Tag: Austin Church Plant

Austin #3 Best Place to Live

Posted on June 9, 2009

According U.S. News Report:

If you’re a free spirit, music junkie, or barbecue lover–or if you simply have what it takes to “keep Austin weird”–Texas’s state capital is for you. Considered ground zero for live music, this city of 716,000 residents is home to legions of musicians and nearly 200 performance venues. In addition, Austin hosts the always popular South by Southwest festival. Since its inception in 1987, the event has mushroomed from a local gathering to a 1,800-band, 80-stage extravaganza of music, filmmaking, and interactive activities featuring performers from all over the world. Austin is also a high-tech hub, with companies like Dell and IBM, which employ thousands of residents.

The city’s warm climate offers plenty of sunshine, while the open green spaces don’t provide any excuse for staying indoors. Head over to Lions Municipal Golf Course for an inexpensive round. Wander through the 351-acre Zilker Metropolitan Park until you find Barton Springs Pool, a 3-acre water source fed by underground springs that keep its temperature around 68 degrees all year long. To escape the city, head for the nearby Hill Country. “It’s rolling hills cut with lots of little creeks and streams,” says Tom Beach, a sales clerk at Austin Canoe & Kayak. “It makes for a nice road trip.”

Exegeting Your Culture

Posted on January 14, 2009

The more Austin planters I meet, the more I am encouraged about what God is doing in our city. Today I met Nathaniel Binion, lead planter for Kerygma. Nathan brings a good heart and head to Austin. I’m excited to see his plant unfold.

Another shameless plug for PlantR, newer planters have a great way reinvigorating older planters. They get more up-to-date stats and bring fresh ideas to the table. Older planters can pass on their experience and limited wisdom. The cross-pollination is critical for a flowering of the gospel in your city. As your plant grows, it is easy to assume you have “a handle” on the culture of your city, suburb, or whatever. A good missionary never arrives in cultural exegesis but is always exegeting their culture. To that end, here are some general and specific suggestions for continuing cultural exegesis:

  • Ask your neighbors and fellow citizens lots of questions. Don’t interrogate them but show sincere, intentional interest in them and the info they possess. Anecdotal information about your city and fellow citizens is unbeatable. Ask them the what, how, and why questions: What do you think is broken in our neighborhood or city? What gets you excited about life? What do you think should be done about economic decline in our city? why do you drive across town to do X? why do you dislike traditional Christianity. Feel free to add to this in the comments.
  • Read local, independent publications. Very often the stuff that looks like a waste of time contains some of the most clear voices from within your culture. Get local (not just national) opinions and reviews on movies, books, culture and politics. For Austin: Statesman, The Chronicle, Misprint, Austin 360 blog, the Austinist, etc. Feel free to add to this list in the comments.
  • Gather historical information on your city and neighborhood. How did your city come to be the way it is? What political and cultural and economic issues have shaped the ethos and beliefs of your city? Read local authors and histories. Austin: Writing Austin’s Lives, History of Austin DVD, Bob Bullock History Museum, Neighborhood Assns, etc.
  • Participate in local art, music, and business. Support local business, go to art shows, listen to local bands. Examples are endless in Austin.

Feedback on Austin City Life site

Posted on June 6, 2008

If you have some time, I’d appreciate your feedback on our new website. We are still adding content and working out some things, but we need to know if it is navigable, engaging, informative, clear, etc. We are working on getting the podcast page to be more simple. Let me know what you think and how we can improve!

New Austin City Life website

Posted on May 9, 2008

Check out the new, vastly improved website for our church, Austin City Life. We are launching it in stages and will be working out the kinks, so its not all filled out. However, there’s plenty to check out and its pretty cool. Let me know what you think.

**View in Firefox or Safari for now, if possible.

Design and photography by Jen Cota (also a calligrapher).