thinXperience - jon's cstone seminars blog

Where's Cstone 2006?

2006-08-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Please check out my http://bluechristian.blogspot.com site for Cornerstone Festival 2006 coverage, such as it was, from me. Also see Mike Hertenstein's coverage of the Imaginarium and Flickerings. Others' links will be found at all three of these locations...

Cornerstone Fest FORUMS!

2005-11-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

Don't miss out on the new Cornerstone Festival Forums, live as of November 2005. Music, Film, and Seminar forums offer a great place to talk about past festivals, future festivals, and just about anything else one cares to discuss.

Come on over!

Dead Christians Society....

2005-07-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Chris Armstrong, 2005 Fest speaker and formerly editor of Christian History magazine, has his own blog, Dead Christians Society.

--edit added August 12--

Chris offered a few reflections of his festival experience in a subsequent communication:

It was a real pleasure. I hope the folks who attended my sessions got even half as much out of them as I did preparing them. The best interactions happened at the first and last sessions--and generally a few folks stayed around to chat after every session: as you say on your blog, those impromptu moments are when some of the best stuff happens.

I'm still learning how to be a good teacher--sometimes I think I do well, other times I get bummed out. So I was kind of up and down through the whole proceedings.

I did have a God-moment, though, when heading off the grounds towards the hotel for the last time at the end of the festival. A lady stopped me and said the Margery Kempe session was the most meaningful thing that had happened to her at the festival. THAT was a warm fuzzy.

Also, of course, my two older kids (Kate, 15, and Caleb, 13) and I had a ball taking in concerts, Imaginarium, etc. (perhaps you could pass on this palm branch to Mike H.: Louis Markos bursting with Film Noir love and information was a special treat--I never knew anything about the genre, and I've been taping Film Noir from the Turner Movie Channel nonstop ever since I got home!).

I did get in trouble with my wife for letting Caleb watch The Passion at the midnight showing, main stage. Too bloody, etc. But I think it was a deep experience for him not only to see the film, but to see it in the Cornerstone setting, surrounded by so many earnest & seeking Christians.

Chris notes that his seminar notes from the festival are available on his blog here:

http://deadchristianssociety.blog.com/THE+COURSES%3A+In+the+laboratory+with+the+saints/
http://deadchristianssociety.blog.com/CHARLES+M.+SHELDON/
http://deadchristianssociety.blog.com/JOHN+AMOS+COMENIUS/
http://deadchristianssociety.blog.com/JOHN+NEWTON/
http://deadchristianssociety.blog.com/MARGERY+KEMPE/

"Are Men Really Human" now online

2005-07-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

For those like Heidi who asked to see my paper, presented at Cornerstone Festival 2005's Gender Revolution Tent, it is now posted on my BlueChristian site. I may have to move to Australia.

Cornerstone Festival 2005 Pictures

2005-07-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Caveats:

1. I'm not a photographer, which will be painfully apparent as you view the below.
2. I got NO pictures of some of our great speakers, because as one of the speaker coordinators, I was either speaking or trouble-shooting for other speakers. In particular, I am very sorry I got no pictures of Bryan Stevenson, the incredible civil rights lawyer from Alabama. His seminars left some in tears, many blown away.
3. Due to being mostly in the Gender Revolution Tent (where I spoke and led a roundtable on marriage), I wasn't circulating as much as would have been ideal for photos. But I hope you enjoy the below pictures and are encouraged to come next year.

Highlights for me this year:

1. Feeling more fired-up than ever about gender equality and marital mutuality vs. the old hierarchical models.... the speakers at the Gender Revolution tent further fired my resolve.

2. The two Bri/yans... Brian McLaren and Bryan Stevenson. Outstanding people. We'll see if we can get 'em back next year.

3. Weather. We were basically treated to warm, but not oppressive, days and lots of gentle sun and breeze. Thanks, Lord.

4. Bill and Aida Spencer (he's so high-energy, she's so laid back, but they are a breathing example of marital mutuality).

5. Mimi, Chelsea, Jason, and the rest of the CBE cast are always such a pleasure to be around. Great fellowship, great shared visions and goals...

