travel (non)report part II

Howdy.

I'm far too tired to report details of this weekend's events at this time.

For accurate accounts that were blogged live by friends G13 (aka disability resourcer), the doctor, and several others I've met, go to The Gathering's blog site.

Many good quotes, questions, discussions and lessons have been given. I hope I can remember them later on.

My basic take on this whole "God For People Who Hate Church" conference (a title that surprisingly doesn't offend people up here like it did back home) is summed up here:

How can we love people?

Really. That's it.

I've been most impressed with Jim Henderson, who is one of the main speakers (and strangely reminds me of The Shaman of Chickisha, OK).

Besides publicly stating his extreme lack of enthusiasm for debates (finally, someone else who sees the flaws of people of faith debating with non-believers or anybody), Jim made a brief statement that pinned it all for me in regard to christian's behavior throughout the world:

"If christians cannot have it all, then they want none of it."

This was stated during a story of an Indian friend of his who had led hundreds of people to Jesus during some political rally that also promoted Hinduism and another regional religion. Jim was stating that in our christian culture, church leaders wouldn't have bothered to join in with a rally like that because it also promoted other religions.

It reminded me of the fair mother city's "National Prayer Day" nonsense (which thankfully I missed last Thursday) involving two prayer rallys: one with an exclusively christian group and another with an inter-faith group.

I'm rambling here, it's late, and that's all I got.

I am extremely thankful for this travel opportunity. Many, many friendships and alliances have been formed and reinforced.

I will share photos when I return home next week.

travel report part I

It’s only been a little over 24 hours since my arrival, but I am very much enjoying my time in the Beverly & Salem areas of Boston’s north shore district.

And over the last year and a half of internet reporting, I’ve enjoyed meeting people from the internet face to face. I’m now convinced that meeting people on-line is a legitimate way of making friends, regardless of how perverted you are or not...

Yesterday: May 2 – travel.

I flew into Boston yesterday around 4p and was picked up by the disability resourcer soon after. He and his wife and baby housed and fed me for the evening.

Finally met many other dear internet friends from the expanding agent network. Such as “The Doctor” (he and his wife are housing me the next few nights). Also the former record store owner and his girlfriend the chemist/counselor came by. Great folks.

The four guys went on a moon-lit night stroll/cigar walk to the beach a few blocks away.

I am really enjoying the foot traffic culture of Beverly and Salem. Houses, commerce, and nature are all a short walk away. The fair mother city has a very mild, almost man-made version of this culture downtown at certain hours of the day, as well as artwalk once a month. But it’s just not the same.

Today: May 3 – free form floating.

One of my main purposes being here is to attend the “God for People Who Hate Church” conference in Salem, hosted by the why man’s church, The Gathering. But that doesn’t start until Friday night. So meanwhile, my only agenda today was to take in the local flavor, and maybe catch up on some reading somewhere.

I strolled around Beverly, found a cool private spot by the ocean, had lunch and coffee at a café (a dozen or so to choose from. I pick ‘em by the name. Atomic Café won).

The why man called and picked me up and gave me a private tour of his stomping grounds in Salem. Finally got to meet him. Very hospitable man and fun to be around.

He explained the neo-pagan cultures to me throughout the day while we toured various magic shops and so forth. I got to chat with a young gal running one such witchcraft store. She was the daughter of the owner. She was very nice and sweet and far different from anyone I’d know back in the bible belt or the fair mother city. Yet talking to her was comforting, much like the poverty culture is for me back home. I don’t know why that is. Something about being around non-churchy people is easy and homey for me, I guess. The why man told her he was the pastor of The Gathering and that I was here to attend a conference there.

She told me that in high school she went through a phase where she wanted to be catholic. She also went through a black-muslim phase and a hare krishna phase, but that she gave it up because she didn’t want to wear orange. She told me of the one time she visited a church and how the image of “that man hanging on the cross” really scared her. “Yeah”, I said. “I guess that is kind of a scary image”. She was real. Nothing to hide. Searching like the rest of us.

The Gathering meets in a killer location: they call it “the vault”. It’s a 200-year old bank building complete with an armored vault as the backdrop for their meetings. The Vault is prime real estate on the foot traffic area where halloween is celebrated for the entire month of October. The gathering’s mission is to “be a blessing to the city of Salem”.

There couldn’t be a better location or venue for a church with this mission. The CEO is all over this church. And I’m looking forward to spending more time there this weekend.

Also, back at The Vault I met the kid, who is an 18-year old transplant from Florida. He specifically came here to join The Gathering in being a blessing to Salem and to the neo-pagan community.

The why man dropped me off in Beverly, where I got to be part of the Sinners and Saints community gathering (home church) pastored by the disability resourcer. Very sweet group.

I am very much enjoying my time here and I’m looking forward to being at The Vault this weekend.

checking in

I am alive and well in the Boston area. Flew in today via Houston.

Finally met (face to face) a large portion of the agent network from abroad, and maybe more soon.

Just checking in. More substance may be written later.

we meet again, old friend

Hello Italian-made commercial espresso machine. It’s been a while.

