It’s okay if you don’t have a ticket…

… just turn up and pay. It’s the same price: £15 (or £10 for students). Please bring the right money in cash as we don’t have a credit card facility there. Or pay online (see link on the right). You’ll need to bring some lunch since numbers had to be fixed for that on Thursday. Tea and coffee will be provided and even the occasional biscuit (oh yes, we know how to have a good time). There’ll also be some fabulous Bible-teaching, stimulating converstaion, fellowship and fun. Really hope to see you there.

Timetable for Blueprint 2010

If you’re joining us on Saturday 13th Feb for the conference, you may want to download and print out the Timetable for the day and bring it along. There’s not much in the way of startling information on there, but it should contain all the necessary information – and the seminar choices for the afternoon. Click here: Blueprint Timetable 2010

The Time is Approaching…

Soon, the Blueprint Annual Gathering will be upon us. Please do book a ticket as soon as you can. They are £15 or £10 for students/unwaged and can be booked here. You need to do this by Noon on Thursday 11th Feb if you want lunch to be included. After that time, you can still book tickets or turn up on the day and pay – and it’s still £15/£10 – but lunch cannot be guaranteed.

Please see here for a slightly amended timetable of the day – note the addition of a session on Evangelism for Cynics and Creatives from Rev Andrew Baughen. Should be great.

Offer expires soon

This is just a reminder that the offer of ‘Buy two tickets, save a fiver’ will expire on Sunday 31st January, so please make us of that offer if you can. Or let others know about it.

The Event Wax booking system seems fairly robust – I’ve only had one person email me who just couldn’t get it to work for them. But I’d love to know if there are others who are having problems. If you’re finding it impossible to use or it won’t accept your email address, or you don’t have a credit or debit card, please email me. The email address is tongacrocker [at] yahoo dot co uk. (I’ve written it on that odd way so that the email addressed isn’t harvested and then buried with spam)

Otherwise, I look forward to meeting you on the day.

Timetable for Blueprint 2010

This is the current timetable for the annual Blueprint gathering on Saturday 13th February 2010 – at The Factory in Raynes Park:

9.30 Arrival and registration

9.50 Opening Prayer and Address – “Their Works Shall Follow Them”

10.00 Session 1 – How does our creativity affect God’s coming Kingdom? – Ellis Potter

10.45 Break-out groups – Discussion and application of session 1 in smaller groups specific to particular industries and skills.

11.15 Coffee Break

11.45 Session 2 – What on earth will we be doing in heaven? – Jim Paul

12.30 Break-out groups – Discussion and application of session 1 in smaller groups specific to particular industries and skills.

1.00 Lunch – Sandwich Lunch and fruit provided.

2.00 Seminar Session 1

The seminars a mix of teaching, discussion and Q&A. Choose from:

Ellis and Jim Continued – more discussion on the mornings issues with our main speakers Ellis Potter and Jim Paul

In the Best Possible Taste – Ros Clarke looks at how Christian could deal with sex and sexual themes in the media and art.

Foot in Mouth Syndrome – James Cary deals with the issue of offence, especially in the area of comedy.

Habits of Highly Effective People and Other Myths – Jez and Miriam Carr examine the life of freelance work, motivation and other pitfalls of being self-employed.

A sight for Sore Eyes – Alastair Gordon considers how beauty interacts with redemption.

Evangelism for Creative Types and Cynics – Rev Andrew Baughen looks at how evangelism is possible in a secular, creative working environment

3.15 Seminar Session 2

As above. Impromptu sessions may also be arranged on the day to suit demand and interests.

4.15 Tea.

4.30 Panel Discussion – Hot topics from the day and the media in general to be discussed, no holds barred.

5.30 or thereabouts Closing prayer and thanksgiving

It promises to be a really good day, with lots of high quality Bible teaching aimed specifically at Christians who create culture, media and art. So do please come along. If you’d like to book a ticket, see the post below.

Blueprint 2010 is now taking bookings!

Thanks to the clever people at Eventwax, Blueprint 2010 is now taking online bookings – from today. Simply click here to register and pay.

And here’s the really good news. If you book your ticket before Christmas Day 2009, the price is not £15 but a mere £12. Look for the ticket marked ‘Pre-Christmas Discount Ticket’. (If, of course, you’d rather help out by paying the full £15, that would help and subsidise a student.)

