A very special opportunity through a partnership with Redeemer Church and New City Resources is coming to Knoxville in just a few weeks—an intensive weekend with James K. Smith, February 3-5, 2012.

Dr. Smith is associate professor of Philosophy at Calvin College and a critically acclaimed author: Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism (Baker Academic, 2006), Introducing Radical Orthodoxy (Baker Academic, 2004), Desiring the Kingdom (Baker Academic, 2009), Thinking in Tongues (Eerdmans, 2010).

Perhaps what has captured my imagination most about Smith’s thinking is his Christian vision for the imagination. As with the heart, Smith sees in the imagination the essential well-spring from which our all our thoughts and actions are drawn.

While sounding rather deep, this is also radically practical. We are what we love. We love what we desire. We do what we desire. As God’s image-bearing creatures what we do reflects in no uncertain terms what we truly desire.

Since our imagination feeds our desires, we are quite literally nourishing or impoverishing ourselves each and everyday upon the basis of how well the stirrings of our hearts serve us. If our imaginations enjoy the transforming presence of God’s Spirit then we live fruitfully as new creatures in Christ from the inside out—and from a heart that knows what it means to grow soft toward God. And if our imaginations do not enjoy the transforming presence of God’s Spirit then…I’ll let you reflect on what that looks and feels like for yourself.

Please come join us as we host Dr. Smith in an effort to explore what it looks like to do and desire the kingdom from the inside out. We’ve already got a great group committed to participate in the learning community component of the weekend, and there is room for more.

As with all our offerings, if you wish to participate but cannot cover the full amount, please offer what you can—and come join us. Thanks for your time. We hope to hear from you soon.

[image title="Faithful Medicine: Bioethics and Christian Thought" size="full" id="126" linkto="viewer" caption="Click image to enlarge"]

New City Resources is excited to announce the upcoming course: Faithful Medicine: Bioethics and Christian Thought. Facilitated by Kenny Woodhull, this course features Jennie McLaurin and will examine the secularity of modern medicine, the structures of modern bioethical frameworks, and the theological arguments used by Christians to support bioethical positions.

• $150/person w/o CME credit
• $250/person w/ CME credit

For more details, contact Kenny Woodhull – 865-803-9758 or kennywoodhull@comcast.net

As well, please note, and save the date on your calendars now, Dr. Jennie McLaurin (http://www.jenniemclaurin.com/) will be closing out our nine month journey together as a bioethics cohort, Friday-Saturday, November 4-5. Dr. McLaurin has recently confirmed with me that, like her last visit with us a couple of years ago, the Friday-Saturday intensive course will be CME approved. Pre-registration for this CME opportunity is now open ($50). The fee structure for the weekend intensive is as follows: $250 p/person (with CME credit), $200 p/person (without CME credit), $350 p/ couple (without CME credit). Because we do not want anyone who wishes to participate to be excluded from this important dialogue because of finances, partial scholarships may be available per individual needs.

Please call me or feel free to contact Lauren (lclevenger06@comcast.net), Randy (rpardue1@me.com), or Laird (laird@apostlesonline.org) if you have any questions about the purpose and plans of New City’s Bioethics Cohort.

Download: New City Cohort – March 2011 – Re-cap (PDF, 74K)

Thursdays, 7-9pm (April 29, May 6, May 13, May 20, May 27)

Apostles Anglican Church
1540 Robinson Road
Knoxville, TN 37923

There is no cost to attend.
Call Kenny Woodhull for pre-meeting reading.
865.803.9758

Christians in every walk of life face challenges every day at work.  Some of these challenges relate to embodying a worldview in a world that views things different from a faith-based, biblical perspective–sometimes radically so, other times in a more nuanced way.

These challenges are nowhere more evident than in the efforts by God’s people to integrate the demands and opportunities brought about by modern Science with a thorough-going biblical worldview.  Our research scientists and health care practitioners live this tension every day.

In their world, critical and sometimes life-changing decisions must be made on the spot, and some of these decisions do not always allow for adequate reflection—or even serious dialogue with other thoughtful Christians.

In an effort to address this need for reflection and ongoing dialogue—as well as providing a follow up to our October 09 discussion on Bioethics and the Practice of Faithful Medicine—New City is prepared to host a quarterly gathering in 2010.

