Hello Tampa EV Cohort. I pray that you are all experiencing a holy Advent season. I know this time of year is crazy busy (especially so for church professionals) and I hope that in the midst of the craziness we are all able to take the time necessary to prepare our bodies, minds and spirits to celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation on Christmas. Here are couple of online resources I’ve found to be helpful in my journey. Perhaps you will find them helpful as well:
The Advent Door
The Advent Conspiracy
Pray As You Go

We’ll have our cohort meetup this Saturday morning, December 15 at Tre Amici from 10:30 to 12:30. I’ve been reading Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change and I’d like to throw some things out there for us to chew on. I know several of you have also read it or are reading it. Brian says it’s his most important book to date, and I’m inclined to agree.

A VIDEO PROJECT
Jeff Kursonis, the EV National Cohort Coordinator, has asked each cohort to shoot a little video of our gatherings for a video piece about cohorts they’re assembling for the Everything Must Change tour. I will have a video camera and microphone with me this Saturday and it would be great to have a huge turnout to show the strength of the conversation here in Florida, especially Tampa Bay.

We’ll do a group shot of everyone waving to the camera, and also some short clips of individuals sharing what they love about Emergent Village / our cohort / Emerging Church, etc. Jeff wants to show the diversity of denominations and traditions represented in EV and has asked that folks say something like, “Hi, I’m Warren. I’m a Methodist and I love Emergent Village because . . . .”

So here’s your assignment – take 10 minutes and write down a list of things you like about our cohort, the Emerging Church, Emergent Village, etc. Just something to get the thoughts flowing so you have a little something to say when the camera comes around to you.

If any of you have cameras or video recording capability on your cell phones, can you bring them with you? We’d actually like to get a variety of types of video with various cameras and the like. The idea is that these clips from all of the cohorts around the country will form a kind of patchwork video.

FEBRUARY EVENTS
We have two exciting events coming in February and we need your help. Feb 2-3 is “A Sustainable Faith” with Shane Claiborne, Frank Viola and Tim Keel, among others. The event is being put together by the St. Pete Cohort and is going to be a regional gathering for folks in the southeast. Contact Joe Esposito for more info on how you can help.

The other is Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change tour, Feb 29 - March 1. We need a strong representation from our area cohorts to be there. There will be lots of folks who aren’t familiar with Emergent Village who come to this thing. We need to get them plugged into cohorts to keep the conversation and action going after the event. We hope to be able to have cohorts started in every major metropolitan area in Florida after this event. Also, there is a blog on the EMC site specific to the stop in our area. It is dismally blank right now, and we need your input. Please take some time to comment on the blog and let folks know that there are people engaged in this conversation in our area. The local blog is here.

If you would like to help with this event, there is an organizational meeting Tuesday Dec 18 at 2 pm at FBC St Pete. I know some of you are already planning to attend the meeting For more info or to volunteer, contact Pam Sullins.

Info on both of these events is below in earlier posts.

Hope to see you Saturday. Invite a friend and don’t forget about the video!