Good morning, Congregation.

The last few weeks have been interesting, haven’t they? In fact, I think the project is getting better. We have become wiser, more candid, and shared more than ever before. That means something phenomenal is happening…

Trust.

Whenever I make a post–especially revealing ones–I now anticipate comments to follow. The amazing part is that out of the many visits this site has each day, I recognize many commenters by name. I see you on chat. Some of you have even made friends with one another. Halfway into Project Conversion, I’m no longer sharing a personal journey with passive lurkers…we are building a community.

We are the Project Conversion Congregation.

Not once have I rejected a comment to one of my posts. Our Facebook Group is one of the most dynamic I’ve seen. Something else that blows my mind is how quickly we are growing. You are spreading the word and bringing folks to “church.” But we don’t preach here, do we? We are explorers of peace and spirituality. This says nothing about me, by the way. What it says is that I belong to the greatest world (yes, we have folks from all over the freaking globe here) community out there. What it says is that no matter what I write, no matter what I’m (or my family) going through, I can expect our Congregation to respond with candid, mature, and consoling comments and suggestions.

We understand that I’m no enlightened being here to give you some divine message. I’m not perfect, but I do have a mission. Like you, I’m a fighter and explorer. We all come to this site for different reasons, but we’re in this together. There are many people out there expecting and even craving Armageddon. I believe that so long as there is religious strife, misunderstanding, and animosity that we are personally setting the stage for war. Each negative thought, every maligned word, every harmful action is a bullet manufactured for slaughter. My mission–our mission–is to snuff out the fires of hatred. That’s our mission. And every time we meet here, we’re mission planning, talking strategy…

This is my spiritual boot camp.

Now that I’ve pumped your butts full of sunshine this Monday morning, let’s get down to business…

In an earlier post this month, I asked you to do a few things. One was to design a tattoo for me–or at least to get a more artistic friend to do it. We’re working on that, right? The other was recommendations for the site. Again, this is your Congregation. Think of the site as your semi-sacred meeting place. I want it to be as comfortable and accommodating as possible. Taking your suggestions into account, here are some of the changes I’ve either made or am working on for our temple of awesome:

• New look. The site is now more visually appealing with a slide show and photos/images.
• Easier to navigate. The new template allows you to preview posts before you read them. This also allows you to see more content without having to scroll through entire posts.
• Dedicated chat times. These times are on the P.C. Forum/Chat page of the site. Sans disaster, over-sleeping, or the rare hangover, I’ll be there to shoot the breeze during those times.
• A bibliography of all the books I’ve used during my journey is forthcoming.
• Email subscription. Sign up!

That’s it for now. Of course, there is always room for change/improvement. If you have a suggestion on how to make Project Conversion better, please feel free to email me at abowen@projectconversion.com.

Now, for those of you who read yesterday’s post…first of all, thanks to everyone who pitched their suggestions and advice. You people are first class. It should come to no surprise that my wife gave me the green light to go through with the Native American alternative for the rest of the month. Your comments (and my wife’s gentle suggestions) got me thinking more about my initial objections. You’re right. There’s just no way I could explore this in the same depth and intensity I’ve afforded the other months. I could kick myself, but we’ve learning not to dwell in the past.

Instead, I’ve decided on a compromise. The local university, UNC Pembroke, happens to be a school initially founded to educate the Lumbee people. Now a public university for all people, it houses a fantastic Native American museum with emphasis on the Lumbee. There is also a Department of Native American Studies. Because we home school our kids, I thought it would be a great idea to make a trip to the museum and see what our heritage is all about. In this way, I will take this week to explore Native American spirituality in general and my Lumbee culture in particular. By teaching my kids about these people and my taking a crash-course in Native spirituality, I get to kill two birds with one stone.

Thanks to your comments and suggestions, everyone wins and I stay married. Hooray!