Conferences

Walter White vs Raylan Givens: The Two Hats of American Law

Alright TV fans, the moment of truth (and consequence) has arrived:

You may download the recording of this session by clicking here. Also, by way of update, The Mockingbird Devotional, from which Ethan reads in his session, will be out next week! Watch this space for an announcement.

Hopelessly Devoted: One Thing Needful, I Can Stay All Night, Baby Beluga, and How I Ended Up At The Bottom Of A Dumpster On Christmas Eve

The hits just keep on coming! In lieu of our usual bi-weekly Monday devotion, here’s four for the price of one, all of Drew Rollins’ wise, funny, and deeply pastoral words from the NYC Conference in one video. They are far less conference-specific than they may initially appear–each one is about 10 minutes long:

Crunch Time: What We Can Learn From Athletes About Dealing with Stress – Nick Lannon

Seeing as Wednesday has become our unofficial sports day, we continue with our series of conference videos with Nick Lannon’s terrific presentation on success and failure in the public eye:

You may download the audio recording by clicking here.

2013 NYC Conference Recordings: Good News That Never Gets Old

2013 NYC Conference Recordings: Good News That Never Gets Old

Another heartfelt thank-you to everyone who helped put on this year’s Mockingbird Conference in NYC, especially our friends at Calvary St. George’s Church. It’s a good thing most of the presentations below have to do with grace, as the very thought of trying to top it is incredibly scary…! Speaking of freebies, though, we are once again making the recordings available at no charge; we only ask that those who were not able to attend this year *consider* making a donation to help cover the cost of the event. Download links are followed by an in-line player for each recording.…

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2013 NYC Conference Book Table

2013 NYC Conference Book Table

A major thank you goes out to all who helped put on this past weekend’s conference in New York! We honestly could not be more pleased with how it all went. Recordings and video should be available soon — hopefully by the end of the week. Until then, here’s this year’s book table, with a couple of embarrassing omissions and logistical impossibilities rectified. Every year it’s a little different, depending on speaker and theme, but overall, it’s safe to say that it doubles as something of a “Mockingbird Reading List.”

NON-FICTION

Alcoholics Anonymous – Big Book (little version)
Aronson, Elliot, and Tavris, Carol…

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NYC CONFERENCE: FINAL SCHEDULE AND TALK TITLES!

In two short days (4/18-20), Mockingbird is hosting its Sixth Annual Conference in New York City! The event has come together beautifully, and the full schedule is below (click on any of the talk titles for more information). Although pre-registration is now closed, last minute walk-ins are still more than welcome. To reserve a spot, email us at info@mbird.com.

Thursday April 18th

4:30pm Registration Opens
6:30pm One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World – Tullian Tchividjian
7:30pm Dinner

Get your pre-release copy at the conference! Won’t be widely available til June.

Get your pre-release copy at the conference! Won’t be widely available til June.

Friday April 19th

8:15am Coffee and Registration
9:00am Morning Mini-Talks (20 minutes each)

10:45am Morning Breakouts

12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Afternoon Mini-Talks

2:30pm Afternoon Breakouts

7:00pm The Unlikely Believer: How a Smart-Assed Intellectual Crossed the Secular/Religious Divide – Mary Karr
7:40pm Q&A with Mary
8:00pm Dinner

Saturday April 20th

8:15am Coffee
9:00am Grace for Today: The End of To-Do List Christianity – Tullian Tchividjian
10:00am I’ve Just Gotta Get A Message To Me – David Zahl
10:45am Q&A with Tullian and others
11:30am Closing Remarks and Service
12:30pm Conference Ends

*Sally’s talk will not be taped or recorded.

Ministering to Winners: The Poor, Captive, Blind, Oppressed (and Other People Like You and Me) – A Breakout Preview

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One of the most moving moments for me at the 2012 Mockingbird conference in NYC was when the Reverend Aaron Zimmerman pointed out that most preachers are telling one legged people to run and win a two legged race. This breakout session is for those of us who have ever been frustrated by, extremely angry at, and even hated the people in the ministries we serve; those who have thought that the people we minister to (or the people doing the ministering!) are actually standing on two feet.

In this breakout session on Friday morning we will explore the glory story that has defined many of our ministries and/or experiences in church. Then we will look at how that glory story has been translated into our lives and why the Gospel is truly the word that can set us all free (or at least bring momentary relief as we hop along hoping for a finish line).

Pre-Register Today!

College Admissions, the Summer of George, and the Gospel of Free Grace

College Admissions, the Summer of George, and the Gospel of Free Grace

In conjunction with our upcoming NYC conference, we are honored to present an exclusive excerpt from keynote speaker Tullian Tchividjian’s forthcoming book, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. (Yes, the title is a shout-out to the man himself). This part comes from the opening of chapter nine, which deals with some of the common objections to the message of grace.

