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.

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?

I just got done doing an interview having a fun conversation with Felicia Day for my podcast HowIWow. It’s very weird how podcasting and World of Warcraft have influenced my life. Yes, I’m still a Presbyterian minister, but now I’m a Presbyterian minister who spent an hour and a half chatting with a guy from Paris and a talented and geeky gamer-girl/vampire slayer (who helped Buffy save the world).

Patrick and I had a blast talking with Felicia. It felt like we could have gone on laughing and talking for hours. Maybe Felicia was just being gracious and couldn’t wait to get off of Skype with us, but I don’t think so. She was uber-cool, way funny, had all sorts of interesting stuff to talk about, and was super nice! I’m really looking forward to seeing her in Joss Whedon’s new web musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog.

Right now Felicia is mad-popular for creating and starring in The Guild. I’ve embedded the first episode below, although I’m not sure how it will play to all you non-gamers out there, you may want to watch Felicia in her Cheetos commercial instead.

It’s no secret that I am not an Apple fanboy, but I’m not really a hater, either.  I’ll admit they have some superior products, but you also pay a price for those products.  The last time I was in the market for a laptop and a desktop, I really wanted to go Mac but to get the specs I wanted was $1000 more on a Mac vs. a PC.  If you want an IPhone you have to hack it or be locked to AT&T who helps your government spy on you.  If you want to use ITunes you have to buy an IPod (that’s something Micro$oft would do).

So I share with you and Interesting article from Wired magazine about Apple, Steve Jobs and the “evil” business practices used by this “user-friendly” company.

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.

I came to a realization this morning.  I don’t really buy software for my computer anymore.  I have several CD portfolios that hold software and video games that I’ve bought over the year, but I haven’t added a new CD to those portfolios in quite a number of months.  Best Buy is still a frequent hangout of mine, but I can’t remember the last time I bought an actual software package from there.

There are probably several reasons for this.

1) I’m content with the productivity software I have.  My copy of Microsoft Office is from 5 or 6 years ago, but it works just fine.    I’m guessing the newer versions have stuff that I might find helpful, but MS Office does everything I want it to, so I haven’t felt the need to buy the newer version.

2) Online Applications.  I used to use MS Outlook constantly.  It was how I checked my email and where I had my calendar.  But I got tired of having it only at work, or trying to keep it synced between home and work, so I switched to Gmail and Google Calendar.  Switching to Gmail was the best thing I ever did for a number of reasons.  Gmail is now my official file cabinet.  If I went to have something accessible I just email it to myself and archive it.  Now, I’ve got thousands of emails that are simply a Google search away.

I haven’t fully switched to online word processors or spreadsheets, but I do use them if I want to share data or need something that will be accessible to me from different places.  Mint is another website that is quickly replacing Quicken for me.
3) Open Source Software.  I use Firefox, OpenOffice, GIMP, Filezilla and a host of other open source (free) programs.  So many of the programs I would have bought before, now I can get an alternative that is free and just as good, if not better.

Switching to online applications or open source software isn’t just about saving money.  The spam control in Gmail is incredible.  I have 5-10 different email addresses that I route into my Gmail account, a couple of them very public and widespread.  I should be getting dozens of spam emails a day, but instead I get one a week.  Maybe.  Firefox is a web browser that is superior to Internet Explorer in so many ways, but especially in terms of security (viruses, trojan horses, keyloggers, etc.).

So what does all this have to do with the church?  Well, a number of people are no longer going to the big professional software establishments, and instead they are exploring small collaborative efforts, creative new ways of doing software, and sometimes creating their own without the benefit of the traditional ways of doing software.  Sound familiar?

We are moving into a time where church is not just going to come from one source in the traditional ways.  We can’t expect that people will automatically flock to the big church on the corner where helpful ministers are waiting to assist you with your life.  People are creating their own faith communities and house churches, other groups are forming larger churches that are very different from the old models.  Other people are forming networks of Christians that don’t appear to be church as we know it at all, but function as church in their lives.

I’ve noticed over the last couple years that software sections in stores seem to be shrinking.  It looks like the stores are noticing the trends and adjusting accordingly.

