This is part 1 of a blog I wrote for Reading City Church. Stay tuned for the conclusion in part 2.

You can read the previous blog by Pastor Vince Donnachie at http://readingcitychurch.blogspot.com

In Vince’s recent blog, Vince very eloquently scraped the surface of a topic that is at the root of my personal Christian worldview and understanding of the Church in culture. So I asked Vince if I could elaborate a little further in this blog on the topic because it shapes not only my Christian worldview, but in so doing, shapes the way I worship, the decisions I make, and the way in which I seek to live my daily life as a disciple of Jesus. And as an Elder in RCC’s church body, you should know. This is Part 1 in a 2 part series.

In college I majored in Communication, studying both media and relational communications, and I minored in Cultural Anthropology and Leadership Studies. Suffice to say, I have a hard time not studying and over-analyzing how people communicate in and across cultures. Throughout my studies I began to compare what I was learning specifically about how individuals communicate with one another to how the Church communicates both internally and externally, verbally and non-verbally. I found some very interesting insights, one of which I am sharing here.

If you didn’t get a chance to read the last blog, it’s definitely worth taking the time.  In short, Vince was asked by someone, “What kind of church will RCC be?” That’s a packed question and a potentially lethal one, because behind it lays assumptions/presuppositions and cultural insights, all acting as filters for how the answer will ultimately resonate.  Why is this? Because contemporary American culture has an addiction to labels, something I refer to as Labelism. Don’t get me wrong, labels have the potential for good by facilitating the way we communicate and helping to define, organize, and compartmentalize culture, ideas, things, and people into nice, neat little groups that make the complexity of our cultural and people groups easier to manage. Labels, however, when relied upon too heavily, can be interpreted in a multitude of ways by each individual person. They can create meanings and symbolize realities that are either false, misunderstood, or are, at their worst, divisive. Labels are intended for good, but when not appreciated or used in a mature way, they have the potential for so much damage. Understand that the issue, though, is much deeper than labelism. The issue is at the very fundamental core of who we’ve become, not just as Christians, but also as a society.

Before I go on, we have to come to an agreement on one thing: words carry meaning. If I say “dog”, you immediately come up with an image in your head of a dog. Not everyone has the same image in his or her head. Depending on your life experiences and your preferences, you will think of a type of dog that I may not be thinking of and vice versa. Words symbolize not just tangible objects and intangible ideas, but they carry with them the weight of our life experiences, preferences, and presuppositions, and they can be interpreted in a diverse plethora of ways depending on the interpreter. So to say it simply: words matter!

Next, let’s define the word culture so we’re all on the same page. According to Meriam-Webster’s dictionary:

One of the foundational tenants to Cultural Anthropology is the understanding that Language and Culture go hand in hand. As a matter of fact, the two are so intimately intertwined, that when one begins to deteriorate and disappear, so goes the other. For instance, look at the different sects of the Amish community. Those that strictly carry on the traditions and values of the past also speak Pennsylvania Dutch more often in and outside of their communities in comparison to the less strict Mennonite sects. As different sects began to shift their values and beliefs, so went the language. Another example would be Native Americans who are currently experiencing the extinction of languages that trace back to even the beginning of civilization. As the language has died and has not been passed down through the generations, so haven’t the cultural traditions, values, and beliefs and they all have begun to disappear.

This relates to Christianity because the language and words we use to define ourselves, our faith, our worship, and our God has a deep and lasting impact on how those things are perceived by the world and passed down through generations.  When our ability to communicate our cultural values and beliefs diminishes, so does our ability to communicate the eternal and boundless nature of who God is and what he’s done in and throughout history and our lives. The more finite our language becomes, the more finite our ability to share and pass on the Good News becomes; thus hindering our ability to be effective disciples.

More in Part 2…

Recently Lauren and I were able to get a mini vacation from the hustle bustle of buggie-land Lancaster and head west. Normally when we vacation we either head north or east to the beach, but this year we decided to drive west.

When I was in college I spent a semester in Colorado Springs at the Focus on the Family Institute. While there, I stayed in an apartment with three other guys who quickly became three of the closest friends I’ve ever made through one of the most transformative 3 months of my life. One of those guys I particularly connected with was my roommate, Andy. The hard part about our friendship now, is the fact that Andy lives in Chicago and we live on the east coast, so it’s very rare that we get to visit.

