Provision Theater Presents: SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN April 17, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Provision Theater, Culture and Faith , add a commentIt is that time again!
Provision Theater, who is dedicated to performing works of hope, reconciliation and redemption and has received accolades for its last six shows, is getting set to mount its last production of the year, SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, a foot-stompin’ musical, featuring Susan Moniz, !
In this musical, Provision’s artistic director, Tim Gregory, takes you back to a simpler time, where you become the congregation of Mount Pleasant Church. You have been invited to their “first ever Saturday Night Sing”. Pastor Oglethorpe is determined to move his flock into the “modern world”, by inviting the Singing Sanders Family to join him. They will delight you with some of the best old gospel tunes ever written, like “Church in the Wildwood”, “Wonderful Time Up There”, and “I’ll Fly Away”. A mixture of song, stories, hilarity and honest emotion, this audience favorite will have you tapping your toes and lifting your spirit.
WHAT: SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN
WHERE: VIADUCT THEATER 3111 N Western Avenues (MAP)
WHEN: May 8 - June 8 — Thur, Fri and Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 3pm
To purchase tickets: Call 773.506.4429
Chicago 33rd Most Affordable Metro Area April 17, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, Chicago Fact, The Arts in the City, Sustainability , add a commentA new study by Bizjournals.com, a group of business publications, ranked housing affordability in the nation’s metropolitan areas, with terse advice for those seeking a financially manageable place to live: ABC —-That is, Anywhere But California.
Bizjournals compared median home payments and household income levels in the nation’s 50 largest metros. The study was based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, the most up-to-date source of federal data on housing costs. The study, to no one’s particular surprise, concluded that six of the seven most expensive places for housing are in the Golden State. Others on the list of America’s 10 most expensive home markets are New York City, Sacramento, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Boston.
The study compared median home payments, property taxes and household income in 50 metros. Los Angeles was most expensive: The magazines estimated the monthly housing tab in L.A. amounts to about 75.5 percent of the median household income, with a median monthly mortgage-and-tax payment of $3,491.
Compare that to the most affordable metro, Oklahoma City. There, housing eats up just 19 percent of the median household income, the magazines said. The median monthly bill for mortgage and taxes is $667.
Chicago ranks as the 33rd most affordable metro, ahead of such cities as Portland OR (37th),Seattle, (40th), Boston (42nd), NYC (46th) and San Francisco (49th). In Chicago, where the aforementioned housing charges consume about 35 percent of our income, the study said. It pegged the median mortgage payment here at $1,358; add to that a median monthly property tax of $309, and your basic home-owning Chicagoan gets a monthly mortgage payment of $1,667.
The complete rankings are at www.bizjournals.com; go to “Online Edition” and click “Special Reports.”
Idol: Shout to the Lord? Wow! April 12, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, Powerful Passages, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Music That Moves, Culture and Faith , 3commentsFor the millions that watched this week, the American Idol Gives Back show ended surprisingly with the globally popular worship song “Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech.
I’m sure you’ve seen all the blog uproar over this issue. Evangelicals on a blog raised the roof with the producer’s decision to downplay its “Jesus” message by replacing the word “Jesus” with the word “Shepherd” in the first line, contending that the deletion of Jesus eliminated it from being a Christian song in its entirety. (The next night, they sang the song again — this time with the original wording.)I didn’t think too much of it when I first heard it, assuming that, as usual, the entertainment powers had cut it out — I was more surprised that Hillsong would allow it (they didn’t).
But I came across this excellent post by Josh Harris, that has several comments from entertainment insiders who are Christians and the impact this small song has on all the Hollywood types — -check it out. It changed my perspective on the matter, prompted me to pray for all those hard-working brothers and sisters in Hollywood and really challenged me about integrating my faith into the culture I am in.
Hey all you “culture and faith” folks out there, what do you think? Is this a step for Hollywood or a debacle for Christian songs? Please comment and let’s engage on this topic.
Easter Creativity - God is at Work! March 31, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Sunday Services, Church, Powerful Passages, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring , 1 comment so farIt’s now a week after Easter and I am checking out the blogs and news to see how God used people this Easter weekend and what drew people in to hear the Word of God on Easter. Wow! There is lots of creativity out there and that affirms that God is working His plan with the churches here in the United States and new creative thinkers are bringing the Gospel to the folks. I love God’s verse on creativity in the church — in Luke 14:23 (NASB) it says:
23“And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
“COMPEL THEM TO COME IN” –
Here are my “Sweet Sixteen” creative teams who I found that did a lot of brainstorming, planning, hard work and execution with excellent creative ideas to COMPEL PEOPLE TO COME IN this Easter — To God be the Glory!:
1. The Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina that is just over two years old celebrated as 4,800 people showed up for services for an excellent start to a series called “Breakout” and over 500 people gave their lives to Christ! Check it out here.