I wonder if the church will do the same.

I was sent this link (thanks, Kate!) to a NY Times article about the passing of Gary Gygax, who was the creator of Dungeons and Dragons.  If you read this article, and check out the full version of the flowchart to the side of the article, then you may be a step closer to grokking me.

Besides recognizing myself in this article and flowchart a couple dozen times, I was intrigued by the comparison of Facebook/social networking/the internet to D&D.  I think there is a big dose of truth in that comparison.  Your character sheet in D&D is your statistics (strength, intelligence, charisma, moral alignment,  etc.), your equipment for taking on the world, and what you know, have learned or where you came from.  So what’s on a Facebook Profile?

• Your statistics - your favorite movies, books, music, and TV shows.   These definitely show your intelligence and charisma, don’t they?
• Your causes, groups, candidates - Moral alignment anyone?
• Applications, status, games - sounds like equipment for taking on the world and your backstory.

Through Facebook, blogs and other intertube destinations aren’t we creating a persona or character of sorts?  Hopefully, it’s based on real life but…

I’m a geek, and my wife and son have geekish tendencies too. At Christmas, the geek in me manifests itself in some scary ways. My favorite Christmas album is The Jackson 5 Christmas Album, which I intersperse with mashups from the various Santastic albums. I also have this creepy singing Christmas trees with green glowing bulbous eyes. But the way I know that my wife really loves me, is that she lets me hand my Star Trek ornaments on our Christmas tree.

I have almost all of the Hallmark Star Trek Keepsake ornaments. These are a series of spaceships (the orginal Enterpreise, Enterprise-D, Voyager, a Borg Cube, etc.) They hang on the tree and plug into the Christmas lights so that they light up and talk. You haven’t had a Merry Christmas until the Borg wish you a happy holidays and tell you that “resistance is futile.” So each year I choose six of my favorites and put them on the tree.

Our son, Ben will turn three really soon and he is now old enough to be pretty interested in spaceships. He thinks my Star Trek ornaments are pretty darn cool. So he helped me choose which ones go on the tree this year. His first choice was the Enterprise-D from Star Trek:The Next Generation, which is a good geek choice. TNG ushered in a new era of geekdom, and I think it is entirely possible that we wouldn’t have the new Battlestar Galactica without Picard and that Shatner-wannabe Riker.

It’s moments like these that make me so proud of my little geeklet.

I’m a geek, and I proudly identify with these geek definitions from Wikipedia:

A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia (a love of novelty and new things). Most geeks are adept with computers and treat “hacker” as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves.

A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest.

My geekiness manifests itself in a number of ways. My fiction reading is 99% exclusive to fantasy and science-ficiton. If it doesn’t have dragons, wizards, robots, time travel, spaceships, lasers, or elves than chances are I haven’t read it. I’ve been playing video games since Pong. For the last two years I’ve been playing World of Warcraft (with forays into City of Heroes and Lord of the Rings Online). I blog, podcast, Facebook and was big into MUDs back in the day.

So I’m a geek, but guess what? My wife is too! We bought a new duvet cover this weekend, and when we tried it on our comforter it was just wide enough but a little too long. It fit well enough though, so we decided to keep it. After we washed and dried it we found out that the cover had shrunk so that it now fit lengthwise, but didn’t seem to be any smaller widthwise. It had magically shrunk only in the dimension that we needed it to.

Carrie: “It’s the Duvet of Requirement!”

Me: “No, it’s the One Duvet that changes in size to suit whoever wears it. Watch out for DuvetWraiths!”

It was a moment of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings geekiness that brightened my Monday morning. But not as much as this moment that took place as Carrie was trying to get our almost three year old son, Ben, ready for school.

Carrie: Ben, please listen to me. It’s time to stop playing with trains and come brush your teeth.

Ben: No!

Carrie: Ben, I need you to listen to me.

Ben: Don’t say something to me!

Carrie: Something.

Shawn: You didn’t just do that did you? How old are you?

Two things for the geek in me:

1. Tabletop Dungeons and Dragons over the internets.

2. You can buy the map from Time Bandits.