on of the joys of being at the simply youth ministry is the commitment to a sense of “fun” or “play”. either are critical to engaging the audience. each night there was some form of “play” that takes place. take the international sporting event. not sure there was any real way to lose this. and watching the crowd engage was a lot of fun see the quick shot of mark novelli and mark riddle (1:23) all part of being healthy emotionally…just one of the many take aways at symc. so cool when permission is given and craziness encouraged!
this reminded me of a post i did featuring a video of the legendary Bobby McFerrin illustrating the power of the pentatonic scale (and expectations, etc.) not by sitting and talking about it, but by standing up and getting the audience involved here.
one the highlights at symc was the performance by the band GUNGOR. i’m not sure how to describe the whole experience. the music was amazing and moving. mark riddle posted on twitter:
This evening at #SYMC w Gungor is both a singular, one of a kind experience & the glimpse into the future of church/conferences.
i think mark is dead on. there was something…not sure what…quite yet. there was an opportunity the next morning to hear michael gungor share his thoughts on the theology of creativity. michael walked back through his story and journey from a successful ministry in a local church to leaving that all behind and pushing into what he called leaning into love and not fear. the reality that God is making all things new drives michael and what the gungor band is now doing. he reminded that at one time the cathedrals in europe were “cutting edge” and that all art has been driven by the Church over the years.
one interesting observation was how after leaving a local church, michael moved to denver and there started doing life with others in a new way. this newest work of the gungor band is the result of “doing life together” as a community. out of he and his friend’s sharing each others lives comes a sound and a voice that is truly going to change things. he encouraged that we shouldn’t let fear bottle us up. fear is the biggest enemy of creativity for the Kingdom. we must risk – making all things new. the world needs the beauty of the Church to usher in the Kingdom to impact the broken-hearted. one of the last questions michael made was: what has God placed in your hand to be creative with…as a mom doing Kingdom work or a pastor in the church?
welcome to the blog of tom roepke. follower of Jesus. husband to melinda. father to sarah, jedidiah and emmah. pastor of student ministries at new hope community church. much like my friend, samwise, i am just trying to find my place in the Story.
