In the waning heat of a tropical evening, sounds of cattle trucks fade and the gentle hum of the generator fills up the spaces between thoughtful dialogue.
- Do you believe in hell?
- Did you see that baby in the village today?
- When did you first know you were gay?
- Do you need any sunscreen for tomorrow?
- How do you relate to the idea of God?
Conversations was on our second overseas humanitarian aid trip, spending our evening winding down, nursing our sunburn and sore muscles, and doing what we did every week, having spiritually minded conversations about life.
Conversations began in 2011, as the fleshing out of my senior capstone project in college. The idea was simple. Make something sort of like a church, but not boring, and more relevant. Get my friends together to talk about deep stuff on a regular basis for the purpose of growing as individuals and building community.
Ever since the very first meeting, in Bradford PA in the upstairs lounge at Cool Beans Cafe, 15 or so friends gathered to talk about heaven, hell, and the fate of everyone who ever lived (s/o to Rob Bell for the comically grandiose verbiage). I started with a jumping off point, an intentionally open ended question that encouraged folks to pause and think before responding.
And now here we are, ten years later, and the conversation lives on.
Conversations exists to create spiritually (throw out the old fashioned religious definition and read “something beyond the tangible”) minded conversations about life, to build community, and to encourage folks to journey together to a deeper more awake life.
Please poke around the page, listen to a podcast, watch a video, or check out a blog. We have a crusty punk bible study (you’ll have to participate to understand), a book group, an ongoing dialogue in our facebook group, and a weekly Sunday evening live interactive Conversations event on Facebook (later to be released on YouTube and Spotify). Please feel free to stop in, to creep, or to engage.
Questions are encouraged. Answers are optional. We are all learning together.
And please know, above all else, everyone is welcome in the conversation.
Love this group and the idea of freedom of speech and interesting information sharing
Thank you so much for joining the conversation:)