We’re so excited to announce that the everythingmustchange.org site is up and ready to have you start sharing resources, connecting with others passionate about making this world a better place for all!

We hope to see you there too!!

Linnea & Brian

And now, the beginning….we hope this is a beginning for you to be on this new path, believing in Jesus in a new way, ready to act for change in your own life, in your community, the public and the world.  We hope this is a beginning for you to connect with new people who are on this same path and journey for encouragement, support, relationship and depth. 

Use this space to share opportunities to connect with one another in the near future, to share resources that people may be interested in based on your conversations this weekend, to share your hopes and dreams for deep shifts in your own lives and the world. Soon there will be another site available as well to connect, so check back.   

Thank you for being with us this weekend. We are so grateful!

Brian, Linnea & the Everything Must Change Team 

Here’s what you need to know before you get here:

Check the Schedule — This a general schedule for the conference; what it doesn’t tell you about is all of the special Charlotte-only events we have planned, such as:

Friday Night Discussion Groups — Decide now which group you want to participate in, because we’ll have you sign-up for a group when you check-in at the registration table (NOTE: this is taking place instead of the Q&A/book signing/etc. on the general schedule)

Trialogue Interfaith Discussion — Plan to stay after the EMC conference Saturday afternoon for this special panel discussion with Brian and local members of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities

Worship Party with Tracy Howe, Andy Squyres, and kgb — Stay a little later for this concert celebration Saturday night

Next Steps project with Sierra Club — If you can, plan now to participate in this hands-on project Sunday afternoon and start practicing change

Download Sitemap — This will tell you where to park, where to check-in, where the meetings will be held, where to find restrooms/coffee/wifi/bookstore/etc.

Any Questions? — If you have questions, please email Steve Knight or call him at 704-689-2489.

Just a quick note about check-in/registration: The main registration time will be 6-7 p.m. on Friday, but you will be able to check-in throughout the night, so come whenever you can.

If you or someone you know hasn’t registered yet, online registration closes tonight at midnight, but walk-up registrations will be taken anytime Friday night and up until 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Check back here on the blog for more updates, if any other questions come up that we need to address. See you this weekend!

OK you’ll be able to listen to the interview with Brian in the “Charlotte Talks” archives, as well. But do plan to tune in on Friday morning, and if you have any questions for Brian, call into the show at 704-926-9323 or 1-800-603-9323, email charlottetalks@wfae.org, or post a comment on the new “Charlotte Talks” blog!

Welcome to all of you who read the interview and made your way here to the “Everything Must Change” Charlotte blog! From all of the local organizers here in Charlotte, I want to extend a warm welcome to all of you to join us this coming Friday and Satuday, February 1-2, at Area 15 in the Optimist Park neighborhood of Charlotte.

This is going to be more than just a book tour and more than just a series of talks from Brian McLaren! “Everything Must Change” Charlotte promises to be a unique experience featuring the visual art of Linnea Nilsen Capshaw, the original music of Tracy Howe, and the contributions and voices of local leaders — including plenty of opportunities for conversation and interaction with hundreds of participants, all enjoyed while drinking fair-trade coffee.

Register online now for “Everything Must Change” with Brian McLaren, Feb. 1-2

The $109 registration fee includes lunch on Saturday. Student rate is $79. Also, you can save $20 just by contacting the Charlotte Emergent Village cohort!

The Trialogue interfaith discussion with Brian on Saturday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. is FREE. We do ask that you please RSVP on the Meetup.com website to let us know if you are planning to attend.

Also Saturday night, from 7:30-10:30 p.m. we’ll be hosting a FREE “Worship Party” featuring music by Tracy Howe, Andy Squyres, and kgb.

In the interview, Funk asks McLaren, “You say that many Christians should start by replacing the idea of getting themselves and others ’saved’ so they can go to heaven … with this idea of getting out there, in the here and now, and healing the hurts of the world. So when Jesus said, ‘As the father sent me, so I sent you,’ he was talking not really about conversions but about tackling the world’s crises — Is that right?”

McLaren answers, “Actually, I would put the two together. If we keep recruiting people to evacuate the earth, then every person who gets saved is, in some ways, taken out of the action. It’s like going to the bench of people who want to play in a football game and trying to recruit them to leave the (stadium) altogether. A better image would be: What Jesus is asking us to do is go into the stands and recruit some people to come on the field and join us to play. The recruiting of new disciples is really connected to wanting to make a difference in the world” (emphasis added).

In response to the question of “How would [or, perhaps, should] those people who come out of the stands proceed?” McLaren brings up politics, and says, “Jesus lived in a monarchy; we live in a democracy. So, Jesus never voted. But I think if he were here, he would vote. And Jesus never really talked about elections, because there weren’t any. But if he were here today, he might talk about that.”

