Book launch – ‘i, church’ – the teaser

So by now you may have heard that we had three Cape Town book launches and one in Durban [with one coming up in Oakland, Americaland in June and then hopefully at a later stage one in Pretoria ad Johannesburg], but what exactly is it all about?

Besides church…

To give you an idea, i thought i would drop a little bit of a teaser so you can get an idea.

In many ways this is a book written for people who love Jesus but have been hurt by the church somewhere along the way and so are a little wary of being associated with one any more… trying to be ‘christians without church’…

In other ways this is a book written for those who attend a church service once a week and yet are not necessarily seeing the transformation in their lives and in the lives of those around them and so on some senses might have slipped into a kind of ‘going through the motions’…

And for everyone in between, this is hopefully a challenge or an encouragement or a breath of fresh air or some inspiration towards some ways you can get your creativity on in terms of life to the full and seeing the kingdom of God grow itself here on earth as it is in heaven.

Not all of it is for everyone, but if you are a follower of Jesus, then i’m pretty sure there is at least something in here for you, hopefully of a significant nature.

Here is a short taste from early on in the book.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

‘That is maybe how it is with the church sometimes. That it is not always intentional. Sometimes it is just through not saying it as opposed to deliberately holding it back. Usually it is because the church is made up of messy, broken people who have been hurt and who hurt, all the while trying to get it right, for the most part.

And so we end up at a place that, if we’re completely honest with ourselves, looks a lot like Augustine might have suggested when he said, “The church is a whore, but she’s my mother”.  One of the biggest problems we face, I think, is that some people get way too hung up on “the church is a whore” part while others get way too protective  of  the “church is my mother” bit. So we are left with a ‘them’ and an ‘us’ no matter which side we stand:

# The church is the best thing in the world, ever.

# The church is the worst thing in the world, ever.

Both sides are right. And both sides are wrong.

The purpose of this book is to hopefully invite each side to take a few steps close to “the other” so that we can move away from that kind of language and mindset altogether. There are enough people both inside and outside the church, who  are  quick to throw  stones  at it. Whether we see it  as the building   or   the   people   or   the   meeting   or   the   tradition,   it   has become an easy target.

What is going to be more helpful is if we can take a step back from the muck, put any kind of frustrations or anger or resentment or bitterness aside,  and start to look a little harder, listen a little more closely and return to the One who this church thing is all about. Maybe then we’ll truly be able to kiss hating [or just really, really, really not liking] the church goodbye.

You see, it was never meant to be a concept… or an organisation… or a meeting… it was meant to be an organism – living,   breathing, causing revolution, pointing people towards Jesus, and turning the world on its head.

Maybe you don’t see it like that. Maybe you’ve never seen it like that. I urge you to read this book with an open mind. Head back with me to scripture and see what God says about the church – His plan and idea and mission for it.

Because maybe once you’ve really seen that, you will find a whole host of new reasons to love being an active engaging community­transforming member of this living Church.’

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

i would love to see you at one of the Book Launches… and if you’re in Oakland, USA, or Joburg/Pretoria, get hold of me, cos we are hoping to be dropping in there for a book share of your own…

[To find out how you can host your own Church Q & A with me and some of your friends, click here]

[For an excellent post on the idea of your church map possibly being wrong, take a read of this one]

Book launch – ‘i, church’ by me – The Venue

26 days to go…

There has been a book for ever [or it seems that way] that has continued to be rewritten, updated, tweaked and refined until it was ready to be unleashed on the public…

Then there was a cover pic and finally a full cover [yes, yes, “a horrendous” not “an horrendous” – this is just the most updated one i have access to]…

And finally there is a book launch [as the final proofreading and editing winds down and the book is actually printed and made available]

And by “book launch” i mean “book launches” cos of you being all spread around and all.

So this is what we are planning and RSVP is important as there are number constraints on the venues so if you are going to come to any of the Cape Town launches, please drop me an email at brettfish@hotmail.com with your name and how many people.

Thursday 19 March at 6.30pm at Vovo Telo [Steenberg Village] – this is a stunning little venue that can take about 80 people and we will be supplying some dinner snacks and inviting you to buy your own drinks as you vibe a vibe with us and get to hear a little bit about the book as well as asking some questions you might have. [This event is unfortunately FULL UP and so if you’re in Cape Town you’ll have to come to the Saturday one].

