Contact Not Religious Inc. for event and ticket information.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM - Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 4:30 PM (ET)
A YEARLY CONFERENCE ABOUT VIBRANT FAITH IN GREAT, SECULAR PLACES.
Welcome to the 2009 Culture Center Summit! This conference is a continuation of last year's Center City Summit, "Where Faith and Secular Culture Meet."
Our hope for these summits is that, for folks who feel committed to experiencing and fostering vibrant faith in places that are known for their secular culture—whether big places like Manhattan or smaller places like, say, Iowa City—they’d find support, vision and concrete help at these yearly gatherings.
Last year’s gathering drew from 13 states spread around the country. This year, while we’re expecting plenty of inspiration and vision, we’re giving a particular focus to offering as many concrete tools as we can and to setting up a more interactive environment among people with similar jobs or interests. Our afternoons will be spent in these settings, so pastors will hang out with other pastors, and other leaders will have chances to spend time on these issues with folks with similar interests.
We’ve worked with several churches and individuals this year who, having appreciated the specific focus of last year’s conference, have wanted more help with the nuts and bolts of setting up these sorts of communities of faith. They’ve rightly noticed that, to use an old analogy, understanding and implementing a fresh and helpful mindset is only the tip of the iceberg of what makes such communities thrive. They asked for more specific attention on the iceberg itself.
In response to that, folks who come to this conference will receive a draft copy of a book we’re currently calling CULTURE CENTER CHURCHES: THRIVING CONGREGATIONS IN GREAT, SECULAR PLACES. We’ll try to offer quite a bit of detail about what we’ve seen that has most helped churches and passionate individuals in these settings. And, again, we’ll be working some of these issues there in the afternoon gatherings.
Logistics:
Aug 13th - 16th Snacks and drinks will be provided, but bring money or food for meals. REGISTRATION: Select ticket type, fill in your registration information, and purchase tickets above. A confirmation email will be sent to you regarding your purchase. REGISTRATION DEADLINE JULY 31st!
WHEN:
SCHEDULE:
Thursday 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Friday 9:00 am - 9:30 pm
Saturday 9:00 am - 9:30 pm
Sunday 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
There will be an hour and half allotted for lunch and two and half hours for dinner.
WHERE:
The Greater Boston Vineyard
170 Rindge Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
(see map on the right)
DISCOUNTS:
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL -- Tickets purchased before June 30th receive a $20.00 discount.
GROUP RATE -- Purchase 5 or more tickets and receive 25% off (cannot be combined with Early Bird Special).
GENERAL ADMISSION:
GENERAL ADMISSION -- Tickets are $100 per person and include snacks, drinks, and conference materials.
Register for a Track:
In addition to the main conference speakers, there will be breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon for like minded people to discuss and learn about fostering vibrant faith in their areas. Each participant will register for one of the following three tracks:
PASTOR -- Led by Dave Schmelzer and Charles Park, this track is geared specifically towards to pastors and church leaders around the specifics of leading a centered-set church. Topics of discussion will include: centered-set preaching, language choices, structure of a service, and structure of a church.
WORSHIP & THE ARTS -- Led by Christopher Greco, Casey Corum, and David Linhart, this track is geared specifically towards worship leaders, artists, and musicians. Topics of discussion will include: centered-set worship, the role of worship within the larger service and different models of approaches, personnel and resources -- recruiting, equipping, resourcing and pastoring different teams, recording, gigging, and running art events.
LAITY -- Led by Brian Housman, Val Snekvik, and several others, this track is geared towards those interested in pursuing vibrant faith in their own great, secular places. Topics of discussion will include: having vibrant relationships with those around you by crossing the moat, living out centered-set faith in your area, praying for your six, tips on having great faith conversations, running SEEK, running a Leap of Faith, and other practical ways to pursue a life of vibrant faith.
Main Conference Speakers:
Dave Schmelzer has a background both in theology (Fuller Seminary, '87) and the arts (Stanford University, '84, and a decade as a working playwright). He leads a two-site church in the Boston area (Vineyard Christian Fellowship--Greater Boston), keeps his hand in some fiction writing, and lives just outside Boston with his wife, Grace and their five children. He is also the founder of Not Religious, Inc. and has a blog at www.notreligious.org.
Charles Park is the Senior Pastor of The River in New York City. Charles and his wife Caroline moved to New York in June 2004 to start the Manhatten-based Vineyard. Charles studied (a little too much when he was young), earning a PhD in Economics at M.I.T. After striving hard to achieve the American Dream, he found getting tangled up with the story of God made life much more interesting and unpredictable. Of all the great heroes of Western Literature, he most identifies with Forrest Gump. "Life is like a box of chocolates."
He and Caroline live in Manhattan with their three children, Clara, Ariel and Caleb.
Chris Lowney, author of Heroic Leadership: Best Practices of a 450-year-old Company that Changed the World (a book about the Jesuits that became #1 ranked bestseller of the CBPA). Formerly a Jesuit, Chris was named managing director of J.P. Morgan & Co. holding senior positions in major international cities. He is currently the president of the Catholic Medical Missions Board.
As we’ve looked around the world and throughout history for examples of folks who’ve started the kind of culture-changing revolution we’re dreaming of, it’s struck us that Chris’ take on the Jesuits is one of the best pictures out there. We’re eager for Chris to put into context the kind of growing gathering of like-minded friends that we’re trying to put together.
AND MORE!
Additional Resources:
If you didn't have the opportunity to attend last year's conference, you can still be on the cutting edge of the conversation by listening to the talks.
The two key talks from last year were:
Feel free to listen to all of the talks here:
Click here to download the flyer:
In additoin to that, people around the country have gathered together online to continue these evergrowing conversations. To read the latest thread, join the blog at Not Religious Inc.
Suggested Pre-reading:
Written back in 2008, Not The Religious Type, Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist was one of the inspirations for this Conference. The intriguing topics raised in this book begged for larger discussion. The book has since served as the jumping off platform for our larger conversations about faith and secular culture. Click on the picture to purchase and read more about the book.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM
- to -
Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 4:30 PM (ET)
Add to my calendarNot Religious Inc. is a public non-profit committed to offering potent spiritual direction to everyone.
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