The Living Room

Directions to Georgia Avenue

2008-08-01T05:28:00.000-07:00

Friends of TLR:

Here is the address of Georgia Avenue Church, where we will be meeting for our Sunday night worship gatherings starting Sunday, August 3rd @ 5PM:
645 Grant St SE, Atlanta, GA 30312.
It is super easy to find (unlike Tilt Coffee Shop). For a visual, here's a picture of the outside of the church:
And here's a pic from inside:

This Week @ TLR

2008-07-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends of TLR!

Here's a quick glimpse of what's happened and is happening @ TLR:

Jesus 4 President Tour. This past weekend was a wild success! We passed out an estimated 500 fliers about TLR! I want to personally thank everyone who helped make this event a success. A lot of hard work went into this.

Church Basement Roadshow. Our Sunday night gathering will be @ 7PM at the B-Complex. Click here for directions. Check out our post below to watch a YouTube video about CBR. Please come and help get the word out about this. Contact Dan Ra if you want to help volunteer.

TLR Google Group. This past Sunday night we discussed our need to have greater participation in planning our Sunday night gatherings. We agreed to start a Google Group and to use it as a tool to promote greater involvement and transparency. Join the open-source revolution...

Georgia Avenue. Next Sunday, August 3rd, @ 5PM will be our first worship gathering at Georgia Ave! I have talked with a friend of TLR who who is going to help us get couches and love-seats. We need to build a ramp so that the sanctuary is accessible. Any volunteers? We could buy a portable ramp for about $200 - anyone want to help? Click on the "Make a Donation" button to donate online using our PayPal account.

Dwell. There are 3-4 people from TLR who are prayerfully considering moving into a new intentional Christian community in Grant Park (literally 5 doors down from GA Ave). Please keep this in your prayers. Move in date is September 1st.

We have the keys to test drive Georgia Avenue!

2008-07-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well friends, I have some exciting news to share with you: starting August 1st we have the keys to test drive meeting in the sanctuary of Georgia Avenue in Grant Park (address is: 645 Grant St SE, ATL, GA). Above is a picture of the sanctuary taken from Troy Bronsink's ordination service. Here are my thoughts on this new opportunity:

Can we afford it? First, Georgia Avenue is owned by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. On Monday I met with the head of the presbytery and with representative of the Georgia Avenue Food Bank (who use the old Sunday School building). The agreement we reached is for TLR to begin meeting at GA Avenue for one year, sort of like a trial period. We will be sharing the sanctuary with Southwest Christian Fellowship, a traditional historic African-American congregation. We will be sharing the rest of the building with the food co-op and a day care. Together we will pulling funds together to pay for utilities and upkeep. Our share is $100/week, which is $50 less per week than we are paying at Tilt Coffee Shop. And now we will have 24/7 access to a facility and not just 2 hours a week.
Is this a permanent move? One word: no. Friends, I have to be totally honest with you that I'm not sure if this is the right thing for us to do. How will moving into a church building affect the ethos and culture of our community? We meet now in a cool hip "secular" coffee shop - how will meeting in a building with stain glass affect us? Also, now that we have 24/7 access to a building we will become just another overworked Christian community with meetings, meetings, meetings? My hope is that this opportunity will be a blessing and not a curse for our community. But I want us to go into this with our eyes open.
Are we going to sit in pews? Yes and no. I want us to reorganize the worship space in the sanctuary at Georgia Avenue. In the picture above they organized it into a U-shape. This is part of my hope. I am also interested in having people donate or buy some couches from Goodwill and add them to the space. Maybe we could dedicate some couches instead of pews! I want us to have fun and play with our new worship space - the last thing I want is for us is to feel we have to sit all prim and proper in pews :)

The proposal is for us to start meeting at Georgia Avenue starting the first Sunday in August at our new time of 5PM. There is a great independently owned restaurant near Georgia Avenue called Dakota Blue where we could grab a bite to eat after worship.

Please post your comments/concerns/ideas about this opportunity for our community.

