The Arts in the City | Steve Lavey | 20 Million Minutes

Christians in the Culture

March 6, 2008 By Steve Leave a Comment

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in how the culture ebbs and flows and who drives the culture. I’ve also seen a more determined generation who wants to drive faith and values into the culture. hidden chicago A good friend of mine, Dave Carlson of Bucktown Pictures, has continually told me that the movie theaters are the churches of the next century and movie directors are the priests so we better wade into the culture and not shrink from it as Christians.

Recently, I have been introduced to the Wedgewood Circle folks, sort of a national angel investment network of successful entrepreneurs, investment institutions and high net worth investors who provide investment capital, strategic guidance and relationships to contribute to the renewal of the culture by investing in cultural “artifact” creation in the key influential sectors of film, music television, publishing, theatre/performing, fashion, fine arts and computer/console gaming. I like what they are doing.

I also like what Gabe Lyons and the Fermi Project is doing. Fermi Project is a broad collective of innovators, artists, social entrepreneurs, church and societal leaders experimenting with ways to advance the common good in culture.

Well over the last ten years, many have begun to make an impact in Hollywood and recently, Beliefnet has chronicled their top dozen most influential and powerful Christians in Hollywood? Well, Beliefnet has come up with their list, and it includes names like Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, Patricia Heaton, Angela Bassett, and Martin Sheen. Sounds like a pretty diverse list with a pretty broad theological definition, but none the less, interesting. You can read more here…

Filed Under: Church, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Methods & Strategies, Missional, Provision Theater, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Weblog

Park Community Church on Comcast

March 4, 2008 By Steve Leave a Comment

Check out FAITH TODAY’s preview of a 10 minutes piece on Park Community Church its growing impact on the city that is playing on Comcast On Demand.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Chicago, Culture and Faith, Inside Park, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation

Convictions About Worship – What are Yours?

February 18, 2008 By Steve Leave a Comment

I recently came across this list of Saddleback Church’s 12 Convictions about Worship and have been thinking a lot about worship in the Park Community Church context as we get ready to move into a new building and begin to explore potential how multi-site locations might further the work that God is doing in our midst.

Here is what Rick Warren says about their worship convictions:

Jesus’ ministry attracted enormous crowds. The Bible tells us that crowds followed him wherever he went. I believe that a Christ-like ministry still attracts crowds today. You don’t need gimmicks. You don’t need to compromise your convictions. You don’t need to water down your message. If you minister to people the way Jesus did, they’ll want to be around your ministry like they did his.

But how do you develop a worship service that’ll minister to those crowds each weekend? It’s important that you figure out why you do what you do before you figure out what your worship service will include. At Saddleback, 12 convictions determine how we minister to the crowds on the weekends. Here’s why we do what we do in our worship services.

1. Only believers can truly worship God.

2. You don’t need a building to worship God.

3. There is no correct style of worship.

4. While unbelievers can’t worship, they can watch believers worship.

5. Worship is a powerful witness to unbelievers if God’s presence is felt and the message is understandable.

6. God expects us to be sensitive to the fears, hang-ups, and the needs of unbelievers when they are present in our worship services.

7. Worship services do not have to be shallow to be evangelistic, and the message does not have to be compromised. It just has to be understandable.

8. The needs of believers and unbelievers often overlap.

9. It’s best to specialize your services according to purpose.

10. A service geared toward non-believers is meant to supplement personal evangelism, not replace it.

11. There is no standard way to design an evangelistic worship service.

12. It takes unselfish mature believers to offer an evangelistic worship service. This is the most important of all.

Here are the original posts with supporting thoughts by Rick Warren at pastors.com here and here. He goes more in-depth into each of his points in the articles, which are well worth reading. What do you think? What are your convictions about worship as we seek to introduce the God of the universe to all people in Chicago?

