Slowly Learning About Slow Food

It has been a few years now since my friend in Columbus, Eric Stetler, introduced me to the concept of Slow Food and what some might call the Food revolution which has really been gaining ground over the past several years. We viewed a documentary about food and the Agricultural industry which made me want to go home and throw away anything that might have genetically modified (GMO's) corn in it, growth hormones (dairy etc) and the like. I think the film was called the Future of Food.

Although I sensed the passion and connected with the vision for a better approach to food, I just didn't seem to have enough motivation to follow through and really change our own approach to food. When you exist within the complex system of a family with many pre-conditioned eating habits...
...okay, I'm just making excuses.

I want to look into this idea of slow food a little more and would love to find local food as well as engaging the soil with my own kids to grow some of our own food. The ways in which we eat as Americans are generally unhealthy. The ways in which we purchase and use food is not a sustainable or farmer/grower-friendly system.

And just as I cannot hardly stomach the taste or idea of bad coffee and bad espresso...I think it's time to realize some higher standards for our food as well.

This statement on their homepage resonates with me.

Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

Have you been "slowing" down your approach to food? How has everyone in the family responded? What have been the challenges? The successes?

Transitions

Sunday March 8th was my last official Sunday to serve on staff at Lifespring Church of the Nazarene in Milford, OH. We have served on staff for a little over two years at Lifespring and it has been a great blessing for our family.

We will continue to attend Lifespring as we search for what God has next for us in life & ministry. The mission of Lifespring is to help people develop three key relationships: with God...with other Christ followers...and with the world.

I thoroughly believe in the church's simple approach to loving God and loving others and wish Kevin & Leslie God's best for their ministry as they continue to lead this church forward.

For the past several months, I had become increasingly uncomfortable with my own role in the ministry and just had an overall sense that God wanted to use me in some other ways. Resigning and leaving a ministry is never really easy but I think it's especially difficult when you are yet unsure as to where God is leading. So we find ourselves in this liminal...in between...awkward...time of transition.

For several years now, I have had the intention of pursuing a teaching position with a Christian Campus. I have looked into such schools as Mount Vernon Nazarene, Cedarville, Huntington, Asbury, Cincinnat Christian, Ohio Christian, etc but nothing came of the search until now. With a couple of college buddies working at Indiana Wesleyan, I made the connection and got in line for the interview process. After a few months of managing all the right hoops, I landed my first class with IWU which just started this past week... Philosophy & Christian Thought (yeah...too bad I couldn't have started with something a little more user friendly!) ;-)

And as my teaching career gets off the ground at a snail's pace, I am trying to discern where God is leading in regards to my other two main vocational passions: coffee & campus ministry.

It's no secret that since my love affair with coffee began on Valentine's Day 2004 (not kidding) at a Starbucks in Westerville, OH...I have been finding excuses to work at, be at, and/or volunteer at a coffee shop ever since. And it really isn't that I'm a hopeless coffee geek or espresso addict...I truly believe in the kinds of conversations and relationships that seem to spontaneously generate in any kind of authentic 'third place.'

Recently, I've come to realize (or perhaps remember) that my hopes for landing in some kind of university or campus context is not just about teaching. I thoroughly enjoy the university setting! I love being with students who are launching out into the unknown, forging their path, reshaping their faith, and making critical decisions about their future. That collision between faith & reason is a healthy place but I'm afraid most in the church steer clear of the campus because we don't know how to deal with conflict, aggressive humanism, liberal ideology, etc, etc. And certainly in my own tribe of Nazarene-dom...we've neglected this opportunity to engage missionally with some of the most interesting, adventurous, energetic, and enjoyable creatures on the planet...the university student.

So I am in conversations with our district leadership for the Nazarene church down in this corner pocket of the Buckeye state...pitching a proposal to engage this campus culture for Christ. Part of this journey has led me to connect with some great people in an organization called the CCO. What I love about this diverse bunch of campus-lovers is that they partner with local churches and non-profits to contextualize an effective ministry to campuses. I spent some time at their main event back in February called Jubilee. It was a fantastic gathering where students were challenged to integrate faith & learning/work/vocation. With the kind of networking, training, and camaraderie I saw among CCO folk at that event, I knew it would be a great organization to partner with.

So the transition continues...which is definitely not pleasant...but the future is certainly hopeful.

I am entering a time of "interim" which someone wrote of eloquently here:

You are in this time of the interim
Where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.

"The old is not old enough to have died away;
The new is still too young to be born."

You cannot lay claim to anything;
In this place of dusk,
your eyes are blurred;
And there is no mirror.

Everyone else has lost sight of your heart
And you can see nowhere to put your trust;
You know you have to make your own way through.

As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow your confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might come free
From all you have outgrown.

What is being transfigured here is your mind.
And it is difficult and slow to become new.
The more faithfully you can endure here,
The more refined your heart will become
For your arrival in the new dawn.


- John O'Donohue from To Bless The Space Between Us