pt 1
Here’s my follow up post filling you in on The Church Basement Roadshow.
If you’ve been following the guys at all then you know they’ve already made their way up to the pacific northwest after a number of stops in CA.
My overall impression of the tour is great. I got a chance to see the show twice. First on opening night down in Santa Monica and then at my home church of 1st Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills. It was nice to see even the little differences from first night to second night. The confidence and ease in which the performance felt like it came together was beginning to change as the guys started to settle into their roles. I wish there was some way for me to see it again during the middle or the last leg of the tour when they guys have become completely comfortable and have honed in on all of the little things that will get worked out / improved on as time goes on. If some one wants to buy me a round trip ticket to any of those cities on any of those dates I will gladly accept it.
The other thing I must say about the tour and they guys is that, I love these men. They are close personal friends of mine whom I respect and enjoy their company. They for all I care could have stood on stage and read the phone book and I probably would have been enthralled. It’s not to say that there weren’t things about the show that could have been better. I think biggest criticism that I heard before and after the show was that people didn’t know exactly what they were coming to. Which in some ways I agree with, while using the phrase “a rollin gospel revival” is easy to spit out, it in many ways does not explain what the show is about. The other thing that I think some people were expecting was more of a primer about what the “emergent church” or “emergent” is/was about. Granted I don’t think the intention was for the show to be an on-ramp event but more of a showcase of pieces of the lives of each of the guys, that exemplifies “emergent” like values, I think it would have been a bit helpful to give people at least a flier that briefly explained what emergent village was about.
I know at the 2nd night, if NOTHING else was accomplished, that one of the older “silver-haired saints” (as I like to call them) ladies, due to the show, was compelled to re-commit her life to the service of Jesus. So for me the fact that Doug, Tony and Mark said something that sparked someone to follow Jesus in a new and exciting way, then what they are doing is completely justified and fruitful.
I hope that more stories will emerge as the tour goes on about how people received what the guys had to say and if they were prompted to do anything because of it.
Like I said, I love these guys like brothers, and I love what they all have to say about their desire to follow Jesus. I think they all raise valid points about where the church is, what the church is doing/not doing, and how Jesus’ life calls us all to action in the world. Each of them have their own unique perspective, and I would say that I don’t agree with all of them 100% of the time, but isn’t that what the body of Christ is supposed to be? A body made of many individual parts that contribute something that no other part can contribute, in order to accomplish one task, that only the complete body can accomplish.
Blessings on Mark, Tony and Doug as they continue their journey of meeting and engaging with christians and non christians alike all across the country.
If you have seen the show please feel free to leave comments about what you liked and didn’t like and how overall the show affected you and your love for following Jesus.
church+basement+roadshow cbrs tony+jones mark+scandrette doug+pagitt