6. The Wiitala Brothers. Good stuff, but then, I'm biased.

7. Preparing my own talk on "Are Men Really Human?" It began as something I thought would be easy, but ended up being a fairly painful and difficult thing to write or speak aloud to others.

See you all next year? I hope so!

2005-07-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

C-stone Festival perennial John Perkins tells his story the last day of the festival during "Community Gathering." John's dynamism only seems to get better with age. John and Vera Mae are dearest friends to JPUSA and Cornerstone Fest.

2005-07-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

Jay Phelan, President of the Evangelical Covenant Church's flagship seminary, Northpark (Chicago), speaks on "Justice" to the Gender Revolution Tent's audience. Jay has become a close friend to JPUSA and even myself (what's he thinking?!).

2005-07-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

Kumar Swamy, of the Dalit Freedom Network, pauses for a friendly chat outside the Court of Miracles Tent. Kumar represents Inda's so-called "untouchable" population, the Dalits, who have increasingly been converting to Christianity. His seminar focused on the social bias against Dalits engendered by Hinduism, and how Christianity opens the doors for Dalits to discover their own human worth.

2005-07-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ann Varghese of Bread for the World and the ONE Campaign speaks in the "Court of Miracles" (social issues) tent. Issues of AIDS in Africa was at the top of the agenda.

2005-07-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Wendi Kaiser at July 1's "Community Gathering" tells her story of having been sexually abused, then growing up with a sense of brokenness that has taken many years to sort through. (See her http://www.askwendi.com site for more on this.)

2005-07-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Me myself and I captured in the act of Gender Revolution Tent male-bashing... well, a little bit.

2005-07-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

Forgive one gratuitous picture, but when my darling Carol Elaine snuck over for a little while to the Gender Revolution Tent from her Artrageous Tent for kids, she immediately "stole" this baby from one of the CBE couples. I got her just as she puckered up for the bemused child.

2005-07-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

After hours at the Gender Revolution Tent, things just kept going. Here are some great friends of ours doing their best to get the rest of us to quit talking to each other and enjoy the music. They were great. But we didn't stop talking, alas.

2005-07-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

In a ceremonial moment, I passed on my "Bride of Christ" T-shirt to my new friend here, a fellow speaker who's name (alas!) escapes me at the moment. Previous years, I've worn the shirt to make a point. The back says "Get in touch with your feminine side"! hehehehehe... He looks better in it than I did, I think.

2005-07-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Bill Spencer of Gordon-Conwell Seminary, one of the most joyful speakers in presentation I've heard, talks here about female equality. Annoyingly, I missed out on getting a good picture of his wife, Aida, who also teaches at Gordon-Conwell. Both of them participated in my Marriage Roundtable seminar in the Gender Revolution Tent, as well as doing their own things there and elsewhere.

2005-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Chelsea Dearmond, editor of CBE's Mutuality magazine, speaks on the Song of Solomon. (My favorite book in the Bible next to John's Gospel...)

2005-07-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

A sort of prayer totem pole rises at left, while a structure made of cardboard tubing rises center right. This year, "Burning Brush" artists did a series of art works that one had to travel around the fest grounds to find. The old plow at lower left, along with the artwork just above it, was one of the displays connected to that set of artworks.

2005-07-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

At Cornerstone, artists are everywhere, and not even the festival's garbage cans are safe!

2005-07-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Trinity College Philosophy prof Cliff Williams talks about Ernst Becker's "Denial of Death" to a tent at rapt attention.

2005-07-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Cornerstone Festival's coolest moments are often "impromptu." Here's Brian McLaren interacting with some of the folks who went to his packed seminars on post-modernism / emergent church issues. Dig the dude's dress on the right. Only at Cornerstone.

2005-07-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

Brian McLaren does his thing in Cornerstone Festival's "Community Gathering" in the Gallery Tent, July 2, 2005. Brian also did plenty of seminars, and left most of us blown away with his easy-to-work with humility.

2005-07-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Jon's favorite band (The Wiitala Brothers, made up of my sons Christopher and Trevor) plays Cornerstone.

2005-07-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Me, myself, and I in the Gender Revolution Tent, doing a sort of existential riff on maleness called "Are Men Really Human?" (I'll post the text on this some time soon.)

