The Sixth Sense

Vox is back!

It’s been over a year in coming but Vox is - finally - back. We’ve still been running the book club and the Yelo events but we’ve not held our signature Vox night since July 2007. The wait is now over.

For those of you in or around Sheffield, make sure you come along. (Check out the Facebook event here.) It’ll be a great night. And, for those of you from further afield, we’ll be posting video online shortly after the event.

Here are the details:

Here’s some video from the last event:

Tags: Action, Art, Culture, Music, VOX Sheffield

Social techiquette

Technology isn’t new. Every generation sees new technology emerge. Interestingly, as we progress forward, we stop even seeing things as being technology. They are just part of life.

Today we think of the internet, mobile phones, and iPod’s as technology. But we’re so familiar with the telephone, television, and washing machines that we don’t think of them as anything else but normal.

When something is fully integrated into life, we no longer thing of it as technology.

It is fascinating watching people sometime argue against technology whilst failing to comprehend all the technology they utilise day in, day out in their life.

Whenever something new comes onto the scene, one of the challenges is working through the appropriate etiquette. Getting the bus into work every day, it amazes me to see the percentage of people who have ear phones in listening to their personal music player.

The dynamics of people flowing to and fro in city life has fundamentally changed. We are now isolated individuals moving about largely insulated from the people around us. We are locked into our own worlds.

Couple this with the rise of social networking sites, and there is less and less personal face-to-face contact with people; particularly people we don’t explicitly know.

The danger this presents is that we become increasingly rude to the strangers who cross our paths. We behave with less and less humanity. People become less personal.

Not that I am anti-technology or think that online social networking is bad. In many ways, some of the richest relationships I have with people have been enhanced with the online, virtual connection.

But the question I was to raise is whether there is - or should be - an appropriate social techiquette for how we interact with other human beings when utilising technology.

Take the iPod. One of the things I made a conscious decision to do was make sure I never speak to someone with my earphones in. When I get on and off the bus and communicate with the driver, I always take the earphones out. I do the same when waiting in line for a sandwich at lunch.

I guess, to me at least, that is just good manners. There’s a time and place for being lost in my own world, enjoying my music. But it’s also still important for me to connect, and engage with the people around me.

That’s just one example. What do you think? What would be appropriate social techiquette for us all to use to make sure we stay connected to the real world around us?

Tags: Culture, Social Networking, Technology

Guest Columnist: Deana Watson

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Today I am very pleased to introduce the first of several guess columnists who are going to write occasional posts here at The Sixth Sense. Deana Watson is a great friend of me and my wife Rachel. We have known her and her husband Steve for several years now and they are some of our closest friends. We met through the blogosphere originally, but we have seen holidayed together in California and they have stayed with us in England three times.

Deana has had more than her fair share of life’s trials to go through and she has such a depth of wisdom and life perspective that I am always encouraged, challenged, and refreshed by. Deana has a particular passion and interest in other cultures and I’m sure you’ll see that come through in her posts.

Anyway, enough from me, over to Deana. Enjoy!

PS Make sure you check out Deana’s own blog here: http://obahsomah.blogspot.com/

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My friend asked me last week if I ever read fiction.  He was just starting to get into fiction, and wondered what I liked.  I told him I usually only read fiction.  I’ve got enough real life to go around.

The fiction I read is almost exclusively stories about South Asian women.  Stories of new brides, or widows, mothers, sisters, daughters.  All written by South Asian women.   I have my favorites, and of those favorites, all of their works.

This surprised my friend.  And why shouldn’t it?  After all, I was born smack dab in the middle of these United States. Until I was nearly 18, I had never even been on an airplane.  I live a very typical American life.  I live in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, driving my Volvo station wagon (estate for my cousins across the pond).  I stay at home with my disabled son all day every day, while my husband works in his corporate job to pay the bills.

But deep down, running through my veins, the very beat of my heart pounds of other lands.  Distant lands, and not so distant lands.  I love to read these stories, because in my mundane American life, they take me there.  To the dusty streets of Calcutta, or the sweltering heat of Jaipur, to the Taj Mahal in Agra, or the city and sea of Mumbai.  And there are the stories of the many Bengali and Pakistani and Indian women who land in Western countries.  In places like Brick Lane in London, or Berkley in California, or following their newly chosen husbands to university jobs in Boston.

And while I read, I remember, and I wish myself there.  One of the most magical visits to another land in my life, was three weeks spent in India.  But, while we were there, I hated almost everything about it.  It was hotter than any hot I had ever experienced.  The smell choked me in a way that caused me to wretch more than once in front of curious gawking children in every shade of brown.

It was filthy, absolutely filthy. With defecation from animals and humans alike right in the roads to step over. The horns blazed in the bumpy taxi and rickshaw rides.  I wept in my bed at night thinking of the mothers holding children who would pull on my clothes in the markets asking for money.  And the food was hardly something I could stomach.  It was literally an attack on all my senses.