I miss you. Bad.

I remember well when the izzy group ministry purchased over $40,000 of commercial kitchen equipment for less than a quarter of that from some restaurant that was closing down.

You were part of the deal...my favorite part of the deal.

I was determined to become the best amateur barista the fair mother city has ever known.

And to our friends on the streets, I was. Lattes for the homeless was my new ministry.

You and me, we were a team...

...separated by church politics, religion, jealousy, back stabbing, and egos.

You were stolen from the izzy group. Lattes were robbed from our street friends.

I kept tabs on you from afar, curious to know where you were and who you were serving. Just curious.

Word on the street was that you ended up in a new restaurant in town.

It’s true. I saw you the other night, when I was gigging at your new home.

Somehow, your lattes just ain’t the same.

Things have changed, I guess.

Do me a favor please: if any of our old street friends stop by...give them a double shot. Thanks.

Happy 90th Obi-Wan

Turned out to be a great party.

Many of the neighbors came, contributed with the food and set-up, gave gifts, etc. Young Jenny, from up the street, made Obi-Wan a card and gave him a dollar bill that she got from "the tooth fairy" or something.

His son Lamont smoked a brisket and chicken, the best ever. I think he's worked as a cook in the food service industry most of his life.

And two of Obi-Wan's nieces and a nephew came in from Ft. Worth.

I think there's a lot of redemptive work happening between Obi-Wan and Lamont lately. This party has helped with that some.

Birthday boy...


...with niece, nephew, and son.

the fair mother city: part II

Every city in the southern US, both large and small, harbor the christian religious community in ways not found in the rest of the world. Church folks have their own radio stations, book stores, coffee houses, newspapers, even independently owned local Christian TV channels, and god knows what else.

And all of these southern US cities like to jokingly claim the title “buckle of the bible belt”. I’ve heard that about Tulsa, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc. Abilene is no exception.

The fair mother city has some of its own unique additions to the Christian culture.

- Higher Education: To have three “liberal” arts universities in a city this size (116,000 pop) is rare. For those three to each be a) privately funded and thus b) religiously based, is unique, if not freaking weird. But such is life in these parts. The schools are (and here’s where the google traffic comes in): McMurry University (Methodist), Hardin-Simmons University (Baptist), and Abilene Christian University* (Church of Christ, or coc for short).

- Social graces: any culture will obviously bring out various social graces throughout the entire city. For example, in Abilene amongst middle class circles, it is very common to ask “where do you go to church?”**, usually followed right after asking a person’s name.

- Social standards: Each society has it’s own unwritten standards it lives by. One such local example is alcohol. Most Christian groups have a public aversion to alcohol. This is really funny since the first miracle of Jesus recorded in the book of John involves creating copious amounts of alcohol for a wedding party. As Obi-Wan can attest, old-time Baptists are convinced that the wine Jesus made “was different from today’s wine” as in, watered-down grape juice. I’m thinking, “Hell yeah it was different. No preservatives or man-made chemicals. Two sips and you were Drunky McDrunkard”. But that’s an entirely different agent report. It’s funny to visit big chain restaurants, like Chilis or Olive Garden and see so few people partake from the bar. Like they are afraid to be seen there. I guess I respect that in some sense (don’t cause the weaker brother to stumble, etc). But it still seems fake to a degree. Abilene has only allowed the legal sale of alcohol since 1978, a vote that passed something like 51% to 49%...

- Politics and government: If a community is mostly religious church-goers, and our nation’s political system is truly “of the people”, than it makes sense that our local policy makers would mostly be religious church people, complete with all of the social graces and standards like the few mentioned above. The fair mother city’s mayor and 2 of the 6 city counsel members are all from the same coc mega-church. It’s almost impossible to win a local election unless you’re a member of a large social club (church) within one of the popular local denominations (coc, Baptist, Methodist). ACU having 5000 students, plus (I’m guessing) 1000 or so faculty and staff, plus all of their family members, etc, it’s obvious why the coc has much political sway. Ironically, the Baptists far outnumber the coc’s. But their quest for power involves local businesses and economy over politics***. Exceptions abound, such as the counsel member who’s both a) Catholic and b) owns a small chain of liquor stores. My local voting procedure has always been to vote for the counter-culture candidate. And finally...one of my guys won!

Thanks for enduring this long report. I could get far more detailed and give way more examples as to what makes the fair mother city tick. Or you could just add that discussion to the comments.

Future reports in this series will be: Part III, a brief history lesson of the fair mother city and my theories on how it's religious culture came to be. And eventually Part IV, tying all of this info into together to the poverty culture and why I’m convinced they are squashed by the religious community and thus, why I feel like my calling exists.




* ACU is what brought me here as a young lad many moons ago. Yes, my spiritual heritage is with the Church of Christ. Although I haven’t been an official member of one for at least ten years.

** About a year ago I grew tired of trying to explain my agent life or give the easy answer of “house church”. Currently my standard answer to this question is now “I don’t”, followed by the questioner’s shocked silence. I figure: it’s an honest answer, I avoid sounding like I’m right and everyone else is wrong, and it shut’s them the-hell-up quick.

