Love Is an Orientation » Off the Grid

I’m in Geneva, Switzerland until Dec 5

Andrew Marin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 14:53:30 +0000

Starting today I am flying to Geneva, Switzerland to speak to the United Nations at their International headquarters – specifically through the UNAIDS: Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS. Since May 2010 I have been involved in on-going discussions with UNAIDS surrounding what it means to build bridges with conservative faith communities, as well as on the topics of faith, sexuality and HIV/AIDS.

This past July I took my first trip with UNAIDS to Vienna, Austria where I spoke to a number of world leaders connected through the UN on the broad topic of what it means to seek reconciliation with the ‘other’. It was an unreal experience, and it made me quickly realize that there is a whoooole different and bigger world out there that could care less about faith and how that intersects with anything, really. But it looks like it went so well in Vienna that I got invited out to the UN’s International Headquarters to continue these discussions further.

I am looking forward to this week to meet with and speak to more folks curious about what this bridge building lifestyle looks like. I just pray that I can represent this Movement and you all, to the UN/UNAIDS executives and other leaders from around the world, with honor and dignity in such a way that they will, if nothing else, respect what we’re all about. While I’m out there I’m also excited that I have the opportunity to speak with the heads of the World Council of Churches and the Ecumenical Advocay Alliance.

As always, I will try to blog about my experiences. However my track-record from these types of trips show that probably won’t happen. So in my place I will have The Marin Foundation’s Director of Community Relations, Kevin Harris, and Director of Pastoral Care, Nathan Albert, blog in my place. Looking forward to talking soon.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Week-long Silence, Thanks for Hanging in There

Andrew Marin — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:22:14 +0000

What a beginning to the month of November. I’ve been gone 12 of the 15 days of the month thus far: Spokane, Long Beach, Pasadena, San Diego, Los Angeles, Costa Mesa, back to Long Beach and then back home to Chicago. All in all, I will be spending more time in the Pacific Time Zone (16 days) than I will in my own Central Time Zone (8 days). I’ll only be home for 8 days this month (with upcoming trips to Portland, OR and ending the month in Geneva, Switzerland with the United Nations). It’s all very exciting stuff, but quite draining just the same – including a string of eight consecutive 4am wake-up calls for 12-16 hour days. That has left no time for blogging as I’ve gotten back to my hotel and pooped out. But I’m home now until Thursday, so I’m going to try to catch up a little.

Thanks for hanging in there with me on these unannounced silences. Despite my best intentions every time, I think I’m getting to know that when I go on a trip I don’t have too much energy or time to sit down and blog as I want to. You all are the best.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Reason for the Silence

Andrew Marin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:11:01 +0000

Hello! Sorry for the recent silence.

Since my last post I’ve been in the middle of a serious travel schedule all around the country without having a chance to sit down for any significant amount of time to write. Since Sunday I’ve been teaching at Houghton College in upstate New York. I preached at their chapel services on Monday and Wednesday, had a lecture Monday evening (and then two others on Tuesday), taught in four of their classes over a three day span, had a book signing and then capped it off with an interview with Visual Communications Professor Dave Huth – who is also a communications guy for Emergent Village. I get to spend 14 hours at home in Chicago (of which two of them I got to hang with Jim Henderson (here and here) who was in town for a few days) and then tomorrow morning I head to Washington, DC for some meetings that I can’t talk about. From there I go to Las Vegas on Sunday evening to speak at the Idea Camp for a few days. I’ll be back from my extended trip the evening of September 29th.

I’ve learned not to promise posts because I never seem to be able to follow-through on that, but if I have a chance (or am not totally exhausted when I do have an opportunity) I will be posting.

Can’t wait to talk soon.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Recent Silence

Andrew Marin — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:14:40 +0000

Hi everyone. I feel like I should apologize for the recent silence on my blog. I’ve gotten a few emails/etc asking what’s up and why I’m not posting everyday like I usually do. Mostly it’s because of this. The other reason is because I’m in such a fragile state right now emotionally from the aforementioned link, that I can’t take putting myself out there for others to critique right now. I don’t have the energy or stability to endure any of it. I’m tired. So tired. All day long. Emotionally. Physically. Mentally. Thank God I have God. Phew. Hang in there with me a little longer … I’ll be back in full steam soon. I just need to tough it out these next 2 weeks and then I’m home free for 2 months.

