In Ohio, great links …

I just left a wonderful small gathering of entrepreneurs, inventors, and engineers who came together through our EMC tour last year ... We've been dreaming about ways to help the world's poorest urban and rural people through a) toilet technology and b) micro-grid solar and wind energy.
I came across these two NYT op-eds ...
This one from Thomas Friedman ... about the environmental bailout
This one from Nicolas Kristoff ... about (among other things) composting toilets in Haiti.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite Bruce Cockburn lines:

like some kind of never-ending easter passion
from every agony a hero's fashioned
around every evil there gathers love
bombs aren't the only things that fall from above

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Last weekend – this weekend

There are some beautiful reflections on last week's gathering in New Mexico at the Emergent Village site here. The lingering impact of the event feels hard to put into words!
This weekend, I'll be at a gathering of entrepreneurs in Ohio, folks looking for ways to leverage their business/inventive skills to live out the kinds of things I talked about in EMC. Then Sunday and Monday I'll be at Mallone College in Canton, OH.
I probably won't be posting until Tuesday or Wednesday. Have a great weekend - enjoy every sign of spring!

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on poverty

Sojourners included on their blog today this short piece of mine on the upcoming mobilization to end poverty ...

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Thanks, Nicholas …

This morning I tuned in a cable news show (I use the word "news" very loosely) and felt disgusted. Then I went online and read this piece by one of our best journalists, Nicholas Kristof, and I received an intelligent diagnosis for my disgust.
Kristof talks about the corps of men and women who become famous as "experts" and "pundits" in the media today - and picks up an important distinction Philip Tetlock made about them. Some people, Tetlock said, are foxes: they are thoughtful, cautious about making overstatements, nuanced, pragmatic, centrist, and capable of self-doubt and admitting they have been wrong - characteristics that make them terrible at giving sound bites and limit their fame.
Hedgehogs by contrast see the world in easy us/them and black/white dualisms, work from an unquestioned ideology, love to shout and make bold and even outrageous statements, and as such become "perfect" guests on radio and TV, full of drama and fury, driven by their volume and self-confidence to fame as "experts" and "pundits" and "go-to people."
But, it turns out, the hedgehogs are like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. Their bold, confident predictions and assertions are smoke and reverb. Of course, one can immediately see Tetlock's categories at work in the news media. But I can't help but think how they are also at work in the religious media.
Kristof concludes ...

The marketplace of ideas for now doesn’t clear out bad pundits and bad ideas partly because there’s no accountability.... So what about a system to evaluate us prognosticators? Professor Tetlock suggests that various foundations might try to create a “trans-ideological Consumer Reports for punditry,” monitoring and evaluating the records of various experts and pundits as a public service. I agree: Hold us accountable!

This reminds me of a post I wrote a while back, available here ... I think of how much financial wealth has been lost by pundits and experts who missed what was really happening in our economy in recent years: an army of pundits and experts focused on outside dangers to "homeland security" while we were being plundered by greedy insiders ... and almost nobody noticed until the bubble burst. And then I think of other kinds of value that have been similarly squandered in our religious communities - as we have engaged in various adventures in missing the point. "Take heed how you hear," Jesus said (Luke 8:18). He knew what he was talking about!

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Roundup

My friend Jimi Calhoun has told his beautiful (and sometimes painful) story of race and grace and rhythm in a new book here. Jimi was a rock-and-roller back in the 60's and 70's - played with Hendrix, Dr. John, Leon Patillo, and lots of other icons of the era. He compares and mostly contrasts how racial matters worked out in the rock and roll world and in the church world. There's much to learn from this man and this book.
Kevin Roose's amazing and well-written tale of a year at Liberty University goes on sale tomorrow - The Unlikely Disciple. Read about it here.
If you haven't picked up Diana Butler Bass's A People's History of Christianity, do so soon. It's delightful and needed.
Here's the musical response to Everything Must Change performed at Highland Baptist in Louisville a few weeks back ...
JoPa Productions has two amazing events coming up in September - one with Jurgen Moltmann and one with 21 leaders speaking for 21 minutes on faith in the 21st century. Check it out here.
My friend Karen Sloan is helping form Formation House - a community for people interested in exploring intentional Christian community. This looks like a promising and beautiful venture. More info here. If you're possibly interested in joining them for a year of "life together," now is the time to apply.

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