Our hope here is to cultivate a learning community of thoughtful Christians who will listen well to one another and equip each other for the art and science of living faithfully as God’s missional witnesses in the world.  To help us get there, we will share articles in advance, swap essays and ruminations, and lovingly push one another to clear thinking and courageous living.

It’s not quite the Fellowship of The Ring, but here is an opportunity to carve out some time and create a little space in which we might rather seriously “spur one another on,” as the writer of Hebrews says, “toward love and good deeds” within the crucible, that is, the cross-shaped reality of our vocational callings.

If you are interested in participating, please reply here and I’ll forward you an initial reading with some prompting questions for our first meeting in January—now scheduled for Monday night January 25, 7-9pm, at Lauren Clevenger’s house (716 Noragate Drive, Knoxville 37919).   Coffee and dessert will be served.  RSVP.

Faithful Medicine: Bioethics and Christian Thought

What: This course will examine the secularity of modern medicine, the structures of modern bioethical frameworks, and the theological arguments used by Christians to support bioethical positions.

When: October 2 – 3, 2009

• Friday, October 2, 2009, 4:00pm – 8:30pm (with dinner)
• Saturday, October 3, 2009, 8:30am – 3:30pm (with lunch)

Who:
Jennie McLaurin
Associate Professor of Bioethics and Dean of Students
Regent College
Vancouver, Canada

Where:
3710 Riverbrook Drive
Louisville, TN 37777

This seminar will be facilitated by Kenny Woodhull, New City Resources. For registration fee, further information and pre-session preparation, please contact:

Kenny Woodhull
865.803.9758
kennywoodhull@comcast.net

Cost:

• $200/person (w/o CME credit)
• $250/person (w/ CME credit)
• $350/couple (no CME credit)

In our story’s beginning, God delegates authority for the upkeep of the earthly kingdom to us, the creatures he has made to be most like Him. Under His sovereignty, humans are charged with the stewardship of every living thing: “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). This command, also called the Cultural Mandate, is an original blessing of God purposed for our good and the well-being of the garden-planet entrusted to our care. Here in Eden humans have communion with God, unity with one another, and peace in our environment. This is God’s design.

Our rebellion in the Garden and rejection of God’s will changes all this and results in a disintegrating rupture between heaven and earth, between the Creator and His image-bearing creatures, among humans, and between people and their environment. A rogue culture of pride and violence ensues and the heart of God grieves over the sinful darkness of the human heart.

The end of the story is pictured in the Scriptures as a joyful marriage feast of the One who dwells-once again, as He did in the Garden-with his image-bearing creatures. The wedding guests are gathered from all peoples of the world. And through their worshipful allegiance to Christ, the Lamb of God slain for the sin of the world, they are invited to reign forever as God’s children in a fully restored world. In the re-creation of heaven and earth under the Lordship of Christ, the breach of Eden is repaired and the malignancy of our sin is erased. Like a bride and groom, Christ and culture become one. This is our destiny.

Our future destiny has already begun to come forward into what the New Testament calls the “new creation” (Galatians 6:15, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ’s incarnation bridges the divide between heaven and earth. Like the travelers on the road to Emmaus when they encountered the risen Christ (Luke 24:32), our hearts burn within us and soften towards God when we encounter the truth of the Gospel. Once hard as stone and darkened by deceit, the heart yielded to Jesus is now “being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10). By faith, through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we become part of God’s “new creation” and can begin to live according to the Creator’s design.

The announcement of this incredible news and the invitation to participate in this new life is called the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18): “Jesus came to them and said: ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations….’”  

From the perspective of a biblical reading of history, the Great Commission is the answer to the problems surrounding our failure to follow through on the Cultural Mandate. Rather than treating the former as the spiritual means of saving souls and the latter as the material route of social engagement, a truly biblical vision integrates the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate into the total picture of God’s ultimate redemptive purposes for the whole of creation.

The implications of this vision for us here in Knoxville are enormous. Because the whole of creation is destined for renewal through God’s lavish restoration, the whole of creation merits our detailed attention today. God’s kingdom is not restricted to “spiritual” activity. The heavens are His throne and the earth is His footstool, and every aspect of His creation-secular as well as sacred-deserves the full force of our best work.

The more our developers, entrepreneurs, public servants and business leaders embrace wise stewardship and healthy community over self-interest, the more Knoxville can reflect the values of a God for whom matter matters and the redemption of all creation is the goal.