Filed Under: Chicago, Methods & Strategies, Music That Moves, Sunday Services, The Arts in the City

“Time of Your Life” – Jeff Recommended

February 14, 2008 By Steve Leave a Comment

Come on out and see “Time of Your Life, a Pulitzer prize-winning play by William Saroyan performed by Provision Theater Company at the Viaduct Theater at 3111 N Western Avenue in West Roscoe Village. Don’t miss this poetic tribute to optimism and dreams, starring Tim Gregory. A stellar 22-person ensemble cast brings to life Saroyan’s message of spending your life truly living, and Sue and I are going tonight so we can give you a first hand report. It’s already been reviewed by the Jeff Committee and got a RECOMENDED verdict from them.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! – Provision Theater has mounted a masterpiece… a magical evening of theatre… the kind of show that you want to experience again.” – Tom Williams, ChicagoCritic.com

Time of Your Life

LISTED AS ONE OF THE TOP 5 SHOWS TO SEE NOW

Sweet… Attractive… a postcard of a different time.” – William Scott, New City
“Saroyan’s writing is lyrical… characters, entertaining… there’s a humanity to this play.” – Barbara Vitello, Daily Herald

“Snuggle in the nostalgic comfort… an American classic.” – Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times

JEFF RECOMMENDED!

Filed Under: Breaking News, Chicago, Chicago Fact, Culture and Faith, Provision Theater, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation

Chicago Leads Nation: 25-34 Year Olds

January 12, 2008 By Steve Leave a Comment

As we have always said at Park Community Church, Chicago is a magnet for bright talented college graduates to come to a global city and begin their careers. This was affirmed this week in an article by Crains Chicago Business who reported that Chicago leads the nation in the concentration of 25-34 year olds within three miles of the city center.

Crains reports:

Human capital — a buzzword among economists — simply means people. Think of it as raw material made up of bankers, traders, consultants, advertisers, engineers, artists and others who, through brainpower and creativity, turn ideas into money. “The comparative advantage of cities is determined by how smart, how trained, how innovative, how entrepreneurial the people are in that city,” says Edward Glaeser, a Harvard urban economist who advised the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ study group.

Chicago’s human capital is strong. Among U.S. cities, Chicago ranks first in the concentration of young people (ages 25 to 34) living within three miles of downtown. It’s second only to New York in the number of those with college degrees. Its universities are world class. The University of Chicago has been home to 20 Nobel Prize laureates, while both the U of C’s Graduate School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management rank among the world’s best business schools. Chicago also has the quality of life that keeps people here — vibrant art and music scenes, restaurants, museums, parks and recreational facilities.

Read the whole article here.

Filed Under: Chicago, Chicago Fact, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church

VeggieTales Trailer and Questions: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything

January 11, 2008 By Steve Leave a Comment

“The children’s franchise delivers an entertaining spoof as the vegetables find the heroes in themselves.” — LA TIMES

“Most Entertaining” – Hollywood Reporter

“Pirates imparts the Bible-inspired storytelling parents and kids have come to expect from VeggieTales in a less obvious but as-fun-as-always package.” – Christianity Today

DISCUSSION STARTERS:

Here are some questions from Christianity Today’s review to begin dialogue with your children once you have seen the movie:

1. Why do you think George, Elliot and Sedgewick feel that “guys like us will never be more than cabin boys”? Are some people just not cut out to be heroes? Why or why not? What do you think it means to be a hero?

2. If Elliot, Sedgewick and George are supposed to be normal people like us in the story, who does the King represent? Why do you think that?

3. Could the pirates have been victorious without the King? Why or why not? List the ways the King helps them throughout the movie. What do you think this movie says about your ability to do good things without God?

4. Each of the three main characters has a weakness that holds him back. What is a weakness that you feel holds you back? Why would God allow humans to have weaknesses like this to struggle with? Read 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. What does this mean? How do you see this illustrated in the movie?

Check out the trailers for this movie that opens today!

Trailers featuring the creators, Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki:

And the official movie trailer from Universal Studios :

Filed Under: Breaking News, Family, Fatherhood, Movies, The Arts in the City, The Cultural Conversation

C.S. Lewis Extended into January!

December 19, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

Due to unprecedented demand, Provision Theater, headed up by Tim Gregory of Park, is extending performances of CS LEWIS ON STAGE into the new year. Bradley Armacost portrays legendary writer C.S. Lewis to critical and audience acclaim in the Royal George Theater Gallery Space (1641 N. Halsted) – now in an Open-Ended Run!

