John Pattison

We’ve NEVER done this before. 💪 @StrongTowns is LIVE right now — 4 HOURS of real stories, real action, and real people fixing their places. 💡 Insights. 💥 Inspiration. 🎁 Giveaways. Pop in. Stay a while. Or binge the whole thing. youtube.com/watch?v=czRp-BJp…

18 minutes of pure gold. 🎙️ The story how the local Strong Towns group in Nanaimo created a campaign that helped eliminate costly parking mandates downtown. 💡 Packed with lessons for advocates building movements in their own communities. 🎧 Listen: strongtowns.org/journal/2025…

This is so cool. Someone did a sketch notes of a session @proximityproj and I did at @TheRabbitRoom’s Hutchmoot this weekend. The title of our session was “Does God Care How Wide a Road Is? Placemaking as Culture Making.” Folks in our session were awesome, as you can see here.

From a hike earlier this year to a local waterfall. On the way out, I turned around for one last look and this is what I saw.

We have so many plums and blueberries this year! A photo of this morning’s harvest. What’s coming up in your gardens right now?

I'm loving the new look of @CTmagazine, @jared_boggess! And this cover by @MarcoLawrence_ is incredible. christianitytoday.com/ct/202…

The clouds outside Denver look like they were painted by one of the Hudson River School painters.

I’m challenged by this concept today: a REVOLUTION OF RESPECT. It’s the converse of what I’ve heard Sebastian Junger and others say — that contempt is poison to democracy, to local communities, to marriages, etc. “And what I'd love to see for those of us in the Church is that we would begin a revolution of respect. What would happen in our own lives, in the lives of our families, in the life of our nation, if instead of complaining about it, we began, decision by decision, to turn this around and begin to change everything — not by demanding that we get respect, but by showing respect even to those to whom we think don't deserve it?” — @MichaelHyatt, “At the Intersection of East and West Podcast: Sacred Marriage, Part 4” (2019)

When you’re at @StrongTowns/@NewUrbanism in Cincinnati, the celebrities you want to get photos with are bollards. Pictured: Rachel, Carlee, Karen, and Norm from Strong Towns; Tony from @Parking_Reform; and five beefy bollards that helped turn a block of West 15th Street into a haven for pedestrians and outdoor dining. #natgat2024

I agree with @pauljpastor: "horrifying and anti-human." Years ago I read a book by Kevin Kelly called "What Technology Wants." My fear is that this, this ad, is what technology wants.

How the church turns the energy of movement into the energy of radiance. This is the second installment in an occasional series in which I play around with metaphors new and old for the church. Today's metaphor: bioluminescent algae.

On the road for a week and I missed this!

Wrapping up a quick trip to the Austin area to talk @StrongTowns with some amazing local leaders down here. Now heading to the @parishcollectiv in Seattle to connect with faith leaders from around North America who want to help their communities become stronger, more livable, and more resilient. Someone asked me earlier this week, “When you consider the scale of the problems facing towns and cities, how do you keep from getting discouraged?” My response — unsurprisingly — included a quote from Wendell Berry: “Hope then to belong to your place by your own knowledge of what it is that no other place is, and by your caring for it as you care for no other place…” I told the person, “My hope is that there are people in every town and city who love their place as much as I love mine.”