McLaren goes on to say, “I affirm in the book that I am completely orthodox in all of my beliefs about Christ. I affirm all the ancient creeds. … The change I’m interested in is helping us flesh out what it means to affirm the ancient creeds and historic faith” (emphasis added).

Asked a question about evangelism toward the end of the interview, McLaren responds, “First of all, I love to help every person I can to become a follower of Jesus Christ. A lot of people don’t want to become followers of Jesus Christ. And when they don’t want to, they are not disqualified from being my neighbor. In fact, they still are my neighbor. And so, everything Jesus teaches me about loving my neighbor applies to a person who has no interest in being a Christian. This idea that because some people don’t want to become Christians, we should ignore them or treat them as enemies, I just don’t get it.”

This is a lengthy, wide-ranging interview that covers everything from theology (personal sin vs. social sin; the End Times; evangelism; etc.) to politics (and the role of faith in politics) to homosexuality and abortion to Billy Graham to Islam to church structure (the small group model) to worship music to the Internet — and more.

Thanks to Tim Funk for interviewing Brian, and to the Charlotte Observer for posting the full transcript online!

Inspired by our shared values of environmental stewardship, global justice and care for our neighbors, the Sierra Club is proud to partner with Sojourners: Faith & Justice Churches, Emergent Village and others, in promoting this message of responsible stewardship.

Each of the eleven-city events are held on Friday night through Saturday afternoon. In select cities these events are followed by an opportunity to put your faith into action with a service project hosted by the Sierra Club on the following Sunday.

Here in Charlotte, we’re working with the Sierra Club to collect and sort donations for the Really Really Free Market. This Sunday (1/27) there’s a free benefit “Rock + Art Show” at the Roofless Building — featuring music by My Epic, Love & Reverie, Harvard, and work on display by 10 featured artists. We’ll be collecting donations, basically anything you would give to Goodwill or Salvation Army (e.g., quality clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, even food).

Then on Sunday, February 3, we’ll be gathering again to watch “The Story of Stuff” together, sort through the donations, and get them ready to be given away.

Bonus: Listen to a new interview with Brian McLaren on the Sierra Club podcast! Brian’s interview starts at 15:40.

Register now for “Everything Must Change” Charlotte, Feb. 1-2

This concert will be free and open to the public, and donations will be received for the Charlotte 24/7 prayer ministry at Area 15.

It’s not too late to register for “Everything Must Change,” so make plans now to attend!

Here’s just a few reminders about why you won’t want to miss this:

• participate in Friday “late night” discussion groups
• read a full description of the “Everything Must Change” experience
• watch a video invitation from Brian McLaren

We are pleased to announce that Brian will also be participating in a Trialogue discussion—with members of the local Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities in the Charlotte region—on Saturday, February 2, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. This panel discussion will take place at Area 15 and be moderated by Dennis Teall-Fleming (director of faith formation at Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church in Belmont, NC). The Trialogue discussion is free and open to the public.

So register now for Everything Must Change Charlotte and plan to stay Saturday afternoon/evening for the Trialogue (and more to be announced soon)!

Also, a reminder to check out Friday “late night” discussion groups (more details being posted) …

After the regular program ends on Friday night (Feb. 1), we’ll have the following breakout sessions to choose from:

What Does Leadership Look Like in the Emerging Church?
Discussion Leader: Ed Brenegar
Ed Brenegar is a leadership development consultant living in Hendersonville, N.C. His ministry is at the intersection of the church and the world of contemporary business. He has been a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister for over 25 years, a Boy Scout leader for the past decade, and currently serves on the board of RandomKid, a national non-profit that helps kids develop social entrepreneurial projects. Ed writes two blogs — Leading Questions and The Presbyterian Polis, and a business leadership column, Real Life Leadership, which appears twice monthly in the Asheville Citizen-Times. He can be reached at ed@edbrenegar.com.

Church as Art: discussion on the beautiful mission that brings the church together
Discussion Leader: Troy Bronsink
Troy Bronsink is an artist and a pastor seeking the way of Jesus. He and his wife, Kelley, and daughter, Eve, live in the Capitol View neighborhood of downtown Atlanta, where they have worked in community organizing and public education. Troy is a singer-songwriter with over 13 years of experience in youth ministries, worship leadership, and senior pastor in both the mainline and para-church fields. Troy is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and contributing author to the 2007 Baker Emersion release, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, he facilitates the Atlanta Emergent Cohort, and is an active blogger at churchasart.com. Have you been reading about this word “missional” and wondering what it’s all about? Or are you an artist wondering how your creativity can participate in the dreams of God without being domesticated by the church? We’ll talk about God’s mission of creating his world, and how we participate in his commissioned work of art with our whole lives.