Church Basement Roadshow in Atlanta on July 27th

2008-07-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

The Living Room is co-sponsoring The Church Basement Roadshow, A Rollin' Gospel Revival is rumbling across the U.S. this summer, bringing good fun and good news to anyone who will listen. They will be rolling into ATL on Sunday July 27th @ The B-Complex. Here's one of their songs:

No Church This Sunday / New Start Time is 5PM

2008-07-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Quick note to say that there will be no Living Room gathering this Sunday, in observance of "Freedom From Church Day". The following Sunday, July 13th, we will start our gatherings at 5PM (instead of 7PM) so that we can go out for dinner after our gathering. We will be continuing a new series of conversations on the meaning of communion. We kicked the series off last Sunday night at The Brickstore Pub - yes, we had communion in a bar.

July Newsletter:

2008-07-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and supporters of The Living Room!

I hope this newsletter finds you well. I write this to you after putting down my children for sleep. I am officially on vacation for two weeks with my children. We have had so much fun doing local day trips to the pool, the zoo, the children's museum - and they even came with me last night to The Living Room! Skylar, my daughter, said to me afterwards, "Hey dad, that was a lot of fun for church". As it says in Psalm 8: "Out of the mouths of babes..."

PCUSA IS EMERGENT? The first bit of news I want to share comes from the recent General Assembly of the PCUSA: Bruce Reyes-Chow was elected moderator of 218th General Assembly. Why is this significant and newsworthy? Read the opening words from the PCUSA news service:

SAN JOSE, June 21, 2008 —The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, 39, an energetic new church development pastor in San Francisco and leader in the "emergent church" movement, was elected moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

This is significant news for many reasons: first, because all things "emergent" will be highlighted by Bruce as he travels the nation these next two years; second, as The Living Room is one of the few explicitly emergent churches in the PCUSA, this is good news for our community! I corresponded with Bruce yesterday and he assured me that The Living Room would definitely be one of his stops. News of Bruce's election was even commented on by Tony Jones, National Coordinator for Emergent Village, who said in his blog, "Bruce offers great promise to the PCUSA in his two-year term - and, let it be said, the PC(USA) has been about the most interested in emergent ideas of any denomination". Hmmm...

JULY IS GOING TO BE BUSY! The Living Room is one of the co-sponsors for the July 19th Jesus For President Tour at Community Fellowship Church and also the Church Basement Roadshow on July 27th. The evening of Saturday, July 19th, will feature a speech by Shane Claiborne, founding partner of The Simple Way and author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus For President, the music of The Psalters, and a general carnival atmosphere. Want to help out for this event? I'd love your help with my projects: putting together an online resource for local ministry opportunities. The evening of Sunday, July 27th, will be at The B-Complex and will feature Tony Jones, Doug Paggit, and Mark Scandrette- who are three leaders in the emergent church movement. They are touring the country this summer in an RV to sell their books and put on a rollicking "21st century roadshow revival of that old time religion". Again, if you want to help, let me know. The big need is to raise $400 to help cover the expenses related to this event. Let me know if you want to help out with either of these events - both promise to be TONS of fun and are important outreach events for getting the word out about TLR.

BENEFIT CONCERT TO SUPPORT INNOCENCE ATLANTA: Kit and I have begun to plan a benefit concert to support the work of Innocence Atlanta, an organization raising awareness and working to to eradicate child sex slavery and exploitation in Atlanta. We have a great venue, a couple bands have already agreed to help out, and I will be meeting with Daniel Homrich next week to talk about promoting this event. Our goal will be to raise $500 and, more importantly, to raise awareness of this issue for fans of the participating bands. Do you know any bands (or play in one) that would like to play at this event? Or do you want to volunteer your time/talents to help pull this event off? Then please contact either Kit Fordham or me.

UPDATE ON GEORGIA AVENUE: For the past couple months, we have been praying about the possibility of moving into an old sanctuary in Grant Park called Georgia Avenue. I have already met with our steering committee and with the emergent church committee of my presbytery. I am meeting tomorrow morning with the leaders of the Georgia Avenu e Community Ministry (GACM), who use the old Sunday school building of Georgia Ave. The next step takes place next week when the leaders of the GACM and I will be meeting with Ed Albright, the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, to discuss this opportunity for our community. I sincerely ask for your prayers as we continue to discern God's will.

