May 2009 Archives

The closing date on the Huss property has been postponed to June 10, giving us a bit more time to raise money and get other details in order. So that's good news!

The number on the home page this morning is $15,805, which is $4,195 short of our $20,000 goal for May 27. What happens now? That's a great question with a somewhat complicated answer.

Let me first say that we're thrilled at the amount of support people have shown for the Imagining Space project. We pushed our networks really hard over the past month--harder than we ever have for fundraising--and were extremely encouraged by the amount of joyful generosity that came back. We're so grateful to everyone who responded with prayers, ideas, wisdom and money. Thank you! We are simply stunned.

The nature of real estate and fundraising seems to be that deadlines are never neat and tidy. Since we set the May 27 deadline in anticipation of a May 30 closing date on Huss School, we've had to push the closing date back due to the logistics of having to get so many things in order first. This change will give us time to follow up on some outstanding invitations to contribute and to continue to explore other connections. We'll be setting a new deadline for ourselves soon depending on where the closing date lands and we'll keep you posted, so watch the site and your e-mail.

In the meantime, please continue to pray for wisdom, courage and delight in the face of a big, big project. We're looking forward to seeing where things land and holding loosely to all possibilities in a desire to be faithful to the Spirit's leading.

Please also continue to consider what you might contribute (or who you might encourage to contribute) to the ongoing goals toward the purchase of Huss School and the embodiment of a Kingdom vision. We really appreciate your attentiveness, care and support!

May 27 is here! We set this date and the $20,000 fundraising goal early in May according to the terms of *cino's offer to purchase the historic Huss School in Three Rivers, Michigan. As I write, we have just over $5,000 left to go and we're still waiting to see what the rest of this day brings.

The past few weeks have been exhilarating and exhausting. So many words of wisdom, encouragement and caution have come our way as we've put a big dream out there to see what happens. Will we breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate if we reach this first goal? Of course! Dozens of people from all over the world have already come together in hopeful anticipation of what might be possible for a small organization in a small town in southwest Michigan.

A celebration will honor the guiding success of the past month, but it will also be an opportunity to renew our collective commitment to the next phase of hard work. If Huss School is the place we're called to be, there are many logistics in our very near future--negotiating fees and contracts, gathering information, signing papers. If Huss School is not the place we're called to be, there's the work of taking a step back as a board of directors and community of stakeholders to re-imagine where to direct the momentum that's gathered behind the campaign. Beyond either outcome, there's more planning, meeting, talking, fundraising, grant writing, blogging...

Amid all of this, Rob and I stand with all of you at an intersection--the intersection of past and future, of global and local, of pushing and being pulled, of audacity and caution. We pray that our stillness at this intersection is and will continue to be characterized by love, faith, hope and joy that reach deeper than we can ever fully know and tie all of us to the great mystery of God's heart.

So please donate if you can. Send us your thoughts if you have words in waiting. And go in peace to embody Love through service in the place where you are. Thank you for your attentiveness to Imagining Space!

Last night after Compline, we sat up late into the night with Brother Cuthbert and two long-time Abbey guests at St. Gregory's in Three Rivers. We had a great rambling conversation about the possibilities for partnership between *cino's Imagining Space project and the Abbey, which seem to be myriad. Exploring the combination and intersection of cultural engagement with a contemplative focus seems like it could yield some interesting and winsome results.

The monks (particularly Brother Cuthbert) have been very supportive and encouraging; we look forward to working with them in future!

Last night we held a hastily-arranged question and answer session in Three Rivers about the Imagining Space project. We gathered at World Fare (the fair trade store Kirstin and I helped found in 2003) to eat delicious treats (thanks Amber!) and discuss possibilities for the Huss School property.

About a dozen people with various connections to the project--from neighborhood residents to relatives--talked about dreams, obstacles and fundraising ideas. The excitement buzzing around the table was invigorating; everyone in Three Rivers who hears about this project seems to be happy at the prospect of the building being used for something that will bring many benefits to the community.

If we manage to purchase Huss, we'll certainly be doing more of these sessions in the future!

This morning, Rob and I worked at World Fare, the volunteer-run fair trade store we helped found in Three Rivers in 2003. Word has continued to circulate around town about our plans for Huss School and the Imagining Space project and one theme of the responses we're hearing lately regards the huge-ness of this dream. Some folks are refreshed and inspired, while others are terrified.

