What's Your Take on Orlando?

Like many Friday mornings, we spent it down at Lake Virginia swimming Caspian, Sydnie running on the dock, etc.  From time to time there are other people swimming their dogs as well.  Today we ran into a gentleman and his Black Lab who we've chatted with before.  Him and I eventually launched in to a conversation about the "culture" of Orlando/Central Flordia.  He is an independent filmmaker.  His wife is the curator of a local museum.  Within two minutes of conversation you felt his warmth as well as his intelligence.  Prior to coming to Orlando they had spent the past few years in Europe.  They seem to have run in some very cultured, creative circles.  He had some interesting impressions about Orlando culture (he's been here less than a year).  I don't want to bias your thoughts, so I will just pose some questions and I would love some feedback.  So whether you are a native, a transplant or an occasional visitor, I want your thoughts...

• Is Orlando just Disney and tourism?



• Is Orlando high culture?



• Is Orlando folk culture?



• Is Orlando nothing more than plastic, teal and other bad colors?



• Is Orlando a creative center?



• What exactly is the culture of Orlando?



• Are we liberal?  Are we conservative?



• Are we more pop culture or indie culture?



• What is our culture of education like? 



• How are we defined recreationally?



• Are we pre-modern, modern or postmodern?



• What do we value? 



• Are we "Christian?"  Are we post-Christian?

Obviously the above questions are random and offered more to get your thoughts going.  I also realize there are different pockets of our city that would be defined differently.  But just give the generalizations.  Give the view from 30,000 feet.  Go ahead and stereotype.  Broad brush.  Okay, had enough cliches? 

Time to start saving for 2 Weddings

Well it's official, we are having another GIRL!  Just got back from the ultrasound and everything checked out okay.  We are very excited.  Looks like Caspian and I are officially outnumbered now. 

2 Journals, a fountain pen and other randomness

I'm becoming (or more likely have become) the proverbial bookstore nerd.  Not only do I have an insatiable desire to buy books, I now own these three "tools."  Two journals...one needs different sizes right? and a $25 fountain pen (I blame Nate Conrad).  I'm not sure why this is "blog" material, but hey it's late and I just finished another mid-term and I needed to write about mindless stuff.  The past week has been so crazy...Immediately following the Conrad's visit I was visited by 15 rounds of vomiting!  Fun times for me.  Then I had a staff retreat (which means sitting in a small room for 2 days straight and talking).  Then a mid-term.  Then a middle school retreat.  However, it has all been very good.  Our time with the Conrad's was thoroughly enjoyable and encouraging.  Vomiting not so much.  Staff planning is always good, though tiring.  The middle school retreat came off really well.  The highlight for me was worship.  They really got into it, which is always encouraging to see.  Tomorrow brings RTS class and then a new series for our high school group.  We are working through our 5 core values over the next 5 weeks.  Should be fun.  If for no other reason than bumperstickers, banners and tshirts.  I need to sleep.  This is all very convoluted.

 

Driscoll's Apology...

Though I agree with Driscoll's theological position, I was glad to read his efforts towards making amends.  You can read it here. 

My Birthday Gift from Heather & Sydnie

I've officially graduated to a "grown up" watch now that I'm 30.  I railed against anything that wasn't digital for my stint as a 20-something.  Analog is so now. 

thirty

Download 07_top_of_the_roller_coaster.m4a

Top Of The Roller Coaster
from Home Again

Say good-bye to your twenties
Tomorrow is the "Big 3-0"
For my birthday present
I've got a place where we can go
It's a lesson in motion
To ride the wildest ride
We're gonna climb to the top of the roller coaster
And look down the other side

So let me ride in the front car
And you ride right behind
And I'll click my snapshot camera
At exactly the right time
Shoot back over my shoulder
Catch the fear no one can hide
When we tip the top of the roller coaster
And look down the other side

Over the hill

So when the prints come back
We can look at that unmistakable birthday fear
Like your younger days are over now
And its all down hill from here

It was a happy birthday
You surprised us all
So take a look at this glossy picture
I framed it for your wall
It's the moment of truth
It's the top of your youth
The camera don't lie
You might be screaming
But there's a meaning
In the laughter in your eyes

