Great crowd, great pix...

[click to zoom]

Gotta love the cafe, especially Saturday mornings during Ask Anything Saturday. It's a great mix of folks, coming together for a variety of reasons.

And how cool to be able to enjoy all of AlxConn's slide-show. [Thanks Alex!]

The IRS wants our help... Economic Stimulus FAQs

Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center

(IRS.gov) Updated March 17, 2008

Starting in May, the Treasury will begin sending economic stimulus payments to more than 130 million households. To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000 of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. IRS will take care of the rest. Eligible people will receive up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples), and parents will receive an additional $300 for each eligible child younger than 17. Millions of retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this year in order to receive a stimulus payment.

But there are more details to know... [continued at IRS.gov]

In the house... 'Fun' was the special of the day.

Another great day at the cafe. The place was jammed. And jammin'. LOL



I met one of my 'Facebook friends'... Dian Foreman... for the first time today at the cafe. Dian is coordinating the RELOAD conference that several of us will be involved in, coming up in April. With her was another new friend made today, Jeffrey Cole.



Here's another Facebook friend... with a friend... having entirely too much fun. *smile*



Yeah, you can see... things almost got out of hand, people were all enjoying cafe time. These folks came all the way from Colorado Springs to be with us. Well, sorta. *wink*



And there's always gotta be an 'actor' in the crowd, right?

...and many more fun pix today in the cafe's photo-pool.

Be with us next week?

Marion Harcourt honored as Social Worker of the Year

We just received news today that our cafe friend, Marion Harcourt, was recently honored by her profession...



Many of you know Marion as she comes with her grandson, Ben, who serves at the cafe from time to time.

Congratulations Marion !!!

[And here's an article in Hamilton County.]

'Ask Anything Saturday' Training Takes Another Step

We were gifted with a new little video camcorder this week which now will allow us to start the video training we've been wanting to do.



And how cool it was, to be able to let today's young 'trainees' follow some pros who were in the house today. "Just watch what these guys do, and do what they do."



[Thanks Jonathan & Chris for loaning your giftedness to God's service here.]

But remember, all our various lessons here 'cost a million dollars'... unless you in turn train someone else about what you've learned. Then we call it even. That's our 'Each One, Teach One' strategy.



Here's Reggie Edwards -- one of our guys who participated in the podcast we did this past week at the Mid-North Shepherd Center. So he came down today to get some help learning to EDIT video... so he can help folks at the center learn to do video.

In the house today... families and a wrecking crew

There was certainly a wide variety of folks in the cafe today...



Josh & Joanna Kennedy and their girls came all the way from Sheridan. Josh is the pastor at Christ Community Church there, where our tech-wizard/friend Scott Wilder participates as worship leader.



And former Colts (SuperBowl) lineman, Tarik Glenn and some of his family were also in the house. Tarik & Maya are highly invested in the neighborhood, especially as pertains to youth programs. Visit Dream Alive, Inc (youth mentoring), for instance.



And then there's the wrecking crew today... LOL...







And none of these pictures would be available but for our resident photographer & tech-director of (several of) our 'Ask Anything Saturday TV' shows.... Alex Conner.

Pancake Crazy

[check out the latest pix in the photo-pool]

The place is CRAZY these days! Lately, Saturdays are filled to capacity. Must be Tim's pancakes -- what else could it be?

Anyway... come on down and try to figure it out for yourselves.

And watch 'Ask Anything Saturday' on a number of website channels now...

• AskAnythingSaturday.com (of course)
• AskAnythingSaturday.TV (of course)
• UBcafe.com (of course)
  
• IndyChristian.TV
  
• Blews.TV
• CityReaching.TV
• ModelChurch.com
• YOUR website? (contact us)
  

See ya at the cafe sometime soon. Bring a chair. *smile*

Today at the cafe... "BarCamp Indy 2008" !!!

'BarCamp Indy 2008' is finally here!

Welcome. It's an 'unconference'. It's unconventional. It's unexpensive. We ARE the presenters. We make our own rules. And we pay ourselves -- ie, it's FREE!

And it's all about LEARNING from each other... about TECHNOLOGIES. We have short presentations, each followed by intense fast-paced discussion.

And it's about trying something different -- practicing our flexibility, to enhance our ability to 'innovate'.

You can see more in the wiki today. And stay tuned at BarCampIndy.org.

You'll see there, for instance, that we're STREAMING LIVE TODAY... and we plan to archive videos from today's presentations.

And here's the BarCampIndy2008 photo-pool, including my favorite...


Dr. Thomas Ho, 'evangelist' for the cafe's pancakes.

Saturday computing...

