Routines of the Heart

Over the next couple weeks, we will be exploring our faith community's New Years Resolution: to follow God more routinely in our daily lives. What does that mean? What does that look like?

The Gathering is an initiative of Life in Deep Ellum and is where the faith community comes together for worship and community. Service starts at 11. Come early and get some coffee and breakfast.

by Avery Stefan

The following was published on NeighborsGo.com here.

Church or Cultural Center? Yes.

Purple and blue lights dance across the wall of an otherwise darkened room.  People slowly meander into the open space, lining up next to one another, smiling, chatting excitedly and shaking hands.  On the stage, a band of seven rock musicians prep to play and sing in the name of their faith.

In the heart of Deep Ellum, the source of urban Dallas’ more hipster beat, a faith-based organization called Life in Deep Ellum lives and breathes to preserve and encourage its community’s culture.  Each Sunday, the organization’s headquarters houses The Gathering, a unique adaptation of a traditional church service.

Lead Pastor Joel Triska is often asked whether Life in Deep Ellum is a church or a cultural center, to which he responds, “yes.” Because the cultural center hosts various events, art shows, and music concerts Monday through Saturday and the group holds The Gathering on Sunday, people are sometimes confused as to what the organization really is: a church or a cultural center?  His short, affirmative answer serves to convey that both are inextricably intertwined in a larger effort to serve the community.

You walk in through an art gallery boasting a table laden with gourmet snacks and drinks, past the laid-back Mokah coffee shop (which claims the best white mochas and a smaller music venue), and open the doors to a large room filled with chairs and makeshift pews facing a colorfully-lit and patterned stage.  You can almost feel the excited and welcoming attitude pulsing through your body the minute you enter the facility, making you want to exude that same positive energy.

With an appreciation for talent in music and the arts, The Gathering at Life in Deep Ellum forges partnerships with local galleries that can use their entryway showroom space, and encourages young musicians to play either in the cultural center’s Mokah coffee shop or at the actual Gathering event itself.  For co-founder Tanner Hockensmith, interaction and community involvement are important facets to strive for, so each Sunday service begins with a good half hour or more of engaging rock-inspired music about faith.

“We do worship and music in the beginning because it kind of helps us get people ready and it’s more interactive than just sitting and listening or something,” Hockensmith explained.  Founded in 2007 off of four basic pillars— Art, Music, Commerce and Community— the goals and purpose of Life in Deep Ellum are fueled spiritually by its energetic core, The Gathering.

Through his light but poignant sermons that he has prepared on his iPad, Triska makes the harder passages of the Bible current and relatable for anyone.  For each passage, he explains every verse so that they are more than just unfamiliar words, and he tries to add appropriate pings of humor where he can.

“It’s very biblically driven, our studies are out of the passage, but Joel’s really good at making them relevant for now so that we can understand it.  Because I’m kind of biblically stupid I think, I read it and I’m like ‘I don’t know what this is telling me!’ and he’s just great at communicating that to us,” explained churchgoer Rachel Maples. However, despite the focus on the Bible within the Gathering itself, Maples says that the most important goal is to bring people together and let them realize the importance of the Gathering’s pillars.

“I’m at church but I’m not going to throw it in your face, and you know, you’re welcome to experience it how you want to experience it, which is cool,” she said.

The Gathering at Life in Deep Ellum is one of the most unique, diverse, and accepting church groups out there.  Although it reminds people who are involved that Life in Deep Ellum’s outreach programs is largely fueled by faith, not everyone who does work with Life in Deep Ellum is religious.  Hockensmith notes that the main importance lies in the change that is made in their community, and not necessarily in who is doing it.

“I think its no matter who you are you have a place, and so if it’s being a part of our faith community, we welcome anybody to be a part.  One of our goals is to guide people into a relationship with God, you know our faith community is that aspect. But if that’s not your thing and you want to be connected with a group of people that want to see urban Dallas grow, especially through the arts and music and new entrepreneurship, I’d say there’s tons of different ways you can get connected.   Just look at our website, come to an event, hang out at a gallery opening, and get connected that way,” Hockensmith said.

This open and unimposing attitude outlines the views of the program, and makes for a welcoming and culturally diverse atmosphere.

“We are just a very open body of people, and we accept anybody that wants to come and be a group of people who want to love and accept people.  Anybody’s welcome here,” stressed Carrie Norwood, who became involved with the program about a year ago.

It does not matter whether you are dressed in casual wear, hipster apparel, or fancy Sunday attire at this venue.  Diversity is welcome and acceptance is a key aspect for the small church group of followers, who are anywhere from 19 to 30 years old.

Maples added, “It’s not your typical church which I think is really interesting… It’s okay if I want to wear jeans and a T-shirt one day, like if I just don’t feel like getting dressed up or whatever, it’s okay and no one cares, which is awesome.”

