Curious Christian

Well I thought I’d finally take the time to update you on all the stuff that was going on last week.

I had a great evening on Friday. Basically it consisted of twenty five of us emerging church leaders and innovators gathering with Alan Hirsch at the Table for Twenty restaurant in Surry Hills for a final hurrah before he leaves for the US next year. I’ll start by saying the restaurant was fantastic. From what I understand the original impetus for the restaurant project came from Hope Street and the guys who put this together have done an excellent job. Loved the ambiance and the food. I was encouraged by their work amongst the locals (35% homosexual and many childless professional couples) and would recommend anyone visiting Sydney to check them out.

It was also a real pleasure to finally meet Alan face to face. We’ve exchanged the odd email and blog comments for some time now and know plenty of people in common of course but this is the first we’ve actually caught up live. I found him really encouraging,  both in the informal conversations throughout the evening and the short talk he gave part way through. Real Jesus focussed. Had a sneek preview of the new book, The Forgotten Ways, too. Looking forward to it’s release down under next year. Personally I think it
‘s going to be a huge loss to the Aussie scene to see him choof off to the other side of the Pacific but I understand his reasons for the move. Hope he makes a huge impact over there.

I should mention that one subject of discussion amongst a few of us was the podcast of Rachel Kohn’s interview of Small Boat Big Sea and Mike Frost on The Spirit of Things back on September 19. Seems they were reasonably happy with how it came across.

Anyway, one of the outcomes of the evening was an e-list for further gatherings. Looking forward to it.

Oh, and the Saturday street party went well. I don’t like to blog on the specifics of private gatherings but the food and conversation was great. What I will say is that I always enjoy bringing together people who wouldn’t normally mix with one another.