Nice photo, Alex (Conner) -- one of our Indy Christian Geeks... who help with the 'Ask Anything Saturday' internet-training program. Thanks Alex. [...and Ellen -- we see you down there.]

This gives people a little idea what things are like on Saturdays. Cool.

JT brings it...

Jonathan Thomas filled some big shoes today at the cafe. The MidNorth Shepherd Center monthly luncheon group had invited former Colts lineman Tarik Glenn to come speak to them... but he fell sick and was unable to appear.

On short notice, JT came and spoke to the group... sharing his personal testimony... and the dreams instilled in him by his mother, and by His Lord.

JT's testimony reasonated loud & clear in the hearts of everyone present. The Lord is never caught off-guard, is He? JT was no last-minute substitute in the mind of the Almighty.

[more photos in today's UBcafe photo pool]

De'Amon Harges.... today on Ask Anything Saturday TV

Today's guest on 'Ask Anything Saturday' at the cafe, was our neighborhood friend, De'Amon Harges.

Ask Anything Saturday TV is now seen at a growing number of websites...

• UBcafe.com
• AskAnythingSaturday.com
  
• AskAnythingSaturday.TV
  
• IndyChristian.TV
• Blews.TV Network
• CityReaching.TV
  
• ModelChurch.com

Click to see how YOU can get involved with 'Ask Anything Saturday' as a neighborhood guest, or even help us behind the scenes.

Impact... in the house today

[See who else was in the house today -- visit our cafe photo-pool.]



With us today at the cafe was Rasool Berry, Director of Impact Music. Rasool and his wife Tamika have moved to Indianapolis in recent months, and are building the team here called 'Infinit Impact' comprised of a number of talented Christian musicians anxious to make an 'impact' in inner-city communities through music. Listen in, as their YouTube video gives you an idea how they are doing that in cities around the country...

Visit their Impact Movement website to enjoy more of their music & ministry.

MLK Day... Mapleton Fall Creek Neighborhood

[more soon... including a major cafe announcement... In the meantime, visit our cafe photo-pool which includes photos from today's Martin Luther King Jr. Service at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.]

Indy Christian Geeks... expediting 'Ask Anything Saturday TV'

Here's just one team of our 'geeks'...



...who are helping expedite "Ask Anything Saturday TV" at the cafe.



And when it comes to USER-level technologies like these, ANYONE can help. Sometimes we even learn more from young folks. **smile**

...So come join us any Saturday morning, 10am, at the UBcafe.

Always something going on in the neighborhood...

Uh oh. What was THAT? What's going on outside the cafe?

The cafe's photo-stream tells it all....

[continued at the cafe photo pool]

Rules in effect.... for BarCampIndy... Feb. 9th... at the cafe...

[Perhaps one of the most unusual groups to ever come to the cafe... LOL...]



[Rules from national site... BarCamp.org]

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS.

• 1st Rule: You do talk about Bar Camp.
• 2nd Rule: You do blog about Bar Camp.
• 3rd Rule: If you want to present, you must write your topic and name in a presentation slot.
• 4th Rule: Only three word intros.
• 5th Rule: As many presentations at a time as facilities allow for.
• 6th Rule: No pre-scheduled presentations, no tourists.
• 7th Rule: Presentations will go on as long as they have to or until they run into another presentation slot.
• 8th Rule: If this is your first time at BarCamp, you HAVE to present.
  (Ok, you don't really HAVE to, but try to find someone to present with, or at least ask questions and be an interactive participant.)

[Visit BarCampIndy.org]

Ask Anything Saturday TV.... goes LIVE... tomorrow (Jan. 5th)

We go 'LIVE' tomorrow... January 5th (and every Saturday thereafter)... at 10am (Eastern)... at 'AskAnythingSaturday.TV'. Come chat during the show. Or come be with us in person here at the cafe -- where we'll be interviewing folks, asking their 'most important question' they need the answer to. We'll hope to be able to reach out for answers to those questions, by being able to contact our network of friends in the community, or online, or Facebook, or even those of you in the chatroom. Is that YOU? Join us at the site.

************

If you'd like to come help, one way or another, come at 9am for a pre-production meeting. And/or check out the 'Production Wiki' -- where we're collaborating. Consider leading a segment in the future.

In the house today... Warriors and Wikiers

These are just a FEW of the people at the cafe this morning. It's apparently becoming THE place to be on Saturday mornings, as some of the most unlikely people from all over the city get together and learn from one another...



Mary Walton is a prayer warrior in her Brookside neighborhood on the eastside of town, writes poetry, and has worked with kids by teaching them the Bible. So Mary and Sister Gail (Reaves) immediately 'hit it off' as they considered just how they might work together in the future re developing children's activities.



