Mal Calladine
Sheffield, England (St Thomas Crookes, Tribal Generation UK)

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Most people know Mal as the Next-Gen pastor at St Thomas's which is a fantastic church that happened when a Baptist Church merged with an Anglican Church. It has 2000 people and most of them are 20-somethings so Mal is a busy man. On top of this, Mal leads Tribal Generation in UK and Tribal Training in 3 centers including Dublin. What people do not know about Mal is this: That Mal drives a funky Fiat Multipla - a bloated 6-seater mutant car with headlights mounted high near the windscreen, like someone rolling back their eyes. This car of his, and the fact that Mal's office in up in the bell-tower like Quasimodo, makes Mal a very cool person and someone you need to meet in Austin. The web site, which is ground zero for the Tribal Generation movement, is becoming THE place for the whole world to connect and is definitely worth a trip to check out if you havent yet done so. www.tribalgeneration.com. Mike Breen, St Thomas's Senior Pastor, is also coming to Austin.

Wolfgang and Donna Fernandez
Colorado Springs (DAWN, Tribal Generation)
Very few ministers live in more places than I do or are as culturally screwed up as I am. But Wolfgang is one of that elite group. He is a Venezuelan who has lived in Europe but is now based in Colorado Springs with his wife Donna and their family. He has a wierd Malawi thing going on in his accent from his time in Africa. I'm not kidding! It sounds like "eeeeh" before he speaks in the same way Californians say "like" before they say anything. Wolfgang loves most to hang out in Asia. Next week he will be in Indonesia for the Tribal Generation meeting there. His heart is to see church planting movements happen among the next generation all over the world. He chases God-movements with the intensity of that guy in "Twister" who chased tornados. You can follow his tracks at dawnministries.org.

Pete Grieg
Chichester, England (Warehouse, 24/7 Prayer, Cultural Shift)
I always give Pete a hard time for never combing his hair. But then Pete doesnt care very much. Mystics never do. And Pete is a mystic. He was hanging with God in Moravia back in 1999 at the place where they prayed for like, a million years, (ok - a hundred) and he decided his church, The Warehouse, should pray for a month. That month became 3 months, which became many churches and many months and many countries and the rest is history. I met Pete in Sheffield in May 2000, at the first Tribal Generation. He told the story of how it was going all over the world and we were just blown away. He was very casual about it all and I liked the fact that he wasnt trying to hype it up - it was a God-thing - it had all the earmarks of a real move of God that you would read about in books. And one day, I think we will. Hey - this guy is for real. I have slept on his couch and eaten curry with him (he always pays) and even signed up with my family for an hour in the Original 24-7 Prayer Room in Chichester. I think it was Billy Graham (I know it wasn't Marilyn Manson) who said we should find out what God is doing in our generation and join it. Well . . . . here it is! Join it! He will be showing us how to set up 24-7 prayer rooms, sharing his vision for 60 cities, and perhaps even shopping for a comb. Go and see which churches are praying right now - www.24-7prayer.com. Last weekend Pete was busy planning the emerge2001 conference (Frankfurt) with his collegues from the Cultural Shift movement. http://emerge2001.net.

Doug Pagitt
Minneapolis (Solomons Porch, Terranova, Young Leaders, FutureGen)
Doug is probably my best friend, even though he can be terribly skeptical and fussy at restaurants. We have eaten noodles together in San Francisco, chased 'gators in Florida, roller-coasted in Dallas and climbed the William Wallace memorial in Scotland. I hope one day to do The Rapture with him. He is almost as tall as I am - he would say taller. Doug was the youth guy at Leith Andersons church for 10 years. I met him when he worked for Leadership Network and spent his time flying around the country, complaining about hotels and seeing what God was up to among the next generation. That led to a group of guys called the Young Leaders, among whom I am proud to have been associated - like being a Muskateer except there were 10 of us and none of us spoke French. Doug threw conferences around the country that changed the conversation away from ministries that were hopelessly modern and disjointed, towards the fact that we are ministering in an era of a radically different worldview - that of postmodernity. Doug has been seeing a movement towards a holistic view of following Jesus that takes seriously the role of God's community, The Church. Since Doug spent a few years in the air, he is probably more familiar with what God is doing among the next generation of Americans than anyone else. He also has a sharp mind to see things clearly and a strong sense of ethics. Doug and Shalley recently adopted two Hispanic boys to be brothers to Michon and Taylor. In a few weeks, he gives leadership to FutureGen which will bring 1000 Gen-Xers to Denver. His new church is an art lounge and his latest website is a safe place to think called www.wonderings.com . Go now and be the 59th visitor.

Jason Mitchell
Dallas (Leadership Network, Terranova, Young Leaders)
Jason took over from Doug Pagitt. Instead of standing in Doug's size 15 shoes, Jason decided he would complain less about the firmness of a restaurant's lettuce and decentralize the Young Leaders group. Like Doug, Jason zooms around the country (and Russia, when no one is looking) and cheerleads the young people that God is raising up to start up churches. But this time there are many specialized groups of leaders instead of one big one. No more Muskateers, but a whole lot of Volunteers. And they are into everything: justice, art, ministry to the poor. And, of course, church planting among the next generation. All this information is at www.youngleader.org. You can hang with Jason in Waco for The Terranova Lab (Feb 22nd) which is a lead up to the big event in October in Sante Fe. www.terranovatheologyproject.org. Or wait until he comes to Austin to be with us at Epicenter.

