Thursday, December 20, 2007

Join the Subversive Network

This week's subscribers to the [Subversive Underground] got an inside peek at a project I was working on a few years ago designed as a carrier signal for the subversive message of the Kingdom.

(Hint: You can read all about it over at http://subunderground.blogspot.com or by clicking "Subscribe to the [Subversive Underground] link at left).

Even though I still plan to put much of this subversive campaign into practice here in Orange County one day, I felt compelled this week to share the details of the plan with the 187 people on the [SU] list. Perhaps someone in our little subversive network has the means and the passion to duplicate this plan in their own city or community? Maybe my ideas will spark new ideas in their minds that will play out differently, but no less subversively and creatively?

For the longest time I've held back from using this blog and the accompanying [Subversive Underground] e-newsletter as a means of activism. Other than the occassional event like "SendGapClothesBack.com" or the "End Slavery Now" campaign, or perhaps the upcoming Non-Con gathering, I've resisted the temptation to mobilize people to specific action.

I'm not even 100% sure that this week's [SU] will inspire anyone to do anything at all. Perhaps not. But still, the possibility is there and I do have the hope that the nearly 200 people who have subscribed to my weekly articles would feel the same way that I do about the Kingdom, the Gospel, and have a desire to make a real difference in their community.

Surely some of them must share my ideas or they wouldn't continue to remain on the list week after week.

My basic premise has always been that, for those who truly see The Kingdom, the Gospel is already more subversive than anything you or I could dream up. I've also assumed that those who read my articles and newsletter would already be involved in subversive dialogs with friends, or engaged in serving the poor, or living out the Gospel in tangible ways.

I've always loved the concept of a covert "Shadow Network" like the one employed by the fictional crime fighter "The Shadow". This nebulous assortment of operatives predated the Internet and could be mobilized with just a phone call to do the bidding of "The Shadow" in order to defeat the forces of darkness and multiply the reach of the mysterious crime fighter. In recent times comic book writer Warren Ellis would steal the idea and re-name it "The Global Frequency" but sans crime-fighting, gun-wielding hero.

In the real world there have been wonderful subversive experiments such as www.GodStillLovesUs.org and my own www.parabolicjournal.com while filmmakers have lead the way with websites supporting the Blair Witch project and The Matrix in order to drum up viral marketing and spark interest in their films.

What would a Kingdom campaign look like? Is there a way to intrigue everyday people into a dialog about the Gospel as Jesus did using stories and allegory and creative inspiration? I believe so.

Maybe the faithful 187 subscribers to the [Subversive Underground] have not acted yet because they have not been properly activated? If I were to activate them, what would they do? What could we accomplish?

Perhaps we'll see if anyone who reads this week's [SU] feels compelled by the Holy Spirit to take a subversive approach to communicating the Gospel of the Kingdom. If so, then maybe the activation is already underway? If not, then perhaps our time has not yet come.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

kg

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