If you haven’t seen it, come for the first time, or even the second or third, to enjoy an intimate, hilarious, and engaging journey with the writer we’ve all read, but know almost nothing about. Provision Theater is proud to present the Chicago premiere of “CS Lewis On Stage” starring Bradley Armacost. This one-man show capturing the personality and writing of the author of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and SCREWTAPE LETTERS, “CS Lewis On Stage” is an intimate look at the Oxford man who could make his audience think as deeply as he made them laugh. Directed by Tim Gregory. Read the Chicago Critic review here. Order your holiday week or January tickets by calling 312.988.9000 or click here for tickets.

Special HOLIDAY WEEK Performance Schedule:

Wednesday, December 26 – 8 pm
Thursday, December 27 – 8 pm
Friday, December 28 – 8 pm
Saturday, December 29 – 5 pm and 8 pm

After you slow down and celebrate Christmas and the holidays with friends and family, gather your loved ones and spend a cozy evening enjoying the show the Chicago Sun-Times calls “the thinking person’s holiday show.”

Chicago Sun-Times:

“…performed with wit and fervency by Bradley Armacost…”

“…follows through on Provision’s mission to stage “works of hope, reconciliation and redemption.”

- Hedy Weiss

Chicago Tribune:

“…a piece directed with integrity by Provision artistic director Tim Gregory and performed with the expected charm and smarts by Armacost.”

“Armacost is one of the most genial, warm and generous of Chicago actors.”

– Chris Jones

Filed Under: Provision Theater, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation

West Loop: Guerrilla Truck Show – Tues, June 12

May 30, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

Park Community Church is committed to encouraging and enabling people stay in the city, to establishing and nurturing families within the city, being role models to our neighbors, and passing on the Gospel to future generations —thus impacting the city of Chicago: one life, one family, one block and one neighborhood at a time. From time to time, I want to give you an education on some of the key aspects of Chicago.

This week we look at Chicago’s West Loop, which has been a hidden gem in Chicago and the area, predominately dedicated to meat-packing and warehouses in the past, has emerged over the past several years into one of the most interesting, dynamic neighborhoods in the city — even garnering a writeup in the New York Times. In particular, the Fulton Market area has always been a mystery, since weekdays it is quite congested with trucks shipping and receiving meat, cheese and heaven knows what else! Known for fish, Fulton has a lot more to offer these days…..swanky dining, upscale art galleries, antiques, photography studios and much more!

The Guerrilla Truck Show is Fulton Market’s annual art extravaganza where you are sure to see fantastic art works, lively performances, and new faces. The show, celebrating its third anniversary on June 12th, grants independent artists and designers the chance to reach the public by side-stepping the gallery system. Artists and students can display and sell art (literally) out of the back of a truck, plus attendees can enjoy live performances and other special events. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in the area…or a Chicago resident who’s just never gotten around to it.

From: Josh Spear

Filed Under: Chicago, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church

Cool Globes This Summer

May 7, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

It almost time for the new Chicago summer art installation — this time it is “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet”, which is a public art project designed to increase awareness of and promote solutions to global warming. Artists are finishing preparations on 122 five-foot fiberglass globe sculptures, which are all ready to be mounted along the Chicago streets and lakefront from June to September 2007. I am not a big global warming guy but the artistry on these globes is fantastic! We’re hoping to get one that our artists at Park Community Church can decorate.

“‘Cool Globes’ is public art with a purpose. We are hoping to inspire with a call to action to bring solutions to global warming,” said Wendy Abrams, President and Founder of “Cool Globes”. Just as the 1999 Cows on Parade art installation brought visitors to Chicago, the promoters of “Cool Globes” hope that Chicagoans and tourists stroll the [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chicago, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation

Looptopia — Less Than 5 Days to Go

May 6, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

This week on May 11, LOOPTOPIA will be America’s first dusk-to-dawn cultural and artistic spectacle showcasing the vibrancy and excitement of Chicago’s historic Loop neighborhood through musical and theatrical performances, unique shopping and dining opportunities, indoor programs, outdoor exhibitions, architectural tours, artistic installations and mesmerizing light displays. Of course, we already know this is the coolest, hippest place to live but come join us for an all night cultural party! This is the kind of stuff that we thrive on at Park Community Church, where artists of every sort of media attend to find out more about God and grow in their spiritual journey.

