Schedule for 2019

Greetings Scholars and Warriors.

Ruth Pike did the artwork for both books.

I am so excited for this new book! The New 42:Got Terraforms All Things. My co-author Nathan Marchand and I take readers on a journey from Genesis to Revelation to see how God is always doing new things and how we can experience His work and participate in it. Many stories from anime, gaming, science fiction, super heroes and fantasy will help us with our exploration. You will be challenged with daily side quests to help pursue the larger quest of knowing Christ more fully. We will be premiering this book at MuskeCon at the Holiday Inn in Muskegon, MI on March 23. It will be on Amazon soon after that and eventually will be on the Kindall.

Have you been to Nathan's website and looked at his fiction writing? You should do so by going here.

Here are my current con plans for 2019. NOTE:there might be changes to this list so check back every now and then or "Like" the Facebook page. You can also follow me on Instagram (nerd_chapel).

If you want to find even more nerdy events in Michigan check out www.migeekscene.com.

March 23:           MuskeCon in Muskegon, MI.
March 30-31:     Fantasticon in Port Huron, MI
April 14:             Attend Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, IL. Not tabling just enjoying the con for                               one day. Say hi if you see me.
April 19-21:       Heroes and Villains Fanfest in Chicago, IL. as part of the Costumers for Christ crew.
May 4:                Heroes Expo in Kentwood, MI
June 7-9:             JAFAX in Grand Rapids, MI. First time with a booth here. Cooperating with author                             Paul Nowak and the Redeemed Otaku Podcast.
July 20:               KoganCon in Grand Haven, MI. Hosting games in the TableTop area.
July 27-28:          Get Geek'd in Lansing, MI.
August 1-4:         GenCon in Indianapolis, IN. Helping Nathan with his table in Author's Ave.
Aug. 30-Sept. 1: GrandCon Gaming Convention in Grand Rapids, MI.
                           We will have a Chapel event and a table. I will also run some games.
Sept. 21-22:        Fantasticon in Fort Wayne, IN.
October 19-20:   Fantasticon in Mount Pleasant, MI.

GrandCon 2018

Greetings Warriors and Scholars!

GrandCon 2018 was a success. Over the 3 days I connected with several faces I don't see very often who have been following Nerd Chapel for some time. I also met new people and some people I see a bit more often. This show has a special place in my heart. I consider it to be the flagship show for Nerd Chapel. For the first time I had buttons for sale and stickers to hand out.

All the games I hosted went over very well (Pandemic, Unauthorized, Commissioned). I also played 2 rounds of Coup and got to play Scream of Die, a new game just about to come out where you play as monsters that have become little kids and are trying to get candy.

Photo Credit: Katelyn Campbell

Photo Credit: Katelyn Campbell

For the Sunday morning service we had about 40 people, which is even more than last year. Definitely our highest attended event yet. Portal Dragon team members Jon and Liz Meitling led worship. They did a fantastic job. My buddy Darrin Ball led us in communion and brought us a devotional based on LotR. I spoke about Truth by using "Legend of the Seeker" and jumping around the book of John quite a bit to find different pieces of our discussion.

GrandCon is a different experience for Nerd Chapel than other cons as a community has built up. Most cons I have a table as a visible connection point but here we have a combination of the table, games where people interact and the service on Sunday morning. This is happening naturally so nobody has to push it.

I also had the pleasure of  help from a new ally. One of the team members for A'Campbell Consultants joined me just for one day of the con. Katelyn Campbell was a great help and company. Glad to be able to serve with her.

This was a successful weekend indeed. Next I will be at Fantasticon in Fort Wayne, IN. This show will just be a table but it is always a good time. This is one of the shows I know Nathan Marchand will be able to hang out with me at.

GrandCon 2015

GrandCon 2015 was excellent.

Lots of people in the vendor hall Saturday.

Through the weekend I really enjoyed meeting people at the table in the vendor hall and had a lot of positive reactions. I met some guys who go to a church with a monthly gaming group in Lansing and also met a couple guys who are trying to figure out how to start a cell group or other nerd related thing at their church.