It seems to be saying
"Of coarse there will be fear"
But this is why we stand in line
Spend that time
Make that climb
To finally feel the other side
And it's all down hill from here

We're gonna climb to the top of the roller coaster
And look down the other side

© David Wilcox, all rights reserved

Thoughts on Tony & Truth

This past Tuesday the Orangewood staff chose to forego our normal staff meeting and instead go and listen to Tony Campolo out at RTS.  Campolo was doing 4 lectures over two days.  The one we attended dealt with the topic of postmodernity and the church.  Before I give you some of my thoughts, let me preface my statements.  I have heard Campolo speak on several occasions (both at Wheaton and the National Youth Worker's Convention) and to be perfectly honest I have always been annoyed each time.  I always felt it was the same message about social justice, coupled with the same tactic of making me feel guilty for my white-suburbanness.  Therefore, when Tuesday rolled around I had some fairly low expectations.  It's not that I disagree with Campolo's "usual" message--how can we ignore the poor and marginalized?  We can't.  It's just that I wasn't a big fan of how he went about conveying that message.  Do people really hear him and think critically about what he is saying or are they more impressed with his charismatic presence?  Who knows.  Which leads to my utter surprise on Tuesday morning...I lreally enjoyed listening to him!  I was really impressed.  Maybe it was because it wasn't the same old Campolo beating his proverbial drum against suburbia.  It's not that I agreed with everything he had to say, but I left with a far more open mind towards him.  Of all the things he commented on, the thing that has stuck with me was his articulation of the modern approach to Scripture and Truth.  In the modern era, Truth was something to be dissected and broken down into manageable, propositional statements about God.  Systematics was king.  He called people to understand Truth as Jesus and that to understand the Truth is to live in harmony with Jesus.  To have His heartbeat.  From this paradigm, Campolo's calls to social justice make much more sense.  It's not about guilt.  It's about living in rhythm with Jesus.  It's about our hearts breaking for our cities the way Jesus wept over Jerusalem. 

Anyway there's my thoughts.  Nothing hugely revelatory, but I did enjoy it nonetheless.  If RTS ever makes the lecture available online I will post it.

It's Good to have Good Friends

Part of my lack of blogging as of late can be "blamed" on the time we've been spending with friends who are now scattered about the country.  Just over a week ago we got to spend time with Jen and Jay who are church planting in St. Louis.  It was great to hear how God is at work in their city and how they are being used for the Kingdom.  Should you be reading this, and should you have the gift of giving large sums of money to urban church planters, then you should contact them.  Shameless, unsolicited plug.  Here's their website so you can check out what they are doing.  Cool stuff.  It was such an encouragement to spend time with them.  Great to talk to church planting practicioners--not just theory, but real life missional living. 

This past weekend brought the arrival of 4 (nickname who's real name shall not be revealed) and his wife Jen who is carrying their first child.  I wish I could tell you the name of the kid, but 4 and Jen are sworn to secrecy.  I'm sure they just want the name "Jamie" to be a surprise.  We'll have to wait until the end of May to find out.  Anyway, we had a great time with them and our back-in-Orlando friends Nate and Jess.  So good to hangout.  Probaby bored the wives to death with our incessant strolls down college-memory lane.  Oh well.  You can check out pics of the weekend under "4 and Jen Visit" to your right.  We lobbied hard for them to move down to Orlando.  4 loves Mickey and he would be right at home.  Not exactly, but Orlando has more to offer than Disney...right? 

All in all it has been great to reconnect with old friends.  It's really cool to see what God is doing in all of their lives.  It's great to have those moments when the conversation isn't forced, the honesty is present and we can laugh together.  Good stuff. 

And the fun continues...this upcoming Monday our friends Nate and Kara and thier two little girls come to stay for the week.  Nate is on sabbattical (I'm jealous).  We are looking forward to spending time with them and showing them our stomping grounds.  Look for more pictures coming soon. 

There's the summation of recent days.  I got some thoughts on Tony Campolo (he spoke at RTS today) that I will try and blog about later.