1. Keanan Brand says:

    I’m going to share this link with my pastor and perhaps a few others.

    I’m not sure I’m ready to lead — or the church has enough interest for — a group like this. However, after reading Kerry Nietz’s post about a friend’s copy of his book being thrown away, I was reminded of fellow Christians’ doubts about fantastical tales in general and my stories in particular. Even my mother, who is one of my biggest fans (of course 😉 ), has doubts. After all, doesn’t a dragon symbolize the devil in Revelation? And ghost hunters — doesn’t researching and writing about them invite demonic spirits?

    But God is greater than those fears. I don’t want to miss the adventure through the forest merely because someone else is afraid of the shadows under the trees.

  2. Ty Briggs says:

    I would love to do something like this. It seems like being an introverted Christian geek is a recipe for cultural isolation precisely because my primary interests of books, movies, games and writing are things that are not shared by anyone else I know on a personal/real-life level.

    I go to a mega-church (Harvest Christian Fellowship in So Cal) so, at least from a statistical standpoint, I know I can’t possibly be the only one who’s oriented as I am, but the mega-church brings a great deal of challenges all it’s own. We have no shortage of space or resources but starting a group or getting permission to do something like this isn’t as simple as calling the head pastor.

    My original idea several months ago was actually to start a writing group, but this seems like something that may be more feasible. I suppose my biggest hang-up with it at the moment is that I don’t feel like I’m ready or qualified to lead something like this, even if it’s only 5 people. In addition, while I love to read and explore stories, I don’t know that I’d be able to come up with a syllabus that wasn’t terrible.

    I don’t know. It would be awesome, but I’m not convinced of my qualifications or (frankly) motivations.

    • Julie D says:

      Introverted geek Christian is a very rough combination. Any two is bad enough on its own (though I’m not sure if there is ‘extroverted geek Christian’), but I second Ty.

      My church (attendance 120ish) has been between pastors for over a year and a half, so that presents its own problems, but I am so tired of the only things in the church bulletin being youth events and marriage-support things.

      “Mawwidge. Mawwidge is what we all muwst desire most fewewentwee.”

  3. ionaofavalon says:

    I’m with Ty. I am blessed with a very “geeky” church, we have Trekkies, Whovians, comic nerds, Ringers, Narnians, Disneyites, and probably more, but I could imagine under the right leadership, something like this could be great.

  4. bainespal says:

    About the closest thing that my congregation has ever put on is an anual “Sportsman’s Banquet” for hunting enthusiasts. One big difference is that inviting non-Christian family members and friends to come and hear the gospel from a guest speaker is a huge part of it. I don’t think my church would ever consider an event without outreach and evangelism, and the gospel would have to be explicitly presented.

    • Yeah … I’m not saying this is the case here. But some churches like to fool themselves into believing that all the little party-things they enjoy are only enjoyable if they’re done For Evangelism (wink, wink, nudge, wink).

      • bainespal says:

        I guess I’ll go ahead and ask — how did you work out talking to the leadership and getting approval?

        Maybe I should email my pastor with a link to this post. I want to own my words and attitudes wherever I express them, even when I’m not proud of them. But pastors probably get lots of casual complaints disguised as small talk from people wanting things to be run differently.

        It would be so much easier just to do something like this informally with your Christian friends, if you have any. But part of the benefit of church as a formal institution is that you don’t have to go through the burden of making friends in order to be part of something.

What do you think?