the 411: about our founder

INFO STUFF:

john is an active voice in the emerging/evolving community, and has been an active voice for a number of years.  he is considered a "leader" in the emerging church conversation, and is a dynamic, honest, up front speaker.  he has been called a "creative futurist" and someone who should be heard.

he is a graduate from drew university, with a masters in divinity.  he has founded three emerging communities, "the:water" [in las veags], "praxis" [in las vegas], and "the point" [in chicago]  he understand the emerging culture, because he lives in the emerging culture.

john is currently the lead pastor at 247connection, one of the leading emerging communities of faith in the southeast.  

besides being the founder of ginkworld, john also writes for a number of other ezines, The Ooze, dtour, Next-Wave, and others.   also, john has written for homiletics and other publications.

John has spoken at several major events and is available to speak concerning emerging leadership, cultural shifts and reaching an emerging people.

Here is what the National Council of Churches has to share in their 2006 Year Book of churches:

"Scores of EC proponents are using blogs to advance these ideas and stimulate dialogue. Lindner says it is not possible to generalize them into a predictable demographic class, but she offers examples of prominent EC bloggers: John O'Keefe, founder of www.ginkworld.net, "an emerging/postmodern site exploring what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today's world;" Spencer Burke, former pastor, founder of http://theooze.com  Web site, "dedicated to the emerging Church culture;" Mark Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill Church (www.marshillchurch.org) in Seattle; Mark Pearson, founder of www.cityside.org.nz in Aukland, New Zealand; and Karen Ward, founder and pastor of the Church of the Apostles, http://www.apostleschurch.org, in Seattle."

Other Places ginkworld.net has been mentioned:

New York Times

The Wall Street Journal

Colleges, Universities and Seminaries that have used ginkworld.net, or an article by john:

Assembly of God Seminary [second link] [third link]

Indiana Wesleyan University 

Drew Theological [second link]

Ashland Seminary  

EDUCATION:

INTERNET COMMUNITIES:

The following is a list of emerging church connective communities I either founded or belong to: