Doug Pagitt turns 40 today. I was invited to celebrate at his birthday retreat - a small, manly huddle of unshaved men in a cabin in Northern Minnesota . . . who are no doubt rubbing mud on their hairy chests and playing mindless games of sumo wrestling without the padded suits.. . .
. . but alas, i am busy in England.
I have always been a big fan of Doug Pagitt. We met in San Francisco in 1997 when our family was ministering with street kids. Doug was working for Leadership Network and his role was to create a group of Young Leaders that would help bridge the transition in ministry from the old to the new, and be able to explain it. That group of 10 couples later changed their name to Emergent but well before then, we had a lot of good times and interesting conferences. The big one was 1998 New Edge Conference in Glorieta, New Mexico - if you were there and took pictures, please let me know because i am collecting media for a history of the emerging church.
You can see here, at the Braveheart statue in Stirling, that I am just a little taller than Doug. Some of my fondest memories of the late 90's included Doug - not just the conferences and events but rather the conversations over meals, squeezing our two families into a station wagon in Scotland, chasing gators in Florida, roller coasting in Texas, video gaming in Dallas, eating prime rib in Santa Fe. Great times.
Happy 40th, Doug!
Related: Pagitt on Emergent, Sharing a room with Doug
Doug has his own page on Wikipedia if you get time to write in some pertinent details.
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