2005-07-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) President Mimi Haddad speaks in the Gender Revolution Tent. Five minutes with Mimi and you'll be ready to join CBE!

2005-07-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Three faces of Biblical Equality (this couple, who's names I've misplaced, participated on my marriage seminar panel in the Gender Revolution Tent.)

2005-06-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

All quite on the western front, and eastern, and... This is the Gender Revolution Tent, where yours truly does most of his damage. I'm doing a seminar, "Are Men Really Human: A Melancholy but Not Without Hope Personal Reflection on Male Sexuality." I'll soon post the document itself on Cornerstonemag.com and bluechristian.blogspot.com...

2005-06-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

One day before Cornerstone Festival 2005! This is the CstoneYou seminar tent area. Empty now... but full of active minds and hearts very, very soon!

Cliff Williams Seminars ONLINE! (Download and Print for fest!)

2005-06-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

Here are Cliff Williams' seminar notes for his talks at the upcoming Cornerstone Festival 2005. A few of the pages are not yet completed, but he will have them posted before the fest, so keep checking. You may want to download and print these:

The Wisdom of Kierkegaard I
The Wisdom of Kierkegaard II
Nietzsche for Christians
Pascal
Ernst Becker's "Denial of Death"

2005-05-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Not a Cornerstone Seminar thing exactly, but Glenn and Wendi Kaiser's new "Project12" promises to hit a lot of the same topics during a live it as you learn it "Discipleship Intensive," scheduled to begin in September 2005 at Jesus People USA. Here's their blurb on it:

Glenn & Wendi Kaiser will anchor "Project 12", a ten-month JPUSA-based Christian Discipleship Intensive in Chicago. Project 12 is a response to the challenges of 21st century issues blending Bible courses, community/relationship training, interactive mentoring, and mission experience with an overall dollop of the arts crowning the entire year. Launch date: Sept. 15, '05. For more information email: Info@project12.us

"Life of the Mind" Tent Schedule

2005-04-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

Life of the Mind Tent - Cornerstone Festival 2005

Okay, here's the schedule and blurbs from the festival brochure regarding the "Life of the Mind" tent. Brian Mclaren of emergent / post-modern fame is part of the line up...

	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
9 – 9:50 am	Community Gathering (Gallery)	Community Gathering (Gallery)	Community Gathering (Gallery)
10 - 10:50 am	Evangelism in the Emerging Culture: Brian McLaren	Evangelism in the Emerging Culture: McLaren	Evangelism in the Emerging Culture: McLaren
11 am - Noon	Four Deep, Becker's "Denial of Death": Williamson	Four Deep, Nietzsche: Williamson	Four Deep, Pascal's "Pensees": Williamson
1 - 1:50 pm	Beyond Absolutism, Pluralism, Relativism: Brian McLaren	Beyond Absolutism, Pluralism, Relativism: McLaren	Beyond Absolutism, Pluralism, Relativism: McLaren
2 - 2:50 pm	Four Deep, Kierkegaard I: Williamson	Four Deep, Kierkegaard II: Williamson	TBA or none
3 - 3:50 pm	Addictions (Affairs of the Heart): Sharon Hersh	Addictions (Wine & Kisses): Hersh	Addictions (Christ & the Spiderman): Hersh
4 - 4:50 pm	Ten Years with the Philistines: Baker / Hersh	Ten Years with the Philistines: Baker / Hersh	TBA or none

Where's your head?! Explore the roots of post-modernism and the West's denial of death. Investigate evangelism in our emerging culture. Go spelunking in Scripture. Discover how addictions make war on the mind and heart. Meet Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Pascal. Have a thinxperience!

More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism in the Emerging Culture (Brian McLaren, 3 sessions): Based on Brian's best-selling book, this seminar uses a real-life email conversation to help people understand the questions, objections, fears, and needs of people in the emerging culture. Beyond Absolutism, Pluralism, and Relativism (Brian McLaren, 3 sessions) Many people use terms like "absolute truth" and "objective knowledge" without understanding the social, historical, philosophical story behind them. This presentation explores positive ways to talk about Christian truth-claims, morality, and values in our current context - by understanding why secular and religious people think the way they do.