This year we had planned for a reunion in July with Andy and his wife, Laura, and we decided to drive out west and meet up with them at Lake Michigan.

Laura’s family is good friends with Teresa, who was kind enough to let us stay at “The Orchard” just outside the sleepy winery town of PawPaw for a very minimal price. It was kind of like a barn converted to a house with a small kitchenette. It used to be use for couples to retreat to, which is essentially what we used it for.

We grilled out most evenings and then rushed off to the lake to catch the sunset over the lake, typically running to the beach just in time to catch it. We never quite left the house in time as we would sit for hours after dinner just talking, laughing, and catching up.

I unfortunately came down with what turned out to be a bad case of Strep on our second day there, so it made for some discomfort for a couple of days. We made the best of it though, and enjoyed every minute we could just to relax and visit with one another.

Andy and Laura are the kind of friends that you can only hope for in life. There’s no questions, there’s no expectations, no guessing; Andy and Laura are simply genuine, authentic, and real, with no strings attached. Their friendship is simply refreshing and life-giving – and it’s appreciated more then they know. Spending time with them is just – easy – and I believe that’s because our friendship is so natural.

I think that’s why God creates long-distance bonds between people; because it’s through those long-distance friendships that we learn to appreciate and value friendship in a way that few people can….friendship as a commitment to love and be loved, to encourage and be encouraged, and to cherish and to be cherished.

We are blessed. Thank you Andy & Laura.

In May 2009, my older sister, Becca, gave birth to her first child, a little baby boy, Thomas. This would be the beginning of a new chapter for her and her husband, A.T., but it was also a new chapter for my entire family as Thomas is the first Grandson and nephew making us, for the first time, and Aunt and Uncle.
We celebrated Thomas’s first birthday this past year as a family and I don’t think I need to say any more because the pictures really say it all. Everyone, meet my awesome nephew, Thomas.

One of the coolest things about being a wedding photographer is is experience the kindness of strangers. Going into a wedding, we typically have at least met the bride and groom, By the end of the day we’ve met their entire family, and to some degree, we feel like part of the family!
This was exceptionally true with Joe and Stephanie Weidner on their wedding day. Both of their families were so gracious and kind, interacting with us like we’d been friends of the family for years.

We had such a fun time with their bridal party who, despite the 90degree-plus weather, painted their faces with smiles and trooped along with us during pictures.

To combat the heat we took a lot of the afternoon pre-wedding party photos directly under some large trees in the shade. This ended up working out nicely, though at the time I was very skpetical.

The ceremony was in downtown Coatesville at an old Catholic church. This was a challenge as I couldn’t use flash and the sanctuary was very dark. One thing I’m learning is to trust my camera more at a higher ISO so I can capture the moments that matter regardless of the film grain it may leave.

The ceremony was at Springton Manor in Glenmoore. I had never been to Springton Manor before but I definitely hope to go back for future photo shoots as it is a magnificent property with many very unique nooks and crannies that we barely even got to explore. We unfortunately didn’t get a lot of time for bride and groom and large bridal party shots (about 15 min.) so we made the most of the time we had and ended up with some pretty neat moments with some awesome backdrops.

Thanks Joe and Stephanie for a great day! Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Something I enjoy about shooting weddings is realizing my limitations. You can never better yourself unless you realize where you’re weak and work to be stronger in those areas. Recently we were blessed with the opportunity to shoot Dale and Laura Inmon’s wedding. The reason this wedding was a new challenge for me, was because to date, this was the largest wedding party I’ve ever had to shoot! 29 people including all of the ring bearers and flower girls! (disclaimer: I could be off on the number but this was my count)

Now don’t get the wrong idea about large wedding parties. The reason brides and grooms have them is because they are surrounded by so much love…and that’s a beautiful thing. The challenge for me was making sure everyone made an appearance on my memory card that day as well as figuring out how to include and coordinate so many people into one shot.

I was very lucky to have my friend and fellow photographer, Hannah Kurtz, second-shooting with me on this wedding day because there was a lot to shoot.

