jonnybaker

posterous to close

well the writing has been on the wall since twitter bought posterous but it all ends on april 30. this is a shame as their blogging was so neat and simple - i persuaded several people to start blogging with posterous and have used it for the ealing photography group blog... 

the narky nazarene

andrew brimms has published another free book. you may (or may not) remember i blogged about his last one unintended consequences. it's called the narky nazarene and is by andrew and nat. it's a similar style - cheeky, provocative and really good! i assume it was compiled over time as a series of discreet reflections on jesus and what it might mean to follow him. the image above is one, or another page simply says -

downward mobility: he came down from heaven to earth - what's your next move?

it's simple, honest and direct. for me it captures something of jesus the prophet which is an edge that sometimes goes missing as the church prefers jesus the king or jesus the priest. there's a link from andrew's site to download it for kindle. i don't have a kindle so asked andrew to send me a pdf which he kindly did. on a second glance i think it may not be free now - it could be the bargain of 75p. either way it's worth getting...

refresh

every year i like looking back through blog posts and photos - it reminds me some of the year gone by. i have updated the recycled section on the right hand side to 20 posts from 2012 that i like. here they are...

• 5 things i've learned
• changing britain is still simple really!
• may you...
• pioneer training annual report 
• two gulls
• wake up!
• GOLD!
• bradley wiggins has won the tour de france - wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• wonderful
• world champion slam poet - harry baker!
• all togged up off for tea with the queen
• finally!
• the way
• found and lost
• ten years blogging
• stations on skin
• new proost web site launched!
• how to blaze a trail
• on poets and prophets
• it's a yes - approval given for cms training pioneer ordinands

i also then got into relooking at the blog and have tried to refresh a few of the pages, created a new header (may take a few refreshes to find), but it's basically still the same... i was sad to say goodbye to the another world is possible header from 2012's blog header but i like a change each year. the main challenge will be finding time to blog as ever.

we are all unequal

jeremy woodham, a friend and colleague at cms, is also a bit of a wordsmith and poet. he is a member of the lounge, a small christian community in ealing, and was a member of vaux back in the day. he let slip yesterday that he has been quietly starting a blog - take back the poetry. there are already some wonderful pieces on there. it really is good! i love this piece we are all unequal and am adding it to the worship tricks series - no 30 series 4, but do go and have a scout round and add it to your reader. i'll definitely be revisiting. try supper stories and lord's prayer for example...

We come together

because things are not right
because we don’t know what to make of the world
because we are bewildered
because we need shelter

We come together

because peace has not come
because your kingdom is a long time coming
because your will is hardly clear
and yet brutally clear
because we are threatened on all sides
because we have lost our way

We come together

because we notice the gap
between who we know we are
and who we want to be
and we feel giddy on its edge

We come together

because Jesus said, Come to me and I will give you rest
I will give you living water for your soul
I am the bread of life
because Jesus turned on the crowds
and had compassion on them
that wanted to be fed

We come together

to set the stage
to act as if it might be true
that we are loved
to love each other
to treat each other fairly
to see each other for who we really are
to allow others to see who we really are
with no shame and no fear

for we are all unequal
we are all disabled
we are all addicted
we are all dying

We come to pretend

that what we dream for tomorrow is true for today
that we live in a strange kingdom
where nobody is standard
nobody is predictable
nobody is average
nobody is unacceptable
nobody is judged
and nobody is judging themselves

where advertising does not standardise our dreams*
where our view is only filtered through God’s eyes

where instead of punishing each other for our own failings
we act with justice
love with mercy
and walk humbly with each other
and with our God

receiving blog posts via e-mail

i have had a couple of requests recently from blog readers who would like to be able to receive new blog posts via e-mail. so i have scouted around and found a way to add that option in. scroll down the right hand side bar and you will see the option there...

mark berry is back blogging and has started a new role as cms community facilitator

i've been so busy i forgot to blog this news... mark berry is now working with cms as the community mission facilitator which is exciting. cms has been a religious community for a couple of years now and it will be mark who helps us work out what that means, how to live it out and fuel a life of mission. he is creative, a pioneer, loves community, and is definitely someone who is future facing. he was always a really good blogger - i often linked to posts of his so it's good to see he has decided to re-emerge in the blogosphere

he's still in telford, and the community safespace will keep going and no doubt shift its pattern of leadership somewhat

church as network

i was asked to write a guest post for boats without oars, a blog run by someone i met in austin earlier this year. he asked if i could come up with something using a metaphor for church so church as network is the result which is a reworking of a couple of posts from my series riffing on clay shirky's here comes everybody...

ten years blogging today!

today i have been blogging for a decade! i started because andrew jones persauded me - i didn't really know quite why or what the point was at the time but it has been a wonderful adventure.so happy blogiversary to me! i confess i don't know how to celebrate but i will be drinking a chimay in the new inn in ealing tonight whilst watching chelsea v barcelona - so come and share a drink with me there if you are a blog reader nearby or alternatively pour yourself a glass at your computer - and virtually cheers!

anyway a massive THANK YOU to any of you who have 

• read posts 
• commented
• looked at my photos
• joined in conversation
• followed on facebook
• followed on twitter
• linked
• retweeted
• argued
• been inspired
• been annoyed
• been made to think
• found hope
• smiled
• developed ideas
• used or indeed given a worship trick
• connected
• become friends
• shared the journey

my first ever blog entry is here - scroll to the bottom of the page

ancient history - remember that blogger template and dial up?! there were about 10 of us blogging then...

here's ten blogging experiences over the years - anyone else recognise these?!

1. being at a meal with people and all your conversation is old hat because people have read it on your blog - 'you got any new conversation?!'
2. looking at everything in the world as a possible blog entry
3. being invited to other countries through people who know you through your blog (usa, canada, denmark, norway, france, australia...)
4. making wonderful friends - is there a name for meeting someone online and then in bodily form?
5. blogging anywhere
6. realising your wife can steal your thunder any time she likes -  jenny did one blog post for me which became the one with most comments i had ever had and subsequently started a wonderful blog herself which won a blog award while i came runner up - she must increase, i must decrease…
7. composing a blog post and in your head imagining the world's astonishment at your insights, posting it and waiting for the comments and there being total silence
8. posting a trivial link and the conversation takes off and you wonder why bother with depth or originality?!
9. blogging something too quickly out of a hot head and regretting it
10. wondering if there is actually anyone out there at all

it was actually blogging that got me into photography again as i wanted to be able to post images to the blog so that's also been a great spin off...

anyway it's a habit i can't seem to shake off so here's to the next decade of the stream of consciousness i will no doubt inflict on the world - a mix of stuff that randomly flows between personal, family, mission, culture, faith, art, photography, the zeitgeist, creativity, pioneering, book reviews, music, proost, links and whatever else springs to mind!

update: i am highly honoured to have had an asbojesus cartoon drawn to celebrate this momentus occasion - thought i'd add it in to the post here...

imagination, creativity and mission - interview on churchnext.tv

chris yaw contacted me a month or so back and asked if he could interview me for churchnext.tv via skype. we explored imagination, creativity and mission. the interview has just been posted. i've not met chris but he is buidling up quite a collection of interviews around mission, church, culture and so on on churchnext

stories of empowerment

sophia network are currently running a good series of stories of empowerment

shannon hopkins making an impact

congrats to shannon on being in the 100 unseen powerful women who change the world list over at one world action's blog - i guess that makes her seen now?!

being a pioneer

andrea campanale who has started what i think is an excellent blog is a student on the cms pioneer mission leadership training. she is blogging a series on being a pioneer. so far two parts - seeing is believing and thinking creatively. don't comment here - go over and leave her a comment...

