Ragan Sutterfield is a writer and farmer at home in the mountains of central Arkansas. He is the author of the
Ekklesia Project booklet God's Grandeur: The Church in the Economy of Creation. He is a blogger for the
environmental magazine PLENTY (Click here to read his blog), and has written prolifically on farming, food, culture and the environment.
GOOGLE his name to find some of his work; a couple of fine examples are HERE and HERE.
Ragan's talks:
Friday Evening: "Farming as a Spiritual Discipline" -- I will introduce the concept along with its practical possibilities that would be open to anyone with a little ground to work.
Saturday Morning: "Virtues: Spiritual and Agricultural" -- I will talk about humility and frugality as essential virtues for our age.
Sunday Morning: (not officially part of the conference) "The Garden City of the New Jerusalem" -- I will talk about the vision in Revelations of a Garden City and how that vision can guide us as we work to make the Kingdom of God present in the world. I will use several concrete examples of churches and groups of Christians doing this work through community gardens, innovative agriculture projects, and local food cooperatives.
Workshops
"CSA Farming" - Dan Perkins
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a popular local food movement across the U.S; in our case, we might also call it Church Supported Agriculture. Learn and discuss the pros and cons of a CSA and how one might fit into your community.
Dan Perkins is originally from Maine, has a Masters degree in Environmental Science and is currently the CSA manager at Victory Acres Farm in Upland, Indiana.
"Wendell Berry’s Warnings about Dead End Roads" - Dr. David Neuhouser
Wendell Berry has warned us about some of the dead end roads we traveling on today and has used some other colorful metaphors such as comparing the machine of human history to “a huge flywheel building speed until finally the force of its whirling will break it in pieces, and the world with it.” In this workshop we will look at some of these metaphors and consider some of these dead end roads. Most deal with agriculture and food but have applications in many areas.
The questions we will consider in this workshop are:
What are some of the roads that Berry claims are dead ends? Are they really dead ends? What are the difficulties to getting back to the right road? Why did we start down these roads? Why do we continue on them? What could we do to stop going down them? What light does or should the church provide on these issues?
David Neuhouser is the scholar-in-residence at the CS Lewis Center at Taylor University and has written extensively on the work of George Macdonald.
"Raising Chickens (in the city and beyond)" - Mark and Sarah Stultz
Mark and Sarah will show you their chickens and talk about raising them for eggs and meat. Workshop participants may be able to assist with the butchering of a chicken.
Mark and Sarah Stultz are members of Englewood Christian Church
"Keeping Bees" - Mary Bowling and Debbie Sluss
Mary and Debbie will talk about keeping bees and the challenges and benefits thereof.
Mary Bowling and Debbie Sluss are members of Englewood Christian Church and our Englewood Beekeepers.
"Land, Art and Agriculture in the Mission of the Church" – Brent Aldrich
In this workshop, we will explore the connections of Art and Agriculture and the role of both in helping the Church to critique the present domination of the powers and to imagine the ultimate reconciliation of all Creation.
Brent Aldrich is a member of Englewood Christian Church and a senior at Herron School of Art
"Growing Mushrooms" – Will Samson
Will Samson will facilitate a conversation on growing mushrooms for food.
Will Samson is a member of the Communality community in Lexington , KY and co-author of JUSTICE IN THE BURBS (Baker 2007).
"Christianity and Veganism" – Chad and Shannon Abbott
Chad and Shannon will discuss the vegan lifestyle and the connections it has with their Christian faith.
Chad and Shanon Abbott live on Indy’s near-east side. Shannon is a yoga instructor and Chad is a contributor to the forthcoming book THE EMERGING MANIFESTO OF JUSTICE (Baker 2009).
"Urban Gardening / Farming" – Englewood Christian Church and Communality
Members of Englewood and Communality ( Lexington , KY ) will tell the story of their experiences in urban gardening and will lead a conversation on growing food in the city.
"Feeding the Church Community" – Eddie and Susi King
Eddie and Susi will tell about their work in coordinating the gardens that feed a Christian community of over 200 people. They will highlight the role of children and youth in the tending of the garden.
Eddie and Susi King are members of the New Meadow Run community in Farmington, PA , which is part of the network of Christian communities formerly known as the Bruderhof.
"Prophecy and Prayer: The Vision of Liberty Hyde Bailey’s poetry for today’s Church" - Christopher Smith
In this workshop, we will read and discuss a number of nature poems by the early twentieth century farmer and scholar Liberty Hyde Bailey, whose work has been praised by many of the new agrarian thinkers, including Wendell Berry.
Chris will be joined by Indy singer/songwriter Joseph Kilbourn, who has been working on setting Bailey's poems to music.
Chris Smith is a member of Englewood Christian Church and the editor of Doulos Christou Press and The Englewood Review of Books
"Launching a Food Co-op" – Josh Bowling
Josh will talk about his experiences launching a food co-op in food desert of Indy ’s near-east side, and will lead a conversation about food co-ops.
Josh Bowling is a member of Englewood Christian Church and an employee of the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center .
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Ragan Sutterfield is a writer and farmer at home in the mountains of central Arkansas. He is the author of the