so many instances of this from Hilary’s life, and it’s not surprising to see her drawn to roles as the underdog.

Please read her bio if you have a chance.  She came from very humble beginnings, and she moved with her mom to Los Angeles as a teenager with only $75.  They lived out of her mom’s Oldsmobile, and they’d eat one meal a day at Denny’s.  I don’t know how long this went on, but yes, they had very little.

Her mom shared how she got fired from her job in Washington State, and felt like she was at the end of her rope.  It was then that God revealed to her that it was her job that was keeping her from moving to LA and supporting Hilary’s dreams as much as possible.  In other words, God took away her security so that she could begin to trust him with other opportunities.

Early in Hilary’s career, she was contracted for two years on Beverly Hills 90210 8th season.  After 14 or so episodes, she was let go because they said that she wasn’t what they were looking for.  As a desperate actor who was thankful for every and any opportunity, she was crushed because she felt like she wasn’t good enough for BH90210, and again, she was without work.

Five months later (I believe) she ran across the script for Boys Don’t Cry.

She mentioned so many other moments of receiving criticism, or being at the end of her rope.  And yet, with a passion for her craft, determination, and hopefulness, she continued plugging along.

It’s weird how this is a spiritual principle, but I’ve heard it in so many different variations from so many different people that I know it’s true (and Scripture corroborates this).  And yet, this is one of the most difficult lessons to truly live.

When I’m in my lowest point, God is doing something.  It takes incredible faith and hopefulness to believe this.  It’s so easy to let my lowest point lead me to an even lower point, instead of a turning point.

3)  A Support System is Paramount

Against all odds, Hilary had her mom to lean on.  She needed someone else to believe for her.

There will always be haters (which Hilary mentioned), but one has to keep a level head to thrive in any prominent role.

Often times, especially when we’re at our worst, we need people to believe for us.  Please reach out to a community for support!

Shhh... I wasn't supposed to take this picture during the interview. But yes, I'm a big Hilary Swank fan.

4) Every Experience is a Learning Moment

Even if we might not know it at the time, each experience is an opportunity to grow and learn.  She told the drama students that early in her career, she took anything and everything because she was desperate for any type of work and didn’t see anything as beneath her.  Looking back, she doesn’t have regrets because she’s learned something from every experience.

Even for The Next Karate Kid, she was delighted to get that role early in her career, and she learned from it.

This was kind of cool to hear, and I could see how her humble beginnings allows her to view life this way.

5)  The Gospel Sets us Free

Okay, she didn’t mention this, but this was my greatest take away from the interview.  She spoke of passion and purpose, and an inner fortitude to do what she loves despite the naysayers.  She spoke of diligence, and remaining grateful for every opportunity.  She spoke about community, and needing others.  She spoke about incarnating with people, especially outsiders, and how much pleasure she gets from giving a voice to these “outsiders”.

I was like, “preach it!”

There is no drama like the gospel drama.  There is no affirmation like the one that comes from a transcendent God who says “You are my beloved”.  There is no greater story, no greater truth, than Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

PS  Special thanks to Eli, Jihee, and Kevin for making this night possible.

Catalyst Reflections – Day Three – Final Day

I’m trying to write all these notes down while the memories are fresh.  Here’s my recap of the final day, as well as my final overall thoughts.

1)  The final morning was quite extraordinary – From Priscilla Shirer who was preachin’ it to Dave Ramsey who outlined a formula for momentum, the morning speakers were riveting and energetic.  I must confess, I wasn’t there for Shirer’s entire session, but even being there at the end, I could sense an easy synergy between her and the crowd.  The same is true for Ramsey.  I appreciated their exhortations toward faith and perseverance.

Later in the morning, a series of moving experiences occurred, ranging from a compassion international reunion, an exhortation toward orphans and adoption, and an honoring of Chuck Swindoll.  It was all really well done and meaningful.

Then, Chuck Swindoll brought it home with an outstanding sermon on lessons that he’s learned over 50 years of vocational ministry.  You can look up notes of the talk (and every talk for that matter), here.  Either way, I most appreciated Chuck sharing so honestly and candidly about some of the difficulties that come with being a pastor, as well as testifying to how faithful God has been through different seasons.

2)  We missed the afternoon session, but we had lunch with Doug Slaybaugh and then visited Northpoint Community Church courtesy of Chris Kim - Lunch was great with Doug, and it was a debriefing of sorts in that we had an opportunity to share many thoughts and questions that had arisen over the course of the past three days.  It felt like home having Doug there.