Some are drawn to The Gathering and Life in Deep Ellum because of their connection to the arts, while others are attracted on a spiritual basis.  Tran Steel makes the trip from Fort Worth every Sunday to attend the 11 a.m. service.

“One of the big reasons that I initially was pulled into this church was the want to help, the social justice kind of aspect.  It’s instilled in the values and then it’s living it out,” Steel remarked, “this is our church family so [my husband and I] don’t mind the drive.”

Community is the most valued principle for most members, which they promote by hosting art shows in their gallery, having a yoga studio in the cultural center, and heading various outreach programs.  Life in Deep Ellum is a non-profit center that raises funds through its various partnerships, some with no religious affiliation whatsoever, but all dedicated to seeing urban Dallas and Deep Ellum grow and flourish.

“We kind of wanted to give back to our community, Deep Ellum, and we developed Life in Deep Ellum in order to be a resource place for Deep Ellum and urban growth within arts, music, community, and commerce—our four pillars of society that we really want to affect and help,” Hockensmith said.

Triska added, “The whole heart of Life in Deep Ellum was to support the strengths of Deep Ellum rather than its weaknesses, so we did what’s called a strengths assessment of Deep Ellum; instead of all these organizations focusing on what was wrong with Deep Ellum, we tried to focus on what was right.”

Another churchgoer, Chris Gist, enjoys getting as involved with Life in Deep Ellum as he can so that he can really help out his urban community in Dallas. “This church is diverse and I see that it’s reaching out to the people in this community, which is what it was planted for, and they’re staying true to their mission statement of reaching out to those that the typical church could not reach,” he explained.

Gist has been going to The Gathering and involved with Life in Deep Ellum for almost a year and a half, and feels that anyone who tried it out would love it as much as he does.

“I would encourage anyone in this area, or even far away, come on in and it’s worth the drive.  This is a church like no other,” he said with a tone of pride, “It’s not any traditional or uncomfortable environment, so if you’ve had a good experience or a bad experience with churches in the past, this is a good place to come and start all over or try something new.”

It's That Time of Year

Come join us in the Gathering as we count that Sundays that lead up to Christmas. Sundays at 11am.

Prayer

We're gonna spend a couple weeks before Advent hits on this mysterious and most fundamental aspect of spirituality - prayer. Should be fun.

Kingdom of God

If you read the Gospels, which unfortunately many do not, you will find that Jesus is virtually obsessed with talking about the Kingdom of God. This has got us thinking. What's this "kingdom" about anyway? So we'll be addressing just that over the next month.

We're calling it Kingdom of God: the Elements in Parables. Should be fun.

Pop-Culture Religion

I want choices. I want flexibility. I want customer service. Who can blame me? It is the very oxygen I breathe. Hyper individualism + Consumer identity = America. 

I stand in front of people and try to teach the Bible, yet I’m painfully aware that no matter what I say people will have a hard time not treating my words like a product. Mega-churches wrestle with this cycle all the time. Whatever they do to get people in there they have to continue doing to keep them there. It’s no wonder discipleship is near impossible. For to be a disciple of Jesus we start with one clear reality: this is not about me. This is about God.

I talk to so many people who claim to be pursuing the ever elusive “will of God.” Sometimes I struggle to not roll my eyes. I want to gently take them by the shoulders and say, “No, you’re not. You want God to baptize your will.” We usually forget that before we can pray for God’s will, we must confess not my will first.

Why is this so difficult? Some will say we’re just fallen. Sure, that’s certainly at the heart of it. But I think it goes even deeper. I believe our culture, with the help of demonic forces, has shaped our aggregate thinking into individual consumers so that we are predisposed to stiff-arm the very thing the Gospel calls for - surrender.

Observe the state of spirituality in America. It’s less like a personal commitment and more like a buffet. We can hardly look at what’s in front of us without being distracted by all the other options further down the line. A little Judeo-Christian ethics here, a bit of Eastern mysticism there, and add a side of my favorite celebrity’s opinions (be it Bill Maher, Oprah, Charlie Sheen).

And it’s worse than the days of idolatry in the Old Testament. It’s not just that God is an option next to a bunch of other deities - Baal, Ra, or Zoroaster. The fact is that most people don’t think about God or Jesus as a person. They see him as an idea. A doctrine. A philosophy. To be a Christian is to believe something, not to be faithful to someone.

This makes it so much easier to blend him with other ideas and philosophies. This emotional distance we create with Jesus grants us room to sit in the center role of consumer. We get to pick and choose. We order a #2, mustard no mayonnaise, minus onions, extra cheese. I’ll take Jesus, social justice no sexual boundaries, minus the church, extra grace. It’s sick. We don’t feel the conviction of unfaithfulness even when our actions are tantamount to sleeping around with other gods. This keeping-my-options-open kind of spirituality is rampant…even for devout church-goers. 

