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Showing posts from June, 2013

Derrick's General Assembly Recap - Part 3 - THURSDAY (Day 2: Worship Arts, Compassionate Consumption, Motivating Members, Worship/Witness, and GAME 7)

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Part 1 Part 2 While Wednesday is obviously the official beginning of General Assembly, it's also more of a warm-up day as it begins at 1pm at the earliest and much later for most.  Thursday is when the action really begins and for me it started off just right. First thing I did was head over to Panera with Erik and Jaime for some breakfast and then we all went to a workshop entitled "Six Words, One Image: A Worship Arts Immersion."  While it wasn't exactly what I expected it to be and there was a point toward the beginning where it started to delve a little too much into essentially being a commercial for Starr King School for the Ministry, it turned out to be really, REALLY cool and actually really made me want to go to Starr King (at least for that moment in time). The reason they talked so much about SKSM was that "Six Words, One Image" is actually a highly condensed version of an intensive program offered by SKSM.  The idea is to incorporate a da

Derrick's General Assembly Recap - Part 2 - WEDNESDAY (Day 1: Roots, Wings, Banners, and Humility)

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Part 1 Finally, the big day had arrived.  I spent most of the morning watching highlights of Game 6 on ESPN in the hotel room but around midday it was time for Young Adult Orientation.  It's always such a pleasure hanging with the YAs and especially hearing from the amazing YA leaders within our faith.  These folks are not the future--they are the present.  They're not standing around waiting for the establishment to hand them the reigns of Unitarian Universalism or pass the torch or whatever other idiom one might use.  They are asserting their voices within our faith, voices of progressive change screaming to be heard by ears weathered by years of polity and justice work.  The conversations, connections, and community I share each year at GA with these folks are, truly, the Roots that hold me close and the Wings that set me free.  More on that later. One of the most interesting things about the YA Caucus room was this awesomely creative art project the staff put tog

Derrick's General Assembly Recap - Part 1 - The Road to GA

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SUNDAY Here we were again.  The moment I had been waiting for all year had finally arrived.  General Assembly 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky.  My good friend Jeremy Ritzmann and I had been texting back and forth for weeks about how we could barely contain our excitement.  His wife Sarah even posted on Facebook that she was cleaning their apartment in preparation for me coming because every time I come it's a blessing which truly warmed my heart. Jeremy and Sarah with their son Judah I must have spent the better part of Friday and Saturday before I left figuring out everything I would need and packing it into one suitcase and one backpack--this included a small selection of comic books, a copy of "Behind the Kitchen Door" to have Saru Jayaraman sign, a copy of Robert's Rules (because you never know when it's gonna come up), and a multi-colored array of UU t-shirts. Flying in to Jacksonville is so beautiful I took a plane I could barely stand up stra

VIDEO GOLD: WHITE HOT NBA FINALS pt 3

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Still getting super psyched to see the Heat vs the Spurs tonight on ABC. Texas is a great basketball state but Miami is gonna shut down San Antonio and end a proud Spurs dynasty to cement the greatest dynasty. The best part about the Heat is all the talent.

VIDEO GOLD: WHITE HOT NBA FINALS pt 2

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This is a modern classic with some amazing footage of Lebron and D-Wade and Bosh to accompany it.

VIDEO GOLD: WHITE HOT NBA FINALS pt 1

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Tonight our Miami Heat will play for basketball greatness once again and we at Vundablog are super pumped. Enjoy some great Miami Heat vids for you're enjoyment.