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.

"Comic Con Christianity"

Greetings Warriors and Scholars.

Image provided by author.

I recently got to read a portion of a new book recently released. "Comic Con Christianity" is written by Jen Shlameuss-Perry. She looks at issues of the Christian life both from the perspective of a fan-girl and as a catholic. This caught my attention for a couple of reasons. Firstly is that I have not seen very many ministry resources for nerds and geeks coming out of the Catholic quadrant of the Church. Note, when I say Church with a capital "C," I mean all who follow Jesus as the Son of God, born of a virgin, liver of a sinless life and bringer of redemption through his death and resurrection. I have served in ministry alongside Catholics in a few occasions and have come to respect many of them, even if I disagree with their organization on a few things. Next, this is coming from a contributor to Geekdom House. A Christian/Nerd bridge building organization I have heard about and with which I might have had some small online interactions or perhaps some interactions with at Gen Con at some point.

The portion I got to read is all about villains. What drives them? Why do we sometimes feel for them even in their terrible choices? How are we similar to them? In this chapter she looks at familiar villains like the Joker, Darth Vader, Magneto, and even Loki but she also shares scripture with us. She helps us look at who we are and challenges us to be aware of our own likeliness to make depraved choices. Along with the villains she has us look at Jonah, Job, and even spends some time in Wisdom, a book the Catholics see as canonical but we Protestants do not. I enjoyed reading a portion of it in this chapter and getting a look at it through her eyes.

She explained in a FB message why she chose to send me this portion:

"I picked this one because it's my favorite chapter. My Master's thesis was on Religious Education as a Ministry of Reconciliation, and everything I do as a pastoral minister and a person stems from my belief that that's what I'm supposed to be about."

Reconciliation is indeed the focus of the last portion of the chapter. Forgiveness would also be a good section header for it. After all the disillusionment experienced by the nerd/gamer/geek culture with the Church, should we not be concerned about it? Even as humans, regardless of our hobby preferences, we need it.

I think this book will help some nerds, both Christian and non-Christian, look at who Jesus is and what we can do to follow Him. I think nerds who are not following Jesus will find her work thought provoking and perhaps even fascinating. If you have a follower of Jesus, esp. a catholic, who does not understand our fondness for these stories this book might help them to see how these stories point back to the redemption provided by Christ. Note this is based on one chapter of the book and not a read-through of the entire book.

To learn more about the book, click here.

Gen Con 2014

Hey guys.

Just one of several huge gaming halls at Gen Con.

Gen Con was amazing. TI spent two hours a day hanging out at the Christian booth, with Fans for Christ, Christian Gamers Guild, and Innroads Ministries. We met a lot of people. Some were pastors/youth pastors who were surprised to find something like our organizations. Some were gamers who were unsure or frustrated with the church. On Sunday we joined together for a worship service in the Crowne Plaza...some 200, I think, in attendance. Derek White (the Geek Preacher) gave a great message on how the Church is Bigger on the Inside (you must be a whovian if you have a huge smile on your face right now). I am sure that the video of the sermon will get on You Tube at some point so I'll share it to the Facebook page when it does.

The Worship Service at Gen Con.

So many gamers were glad to find Christians who don't think them evil for playing D&D. We had a great response from both the convention and the gamers. I remember some buying shirts who just wanted to support us (even a couple who don't attend church regularly).

I pose with a couple other Star Wars fans in the Family Fun Pavilion near the CGG/FFC booth.

The most significant conversation I had was with a guy I'll call Moe. Moe came by and we started talking. I shared that we were gamers, nerds and geeks who were also Christians. We realized that the church doesn't understand gamers and that gamers have had some hard times with Churches. He was hesitant about things but glad to see someone trying to deal with this issue. He admitted that the churches lack of respect and relations with gamers was one of the reasons he doesn't attend church. Moe was hesitant to share much...but I could see wheels turning in his head.

Jesus came for those who are "sick" or those who have been hurt and are weary and caught in sin. Please pray for those who interacted with us this weekend. Some have relatives/friends who are really sick. Some have been hurt by experiences with churches.


If you are experiencing the Nerd Chapel now after find out about us at Gen Con, welcome! I am really glad to have you on board. Nerd Chapel is happy to join with these organizations in working to build bridges between the Church and the Nerd/Geek/Gamer community. There is a lot of work to do but God has given us His presence. As Romans 8 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"