Today on episode 7 of the Listening in Place Project, Cassie Carroll (Master of Divinity, ‘16) talks with Gideon Tsang of Vox Veniae and Space 12 in east Austin about beginnings, listening, rest, and self-awareness.
Gideon on starting a church: I always felt like they were holding us back. But, in hindsight, I think I really needed that time. I think God was giving me time to learn how to be a pastor. […] It was a really gracious time — I didn’t know how to receive it.
Gideon on listening: What really happens is you live life together and then along the way the voice of the community finds you. Rather than you saying ‘this is what the voice will be.’
Cassie on listening to our bodies and souls: What I’m hearing is that your own identity — your self-awareness, your self-care — impacts the way you lead.
Gideon on burnout: Maybe we aren’t supposed to prevent it. When you come to the end of yourself — no one would choose it, but once you get there it’s an invitation. I think that’s how grace works. You have to exhaust your ego. Then, it’s an invitation to the interior journey.
Gideon on who Vox is becoming: We are who we are because of whoever is in our community. I’m not trying to shape who comes. I’m trying to invite all of us to find God’s vision for our lives.
About Gideon Tsang
Gideon Tsang is a pastor with Vox Veniae in east Austin, Texas which pioneered Space 12, a unique non-profit collaborative space which serves as a neighborhood gathering point hosting art shows, concerts, slam poetry events, computer classes, and dance classes, while partnering with neighborhood associations and varying organizations. Space 12 weaves links globally with partnerships in Afghanistan and India, a book exchange program for inmates, and an anti-trafficking network. The city is taking notice, too: Space12 was voted “Best New Collaborative Art and Volunteer Space” in the Austin Chronicle. Gideon’s wife Karen is a graphic designer and their house is filled with beautiful chaos via their two boys, Joshua (14) and Noah (9) and their two pups Trixie and Mochi.
About Listening in Place
After graduating with a Master of Divinity from The Seattle School in 2016, Cassie launched Listening in Place, a venture in which she is collecting stories from pastors and practitioners throughout the United States who are practicing new, innovative, and compelling visions of what it means to be the church. And for more from Cassie, check out the presentation of her Integrative Project, “The Pastoral Both/And: A Complicated Story.”
Show Notes
The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida
Music courtesy of bensound.com.