We went over to Northpoint, and Chris, who works on staff at NP, was a gracious host.

After visiting their campus, all I have to say is, WOW.  It seems like they’ve really created a great space for people to connect to their community.  I was very impressed and thankful for their church.  And Chris was a great host, and shared many of the processes quite well.  I think we have a lot to learn from NP.

3)  The last session with Andy Stanley was great – Stanley strikes me as similar to Bill Hybels – a great leader and teacher.  He peppered in a lot of information about expectations and experiences, and it seemed like a talk that would jive well with Emotional Health.

—

We ended by traveling to Ann’s looking for the Ghetto Burger, but we ended up not eating there bc there wasn’t enough room and we had to bounce to the airport.  It felt like we were in East New York, a fact that Rich pointed out vigorously.

Final Thoughts on Catalyst

1.  There are some tensions that Catalyst (and any large conference, I’m guessing) creates. I don’t think these are intentional tensions, I simply think of these as observations.

- I heard encouragement to be myself in ministry (e.g. Rob Bell, Dave Ramsey, etc), and yet look into TONS of worthwhile opportunities like microfinance, adoption, compassion international, etc., etc.  None of these opportunities are forced, but simply by presenting so many different types of quality opportunities, it makes it harder to discern where God might be leading.  Meanwhile it’s tempting to try everything, while doing nothing well.  There must have been over 100 booths to visit too!

- I heard not to value size, and yet this is primed as the largest Christian leadership conference of 12,000 people, and the speakers who are invited are the pastors and leaders of churches that are notable for their size.  Tension.

- I heard that I should take risks with my life and do something extraordinary – however, what’s extraordinary?  It seems like a) growing a large church or ministry, or b) publishing a book are examples of people who have “succeeded” in something extraordinary.  Are these the kinds of risks I want to take?

- I heard to take time to hear from God’s voice above everyone else, yet the schedule goes from 8:30am-9:30pm on the first day (with 30 minutes between sessions, and 1 1/2 hour meal breaks).  Tension.

- We’re a generation that values diversity, and yet I noticed a large absence of Asian-Americans at the conference.

I can’t think of any more tensions right now, but these are some of the ones I wrestled with while I was at Catalyst.  Please add some more if you can think of some.  Obviously, I’m coming from a particular lens, which is different than the other attenders.

2)  Social Justice is not going away – The gospel is becoming more whole, and that’s a good thing. Catalyst seems to be leading the way in this regard.

3) Talks on Family Health and Inner Life stuff are rare - We’re a pretty driven culture, and aside from Rob and Chuck Swindoll’s talk, I didn’t hear much about marriages, families, and one’s inner life.  I suppose people see this as a given, but I wish the teaching between action and contemplation was more balanced.

4) Northpoint is a lot like Willow - They’re leading the way in some really cool stuff, including their family stuff, small groups, and general leadership stuff.  We have lots to learn from them.

5)  It’s hard to come away with concrete take-aways from Catalyst -  Most of the sessions are inspiring and thoughtful, but hard to come away with an action plan.  However, this remains to be seen, because something might come to me soon.

With that said, sometimes it’s important to simply have a jolt, a landmark moment if you will, to energize people for the rest of the year.  I believe these are just as momentous as conferences where the to-do list might be overwhelming.

6)  There’s very little time to network or make connections with people – Because there’s no small group format, there’s very little interaction over a specific talk, unless you come with a large group of people or you are an extremely motivated extrovert looking to make connections.  This might contribute to the difficulty in formulating an action plan.

7)  I love our church – I’m really lucky to be at New Life Fellowship.

8)  Faithfulness trumps gifting any day - I heard this over and over, and it was a great reminder.

9)  The Catalyst Team creates an incredible experience – Ultimately, I’m glad I went.  Thank you, Catalyst.

Please feel free to add any thoughts if you were there.  And if you have any questions about it, please let me know!

Catalyst Reflections – Day Two – Start of Main Event

The day started out very promising – Rich and I had a 7 am breakfast meeting with Andy Crouch.  Rich had already heard my gushing over the session the day before, so he was already quite annoyed with me (I tend to be unrelenting in talking about things that excite me).

Anyhow, we met Andy at the lobby of the hotel, and we proceeded to head over to the Starbucks inside Krogers.  In the car ride alone, we discovered:

- Andy is friends with Greg Jao and they did stand-up comedy one night for grad students.

- Andy comes to NYC regularly, as well as Atlanta.

- We were lucky to spend time with Andy.