Saturday 21 March at 09.30 at The Warehouse in Wetton [12 Plantation Road] – for those who can’t make a mid-week time, Saturday morning felt like a good opportunity to gather and mingle and coffee and be introduced to the book with another opportunity to ask some questions. Click here for the Facebook event.

For those of you who live in the Somerset West/Stellenbosch area, we are looking to have a smaller, more intimate, home launch and so please send me your email address if you would like to receive the details for that one. Thinking the following week.

Also i am planning a trip to Durban to do a book launch there, dreaming of a trip to Joburg/Pretoria [a gift of frequent flier miles will be muchly appreciated] and holding on to the slim possibility of one in Oakland, San Francisco… and up to doing other ones in lounges, churches, small towns or wherever else i might be given the chance to – but those are the main ones i am looking to do – if you want to stay in the loop as details emerge, again just let me know with a contact email address.

Very much looking forward to this book actually being a real, live thing and hoping that it is going to be helpful, encouraging, challenging and get people thinking a little [and a lot] differently about church and all the potential it has when it is the thing God intended it to be.

Hoping to see you there.

[But that is the book about? For a teaser trailer preview of ‘i, church’, click here] 

The Book Launch: i, cover words

So, the brett “Fish” anderson written book, ‘i, church’ is coming soon and the teasers and pre-show snacks will continue to drop to hopefully give you all a taste and make you excited for what is to come…

i was hoping for an end Feb release, but in the interests of not rushing it and having the perfect launch i am now looking at the end of March and hoping this is the final date shift. Still some small mistakes to be fixed like an horrendous one you might find in this book cover pic, but otherwise we are good and ready to go.

Hopefully launch details will follow soon – definitely be a big party in Cape Town once i can figure out the venue and possibly an intimate one in Stellenbosch/Somerset West and then if i can find a not-too-crazy-expensive way to get to Durban, a launch there and ditto for Joburg/Pretoria…

i showed the cover pic last week which still has some tiny tweakage to be done, as does this back cover, but this is largely what it is going to look like, come release day.

i am super stoked for the work of my team [Heather Bailey and Linda Martindale with a class cameo performance by Kirsten Sims on Cover Design and big help from tbV with the wording] and something that was ‘pretty decent and ready to go’ even just a month ago feels like it is heading towards ‘Really great looking and feeling and can’t wait to release this on the masses.’ Which, as the author, is obviously a great feeling.

Does this look like something you’d be up to reading? Coming soon to a coffee-serving place near you…

The Book Launch: i, cover

You know Hollywood? A year and a half before a movie comes out, drops you a teaser trailer just to let you know the thing is happening but not giving you much more than a taste of what that thing is about…

Well i have been working on finishing up a book that i wrote years and years and years ago, and then rewrote years and years ago and then finally rewrote and finished three years ago just before we left to go to Americaland…

Since we returned to South Africa in August last year, just for the fun of it, i rewrote it again, or more just tightened it up and took out some stuff and added some stuff, and it has slowly been crawling its way towards self-publication since then.

But Aslan is on the move… or more excitingly [for me], ‘i, church’ is on the move and if everything comes together, then hoping for an end Feb release, but if not then more likely the end of March, as March is a bit of a busy month with Improv festivals and international family visits and cycle tours [eek!]

So as we head down the final straight, i thought it would be good to start sharing some glimpses of what there is to expect from ‘i, church’ when it finally arrives.

There is still a little bit of tweaking to be done to this, but consider this the teaser trailer for the cover of the book, with the title and possibly my name added at some stage – this stunning work of art [the robot man has stubble!!!] was done by my good friend Kirsten Sims who is an excellent artist…

So watch this space, or more importantly the spaces that will follow this space in the days and weeks to come, and i will hopefully see you at the launch or launches…

And for more of the amazing work that Kirsten does you can take a look at her page over here.

Locked in a Cave – part ii

Yesterday was just a half day in the cave. Today was meant to be a full day, but i am having an early morning breakfast with the staff of Westville Baptist who are pretty much all friends of mine so that feels like a pleasant interruption to the day. And then later i do have an airport trip to make which will end with me having access to the hired car which is great for tomorrow when i move from Cave 1 to Cave 2…

The purpose of the cave time is to be focusing on the book finishing up. Which is meant to be about unplugging and disconnecting and removing all distractions. So free wifi access in the cave bedroom is a carrot to the donkey within me inviting me to catch up on missed You Tube videos and interesting links and connections with people. But today i need to put my head down and be all about the book. And use creative gaps well to keep me fresh and engaged and focused on the work at hand.