Brian McLaren is as eclectic as post-modern culture; musician, writer, and founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church (Spencerville,Maryland), he speaks nationally on "emerging" culture and related issues. His writing includes the award-winning books Finding Faith and A New Kind of Christian. His latest book is A Generous Orthdoxy.

Four Deep: (Cliff Williams, 5 sessions): Ernest Becker confronts the western mind's Denial of Death, while Nietzsche plants dynamite beneath its foundations. Blaise Pascal's enigmatic Pensees offers clues toward faith, while Soren Kierkegaard points to a purity of heart. Sample these astonishing and controversial voices, all still speaking to us today.

Cliff Williams teaches philosophy at Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois. He authored The Life of the Mind: A Christian Perspective and Singleness of Heart: Restoring the Divided Soul. When he is not reading Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, he hikes in the mountains, goes caving, and hobnobs with hoboes.

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places (Sharon Hersh, 6 sessions): This seminar will examine addictions -- any relationship, behavior, ideology, or experience that replaces God as central in our lives. In the 3 pm sessions we will look at Affairs of the Heart, Wine & Kisses, and the Passion of the Christ and the Passion of the Spiderman. The 4 pm sessions will feature the experience, strength, and hope of James Baker (Sharon's brother), former lead singer of Rorschach Test. He will talk about his Ten Years with the Philistines.

Sharon Hersh is a licensed professional counselor, speaker, and author. She is also an adjunct professor in Addiction Counseling. She has written several books, including Bravehearts and Mom, Everyone Else Does! She lives with her family in Lone Tree, Colorado.

Court of Miracles Schedule

2005-04-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Below is the "grid" for the Court of Miracles (La Cour des Miracles), our social issues tent. I'm testing the ability of blogger to post these tables pasted right from my Word file to the blog window... some of the stuff in here is a bit more detailed than the final version that was just printed and mailed out to folks. Enjoy...

I'd particularly point to the seminars by Bryan Stevenson. This guy is razor sharp, and deals with the people everyone else either doesn't want to deal with or doesn't even know exist. But the whole line up this year is, I think, one of the most varied and edgy we've ever offered. Hopefully I'll come back to this later on and add some links to various web sites.

La Cour des Miracles

	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
10 - 10:50 am	Dalit Emancipation, Now and Forever: Kumar Swamy	Dalit Emancipation, Now and Forever: Kumar Swamy	Dalit Emancipation, Now and Forever: Kumar Swamy
11 am - Noon	Can Global AIDS Be Stopped? Anne Varghese	Can Global AIDS Be Stopped? Anne Varghese	Can Global AIDS Be Stopped? Anne Varghese
Noon – 1 pm	Ellul and Hope: Andrew Mandell	Ellul and Hope: Andrew Mandell	Ellul and Hope: Andrew Mandell
1 - 1:50 pm	Prisons, The Forgotten Mission Field: Bryan Stevenson	Prisons, The Forgotten Mission Field: Bryan Stevenson
2 - 2:50 pm	Leadership in the 21^st Century: John Perkins	Leadership in the 21^st Century: John Perkins	Leadership in the 21^st Century: John Perkins
3 - 3:50 pm	Prisons, The Forgotten Mission Field: Bryan Stevenson	Prisons, The Forgotten Mission Field: Bryan Stevenson
4 - 4:50 pm	Day's Discussion: Andrew Mandell	Day's Discussion: Andrew Mandell	Day's Discussion: Andrew Mandell

The Court of Miracles, in Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, is the center of justice and society for the marginalized of society. It is a dangerous but wonderful place where poets are saved from nooses by gypsies. The questions and struggles that encamp around our quest for social justice are also dangerous but wonderful. Join us.

Dalit Emancipation – Now and Forever (Kumar Swamy, 3 sessions): Come learn about the Dalits' struggle for emancipation that 1/4 of India is involved in. For the first time in history, the Dalits (called "untouchables" by caste-conscious Hindu culture) now have a voice which can be heard socially and politically in India and around the world. Upon learning of the plight of the Dalits and the attempts by the Dalits to break free from the oppressive Hindu caste system, All India Christian Council (AICC) leaders, with full support from its constituent members, stood in solidarity with the Dalits and pledged their full support to help bring transformation to the Dalit community. Become an advocate for lasting change in India through this historic move of God.

