Materials for the second cohort of Quaker Connect. This includes the slideshow from the two presentations I gave at Quaker Hill on the Convergent Model of Renewal. An ebook that provides narrative to some of what we talked about. An extra presentation on remix I did not give, and an activity to go along with it. Finally, there is a little more information about the nurse log.
PDF - Quaker Connect Presentation - Spring 2026
Link to the Quaker Connect Presentation
Ebook - Remixing Faith
Learning How to Remix
This is a presentation I prepared going into more detail on remix that we did not cover. The end of the document covers what makes for a good remix.
Remix Activity
If you'd like to practice remix with some early Quaker writings, take this passage from George Fox that was read during our retreat. Read it together. Then remix it. Two different directions: Pick a line or two and remix it specifically for our communities today. Or can you Remix the message of this passage for today? Interestingly, this passage is itself a remix of more than seven biblical passages interwoven throughout the entire passage.
Here's an example of the remix within this passage:
Nurse Logs
Ecological examples and metaphors feature heavily in my work on renewal. It is important to me that we remain close to, connected, and grounded within the "more-than-human" world. Learning from the natural world's ways of renewal and evolution are key in our own understanding.
The Nurse Log is is an an embodiment of the passage from John:
I like the image of a Nurse Log, a prominent feature on our hikes in the Pacific Northwest. A Nurse Log is a naturally occurring event in the forest. As a tree falls to its apparent death it provides “ecological facilitation” of growth, allowing for the decay from one living thing to provide life and support to other organisms that are emerging. A nurse log is an ecology of life that reveals the ways in which "old" and "new" combine to create a powerful life force.
The Nurse Log is a patient healer:
- In dying there is life given.
- It maintains the integrity of the woods,
- by caring for the dying, and the infants of the words,
- The nurse log gives keeps the direction and force of the life of the woods.
Further Reading:
- 2015 - Convergent Model or Renewal: Remixing the Quaker Tradition in a Participatory Culture. For your purposes - read chapter 4-6. If you're really excited to learn about participatory culture chapter 3. Chapters 1-2 are philosophy and theology.
- 2019 - Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation as Resistance.
Let me know if you have questions about and feel free to subscribe to my blog if you'd like to follow along.