We had a conference call today about the Origins Project which was great looking ahead a bit. For those that don't know what the Origins Project is - it is a community being birthed for those who have a passion for Jesus, Humanity and Innovation - revolving around mission really. The focus of connection which birthed this was a passion for evangelism (but I say that word in the good sense of the word). Evangelism means so many things to different people. But it is about Jesus being the way of life and salvation and the cross and you can read the basic theological direction and statements we are using on the Origins Project website. What one's theology is strongly impacts one's urgency for participating in evangelism and mission. How you view the cross, the atonement, salvation - ties into how urgent or not you see evangelism. I have been increasingly aware of when I am reading the New Testament, how incredibly passionate they were about evangelism and mission - and did not just passively sit around hoping people would come to know Jesus.
Scot McKnight, Erwin McManus, Margaret Feinberg, Dave Gibbons, Eric Bryant, Jeanne Stevens, Mark Batterson and others are part of the leadership of this community (see the full list here of leadership). So this is really a fun thing to be part of.
We intentionally are not starting this by focusing on events and publishing, but are starting it by launching the web site which has a "Community" section you can go to and start discussions. I heard today there are over 2,000 people signed up on the email part of the network already. We are forming local and regional groups for connections. We will publish books, but aren't rushing into it as the first thing to do. But what is next is:
- "Listening" tour. This Fall 2009 and Spring 2010: we will be setting up meetings all across the country where members of the Connecting Team and Creative Team will be meeting with those interested in sharing how this network can be helpful and what it could become. We want to "listen" to your dreams and ideas for this. We will also be looking at identifying regional leaders for the network as this goes on. A network needs leadership - it can't be so informal or organic that there is no structure or leaders. But we want to birth this from the voices of leaders and all types of people who are passionate about evangelism, mission, Jesus, Scripture, humanity, innovation. So we will be announcing a series of dates and places - most likely including Atlanta, Dallas, Portland, Los Angeles, San Jose/Bay Area, Charlotte, Houston, Chicago, Denver, San Diego are some of the cities this looks like we can do these in. But more soon on this. We will figure out some other ways for places we cannot formally be at, but can have other alternative ways of getting input.
- Summer 2010: our first major event. Most likely in Los Angeles. We will be planning on our first major event in summer 2010 which will be a very eclectic mix of what happens. Yes, there will be some speaking happening, but there will be artists, music, discussions, forums, places to meet others and more of a festival vibe than a typical conference vibe. We are hoping to do this on a college campus during summer break. So we will keep updated on that as we know more.
If you haven't yet signed up on the email list for updates, you can go to the web site and sign up. And also go on the Community page and sign up there to participate in the community discussion. That is the place where we are trying to get a sense for what the important discussions will be and help steer where this is headed.
Live Podcasts: Eric Bryant is also doing some live podcasts with those in leadership. He is interviewing Scot McKnight on July 7th and it is a call-in type of thing where you can ask Scot questions. You can read the details here - and also listen to previous podcasts with myself, Erwin, Dave, and Skye on that page.
Well, that is a brief update. We will be sending out another mass email soon - so If you want to get those updates, head over to the web site and sign up. I am now going to return to sermon prep for this Sunday at Vintage Faith Church. Teaching on forgiveness which is not only a huge relational topic but a huge theological topic. So am pretty immersed in this right now. Hope this helps give some further insight to the development of Origins, as always feel free to ask questions here on this blog or post thoughts - or go over to the Origins web site in the Community section and post things there.
