I, geekrevThe closest you want to get to looking inside the mind of Shawn Coons.

This came into my email last week, and I find it interesting.  It was circulated at the Presbyterian Global Fellowship conference recently admist that talk of “being in the denomination but not of it.”  I’ll let the letter mostly speak for itself except to say that I think this is happening on the “other side” as well.  I think us younger liberal-ish types are less likely to officially align ourselves with groups like the Covenant Network and the Witherspoon Society - not because we disagree with them, but because we aren’t willing to see the party platforms in black and white, or to polarize ourselves that much.

Dear Pastors,
We are a group of evangelical, Presbyterian students from Fuller Theological Seminary deeply committed to following God’s call on our lives to ministry within the Presbyterian Church (USA). We are aware of many important conversations taking place, among groups such as yours, about the future of evangelicals within PCUSA.

Two major concerns have prompted this letter: First, as young evangelical Presbyterians, we comprise a fair representation of future evangelical pastors in PCUSA, and as such we earnestly desire to have a voice in important decisions about the future of our denomination.  Second, we have heard about the possible establishment of an evangelical synod within PCUSA. While the purpose of this letter is not to explicitly oppose or affirm such a synod, we do seek a venue in which to ask questions, voice our concerns, and participate in the decision-making process.

We have heard that, for evangelical Presbyterians seeking to be faithful to God’s word, the most immediate options under consideration are: remaining in the current structure and moving forward in uncomfortable unity, establishing a separate synod which would be theological rather than geographic in orientation, or leaving the PCUSA denomination altogether.

Speaking for a number of Fuller PCUSA students concerned about the unity of the church, we are very much opposed to the splintering of our denomination. Yet we are concerned that one proposed compromise – namely the establishment of an evangelical synod – appears to be either a “split without a split” or the first step towards a split within PCUSA.

We deeply desire to engage in dialogue with pastors such as yourselves looking to move our denomination forward. We wish to understand more about the biblical and constitutional precepts on which a non-geographic synod would be founded. We especially seek to understand the practical implications of this synod for the future unity of PCUSA.

Please consider ways to engage us in conversation, such as invitations to meetings where pastors are already convening to discuss such issues, hosting events for seminary students and other young leaders in your own churches, or visiting Fuller where we would be honored to host a discussion forum. We think you will discover in these conversations that evangelical

Presbyterians of our generation are less likely to think of the sexuality question as a fault line in the denomination, and more likely to consider issues like witnessing to a just society and restoring creation as defining points in the church. Consequently, a statement or action by pastors without input from our generation might alienate the very people who represent the future of the church.

We recognize that many of you bring years of experience, perspectives informed by history, and prayerful consideration to these important decisions about the future unity of our denomination. It is our hope that this letter is the beginning of future conversations; the start of an opportunity to learn from each other as we seek, together, to be faithful servants of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

WARNING: This post talks about membership numbers of the PC(USA) and individual churches. If you are one of those people who has a fit anytime someone shows the slightest interest in numbers then I invite you to skip this post and check out this intriguing link.

Like most other mainline denominations, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been losing members since the 1960s. We are down to about half the size that we once were. And this decline logically comes from many (most likely a majority) of churches losing members on a near-yearly basis.

But the average Presbyterian church seems indifferent to this reality. Sure, there is nervousness and some small lament of the declining number of “nickels and noses,” but how many churches actually acknowledge this reality and really wish to do the hard work of trying to reverse the decline? Acknowledging churches: few. Really working to reverse it: even fewer.

So here comes my question. Let’s put aside the notion that members and numbers may not be the best indicator of a faithful or successful church (duh). Doesn’t the average Presbyterian with kids/grandkids want the church to be around for their grown kids/grandkids? The writing is on the wall but most people seem interested in preserving the church they are used to, rather than helping to create one that will be there in the future.

I think we can certainly disagree about what changes need to be made, but I think it should be pretty obvious that if we make no changes the denomination will continue to shrink and individual churches will continue to die.

So do today’s Presbyterians care about leaving a church for their children? Or are we merely concerned with making sure it lasts just as long as we do?

I went back to the Communications Office/Press Room the other day and got to meet Diana Ott and several of the web people in Louisville. They were all really cool and it sounds like some things are in the works for the PC(USA) internet presence.

