Hotlanta!

What a full stop! It can’t get more packed and sweaty than this one! Folks were stacked up in the isles, out the door, and even behind the projector screen. But we enjoyed it greatly.

One of the lead organizers, Leroy Barber, is a great saint and mentor to many of us (he also officiated the marriage of Cassie and Chris up in Camden). Leroy is the head of Mission Year, a great organization to which we frequently refer young folks. Leroy somehow manages to act as the president of Mission Year while also pastoring the church that we were at and being a husband and father to his lovely kids. Also representin’ this evening was FCS, a great community development organization in Atlanta (co-founded by Bob Lupton et al), closely associated with CCDA. Being down in the heart of the south, where much of the spirit of the Civil Rights movement still resides, it was deeply satisfying to have a more racially diverse crowd all singing together some of our songs. We got more “amens” and crowd participation here than at even our wildest stops yet. Koinonia Farms came out with a great crew (co-founded by Clarence Jordan, MIllard Ford, and many other greats) –man we love them! Same with Open Door Community–these people are so sweet! They all came out in force. And thanks to the Atlanta Emergent Cohort for organizing and Red Mouth for rocking the half-time party!

We had our potluck time down at the local restaurant named “Sweet Potato.” They recently opened and they’re not exactly rolling in dough just yet. That’s the difficulty of new businesses–so we highly encourage anybody in the area or passing through to pay them a visit and enjoy their excellent southern cooking.

We met dozens of folks here who encouraged us with their stories. Here, and at every stop, we have countless people telling us that they have really taken our message to heart, started changing their lives, and are seeing the world and Reign of God in deeper ways. But while many of these folks have taken our message as an encouragement along the way, building off of their current thoughts and convictions, there is among these folks a most surprising and concentrated core who will emphatically share, “I have simply never thought about these things in this way.” Wow. Paul told us to be continually renewing our minds by reflection on the Word. Let’s all keep doing that.

It seems there is a congregation down in Arizona that has taken our message and gone in their own direction with it. Check out these two articles: 1 is their website called “a new platform” and 2 is some media coverage on it. They are advocating for the Church to become the change they hope for in the world, working extensively on alleviating the ills of sex trafficking and AIDS–not just waiting on governments and legislation to act. We are fine with them ganking our phrase “Jesus for President” (after all, its not really ours) and claim, “advocating change since 33AD.” All right!