For the next hour or so, we discussed so many things, ranging from his talk the day earlier, his book and the insights therein, culture-making as it relates to his family, our families, and our community at new life, the phillies and how they dominate the mets, and so many other tidbits that I’ve been pondering since we left Catalyst.

All this to say, this meeting was easily the highlight of the trip for me.  And even though Andy is a Phillies fan, we must get him to share some of his insights at New Life sometime.  Word.

Here were some of my general thoughts as the day went on:

1.  Catalyst is leadership adrenaline - I petered out by the late afternoon, but yes, I can see why so many 20-somethings are into Catalyst.  It’s an explosion of people, performances, platforms, and passion.  There are throngs of people, and when you get so many of them together around a common purpose, the energy is really pulsating.  Meanwhile, there’s a panoply of activities, booths, and did I mention people?  Plus, major props to the emcees.  They were HILARIOUS.  Do you like all the p’s in this paragraph?  I thought it was quite clever.

2.  Speakers are from diverse perspectives, which I appreciate – You had Andy Staley, Jessica Jackley, Malcolm Gladwell, Shane Hipps, Rob Bell, Tony Dungy, Matt Chandler, and Francis Chan.  All of these folks are from various theological spectra and settings.  For instance, Rob Bell uses more zone blitzes than Tony Dungy’s cover 2 scheme.

Okay, that was only funny to %15 of you, but whatever.

But yes, the positive side to all of these different voices is that we can find where they agree and differ, and receive what we discern God wants us to receive and apply.

With all that said, Francis Chan brought us back to communion to end the night, and what an appropriate way to say, this is what we agree on, this is what we believe, and this is the hope of the world.  It was an extraordinary time.

3.  I was surprised at the lack of minorities in the audience – For some reason, I expected to see a lot more minorities in the audience.  I mean, of course I knew that the conference would be predominantly white, but I didn’t realize it would be overwhelmingly so.  I have thoughts about this (none that I’ll share here), but this made me a bit sad.

4.  Did I mention this is a really well run event? -  The quality of this event is really outstanding.  Catalyst crew, thank you for putting on a sensational conference.  Thanks for all the hard work.

5.  I’m in a good place - I love NYC, and I love New Life Fellowship.  There’s no place I’d rather be.

Here are some other highlights from Day Two and the beginning of the larger conference.

- I walked into the arena and my jaw dropped.  So Many People.  This reminded me of Urbana, which is probably larger in scale, and similar in raw energy.

- Ate at Chik-Fil-A for lunch, and then a Korean food mart for dinner.  There was a small Korean plaza in Duluth next to the arena, and my soul came alive when I saw it.  The food felt like home too.  Doug and Rich were introduced to Mochi ice cream as well.  Yes, in Atlanta.

- First time hearing Andy Stanley.  He’s a fantastic communicator, with a special gift toward leadership as well.  He started us off on the right foot by calling us to re-prioritize why we’re doing what we do.

- Malcolm Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller.  He tells stories the same way he writes about them – with suspense, interesting detail, and then a punch at the end.  Really cool that he was here, and I needed to hear the encouragement to remain humble.

- Rob Bell is really gifted.  He speaks with great ease, passion, and creativity.  I appreciated his passion about this topic in particular (Sabbath-keeping, caring for family, and being okay with thinning crowds).  I thought he was going to mention Pete Scazzero’s book, but his topic was good to hear nonetheless.

I also loved how he went to bat for the women in leadership issue.  That was very cool, although some might disagree.

It saddens me that people give him so much grief about being unorthodox.  I think it’s fair to say that for anyone who has heard him speak, he really loves the Bible.

- We had a great conversation with Warren Bird about multi-site churches.  It’s always nice to connect with friends of New Life.  Plus, he invited us to take some munchies from the Leadership Network suite.

-  I missed Tony Dungy and Matt Chandler.  I couldn’t keep up.  I found a spot in the bowels of the arena, and did a daily office for an hour or so.  I needed the opportunity to breathe.

- Francis Chan’s session was moving, intimate, and unplugged.  He spoke things that we all really feel, and spoke truth in a simple and poignant way.  Plus, he only spoke for 15 minutes or so, and let God do his thing.  I guess less really is more.  My favorite session.

- It’s fun hanging out with Doug Slaybaugh.  I was so grateful to have Doug there.  He was so loving in the ways he asked and answered questions, and he probably thought we were stalking him considering how many times we would randomly see him throughout 12,000 people.