Diana wanted people to know that there are hundreds of GA photos online for anyone’s use at: http://www.pcusa.org/ga218/photos/index.htm

That’s Adam Walker Cleaveland on my left.

From a Layman article about the GA commissioners:

“160
The number of staff members assigned to the 15 General Assembly committees. That’s more than 10 per committee. Many of those staff members will lobby for their favorite causes.”

Wow, the Layman news reporting is so good that they can predict the future! Because they would never interject their personal opinion into a news article, instead of documented and sourced facts.

“16
The number of staff members scheduled to work on peace and justice issues - generally a catchall for liberal social agendas.”

Even if they are right on this one, it’s still opinion or at best an unsupported speculative conclusion.

“2
The number of staff members assigned to work with evangelism and church growth in a denomination that has shrunken from 4.2 million members in 1965 to 2.8 million members in 2006.”

Hmmmm… I met at least three denominational people yesterday working the the New Church Development office and with the website Presbygrow (which has as its tagline “Growing healthy, missional churches in the PC(USA)”). And that doesn’t include Eric Hoey or anyone else from the Evangelism office.

And just for your information, the Presbyterian Lay Committee started in 1965 - the exact year they reference above as the start of our numerical decline. Coincidence?

Over at our podcast we have published interviews/conversations with all four moderator candidates.  My personal thanks go out to all four candidates and to also to the DAIO co-hosts: David Ealy, Zach Sasser, and Camille LeBron-Powell.  They did the lion’s share of the work on this, since I sat out due to my involvement with Bruce Reyes-Chow’s campaign.

Since I sat out, I had the chance to listen to the interviews for the first time just as our regular listeners do.  I am really pleased with the caliber of candidates we have running for moderator.  And I am also really pleased that we were able to do this project.  This is a unique chance for any Presbyterian to listen to the candidates before GA.  It is one thing to read what they have written, it is another to hear short statements from them at the Assembly, and it’s a whole step up to hear them for 30-45 minutes talk about what they think and believe.

If you, dear reader, know of any commissioners to GA then point them to the interviews so they can get to know their moderator candidates.

Calling all Prebyterian bloggers, Tweeters, and other Web 2.0 junkies or wannabes!  It’s time to do General Assembly - Web 2.0 style.  Here are a couple of ways I envision:

1) Let’s have a Presbyterian bloggers event.  I don’t know when, I don’t know where, but I would be pumped to meet other bloggers face to face.  Does anyone local know a good place that we could hang out or does anyone have access to space that we could inhabit for a moment?

2) Twitter.  I’ll propose that we use the tag #GA218 for GA tweets.  That way we can follow what’s going on with Tweetscan.

3) Live blogging.  I’m new to this and the only service I’ve used is shiftedit.  I’ve started a liveblog here.  It’s possible (probable) we will want multiple liveblogs for various meetings.  It’s also possible (probable) that one of you knows a better way to do this.  If so, speak up!

Ok, bloggers!  It’s time to start the Midnight Bark!  This will only work if word gets around.  If you think this is a worthy endeavor then share the linklove and drop a post on your blog spreading the word.  I’m happy to start compiling a list of all the bloggers that are going to be at GA, so that we can get connected and follow each other’s experiences.

Most of you who read this blog have probably gotten wind of the next incarnation of The 7% Event, which is now officially called alt7. Two weeks ago a wonderful group of planning team members hammered out a lot of the details of our gathering, and I’d like to share what we came up with.

The official dates are June 8-11, 2009 at Montreat Conference Center. This is a Monday-Thursday and we are hopefully going to have a “Sabbath package.” This will allow you to stay in your room at Montreat for a couple more days at a discounted rate to enjoy some restful time.

The theme of the conference is “The power at work within us,” which is taken from our passage that we are shaping the week around: Ephesians 3:16-21. And here is our descriptive paragraph which will go in the Montreat catalog.

As young clergy under forty, we are leaders in the church, yet we are younger than the average Presbyterian. We may be online, energized, underpaid, frustrated, creative, isolated, prophetic, weary, traditional, misunderstood, innovative, disillusioned, postmodern, hopeful, or all of the above. Connect with a community of young clergy for spiritual renewal, mutual encouragement, relevant workshops, and worship you don’t have to lead. We pray that we “may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:19)

We are in the process of confirming our worship and workshop leaders right now, so stay tuned for more details!

