The concept behind Alt+Shift

As you know the Young Adult retreat for 2010 is going to be called Alt+Shift. Here’s a look at some of reasons behind the choice of the name.

Firstly, I’m quite keen to talk about the fact that being a Christian needs to translate into some kind of shift in the way we live our life. Young adults are at the stage of life where they are making decisions about the kind of life they are going to live. The kind of family they will start .. the kind of daily routine they will set off on .. for a large part of their life. They are also … a lot of them highly stressed, super busy .. and at late 20s and 30s … a lot of them are re-thinking their life. After all, Christianity cannot just be some theoretical, conceptual framework for perceiving the world, it has to be a new way of living.

So here’s the main “one-liner” for Alt+Shift:

is there a better way to live?

Tagline reasoning:

I chose this, because initially I wanted to go with “surely there must be a better alternative” or “Shift to the Alternative” (which actually is a pretty funky use of a hebrew chiastic AB-BA structure… that according to my wife, will be LOST on everyone). I wanted people to think about an ALTERNATIVE to the kind of life they are living now. What are you doing now … how could be living differently. What would you do .. if you lived differently … that kind of thing.

However, I didn’t like that first one “surely there must be a better alternative”, because then when people are finally at the camp, and they hear stuff and maybe they don’t like it, they’ll be thinking .. wow the tagline of the camp is TRUE! there must be something better than going to this dud camp! It’s like these Aussie Idol/X Factor/America’s Got Talent auditions .. where the person sings/dances to “I’m bad, I’m bad” .. and the judge says .. yeah .. you know what .. “you’re bad, you’re bad”. I’d much rather a tagline that has a DOUBLE meaning. Like the weather channel’s tagline here “Today’s weather: RIGHT when you need it”. Yeah. so its immediate. right when you need it. but also .. they get it RIGHT. when you need it most (actually they  never do).

So, the tagline will not only ask .. is there a better way to live .. compared to the way you are living now. It will also ask, when you are at the camp, and hearing the words of Jesus, and the Alternative way of living life based on the Bible .. is there a better alternative to this? (implicitly no). See ?

Also, (for all you biblical Greek geeks out there), the bible talks about a way to live, or a way to conduct life a lot. it’s the word peripatew (transliterated). That’s why they initially called Christians … followers of “the way”. so .. it’s like a hidden biblical allusion.

Going to keep it consistent with our ‘techie’ feel for msg. Alt-Shift should be pretty easy to remember. And look! everyday .. when you are typing on your computer .. and camp is coming up .. you can look down at your keyboard .. and BOOM! there’s a reminder .. that camp is coming up. And after that .. you can look at your keyboard .. and remember .. that Christ talks about n Alternative way to live .. BAM! right there .. next to the letter Z! hahaha .. i love it!!

Again, the retreat will have that relaxed and personal feel of last year’s camp. I’m looking for singles and couples to really spend some time in reflection and discussion. We’ll have morning chats/devotions, we’ll have individual 1 on 1 sessions that can be organised. There’ll be material for you to work on with your partner, or by yourself on the beach … during free time. It’s really going to be some good time away from the hectic pace of work … to slow down and reflect on life and what you are doing.