One of the questions we've heard several times is, "Why not start a little smaller?" Honestly, we've asked ourselves that question. And we have to be prepared to change courses to something different or smaller depending on how fundraising goes over the next several days.

That said, going big has its advantages. Imaginative audacity has a way of cutting through the noise of the mundane, of helping people remember that our lives and communities are infinitely interesting, chock full of possibility. There are logistical reasons as well. Pursuing a space that can hold many kinds of interwoven programming increases points of educational and relational connection for everyone. It also holds greater potential for funding from state and federal sources, as well as private foundations, as each program's purpose can be enhanced by the others.

Here's what one thoughtful Three Rivers follower of the Imagining Space project sent over a couple of days ago:

By the way, you guys rock! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision such cool things happening in Three Rivers. Like your friend said in the quote you have on the *cino web site (though greatly paraphrased), even if you fail, you will have failed in such a spectacular way. Not in a half-hearted, barely tried kinda way. Attempting to realize such a magnificent goal, dreaming big and taking such a great risk takes heart, passion, and more faith than I can understand. And in the end, the failure will not be a failure but an opportunity to regroup and address your dreams in a different and unique perspective. Perhaps an opportunity will open up that wasn't possible before. Keep going forward. Both of you are inspiring people around you through example in such a powerful way.

We are so grateful for encouragement like this that recognizes the challenges of the project, while also reveling in its possibilities for collective imagination and dreaming big.

Only one week to go to our May 27 deadline for raising $20,000. It's way more money than we've ever raised before as an organization for a huge building that will take years and millions of dollars to renovate. We've already acknowledged that we're crazy (but hopefully in a good, faithful crazy kind of way).

In the spirit of confession, let me tell you: it's an emotional roller coaster right now. One moment we are encouraged by a friend in China who's donating $20. The next, we are looking at the loooong way we have yet to go and feeling like we'll never get there, even as we feel more encouraged and excited about the potential for Huss School.

In the midst of this anxious doing and waiting, a friend who's been involved in starting (and ending) several such big projects as this before sent us some words worth sharing (and for me, repeating):

I am so proud of what you are doing and the way you are imagining and hoping. The older I get, the more I have less and less patience for small dreamers who are proud of their predictable but I think petty imaginings. If I fail, I want to fail at something really good, really true and really beautiful in purpose, in hope and in courage. I see that in you.

And in a follow-up note:

You embody Delight-filled determination to make their lives and those around you count. Failure is not really possible in that framework, only plan changes and learning new ways perhaps to move forward with new people and renewed energies in grace. Take heart, feel the hope of glory in the rising potential in your midst. Life is way too short, this side of the banquet to live small and restrict the flow of transforming love.

Thank God for this friend and for all of you who have been walking with us, chipping in your prayers, dollars, cautions, advice, encouragement and ideas.

And now we wait. And do some things that need doing. And wait some more.

One of the big ideas for the space that results from the Imagining Space campaign is an off-campus program for college students. In the course of shared meals, grocery trips, concerts and other activities with our student friends at Calvin College, we've come to realize the value of simply doing life together as a means of collaboratively learning what a richly formed, Kingdom-oriented life might look like. Building on these experiences, we'd like to cultivate a space in which inquisitive students can have these kinds of formative encounters with each other and with mentors and teachers.

While we've spent a lot of time brainstorming about this program, we haven't fully developed a specific plan; in part, this is because the program will look different depending on the space we're able to secure for it. Assuming, though, that we'll be able to purchase Huss School, here are a few ideas for what that program might look like:

• The second floor of Huss would be a residential space with a variety of housing options, from dormitories to apartments. Students in the program would stay in the dorms and visiting faculty (with, perhaps, their families) would occupy the apartments.


• Students and faculty would share a communal kitchen and eating area; in addition to private living space, there would also be a shared living room. In this way, learning can extend beyond classrooms to the informal conversations that happen over meals or after watching a film together. This kind of student-teacher interaction will be a hallmark of the program.


• The curriculum will focus on exploring deep faith commitments and how these commitments might look in various areas of life. The program will seek to connect piety (worship, prayer, spiritual disciplines) with cultural engagement, as these are often compartmentalized and therefore incomplete.


