One of my many tribes are the Something Beautiful Podcast crew, who have been doing a great job these last couple of years of providing a vehicle for some of the most interesting Jesus following voices at the fuzzy edges of Church.
Having been a massive @sbpodcast fan, I’m delighted now to be an occasional co-presenter together with JD, Thomas, Stewart and Travis – good guys one and all!
So, it’s been cool to recently share – together with Thomas – some of the Something Beautiful Podcast with Bex Lewis at the Big Bible site.
The latest episode of the Podcast features my good friend and fellow Kore UK Trustee, Will Taylor AKA Big Daddy Whale, chatting on with Thomas Mathie. As usual, it’s a good listen.
On the day I start blogging again – after a month’s hiatus – I can think of no better way to return than to share a fabulous vid of eminent thinker and occasional Matrix actor, Cornel West.
There aren’t many people who’ve been in some way part of my life as long as Chick and Margaret Yuill. They’ve been family friends since before I was born by virtue of the wonderful kindness and care shown to my own Dad by the other Chick Yuill….Chick’s Dad. In fact, in my infant years Chick was known to us as “Young Chick”. I’m old enough to have very clear memories of travelling to London from Bellshill in Scotland to witness Chick and Margaret being commissioned as a Salvation Army Officers in the Royal Albert Hall.
By some strange synchronicity, following that Commissioning – Ordination, if you will – the first community the Yuill’s pastored was in Archway in North London, where two young sisters – the daughters of a Caribbean couple – were part of the Sunday School. Years later, Chick and Margaret conducted the my Wedding to one of those sisters, drawing together two strands of their story, at once rekindling, affirming and strengthening deeply rooted relationships.
The Yuill’s ministry has always been relevant and in touch with current culture. In fact, I love the fact that they recently – despite a period of resistance – embraced Facebook in a big way after having taken themselves along to see “The Social Network”.
Here’s one of Chick’s first FB Status updates:
“Having just watched the movie ‘The Social Network’, I have decided the time has come to join Facebook and get into the 20th century. Then I realised it’s the 21st century (!) so I’m still catching up…”
So, it’s exciting for me to know that Chick will have a new book published early in the New Year.
Chick’s forthcoming Moving in the Right Circles explores discipleship, picturing it as a series of ever-widening concentric circles:
• walking in the company of Jesus
• growing in the community of believers
• engaging with the culture of the times
• looking to the coming of the King
Early publicity describes the book as “dynamic and punchy” – which could just as easily apply to marathon running Chick himself – and expands by saying
“Too many people find their experience as Christians incomplete and unsatisfactory…
But life with Jesus is meant to be an all-encompassing adventure.
The books that come from Chick are always more than worth a read, so I’m pretty confident this one will be no exception. Hook yourself up with it!
Chick spearheads the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity’s (LICC) Imagine project in the North West of England. He has spent over thirty-five years in full-time ministry, mostly leading and pastoring local congregations in the UK and the USA. He has been married to Margaret for over 40 years.
As well as being the driving force behind social justice magazine Sojourners, Jim is a bestselling author in his own right, public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator on religion, public life, faith, and politics
Last month’s Christian New Media Conference was fabulous for all kinds of reasons, not least because it gave me an opportunity to discover the amazing Mr Ian Aspin – all round good guy, the man who gave the world Really Good Thinking, “Giveacrapanomics“and one of the most refreshing and voices out there on the whole “digital-tools-changing-our-world-for-the-good”
I come across a lot of naysayers who are willing to try to minimise and trivialise the impact of Facebook, Twitter et al on broader culture.
Ian is an antidote to all of that, with a no nonsense positive attitude that’s resolute and affirming; so good to hear, particularly here in the UK where cynicism is practised as a high art.
In Ian’s own words..”Think Better. Feel Better. Take an Aspin”
“Social Media for Social change” will explore the medium is changing the way we relate to one another each day, and how Jesus following digi-nauts & netizens can harness the power of Social Media (I’m still using these words while I still can) to bring social transformation.
One of many exciting things about this particular event is the fact that author, futurologist and man with the best hair in all Christendom - Leonard Sweet – will be hooking up live.
It’ll be good to see my buddies from Kore UK lighting up the conference stage as well.
…hope they turn the heating up, though!