The conference is shaping up well. Ellis Potter has booked his flight and will be with us for sure. As will Jim Paul. Plus a range of other speakers to engage, challenge and intrigue and encourage us. It’s going to be a great day. Please come, and bring a friend.

If you want to hear more about Ellis Potter, who was born in California and was a Zen Buddhist for many years before becoming a Christian at L’Abri, click here to find an MP3 of an interview with him by Mike Reeves.

Their Works Shall Follow Them

Blueprint Annual Gathering 2010 – Their works shall follow them

Doing good work is time-consuming and hard. Why do it? What is the eternal value of being a creative? What is the point of technical excellence? Does our work matter? For how long? Doesn’t it all get wiped away at The End anyway? What is The End? And how does knowing the answers to any of these questions actually help?

This year, the Co-Mission Media Forum (Blueprint), we will be thinking biblically, and then practically, about these questions. We are delighted to welcome Ellis Potter who is flying in from Basel especially to be with us. Ellis is a former Buddhist monk who became a Christian under the influence and ministry of the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer. Now he is a Christian minister, counsellor and teacher. Find out more at http://www.martinweaver.net/Ellis/workers.htm

Ellis will be joined by Jim Paul, who works at L’Abri in Hampshire. Ellis and Jim have worked together before and this latest colloboration should be a real blessing to the conference.

There will be lots of time to listen to them teach and ask questions as well as discuss in industry-specific groups the practical outworkings of an eternal perspective to our work and creative calling. There will be other sessions and seminars in the afternoon – diverse and practical – or a chance to explore the main themes of the day further with our main speakers.

The Conference will, once again, be taking place at the Factory in Raynes Park on 13th February 2010. It is more expensive than last year (£15/£10) but still very reasonable for a whole day-long conference. The main reason for that is that we are inviting speakers who depend upon donations and fees for their ministry and it is only right that pay them correctly. Many of us know what it’s like to be asked again and again to perform for free! In order for this work, and conference, to be sustainable, it needs to be on a sound financial footing.

Pre-booking and pre-payment will be available soon. But please put it in your diaries and invite others. If you have any questions or concerns, please email tongacrocker at yahoo (.co.uk)

The Factory, 577 Kingston Road, Raynes Park, London SW20 8SA

9.30am-5.30pm 13th February 2010 – Tickets £15 (£10 for unwaged/student) includes lunch.

And so it came to pass…

… that nearly thirty folk gathered to pray together. We had a great time.

The new name for the Media Forum was announced – Blueprint (see above).And it was explained.

And the vision for the group was laid out:

To equip creative christians for good work.

I hope to write these up in more detail on this blog very soon.

Media Forum Prayer Meeting

 

There will be a Co-Mission Media Forum Prayer Meeting - on the evening of May 11th. 7pm ’til 8.30ish – at which point we will slope off for a drink and possibly some food so we can get to know each other better. There’ll be a short talk at the start to focus our thoughts and some good time to pray for each other in whatever field we’re in – and the Forum itself!

This will NOT take place at the Factory in Raynes Park. We will be at Christ Church, Mayfair - which is on Down Street, just off Piccadilly (nearest tubes Green Park/Hyde Park Corner). There’s a map here. 

If that sounds of interest, please let me know so I know roughly how many to expect. Feel free to invite a Christian colleague of friend who works in Media or Arts. Also, if you’re interested in pub food afterwards, let me know and I can book a big enough table/room. Email the usual address – tongacrocker [at yahoo] co.uk (email broken up to avoid spam).

Also, Pravin has let me know about something that may be of interest – a poetry prize. Find out more here.

 

Thank you for coming!

It was great to see so many of you at the Co-Mission Media Forum. Thank you for braving the cold before, during and after the event!

I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet all of you personally. But I’d love to hear your views on what we’re trying to do. So you’ll be receiving an email from in a few days with some questions about how to improve things, since we really are making this up as we go along (is it that obvious?).

I sensed that there really is a demand for thinking Biblically and ‘Christianly’ about creativity, so it looks like we’re heading in the right direction. But there is such a limit to what you can achieve in a day – so hopefully this site can point you in the direction of more resources, and also build some sort of community. We can begin that by looking at Gavin’s first talk here.

But I look forward to hearing from you soon.