Love you guys dearly.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Off the Grid Today-Friday

Andrew Marin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:50:55 +0000

It’s 4am and unfortunately I am awake! I’m off to the airport this morning to participate in a closed-door meeting today through Friday with a selected group of Christian and gay leaders who have come together to have a discussion. Please pray for this time as it’s a unique opportunity, I believe, for all of us.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Off the Grid

Andrew Marin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:43:00 +0000

I’m going on vacation! The picture above is the resort where my wife and I will be staying. It’s our first vacation in almost two years, and it’s going to be awesome. So while I’m gone, underneath this post are four other new ones to keep the conversation rolling. I look forward to being with you again when I return.

Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/

Please Forgive Me, My Blogging Homies!

Andrew Marin — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:04:00 +0000

It has been quite a doozie of a past week. As I try to learn boundaries (which I’m obviously not too good at) in what to say yes to (which I’m very good at), and what to say no to (which needs great improvement), all of my free time recently has been spent sleeping and not blogging.

I’m wearing myself ragged, and I’ve not-so-subtly realized that I can’t keep this up—hence all of the extra sleep when it’s possible. But starting on Tuesday I will be resuming my daily week-day blog posts.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Much love.
www.themarinfoundation.org

Reconciliation/Off the Grid

Andrew Marin — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:21:00 +0000

I leave tonight to go to Jackson, Mississippi to be with the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) board of directors for their new project: Emerging Leader’s Initiative. Yes, that’s a mouthful. But it’s also an awesome opportunity as I was one of only a few hand-picked young leaders throughout the country to be involved with some of the heavy-hitters of urban life and ministry:

John Perkins
Wayne Gordon
Ray Bakke
Bob Lupton
Shane Claiborne
Among many others…

CCDA’s structure is based off of Dr. John Perkins 3Rs: Relocation (move into the neighborhood), Reconciliation (level the disconnect) and Redistribution (raise up new indigenous leadership). And those are all things that I take very seriously in my life, and try to model each day.

With this in mind I want to leave us with some words on Reconciliation from Dr. Perkins from his book, With Justice For All. I truly look forward to spending the next four days with these proven leaders—leaders who created a movement that has sustained the test of time. Something I can only hope God continues to foster through The Marin Foundation.

The only purpose of the gospel is to reconcile people to God and to each other. A gospel that doesn’t reconcile is not a Christian gospel at all. But in America it seems as if we don’t believe that. We don’t really believe that the proof of our discipleship is that we love one another (see John 13:35)…

To be reconciled to each other, then, we must bear the burdens created by each other’s pasts. And to be reconcilers in the world, to bring others together, we must bear the burdens of both the parties we seek to reconcile…

We must be reconciled to both God and man. The gospel’s first work is to reconcile us to God (2 Cor. 5:18), then, if our relationship with God is right, it will show up in our relationships with each other (1 John 4:20). For my worship to be acceptable to God, I must be reconciled to my brother (Matthew 5:23-24). To be reconciled to my brother I must first be reconciled to God; to remain reconciled to God I must be reconciled to my brother. I cannot have one without the other…

If the purpose of the gospel is to reconcile us to God and to our fellowman, if your mission is to be God’s ambassadors of reconciliation (see 2 Cor. 5:20), how do we fulfill that mission? It’s tempting for us to start out with a list of things to do. But that is not how the world of reconciliation begins. Before we can do the world of God, we must be the people of God—the believing fellowship, the Body of Christ. We cannot achieve Christ’s mission each working alone; we must work as a Body, each one exercising their spiritual gifts as a part of the whole. The believing fellowship must be a living demonstration of the love that God gives us for one another. Our invitation to others then becomes, “Come join us in this fellowship which we have with each other and with God” (see 1 John 1:3). Before we can invite others to join our fellowship, we must have a fellowship. So before we can do the work of the church, we must be the church.