Well, if you've read all the way down to this line I want to say "thank you"! Please open and read the attached newsletter written by Troy Bronsink that features a story about TLR. There is a lot going on at TLR, and I am thankful that you are a friend or a supporter of this growing ministry. The Spirit is at work, good things are happening, and new opportunities continue to emerge...

Blessings,
Tom Livengood

PS: Interested in helping our ministry financially? You can do so by using PayPal, a safe and easy way to donate online. Click here to make a donation or go anytime to our blog and click the "Make a Donation" button. All donations are administered by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta on behalf of TLR. Donate with confidence!

PPS: And here is a group photo from one of our recent Sunday night gatherings:

Aren't we an eclectic bunch?

Our Communion Song and Message:

2008-06-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Click here to listen to our communion song we sung last Sunday night:

Click here to listen to Tom's message before we take communion (also last Sunday night):

Thanks Amy for helping me with this. I'm really trying to be a techno savy kind of guy... but trying is the key word!

Listen, enjoy, share, comment.

Bobby's new article

2008-06-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here's Bobby Williamson's (our "Bible guy") new article: http://sbl-site.org/publications/article.aspx?articleId=777

It's really good, though he forgot to include any mention of TLR ;)

TLR in part

2008-06-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

At The Living Room we don't want to be too comfortable defining ourselves because the moment we do so, we've created standards apart from God's unimaginable dreams for us

Well, I wrote a description on my other blog and I hope this description changes:

i'm a part of the living room. we're a self-described emergent community with a relationship to the pcusa (since tom, is ordained in the pcusa). we meet at tilt coffeeshop in the castleberry hill historic arts district.

our gatherings are unique in that we exercise in local theologizing. we converse, experiment, relate, and wrestle with faith, scripture, culture, and ourselves together to build a dynamic theology for God's kingdom on earth. there is no sermon except for the sermon we create together. and the songs we sing are created by our community for our community. our liturgy is raw and flat, while simultaneously rich and elaborate. it's creative, spontaneous, biblical, mystical, imaginative, and contemplative. we espouse an ancient-future paradigm where we draw from our ancient, historical traditions but create new liturgical expressions as we look towards Jesus' reappearing. our lord's supper is supernatural and symbolic, communal and priestly.

our kingdom mindset is missional where we take with us redemption and beauty towards those in our lives who yearn for those things. we seek the justice of God. the voices of the margins are the voices where God's kingdom erupts. we pray for those who wonder how long they'll sing their song. and we sing those songs along with them.

we're literally young and old. we're multi-ethnic. we come from various christian traditions, or no traditions at all. some of us barely believe in God. but we worship in faith together.

Tim Keller and "The Reason for God"

2008-06-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC, visits Google's Mountain View, CA, headquarters to discuss his book, "The Reason for God." This event took place on March 5, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. It is an hour long - but is VERY though provoking:

This Is The Living Room

2008-06-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Aren't we an eclectic bunch?

2008-05-28T10:33:00.001-07:00

Peter Rollins Lecture:

2008-05-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is a great lecture from the author of "How (Not) to Speak of God". It's rather philosophical and long but VERY good!

Press the play button above to listen to this episode

Download Mp3

On The Missional Church:

2008-05-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

So, this week I have been a part of the Thompson Scholar Program where we have shared in conversations about "The Missional Church". I wanted to share some things that I learned and open up an opportunity for us to reflect. So here it goes:

The Church Goes Indoors:

At Pentecost, the church was born! Consider scripture: "As the Father has sent me, so now I'm sending you!"... "As your going, make disciples... baptize... and follow all that I have taught you." "You shall receive the Holy Spirit... to be my witnesses." In other words, the purpose of the church is to be Jesus' agents in the world.