- Rich is a great travel buddy.  He’s up for adventures, thoughtful, and is super laid back.  With that said, I’d trade him for Tina any day.  I’m sure he’d say the same about Rosie and Karis.  Btw, he kept showing me pictures of Karis, and then I’d miss home somehow too.

And then I’d respond by talking about the Andy Crouch session.

Catalyst Reflections – Day One Labs

It’s been a wild 24 hours.  Rich and I flew in to Atlanta late last night, and finally arrived at our hotel about 12:45 am, only to find that all the rooms had been given away.  We were sent to the Marriott down the road, and unfortunately, they were out of rooms as well.  The kind folks at the Marriott directed us further down the road to the Courtyard Marriott, where they had rooms available, but none with two beds.

We finally arrived at the Holiday Inn at around 2:00 am after the entire ordeal, and besides being a good character-growing exercise, it was a series episodes I’d prefer not to repeat in my life.

With that, we went into day one of Catalyst, known as a prominent conference of “pure leadership adrenaline”.  I wanted rest more than adrenaline after the hotel hopping, but hey, the more unpredictable, the more exciting. 

Anyhow, here are my thoughts about the conference thus far.  Keep in mind I’ve only attended labs, which are kind of like seminars.  The main bulk of the conference is Thursday and Friday.

1.  This is a really well run event – From volunteers, to materials, to venue, to speakers, etc – this really is a massive production, and I’m impressed with the kind of detail work that goes into the packets, room set-ups, speaker lineups, and other fun stuff that makes catalyst catalyst (including live music, peanut vendors, African coffee, etc.).  I appreciate the care that goes into this event.  I certainly feel cared for as a result.

2.  I wish we had more time for silent reflection planned into the schedule - There’s such thought-provoking content being presented, and it’s hard to process all the information so quickly.  I’d recommend an hour of intentional silent reflection as part of the schedule.  I’ll share a bit more about this later, particularly why this is hard for me as a personal discipline at a conference like this.

3.  For me, large conferences tend to breed a celebrity culture – I don’t think is unique to Catalyst, I think this is what invariably happens when I go to conferences with a bazillion speakers – and high quality ones at that.  I found myself asking the following questions – “Is this person good? Who’s worth listening to?  Who’s someone I shouldn’t miss or someone who has something extraordinary to say?”

I caught myself for a moment, and realized we all have stories of God’s faithfulness, and yet an invitation to be a speaker at a large conference comes with a certain cache that gives weight to one’s particular story.  And when the conference rolls around, “competition” (because there are other speakers on stage) inevitably brings a comparing and contrasting, liking and disliking.

I’m not quite sure how to get over this, but I think there’s a level of contemplation and prayerfulness that I need to have to remain centered, listening, open, and non-judgmental.

With all that said, here are the following sessions I went to and my brief reflections on all of them.

Session 1 – Andy Crouch – Incredible.  I was flabbergasted by the end of it.  Crouch wrote a book called Culture Making which is one of the best books on creativity and work that I’ve ever read.  If you don’t believe me, Keller recommends it too!  We used parts of it to inform our Your Life is Your Calling series.

Anyhow, his seminar was on creative power vs coercive power, and he introduced several new perspectives on power.  I can’t do justice with a recap now, but I found his take on redefining power to be so compelling (even the use of the word!), along with the end discussion on power and privilege.  Basically, he spoke of the beauty of creative power when it’s given away, and the reflection it takes to know that I’m giving it away, and not holding it as privilege.

There’s A LOT more to this, but yes, brilliant.

To be honest, the rest of the labs were meaningful and insightful too, but having heard this first, it stuck so clearly in my mind that it was difficult to engage heartily in what others were saying.  Hence, the need for silent reflection.

However, I was stuck at a crossroads – do I go reflect and journal for a couple of hours, or do I potentially miss something as stirring as Crouch’s talk?  I was torn.

So what did I do?  I plowed through three more sessions.  First, because I tend to think of these conferences as a “waste” unless I go to everything, and second, because I tend toward dutiful action.

Ah, the conflict.

Because of this first session in which my mind was piqued, I don’t think I fully engaged as much as I could have.  Yes, Andy’s session was that good.

Session 2 – Alan Hirsch – He spoke about communitas and liminal space, something very congruent with one of my favorite authors and theologians, Richard Rohr.  Hirsch is a great communicator who’s very thoughtful and engaging.  He was encouraging us that journeying in community by taking risks (particularly entering liminal, unsafe places of crisis and challenge) inevitably builds up a deeper community (communitas).

Great stuff, and wholly relevant to the Western mindset.

