Post by maurice on May 24, 2006 14:15:12 GMT -5
cross-posted from my blog
Okay, some of you have heard about this, so I thought that I’d go ahead and mention it here. It’s true, horror writer, Brian Keene, will be the “guest pastor” for a special service at my church, The Dwelling Place.
No, this wasn’t my idea of a resignation letter. Let me explain some of my thinking.
One of the things that The Dwelling Place values is the arts. Far too often, evangelicals have been suspicious of art, convinced that unless the art is about or related to Jesus, it is “worldly.” We believe that art should be engaged with and in its own way explores truth - and we shouldn’t be afraid of truth. Another thing we want to be is a safe place for folks to work our their spirituality and ask questions. As the church “facilitator” (again, from the Greek meaning “a meaningless title that we gave me so that we don’t have to explain to people why one of our leaders writes scary stories), I try to put these values into action.
So you maybe wondering “why Brian Keene?” One day during one of our periodic tea and crumpets sessions, where intellectuals such as ourselves discuss the issues of the day, the topic of the comic book Preacher came up. Brian convinced me to read the book saying that the book covers a lot of how he felt about God and mirrors his own journey in a way (which is why I ended up writing that review). It also made me think of how spirituality is one of the themes that run through his work. So I posed the idea of him doing a sermon at our church, to let him discuss his spirituality, warts and all. Afterwards, I’ll be leading a Q & A time with him. There will also be a reading, signing, and refreshments.
Yes, we will videotape this. And Brian may be posting a transcript of his comments.
June 11th
The Dwelling Place
7440 N. Michigan Road
Indianapolis, IN 46268
Speaking: 6:00pm to 7:30pm (book signing and refreshments afterward)
End of official announcement.
On the DL, since I know no one is reading now that the announcement is over, this all assumes that we survive Saturday. The inimitable Chesya Burke has dubbed this weekend “Mo*Con.” It begins Saturday since that is when Brian gets into town (as will Mrs. Burke). The Indiana Horror Writers will be hosting a cookout at Chez Broaddus. You see, my wife has always wondered what goes on at a con, because for some reason she thinks that I leave out details from my con reports. I have no idea what she means. At any rate, we will bring a con to her. Chez Broaddus will be the con suite.
There will be the cookout, more tea and crumpets, and non-stop ... networking.
Drop by my message board if you want to let me know that you are coming. E-mail your host at maurice @ mauricebroaddus.com if you will need directions.
On the plus side, the prospect of Brian Keene speaking at church already has people from all spiritual backgrounds praying for me. This will either go well or will be my swan song at the Dwelling Place. Of course, if this goes well, next year I’ll really try and get fired and bring out Wrath James White.
Okay, some of you have heard about this, so I thought that I’d go ahead and mention it here. It’s true, horror writer, Brian Keene, will be the “guest pastor” for a special service at my church, The Dwelling Place.
No, this wasn’t my idea of a resignation letter. Let me explain some of my thinking.
One of the things that The Dwelling Place values is the arts. Far too often, evangelicals have been suspicious of art, convinced that unless the art is about or related to Jesus, it is “worldly.” We believe that art should be engaged with and in its own way explores truth - and we shouldn’t be afraid of truth. Another thing we want to be is a safe place for folks to work our their spirituality and ask questions. As the church “facilitator” (again, from the Greek meaning “a meaningless title that we gave me so that we don’t have to explain to people why one of our leaders writes scary stories), I try to put these values into action.
So you maybe wondering “why Brian Keene?” One day during one of our periodic tea and crumpets sessions, where intellectuals such as ourselves discuss the issues of the day, the topic of the comic book Preacher came up. Brian convinced me to read the book saying that the book covers a lot of how he felt about God and mirrors his own journey in a way (which is why I ended up writing that review). It also made me think of how spirituality is one of the themes that run through his work. So I posed the idea of him doing a sermon at our church, to let him discuss his spirituality, warts and all. Afterwards, I’ll be leading a Q & A time with him. There will also be a reading, signing, and refreshments.
Yes, we will videotape this. And Brian may be posting a transcript of his comments.
June 11th
The Dwelling Place
7440 N. Michigan Road
Indianapolis, IN 46268
Speaking: 6:00pm to 7:30pm (book signing and refreshments afterward)
End of official announcement.
On the DL, since I know no one is reading now that the announcement is over, this all assumes that we survive Saturday. The inimitable Chesya Burke has dubbed this weekend “Mo*Con.” It begins Saturday since that is when Brian gets into town (as will Mrs. Burke). The Indiana Horror Writers will be hosting a cookout at Chez Broaddus. You see, my wife has always wondered what goes on at a con, because for some reason she thinks that I leave out details from my con reports. I have no idea what she means. At any rate, we will bring a con to her. Chez Broaddus will be the con suite.
There will be the cookout, more tea and crumpets, and non-stop ... networking.
Drop by my message board if you want to let me know that you are coming. E-mail your host at maurice @ mauricebroaddus.com if you will need directions.
On the plus side, the prospect of Brian Keene speaking at church already has people from all spiritual backgrounds praying for me. This will either go well or will be my swan song at the Dwelling Place. Of course, if this goes well, next year I’ll really try and get fired and bring out Wrath James White.