• The semester will be broken into 2- or 3-week long intensive units, with each unit exploring a different aspect of biblical and/or cultural analysis. For example, units may include issues of race and power, contemplative practices, community development principles, local and global peacemaking initiatives, and many others.


• Each student will also intern during the semester at a local organization, church or business. Ideally, of course, this placement would be tied to the student's interest. Assessment and evaluation of their intern experiences will be incorporated into classroom learning.


• Some of the opportunities for internships might include working with a community partner to tutor grade school children, tending to the community garden with neighbors, working in a downtown store, and many others.

There will be many more hours of brainstorming and visioning ahead for an off-campus program, but hopefully the list above helps you envision the potential program a little better. If you have any questions or ideas, please post them below!

As we've been searching for feedback on the possibilities we're proposing for Huss School, we've been trying to get the word out around Three Rivers. Imagining Space has been featured recently...

• On WLKM radio


• At River Country Journal


• In the Kalamazoo Gazette Hometown South edition


• On the Liberty First forum

This question is a good one that we've heard a couple of times lately from some folks who are considering contributing to the Imagining Space campaign. There's a brief answer in the FAQ section of the web site, but I thought it would be good to go into a little more detail.

The current phase of fundraising, with only about a week and a half to go (yikes!), is an attempt to raise $20,000 as a down payment on the historic Huss School, per the terms of our accepted offer with the current owner. Falling far short of that goal would mean we'd have to back off of our offer on that particular property. It would also communicate some important things to us about our fundraising capabilities and donor base that we couldn't know without putting this vision out there to see what kind of support we can gather behind such a project.

Letting go of Huss School because we can't meet the $20,000 goal does not mean letting go of the overarching vision for Imagining Space--that is, for a place in Three Rivers that can serve as a hub of service, study and community development. Failing to meet the goal for Huss would guide us to consider a more modest space or another arrangement that would allow us to honor the project vision without such an investment of capital. The money we've raised in the first phase of the Imagining Space campaign would be directed toward work in keeping with the campaign vision, just not at Huss School.

Admittedly, a more modest space sounds less scary to us sometimes than does a 22,000 square foot space. However, over the past weeks as we've looked into funding possibilities and talked with potential community partners, we've realized that even though Huss School would take a larger amount of capital to renovate, the programs such a big space would be able to contain will make it more broadly appealing for certain grant opportunities. What we're coming to see, counter-intuitively, is that a larger space might be easier to fund.

Is that helpful? Hopefully so, but please don't hesitate to contact us if you have additional questions (the contact form sends an e-mail directly to me and Rob).

I just finished re-reading Duane Friesen and Glen Stassen's "Just peacemaking" essay in Transforming Violence and several passages seemed remarkably relevant to the Imagining Space project. They identify three theological convictions that undergird practices of just peacemaking:

1. Biblical discipleship is grounded in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.


2. The church is the eschatological "sign" of God's reign in the world, embodied in a concrete gathering of persons who seek to discern together what just peacemaking means and to model peacemaking practices in our corporate and individual lives.


3. The church must be committed to seek the peace of the city where she dwells.

It seems this list is a pretty good overview of what is driving *cino to consider this project.

While *cino is not a church, we are certainly part of the worldwide body and the work we'll be doing will involve partnerships with the community of churches in Three Rivers. Additionally, we have no illusions that this project will be quick or easy. In retelling the biblical narrative with this community through ritual and worship, we can remember and hope in ways that will sustain us along the long journey ahead. Such sustenance seems the only way such an undertaking will be possible.

We hope that the programming we're imagining for this space will allow us to model just peacemaking in Three Rivers. The off-campus program we're proposing and the intersection of college students with local community partners will be a remarkable opportunity to discern together how we might go about the work of peacemaking and community development. We're still in conversation--and will be for some time--about the specifics of our programming, but the possibilities are terribly exciting!

Finally, we hope that the work we'd embody in a space like Huss School would, in fact, seek the welfare of Three Rivers. Friesen and Stassen elaborate:

When the church seeks the well-being of the city where it dwells, it will be drawn into participation with fellow citizens, from a variety of points of view, in the development of norms and practices that can contribute to the shalom of the city.

The biblical notion of shalom refers to a universal flourishing and delight, where all are able to contribute toward right relationships--relationships that allow community to deepen and grow. In seeking this ideal, we would want to work with other groups with similar interests in community development, justice, economic vitality and environmental stewardship. This kind of community growth is good for everyone, regardless of belief.