For many Americans of a certain age, the college admissions process is an oppressive and extraordinarily stressful area of life. It is performancism writ very, very large. One’s entire worth and value as a person is boiled down…

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Emotional Protestants, Gracious Storytelling, Stressed-Out Athletes, Young Kierkegaardians, Antinomian Unicorns, and Church Basement Addictions

Emotional Protestants, Gracious Storytelling, Stressed-Out Athletes, Young Kierkegaardians, Antinomian Unicorns, and Church Basement Addictions

We asked those who are giving “mini-talks” this Friday (4/19) at our 6th Annual Mockingbird NYC Conference to provide short teasers of what they’ll be speaking about, and they did not disappoint! If you’re looking six and a half more reasons to cancel what you have going on this weekend (or six and a half more reasons to feel silly about not doing so), look no further:

Just Watched — Up There With the Most Grace-Centered Films of the Last Few Years, If Not THE Most

1. What Does Salvation Feel Like? Protestantism and the Problem of Emotion — Simeon Zahl.…

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Previously on Parenthood: Another Breakout Session Preview

Previously on Parenthood: Another Breakout Session Preview

Here is the latest installment of our breakout session previews for the upcoming 2013 Mockingbird Conference this month!

For the session I’m hosting—“Thou Art my Beloved Child: Parenthood for Prodigals”—we will be looking at instances of surprisingly unconditional grace, mercy, and compassion (i.e., love) in the family context as seen in the TV show Parenthood. My emphasis will be more on parenthood-the-topic than Parenthood-the-show so that anyone, whether a regular Parenthood viewer or someone who has never even heard of it, may follow and enjoy the discussion. That said, I will use Parenthood for my illustrations because I myself am…

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Death and Life in the Artist’s Studio

Death and Life in the Artist’s Studio

Our next preview of the breakout sessions at our upcoming NYC Conference comes from Daniel Siedell:

In Dead Man (1995), a Native-American guide named “Nobody” confronts an accountant from Cleveland (played by Johnny Depp) about his own name. When Depp’s character affirms that, indeed, his name is “William Blake,” Nobody exclaims:

Then you are a dead man!

Each artist suffers to learn in her own way what William Blake must learn. Whether it is Anselm Kiefer making gigantic paintings in a huge studio in the south of France or a student in grad school in the Midwest sharing a refurbished office with three…

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The Two Hats of American Law: A Conference Breakout Preview

The Two Hats of American Law: A Conference Breakout Preview

You think you know me? Well, I know you Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens. I know you like to shoot bad people…I heard about you shooting that gun thug in Miami, but you know? At any point, when you were looking at that gun thug, did you see your daddy’s face?

These are the words of Boyd Crowder, longtime friend and archenemy of Raylan Givens, in the show’s pilot episode. In the modern carriage of the Western Sheriff trope, Givens represents the unbending, truth-toting hand of justice. And with this trope—of law and order and “shooting bad people”—comes the necessary prospect any…

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Baby, You Can Drive My Karr: Conversion and the Poetry of Mary Karr (Breakout Preview)

Baby, You Can Drive My Karr: Conversion and the Poetry of Mary Karr (Breakout Preview)

Kicking off our series of previews of the breakout sessions at the upcoming NYC conference, this one comes from the inestimable Brad Davis, an established poet himself, who will be leading his breakout on Friday afternoon, April 19th. 

Some of us have believed since we awoke into sentience. Others of us started out with our confidence invested elsewhere and only later were (or have yet to be) won over to the faith. Maybe because I am of the latter group, I think that, in a volleyball game, the johnny-come-latelies would crush the goody two-shoes. In any case, whether it’s fiction, nonfiction,…

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FULL NYC CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NOW POSTED

CLICK HERE TO VIEW!

Another Week, Another Amazing NYC Conference Update

Four very exciting bits of news to report about our upcoming conference in New York City, 4/18-20:

1. We can confirm that Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of the much beloved Jesus Storybook Bible (and the brand new Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing), will be speaking to us on Friday 4/19 about “Communicating Grace to Children.” Not to be missed!!

2. The full slate of breakout sessions, mini-talks and special programming is now set. We’ve added six new ones since last we wrote:

  • jesus-story-book-bible-1What Does Salvation Feel Like? Protestantism and the Problem of Emotion – Simeon Zahl
  • Kierkegaard, Existentialism and Young Adult Anxiety – William McDavid
  • Big Foot Called My Unicorn an Antinomian: The Double Bind of the Law – Jady Koch
  • Death and Life in the Artist’s Studio – Dan Siedell
  • Thou Art My Beloved Child: Parenthood for Prodigals – Matthew Schneider
  • T.S. Eliot’s Parables of Self-Righteousness and Resurrection – Todd Brewer
  • It Came From the (Church) Basement: Addiction, Grace and Alcoholics Anonymous – John Zahl
  • Walter White vs. Raylan Givens: The Two Hats of American Law – Ethan Richardson
  • Baby, You Can Drive My Karr: Conversion & the Poetry of Mary Karr – Brad Davis
  • Crunch Time: What We Can Learn From Athletes About Dealing with Stress – Nick Lannon
  • The Prisoner, the Blind, and The Bound: Pastoring People Like You (and Me) – Jacob Smith
  • Hear Me: A Photography Exhibit – Kate Norris
  • The Romance of Grace – Jim McNeeley
  • I’ve Just Gotta Get A Message To Me – David Zahl

We’re working hard to finalize the timing on everything. The full schedule should be ready by the end of next week.

3. After years of delays and false starts, we will indeed be releasing The Mockingbird Devotional at this year’s conference. Brace yourselves – it’s a behemoth!

4. The beautiful conference postcards go out this weekend. To be sure you get one, sign up for our mailing list. And if you’d like extras for your friends/family/neighbors/nemeses, email us at info@mbird.com and we’ll get those out to you.

Pre-Register Today!