Midwest Emergent Gathering

The Chicago (a.k.a. up/rooted) and Indianapolis cohorts may have given us a picture of the future of Emergent last weekend. They hosted a regional conference, The Midwest Emergent Gathering. Other than your truly, the speakers were excellent, the workshop leaders wonderful, and the environment extremely hospitable. I saw old friends (Mike and Julie Clawson, Sarah and Ryan Notten, Will Samson, Al Hsu, Lilly and Rob Lewin, Jeff Kursonis, David Fitch, Spencer Burke, Nanette Sawyer, Karen Sloan, and some I’m sure that I’m missing).

Plus, I met some great new friends:

Helen Mildenhall and I talked at length whilst waiting for the hotel Starbucks to open. She’s a thoughtful British-American who spends lots of time hanging around with Off-the-Map.

Maurice Broaddus is an Afromergent dude who is a biologist/church planter/horror writer (not necessarily in that order). You’ll be hearing more from him. The dude rocks.

John Armstrong, whom I met for the first time, seems to know everyone. He runs a ministry and teaches adjunct at Wheaton. He’s been on quite a theological journey over the past decade, and he’s had many friends in the conservative evangelical camp turn against him as a result. He was asked to offer the emergent crowd some warnings, to give advice as a “friendly outsider.” Not only was his advice helpful, I applaud the conference organizers for inviting him. John blogged about his experience at the event here.

Annie Gill-Bloyer works for Bread for the World/ONE as a community outreach organizer, and she’s been contacting EV cohorts to mobilize emergents on the Millennium Challenge Goals. She generously gave me ride to the airport.

Many thanks to the Clawsons and the Nottens and the other co-hosts for putting on such an excellent event.