Yet now, when I think of that time, of India, it doesn’t take long for my eyes to tear up. I long to go back.  To walk those same dirty streets, to see all of the same sights over again, to eat every thing that is presented to me.  To make new friends, if even for just that moment.  The same things that were so assaulting to me then, are the things I hold so closely to my heart now.

I have gotten to know these places more through reading about the lives of the women in my books. And I’ve ventured out to areas that I never thought I would want to visit.  Places like Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, and Iran, and Afghanistan.  And I truly would love to visit every one of those places.

But for now, I have medicine to measure, and doctors appointments to schedule. I have insurance companies to argue with, and government agencies to persuade to  give care for my son.  I have a child with a disease so rare that the leading doctors in the world shake their heads in confusion at him.

And because that is my life right now, once he goes to bed at night, I look at the bookshelf beside my chair, and I beg them to take me to a far away land, or not so far land.  Just for about an hour…maybe two…one chapter at a time.

Where do your books take you?  Do you enjoy fiction, or just the facts man?

Tags: Books, Culture, Guest Columnists, Life

Author Interview: Eric Bryant

Following on from yesterday’s introduction, here is the short interview I did with Eric Bryant recently.

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Thanks Eric for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

I live in Los Angeles with my wife Debbie and two children (Caleb and Trevi).  I serve at Mosaic, a diverse and creative community of people who believe we can change the world.  :)

Your latest book is called ‘Peppermint Filled Pinatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love’ (published by Zondervan). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.

I wrote a book to Christians about learning to embrace the people Christians “love to hate.”  In essence, my goal was to help people discover they can actually develop meaningful and beautiful friendships with people who look, act, and even believe differently.

Is there a specific group of people you’’d really like to see having a copy of this book in their hands? 

Anyone who wants to create a more diverse, missional, and loving world.  Tolerance and Racial Reconciliation aren’t good enough.  We need to create a reconciled and diverse community!

Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us! 

You really want to help me sell this, huh?!  I have received lots of feedback from people saying they see the world differently after reading my book and laughed while reading it.  Erwin McManus, our lead pastor at Mosaic, wrote the Foreword in which he compared my book to a combination of “Saving Private Ryan” meets “Nacho Libre.”

What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

Besides The Sixth Sense?  :)  I have really enjoyed Core Magazine there in the UK plus Outreach Magazine here in the U.S. in terms of magazines.  In terms of books, I am enjoying Dust Off Their Feet by Chris Seay plus The Black Swan and MicroTrends.  In terms of websites, we work hard to have a great deal of valuable free content up at www.mosaicalliance.com and www.ericbryant.org as well.

Thanks again for your time, Eric. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.

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If you are based in the UK you can buy the book here. If you’re from the US you can get your hands on it here.

Any thoughts, comments, or questions?

Tags: Author Interviews, Authors, Books, Culture

Author Interview: Gerardo Marti

Following on from yesterday’s introduction, here is the interview with Gerardo Marti.

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Thanks Gerardo for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

Anything for you, Sam!  I am a sociology professor at Davidson College, a small liberal arts college in North Carolina. Before that, I taught classes at several colleges, universities, and seminaries including “Race and Religious Faith” and “The Sociology of Hollywood” while serving on pastoral staff at several churches in Southern California.  Classes at Davidson are typically very small, so I have lots of opportunity for rich discussions on intriguing topics with really smart students. I use time outside of class to accomplish my own writing and research, share what I know with scholars and church leaders, and spend time with my family.

Your first book is called ‘A Mosaic of Believers’ (published by Indiana University Press). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.

I remember an afternoon in June 2001, I had been busy around my office in Los Angeles answering phone calls, returning email and looking through letters and came to an abrupt realization. A steady stream of calls, letters and emails came from church planters, seminary students, sociologists, journalists, pastors of churches of all sizes, church consultants, and professional Christian researchers. In the previous few years, aspects of Mosaic LA appeared in book chapters, articles and newspaper stories.  The lead pastor and other staff members were solicited for conference speaking and church consultations.  Even our lay leaders were accustomed to being spontaneously interviewed at our Sunday services and made themselves available throughout the week for guests wishing to learn more about the church.  Mosaic had become an important resource for a new generation of church leaders.

I realized I was at the center of this unique phenomenon. A Mosaic of Believers gives an inside view on how this church pursues innovation while negotiating ethnic and racial differences along the way. Mosaic LA is still one of the most creative and diverse churches in the United States. Before the book, I and other church leaders always answered questions openly, honestly, and with as much detail we had available.  Yet, the hunches we carried with us in day-to-day ministry had not been examined systematically.  The in-depth research carried out for the book is the most extensive ever done.

Is there a specific group of people you’d really like to see having a copy of this book in their hands?

