Psalm 146 comes alive

For our Sunday night gatherings, we've been taking turns sharing our favorite Psalm. This past Sunday night, Derek shared Psalm 146 with the group. We read it through a few times, pulling out some of our favorite lines and text. Then we did something completely unique. Derek led us in a rapid-fire effort to write a song based on this Psalm. It was a true group effort, as we brainstormed key lines and verses, then assembled them into a song. Chorus, verses and a bridge all came together, making the Psalm into something more than just words on a page. It made it more real, more true.

The following recording is rough (recorded from my phone). The song is unpolished and unedited, and our backup voices don't exactly help Derek and Christiana's wonderful pipes. Still, there was something good in all this. Like Derek says in his closing prayer, "I believe that God is pleased by things like this... when we do it together."

(Derek, please forgive me for posting this without your polish and excellence, and from my hack recording, but I just had to!)

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NC San Diego and Vancouver at the beach

Our friends from NC Vancouver came down for a few days, and we hit the beach at Coronado for some Coronado Rules beach football and bonfire. (make sure and click the full-size icon in the lower right)

4mat

A handful of us from NieuCommunities San Diego and Vancouver attended an intensive one-day workshop on a very cool teaching curriculum called 4mat. Some good hands-on, interaction, and a headful of information that should really help us in our time of teaching and coaching. Thankfully, there were elements of drawing as well, which saved those of us who sometimes numb with so much information.

frank viola on organic church

If you want to hear a provocative take on a Trinitarian expression of church, carve out 30 minutes and click here to listen to Frank Viola bring it in his always passionate way.

joining the conversation

I'm a fan of a few organizations' Facebook pages... Balboa Park. A couple of non-profits. A local art museum, and Wooster Collective, one of my fav online street art blogs.

I like how Wooster uses Facebook. They've recently been posting questions that are relevant to those who follow them, questions that invite people into the conversation about their passion—street art. And it got me thinking about the questions we were pondering tonight about our neighborhood, and how we might join conversations already taking place.

Wooster keeps me thinking about street art through their FB questions, and invites folks into the conversation. "Mapping the hood" is another great expression of inviting people into a conversation that matters. It's an interactive art installation in North Park, and is brilliantly furthering—and inviting people into—the conversation about what their community is becoming.

It's all got me thinking both about the medium and the message of these conversations we're having, and what it may look like to join others' conversations already taking place, as well as inviting others into ours.

— Jon

Voices: Mapping the Hood

On Sunday we visited the North Park Festival of the Arts, and stumbled across "Voices: Mapping the Hood." It's an interactive art installation in North Park that invites people to join the conversation on what makes a great community. Some really terrific concepts here that are provocative and engaging. Really great use of the medium.

I describe the photos in my Flickr set.

Our First Road Trip

April 2-5 was our first Beyond Borders Road Trip. We set aside the weekend to invite people into our rhythms of communion with God, community with each other and missional life in our neighborhood and city.

The weekend started off with a day in Golden Hill and our surrounding neighborhoods. We explored, engaged in conversation about what God is doing in San Diego and feasted on street tacos in Logan Heights.

Saturday morning we left for Ensenada, Mexico. We spent the day at Casa Esperanza, a homeless shelter for women and children. After some painting and playing with the kids we enjoyed a meal together and ended the day by sharing our life stories with one another.

We were introduced to Casa Esperanza by "Reflejo," a collective of Mexican Christ followers who share life together as they serve Jesus in their own neighborhoods and city. One of the most exciting things about the relationships we're building in Mexico is the partnership that's beginning to form between NieuCommunities and Reflejo. We've found a common heart beat with them and are beginning to link arms and dream about how God might be bringing us together for ministry.

The Road Trip ended on sunday evening after a fairly long wait to cross the border at Tecate. Individually and collectively God planted some significant seeds in all of us that are already beginning to grow and produce fruit. The best is yet to come! :)