Of course, we all struggle with this to some extent. I am ashamed of how often I find myself treating the church like a product or the Holy Spirit like my personal gofer. What can I do but grovel in repentance and pray for his patient love to transform me? What can any of us do but daily die to our wretched selves so that we might be truly free in the life Jesus extends to us? 

The other day, my mother was sitting in the back seat with my two-year-old daughter. In a moment of genuine affection, my mom leaned over to my daughter sitting in her carseat and whispered, “I love you.” My daughter leaned back and whispered, “I want some goldfish crackers.” I exploded in laughter. It was so…human.

God bends down from his position of power and expresses his relentless love to us, and we can’t hear him. Why? Because we’re too busy asking for stupid stuff. We’re addicted to being consumers. We forget that this whole gig - you know, of existing - is not really about us.

Joel.

Obligatory Church Attendance?

This Sunday is one of the two Sundays out of the year that nominally religious people tend to show up at a church (Christmas & Easter). Somewhere in their guilt-ridden memories of church and childhood they have embedded into their sub-conscious this need pay God a visit. I grew up in those churches, I shouldered the crushing guilt of religion, I get it. I get why people - even those who grew up in the church-gig - prefer sleeping in on Sundays. It's easy to look back and wonder what good was all of that for me anyways.

But what is it about Easter? Why this day rather than some random Sunday in September? Is it the allure of special choirs in robes and pageantry? Egg-hunts for the kids? A suggestive phone call from our religious Grandmother? Somehow, I don't think those reasons are at the heart of the issue. Personally, I think it has something to do with what Easter represents. Under the veneer of bunnies and tin-foil wrapped chocolate is something sweeter. And in my opinion, that something is new life.

Joel.

Quest for Purpose

This month, the Gathering will be exploring this strange and elusive idea of purpose. Does life have meaning? How do we find it? Just where do we fit in this world?

The Big Question

The question always seems to pop up. Hanging out at an Art Gallery Opening or a lounge show or some community event, someone will look suspiciously at me and ask, "I heard this place is a church. So...are you a cultural center or a church?" The short answer is "yes." But that answer never seems to satisfy, so here goes my shot at a long answer - or at least a long-er one.

Church: There is a faith community that meets every Sunday in the venue and we serve as the energetic core of the Cultural Center. So to be straight-up honest, the leadership and management of Life in Deep Ellum also lead the faith community. There are several qualifiers I am itching to add, but I'll save those for the "Cultural Center" section. Suffice it to say, the values of the faith community - relationships, growth, service, and creativity - deeply influence the values of the Cultural Center which also centers around relationships and creative community development. It is the faith community that heralds services projects for the poor and marginalized of our city. It is the faith community that gives of their resources generously so we can afford to maintain our awesome building and continue developing initiatives and partnerships. The heart of the faith community is to serve Deep Ellum and urban Dallas. Thus, we are also, and maybe moreso, a Cultural Center.

Cultural Center: The Cultural Center has four pillars - art, music, commerce, and community. These pillars were not arbitrarily selected. Several years ago, we were tired of the media always focusing on what was wrong with Deep Ellum. So we chose to put the weaknesses aside and instead focus on the strengths of Deep Ellum. These were obvious - a plethora of wonderful art galleries, a history of legendary music, a spirit of entrepreneurship and commerce, and a strong sense of community. While the faith community holds to traditional Christian beliefs, we do not project these on our neighborhood. We feel like God gave us this building and it would be a shame to only use it for ourselves. So we devised a plan to use what resources we have to support and encourage our neighborhood - hence our name Life in Deep Ellum.

Currently, our influence has been spreading throughout urban Dallas. And we are pleased with the diversity of partners we have built relationships with. We have staff members who sit on the Deep Ellum Community Association and the Deep Ellum Foundation. On top of the many organizations we partner with to hold events and fundraisers, we currently have six outside organizations who use our facilities to forward their business dreams. Some of these partners share our faith, but not all. We don't even require it. We choose to focus on common goals of community development and celebrating the arts. So unless you are willing to go into the complexities of who Life in Deep Ellum is, the next time someone asks you if we are a church or a cultural center you have my permission to simply say "yes." It's just easier.

Joel.

His Values, Our Vision

Don't miss the upcoming series focusing on where the Gathering will be headed in the next year - His Values, Our Vision. The Gathering is the local faith community that serves as the energetic core of the Cultural Center and Life in Deep Ellum.

You can check out a short testimonial video illustrating the series here.

Christmas Series

Advent is an ancient tradition celebrating the birth of the Christ. During December we will be lighting the advent candles each Sunday in the Gathering symbolizing hope, peace, joy, and love. As the worldwide Church celebrates this tradition, join us in downtown Dallas to join in the festivities.