This evening the reward is getting to hang with my good friends Mike and Nancy. Mike is one of the two guys who helped install my dreads three years ago and Nancy one of my ex youth girl twins from many moons ago as well. There will be laughter and silliness and deep conversation and at least once Mike declaring something, me agreeing with him and then him arguing the absolute opposite for the next half hour. [And possibly some chocolate liqueur in the form of Nachtmusiek]

i got what i wanted to achieve done in yesterday’s cave time. Today is a much bigger overall togetherness of the book kind of vibe. Got a bit of a head start on it before i went to bed last night so that feels good. Less specific direction and more overall feel today so we’ll see how that goes.

To breakfast… and then to the cave…

Locked in a Cave – part i

i flew to durban with four main purposes in mind:

The first was to visit and surprise my younger sister Dawn and spend some time with her Glen and my nephew Josh [i am Uncle Fish and i am cool] and some of my really great friends from years and years.

The second was to do some networking for The Youth Hub which is my two-day-per-week job, writing 100 words or less youth resources and sending them to the phones of young people via Whatsapp, BBM, Facebook, Twitter, Mxit and our new phone app that has just launched. So meeting up with youth leaders and sharing what we’re about and giving them ways of getting connected well.

To connect with my friends at Westville Basptist Church and preach a preach on ‘How Friends can Wreck us’ and also meet up with their leadership, many of whom are good friends of mine as well.

Then to hide in a cave and spend four days finishing the book i started way too many years ago and revised and renamed a total of four times, which i am hoping to get ready for self-publication by the end of the year. Too many people who i told that to, thought i was talking about an actual cave [like where am i going to plug my laptop into?] whereas it is clearly a metephorical one in the form of a Bed and Breakfast [well two bed and breakfasts to be precise – staying here in exchange for scribing some reviews]. But to be cut off and disconnect and unplugged for the most part and have focused distraction-free time to work through the book as a whole and tweak and finalise and hopefully finally bring this thing to readiness.

GETTING BOOKY WITH IT

i am staying at quite a stunning place with a great work desk station and a lovely little balcony vibe with a table and chairs and i spent a few minutes outside, taking in nature and praying about the task that follows. The hope and the ask is that God will take this book which i have, which i think is pretty good, and help me in four days to get it to a place of being pretty great. i am not wanting to produce just another book that people will read and nod their head at and then leave on their shelf. And forget. i am hoping that God will use this book to get people to wrestle and be challenged and inspired and bring out their creativity and to risk and dream and live more fully when it comes to this thing called church. The book is titled, ‘i, church’ and will hopefully be available before too long.

as i sat outside i asked God for a passage to encourage me or give me some direction as i committed these next few days to Him – my mind went to Isaiah 46 and so i turned there…

to be honest when i flipped it open and the title read, ‘Gods of Babylon’ i was not feeling too anticipationary…  but i read it and was greatly encouraged and thought i would share it with all of you, before i got going…

Gods of Babylon

46 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;
    their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
The images that are carried about are burdensome,
    a burden for the weary.
² They stoop and bow down together;
    unable to rescue the burden,
    they themselves go off into captivity.

³ “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob,
    all the remnant of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth,
    and have carried since you were born.
⁴ Even to your old age and gray hairs
    I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

⁵ “With whom will you compare me or count me equal?
    To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?
⁶ Some pour out gold from their bags
    and weigh out silver on the scales;
they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god,
    and they bow down and worship it.
⁷ They lift it to their shoulders and carry it;
    they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
    From that spot it cannot move.
Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer;
    it cannot save them from their troubles.

⁸ “Remember this, keep it in mind,
    take it to heart, you rebels.
⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago;
    I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me.
¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please.’
¹¹ From the east I summon a bird of prey;
    from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
    what I have planned, that I will do.
¹² Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,
    you who are now far from my righteousness.
¹³ I am bringing my righteousness near,
    it is not far away;
    and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
    my splendor to Israel.

Powerful piece of writing and the part my eyes were drawn to was verse 5 and 6:

⁴ Even to your old age and gray hairs
    I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

⁵ “With whom will you compare me or count me equal?
    To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?

and then also verse 9 and 10:

⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago;
    I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me.
¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please.’

We serve a big God. He is able to make His will come to pass.

My prayer is that He will do so with this book. That this was something He gave me to do.

And that together we will bring it to the place of readiness and completion.

This is my prayer…

To the Brett Cave…