Meme courtesy of Jim.

* in about 25 words each, answer the following five questions;
* tag five presbyterian bloggers and send them a note to let them know they were tagged;
* be sure to link or send a trackback to this post;

1. What is your earliest memory of being distinctly Presbyterian?

Being the only one to vote “no” in an annual congregational meeting just to be a difficult teenager.

2. On what issue/question should the PC(USA) spend LESS energy and time?

Homosexulaity.  It’s past time to admit God has no problem with two people who are in love no matter what sex they are, and move on.

3. On what issue/question should the PC(USA) spend MORE energy and time?

The sin of greed and over-consumption.  While millions have no home how many Presbyterians own two?

4. If you could have the PC(USA) focus on one passage of scripture for an entire year, what would it be?

Jeremiah 29:4-7.  God’s command to the Israelites in exile to give up some of their old ways and adapt to and embrace the world around them.

5. If the PC(USA) were an animal what would it be and why?

A deer that used to live in the country but has had the city grow around it and now is struggling to adapt and survive.

Here is who I tag, knowing that Presbyblogging is so incestuous that half of them have probably been tagged already: Discipline for Justice, A Church for Starving Artists, A Wee Blether, Mark Time, Quotidian Grace.

SECRET: I’m not a driven perfectionist.

It’s true. I don’t slave away hour after hour, making sure every last project or task I have is perfect in every detail. That’s just not me. I’m much more of a big picture/idea person. Fortunately, I have just enough skill, luck and connections that my ideas sometimes get off the ground and fly! The funny thing is that my ideas often work out not because I do them better than other people, but rather because I do them first.

The best example is “Decently and In Order,” the Presbyterian podcast and news site that I created and now co-host with several other friends and colleagues. If you’ve listened to the podcast you know that we aren’t the most-informed or well-spoken people out there about Presbyterian happenings. Our audio quality is good, but not great, and we are always talking about things we hope to do with the podcast but we never quite get around to doing them.

The news site is similar. The current graphic look of the website is ugly, but I don’t have the tech know-how to make it what I want. There are also certain functional things that would be great to add to the website, but once again, I just don’t have the skills to do it.

But even given these deficiencies, because I was the first to create a Presbyterian podcast and news site, it worked! There are a several hundred people that listen to the podcast and use the news website. Now, I’m not saying that what we do totally sucks, in fact I’m pretty proud of DAIO and our community. What I’m saying is that someone could do it better than we do.

Another example. I’ve recently started a World of Warcraft podcast called “How I WoW.” We released the first episode last Thursday and have had over 600 downloads since then. Mostly because of my involvement and connections with another podcast called “The Instance”, and because we are taking a different approach than any other WoW podcast out there. My involvement with “The Instance” was once again a matter of being one of the first people to do something. I created a weekly audio segment and submitted it to their show, and at the time they only had one other weekly audio segment and so I made it on to the show as a weekly contributor. I was certainly not the best or most knowledgable person to do that segment, but I was one of the first.

One more example. I’m the director for Alt7, which is a revival of the 7% Event that the PC(USA) used to do. How did I become the director? Was it because I was the most qualified person? Heck, no! I simply had the idea that the conference should happen again and I started a Facebook group to see if people were interested. I was the first person to work with this idea and now I’m in charge (don’t worry, I’ve surrounded myself with very talented people).

Now, because I was the first to do these things and turn out an adequate product, I’m getting a reputation as a well-known Presbygeek. This has lead to co-writing an article for the Outlook, and speaking about Web 2.0 at an upcoming Presbyterian Communicators Conference.

So what can we learn from all this?

1) Don’t be afraid to try something new! Especially if no one else is doing it.

2) The internet enables people with niche ideas to reach the people in that niche. This is the Long Tail that churches would do well to learn about. We don’t need to be all things to all people and try to compete with the mega-church down the street (or even with the flagship church of the Presbytery).

3) Communities make ideas happen. None of the stuff that I do would be successful without a supportive and interactive community.

So now my secret is out. I’m a slacker and the only reason I’ve had any success in my projects is because I’ve been first. Ok, hopefully I’ve done some good work as well. But it never hurts to be first.