Mainline/Emergent Dialogue
Discussion Leader: Fred Burnham
Dr. Frederic B. Burnham is senior fellow for program and conference of the Institute for Servant Leadership located in Hendersonville, N.C. In October 2003, Dr. Burnham retired in as director of Trinity Institute, a program for the continuing theological education of clergy and laity sponsored by the Parish of Trinity Church, New York City. He was educated at Harvard College (physics), the Episcopal Divinity School (theology), Cambridge University, England (philosophy), and The Johns Hopkins University, where he received a PhD in the History of Science. He also holds an honorary degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He writes and lectures on the intersection between religion and culture.

Being the Change You Want to See:
Creating an Organized Christian Influence in One’s Chosen Profession
Discussion Leader: Joe Carson
Joe Carson is a licensed professional engineer (PE) with a 30-year career in many facets of nuclear engineering and technology, including weapons, power, and other applications. He is the current “dean” of federal whistleblowers, having “prevailed” in numerous whistleblower cases against his employer, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). His concerns include aspects of the safeguards and security of America’s nuclear stockpile, under DOE’s sole custody. He co-founded and now leads the Affiliation of Christian Engineers to be an organizational vehicle to foster the development and expression of an organized Christian influence in the engineering profession. He is leading an effort to expose and stop systemic and persistent lawbreaking at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the government agency specifically created to protect him and other federal employees, from what he has repeatedly experienced. If you are a member or aspiring member of a secular profession and want to “be the change you want to see” in the activity you will likely spend the greatest portion of your conscious time in life preparing for or pursuing, you should attend this discussion group.

The Church In Transition
Discussion Leader: Tim Conder
Tim is the founding pastor of Emmaus Way (Durham, NC) and a standing elder at the Chapel Hill Bible Church where he served as a co-pastor for 15 years. He is a coordinating group member for Emergent Village and a member of the board of directors of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Wash. He is the author of The Church in Transition (2006, Zondervan) and the host of the “On the Verge” podcast, which discusses “The Church on the Edge of an Emerging Culture.”

Technology for the Emerging Church: Podcasting, Blogging, and More
Discussion Leader: Nicholas Fiedler
Nicholas Fiedler is the co-creator and host of “The Nick and Josh Podcast,” an experiment in the podcast medium to have casual conversations with today’s top thinkers, storytellers, and artists and find out more about them and their journeys. The podcast operates with no budget, no paid staff, and no high-tech equipment. Yet somehow Nick and Josh have slowly grown to over 200,000 subscribers—and they covet every one. Nick and his wife Leslie are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives, and they are taking the next couple years to see as many countries, cultures, and religions as they possibly can. Currently, Nicholas calls himself a ‘hopeful skeptic’ and along with Josh they probe the ‘emergent conversation’ in hope of finding some place to experience true community. The podcast is his biggest connection to the emergent conversation. He blogs at nicholasfiedler.com/blog.

New Monasticism
Discussion Leaders: Greg & Helms Jarrell
Greg and Jennifer “Helms” Jarrell are members of a neo-monastic community called Hyaets (hy = “living”, aets = “tree” in Hebrew), located in the at-risk neighborhood called Enderly Park in West Charlotte. In addition to their work with Hyaets, Greg serves as Minister of Client and CareTeam Services at the Regional Aids Interfaith Network (RAIN), and Helms serves as an associate campus minister at UNC-Charlotte.

Who Cares About Sexual Justice?
Discussion Leader: Becky Knight
Becky Knight is Director of Education and Programs for Sensovi Institute, an innovative organization that offers services and resources for individual and couple’s sexual concerns. She is completing a Master of Public Health in Human Sexuality degree through the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. She also blogs at LivingSexuality.com. She is interested in creating a dialogue about how spirituality informs sexual ethics, morality, and justice.

24-7: The partnership of creative sacred space, prayer & social justice
Discussion Leader: Lisa Koons
Lisa Koons is the Director of 24-7, an organization focused on instigating vertical dialogue & a goodness revolution through the venue of prayer & service to the city’s marginalized & poor communities. She has 15 years of discipleship experience among individuals & groups, & mentors church leaders & congregations regarding intimacy with God, efficacy in prayer, & walking in resurrection life. 24-7 is the site of the city’s 1st emergent-style prayer room & the epi-center of The Justice Project, a yearly 400-strong volunteer effort to help bring transformation to fragile inner city neighborhoods.

Emergent Village, Cohorts, and More
Discussion Leader: Jeff Kursonis
After a decade in New York City as an artist, Jeff planted Communion of the Arts, a faith gathering in the NYC creative community. Besides pastoring artists and trying to experience communion in a crazy place like Manhattan, he is working on a theology of art and new forms of artistic liturgy (and he blogs). He is passionate about emergent friendships and the conversations that lead to good things, so he leads the Cohorts Team at Emergent Village and would love to help you start one in your area, or to make yours even better.

