ONE SIZE FITS ALL (documentary)

ONE SIZE FITS ALL chronicles the emerging church in Canada, and the efforts different church communities in Canada are in to be the kind of church that is incarnated (a visible presence of God) within our culture.

The Gathering Cafe got some brief time in the documentary. The Cafe isn't a church, but it does, in some way, contribute to what the church is trying to do within our culture - lead people to discover God. The Cafe plays a subversive introductory role in this process, creating an environment where anyone can make small steps towards discovering God in relevant and relational ways.

in an interview

This week, 3 guys from Ontario swung by Montreal in their pursuit of discovering NEW FORMS of church across Canada. I had the privilege of being interviewed by them on Thursday afternoon, and also had a great time hosting them on Wednesday evening and overnight.
I realized I'm not so hot in interviews, I get a little somber and low toned. Thankfully it was camera stuff that can be edited and chopped up, b/c it was pretty stop and go. They said they take an hour of stuff and reduce to about 5 min. We'll see how much gets into the documentary, but regardless it was a fun experience.
They interviewed for the Gathering Cafe, not Westside, though both stories cross paths. Westside is a more of a hybrid of emerging and contemporary, though I really don't care for the labels - I just hope to be an authentic Christian community that's increasingly God's living and local presence in our city (read more about that here)
They opted for the Cafe b/c it's an expression of Christian Community that's not necessarily a church - they interviewed lots of churches across Canada. Talking about the Cafe in this format helped me rethink what we're about and why we exist. These days we're starting a process behind the scenes - Fueling the Future. I hope that the process charts a revised course, as well as brings more people into the leadership and support of the cafe. We just got started, and it looks promising. (BTW, the cafe is on tonight)

When the project is done, I'll link to it so you can see what it's about.

Thanks Joe, Nathan, and Jared. I had a good time with you guys.

Stop Waiting, Video

I'm finally on You Tube... originally created for the gathering cafe in January 07', asking the question, what are you waiting for?????

week-end excitement

Last week-end 2 events were a highlight to the start of the fall for me.


Gathering Cafe kicked off with it's season premiere. After a 1/2 season trial in the West Island from a 3 year term downtown I was debating on what to do with the cafe. The West Island is so different from downtown. Downtown had a certain ethos to it that you can't get in the suburbs. We approached this new season (07-08) differently. Rather than trying to connect the cafe more directly with my church (eg. winter 07), we're going back to making it a separate community (though both communities will cross paths in a variety of ways: volunteers, participation, community presence, open to bring friends to it - any body can benefit from the cafe in this way). So far there's been great interest in growing our team and volunteer crew. I'm hoping for a 4-5 person navigational team and a 20+ volunteer crew, where both actively own and fuel the cafe with life, creativity, and passion to impact people's lives.

The season premiere was a hot night... seriously: hip-hop/rap/spoken word... comic blurb... short film... great discussion... new volunteers... a desert worker who has a passion for it... great atmosphere... new faces... good response for next month...

THEN...


Sunday AM we baptized 2 people at Westside. Cindy and Paul came to Christ from 2 completely different journey's or starting places. It was so amazing to hear their stories... watch their faces... pray for them... and immerse them in water as a result of their obedience to follow Jesus....
Cindy came out of the water clapping with utter joy.
It was a great day for our community, reminding us that God continues to reveal himself to people who seek him.

Cafe: Season Finale

It's the last Cafe of the season THIS SATURDAY.

It's been a good relocation so far. Good feel. Old and New crowd mixing well.

THIS WEEK-END: Heroes
With one of the most popular shows on TV being about discovering how unique we are, I can't pass up a night to explore why we're so into this stuff.

Included will be a great interview from THE HOUR, "why I love MOntreal" segment, some clips from Heroes, and great interaction... and of course great coffee and desserts - as always.

gathering cafe site is live!!

www.gatheringcafe.com

if you've visited the cafe before, go online and leave us a note on the conversation page, and don't forget to get connected to our mailing list.

Thanks to Nathan at storyboard solutions set this up for us.

gathering cafe: tomorrow night 01.20.07::20:00

ONE day away!
ONE experience!
ONE night!
Tomorrow night!!!

See you there.
(go here for location and directions)

gathering cafe (around the corner)

STOP WAITING

the cafe is starting up again on Saturday, January 20th, 8PM
NEW LOCATION
bus #203 or #211

new logo, gathering cafe

stay tuned for our new web site coming soon and our relaunch in 2007