Fortunately, April 24th provided us with clear blue sky weather. One thing I loved about their wedding were the bright blue and green colors contrasted by the deep browns. Against the kind of weather we had that day, the colors really popped and made for some fun scenes. They were a blast to play with in lightroom and made for some really great moments.

You could tell Laura had dreamt about this day for a long time because of all of the little artistic details she spent so long conceiving and bringing to birth. From the theme of the blue jay love birds on the cake, to the nests with eggs, there was a clear consistent image she communicated through all of the little details.

I hope you can enjoy them through the lens of my camera as much as I did. If you get a chance, definitely check out some of the pics Hannah took by visiting her blog: http://hannahkurtzphotography.blogspot.com

Well this is a little embarrassing…

I have intended to be consistently blogging for quite some time now but it has eluded me yet again for at least 4 months. Life has its way of catching up to you. wow.

Anywho, I wanted to take a minute to share some photos with you all that I took way back in January for Tom and Heather McEneaney who, on February 1st, gave birth to a beautiful little baby boy, Gabriel!

Tom and Heather are not only amazingly kind, gracious, and fun people, but they are very dear friends to Lauren and myself. I couldn’t count the number of pizzas and pitchers of beer we’ve fellowshipped over with these two after church on Sunday nights.  Always there to listen and share encouragement in our struggles, Tom and Heather are two friends Lauren and I have been immensely  blessed to befriend since moving back to Lancaster.

I was honored that they asked me to shoot some maternity photos for them in their home in Birdsboro only a week before Gabe was due. It was my second time really getting to setup shop with lights in someone’s home. It’s amazing what a few bed sheets, some tacks, and some cheap photography lights will accomplish! This was also my first experience with my Canon 50D I purchased back in the beginning of January. So it was great practice gearing up for this past wedding season.

Anyhow, enjoy the photos and enjoy getting to know two…no wait…three awesome people!

Sam

I consider myself a dog person. It’s not that I have anything against cats, I grew up with 2. I just happen to prefer dogs as they tend to not make you feel like you need permission to pet them…or look at them…or be privileged to be in the same room as them. The cats I grew up with were outdoor cats and to me, that’s the cat detail that seperates normal people from cat people – indoor vs. outdoor. I never considered myself a cat person. When you have an outdoor cat, you just coexist with them. You don’t really have time for them and they don’t really want time with you…unless it’s time to eat. So anyways, you can probably guess my reaction when my phone rang at Lowe’s picking up supplies for the Kitchen remodel (update to come), and it was Lauren telling me she was on her way home with the newest resident of 965 Green Terrace – a 3 month old gray tabby kitten.

Well it’s been about 3 weeks now, and while I maintain my theory about cats, this specific little guy has won a place of favor with me. (oh, and if you’re wondering how we came up with the name Sam, I suggested it in jest while pulling a Sam Adams out of the refrigerator But let me tell you, for whatever it’s worth, he looks like a Sam.) Despite the first week of waking up at 3:30 am to a cat shoving it’s butt in my face every night, we are slowly learning how to be roommates to a rambunctious little kitten who can go from 0-60 and back in 3 seconds.

He’s quirky. He’s a goober. He’s a mama’s boy. He’s Sam. and he’s allowed to live here rent free until he starts tossing up hair balls and scratching the finish off all our furniture. Enjoy the pictures below. (Lauren just asked me what I’m writing about Sam and asked if Sam would approve of what I’m writing. ha.)

the Blizzard

In other news, we recently had a snow storm in Lancaster, the likes of which I have not seen here since I was in at least middle school. I always find it funny watching folks get all worked up about a little snow around here. Just a little ice, people, let’s calm down and back away from the kerosene lamps, bread, milk, microwaveable lasagna dinners, and the red box. It’s one day, maybe two. Enjoy the great indoors, grab a board game, turn off the computer, and rediscover the human faces you live with.

I tried to introduce Sam to the snow but as soon as he caught a glimps of our neighbor’s labradoodle it was airborne chaos. Sam leaped for the patio from 5 feet up and landed in the snow on his back. A little shaken he jumped up and started hissing at me as if I was the one who threw him on the ground and subjected him to such a tragic situation. Sorry Sam, but you subjected yourself to the drama, I just introduced you to it. He’s fine now, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to remain an indoor cat. Hence why when I woke up from a nap today I was told that I had just purchased a $75 indoor Cat tree.