Food - Local, Slow, and Urban-Grown:
Jesus’ Subversive Meal-Sharing Practices and Us!
Discussion Leader: Mike Morrell
Mike Morrell lives with his wife, Jasmin and daughter, Jubilee Grace, in an intentional house church community in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is Graduate Fellow in Emergent Studies, M.A. in Strategic Foresight Program under futurist Jay Gary at Regent University. Mike makes his living as a journalist and publishing consultant. He is an editor with TheOoze and an Emerging Churches Coordinator for the global abolitionist Not for Sale Campaign, along with being active in its local Triangle-area affiliate, Jubilee. Mike maintains zoecarnate.com, an alternative Christian web directory, and is a liaison of Presence International, an eschatological think tank and activist cell funding head, heart and hands with visions of a new reality.

Consumption and Anti-consumption:
Living Reflectively in a Consumer Culture
Discussion Leader: Holly Rankin Zaher
Holly Rankin Zaher lives and breathes in the Charleston, S.C. area. She has been a part of Emergent Village for the past four years as part of some iteration of the Coordinating Group. She’s been involved with student ministry for the past 16 years, is a part of multiplying young Christian leaders through Rock the World), teaches as an adjunct at Trinity School for Ministry, was part of instigating threenails (a creative Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh), loves connecting cultural studies with typical human development, and enjoys being a friend, wife, and mom.

Thinking About Seminary
Discussion Leader: Andy Rowell
Andy Rowell is a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) student at Duke Divinity School. His primary concentration is “The Practice of Leading Christian Communities and Institutions.” He did his Master of Divinity degree at Regent College, served five years as an Associate Pastor with young adults in Vancouver, British Columbia, and taught Christian ministry at Taylor University for two years. Andy has written regularly for Leadership Journal’s Out of Ur blog and blogs at Church Leadership Conversations (http://www.andyrowell.net/). Andy and his wife Amy (also M.Div. from Regent College) have two boys under three. Are you thinking about going to seminary? Andy will discuss “Ten Things You Should Know If You Are Considering Seminary,” as well as how to pick a seminary, why you should go, why you shouldn’t go, the largest ones, theological differences, going part-time or full-time, financial issues, and other questions you may have about theological education. Are you from a seminary (either on staff or currently a student)? Andy will also be discussing how emerging and missional church movements are challenging theological education and how seminaries must change in light of Everything Must Change.

Practicing Pentecost
Discussion Leader: Anthony Smith
Anthony Smith is the “Resident Emerging Theologian” of the Charlotte cohort group and also serves on the National Coordinating Group of Emergent Village. He facilitates a blog, Musings of a Postmodern Negro, that is an investigation into the intersection of theology, philosophy, race, popular culture, politics, and emerging culture. His writing also appears in An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (edited by Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt) and Justice in the Burbs (by Lisa and Will Samson). There is also a chapter about Anthony’s journey into the emerging church conversation featured in Tony Jones’ forthcoming book The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier (due out March 2).

More details on these (and hopefully a few other discussion groups yet to be announced) are coming soon! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to not only hear from Brian McLaren, but also to interact with many other people from around the country who are interested in this new conversation about the role of Jesus’ message in answering the global crises of our time.

Register now at the $99 rate ($79 after the $20 off discount code, available by joining the Charlotte Emergent cohort). Tomorrow (1/8) the rate goes up to $109, so don’t wait—register today!

BTW — We’re now just one month away from EMC Charlotte at Area 15 (Feb. 1-2), and it’s going to be an amazing kingdom experience! Here’s a short description from Brian’s latest Deep Shift email newsletter to wet your appetite:

“When you arrive at the tour site near you, you’ll be welcomed into a short-term community of people who, like you, want to see God, the gospel, Jesus, our world and its crises, and our churches and faith communities in a dynamic new light.

• You’ll experience times of prayer and guided meditation, aided by some profoundly moving works of art.
• You’ll not only sing new songs, but you’ll participate in some new kinds of music, and you’ll experience liturgical resources that you can bring home to your faith community.
• You’ll be challenged to think about some important ideas, and you’ll engage in some stimulating dialogue with people who sincerely want to listen and share.
• And you’ll be challenged to action too — not with pressure or manipulation, but with encouragement and hope and opportunity. My prayer is that this event will be for many of us a true and lasting conversion.”

We’re also putting together some great “late night” breakout sessions/discussions for Friday night, which will be unique to Charlotte. Check back here for the announcement about those in the next few days.

Don’t miss this — register now!