Spend Two Days with Rob Bell

Via his website, Rob Bell has announced his next venture: For $500, you can spend two days talking and surfing with him.

Steve Horswill-Johnson attended a private version of this same gathering, and he reports,

“Two Days with Rob Bell” is the first event Mr. Bell has hosted since leaving the 7,000-member megachurch. The invited came from a variety of backgrounds and denominations. A commonality was age: Most were under 35. Many were pastors but also present were a physician, a security agent and an Amazon.com executive who recently returned from climbing to the top of an unnamed Himalayan mountain. Two openly doubted their Christian beliefs and questioned their pull to attend, including the Amazon executive. Their only explanation was an attraction to Mr. Bell’s message in his recent controversial book, Love Wins.

On the first session, I sat and took in the room. Near me, a large window was open to the sounds of the surf, just yards away. The participants seemed hip, smart, relaxed and focused Christian leaders. Not a tie or dress shirt in the room! And rarely did I see lots of paper. Instead, iPads and other tablets were being used to take notes and exchange ideas with those around. And lots of tweeting was occurring concurrently with the event. Most of the group wore shorts or khakis with untucked shirts and sandals.

My first impression was, “The United Methodist Church could probably use a few more of these leaders.”

Cathleen Falsani also reported on it for Sojo.

So, anyone going?