With Constantine, who made Christianity the "state religion" of the Roman Empire, the church began to go indoors. For example, Haggia Sophia as the oldest Christian church is a symbol of a building became the center of a repository of God's grace.

The issue today is that the building is crumbling - "the Titanic is sinking!". For example, PCUSA is #1 in percentage AND total number of people leaving out of the 25 largest denominations. What happens? Continual sadness leads to depression that leads to suicide (the end of PCUSA).

Types of Problems:

Technical problems: problems which can be solved by applying current know how or by some change in how we do things or how we are organized. I.E. Solvable by people in authority.
Adaptive: problems requiring people to change and learn new habits, change their values. Such problems can only be solved by discovering new ways of doing things. People with the problems MUST be involved in finding the solutions.

Key Issue: too often we treat adaptive challenges like technical problems (can I have an Amen!)

Stages in the life of a congregation

The Emergent Phase: maximum experimentation; high innovation; adaptive community;
This is where TLR is.
Key issue for us: to build leadership --> from experimenting to forming, ordering, developing our habits and structures of life together.

That's all for now - whatcha think????

The Living Room Lord's Prayer

2008-05-07T18:35:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday night our community concluded our series of conversations (jams) on The Lord's Prayer by rewriting it (talk about local and contextual theology!) So check out our version of the Lord's Prayer...

We pray like this:

To the One who has always been, and who has always been there with us, may all that you are be sacred to us.

Help us renew your creation by living into your alternative, surprising consciousness that arrives when we seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly before you.

Meet our daily needs as you know them, and help us to be a part of meeting the daily needs of others. Redistribute the resources of the world as needed. Forgive us when we knowingly and unknowingly fail and help us to forgive those who do the same.

Lead us away from temptation and rescue us from all forms of evil and from ourselves. . .

Great Short Video:

2008-04-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

This is a great short video about the story of Trucker Frank from Tony Jones new book "The New Christians". Please watch and post your comments!

The Kingdom of God Looks Like:

2008-04-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night we reflected on the portion of the Lord's Prayer that says, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." We had a great "jam session" exploring what "kingdom" means (many preferred words like "reign" or concepts like "up-side-down"). We will be continuing a series of conversations on the Lord's Prayer for the next month.

The prophet Ezekiel said that the kingdom of God is like a great cedar tree. Jesus likened it to a mustard seed. What are some of your images? Where do you experience the in-breaking of God's reign? Do you believe God's kingdom is here "on earth as it is in heaven"?

I saw a glimpse of God's kingdom today when I visited the Georgia Avenue Food Co-Op:

How about for you?

Worship Unto God: Be Environmental. Save Money.

2008-03-28T08:17:00.001-07:00

My girlfriend Amy, who some of you know, posted this wonderfully insightful entry on her blog. Read and be changed!

Air-dry your clothes (Drying rack: $9-12)

You'll have less wrinkles in your clothing since they won't be sitting in your dryer long after you have forgotten about them = little to no ironing.
They'll smell fresher and feel crisper.
You'll see less wear and tear on your clothing. Those unsightly sweater nubs and cotton pills? - drastically reduced by air-drying. Bottom line: your clothes last longer and look newer.
Eliminates the chance of shrunken clothing or set stains. Didya know that the high heat from the dryer permanently sets existing stains? (So if you take an article of clothing out of the dryer and the stain is still there, it's too late to save it.) And since it's almost impossible to tell from a wet garment whether the stains have really come out, you can air-dry it to later see if the wash was indeed successful in removing them completely. If the spots are still there, you can have another go at pretreating/washing the garment.
Uses no electricity, thus saving you money and reducing your carbon footprint over time.