Her husband Donald is a artist -- displaying paintings at Victory Village Shoppes -- and now learning how to collaboratively work in the Indianapolis wiki. Here's a page we started this morning, re 'Heaven-bound Ministry'. We even toyed with adding a YouTube video to his page in just a few clicks. As an artist, Donald quickly understood the value of compelling 'media'.

We'll look forward to picking up next Saturday where we left off today.

Come join us, for "Ask Anything Saturday" at the cafe.

*****************

Other new pictures in cafe photo-pool.

Ask Anything Saturday... Every Saturday

Definitely the cafe was HOPPING this past Saturday !!!



17 new photos of new folks in the cafe's photo-pool.



And the 'Ask Anything Saturday TV' concept is gathering a lot of steam. In fact, even beyond just our 30-minute internet-tv show that will start January 4th, the show is now scheduled in the national 'Media Center' -- and the associated Timeline of LIVE MEDIA shows re various initiatives among our cityreachers across the country. So go to our 'production wiki' for the show, and sign up to help with some week's production in early 2008.

[Major appreciation to Alex re the tv site, and to all our guys... Indy Christian Geeks -- an awesome bunch! Join 'em any Saturday at the cafe. Or once-a-month lunch at some other cultural cafe. Or wait til 'BarCampIndy2008' **LOL** (Not telling; don't even ask. *smile*)]

Working Magic On A Schedule

Christian illusionist Tom McCormick
works his 'magic' with the help of
'volunteer' Joe Whitchurch, Intervarsity.

Today at the cafe, the Transform Indiana ministry-networking coalition met for the 2nd Annual 'Indy Timeline' (2008) Planning Luncheon.

Christian illustionist Tom McCormick, a friend of the cafe's "Ask Anything Saturday" program took off his tech-hat and put on his top-hat, so to speak... and performed one of his slight-of-hand tricks. Unfortunately, his 'volunteer'... Joe Whitchurch (Intervarsity's grad-school rep) stole the show by working a little magic of his own.

The luncheon also featured a live webcam-interview with Steve Hawthorne, Waymakers.org -- headquartered in Austin, TX. Waymakers publishes the 40-day prayer-guide called... "Seek God For The City"... for the 40-day Lenten season. These prayer guides are used in congregations around the country... praying for transformation in THEIR communities. [There's still time to order a couple of hundred for your favorite church.]

But the whole point of the luncheon today was to somehow 'pull a rabbit outta the hat' for 2008, and find ways we can best COLLABORATE as we together carry out the Great Commission here in Indy. Or more to the point today... "We want to move beyond mere collaboration, and into COORDINATION for 2008." That is, we want to be intentional about finding ways to get disperate ministries here in Indy to feel & act more like a TEAM.

And every true TEAM has a team bulletin board, do they not? ...a centralized place for posting the main things. So we looked into our bag of tricks and pulled out a 'wiki'.... to use as a centralized filing place online. Thus we've started compiling considerable information on the Indianapolis page of the CityReaching wiki.... For instance, we've now built the 'Indy Timeline' in the wiki. After training folks today during the meeting, EVERYONE can edit it themselves, adding their events and linking to details at their ministry websites. Example: Our annual hands-on community-service week... "Faith Hope & Love"... now appears in the July section... with links to their site.

Several have now even created their own personal page, to practice with it... and to help everyone get to know each other more quickly. Examples: Ellen, Eldon, and Pastor Boyd. Some just use TEXT in their page, while others have figured out how to easily embed a photo, a map, or even a video-clip.

Moreover wikis are easily SEARCHABLE -- go ahead, try searching for something using the search-block in the upper RH corner of any wiki-page.

A major vote of appreciation goes to Scott Wilder for shooting a ton of video-footage today. We call Scott our 'Chaotic Christian' friend. [He's extremely talented at everything 'tech'... including video editing and training. Need him for YOUR ministry?]

Here are some new items at the cafe photo pool.
[more photos on the way... and some video footage]

Be sure and be with us at our next lunchtime meeting... January 17th... which will again return to the cafe. We'll be helping ministry leaders get familiar with YouTube, and be able to add any of its videos into the wiki. We'll hope to be working with some of the footage Scott shot today... So mark your calendar 'timeline' and stay tuned for announcements for the 1/17 meeting.

Anyone want to buy a slice of 1964 ?

Yesterday, during our time together which we call "Ask Anything Saturday", one of our cafe regulars asked... "How could I use the internet to help sell an old newspaper I have from 1964?"

