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    Marlon Hall - Cultural Architect Diallo Smith - Administrative Architect Danielle Ewing - Community Acrhitect |
Marlon Explains, The Awakenings Movement
::: Interviewer ::: Patrick Davis :::: Photographer ::: Awakenings Movement (BVO): What is the Awakenings Movement? Marlon Hall: Awakenings is a grassroots Christian Community that is designed to challenge and equip ordinary people to live extra-ordinary lives through the love and power of Christ. We are a Social Visionaries who are called by God to make an indelible mark on humanity that no one can erase. Our community is a dynamic Christ-Centered movement that discovers God in unorthodox public settings. At Awakenings we learn to excavate God's extra-ordinary presence from the rimnants of ordinary life and spaces. This movement allows us to share the never changing story of Christ’s life,love,death,and resurrection to an ever-changing world. (BVO): What inspired you to take on the journey of the Awakenings Movement? Marlon Hall: I was tired of seeing peers and the people that I loved sleep walking through life without realizing their true spiritual potential in God and subsequently their true human potential in life. Anthony Demello says, "Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, and they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence." I am an Anthropologist by academic training an in 1997 with a passion for post-modern culture and a commission from God, I began an Anthropological Study of postmodern culture and Christ. I wanted to discover why the Christian Life and the urban post-modern community would not connect. This study revealed many dilemmas that the church had to face in connecting with a new disinterested audience. The most significant dilemma was that the church had lost a sense of relevance. The message of Christ was not communicated in a language that post-modern hearts could hear. Most Christian Churches used antiquated language and symbols in lofty buildings to communicate an ancient yet relevant truth. I was soon compelled to design a multi-sensory worship community that lived out loud. This community would be accessible and relevant. It would be a grassroots community of biblical truth, human honesty, and life-long relationships. We would use new sights, new sounds, and new symbols to communicate timeless truth. (BVO): What where some of the trials and tribulations of getting people to trust and follow your vision for the Awakenings Movement? Marlon Hall: The preconcieved notions of Christianity and The Church can sometimes hinder our connection with people. The Church for some time now has become a place where people are seen as social and financial capital rather than intimate and spiritual community members. The church has become a commercial space that seduces people to come into a building, rather a sacred space that commissions people to go out and into the world, transformed and able to transform. Recognizing the lack of authenticity of many churches, folks are often skeptical of any Christian experience, let alone our experience that looks and feels more like a Sly and the Family Stone Concert and less like Grandma's rickety and fan filled church. (BVO): How would you explain your approach to reach people spiritually? Marlon Hall: We follow the lineage of Christ who momentously gathered people for worship in public spaces. Christ met people in public spaces. It was on hill tops and on beaches where Christ connected with the masses. He did not waste time seducing people into a temple, he invested his time in commissioning people into the public. Christ believed in a ministry that was lived out in among the people, and so do we. We believe that God is dynamic and not static. God moves like a fresh spring and is not static like a Mosquitoe infested pound. It is for this reason that we are a movement. Our worship is a dynamic Christ-Centered journey that discovers God in unorthodox public settings like coffee shops, resturants, clubs, and bars. As we worship God in spaces that are not normally seen as sacred space , we are empowered to trust that Christ can authentically inhabit our nornal and everyday lives. This journey mirrors what we must do in our everyday lives. The life in Christ is not a life that is bound by a building it is a life that moves beyond the boundaries of wood and metal and into the everyday lives of the people. Our worship experience partner's with local entities like the Breakfast Klub, that have gathering spaces that already attract the public. We also believe that every human being has an authentic opportunity to make an indelible mark on humanity for God's sake that no one can erase. We get to the heart of people's visions and dreams for true significance. We want to see people live up to their artistic, spiritual, and entrepreneurial potential. (BVO): Where would you like to see the movement take the communities of the world? Marlon Hall: I would love to see a world-wide movement. Many petite pockets of awakened communities that make a preiminant impact on public life for Christ. We are presently working with Awakened people in Kenya, Africa and Prague, Chzechkoslovakia to nurture Awakened communities. (BVO): When and where are your worship services? Marlon Hall: Our worship experiences are on Sunday's @12:30pm on the Breakfast Klub Campus at 3710 Travis. Beginning the first Sunday in May we will be beginning an Acoustic Worship Experience at 10:30am in the Breakfast Klub. We have a fun and engaging discussion community that is lead by movie clips, music, and poetry. The Continuum currently meets at the _Mocha Life Coffee Shop on Almeda every Thursday at 6:30pm. (BVO): Where can we find out more information about the Awakenings Movement? Marlon Hall: www.awakeningsmovement.com email: mhall@awakeningsmovement.com Marlon's Cell Phone:281-705-1522 |
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