As fruit of the fulfillment of the Great Commission, the population of the heavenly city will include persons from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Because this is our future, our community life today must actively pursue reconciliation across our divisive distinctions. Rather than surrender to Knoxville’s sectionalism, God’s people are to be mobilized for the well-being of every person in every neighborhood in every corner of our city. Following Jesus’ example, the incarnation of God’s love in us will ceaselessly seek out those being excluded from the goodness of life intended by God at creation: the sick, the orphaned, the widowed, and the stranger in our community. 

The beautiful thing to celebrate-and this is really what the Salt and Light guidebook is all about-is that there are many people in our city through whom God’s life is being expressed in just these ways. Rather than carrying forward old prejudices, new relationships are being forged across political, racial, economic, and social lines. In place of the old culture wars and turf battles, new alliances are being established through numerous kingdom-shaped cooperatives.

As God’s people in Knoxville live out the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission, they bring blessing to the city. Instead of arrogance and skeptical cynicism, God’s people are fostering faith in God. In place of fear and anxiety, God’s people are cultivating hope in God’s goodness. Where there is hatred and darkness, God’s people are confronting evil and embodying the love of God. Faith, hope and love thus become the coordinates of the compass by which we navigate our role in God’s story as culture-shapers and disciple-makers.

Each metropolitan area can be associated with a unique set of overarching cultural themes, along with many subcultures. Describing the culture of Knoxville¹ is akin to asking the proverbial blind men to describe an elephant: Point of view is everything. Looking at the big picture, Knoxville is a suburban culture with an Anglo-American ethos (with Caucasians making up 88% of Knox County residents).² That we live in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains and on clear days can enjoy their natural beauty seems to exert a certain influence upon us all. We enjoy four distinct seasons and the social rhythms associated with a university town.

Like most mid-size cities in America, we are a car culture, producing cataracts of malls, storefronts, and shopping centers. The roar echoing through the heart of Knoxville is the concrete confluence of two of the busiest roads in America, Interstates 75 and 40. Except for a few large corporations, Knoxville’s culture of small businesses fosters a stable local economic environment. The mantra here of “neither boom nor bust” carries over into a conservative approach to money and most everything else–especially art, education, politics and religion. As may be expected on the border of the Deep South, church buildings-mostly Baptist-are everywhere. We are a hard-working and optimistic people principally concerned to provide for our families, but also predisposed to hospitality and compassion.

Knoxville culture plays itself out across city-county lines in clusters of socially, economically, and racially homogenous neighborhoods that extend north along Broadway, south on Chapman Highway, east along Magnolia Avenue, and west down Kingston Pike. With varying degrees of pride and prejudice we self-identify in terms of East, West, North, or South Knoxville. “The Strip” fixes people near the University. “Downtown” has recently re-emerged as a distinct place on Knoxville’s cultural map. These designations connote not only geographic locations but distinct cultural identities within the larger culture of Knoxville, bearing unique commercial, political, social, educational, and religious histories.

Tribalism may be too strong a word, but there might be something to the theory that our regional DNA includes the Scots-Irish penchant for in-fighting. Instead of cooperation, sometimes we encounter territorialism, suspicion and entrenchment. Our cross-cultural devotion to the Large Orange is the one tie that binds us all, through seasons of plenty and of loss.

Yet deep within the soul of our city-like every city-there is a longing for purposive unity, a coherent identity reflective of indigenous assets, a common commitment to a cause larger than our sectional self-interests and more meaningful than UT sports. In this vein, six years of progressive governance under a conscientious City Mayor as well as a sustained push for downtown renewal feels like a fresh, historic wind of civic achievement, corporate unity, and cultural advance. A new spirit of collaboration is at work here, and a genuine sense of excitement and unprecedented hopefulness are in the air.

Will this momentum give way to ingrained cultural habits of sectionalism and pride? Or will God’s people prophetically engage and renew the culture by building on biblical foundations of faith, hope, and love?

1. “Knoxville” in this context includes the larger metro area inclusive of Halls, Farragut, Seymour, and Strawberry Plains.
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov.

