emergent dayton

No May Cohort Meeting

2009-05-03T14:14:00.001-05:00

Due to the Subversion/TruthVoice 2009 convention there will be no May meeting - please join us on May 14, 15 and 16 for three days of conversation and fun. More details at http://truthvoice.com

Saturday, April 4 Meeting - NEW VENUE!

2009-04-02T09:12:00.002-05:00

Greetings Christ followers, the time is here for the April cohort meeting.

Since some of the folks from Cincinnati were driving a bit far to make it to the meetings, we decided to start meeting in the Miamisburg/Dayton Mall area, which is south of town, cutting the drive from Cincinnati by 15 or 20 minutes. Therefore, our next meeting will take place on April 4 at 1:30 PM at TGI Friday's at 2022 Miamisburg Centerville Rd. Here is a Google Maps link with the location: http://tinyurl.com/c7jaa7

I hope everyone can make it as the discussion last month was interesting.

As you may already know, the Emerging Church Conference took place two weeks ago; you can read a recap of what happened on http://emergentvillage.com

There is also a critical (and fear mongering) analysis of the Emergent Church done by a fundamentalist Baptist pastor; his take and perspective on the Emergent faith is interesting and fearful. Is he worried for good reasons or is the future for fundamentalist, Dispensational Christianity inevitably dark? His writeup can provide a lot of discussion: http://www.wayoflife.org.

Saturday, March 7 2009 Dayton Cohort Meeting

2009-01-01T11:15:00.005-06:00

Greetings again folks, time is here again for the March Cohort meeting, which will take place on Saturday, March 7 at 1:30 P.M. at Panera Bread located next to the Fairfield Mall in Beavercreek (see Google Maps directions here: http://tinyurl.com/c57cty)

There are three things to bring to your attention:

1. My friend Kevin Beck has made his book "This Book Will Change Your World, How All Things Become New" available for free in PDF format. You can also visit Kevin's website here to download the book: http://thisbookwillchangeyourworld.com/

2. There is an interview with Phyllis Tickle which has been floating among emergent folks for several weeks now. I played it yesterday for our congregation. Phyllis is bringing in some fascinating insight into the changes and emergence of the Church into "something" (we may not yet know what it is). Her insight will also provide us with some conversation material for the meeting, so please watch the video here: http://vimeo.com/3156181

3. The Subversion '09 / TruthVoice conference is almost here. We've picked the dates of May 14-16. I am really excited about this year's conference for several reasons. We are bringing together a number of people from very different backgrounds, and that in itself is encouraging. We are also focusing a lot on local speakers in order to build up a community of believers and create local relationships that last. Also, the first day will be a day solely focused on the topic of Creation, provided by the folks at Beyond Creation Science (http://beyondcreationscience.com). The Creation story is much more important than we may realize; focusing on a "young earth" alone or on a literal interpretation of the Creation narrative may lead us away from the true meaning of the story, so this is a very exciting event to host here in the Dayton area; we even got the attention of the folks from Answers in Genesis, which is a lot to be said about :)

Go to http://truthvoice.com/ to read more and register.

As usual, any other topic is up for grabs so feel free to bring your thoughts and ideas with you to share. I hope to see you Saturday!

December 6, 2008 Dayton Cohort Meeting

2008-12-04T07:49:00.004-06:00

The next Dayton Cohort meeting will take place on December 6 at 1;30 PM aat Panera Bread in Beavercreek; I hope you can join us for a good time and interesting conversation.

One issue that would make for great conversation is Tony Jones' latest blog entry titled How I Went From There to Here: The Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue.

Now I understand that this could make for some heated conversation, but it would also make for interesting conversation and it may motivate us to put our faith into a historical but also contemporary framework.

Also please feel free to bring other topics with you as we usually cover a number of issues when we meet.

I hope to see you there...if this is your first time, coffee is on me.

Directions & info below:

Panera Bread at Fairfield Commons (map)
2751 Fairfield Commons
Beavercreek, OH 45431
(937) 426-3900 | phone

October 4, 2008 Dayton Cohort Meeting

2008-09-04T14:53:00.003-05:00

Greetings again! Our next cohort meeting will take place on Saturday Oct. 4 at 1:30 at Panera Bread in Beavercreek. I found two very interesting articles that may stir up some conversation for this upcoming meeting. The first is one on the private reading of Paul and it's from Mike Gordon. You can read it at http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/de-privatization

The second article is on the topic of the Economy of the Kingdom, by Jay Voorhees: http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/the-economy-of-the-kingdom

I hope to see you all Saturday for some great conversation!

