Posted by Chris on Feb 8, 2010 in
Church 
The Verge Conference ended with a rally. Local boy John Burke led off by saying “if the formerly unchurched are not leading the church, the church is dying.” Compared to some of the cutting edge thinkers that show up at these conferences, John’s methods may seem a little bit traditional. However, the fruit, Gateway Church, fits his description perfectly. All talk of missional-ness doesn’t really matter if you don’t have the fruit.
Jeff Vanderstelt said what should be obvious: do life the way you do normally, just with gospel intentionality. It’s not that tough. Hang out with your friends-including those who don’t know Christ. Dave Gibbons suggested that we walk through crowds slowly, seeing the blessing of God on each person.
Francis Chan ended the conference by marching through each book of the New Testament, showing how pain and persecution are unavoidable when living a missional life. Having accidentally stumbled into more than one fox holes, I know this to be very true. I just hope that the people of Christ represented at Verge are ready for the pain, because the world needs us.
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Tags: Alan Hirsch, Austin, Dave Gibbons, Francis Chan, Jeff Vanderstelt, John Burke, Matt Carter, Missional, missional church, Missional Communities, Verge 2010
Posted by Chris on Oct 29, 2009 in
Culture,
Life If I could pick one thing I love about Austin, it’s probably a sense of variety that I find missing in so many places I’ve been too. In a day and age when you can go to the same strip mall in Minnesota and Florida, there’s less and less that makes places or moments special. Not too long ago I sat in a coffee house while a talented singer/songwriter warned me about his army of kittens. The next week before I saw a 12 piece chamber orchestra of high schoolers playing folk rock. More recently, I went swing dancing, where the live band included a guy that looked like ZZ Top, a young immigrant playing brushes on the drums, and a girl with a sultry alto singing and playing violin.
In a world that looks all the same, I find myself searching for things that are different, even if they aren’t great. I’ll take a quirky indie flick without a plot over a tired special effects extravangza, even if the indie movie is going to leave me bored and scratching my head. Here in Austin, there always seems to be variety, but you don’t have to sacrifice quality to get it.
This is the point where I usually make some cultural or spiritual comment based on my earlier observation. But all I really want to say is: I love this city. Now I think I’m going to get out and enjoy it.
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Tags: Austin
Posted by Chris on Sep 18, 2009 in
Church,
Life
I’m looking for a Church. My goal is to find a place where I can serve under a great leadership with a great vision, be a part of a community making a difference in the lives of the lost and hurting in Austin, and make some great friends with people in my life stage. Over the next two and a half months, I’m hoping to visit a number of Churches and share my reflections on them. The purpose of this is to 1) help me as I unpack the experience, and 2) help my readers be more aware of what God is up to in the city.
A few caveats: First, I’m going to keep things positive. This is not a review or a critique. I leave that up to guys like John the Revelator. Second, I will be unapologetically sharing things from my point of view. I’m a single guy in his 20s, passionate about missional living, serving the poor, and reaching the unreached. Although I won’t be “grading” the churches reviewed here, it will be hard not to note how they’re doing on those categories. Because I’m passionate about church planting, don’t be suprised to see more new plants and church-planting-churches than established churches.
For my readers in Austin, I hope that you find this informative. For those abroad, I hope you’ll learn a little bit about what God is up to and what guys like me are looking for in a Church.
The Churches I’ve already visited and will be sharing about include:
-Austin City Life
-Austin New Church
-Austin Stone Community Church
-Church Under the Bridge
-First Baptist of Austin
-Gateway Church
-Vox Veniae
-Westover Hills Church of Christ
If you would like for me to visit and share about your church, just drop me an email at chrismorton82@gmail.com.
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Tags: Austin, Austin Church Search
Posted by Chris on May 1, 2009 in
Church 
I spent the first half of the week serving Land of a Thousand Hills coffee to participants in the third ever Q Conference. I’ve been to all three, and plan on going next year.
I love Q because it asks questions and it offers solutions. This years 18 minute talks ranged from the neccessity of nuclear disarmament to the spiritual implications of the cell phone. Sometimes Q is groundbreaking (helping get TOMS Shoes off the ground) and sometimes it is controversial (this year’s interview with Ted and Gayle Haggard.) But it always forces me to think.
Although I love the content, that’s not the most powerful part of Q. It’s the participants. It seems like all of them are starting a non-profit or designing t-shirts that save lives in Uganda. It’s a bit overwhelming, and it’s easy to start thinking, “look how I’ve wasted my life!”
When I mentioned this to a new acquaintance named Jena over dinner, she said to me, “Don’t feel bad. Feel inspired.”
And I do.
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Tags: Austin, Fermi Project, Gabe Lyons, Land of a Thousand Hills, Q, social justice, TOMS Shoes
Posted by Chris on Mar 19, 2009 in
Church,
Culture 
Every spring, tens of thousands of the world’s most creative mindsdescend on Austin, Texas for South By South West. The event includes over 400 indie bands, an interactive media conference and a film festival.
The first time I experienced this artistic pilgrimage, I wondered where all the churches were. My answer came on Friday night from a suited street preacher yelling for repentance.
Conversations such as the Q Conference, have shown that the Church’s role in a post-christendom culture must be to create culture that is more relevant, beautiful and creative as what the lost world has to offer. This is a far cry from Christian creative movement of the last few decades, focused on creating cheap knock-offs of secular culture.
The same day I encountered the street preacher, a nice guy from a music label gave me some free pizza and beer. He didn’t yell at me, explaining why his label was so much better than all the others. He just served me.
Every year, the artists who will shape the music, media and movies of the future come together for SXSW. What if Austin’s churches made it their goal to minister to the creators of tomorrow?
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Tags: Austin, Church, Creating Culture, indie music, South By South West, SXSW
The Verge Conference ended with a rally. Local boy John Burke led off by saying “if the formerly unchurched are not leading the church, the church is dying.” Compared to some of the cutting edge thinkers that show up at these conferences, John’s methods may seem a little bit traditional. However, the fruit, Gateway Church, fits his description perfectly. All talk of missional-ness doesn’t really matter if you don’t have the fruit.