Webs, Calls, Texts, and Tones: Practicing the Presence of God in a Wireless World

Jennie McLaurin, Medical Doctor and Associate Professor of Bioethics and Dean of Students at Regent College, will be our guide as we explore what it is to practice the presence of God in an ever increasing world of ubiquitous communication. Details and registration information for this event are as follows:

Friday, January 30, 2009, 4:00pm – 8:30pm (with dinner)
Saturday, January 31, 2009, 8:30am – 3:30pm (with lunch)

Speaker:
Jennie McLaurin, MD
Associate Professor of Bioethics and Dean of Students, Regent College
Vancouver, Canada

BS (Salem), MD (Wake Forest), MPH (North Carolina – Chapel Hill), MCS (Regent College)

Facilitator:
Kenny Woodhull
New City Resources 

For registration fee, further information and pre-session preparation, please contact:

Kenny Woodhull 865.803.9758
kennywoodhull@comcast.net

Venue:
3710 Riverbrook Drive
Louisville, TN 37777

Cost:
$100/person (meals included)

Pre-registration deadline January 15. 

Describing the culture of Knoxville is akin to asking the proverbial blind men to describe an elephant. One man, grasping the trunk, says an elephant is like a large hose. Another, holding the tail, declares an elephant resembles a stiff rope. A third, clutching a leg, says an elephant is like a sturdy tree. A fourth declares that the other three are altogether wrong: an elephant, he explains, is an immovable wall of skin and muscle as big as a house.

Point of view is everything. Let me acknowledge at the outset that this perspective on Knoxville culture is one man’s limited assessment of a monumental issue, a subject so large and diverse that no single person or perspective can hope to do it justice.

First things first: definitions. Knoxville I take to include the metro area inclusive of Halls, Farragut, Seymour, and Strawberry Plains. The word “culture” here with Webster’s Dictionary refers to “the sum total of the beliefs, accomplishments, and behavior patterns of a group of people.” Culture is captured therefore by our actions and the way in which these actions develop into habits, rituals, values, worldviews, and lived-out aspirations.

We start by stating the obvious: Knoxville is a suburban culture with an Anglo-American ethos. We enjoy four distinct seasons and social rhythms associated with being a University community. 7% of the metro population is Black or African-American.¹ Most of our roots as an Appalachian city are rural. 13% of us live at or below the poverty line.² And though few of our families lived the farm life the desire for land and the opportunity to be creative with it are evident in a variety of outdoor interests and avocations. That we live in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains and on clear days can enjoy their natural beauty seems to exert a certain influence upon us all.

Like most mid-size cities in America, we are a car culture, and we have cataracts of strip-malls, mega-malls, storefronts, and shopping centers to prove it. At one time in recent history, excluding San Francisco, Knoxville boasted more restaurants per capita than any other city in America. Since we are on the border of the Deep South church buildings are everywhere representing a rich variety of Christian traditions, a majority of which in Knoxville spells Baptist.

Knoxville culture plays itself out across city-county lines in clusters of socially, economically, and racially homogenous neighborhoods that extend North along Broadway, South on Chapman Highway, East along Magnolia Avenue, and West down Kingston Pike. Except for a few large corporations-Covenant Health, the University of Tennessee, Sea Ray, Pilot Oil, and TVA-Knoxville is a culture of small businesses that make for a stable local economic environment. The mantra here is “neither boom nor bust” and this carries over into a conservative approach to the way we handle our money and most everything else–especially art, religion, and politics. Expressed in educational standards, the status quo reigns and the rule is mediocrity.³ Where there is money there are exceptions.

With varying degrees of pride and prejudice most of us self-identify in terms of East, West, North, or South Knoxville. “The Strip” fixes people near the University and “downtown” has recently re-emerged as a distinct place on the cultural map of Knoxville. Of course, these designations connote far more than geographic locations. Rather, through their unique commercial, political, social, educational, and religious histories each of the areas represents somewhat distinct cultures within the larger culture of Knoxville. Tribalism is too strong a word here, but there might be something to the theory that the Scots-Irish penchant for in-fighting is to some degree a part of our DNA.

The roar you hear echoing through the heart of Knoxville’s neighborhoods is the concrete confluence of the two busiest roads in America (Interstates 75 and 40) doing violence to our city’s peace, beauty, and sense of unity. Because TDOT will not allow us to re-route fifty gazillion pounds of concrete, part of our cultural heritage involves coming to terms with the wound of our disconnected neighborhoods and the resulting social segmentation.