Use vinegar and baking soda to clean, and also in your laundry. And to unclog drains. And to repel ants from your kitchen. (all these multi-uses -and more!- for less than $5)

Aren't you sick of inhaling toxic fumes from your Lysol, Clorox, and Drano? Yeah, those fumes are bad for the environment too.
Vinegar works wonders on a streaky mirror. Throw out that ammonia-filled crap-Windex. Or whatever, you can just use what you have left and never buy it again.
Need to scrub your tub? Got unsightly berry or curry or whatever stains on your kitchen counters? Wet the surface, then sprinkle liberal amounts of baking soda on top. Forget about it for an hour or two, then come back and scrub with a wet sponge. Magic.
Baking soda can also be used in place of bleach in your laundry because it helps to whiten whites. Vinegar removes odors and works double-duty as a natural fabric softener. That's right. Who knew? Never mind that I did... bc I'm special.
When your drain is clogged, pour about a cup of baking soda down the drain. Then throw half a cup of vinegar down. Watch it fizz, then get bored and forget about it for ~30 minutes. While you're waiting, boil a pot of water, then slowly pour that down. Repeat if necessary.
Vinegar also repels ants. Get yourself an empty spray bottle, fill it with vinegar, and spray those ants away. Don't ever crush them - apparently they release some pheromone when they're smushed, which prompts funeral ants (not the technical term, please do not repeat) to take the dead carcass away. Note the plural: smush one ant, have many respond. The vinegar works bc its acid kills 'em, while its naturals chemicals alter the ants' scent and keeps them away.
If vinegar and baking soda aren't enough for your cleaning and laundry needs, buy Method products at Target. The entire line is non-toxic, plus their detergents are concentrated and in smaller plastic containers. Perk #1 to this is that you can use less of the stuff to get the job done and Perk #2 is a reduction in packaging waste.

Get yourself a reusable shopping tote. And keep it in your car so you actually have it when you decide to go shopping. (99 cents - $12)

This doesn't really need too much explanation, now does it? Don't you all by now know how harmful those "disposable" plastic bags are to the environment? Not only do most of them end up in landfills where they pretty much never disintegrate, the bags themselves are petroleum-based (why, hello foreign oil). Not to mention that just the manufacturing of these bags alone results in a lot of pollution. From start to finish, they're just bad.bad.bad. -- and we Americans use about 90 BILLION of these things a year!
So go ahead, do something good for a change and spend the whopping 99 cents to $1 on a chic reusable bag. Carry it proudly. Make it a point to walk very purposefully by plastic bag users and give them full, liberal views of your environmentally-conscious tote(s). Patronizing smiles may be thrown in for good measure, but do so sparingly and only to people smaller than you.

Recycle your old electronics. (free)

Electronics contain mercury, lead and cadmium, which can harm the environment by leaching into groundwater or into the air through incineration.
In 2005, the EPA estimated there was about 2.2 MILLION TONS of e-waste. About 80 percent to 85 percent of that ended up in landfills, with the remainder being recycled.
Go to myGreenElectronics.org or E-cycling Central to find local recycling centers.

Re-use those envelopes that come with your bills and statements. (free)

That is, if you don't pay your bills and credit cards online.
I think it's creative and I enjoy re-using these instead of buying new envelopes that I know are going to end up in the trash anyway. Think of all the envelope consumption that's not going to happen. That makes me happy.
If your envelopes have windows on them, then all you have to do is write the addresses on the outside of the letter so that when you stick it in the envelope they'll show through the windows. To do this you can first fold up your letter, insert it into the envelope, then mark onto the letter where the windows are. Take the folded letter back out, write the addresses under the marks you've made, and voila. Done.

Stories of New Life...

2008-03-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Easter @ The Living Room by sharing stories about the meaning of resurrection. Some of us reflected on a post-resurrection story about how Jesus become known to seven of his disciples through the abundance of fish that they caught. Others drew pictures or told stories about the hope they found during times of death and depression. Some shared, others listened. Luckily, no one fell asleep!!

I have been thankful for about the stories people were willing to share on Sunday night. Also, I've received some amazing e-mail messages from many of you. So, let's continue the conversation - what does "resurrection" mean to you?

Ministry and Money

2008-03-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

At this past Sunday night's worship gathering we were joined by Troy Bronsink. We reflected on the parable of the great dinner and the cost of discipleship (Luke 14), in particular as it relates to ministry and money.