2. Oak Leaf Church, less than 19 months old, did a message on TATTOO and left their mark by giving tattoos live on stage for all three services. The point of the message was that external marks are meant to point to internal life change. The point isn’t the mark, it’s the story and the meaning. In the same way, external behavior modification is never enough…what makes us Christians are our changed hearts. They were praying for 1,000 people but had 1,350 with 60 people accepting Christ (read about it here)
3. Craig Groeschel and the folks at multi-site Lifechurch.tv Started a new series on Easter and handed out fortune cookies with a note inside of them inviting people to the series entitled “The Warrior.” They placed huge barrels of fortune cookies outside and asked people to give them to their friends. More than a grand total of 31,000 people attended all 13 LifeChurch.tv campuses this Easter weekend with 479 hands raised during altar calls.
4. Scott Hodge and his team from Orchard Church in Aurora, Illinois dropped Easter eggs from a helicopter. 20,000 eggs and thousands of people (see pictures here)
5. National Community Church in DC also celebrated with 20,000 eggs and a baptism service on Saturday (read about it here)
6. Gary Lamb and the folks at Revolution Church in Canton Georgia also dropped Easter eggs from a helicopter. I love this idea from all three of these churches! Check out the story and pictures.
7. Eric Bramlett and his team in Naperville IL at Community Christian in Naperville have a really funny video as they debuted their series called “Losing My Religion” which started Easter Weekend. Check it out HERE.
8. High Desert Church in CA continued their series called “The Most Spectacular Show on Earth” and had more than 6,000 attend and over 100 people come to Christ after battling spiritual warfare with everything going wrong on their sound systems at their various locations.
9. Travis Johnson and the crew at Life Point Church in Homestead FL held a Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt (7-9pm) and had 7,000+ people show up. How creative is that idea? A moonlight Easter Egg Hunt!? They had a great turnout on Sunday with many coming from the community who attended that Easter Egg hunt.
10. Cross Point Church in Nashville had an amazing Easter at their two campuses locally (read a great letter from someone who was greatly impacted here) and at their new church start-up in the Dominican Republic. A team of 20 from Cross Point spent their week working on the church building and while the building was far from being completed, the pastor led their first service in the new church on Easter Sunday. How cool is that?
11. Check out the things Granger Community Church had people hold in their hands during the service. HERE are the pics. Read about it here and here.
12. NewSpring Church saw 12,000 people attend their services and over 120 people receive Christ (read here) and held a great service in their Man Series called “Ultimate Fighter”
13. The team at Seacoast Church launched a new campus on Easter in one of the most crime-ridden areas of the country. HERE is the story.
14. Connexus had more than 1,300 at their two compuses with some moving stories.
15. Jordan Creek Church played the Upside Down Video.
16. A worship leader in Atlanta experienced what true worship is really all about (read this moving story here)
PS…BONUS COVERAGE I just found out that Saddleback Church opened two new sites on Easter and their San Clemente site celebrated its one year anniversary! The first service of Saddleback Corona gathered 490 attenders and 43 accepted Christ. That’s almost 10 % of those who attended! The first service at Saddleback Irvine gathered 1,826 attenders and 34 accepted Christ! The service at Saddleback San Clemente (open one year) gathered 1,550 attenders and 39 accepted Christ!
Christians in the Culture March 6, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, The City, Church, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Provision Theater, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith , add a commentFor 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. 
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…
Park Community Church on Comcast March 4, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Breaking News, Inside Park, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Culture and Faith , add a commentCheck 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.
Convictions About Worship - What are Yours? February 18, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Chicago, Sunday Services, Methods & Strategies, The Arts in the City, Music That Moves , add a commentI 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?
“Time of Your Life” - Jeff Recommended February 14, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Breaking News, Chicago Fact, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Provision Theater, Culture and Faith , add a commentCome 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
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!
Chicago Leads Nation: 25-34 Year Olds January 12, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Urban Church, Chicago Fact, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , add a commentAs 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.
VeggieTales Trailer and Questions: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything January 11, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Fatherhood, Breaking News, Family, Movies, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , add 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 :
C.S. Lewis Extended into January! December 19, 2007
Posted by Steve in : The City, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Provision Theater , add a commentDue 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
West Loop: Guerrilla Truck Show - Tues, June 12 May 30, 2007
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Urban Church, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , add 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
Cool Globes This Summer May 7, 2007
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , add 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 (more…)
Looptopia — Less Than 5 Days to Go May 6, 2007
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , add 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 (more…)
Will You Sing Along? April 27, 2007
Posted by Steve in : The Arts in the City, Music That Moves , add a commentI 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:
Cool Easter Eggs! April 9, 2007
Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , add a comment
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 “Kreuz