Emergent '05 - A Different Beginning
Emergent '05 - Church of the Apostles and Paradox

Emergent '05 - Powell & Shults

Shults_2aMy first "Learning Community" experience was stimulating and valuable.  Our L.C. will meet four times during the convention, and each time a different set of presenters will come to us.  Hosted and fascilitated by Tim Keel and Karla Barnhill (both did excellently), our L.C. heard presentations from LaRon Shults (a Theologian from Bethel Seminary) and Kara Powell (a practitioner from Fuller Seminary).  Their topic: Humanity.

Kara began by showing us a photo of her two children, dressed for Halloween.  They were wearing costumes instead of regular clothing, but their faces were normal. She then went on to suggest that the opposite is often true of us: we wear normal clothes each day, but feel compelled to put on masks, thus hiding our faces.  We do this for many reasons, but often in response to worry or concern over what others and/or God "expect" from us.

LaRon then picked it up and quickly led us through a summary of how often God's "face", his people's "faces", or our own "face" is mentioned in scripture.  This he tied to two things: the imago Dei, and authentic community.

For an excellent explanation of how God's image and "face" is seen in community, click here:Download shults_1.WMV.

Our L.C. broke into small groups (4-5) a couple of times to discuss this topic in more depth.  It was excellent!  AND, a regular here at Paradoxology was in my small group: Keith Seckel.  He and his wife Cathy contributed a lot to the discussion (not a surprise).

I'm definitely looking forward to our next Learning Community.

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