As it turns out, he didn't just have ANY old newspaper, he had one from the day a young, brash Louisville fighter beat the reigning heavyweight champion of the world...


photo by Ellen Spencer

Cassius Clay, later to be known worldwide as Muhammed Ali, had just taken down Sonny Liston -- a fight that some of us remember from our childhood.

In the course of a few minutes, our newest 'new media' expert **way to go, Ellen** was able to take a photo of the newpaper and upload it to our UBcafe photo pool at Flickr. James is getting familiar with how easy it is to get a photo online and then use it in various pages around the web... eg., his wiki-page.

And we are now able to tell you about it here in the UBcafe blog site. That's the easy power of synergy at work.

So, does anyone want a slice of 1964?

Sister Victoria's Last Day...

Sister Elease & Sister Victoria

Today is Sister Victoria's last day working at the cafe. **sniff sniff** We're going to miss her for sure.

Click to get yourself a digital piece of the cake (and more). *smile*

Another great little video from CommonCraft... "Blogs"

**********************

Learn more about easy-blogging, and other 21st Century capabilities... in the 'Internet Tool Kit'.

Or come by the Unleavened Bread Cafe any Saturday morning... 10am... and make friends with some hands-on geeks who would be glad to help you with your internet questions & capabilities.

In the house today... a whole lotta folks...

The place was abuzz today with tons of folks -- we can't begin to name them all here...



But check out the cafe's photo-pool, and you'll see friends from way back... and friends of the cafe starting today. Folks from Texas. And folks from New York. [continued at UBcafe photo-pool]

[When are we going to see YOU here? **smile**]

Unleavened Bread Cafe -- "Food for the stomach and soul".... "Where smiles & hugs are free".

'Ask Anything Saturday' TV...

Get ready. It's coming...

Ask Anything Saturday TV.

"In all humility, we assert that between our entire network of friends, WE CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTION. Try us."

Coming soon to an internet tv near you. Stay tuned.

[Fact is, we'll be demonstrating the power of social-networking friendships, by interviewing many different friends & visitors at the cafe each Saturday. And we'll be inviting some web-cam cohosts out in the burbs... or maybe even across the country if we need to... to answer people's questions. ]

[Looking to HELP?]

Monday evening's MFC meeting at Tab

[click to zoom in]

Here's a photo from the neighborhood meeting held Monday evening at Tab. The meeting was conducted by the Mapleton Fall Creek Development Corp, in conjunction with the Mid-North Church Council and the goodwill of the people of the neighborhood.

Discussion tables were arranged topically, including... Service, Economic Development, Parks, Infrastructure and Security. Each table was well prepared with a helpful SAVI neighborhood map reflecting key items related to their topic.

The meeting was very well done... with possibly one notable exception. Almost every table's reported conclusions included some reference to the need for a centralized mechanism for information exchange. And while our table (Service) specifically discussed the 'Ask Anything Saturday' wiki as a helpful collaborative tool that could be used, in the end that was not reported to the larger group. Perhaps this reflects once again the problem we're trying to help solve at the cafe... These low-cost internet solutions are rarely understood or considered particularly useful by the people who need them most.

Thanksgiving Together...

[click for slideshow]

The neighborhood celebrated Thanksgiving together today (Saturday). God is good... all the time. Lots to be thankful for. Perhaps especially, a great little cafe in the neighborhood where people can get together year-round.

[click for the slideshow]

Peter's House ministry co-op

William Ross, "Peter's House"

We've enjoyed getting to know William Ross, founder of "Peter's House" housing co-op here in the neighborhood.

William is one highly-collaborative guy. Here's a wiki-page we're working on to see what's to be learned from this innovative housing effort here.

Visit the "Peter's House" photo pool.

Free Wheelin' Open House... Today

See the photo-pool from today's open house at Tab, for the "Free Wheelin" neighborhood earn-a-bike ministry.

The bike ministry is a Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood cooperative... directed by Nancy Stimson... and facilitated via Broadway United Methodist, Tabernacle Presbyterian, and the Unleavened Bread Cafe.

More about Free Wheelin'.

Free-wheelin'... Open House this Saturday... Nov. 17

[per email from Nancy Stimson]



"Dear friends and neighbors,

You all know about Freewheelin' Community Bike Co-op. It's a great place for kids to come and learn about bikes and much more, and for the neighborhood to come for repairs and great "re-newed" old bikes to ride! This Saturday, we're having an open house! We hope you can come - and bring your friends and neighbors. The invitation is attached with details. Feel free to print out several copies and spread them around - in fact, we'd appreciate it! Thanks for being there for us!

Yours,

Nancy"

[See FLYER for complete details.]

Also... meet Joshua Weir...




[Click here to see EVENT FLYER for complete details.]