To do the work of reconciliation, then, we must begin by being a reconciled fellowship, by being the Body of Christ. We must model the kind of relationships into which we want to invite others. Our love for each other gives credibility and power to our witness. We must begin by being. Being, though, is not complete until it results in doing. As James says, “Faith, if it has no works, it’s dead”. A faith that doesn’t express itself in works is not a true faith. Now that’s good, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough to just be a reconciled fellowship, though that is where we have to start. We must be a reconciled fellowship on a mission. And our mission is to bring others into fellowship with God and with us.

And many of the people in the Christian community movement seem to lack this vision. They love each other, yet they lack this drive to take the gospel to unbelievers, inviting them to join the fellowship… (excerpts from pp. 116-146).

The problem with the culture war that is GLBT vs. conservative Christianity, is that the word reconciliation has become distorted to mean something it is not. I’ll leave it there as I will be expanding on this, and other lingual distortions (and how to fix them) within the culture war starting next week.

Much love.
www.themarinfoundation.org

Off the Grid

Andrew Marin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:59:00 +0000

I want to give everyone a fair warning that I might not be posting until next Tuesday. Over the next nine days I’m going to be speaking in three different States, and have a pretty packed schedule in each city. Here are some of the highlights to come:

Sunday Feb. 8th I will be speaking at both services at Lawndale Community Church in Chicago, and then host a 50 minute workshop as well.

Monday Feb. 9th I fly to San Diego to speak at the National Pastors Convention (NPC) until Friday. Some of the special times planned in San Diego include:

-Getting to hang out with my friends at Youth Specialties, who are based in San Diego
-Get to speak to the pastoral staff at Harbor Church
-Have meetings with three different publishing houses to try and figure out where my next book might be published at
-I have already scheduled times to get to go to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and/or hang out with Scot McKnight, Brian McLaren, Gabe Lyons, Dave Kinnaman, Anne Jackson and Cathleen Falsani at different times throughout the week
-Have two interviews—one with Leadership through Christianity Today and the other with Rev! Magazine

And then on Friday after my last workshop at NPC I’m flying to Pittsburgh to speak at Jubilee Conference to a bunch of college students Saturday and Sunday!!!

Please pray for me this next week as I speak the Lord’s words as I continue to try to bridge the gap.

Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/

I’m Back

Andrew Marin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:33:00 +0000

Hello everyone! It’s official….

Love Is an Orientation is officially done, turned in and ready to go to print!

I’m back now, no longer ‘off the grid.’ Thanks for hanging in there with me over the last couple of weeks while I struggled to get everything done with total and full confidence in every word that I wrote – and all that I represent as a bridge builder for our heavenly father.

I want to wish everyone a happy and thanful Thanksgiving and I’ll be posting on my recent adventures starting again on Monday.

Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/

Off the Grid

Andrew Marin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:28:00 +0000

Hello!

I’m going off the grid for a few days (maybe a week). Next week my final edits for Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community, are due!

And when I say final edits I mean:

-This is it for real

-No more changes once I turn it in this one last time

-Final, final, final version of everything

-No more take-backs

-What I turn in is what you’ll be reading when you buy it

And while I might be gone, I am going to be speaking at Park City Baptist Church in Dallas and then off to Los Angeles for the next of The Coalition’s bridge building events in Southern California. Here is the promo flyer:

So if you’re in Southern California come on out – it’s open to the public. Here’s a description:

“Building Bridges Between the GLBT Community and the Faith Community”

What happens when Bible-believing Christians get together with gays and lesbians … or gay Christians? Can something peaceful and productive happen for the Kingdom or does this relationship always have to centralize itself around the same old fights, arguments and debates? This large-group, day long training will intentionally bring these topics to the forefront as we discover what it means to learn, listen and understand our way through the culture war of GLBT-Christian relations. While being able to recognize a difference in theology, Elevating the Conversation will teach you the theory, practice and application on how to effectively build a bridge between the gay and lesbian and Christian communities in order to make a significant in Southern California from this day forward.

November 15th, 2008 9am – 2pm

Evergreen Baptist Church

1255 San Gabriel Blvd

Rosemead, CA 91770

CostPre-Registration $15 (Deadline – November 11th) On Site Registration $20 (includes all training and lunch)

See you all soon.

Much love.

http://www.themarinfoundation.org/