I think the best interactions happened over Sunday. First of all, the chapel service went really well. We had about 15 people which is much larger than last year. Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower did a good job preaching and the overall service went well. It was also nice to see a couple people join us who had not been able to the previous year despite attending the con.

After the service a teenager came up to me. He had been at our chapel service last year (had actually dragged his mom to it) and was extremely helpful. I had been really impressed, but I had not realized what God was doing that morning. Yesterday he told me:

"Thanks for doing this. Last year's chapel service is what spurred me to make my profession to faith."

Now, that is not something you hear every day!

A few hours later I was manning my table as I had been all weekend. A man came up to me and said this:

"I've seen you here each day and I have to admit I completely disagree with most of it; well all of it. But it takes guts to do what you are doing. I respect that. Keep doing what you are doing."

So, yes this was a great weekend. I ran a few games as well. 2 rounds of Pandemic where we lost right before getting the final cure and a round of Kings of Israel which was full so I didn't play but just "taught" which was easy since they had all played Pandemic before. They were quickly outdone by the game.

Over the weekend I also sold many copies of 42:Discovering Faith Through Fandom. People were very open to it. So, that was my weekend at GrandCon. A great time to be had for all. I still do not know the numbers for attendance but it seemed to me that they did at least as well as last year. Here are a few pics.

Artemis Bridge Simulator. I was the weapons officer.

The open gaming hall.

Steampunk siblings.

Events are a foot!

Greetings Warriors and Scholars.

Well, a lot is going on with Nerd Chapel. Next weekend we'll be hanging out at Grand Con in the vendor hall. We will once again have a chapel service but this time Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower will be preaching. Tom is a youth pastor who has also served overseas.

As you can see, we have a new logo. I hope that Nerd Chapel can be a safe "inn" for you in the middle of life's' quests. Yes, I have played Red Dragon Inn so I know the dangers that can happen at an in, but at least you will have friends to back you up.

Over the next two months along with Grand Con we have 2 game nights. I am trying to keep them to the 2nd Saturday of the month. So October 10 and Nov. 14 are our next two game nights. Feel free to come and hang out. I'll let you know if we are tying these in with any mercy/justice organizations as we have before with the Pandemic Party. Click on the dates above for the FB pages for these events.

Wednesday night I got to play Smash Up with a friend of mine. I had demoed it at Gen Con a couple years ago but this was my first time playing a full game. I loved it. I had Dinosaurs and Ninjas for my army and then for game two I used Bear Cavalry and Pirates. It was an interesting evening. The game is pretty simple when it comes to rules and well worth the money.

I hope you can join us for one or all of these events!

How "42:Discovering Faith Through Fandom" Came into Being

Greetings Scholars and Warriors.

Thanks to Ruth Pike for her hard work on cover art!

If you have paid any attention to the Nerd Chapel FB page, then you know that Nathan Marchand and I have completed a new collaborative work. 42:Discovering Faith Through Fandom is the result of a vision I had probably around 2 years ago or more. I realized you find many daily devotionals for hunters, sports fans as well as gender and age specific ones; but none specifically focused on Nerd/Geek culture. When I started working on it, I felt God nudging me to bring Nathan on and I think that was a great idea. Nathan is a published science fiction author who has published both as a "self publisher" and through a publishing company. He was able to bring a lot to the project with his knowledge of editing, formatting, and pursuing publishing possibilities. He also found our cover artist, Ruth Pike, at a dance group he attends.

We chose to go the route of self publishing because very few publishers fit the niche of "Christian and Geek". Most Christian publishing companies don't understand Nerd culture in any way and most fantasy or science fiction publishers would never consider publishing a devotional. We did talk with one company but they are so far behind they would not have been able to even look at it for a year, let alone make a decision or get things going.

Here are a few of the daily titles in our book:

The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything
The Resurrection of Spock
Spiderman and the Pong of Vengeance
Beware the Dark Side

Nathan will have copies at his table in author's row at Gen Con 2015. We also are donating some to the Christian Gamers Guild booth at Gen Con this year. I will have copies at the Nerd Chapel table at Grand Con 2015. Copies are also available online:

 http://www.amazon.com/42-Discovering-Faith-Through-Fandom

If you would like to check out Nathan's other works, go to:

www.nathanjsmarchand.com