Trevor Macpherson
Vancouver, B.C. (Underground Railroad, Firefall Magazine)
For 13 years, Trevor has been ministering among punks, goths, industrials, riot girrls, ravers, skinheads and Canadians. Not that Canadians are to be linked with extreme postmodern subcultures - its just that he lives there. His leadership extends over a network of similar ministries all over Canada and United States called Underground Railroad. Their heartbeat is for the kids on the fringe - the abused and homeless, the wierd, dark, strange kids. The same crowd that Jesus used to prefer. These tribal kids are so mobile and fluid that nothing less than a global network of ministries will work to minister among them. When I was at their roundtable in Cornerstone Festival a few years ago, they were worried about stagnating as a movement. The next year the roundtable swelled to 60 people. Now they are going everywhere, publishing resources, and forming links with Europe. Their family will be traveling around UK this summer looking for other underground ministries to connect up with. I should warn you about Trevor's late night activities when he puts on a kilt, but I will not mention his wild warfare dancing since I always do my best to avoid controversy. What warfare dancing? Their new website opens to the public today at undergroundrailroad1.

Wolfgang Simson
Germany/Switzerland (Friday Fax, DAWN)
I have shared many good times with Wolfgang in his home in Germany, sitting at the table, eating German beef and laughing our heads off. But what sticks in my mind the most happened in England last year. A Sunday morning in Sheffield. We had breakfast together and a great time of fellowship and baked beans. "See you at Church", I said as I left. Wolfgang, under his breath, responds, "We just had church!". This is the heart of Wolfgang Simson, who believes that church is a way of life, not a series of religious meetings and says exactly that in his book, "Houses That Change The World". In its internet form, Wolfgang's book has been turning the conversation about church towards the home. Last week the book was published in English. Expect the heat to get turned up. Wolfgang keeps track of what God is doing around the world, especially as it relates to house church movements. House churches got off to a bad start in USA and remain the Roger Dangerfield of the American church-scape. But respect is on its way and house-church movements, according to Simson, may soon become the new mainstream. Wolfgang has so much important stuff to say that we thought we would lock him in a room with 100 people for a whole day. Tony and Felicity Dale will host the day on March 17th in their home (where else?). Wolfgang speaks to 7 million people a week though the Friday Fax. Are you one of them? www.jesus.org.uk/dawn.

Patrick McGuire
Colorado Springs (Altarnet, Damah Film Festival)
I met Patrick in San Francisco in 1996. We were both helping get a Christian satelitte TV station off the ground. It hasnt yet!. So I was surprised to see him at Tribal Generation Sheffield last May. I shouldn't have been. His passion is still to find out what God is doing around the world and film it. Patrick is an emmy award winning producer. He puts stuff on TV and trains others how to do it. He is helping to kick off the Damah Film Festival in Seattle this October and will be in Austin to make something out of our event that will encourge emerging leaders around the world to use the new media in ways that connect with people. www.altarnet.net.

Spencer Burke
Los Angles (The Ooze, Soularize)
Spencer is also involved in the Damah Film Festival and is the main culprit behind Soularize, an excellent postmodern ministry conference in Seattle. Spencer is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Too nice, actually. He smiles way too much and hugs people constantly. I run from him because his bear hugs bring up my lunch. But still, God uses him and I am guessing God will use more people like him as web portals go up and God's people begin to form community online and find access to digital resources. Spencer is doing what others are talking about doing. He represents a movement in community building and resourcing that knows no barriers. Each month, 50,000 people from 60 countries visit theooze.com. I am one of them. And if I keep writing like this, he might even put this column on his site. www.TheOoze.com.

Bryce and Sami Wagner
Lausanne, Switerland (Jimini, Creative Pool, Mercy Ships)
The wierd thing about meeting Bryce in Switzerland was the similarity between him and Francis Schaeffer, who used to live 45 minutes away. Both men were intelligent, goteed Americans who loved Switerland. The differences, and there are two of them, are that Bryce prefers the clothes of a raver to neck-high white socks and, secondly, prefers images and sounds to the profound words of Schaeffer's many books. Bryce has started a "Creative Pool" in Lausanne that is bringing in artists to create resources for Europe and beyond. Film, print, web, CD's, video wallpaper. They do it all. I made it for one of their house parties in the old mansion of the Peugot family - yeah - the people who made funny cars - not as funny as Mal Calladine's car - but funny! The house party rocked. A DJ spun in one room. Another room had a pool table and TV's chained to the wall. A video played in another. Food was coming out of nowhere. People hanging out together and getting serious with God. Now thats my kind of church! Bryce and Sami's electronic worship group Jimini (who played at TOM Fest last year) are a part of our worship installation on Sunday night. They are creating a special edition of LO Magazine to give to participants of Epicenter-Tribal Generation as well as a CD-ROM version that can be used for easy translation into other cultures. You can see the web version at www.lomag.ch.

Talk to you next week

Andrew Jones
The Boaz Project
tallskinnykiwi@hotmail.com
More info at www.50movements.com.