More about 'Free Wheelin' Community Bike Project and how YOU can help these kids... [click]

Geeks In The House..... Praise God.

We're really thankful for the techs that show up at the cafe to help out for 'Ask Anything Saturday'. For example, today Alex Conner helped us a ton by trouble-shooting our wireless internet and curing the issue.



Alex is one of the 'Indy Christian Geeks' who are now getting together monthly for fellowship, learning and brainstorming ways to help the kingdom by using new media tools. [Stay tuned for announcements about 'BarCamp Indy'.]

In fact, he's now using his blogsite to produce training videos for some things you might want to know about out here on the 'information highway'. Stop in at his website and check 'em out.

Btw, a special thanks goes out to Alex's tech instructor at IUPUI... Dr. Thomas Ho... who put out the alert for cafe help today. [I guess so much of this just comes down to the cafe's GREAT HEARTS & GREAT CONNECTIONS!]

Or check out other new photos of some neat folks 'in the house' today.... [click to the UBcafe Flickr Pool]

Neighborhood Discussion... Nov. 19th

The below info pertains to the Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood. Here's our wiki full of key links re our neighborhood.


[Read on... per email copy]

Subject: Neighborhood Planning Meeting Nov 19

Plans are coming together for the MFCDC’s Community PlanningMeeting!

TAB has graciously agreed to host the meeting on November 19th, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Please help us get the word out bycirculating the attached information to your church or association membership,or anyone else who has an interest in the future of Mapleton-Fall Creek.

The meeting will begin with a presentation by De’Amon Harges(invited) regarding some of his findings as a “roving listener” in theMapleton-Fall Creek Neighborhood. Thiswill be followed by roundtable discussions on a variety of topics: Economic Development, Greenspace/Parks,Infrastructure, Housing, Others? Thediscussions will focus on current neighborhood assets, a vision for the futureand steps to achieve that vision. Wewill be looking for both long-term goals and some immediate action items tohelp guide the MFCDC set its agenda for 2008 and beyond.

We are looking for volunteers to help with the following:

· Design a flyer promoting the event
· Distribute the flyer
· Solicit and make arrangements for lightrefreshments
· Signage
· Spreading the word/Promoting the event

On November 19th, we will need help with thefollowing:

· Set Up
· Greeting/Registration
· Table Discussion Leaders/Facilitators
· Table Scribes
· Clean Up

Many hands make light work! If you can help with any of the above tasks, please let me know.

Sally Spiers

In the house... today...

'New' faces in the house today...



My good friend, Ian Hookfin, is back 'in the house' at the cafe today. God working through him, Ian was the one who introduced me to the cafe... back in 2000. He was the Community Ministries director when I came to work at Tab and we quickly became friends.

[The then-pastor disparagingly referred to us as... "oh you fundamentalists". LOL. But that's a story for another day.]

Anyway, one day Ian said to me, "So ya wanna do urban ministry, do you? Well get in the car."

Ian drove me up and down the narrow streets near the church, and at one point pulled over to the curb on a pretty desolate corner... 30th x Central Ave... and said, "Get out".

I said in shock, "Say WHAT?"

He clarified... "Get out, we're going in. This is the Unleavened Bread Cafe. You're gonna love it."

[And love it I did. And love it I do.]

It was so good to see him again -- it's been way too long. He's now a PT (physical trainer) up in Carmel, and one of our techs at the cafe was able to help Ian with some web stuff....



[Bryan Rohrer, Internet Design Works, was back in the house today too. Thanks Bryan!]




Gloria & Brian Carter were also 'in the house' today. Brian's a DJ... traveling under the name "Bloodwashed!". He's also involved in the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative, which helps optimally train urban youth leaders. I think Brian's been here lots of times before, and I'd met him before... but this is OFFICIAL now, because we have their 'photo at the banner'.

[So ya'll come... any Saturday... 10am. You're not 'official' til we get your picture 'at the banner' and upload it among all the cafe photos of our other friends!]

Video: "A Girl Like Me"

We're going to talk about this during our Friday morning Bible-study here at the cafe... Y'all come.

Hey, David, a new writer at the UBCafe

Neil and I are here at the cafe and I am learning about blogging. There is an awesome bible-study underway on fridays at the cafe dealing with racism in the church, where did it come from and how do we get it to go away?

My favorite site is... The Cause.

Cafe Board Meeting...

While 'board meetings' often get the rap of being 'bored meetings' (LOL)... this particular board (of the cafe ministry here) is EXCITING... as we see what God has done and is doing. The 'business' of the cafe is to do whatever we have to do to keep the hospitable front-door open... and we pray God will continue doing the rest.