(the picture to the right is from WNEP Theater’s Soiree DADA, who will take to the street during LOOPTOPIA on Friday, May 11th. Bask in the sunshine of their love at The Plaza at Chase Tower, between 7:15 – 7:45pm.)

Inspired by “White Night” events in Rome, Montreal and Paris, LOOPTOPIA will feature over [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chicago, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation

Will You Sing Along?

April 27, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

I love the Blue Man group and just ended a long week of travel by listening to their Complex Rock Tour DVD. Here is my favorite song from that DVD, featuring Dave Matthews:

Filed Under: Music That Moves, The Arts in the City

Cool Easter Eggs!

April 9, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

sorbian easter eggs

All my life, I wonder at people who are given gifts and abilities from God to paint, photograph, to create, to visualize and to express the wonderment of life in various forms of media. When Sue and I took a year off and travelled the world in 1996-97 (25 countries) before kids and a mortgage, I marvelled at all of the art and the expression through canvas, steel, clay, music, drama, photos, etc. I loved to sit and ponder the artists’ life while reflecting on their work in galleries rround the world. So even now, I love to see people use their God-given artistic talent in all forms of media. Here are some unique canvasses upon which to create — Easter eggs — these are traditional Sorbian style Easter Eggs at the Sorbian Easter Egg Market in Bautzen, eastern Germany.

In eastern Germany near the border with Poland, the Sorbs, a Slavic minority that has lived for generations in this area, celebrate Easter with a parade called the “Kreuztritt” (Cross Walk) and the decorating of Easter Eggs. A batik-like decorating process known as pysanka produces these intricate, brilliantly-colored eggs.

The men of the village dressed in traditional costumes of black jackets and top hats, ride horses in a circle form from town to town announcing the resurrection of Christ. The Sorb’s Easter celebration can be seen in every town in this area of Germany called Lusatia. For more info on these intricately decorated Easter eggs, and some more great pics, check out our awesome military’s daily newpaper, Stars & Stripes.

Filed Under: Breaking News, The Arts in the City, The Cultural Conversation

Keller: Ministry in Major City Centers — Part 2

March 25, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

I came across this excellent article of Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC entitled Our New Global Culture: Ministry in Major City Centers. In this Part 2, I focus on his analysis of what it will take to be an effective church in the major global cities, like Chicago. As Park’s vision is to renew the city, through sharing the Gospel, serving the city, expanding through church planting and multi-site with live teaching, it is helpful to use Keller’s excellent analysis and years of trying out different things to re-look at how we do ministry in the urban environment. What do you think as you look at your ministry in the city?

KELLER: CHURCHES WILL BE EFFECTIVE IN CITY-CENTERS IF THEY:

Hold the historic Christian gospel—orthodox and biblical in doctrine and practice, but are neitheregalistic nor liberal, neither doctrinalist nor ietist, neither individualistic nor collectivistic.
Have a positive regard for the city; recognize that it is the most strategic possible place for ministry.
Neither over or under adapt to the culture of those in their surrounding neighborhood and culture.
Are arts and culture-friendly; both supportive of Christian witness in “secular work” and willing to train people for cultural leadership, not just church leadership.
See church planting as a ministry as natural and important as discipleship, music, education, and pastoral care.
Are intensely, creatively evangelistic and effective in reaching not just people who are already raditional or conservative but who are very secular.
Relentlessly emphasize and seek to build strong, “thick” counter-cultural Christian community in cities, especially through cell groups.
Are holistic, ministering in both word and deed to their community and the poor in extremely creative and generous ways.
Have a bias toward being multi-ethnic—seek to be at least as multi-ethnic as their neighborhood.

We spend lots of time at Park thinking about these sorts of things as we grow and expand the work that God is doing on the northside of Chicago in the city.