Interesting how these kinds of ideas all come together!

Rob and I had several exciting meeting with local Three Rivers folks this weekend about the potential of Huss School and the ideas that are swirling around in the larger vision for a space in Three Rivers. Several themes emerged from formal and informal conversations:

1. People want to see the Huss School building renovated and put to good use, rather than torn down.


2. People want to see life-giving, creative opportunities for those who are on the margins socially and economically, especially youth.


3. People want to see something that will contribute to the aesthetic and economic value of the neighborhood, city and county.

Admittedly, we've been more than a bit intimidated lately about being pursued by such a huge project, but we came out of this weekend feeling even more committed to doing everything we can to fill the halls and rooms of Huss School with creativity and community once again.

There's so much history and emotional energy surrounding Huss School for many people in Three Rivers and beyond and we feel that if the possibility for this particular building does come to fruition, we'd have to be gentle stewards of those stories and emotions. (For example, check out this blog post Rob stumbled on a couple of weeks ago.) Those in Three Rivers we've spoken with so far--and there will be many more, including property neighbors--have been cautiously hopeful about our vision for the building and give their blessing for this radical journey. Re-purposing Huss School would not be re-purposing just any old building, but one that's a powerful symbol for several generations. We look forward to the opportunity to serve a community that's looking for inspiring signs of hope and imagination for the good of a city we all love.

Kirstin's editorial in the newest issue of catapult looks at how the idea to purchase Huss School is a little crazy ... and that's kind of what makes it good.

Thanks, Andy, for twittering about *cino's Imagining Space project! Andy's recent book, Culture Making, is fantastic and gets at a lot of the ideas driving what we do with *culture is not optional. In fact, we're planning to review it soon for catapult ...

Rob woke me up last night after I had just fallen asleep to let me know that our second donation had come in for Imagining Space--our first donation, really, since the initial one was our own. My first thought, and last one before falling happily back asleep, was, "Wow--the first three donors for this project are under 30 years old." Then, this morning, I woke up at 5:30 to take our housemate to the airport thinking about how truly incredible the age factor is. "Maybe this is our project," I thought, "a project for our generation."

Some background: during the first couple of years of college, Rob and I were pretty disillusioned with the Church. When we weren't at home with our families, we rarely attended. And yet, we count those years among some of the most fruitful years in our awareness of God working in the world and in us. We were learning all kinds of exciting things about theology, discernment, the arts and community, but the center of experience was not a church--it was a group of college friends and professors. We became cynical about the Church in general. The potential for connecting faith and everyday life was so endlessly amazing and the Christian witness that was really compelling to us was far more radical than what we'd experienced growing up in our ethnic denominational circles. Why didn't more people see what we saw?

Admittedly, *culture is not optional was partially born out of this cynicism. We were under the impression that if we could just make a sufficient rational argument for serving the poor, living in intentional communities, buying fair trade, driving less and so on, everyone we knew would change their ways and do things the way we thought they should be done.

Through several important and merciful encounters, Rob and I have come to love the Church, in all its broken beauty. We've come to have a deeper understanding of how ritual at its best is not an empty gesture performed out of guilt, but the fullness of centering our stories in Christ, performed out of love. However, this doesn't mean that we've abandoned our call to a prophetic role or settled comfortably into "the way things have always been." Today, we are friends with many people in high school, college and beyond who have gone or are going through an intense period of disillusionment with the Church, and we identify with them. In fact, *cino exists in part to serve those who find themselves on the fringes of Christian faith.

Fortunately, *cino was also born out of another...dare I say, "holier" spirit, and that was the conviction that experience changes people. Over time, the focus of our publications and events has shifted away from arguments and toward toward gathering and storytelling. One of our core desires is to dismantle the false choice between "thin" Christianity and no Christianity at all, which is a very real but false dichotomy facing so many people our age. We have found that one of the best ways to do so is to show people what faithfulness in some small part of life might look like in a particular time and place. And so we gather around a table for a meal of locally grown foods or invite people up to Russet House Farm for a week or publish an interview with someone who runs a hardware store in a town many have abandoned.

A key realization for us in this process has been the difference between criticizing the Church--anyone can do that from inside or out--and throwing ourselves heart, mind, body and soul into being the Church. We can make a rational argument that this is simply a better approach, but we can also make an experiential argument that things are just so much more fun this way! Instead of spending our time whining and complaining, we can seek to be invitational, joyful and creative. As Andy Crouch would say, we're changing culture by making new culture.