One issue that came up for me Sunday night was the language I used when I spoke about ministry and money. It seemed so "traditional". As many of you are aware, up until two years ago I had been working in traditional churches. I have heard (as I'm sure you have) my fair share of "stewardship" pitches. Compound that with the problems of corrupt TV evangelists, CEO Pastors living the good life, and the propensity of a theologically bankrupt prosperity gospel and what are you left with? For me, it's left me not wanting to talk about money and ministry.

NEW: IN RESPONSE TO POSTINGS WE HAVE ADDED A "MAKE A DONATION" BUTTON TO THIS SITE. All money that is donated is administered by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta in coordination with the steering committee for The Living Room (we're legit - no funny stuff going on here!). Give with confidence!

2008-02-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

I have had a couple great conversations this week with some new friends of The Living Room. Here are some of the highlights from my first conversation this week:

Last night I went out with a friend of The Living Room to visit this organization called Coven ant House Georgia. It's mission is to reach out to homeless and at risk youth (ages 16-21) in Atlanta. They have an outreach van that goes out each night to hit the streets of the ATL and talk to kids. Now, I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable about social injustice, especially in my own hometown. However, what I realized last night is that I may know a thing or two, but that I need a refresher and a SERIOUS geography lesson. Ever heard of Adamsville? I hadn't until last night. It's near Six Flags - once suburbia and now the new hood. l went and visited three of the ten projects that will be torn down THIS YEAR (displacing close to 10,000 poor people in Atlanta). In fact, one of them is scheduled to be closed at the end of THIS MONTH. I had so-called "head knowledge" about this issue but I hadn't been to some of the actual locations until last night. And ohh, ya, we went AT NIGHT. I don't consider myself a "scaredy cat" and I feel a certain comfort in being with the poor; that said, parts of last night were a totally different game. Consider the following things that were said last night: "Maybe we should keep going, he has a face mask on... right over there someone was murdered recently... on a warm night this street is packed with prostitutes... You get the point. I've gone to college, seminary and have a doctorate, but what they taught me last night is how ignorant I really am about a whole lot of things. I felt like a sponge last night - soaking the whole thing up.

I want you to know that I have begun to volunteer weekly at Covenant House and hope to become a volunteer chaplain for them (something they say they want). I've made a personal promise to myself that this would not and will not be a one shot deal.

I invite you to read a great article in this weeks Creative Loafing about sex traffiking. I'm thankful that this issue is starting to get on the radar of our fair city.

The next conversation was more theoretical. It is based on the insights from someone who recently came and visited The Living Room on a Sunday night. We talked about:

Our Vision... which I shared is to be an eclectic gathering of God's people, united not by what we believe but how we live according to the Way of Jesus Christ. We welcome all people: liberals, conservatives, evangelical, gay, straight, black, white... I (we) abhor what divides people and value diversity of thought and perspective.
About the Bible... I shared how I feel that we are a community that respects a diversity of thought about a text that is both historical and divine. When you come to one of our worship gatherings on Sunday night you'll see how we dedicated the vast majority of our time together to reading and reflecting upon one of the books in the Bible. Yet how we read and interpret it may be challenging to some, for we encourage people to not check their minds at the door - rather we value a thoughtful and humble faith, one that respects and welcomes the tough questions but does not assume that we (or I) possess the answer. Only God...

There are a couple more insights from the conversations/experiences I've had this week. But I'm getting sleepy. Tell me what you're thinking!

Killing the cult of personality one minister at a time...

2008-02-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

I met this morning with James Wright, the owner of Tilt Coffee Shop (where we meet on Sunday nights). He asked me to write down the story of The Living Room. What I have come to realized is how my story is intertwined with the "birth narrative" of our emerging community of faith.

Central to my current pursuit in ministry is to kill the cult of personality that surrounds preachers and "professional Christians". I used to be a religious "player" - served at the largest Presbyterian church in the USA and was climbing the ladder to the top of some big steeple; that was until I was thrown off (thank you Jesus!). Now I'm back on the solid ground of mediocrity - and I love it!