Filed Under: Chicago, Church, Methods & Strategies, The Arts in the City, The Cultural Conversation

Keller: Ministry in Major City Centers — Part 1

March 23, 2007 By Steve 1 Comment

I am a big fan of Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC. I came across this excellent article of his entitled Our New Global Culture: Ministry in Major City Centers. He looks at who lives in the major global cities, like Chicago, what are the marks of a city-center culture, and how to be effective in city centers. As Park‘s vision is to renew the city, through sharing the Gospel, serving the city, expanding through church planting and multi-site with live teaching, it is helpful to use Keller’s excellent analysis to zero in on who lives among us and the ministry implications. We have learned these truths over the last 20 years and each of these shapes how we do ministry in Chicago.

1) The city-center is a culture of expertise. People who live in city centers are usually highly skilled and highly educated. Ministry implications: a) Artistic quality is very important. Amateurish art and music will not go over well, especially with the high percentage of center-city residents who are themselves artists. And the post-modern “turn” puts more emphasis on the visual, on graphics, and on embodiment. b) Commun- ication needs to be very high in quality and be highly intelligent. There is a surprising amount of anti-intellectualism within the evangelical world. (People have noticed for years that campus fellowships at Ivy League schools are often very anti-intellectual and pietistic.)

2) City-center people are living in their career. Many people work in order to come home and have a life. But city-center people essentially inhabit their careers. It is also so expensive to live in city centers that most have to work hard to make enough money to stay there. Ministry implications: You can’t just disciple people on how to be Christians in their private lives (e.g. prayer, witnessing, Bible study). Centercity people don’t have much in the way of a “private life.” If you are in finance or art or acting or medicine your vocation dominates your life and your time. Discipleship must include how to be distinctively Christian within your job, including how to handle the peculiar temptations and ethical quandaries, and how to produce work in one’s field from a distinctly Christian world-view.

3) City-center people are very sexually active and believe their sexuality is completely private—that is, their business alone. Ministry implications: There must be a lack of prudishness about sex, coupled with strong teaching on the Christian understanding of sex: that it is designed for lifetime commitment and for community-building, not personal gratification. The area of sex and gender is (currently) politically explosive, so it is crucial that teaching in this area be smart, irenic, and nuanced—in other words, carefully co-opting existing cultural narratives (about freedom, identity, and community, for example) while upholding a Biblical viewpoint. Even strong Christians in city-centers will be under great temptation to be sexually active in various ways that can undermine or destroy their spiritual effectiveness.

4) City-center people have consumer identities. Traditional culture had “thick” communities in which identity was experienced through one’s role in the family and society. Modern and post-modern culture thins out community (through mobility), and “frees” individuals to create their own identity. [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Arts in the City, The Cultural Conversation

Opening for Toby Mac!

March 12, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

Tonight, Park Community Church’s own Becky Johnson was opening for Toby Mac, former lead singer of DC Talk, at the Chicago House of Blues! Toby has a new album out and is revving up his new tour.

Becky is a certified talent– check out all her info and her latest songs at www.beckyjohnsonmusic.com and her MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/beckyjohnson. We are expecting a full house so if you get this in time, go check her out performance! You know, at Park, we have this One Percent vision to reach Chicago for Christ, and Becky’s personal 1% vision is to take her music to the people of Chicago in bars, pubs and other performance spots — using the gifts and talents that God has given her for the Kingdom. This will definitely be her biggest venue to date. You can purchase tickets here…. http://www.hob.com/tickets/eventdetail.asp?eventid=43821

Filed Under: The Arts in the City, The Cultural Conversation

Olympic Flame

January 16, 2007 By Steve Leave a Comment

(Crain’s) — Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid has a new visual component, as officials unveiled a logo that features a torch with a flame representing the city’s skyline. The orange flame, with a Sears Tower-like look, is meant to represent the city’s style of architecture while evoking “a city that rose from the ashes” in the wake of the Great Fire of 1871, according to a statement from the Chicago 2016 Committee, the local group leading the bid. The torch’s body is colored blue, in a nod to Lake Michigan, and green, to represent the city’s park system.

Even if the games don’t wind up here, the city hopes to reap a little cash from its Olympic bid. Merchandise featuring the logo will go on sale “soon,” the statement said.

The logo was created by VSA Partners Inc., a Chicago-based design studio.

Filed Under: Chicago, Olympics, The Arts in the City, The City