You may know that sociologists once believed that modern technology would kill religion.  They were wrong.  Now, no one denies the continued strength and importance of religion. If you want to understand the relationship between religion and social change, you should read this book.

Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us!

One reviewer wrote, “Clearly, Mosaic is spiritually compelling. Its members are on fire with their faith…. Its leaders take risks that most pastors would not dare.”  A Mosaic of Believers gives a close look at a church with a vibrancy most people find hard to believe — and then often wish they could experience for themselves.

Are there any new projects you’re working on now?

I’m thrilled to have a new book coming out this summer called Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church.  http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/Hollywood_Faith.html  It’s about negotiating the tension between pursuing faith and pursuing fame: How do people pursuing careers in Hollywood’s entertainment industry maintain their religious devotion without sacrificing their career goals? It’s the first book to provide an in-depth look at religion among the “creative class” and previews a possible future for religion in the 21st century.

What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

There’s a fascinating blog on religion in American history found at http://usreligion.blogspot.com/.  There’s always an interesting discussion happening at the Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank http://www.generousorthodoxy.net/thinktank/.  Then, of course, I keep up with the world through your blog, The Sixth Sense.

On books, I’m reading David Smilde’s Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism, Brian Cowan’s The Social Life of Coffee, and Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering.  I’m reading some fiction as well, including Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins, Birds without Wings by Louis de Berneires, and The Year of Jubilo by Howard Bahr.

Thanks again for your time, Gerardo. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.

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If you are based in the UK you can buy the book here. If you’re from the US you can get your hands on it here.

Any thoughts, comments, or questions?

Tags: Author Interviews, Authors, Books, Culture, Leadership

Introducing Gerardo Marti

Some of you who are familiar with me and my wife Rachel’s story of pioneering Mosaic here in Sheffield will know that, having decided to start Mosaic, we discovered another community with the same name, heart, values, etc who already existed in Los Angeles.

In wanting to find out more about the story of Mosaic LA, I came across a wonderful book called ‘A Mosaic of Believers’ by Gerardo Marti. It was a truly fascinating read. Insightful and inspiring. I couldn’t put it down.

Having read the book back in the Autumn of 2005, I then had the privilege of spending a day with Gerardo as part of the International Mentoring Network in Orlando, Florida in February 2007. I don’t think my mind has been so stretched and challenged as it was that day. We still talk about it now. 

Gerardo is blessed with the wonderful combination of an amazing depth of knowledge that is served by real wisdom and humility. I feel very honoured to have spent time with him and have learnt so much in doing so.

This February gone I got to spend a bit of time with Gerardo once again when me and Rachel took him out for lunch. As always, the conversation was so enriching. He is so insightful and I firmly believe his voice is one which needs to be heard across a broader spectrum. And so he comes highly recommended!

It is linked with all this that I was delighted to be able to interview Gerardo recently about his book. So make sure you check back tomorrow to read the interview. You’ll be glad you did!

Anyone already read ‘A Mosaic of Believers’?

Tags: Authors, Books, Culture, Gerado Marti, Leadership, The Big Interview

Hyper-connected - what else?

I love this drawing by Hugh Macleod. Kind of says it all.

We’re connected to more people that at any other point in history. But how many people do we actually know?

What is friendship if it is defined by Facebook? Apparently I have a TON of friends. But if they were actually friends then there is no way I could handle them all. It would be a nightmare.

So, if Facebook now defines friendship, what is someone called who is, you know, actually a friend?

And does it matter that something like friendship is being so redefined?

Lots of questions I’m pondering this morning!

What’s your take on this new, hyper-connected world?

 

Tags: Culture, Facebook, Friends, Hugh Macleod

The Alchemist - Movie being made

One of my favourite books of all time - The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo - is being made into a movie.

The book is such a wonderful, mystical story that really moved me when I read it. It captures the tale of a Spanish shepherd boy who travels to Africa in search of his dream and meets the alchemist along the way.

I actually got to see a theatre production of the book last year which was really good and captured the story far more powerfully than I thought they’d be able to.

The film will star and be directed by Lawrence Fishburne. Filming is due to start in around a years time. (Find out more here.)

I’m fascinated to see what this will look like on the big screen!

What do you think?

Tags: Books, Culture, Movies, The Alchemist

What happens in Vegas

We’re just back from seeing ‘What happens in Vegas‘ with some friends. I definitely don’t mind romantic comedies but, to be honest, my expectations weren’t that high for this one.

But I was pleasantly surprised!

There were lots of laugh out loud moments and it was just generally a lot of fun.

Worth seeing if you like that kind of thing!

Anyone else seen it?

Tags: Culture, Films

The American World

On a scale of 1 - 10, how accurate is this American perception of the world?! (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

What do you think? 

Don’t forget to reply to the ‘Who Are You?’ post. Thanks!

Tags: America, Culture, World