June 7, 2008 Dayton Cohort Meeting

2008-06-02T14:42:00.002-05:00

The June cohort meeting will take place on Saturday, June 7 at 1:30 PM at Panera by the Fairfield Mall in Beavercreek. As I (Virgil) have less time to dedicate to those meetings, I am hoping that other folks will step in and participate. One person offering to help was Fr. Gregory Theopistos, a local minister which will share some of the meeting with us.

Please come Saturday to meet Greg and other folks in the area. We rarely stick to a topic, but two books which have electrified me for the past couple of weeks were Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna, and Doug Pagitt's new book A Christianity Worth Believing. If you have copies of the books please bring them with you; I will do the same and perhaps we will be able to discuss some key points which I believe are relevant especially from an Emergent perspective.

I hope to see you all on Saturday at 1:30 PM.

Directions & info below:

	Panera Bread at Fairfield Commons (map) 2751 Fairfield Commons Beavercreek, OH 45431 (937) 426-3900 \| phone (937) 426-3980 \| fax

Panera Bread at Fairfield Commons (map)
2751 Fairfield Commons
Beavercreek, OH 45431
(937) 426-3900 | phone
(937) 426-3980 | fax

No April Meeting

2008-04-03T23:01:00.000-05:00

Due to the Back to the Future conference in Dayton, there will be no April cohort meeting. Sorry for the inconvenience; we'll see you in March!

March 1, 2008 Cohort Meeting

2008-02-27T17:35:00.003-06:00

Greetings everyone, and sorry for the late e-mail.

Our next cohort meeting is Saturday March 1, and it will be at Panera by the Fairfield Mall in Beavercreek. I am hoping to see some new faces and we will try to discuss something that always makes for a fascinating conversation, namely "What is the Kingdom of God?"

Recently someone asked the question: "In reading McLaren's books, and your interview with him, I've come across the phrase "Kingdom of God". I just wanted to know, what exactly do you or McLaren mean by "Kingdom of God"? Is it here already, or is it something we are working towards?"

Join us Saturday and we'll discuss the wonderful topic, The Kingdom of God. I will also bring a copy of Shane Claiborne's latest book, Jesus for President (see http://www.jesusforpresident.org) and Tony's new book The New Christians (see http://tonyj.net/); they will make for interesting conversation as well.

God bless!

Atonement Metaphors -- A Contest

2008-02-12T15:46:00.000-06:00

by Tony Jones, national coordinator:

Have you heard the one about the father who operates a railroad drawbridge and sends his young son to manually fix the tracks, only to watch his son be crushed by the oncoming train? Or the one about the judge who condemned the prisoner to death only to disrobe and go to the electric chair in the prisoner’s stead? Or maybe you’ve see the drawing with God on one side of a chasm called “sin,” a stick-figure man on the other, and a cross as the bridge between the two.

These metaphors for the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross are powerful, and they capture the imagination. But these metaphors and images — the ones that many of us grew up with — are predominantly reflective of one theory of the atonement, called “penal substitution.” As far as atonement theories go, penal substitution is important, to be sure, and it commands a lot of respect these days, particularly among Western, Reformed theologians. But it’s merely one of several theories of the atonement that have held sway over the Christian imagination for the past 2,000 years. In Scot McKnight’s superb book, A Community Called Atonement, he likened the many historical theories of the atonement to the many clubs in a golf bag — each useful in a different situation.

Read all the details about the contest here.

Shane Claiborne meeting tomorrow

2008-02-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

After a few scheduled meetings and subsequent cancellations, Shane Claiborne will be able to speak at Apex Community Church in Kettering at 5200 Far Hills Ave. (see map here: http://tinyurl.com/2u9oxa)

Apex was gracious enough to host this event for the community tomorrow (Feb. 11) at 7:30 PM. Admission is free and an offering will be taken.

Another exciting event is also scheduled at Apex later in the month; Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways will be at Apex on Feb. 21 - Feb. 23. You can find more details about this event on http://region1.apexcommunity.net

February 2, 2008 1:30 PM - Next Cohort Meeting

2008-01-08T10:08:00.000-06:00

Greetings,

The time for the next cohort meeting is already here and there is one important issue to bring up at the February 2 meeting. We will meet as usual at Panera Bread in Beavercreek, Ohio at 1:30 P.M.. For various reasons (mostly career-related) I will not be able to continue to lead the cohort, so I would appreciate it if someone else steps up as a volunteer to do this for a while. If you are interested, please e-mail me and let me know. Also only a couple of people showed up at the last few meetings, so I need to hear from those of you interested in making the cohort successful, or we will likely discontinue the group for lack of interest since folks do not seem to be interested in attending regularly. Most meetings so far have been very exciting and beneficial in my opinion, and it would be a shame to not continue to meet and benefit from this great interaction.