Great

It’s official. I’m a Cat person.

If you want to see pictures of me with Sam, just check out the photo album on Lauren’s Facebook page.

I have thought for some time now about the art of blogging. If you know me well, you probably know that I really don’t like talking about myself or talking myself up to people. It’s not something that comes naturally to me and in the end it probably works against me in my line of work. As an independent musician and photographer, I am my own marketing and advertising department and in order to be successful in business, I need to saturate the market with my brand (myself): meaning I have no choice but to actively be present in the social networks online, talking about myself and what I do.

One of the ways people do this is through consistent blogging. I have repeatedly made failed attempts in the past to blog consistently, failing every time for numerous reasons: busyness, lack of direction, nothing to say. I don’t consider myself to be someone full of wisdom or coherent thought, so maybe my lack of self confidence is to blame. Every time I sat down to write in the past I never felt like I had anything to say or write about. So instead of trying to think hard about something profound to say, I’ve decided to just blog about things and topics that I know something about and things and topics that I love. DUH.

If you know me well, you know that I like to take a planned and organized approach to things. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Regardless, I’m going to give it a go here.

So I best get my safety goggles on, cause this could get messy.

New England Trip

Merry Christmas to everyone! It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for us as we have been traveling up and down the northeast for the last couple of weeks. We have had a blast so far with the release of our new album, “Transition”. Two weekends ago we were blessed by Tom and Patty Flaherty who opened up there home to us and all of their friends as they hosted the first of what we hope to be many more Living Room Concerts. They put on quite a warm evening of fellowship, food, and of course music. We set up shop in the corner of their living room and performed tunes off our new disc and shared the stories that inspired them. For the three of us, it was probably one of the most genuine of “concerts” to experience. (More on Living Room Concerts and our CD Release Party in the next blog). Thank you to Tom and Patty for your genuine hospitality and servant hearts.

Kitchen Remodel
The rest of this month has dealt us a series of exhausting days. In the spirit of being “economical” (synonymous with “cheap”), Lauren and I have undertaken the task of remodeling our kitchen on our own. With the help of some family and friends (Justin O’Brien pictured) we have successfully demolished what could be some of the most disgusting kitchen cabinets to ever grace Green Terrace. I have very little experience as a “handyman” but so far, the house is still standing and i fixed the plumbing under the sink without reading a manual. High fives all around! I like to live by the motto, “If someone else can do it…I can do it.” Lauren now refers to me as the “Dandyman” (instead of “handyman”)

In all honesty, this project is a referendum on my pride. Lauren comes from a father who fixes everything on a moment’s notice with whatever object is laying around, and a brother who just passed his master’s test as an electrician and dabbles in home improvement himself. Needless to say, I have a lot of ground to cover and a lot to prove to my new wife. She’s very gracious, though, and reassures me that I have nothing to prove. Unfortunately, as previously stated, my pride has a lot to prove. 🙂 It has been a fun process and we look forward to the final completion of the kitchen this week before mom & dad Brown visit for the holidays. That leaves me….holy crap! I’ve got a week?! This blog is over!

5

As some of you might know, Lauren and I have been working in the studio over the last year with our good friend and fellow songwriter Nate Graham. The project began as a demo of 5 songs with Jabin Baxter (drums) and Jonathan Gascho (bass) and after our prospects for the demo fell through, we decided why not make melonade out of melons! So we turned a 5 song demo of songs just by Lauren and I, into a 12 song ep of original tunes written by Nate, Lauren, and myself.

What has been really authentic about these recordings is the live nature of all of the tunes. As you can see in the picture above, all of the acoustic tunes were performed live in the studio. It seems like everybody’s trying to get that “nashville” sound these days, but for the three of us circled up in a small sound room, the big “nashville” production was the furthest thing from our minds.

We set out to make a disc that was true to who we are: three simple songwriters who love laughter and musing over melodies. It’s a new approach for all of us, but it feels more real and appropriate to the music inside. That’s why we’ve decided to call the new album “Transition”. Check back for an exact release date set for late November.