*** I’ve just begun digging into this discovery. Hopefully an agent report will follow someday, if not more smart ass quips towards Baptists, as I’m beginning to learn why I like them less and less daily...

the fair mother city: part I

Recently I had to write a short bio of myself for a potential future project. In the bio I needed to briefly explain my life, mission, and location. And the readers of this bio most likely have never read these reports on the agent b files. So I felt the need to explain just what “the fair mother city” was.

“The Fair Mother City (Abilene pop. 116,000) is a city known for its churches, religion, low wage jobs, three religious affiliated private universities, an over abundance of non-prof organizations, and its US military base. The local poverty is only engaged by the churches with multiple strings attached.”

I usually try to avoid being cynical. There’s no fruit in cynicism. But I don’t know any other way to explain this city. It’s my point of view, 18 years in the making.

The agent b files have been written for a year and a half. But after this bio I realized I’ve never given a basic overview of the fair mother city (a nickname coined by a post-college room mate, one of the Tulsa Brothers I think).

Any of you locals, former residents, or visitors have anything to add or change about the above quote?

return of a jedi

My family and I had The Table at Obi-Wan's tonight. Agent Wife cooked some chicken, rice and vegetables which we brought over.

It's been a long time. Probably since November or something. We use to eat over there about every other night before he got real sick and had his marathon hospital stay.

The dynamic is a little different now with his son Lamont being there. But we're getting to know Lamont real well. And he's loosening up around us.

And of course, there were dominoes. Thanks to my training from the homeless regulars at the Downtown Baptist Beach Head last year, I kicked everyone's ass.

good news reports (friday ed.)

1) Welcome Home:

After nine weeks in the hospital, one less leg, and rehab, Obi-Wan returned home today.

He's in very good health and spirits. I haven't seen him appear this healthy since 2005. Amputation has its merits, I suppose.

I'm still impressed with the rehab part. He can hop from his wheel chair and into my car now better than when he had two legs. Amazing. We even went on a grocery excursion this afternoon and he was full of energy the whole time.

A week from today Obi-Wan turns 90. We're planning some sort of birthday/welcome home bash.

****************************

2) Travel prayers answered:

For some time I have wanted to visit Boston. A majority of the agent network (from abroad) reside there and I've developed good relations with them via the internet.

Two months ago my desire was upped as the Why Man announced his church's conference gig the weekend of May 4.

I can't stand conferences. I burned out on those ego-fests back when I expected to attend them while employed by a church. But I figure any conference called "God For People Who Hate Church" is worth traveling 1600 miles to.

And hey, one of the guest speakers is the son of Jim and Tammy Faye. That's got to be amusing, at the least.

I flippantly prayed for the funds to attend. Last week I prayed for a specific amount to show up in our lives if I am to go.

The next day a check arrived from a friend in Ontario. He's mysteriously sent us ministry support for over five years as a result of some embarrassing letter writing campaign where we begged people to support us as missionaries.

Agent Wife and I have long abandoned those begging and manipulative tactics.

Over the years we've informed this individual of the changes with the izzy group, and even our recent departure from it. But communicating with him is confusing. We only hear from him twice a year when he sends money.

His check was accompanied with a note: "Heard you left the izzy group. I want to continue supporting you."

Anyway, his check was in Canadian funds and unfortunately, written out to the izzy group by his book keeper. It was always impossible to cash it in izzy's name anyway, and Agent Wife & I have a Canadian account in our name. So we returned it and requested a different check.

So I figured I didn't have the money to travel. More like a vague promise for money.

But then today a group of folks made the funds available.

So I'm headed to Boston for the first weekend of May.

I'm soooo looking forward to this...thank you CEO.

an open letter to Uncle Kurt

Dammit Uncle Kurt, I miss you.

Where are you? Are you still alive?

You have our phone number. I figured you would have called by now.

It’s been six months since we’ve seen or heard from you. Agent Wife said she saw you in November and you offered to house sit and watch the pets while we went to Saskatchewan.

Then we couldn’t find you.

Your camp was still set. But it’s obvious you haven’t been there.

The folks at the Downtown Baptist Beach Head hadn’t seen you. And they had good news: your name finally came up on the waiting list for The Windsor Apartments down town. Too late now, I guess.

The lady you did yard maintenance for hadn’t seen you either. She’s closing down her antique shop, by the way.

And of course, those Nazis at The Wishing Well Shelter wouldn’t give me any information on you. And unfortunately, my inside sources have quit working there. Good for them. I suspect the Nazis didn’t know or care where you were anyway.

I know “the system” was really making you mad. Believe me, you have no idea how mad it makes me. But bolting town without a good-bye or ‘see ya’ is just so...homeless.

Come on, we were family.

If I didn’t have a wife to love and kids to raise, I’d probably have joined you. The fair mother city has that effect on people.

Please come home Uncle Kurt. My wife, kids, and dog miss you.