back to school...

Okay, so the place I was speaking at yesterday day didn't look quite as nice as Trinity College (pictured above).

But I had fun nonetheless.

I was there to talk about my two areas of expertise, Church Ministry (especially preaching and church planting) and Show Business (especially film and TV).

It's rare that I get to focus on both disciplines at once.  I'd like to do more of that.  Think I'll get a new site up soon to promote that side of my life and work.

Some reflections on yesterday:

-College kids are KIDS.  I don't remember feeling that young when I was that young.  This means I'm getting older.  But I don't mind it.  I sure wouldn't want to trade my life experience for their youth.  No way.

-College (secular or not) is an insular place.  I was reminded how important it is to keep yourself immersed in the 'real world' you hope to inhabit someday in a working capacity even (especially) while studying in preparation for invading that world.

-Christian culture is still very separatist in inclination.  I made a reference in my 'talk' to hitting a shot of Patrone (the high end tequila--dunno' if I spelled it right) while at one of L.A's hottest clubs on open mic night (featuring Macy Gray and one of Kanye's collaborators on 808's) after shooting wrapped with my crew a few months back.  There was palpable SHOCK in the room. Then, after I was done, they made an announcement gleefully reminding the room of their big 'group twister' game scheduled for later that night.

Excuse me?

You're SHOCKED that I'm hitting the Patrone and dancing with my friends after working with them (by way of respecting my friend the pop star who was in L.A, wanted to see me [his former pastor] and got us into the club in the first place...) yet you're 'cool' with encouraging 140 hormonal 19 years olds to twist themselves into various sexually provocative (don't tell me it's not that way, I used to PLAY twister too...) poses in the name of 'good clean fun'?

Is it just me who sees the GLARING inconsistency there?

I almost felt deflated by that (having tried to convince them that 'sanitizing culture' is neither the mandate of the Christian nor the slightest of possibilities to begin with...) but reminded myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and I'm certainly not going to change Christian culture's silly hypocrisy (I'm variously guilty as charged by times, make no mistake) all at once, or ever.

The best I can hope for is to have participated (in whatever small way) in the mighty GHOST impacting a few of the people in the room.

THAT reminds me that we shape culture (in grace) one person at a time.

That helps.

What else?

-(this is a little too honest here) I noticed that most of the kids looked pronouncedly different than the kids I see and rub shoulders with in 'the biz'.  That's to be expected but what troubled me about it was that, I think, many of those college kids would claim that their 'heart' is to find a way to 'minister to' or at the very least 'connect to' the kids in actual culture who look and act (from what I could see) NOTHING like the college kids do.

This might be a problem.

How will you find a way to connect to a culture in which you've spent no time, for which you have no genuine affection or affinity?

Seriously, how?

After I was done speaking, the Dean of students had me come up to his first year seminar class and take questions for forty minutes.  I enjoyed the kids.  Some of then had some good questions.  I was humbled to have the chance to chat with them.  

I wish a guy like me had come by my U of T first year philosophy class and unloaded on me.

It would have helped.

Hope I did.

Yesterday...

T