Charlie Wear’s Notes

I just booked my tickets for Verge, a missional conference being held in Austin, TX from Feb. 4-7. I am part of the “social media” team for this event. I hope to meet many of the readers of Next-Wave at the conference. Speakers include: Francis Chan, Matt Carter, Alan Hirsch and many others.

Via Brother Maynard:

Join us on a blog tour of Tony Jones’s new book, The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community beginning the first Monday of Advent, November 30:

November 30: An introduction with Tony Jones

December 1: Chapter 1 – The Most Important Book You’ve Never Heard of – with Adam Walker Cleaveland at pomomusings and Thomas Turner at everydayliturgy
Tony’s response

December 2: Chapter 3 – The Didache Community – Then and Now – with Ted Gossard at Jesus Community and Amy Moffitt at Without a Map
Tony’s response

December 3: Chapter 4 – There Are Two Ways – with Tripp Fuller athomebrewedchristianity and with Holly Rankinzaher athappydaydeadfish
Tony’s response

December 4: Chapter 5 – Sex, Money, and Other Means of Getting Along – with Chris Monroe at Paradoxology and Mike Todd at Waving or Drowning?

December 5: Chapter 6 – Living Together In Community – with Brother Maynard at Subversiveinfluence and Mike King

December 6: Chapter 7 – The End is Nigh – with Greg Arthur atHolinessreeducation.com and Mike Stavlund at Awakening

December 7: Epilogue – with Luke C. Miller and Carl McColman at The Website of Unknowing

December 8: Special Question – Is this text – The Didache – really so important? Why? Do we know that it was important to the earliest communities of Christians? with Jonathan Brink at Missio Dei

December 9: Special Question – Does the Didache teach or advise anything that substantively differs from what was decided at the earliest ecumenical church councils (such as Nicaea) with Dwight Friesen

December 10: Special Question – Why is the Didache relevant, in particular today? Is it more relevant today than it was, say 100 years ago? Why? with Bob Hyatt

Starting Dec. 1st purchase 3+ copies of this book at a 40% discount. This special offer ends on December 11th, with the close of the blog tour!

My friend, Jim Henderson, really knows how to put on a conference! So that’s the reason for my question? Are you going off the map? I had the privilege of attending one of the first OTM conferences around 2000 and got to hear Brian McLaren and Len Sweet speak for the first time. Jim has a great lineup for this year’s conference in Seattle. One of my favorites, Todd Hunter, will be speaking. The thing about Off the Map Conferences is that there is no chance to get bored. They are interactive and fast-paced. Beg, borrow, or steal and get a ticket and make it to Mirrors & Maps.

Jim Henderson likes hanging out with atheists. He buys them on Ebay and writes books with them (Jim and Casper Go to Church). He also likes hanging out with ordinary Christ-followers who want to learn to connect with their non-Chrisitan friends in a way that will inspire them to want to follow Jesus. As part of that effort he presides over one of the best-run and innovative annual Christian conferences, Off The Map Live.

This year’s speakers include:

Brian McLaren (interview)
Social-spiritual activist, movement planter, leader in the emerging church

Ruth Padilla Deborst (interview)
Latina activist among the poor, familiar with suffering, influential thinker

Richard Twiss (interview)
Native American leader, activist and artist

Diana Butler Bass
Historian, expert on state of Christianity in America, Futurist

Todd Hunter (interview)
Movement leader, key adviser to young leaders, pastoral theologian

Jim Henderson (interview)
Innovator, change agent and friend of the people formerly known as lost

Jim’s innovative Off the Map team weaves live music, multi-media, speakers and workshops into a conference that sometimes resembles the precision of a rocket launch. I attended Off The Map a couple of years ago with my good friend, Bill Dahl, and mark it as one of the highlights of my spiritual journey of discovery.

Watch here as Jim interviews Casper, the co-author of Jim and Casper Go To Church: