jonnybaker

greenbelt, proost and don't forget the week after...

looking forward to greenbelt this coming weekend. hope to see some of you there. our big news from proost is that the greenbelt shop is going to be stocking quite a few proost downloadable products - audio, movies and books. it's not particularly profiled on the site but the link is here. it will be great to develop this partnership and put the stuff out to gb punters, a wider and different audience. i think this will gain momentum after the festival but the infrastructure is there. it makes great sense as so many artists on proost are greenbelters doing things at the festival and it fits with the creative gb arts, faith and spirituality vibe.

as for proost ourselves lots of artists and communities will be doing stuff but we are not doing any exclusive proost events this time around. grace have a service on monday at noon in the big top which is going to be amazing - a lot of effort has been going into it! landskapes gets an airing in the hub on friday at 10pm. and i will be chairing a conversation around curating worship on sunday at 2pm.

this may seem crazy (!?) but after greenbelt we have a couple of days in oxford with dave andrews and mark yaconelli - who obviously are over for the festival. this is on the weds and thurs the week after. details below. please book in if you are coming so we know numbers for catering! details below. book online here

 

Join Dave Andrews and Mark Yaconelli in an exploration of rootsy youth and community work and radical spirituality.

Church Urban Fund, CMS and the Centre for Youth Ministry are hosting a couple of days in September at CMS House in Oxford to explore further useful ideas, thinking and practice to do with radical community and youth work. Inspiring and practical, with time to dig deeper and discover more, each day will help to equip you in the work you do. We’re really pleased to welcome Dave Andrews on Sept 1 for a day on community work, and Mark Yaconelli on Sept 2 for a day on youth work, spirituality and young people. Both Mark and Dave are well known and highly respected practitioners making rare visits to the UK.

 

1st September 10am-4pm: Growing Radical, Rooted, Distinctive Community work, Dave Andrews

This is a great opportunity to reflect on your own community work with a rootsy activist working at the grassroots. Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation.

During the day you will:

1. Explore frameworks for effective community involvement that don’t assume large numbers or funds.

2. Develop skills to encourage and mobilise others in ongoing community work.

3. Provide perspectives to keep the fire in the belly, avoid burn out and help sustain ourselves.

4. Confront questions and seek answers about work.

5. Connect with other activists and organisations involved in compassionate community work.

Dave and Ange and their family have lived and worked in intentional Christian communities with marginalised people in Asia and Australia for nearly 40 years. With their friends they started Aashiana, Sahara and Sharan - three well-known community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts and people with HIV/AIDS in India; and they are currently working alongside Aborgines, refugees and people with disabilities with the Waiters Union, an inner city community network in Brisbane Australia.

Dave is an educator for TEAR Australia and an elder for Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. He has written many books including Christi-Anarchy, Not Religion But Love, People Of Compassion and Plan Be.

 

2nd September 10am-4pm: Wonder, Fear, and Longing: Tending the Adolescent Soul, Mark Yaconelli

How do we slow young people (and ourselves) to the speed of God? How do we help young people discover their capacity for love, generosity, compassion, and kindness? How do we cultivate the heart and life of Jesus within the young people of our communities? How do we as youth workers, ministers, pastors and parents become transparent to the suffering and needs of young people without burning out? Through story, discussion, and spiritual practice Mark Yaconelli will share his experience and practical research from twenty years of ministering to the souls of young people and the youth workers who serve them.

Mark Yaconelli was the founder and director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project at San Francisco Theological Seminary which received attention across the United States for its ground-breaking integration of spiritual direction, contemplation, and ancient spiritual practices within adolescent spiritual formation programs. Mark is author of four books including Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus and most recently, Wonder, Fear, and Longing. Mark currently serves as Project Director for the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology.

You can download a pdf with the information on here. Please spread the word - e-mail it to your friends and networks. Drinks and lunch are included in the ticket price.

sweet notions

Sweet Notions from ilovepinatas on Vimeo.

sweet notions is a brilliant project and i love this video about it.

tonight at the big chill house landskapes launch - come and join us

come and join us tonight for the launch of landskapes the new grace album at the big chill house

big chill photos

festival goers, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

this year at the big chill i was on a photographer's ticket which was fun and a new experience. i've taken photos for the last few years anyway. this photo was taken for festival annual 10, commissioned by independents united. festival annual is all about the festival goers, the people who make it. lots of fancy dress and craziness all round makes for a lot of fun... this i think is my personal favourite photo out of the many i took.

i added a set of my favourite 25 to flickr. then there are around 165 of mine in this album of big chill photos on festival annual. mine begin in the middle of page 6 of the album with the photo before this one. the others were taken by jess.

highlights for me were seeing thom yorke, roy ayers playing everybody loves the sunshine and spencer tunick's shoot.

then there were the letters the big chill being rearranged | the inevitable sky lantern | a beautiful rainbow | dudey kids | massive attack of course | the beautiful illusion installation | fairies | frogs | gorillas | and other crazy outfits | bubbles and more...

fun times!

fLIP on leisure

in the swing, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

the new issue of flip magazine has just landed and is on the theme of lesiure. one of the features of the magazine is a section of individual photos on the theme. this photo which i took in scotland last summer is published in that section. if you are not a member of LIP and you're into photography (you don't actually have to live in london either) then why not join?

on a photography note, i would normally instinctively make the horizon line straight or correct it afterwards. but in this photo it takes away something as soon as you do that. i much prefer it slanted. i guess rules are always there to be broken...

curating worship to get published in usa

good news - got an e-mail from the publisher of curating worship today to say that church publishing in the usa will be publishing curating worship stateside - yay! no idea when...

build your own prayer stool - worship trick 93

steve taylor's built his own prayer stool and shows you how - worthy of a worship trick - number 93 series 3...

exciting news - grace landskapes launch at the big chill house on august 20th

 

join us in the snug at the big chill house on friday august 20th for the launch party of landskapes, the new grace cd. the room has its own bar, sound system and projections. it should be a cracking evening. the room will hold about 150 people max. we want to pack the place. spread the word, forward the invite to friends, and note if you arrive after 10pm you'll have to pay.

curating worship - new book!

it was exciting this week when curating worship landed on my doormat! it's not technically out until august 19 so it was something of a surprise. if you order through amazon they won't issue it until then. but i have got a load of copies so if you want one soon you can order it through proost (of course!) or me direct. i'll organise a book launch in due course but it will probably have to be after greenbelt.

those of you that follow the blog may already know the back story here. but in case not, curation is a term usually used in the art world for the role of imagining and overseeing an exhibition or installation in a gallery or museum. but it has been picked up and used as a different way of thinking about leading worship in alternative worship circles for about ten years. it is pretty much universally agreed that this started with mark pierson and it certainly first appeared in print in the prodigal project. what's good about it is that it gives a very different model and way of thinking to the worship band leader or the president - not that those are bad - they are simply a different genre.

just over a year ago i was early for a wedding and visited an art gallery while waiting and picked up a couple of books on curating. inevitably a few blog posts followed. one of those books was a series of interviews with curators by hans obrist. i thought it was a great idea and began via e-mail some conversations with people who have inspired me, to try and get into the creative processes involved in curating. it was quickly very interesting. so i floated the idea to a publisher and to my amazement they instantly said they'd love to do it (thanks alison!) and in less than a year from that conversation (august last year) the book is out. it feels like it has happened by accident!

it's in two parts. part one is some reflections of mine expanding on some of the ideas in the blog posts on what is involved in curating - see [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] . then the second and main section is a series of twelve interviews. i hope it's helpful to anyone working creatively in putting together worship whether in a church environment or in public space. i have found doing the interviews incredibly inspiring. thanks to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for the book.

landskapes CD - yes that's right a physical object!

a couple of months back landskapes the new grace album was released as a download. i blogged about it here. i love it - completely biased of course. i wasn't involved this time round in producing it or even writing any of the tracks. it's the labour of love of matt stevenson and others including harry and joel. it's more of a DJ'd soundtrack to grace than a collection of songs - this is truer to what you'll get if you come along - ambient, chilled, spoken word, lazy house, dnb, dub step.... 

matt has worked on getting a physical CD produced which looks great - packaged in cardboard foldout with a 12 page booklet of photos from grace. the sleeve is designed by steve collins. it's only £7.99 and you can order it from proost of course or pick one up at a grace if you ever come along. the weird thing about price is that the last grace album we did sold fro around £12.99 - how times have changed for the customer!

it's still available to buy as a download...

art school and experiential learning...

joel is just coming to the end of his first year of his visual communication/graphic design degree at chelsea college. he's loved it... this is the latest is in a series of projects that they have worked on often in small creative teams through the year. the brief was

To produce, direct, film, act in and edit a 60 second film combining a movie genre and a graphical term drawn at random from a hat.

Each film had to include three objects :
- an egg
- a ladder
- a cat

Have three lines of dialogue :
- "how much for the little one?"
- "see you next wednesday"
- "the most important thing in life is..."

and also include the word CHELSEA somewhere.

it's hilarious and looks like it went down well with the other students in the awards.

doing a project like this teaches you at least the following - creative thinking, project managing, especially within tight parameters and zero budget, working collaboratively in teams, filming and editing on a budget in a timescale, using aftereffects (programme to add in the explosions etc), and possibly more. it's also fun. all the small teams on the course had a cinema booked out, dressed up to watch the show reel on a great day out celebrating one another's efforts. the course is assessed through the portfolios of work that students keep and produce. of course it's a kind of work that is easy to assess in this sort of practical way. and there are lectures and different kinds of learning - demonstrations and lectures and so on. 

as you probably know i am developing a course around training pioneer mission leaders. what i wonder is the creative equivalent of this sort of experience of learning? has anyone done anything like this at theological college i wonder?!

lives is live

 

the opening of lives was a great evening yesterday with some wonderful photos from various members of the ealing photography group. thanks to everyone who came along. it's open until july 22 - southall isn't that far! there are a few photos of the opening here... 

lives - photo exhibition

the ealing group of london independent pohotography has an exhibition starting next week. i have some photos in it that i have taken of plays put on by synergy theatre project. details below - i'd love you to come along. if you are able to make the private view next thursday we'd love to pack the place. details below...

Lives’ is an exhibition of work by local photographers from the Ealing satellite group of London Independent Photography. Each group member has taken the theme of ‘Lives’ and portrayed it in their own way, providing the audience with a fascinating insight into our multi-cultural society and diverse make up, both within our local communities and beyond. By capturing elements of our ordinary every day life, the exhibition presents the differences and similarities.

June 7 – July 22, 2010
Private View June 10th, from 6pm
Open Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat-Sun 10am-3pm

Dominion Arts Education Centre
112 The Green
Southall
Middlesex UB2 4BQ

Transport: Southall BR Station and local buses

come home

a few years back sanctuary created an installation in bath, at bath festival and then at greenbelt called come home. it was a simple idea - four rooms of a house recreeated as an installation with interactive meditative activities in each. it was very powerful at greenbelt. together with sanctuary we published it in the US in a kit format for churches as come home. well the rights have now reverted back to proost so we have made it available as a download which is much much cheaper. it's in two parts - the experience which contains leader's guide, movie loop, files to print of the various bits and pieces of instructions and so on, and come home meditations a series of audio tracks to go with the overall theme of homecoming and each of the room themes - community, confession, creativity, hosiptality. both the kit and the meditations are £6.99 each. if you subscribe to proost you can access these in the download area. [subscribing is only £60]

prezi - for a different sort of presentation

a friend [thanks martin] put me onto prezi, an online presentation piece of software. it's easier to see than explain so just go and have a look at their samples. you basically create a big map or flow chart of your presentation that you can add images and text to and group into frames. then follow the path in a linear way or click on any image or text to zoom in on that at any point. and whenever you like zoom back out to see the big picture...

i have put together one so we'll see what people think when i use it - i'll let you know in the comments next week! it makes a change anyway from keynote or powerpoint. like all these things the free version has limited storage and options but you can buy a version fairly cheaply. i'm sticking with free. it was very intuitive and easy to use.

yearn for home - communion liturgy - worship trick 87

yearn 03, originally uploaded by smallritual.

grace on saturday night went really well (as much as you can tell when you are curating). the idea for this service began in australia when i did a chapel service with steve taylor based on the story of the prodigal son. i was thinking we'd just use the same stuff but actually when we got to planning it went in a bit of a different trajectory. we explored the story particularly in relation to the older and younger brother and their perceptions of home. as you can see the set up turned the space into a home.

for those of you who like theology in the background was miroslav volf's exclusion and embrace and ken bailey's amazing work on luke 15 in poet and peasant (or whichever book it is).

also some of the inspiration or texture was added by songs/poems from padraig's hymns to swear by album which somehow fits together with the story because the the theme of exile. lines from several poems were woven into the liturgy with a confession based on the 4 lines of marantha. in that respect it was PG rated service, the first time the f word has been used in grace in liturgy, but it was entirely fitting.

the outline for the service is in the grace archive. the communion liturgy is here written by me and dean, and the blessing i wrote is below. i really encourage those of you who have not tried it to explore writing liturgy that embodies the theology and ideas you explore in worship. it's a very powerful thing. we have had several communion services over the years where we have done this and they are some of the most wonderful experiences of liturgy i have had.

there are a bundle of photos from richard, dean and steve in the grace flickr group so you can see how it looked. it's amazing how a story that we've heard so many times opens up so many layers and connects afresh with our lives. jesus was certainly a masterful storyteller. i have added this as worship trick 87 in series 3 (yes i know the list isn't fully up to date but it's on my list!). here's the blessing...

may the extravagant love of god the father
fill your hearts and minds and his embrace hold you
when you feel unworthy to be called his son or daughter

may the friendship of jesus christ your brother
rid you of any notion that you are only a slave
and you find your home in and with him in his kingdom

may the spirit of god release you
from a world of duty
so that a new joy and freedom wells up in your life

go and reconfigure the world as on order of embrace
in your friendships
in your work place
in your families
in your street
and in your churches

and the blessing of god the father, the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you always

on the subject of which...

(the subject that is of the last blog entry) i have added a few loops to vimeo - speed of light | chair | walker | tunnel vision

speed of light from jonny baker on Vimeo.

videos for worship

mark waddington has created a collection of videos for worship on vimeo. it's a group so if you have videos on vimeo and want to add them let mark know.

i can't remember if i have mentioned this before or not. i am making it worship trick 86 series 3

landscape of desire

landscape of desire from jonny baker on Vimeo.

i finally got round to looking at movies i took at the landscape of desire exhibition in adelaide and putting them into a sequence that follows the journey round...

jesus cools me down

jesus cools me down! from jonny baker on Vimeo.