Of course, this process of joyful practice, instead of despairing condemnation, is ongoing for us and for *culture is not optional. We're attempting to counteract some pretty powerful tendencies within ourselves--and sometimes complaining is just so immediately gratifying! But as we continue to shape a different approach to being the change we wish to see, creating a space for *cino where people can see what the Gospel might look like lived out in a particular time and place seems like a natural next step. That's why I'm compelled to consider this project one that's uniquely by and for our generation.

Now, I don't consider "our" generation to be necessarily limited to people in their twenties and thirties; it's a designation that goes beyond age to ways of being and thinking that represent a shift from the dominant spirit of the first half of the twentieth century. Perhaps I'm referring more to a multi-generational group of kindred spirits that loves the Church too much to see it fail; that deeply desires a robust faith practice infusing all things ordinary with extraordinary significance; that seeks to experience God as more than an argument or a list, but as a living reality who shapes communities in life-giving ways. Does that come close to describing you? If so, I hope you'll become a part of the Imagining Space project in some way. We're certainly swimming upstream here (pick a stream) and we need all the help we can get.

By the way, our second-but-really-our-first donor to this campaign? A 24-year-old who will be heading to grad school next year. Surely he could have used $500 to help fund his living expenses for the next few years, but instead he grabbed an opportunity to be a part of something that gives him hope about where we're headed as a Church and as human beings, something bigger than himself. We are so incredibly humbled and grateful to be vessels for a vision he sees fit to support.

As we've noted in the property section of this site, we currently have an offer in on Huss School in Three Rivers, Michigan. I thought it might be helpful to upload a few more photos of the building and the property to help visual folks (like myself) get an idea for the space.

The second floor hallway:

A typical classroom:

The backyard (Huss sits on four acres):

Those should give you an idea of the kind of building Huss is. It's roughly 22,000 square feet (including a gym) and holds infinite possibilities!

Continued from "The road to a space: early conversations" ...

Kirstin and I moved to Three Rivers soon after we officially began *culture is not optional and found ourselves falling in love with a beautiful small town filled with a diverse group of amazing people. We knew that this place was going to be a big part in our lives, particularly when we, with the help of many good friends, started a fair trade store in the historic downtown district. We were becoming rooted and, because Kirstin and I attended to most of its day-to-day activities, so was *culture is not optional.

While we were living in Three Rivers, we quickly became friends with a number of pastors from different denominations. They were all eager to work together and many found *cino resources very helpful in the process. Again, it seemed like it would be great to have a neutral space where people of faith in the community could come together to learn, grow and serve together.

Thankfully, though, we were not able to take the straight road to where we thought we were going. Kirstin and I, in need of gainful employment, moved to Grand Rapids to share a wonderful position at Calvin College in the Student Activities Office. Grant began working as an adjunct faculty member in the philosophy department at Trinity Christian College. More and more, the people who were guiding *cino's work were involved with high school and college students in some way. We quickly realized that our organization needed to involve students; however, we were constantly frustrated that we could only invite them to read catapult or attend a yearly camping trip. We recognized that the best learning and discipleship happened in informal conversations over meals or coffee and that these conversations are often difficult to have online. It seemed that it would be ideal to have a space to which we could invite students, whether in high school, college or beyond, into a communal living/learning experience.

At another visioning session at the end of last year, Grant, Kirstin and I got together to discuss the future direction of *cino. Though we hadn't been able to spend much time with one another during the previous year, we had all been feeling an inclination toward a physical space for *cino. A building could allow *cino to be rooted in a place, ideally allowing it to serve several groups with interweaving programming options--some of which we've outlined on the vision page of this web site. Given Kirstin's and my commitment to Three Rivers, it seemed to be an ideal location to begin looking--though we weren't seriously on the market at that point.

Then, on a lark, I was looking up Three Rivers commercial real estate online (for something else entirely) and found that Huss School was on the market at a very reasonable price. Though we were a bit hesitant to consider the idea, we went and looked at the property to see what might be possible there. After our visit, it seemed that one opportunity for a *cino space was sitting in front of us and we needed to fully explore it.

And that winding story is how we arrived at this campaign. I hope you enjoyed reading (at least part of) it! :)