Kumar Swamy is the South India Regional Director for Operation Mobilization. Originally from a Hindu background, he became a Christian and joined OM in 1981. Kumar holds degrees in psychology and missiology. In addition to his role with OM, he is a pastor in the Good Shepherd Community Church movement and is involved in the Dalit empowerment movement across India. Kumar is the Karnataka State Convener of the All India Christian Council, as well as the State President of the Communal Harmony Committee. He also serves with the Karnataka state Human Rights Commission. Kumar is married to Jeeva and has a son, Abishek (age 15) and a daughter, Arpana (age 9). Kumar is based in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Can Global AIDS Be Stopped? (Ann Varghese, 3 sessions): This seminar will take examine the issues of global AIDS, hunger, and poverty. Ann will discuss the global response set forth by the Millennium Development Goals as well as her first hand experiences dealing with AIDS in Africa. Ann will also introduce the ONE Campaign as a way for people living here in the US to become involved in change. ONE by ONE, we can make a difference.

Ann Varghese is a graduate of the University of Kansas. After college, Ann served 2 years in the Peace Corps as a health extension volunteer, working in Cameroon, Central West Africa. Her service focused on AIDS education and community development. Currently, Ann works for the faith based advocacy organization Bread for the World, promoting the ONE Campaign and raising awareness about global issues.

Ellul and Hope (Andrew Mandell, 3 Sessions): Long-time friend of JPUSA, and founding member of the socially-conscious band, Ballydowse, Andrew Mandell will present a special noon-hour discussion regarding Jacque Ellul's views on faith, rage, and Christian hope. Day's Discussion (3 sessions), also led by Andrew, will run at 4 pm and allow participants in the Court of Miracles tent to talk over what has been learned, unlearned, and questioned.

Prisons: The Forgotten Mission Field (Bryan Stevenson, Six Sessions): We begin with questions. Why do more members of racial minorities end up in prison than population percentages suggest should? Why does our justice system incarcerate the poor, under aged, and mentally handicapped? And why have Christians forgotten the prisoner?

Bryan Stevenson is the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama in Montgomery, Alabama and also a Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. He and his staff have been successful in overturning dozens of capital murder cases and death sentences where poor people have been unconstitutionally convicted or sentenced. Mr. Stevenson's efforts to confront bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system have earned him dozens of national awards including the National Public Interest Lawyer of the Year, the Thurgood Marshall Medal of Justice, the ABA Wisdom Award for Public Service, the ACLU National Medal of Liberty, the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Olaf Palme Prize for International Human Rights and the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award Prize. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government. He has published articles on race and poverty and the criminal justice system, and manuals on capital litigation and habeas corpus.

Speaker Outlines Online

2005-04-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Over the years of Cornerstone Festival's Seminars, various speakers have created outlines for hand-out at the fest itself. A few of those speakers have also provided the outlines online. Here's a couple I easily found via google.

Stan Grenz, who died untimely earlier this year, spoke on postmodernism and related issues (his 2002 festival outline is in Adobe Reader format). Also, an article footnoting Grenz's festival presentation, "Where is the Emerging Church Heading," offers evidence of Grenz's influence on the emergent conversation.

Wendi Kaiser's seminar on teens and sex is a perennial favorite (the link is to a version from a few years ago). For those who remember her from her days with REZ Band -- "I used to smoke a cigar" -- her seminars offer the same blunt advice.

And a few pictures from others:

Jim Fitz, a member and leader of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), spoke in 2004 and got these pictures.

And Away We Go!

2005-04-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

For those wondering what a Cornerstone Festival is, much less what our Secret is, here are a few links for gaining some historical perspective:

Life's Lessons, Chapter 6 -- The Festival

"Jesus Woodstock" -- Christianity Today's article on the fest, with some lengthy discussion on Cornerstone yoU's seminars and speakers.

A local church youth group ministry's web page about attending Cornerstone (also emphasizes speakers and the youth "Breakaway" tent)

Phantom Tollbooth's 2001 interview with fest coordinator, John Herrin

Secular film made on Cornerstone and Christian music