the very worst missionary

jamie the very worst missionary looks like a great blog - a friend pointed it out to me recently [ht martin]. it's delivered in a ranting kind of style but there's a stack of wisdom and good issues being addressed and a lot of conversation in the comments. see for example this guest piece on short term missions and why she prays people would have an absolute disaster.

blogging for beginners

i did two training sessions this week on blogging. there were quite a few people there interested in starting a blog who were not interested in getting too techy or anything. the first session was terrible in that i couldn't get online for the only time the whole week. but in the second we started a blog on blogging for beginners and it occured to me that if i tidied it up it might be useful for other people and might be something for the first group to make up for the rubbish session i led! it is and will remain only ten posts in total - i don't intend to expand upon it. and it's also just on setting up a posterous blog and nothing else. and it's aimed at people with not too much tech knowledge. anyway it's here

blogging4beginners

sacredspace

my friend andrea has started blogging at sacredspace. definitely one to follow...

in her latest post she throws down a challenge to new communities to express things in song, which she has found lacking.

she has also dreamed of lobbing grenades at night to blow up all the church buildings!

and wondered if we need a new kind of leader, along with a bundle of other stuff...

 

curation conversations

cheryl lawrie is setting up an online community to share learning about curating. the idea is this...

I think the group would do the following:
-

commit to a ‘program’ of regular reading and reflection on books, articles, videos etc

be involved with intentional conversations exploring how transformation happens in public spaces, focussed around questions like this:
 what kind of events create spaces where transformation might happen
? what kind of transformation can ‘art’ effect? 
how does transformation happen?

share practical ideas and wisdom, building up a database of knowledge

The intention of the group would be to have fun, to network people with the intention of collaborations, shared imagination, action / reflection, and to create a bank of wisdom and resources

clayfire curator is another new online space focused on curation and worship - this time a US based one coming out of the evangelical lutheran church. i actually know very little about this one but thought it worth giving it a shout out... mark pierson, the godfather of curating in relation to worship (who has a book out the art of curating worship which i haven't got round to getting yet) is going to be blogging on that space for 12 weeks.

curating worship - seems like an idea whose time has come!

asbojesus gets a new look...

remarkably jon birch is heading towards 1000 cartoons on asbojesus - the site has had a makeover...

the best of...

i had a read through my blog for 2010 yesterday - i find it helps me remember much like a diary some of the things i have done. it was actually a quite wonderful year! in the spirit of last year's looking back here's looking back over 2010.

new experience - jumping out of a plane

film - the illusionist

album - heligoland

book - urban interventions and cave refectory road

exhibition - brighton biennial

grace - do be and landskapes

television - luther

gig - massive attack at hammersmith

theatre - jesus hopped the a train

sport - chelsea regain premiership

travel - first visit to italy

inspiring new person - martin parr (i didn't meet him in person but heard him speak at the brighton biennial)

work moment - beginning the pioneer leadership training

harry moment - the big chill moment (and of course his amazing poetry achievements)

joel moment - launching own club night in london pipedown (and breaking a collar bone)

jen moment - drinking a belgian ale together in brussels in mort subite

change - no longer having any children at school

web tool - posterous groups

photo - the look

magazine - generate

change - joined the new cms community

surprise - was an international artist

writing - curating worship

photography commission - cambridge college prospectus

prompts

One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

this is one of the prompts from reverb10 - a question each day through the month of december to reflect on looking back and looking forward [thanks jen for the link]

 

why i will never buy ugg or nike shoes in my life

because i am sick of spam in comments on my blog! it seems to all be trying to link people to nike and ugg shoes - i am never buying a pair of either in my life... spam is counter productive - i realise i am wasting my breath but hey...

i have had so much spam in the last few weeks that i have switched to approving comments - i am sorry about this as it feels one step removed from immediate conversation - like you are being filtered (which you are) but at the moment i don't have a lot of choice.