Goose News

Have I ever told you how I met Speech from Arrested Development? Not the TV show, but the 1993 Rolling Stone band of the year, whose smart and visionary hip- hop shaped a sound in the 1990’s and provided the earliest soundtrack for my young adulthood. (If you haven’t heard the song “Tennessee” by Arrested Development, stop what you’re doing and go buy it.)

Anyway, I met Speech, the cofounder and leader of Arrested Development, at the Wild Goose Festival in 2013. This was just one of many momentous moments at last year’s Wild Goose Festival, to say nothing of the momentous moments of previous years. Sadly, this year circumstances prohibit me from attending, so I’ll be at Wild Goose only in spirit.

Fortunately, my friends and coworkers from InterVarsity Press will be there again, in what will be IVP’s fourth year sponsoring Wild Goose. We sponsor each year because it only makes sense; so many of our authors are fixtures of the festival that Wild Goose is a sort of homecoming for us every year. This year is no different: we’ll be reunited with Kathy Khang (coauthor of More Than Serving Tea), Leroy Barber (author of Everyday Missions), Fred Bahnson (coauthor of Making Peace with the Land), Dave Csinos (coauthor of Children’s Ministry in the Way of Jesus), Mark Van Steenwyk (author of The Unkingdom of God) and Noel Castellanos (author of the forthcoming When the Cross Meets the Street). And those are just the authors we know about!

But wait, there’s more. This year Wild Goose has put together a “publishers’ tent,” which means we’ll be exhibiting alongside our other publishing friends. We’ll also have book signings by a handful of our authors, namely Tim Soerens (coauthor of The New Parish), Chris Smith (coauthor of Slow Church), Alexia Salvatierra (coauthor of Faith-Rooted Organizing) and Mark Scandrette (author of Free and Practicing the Way of Jesus).

And if you’re an author or aspire to be, you’ll be pleased to know there’s a “literary track” a Goose this year, too. One session, entitled “Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! How to Promote Your Book,” features our very own online publicist, Adrianna Wright. Or if your bucket list includes photo bombing a publisher, keep an eye out for our videographer Nathan Baker-Lutz (Nate), who will be collecting footage of all the goings-on. And of course the tireless Andrew Bronson will be around as well, making sure the whole thing goes smoothly. If you happen to stumble upon any of them, do me a favor and tell them I miss them. Then tell them to get back to work.

I’m envious, I admit it, that I won’t be with you at the Goose this year. The Goose is many things—a music festival, a curated conversation, a camping trip—but it’s also an answer to a broadly felt need. I’m reminded of the lyrics to “A Sort of Homecoming” by U2; what they sing about is what people come to the Goose in search of, and what they leave the Goose remembering with fondness:

And you hunger for the time
Time to heal, desire, time
And your earth moves beneath
Your own dream landscape.

Or as Speech might say about the Goose: Love is contagious.

by Dave Zimmerman, InterVarsity Press

Thanks to everyone who entered our #WildGooseBumps contest for sharing your moments of community, joy and transformation. Since every entry was delightful, we picked a winner by writing everyone’s names on slips of paper, and picking one at random. So we are happy to announce our winner is: Bill Petersen! Congratulations! We encourage everyone to share your #wildgoosebumps via social media during #wildgoose14!

Here is Bill’s entry and a sampling of others to warm your heart: 

“Wild Goose Bumps came from a circle of 15 people in the midst of concentric circles of other Wild Geese gathered in a field receiving bread of the earth and a taste heaven from one another. We were fed with forgiveness and freedom in those circles, communion of the Spirit that rippled out of Hot Springs into the world like the rings of a pebble dropped into a pond, each empowered person embodying peace from that time and place.” – Bill Petersen

“I attended last year solo. I was a little hesitant….but the moment I walked onto the grounds two things happened. I first saw a banner asking ‘Who would Jesus Torture?’ Then saw a young man pick up and brush off a child who had fallen. It wasn’t his child, in fact he didn’t even know the kid! My heart said…’You are HOME!!'” – Vanna Fox

“Campfire Communion! We can’t stop smiling at the Goose!” – Tim Kerr (photo below)

“The Wild Goose Festival is another world in itself. A unison voice of song, praise and laughter declares the unexplainable joy among its fledglings. A voice that yearns for God, a voice that craves God’s love is heard among those who come to learn and explore their spirituality. But the most powerful of these voices is the voice of serenity. The voice that is hushed so softly that one can truly experience God in the quietness.” – Samantha Assael, 17 years old (photo below)

“One of my Wild Goose Bumps happened at Hot Springs in 2013 when I observed John Dear and Brian McLaren walking side by side in the campground. When I think of John Dear I think of peace and I knew that Brian McLaren was working on a book called We Make the Road by Walking. When I saw them together the phrase ‘peace walking’ came to me. I want to “peace walk” with my neighbor and my stranger and my enemy.” – Cindy Buckley

“The entire festival was so moving and inspiring. The best Goose Bumps that came out of it though, was our birth of our healthy baby boy Etienne, who was conceived there.” (Photo below!)
“My new friend and I sat up, long into the night, after the Indigo Girls, after the sing along, after the impromptu fire dancer, talking about the painful things said in churches. We talked about the salvation, the new life, in a theology of the embrace of women, of the Magnificat as revolutionary call. We uplifted each other, sisters (and brothers) as yet everywhere to be midwives evangelizing a bigger, healthier, stronger gospel.” – Jennifer Berry-McNulty

“Watching my 11 year old sing along at her first Indigo Girls concert (and my 20th!). And then watching her become an activist later that year after she heard at the festival about the protests for fair treatment of the farm workers in Florida.” – Beth Birkholtz