TC at Level Ground's Chicago Road Show

If you're in the Chicago area this weekend, I hope you'll join me Saturday for Level Ground's Chicago Road Show, where I'll be representing Think Christian and leading a movie workshop. It promises to be a day of important dialogue about faith, gender, film and sexuality.

My session, scheduled for 4 p.m., is entitled "The Art of Empathy." We'll be screening scenes from a handful of LGBT-themed films and discussing how the art of cinema can foster empathy for those whose stories may be different than our own. Participants will also be encouraged to share what movies have worked for them in similar ways.

But that's really a side note to the day. Beginning at noon, the event opens with a luncheon introducing folks to Level Ground. A fairly new organization born out of a student group at Fuller Theological Seminary, Level Ground aims to create safe space for dialogue about faith, gender and sexuality through film festival programming and art curation. In keeping with that, the Chicago Road Show will also include a 2 p.m. screening of Kidnapped for Christ, Kate Logan's documentary about a controversial Christian behavior modification program for teens. A Q&A with Logan will follow the screening. The day closes with a concert and dialogue with Derek Webb.

As anyone who's a regular follower of Think Christian knows, faith, film, sexuality and gender are perennial subjects for us. And try as we might to create dialogue around those topics here at TC, there is no real substitue for doing so face to face. So we hope to see - and talk with - some of you there. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 to $10, and you can RSVP here. All events are taking place at Fourth Presbyterian Church on Chicago's Magnificent Mile.