Last year, I expanded my work with Film and Theology, movies and metanarrative, beyond the boundaries of the interwebs and local events, crossing the country to speak at the Storytellers Media Conference in Florida. Like a program breaking out of the grid into the world of the Users, Cinemagogue is out to do more geographic traversing as able, teaching and equipping and spreading similar examination of film, story and culture wherever it will be received.
This year, I already have 2 external speaking engagements lined up and a third in the works. I’m looking forward to expanding the mission I’m so passionate about. It’s going to be a great year with more online content, more content on my partner websites (Mars Hill and The Resurgence), coupled with this new feature of expanding travel and speaking.
That’s where you come in… if you’re reading this, odds are you’re a partner, consumer, or interested party regarding Cinemagogue. Since I’ve received thank you letters and dialogued with folks from the Pacific Northwest to Australia, Florida to Tokyo (and perhaps a few galaxies far, far away) you represent the ground-level word of mouth to seed and spread bringing a Cinemagogue event to your area. Check out the CineMeeting page for some thoughts on what a Cinemagogue Conference might look like. Also, put on your creative caps and brainstorm your own ideas, which I value highly.
3 things YOU can do…
- Talk to your church or organization about what a Cinemagogue event or conference might look like, and email me with questions on details and arrangements on dates and customizing it to your specific needs.
- Link to your favorite Cinemagogue Reviews, spread the word online, both about the online content and speaking possibilities.
- Pray for our small team – for diligence, dedication, discipline and endurance as we take this thing to the next level.
3 things that are coming up…
- More reviews for 2011, starting with Tron: Legacy and True Grit ASAP…
- A blowout of the “basics” teaching series we started with Film & Theology 101.
- A book in the works, to be written with all my “spare time” this year. It’s tentatively titled “Popping Culture” and I hope to see it published in the near future.
I’ll be doing some in-person teaching in Seattle this January, Vancouver, Canada in February and probably back to Florida in May. Thanks in advance for making 2011 a fruitful year for the work of Cinemagogue, which I hope honors our Creator and helps us grow as a community this year. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can learn from great prospects like The Adjustment Bureau, the end of Harry Potter, and even the popcorn wisdom of Kung Fu Panda 2. Skadoosh…
Excellent. Interested in coming to HK? Or you are sticking to the USA for now?
i’m very interested in the book you mentioned. i assume it’s a book that focuses the main idea of the connection between story and the greatest storyteller God, and then explores that concept. i love how you approach story and faith in our culture. however, this site is not coherent when trying to explain the very core essence of that relationship. a book that is able to take the concepts you’ve been exploring in your reviews and outline in a clear way how we can approach story as a metaphor for the greater story would be amazing. thats something i can see myself buying, reading, highlighting, and referring back to often.
It would be great if there were updates about the progress of the book. If you’re looking for insight into what people would want to get out of a book like that I would be happy to give some comments. I hope you get enough time to do the writing!
I am super excited about the idea of you writing a book. 😀 I actually run a movie small group of my own with my brother and, while we actually started it before I had ever heard of Film and Theology, I’ve taken a lot of points from some of those downloads. Someday I hope to be able to make it down to Seattle to actually go to an event (I live a couple hours north).
What a wonderful idea to have a conference, I would love to see something like that. Perhaps I’ll talk to my pastor a little bit, see if there might be any interest…
I pray for you often. 🙂
Bethany
Have you considered doing a review of “Adjustment Bureau”? I just saw it last night. There are definitely spiritual themes there, but can’t entangle them from what is possibly new age or even just secular feel-goodism.
Oh I’m so glad you’re reviewing ‘The Adjustment Bureau’. As soon as my hubby and I saw it we were ready for the cinemagogue take on it.