For this next meeting, I am hoping we can discuss an interview with Bishop Kallistos Ware in which he discusses Orthodox Christianity and other issues, from the role of women in Church to liturgical experiences for Orthodox believers. I think it is healthy for us to contemplate what Christians outside of the U.S. experience and how they view the Church in their own cultural and social contexts. You can read this interview and other articles by Bishop Ware at: http://www.stnina.org/journal/art/1.3.7

Again, please e-mail me as soon as possible if you are interested in leading the Dayton Emergent cohort; this will be last meeting as an Emergent cohort if more of you do not show up, so please come and participate if you are interested in making this group successful.

November 3, 2007 1:30 PM - Next Cohort Meeting

2006-11-27T11:43:00.001-06:00

Our next cohort meeting will take place on November 3 at Panera Bread at 1:30 P.M., right across the street from our old meeting place, Barnes & Noble Starbucks.

I suggest that for the next meeting we discuss some of the issues raised by Rob Bell in his latest NOOMA video, Name. You can watch the entire video online for free until Friday afternoon:

I am looking forward to seeing new faces and meeting new folks.

Directions & info below:

	Panera Bread at Fairfield Commons (map) 2751 Fairfield Commons Beavercreek, OH 45431 (937) 426-3900 \| phone (937) 426-3980 \| fax

Panera Bread at Fairfield Commons (map)
2751 Fairfield Commons
Beavercreek, OH 45431
(937) 426-3900 | phone
(937) 426-3980 | fax

Hope to see you all Saturday!

REVISED: Next Meeting: November 4 - 1:00 PM

2006-09-18T15:56:00.001-05:00

NOTE: I revised the day of the next meeting to November 4 (Saturday). I mistakenly posted it a day earlier and I apologize for it. Please all adjust your schedules accordingly

We will be again meeting at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble (Starbucks seating area) at 1:00 PM on November 4, 2006. If you are interested in joining us for an open conversation to cover some fascinatiag topics, please come. Last month we spoke about cultural relativism and anthropology, and the conversation was fascinating and powerful.

Several books are listed here (on the right side of the blog) to serve as suggestions for reading or group studies.

Bring your doubts, and join us in the activity of God in the world wherever we are able, partnering with God as God's dreams for our world come true. In the process, the world can be healed and changed, and so can we.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you again, and hopefully some new faces as well!

----

Click here if you need directions from Google Maps. If you have questions, please drop us a note or post a comment here.

Walking for Victoria

2006-09-11T13:06:00.000-05:00

On September 30, 2006 a small group of us here in the Dayton area will walk with Victoria Denen in the Walk to Cure Diabetes event at the Island Metro Park/Heritage Park/Children's Discovery Garden.

The walk is sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, an organization focused on raising money and providing research avenues into finding a cure for Diabetes.

If you want to join us, please register for this walk. The 5K walk starts at 10:00 AM.

If you have any questions please contact me at vvaduva at gmail.com or Karen Myers from JDRF.

First Dayton cohort meeting

2006-09-03T19:14:00.000-05:00

Greetings friends...

The first Dayton cohort meeting will take place on Saturday, September 9 at 1:00 PM at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble which is right across the street from the Fairfield Mall. If you need directions, click on the Google Maps image to the right and get directions from Google. If you have questions, please drop us a note or post a comment here.

There will be no specific topic for the first meeting, but feel free to bring topic ideas and suggestions with you. Perhaps a book reading or a study based on one of the books suggested under the "Books to consider" section will make sense once some cohesion develops within the group.

Welcome friends...

2006-09-01T13:39:00.001-05:00

This blog will serve as the online meeting and discussion place for the Emergent Dayton cohort. We are hoping that this small cohort will eventually energize the Dayton-area Christians and create the kind of interactive and open faith that we believe Christ wanted from his disciples.

The plan (for now) is to meet on the first Saturday of each month at Barnes & Noble in Beavercreek, in the Starbucks seating area. We are all looking forward to some great conversations and exchanges. For suggestions about topics and meeting dates/times for our first meeting, please contact me or post comments below.

Where:

Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Dayton @ Beavercreek
2720 Towne Drive # 200 (N. Fairfield Rd.)
Beavercreek, OH 45431
937-429-1660

When: To be determined

Who: Contact us at emergentdayton at gmail.com with suggestions and questions.