However, this topic begged the question for me – what’s the balance between leaping into liminality and resting?  After listening to the talk, I found myself getting really motivated and… tired?  Yes, tired.  There’s such an edge on mission and risk-taking, that it’s hard not to feel like I’m missing out unless life is constantly a dangerous adventure.

Many of the speakers here are advocating that we take risks constantly – very few are encouraging contemplation.

3.  Session 3 – Scott Belsky – Time’s almost up, but a stimulating talk on making ideas happen.  Scott is based in NYC at Behance, and I’d love for him to come to New Life to share some of the principles he’s seen in successful organizations.  This is a weakness of mine, so I was mesmerized by his talk, although I didn’t get to reflect on it much.  Why?  I was writing the entire time.  And thinking about Crouch’s talk.

But seriously, there was so much insightful content in Scott’s talk, and I was challenged in areas of prioritization, execution, and team building.

We’ll see if it makes a difference when I’m back at church!

The good thing is, it seems like we’ll be able to hear more from Scott since he’s a local guy.

4.  Session 4 – Ian Cron – Contemplative spirituality through the lens of St. Francis.  His influences seem very similar to ours, including Rohr, Desert Fathers, and other contemplatives throughout church history.

He’s another person that would seem great to connect with, especially since he’s in nearby CT.

I believe most of the leaders at Catalyst are stirred by Contemplative Spirituality – I’m curious about the masses that attend.

It seemed like Ian was interesting a wholly different perspective, and it was refreshing, but I could also feel resistance.

That was my first day.

We went to meet up with Chris Kim later at Richard Blais’ Flip.  Great times, great food.  Chris is on staff at Northpoint, in many respects the host of this enormous conference.

I loved hanging out with Chris and Rich.  They keep it real.

We missed some evening labs, but I think it’s just what I needed that night.

Will write more later but gotta bounce!

Best College-Town Food

I know the topic is somewhat random, but college-town eats has been a curiosity of mine for the past few weeks.  I love visiting college-towns in general, and  one big reason is to visit the distinct eateries around campuses.

With that said, I thought I’d start a series of posts on the best college-town food.

First off, here are the qualities that I look for in college-town food:

1)  Cost – It’s all about bang for buck, and obviously, the cheaper the better.  I believe most college students would agree with me.  Unless you went to a private school that rhymes with Shmanford.

Greasy food in a college-town is a must.

2)  Greasy Food (and I mean all kinds) – Pizza, burgers, cheesesteaks, wings, etc.  Enough said.

3)  Eclectic (in many ways) – Greasy Food is an absolute must, but then healthy food is also a major plus.  This shows that you have activists on campus (sorry for the generalization!  It’s simply a playful one.  Sort of), along with your normal junk-eating college kid.  In addition, if you have quality Mediterranean, Mexican, Indonesian, etc. in the same area, then the cool “culturally-fluent” factor goes up considerably.

4)  Distinct – If you claim you have the best college-town food because there’s an In-N-Out next to campus (a la UCLA), then you’re likely saying that your campus lacks character.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d LOVE to have an In-N-Out next to campus, but that’s not a distinct college-town restaurant in my estimation.

5)  At least 3 REALLY nice restaurants, where one can take an occasional date or eat with the parents and relatives when they visit.  By nice, I mean more than $15/plate, and still tastes dang good.

6)  Food places are easily accessible from campus via walking or public transportation (at most a ten minute car ride away).  This one’s courtesy of Jongmin.

Would you add anything else to this list?

In my opinion, with the criteria above, Berkeley would win this competition hands down.  I’ll tell you why in a future post.  Here are a few other places I’ve visited:

- NYU – The Village

- Columbia – Morningside Heights

- Stanford – Palo Alto

- UC San Diego – La Jolla, CA

- Princeton- Princeton, NJ

- Harvard/MIT – Cambridge

- UCLA – Westwood

- USC – Downtown LA

- UVA – Charlottesville

- Yale – New Haven

- Northwestern – Evanston

- Gordon College – Hamilton, MA

If you’d like to make the case for another college-town, please do so.  I’m willing to visit, because cheap, greasy food is my idea of a heavenly time.

Again, I’m fairly confident Berkeley wins, but I’m willing to hear others out on this.  I’m actually afraid to visit UT Austin.  For some reason, I have an eerie feeling that they’d have the best food, and that seems like an injustice considering their coaching staff connives its way to votes in the Coaches/USA Today Poll.  Yes, I’m still bitter, and forever will be.