Julie got back from the Emergent Village gathering in DC this past weekend that met to re-envision the future of EV. After hearing her description of the event I am very hopeful for the future of the Village. You can read various takes from some of the 20 or so participants online, and I'll link to a few of them below, but beyond the actual outcomes of the event, I am especially encouraged simply by who was there. The people who were invited were mostly folks who I know personally or at least know of, and know to be passionate, good-hearted, unassuming missional followers of the way of Jesus. People like Makeesha Fisher, Sarah Notton, Paul Soupiset, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Melvin Bray, Troy Bronsink, Laci Scott, Mike Stavlund, Kelly Bean, and my wife, of course, among many others. These are not big-name influential leaders, or well known authors, but they are people who have demonstrated authentic, organic leadership in their own spheres. They are people I trust, and am excited to see as part of this decision making process. I'm also encouraged by their diversity. According to Julie, the participants were about 25% persons of color and 50% female (I don't know the exact figures, but I think that's roughly the same as the make-up of the American populace as a whole). It's good to see both fresh voices and diverse voices in this new generation of Emergent leadership. Given that very few of the original founders/board members/coordinating group of EV were a part of this gathering, perhaps we should even start calling this Emergent Village 2.0 :)

Anyhow, here are some of the reflections on the event that have been written so far by those who were there:

Julie Clawson

Tim Snyder

Makeesha Fisher, Part 1a

Sarah Notton

Amy Moffitt

Mike Stavlund - poetry

NEW UPDATES:

Troy Bronsink

Michael Toy

Brittian Bullock

Julie, Part 2

MORE UPDATES:

Kelly Bean

Eliacin Rosario-Cruz

Mike Stavlund

UPDATE (5/11/09)

Anthony Smith

I'll try to update this list as more reports come in. In the meantime, thanks to all who where there and the sacrifice of time and resources you gave on behalf of all of us who love and value the Village.

Labels: Emergent Village, emerging church