Accordingly, where we would look for cooperation, all too often we find territorialism and entrenchment: hence, Knoxville loses its AA professional baseball team to a smaller town a few miles up the road. Local business leaders and government officials refuse to put the interests of the city ahead of their private interests, and The Aquarium is built down-river in Chattanooga. Chris Whittle invites Knoxville to serve as the flagship of a national initiative for education reform, and local power blocs balk at the disruption of the status quo, and a whole generation of creative professionals depart Knoxville. Political dysfunction descends to a new low in the wake of Danny Mayfield’s death as his widow is denied her late husband’s seat on city council.⁴ And thanks to Bart Simpson’s infamous road trip to Knoxville, even the success of the 1982 World’s Fair is now a source of national notoriety for us.

And yet, deep within the soul of our city-like every city-there is a longing for purposive unity, a coherent identity reflective of indigenous assets, and a common commitment to a cause larger than our sectional self-interests. In the absence of a compelling vision, this cultural impulse today finds expression in Knoxville’s shared allegiance to-and, dare we say, adoration of-the University of Tennessee’s place in the pantheon of America’s national sports scene. In itself, recreational fandom can be a positive aspect of any city’s cultural life. But problems arise when this devotion supplants other more meaningful expressions of civic purpose.

And this is precisely our cultural challenge today: nothing unites the disparate strands of our community like UT Sports. Black, white, rich, poor, young, old, male, female, professional, laborer, white-collar, blue-collar altogether gather in mass at Neyland Stadium, Thompson-Boling Arena, or-if we can’t get seats–in front of our big screen tvs. And then we talk about it the rest of the week-on the radio, at the copier, before and after the business of our meetings. Let me be clear: I am not saying our cultural “problem” is that we cheer on the Vols. The issue here is that we have a default mechanism at work deep within our collective consciousness, and the time and energy we spend on all things Orange reflects-and does not respond to–our gnawing need for a more enduring sense of unity and purpose.

In this light, six years of progressive governance under a uniquely conscientious City Mayor as well as a sustained push for downtown renewal feels like it could be the very fresh, historic wind of civic achievement, corporate unity, and cultural advance for which we have waited so long. A genuine sense of excitement and unprecedented hopefulness therefore are in the cultural air of Knoxville today.

Bottom-line: we are a hard-working and optimistic people principally concerned to provide for ourselves and our families in a mid-size Southern city shaped by unrealized expectations. Whether through affluence or prejudice we too often succumb to pride and the status quo.

Because Knoxville sounds too much like Notsville, it is my hope as a citizen and my prayer as a Christian that God’s people would come to embrace our calling to embody the collaborative unity of the Kingdom in a good city with great potential that still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. Only in this case, it is not What we should seek, but Who.

1. www.census.gov/acs/www/products/profiles/single/2003
2. www.census.gov/acs/www/producst/profiles/single/2003
3. In an often quoted piece, Knoxville Chamber Partnership CEO, Mike Edwards writes: “We have hit an iceberg, and our ship is sinking.  Our ship – our public education system – is not going to get us to our port, and all hands will be lost if we don’t do something quickly.  By any national standard, our public education system is not preparing students to face the future that the world is presenting them. We are at the bottom of every national ranking – test results, educational standards, graduation rates, and funding.  Fundamentally, we are not providing our children the tools they will need to succeed in a world that requires critical thinking, technical skills and competence in math and science. Our local economy is dependent on a workforce that has these skills.  Without these skills, our workforce cannot do the job, our businesses cannot compete and our economic well-being is at great risk.  There is increasing acknowledgment at the local and state levels that major changes are required for our education system to meet these challenges. www.tbroundtable.org/library/docs/Mike%20Edwards%20Article%2007.doc  
4. “The night it all came down I could not stop shivering. It changed the way I viewed a lot of things. For the first time, sitting on Council [with Mayor Victor Ashe], I really felt I was in the presence of evil. I had disagreed with people on many occasions and felt strongly about many things, but I never ever had felt something I could describe as the presence of evil. Until that night. There was just darkness. Hopelessness. But never, until Danny’s death and the appointment of someone other than his wife, and knowing the orchestration that took place to make it happen, did I realize that I could never again go back to that body without carrying with me my belief that they were capable of the worst possible actions.”  -City Councilwoman Carlene Malone, Metro Pulse, “Malone Alone”, December 13, 200