Friends of The Living Room are aware of my story: how my then wife asked me for a divorce shorty after my severance ran out after being "resigned" from my job as the Associate Pastor at a large church in Florida (two years ago). I've been more than open about "my funk" with you - sometimes I worry too much so... who wants to worry about their "pastor"? don't we pay them to worry about us! That's part of the reason why I've chosen to do this ministry "part-time" - for me, the less financially dependent I am upon my church the better (though I've also realized that "time is money" and I deserve fair compensation for my time as your pastor).

Recently I had an amazing conversation while eating dinner at my new neighborhood bar/deli called Elliot Street. I sat down and struck up a conversation about faith and politics (two no-nos). I was a little afraid of what their response would be when I told them I was a minster. So much baggage related to my profession! But sometimes (in fact, more often than not) it opens doors for people to share important "stuff". Such was the occasion that night at Elliot Street. The questions flew... so, you're telling me you are a Democrat that voted for Obama, you're pro-choice and cool with gays AND... you're Christian (even paid for being one)!! It flew in the face of all they had assumed that it meant to be "Christian" - and to be honest it made me terribly sad. Why? Because they (and well, a lot more like them) assume that ALL Christians are conservative republican homophobs. That said - I want to be clear that the last thing I want is for people who come to The Living Room to believe the same way that I am personally committed. That would fly in the face of my commitment to kill the whole cult of personality around ministers. Catch my drift?

I am so thankful to be the pastor of this diverse, overly-educated, hodge podge followers of the Way. You've given me the freedom to be myself - "worts" and all (as Richard is fond of saying). Help me tell the story of The Living Room by posting a story about your experience(s) of The Living Room.

The Living Room's New Digs: Tilt Coffee Shop in Castleberry Hill

2008-01-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

Background Info: In August of 2007, we began a Bible study on the Book of Acts. We first met in my living room, then moved onto the rooftop deck of Hotel Roxy (where I lived), and most recently we were gathering in an empty restaurant space. One month ago the owner of the restaurant (who graciously offered her space to us for free) gave us a week's notice to move on. Construction had begun and she didn't want the liability. So, we moved back down to my living room as we waited to see what would happen next...

Tilt Coffee Shop opened its doors a month ago and a friend of our community told me about how it was closed on Sundays and that the owner (James) was looking for a ministry like ours to rent their space on Sundays. We met and reached an agreement. The last thing I said to James was, "Man, you're an answer to prayer". To which he enthusiastically replied, "No man, you're an answer to prayer!"

I moved to Castleberry Hill at the beginning of this month, into an old industrial loft. I will be holding an open house soon - FYI, I plan on holding many fellowship events here. Mi casa es su casa! I have made a personal commitment to this neighborhood - at least in the form of a one year lease!

Starting This Sunday, February 10th, we will begin holding our worship gatherings at Tilt Coffee Shop in Castleberry Hills, an arts district near downtown Atlanta. Doors open at 6:45pm and our worship gathering will be from 7pm till 8:30pm.

Every Wednesday night, starting at 6pm, we meet in someone's home and share a meal together and discuss the practical implications of our Sunday "jam-session" (making sure we "practice what we preach").
Next Wednesday, February 20th, we will be meeting at Tom's new loft.

View Larger Map

Following the Way of Jesus Christ

2008-01-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to "follow in the Way of Jesus Christ?" I mean, if we are "saved" by grace then is there anything I can do to grow closer to God? I'm confused, are the liberals right about the need for the church to care for the poor or are the conservatives right about the need for the church to focus on matters of personal faith?

Starting this Sunday, January 6th, from 7pm to 8:30pm The Living Room will be exploring such questions in a series entitled: "Practicing the Way of Jesus: Putting Feet to your Faith".

Check out this post for future comments!

Do You Believe In Santa Claus?

2007-12-18T20:48:00.001-08:00

I love the following site that shares some helpful background info about Saint Nicholas. It has me thinking that Christians should believe in Santa Claus - not in what he's become (a pawn of our consumerist culture) but in what he has meant for centuries of Christ-followers.

What do you think?