This documentary will be seen either in theaters or on DVD by me and my family:
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Yesterday evening we were eating dinner at TGI Fridays celebrating my in-laws anniversary after a day at the zoo. As I sat there enjoying the company of our family and we were discussing the days’ events and the 34-years of marriage my in-laws were celebrating, I was caught off-guard by a young woman sitting a few tables away – alone. When I first noticed her I tried to assess whether she was just waiting on someone to return from the restroom or a phone call they may have taken outside. I would go from conversing with our table to once-again being distracted by this young woman as she half-heartedly finished her meal and drink.
As I sat there wondering why I couldn’t stop wondering about this woman and her circumstance – and why in the world I was distracted by her – it wasn’t a physical-distraction, but a nudging in my heart – I leaned over to my wife, Jess, and told her that I had to “do something uncomfortable” and explained what was going on in my heart and head. Even after I made my intentions “public” (to my wife), I still warred over whether or not to even get out of my chair.
I got up from our table and approached this woman and sat across from her in her booth as I introduced myself in as awkward a fashion as you can imagine. She sheepishly greeted me and didn’t ask me to leave. I told her my name was Stevan and that I was here with my family and that I was drawn to ask if there was anything I could pray for her about? She paused for just a moment – and then instantly replied, “Please pray for my mother.” I nodded and asked if her mother was sick and she nodded in reply and I told her that I would indeed pray for her mother. I asked her if I could pray right there with her and she hesitated, acknowledged that she was “trying to clear her head” and said she’d rather not. I told her that I would share with my family about her mother and that we would pray be praying for her. I shook her hand and asked her name – “Audra” – and went back to my table.
I prayed for Audra and her mother last night – and again this morning – and numerous times in between.
I also thanked God for His courage to step away from the comforts of my table and family-bubble to interact with this woman last evening. I wonder how many opportunities like what happened last night I have passed right by because of a lack of courage or dare I say – disinterest.
God, please continue to direct me in non-threatening ways to those in need of a touch from You.
Spontaneously yesterday morning we made plans to go to the Pittsburgh Zoo for the day – my in-laws were visiting from Indiana and we wanted to do something special with them while they were in town celebrating Ella’s 4th birthday with us. The zoo served as the perfect “special something”.
While it’s not the nicest zoo I’ve ever visited (I put it below both Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne), we did have a great time and saw some amazing sights. Ella thoroughly enjoyed the animals but especially the “Kids Kingdom” area where she went down numerous slides and didn’t want to leave!
Pics from our day at the zoo:
As I end this day at Exponential I’m reviewing all that I’ve heard/felt/tasted/thought/etc…
I took notes both on my computer and in my journal – and looking back over those notes here before I go to sleep, I find the need to post some of the highlights of what I’m garnishing here on the blog.
My pre-conference workshop this morning was put on by Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson of Community Christian Church and founders of the New Thing Network. This morning’s workshop was initially lead by one of their apprentices, Dave Dummit (@davedummit). The one-thing I took out of that session was the importance of church-brand – not so much what people know your church as “branding”-wise, but the thought and process that goes into building that brand – that identity of your church – questioning what the essentials are and what the non-essentials are. Dave was talking about the multiplication of church campuses, but it plays over into all church-branding, I think – realizing that “brand” is much more than just a logo and that much time/energy/prayer/brainstorming needs to go into the identity you are giving a ministry.
After the pre-conference workshop, I enjoyed sitting on the second-row for “plenary” (fancy word, isn’t it?) session 1 began.
First up was Mark Batterson – a favorite author and communicator of mine. He spoke powerfully for what seemed like only 10-minutes about the ‘back-story’ and just how important it is to know it and celebrate it. His story focused on the story of Balaam in Numbers 22 and the idea that “God is more concerned about who you are becoming than where you are going.” Another quotable, “Thank God that sometimes He gets in the way!” This rang true especially at this transition in my life – I so desire for God to direct our next-steps!
Louie Giglio was up next this afternoon in our main-session. His talk reminded each of us that while we each should be pursuing ministries that model the “Acts 2 Church”, the ‘actual’ church in Acts chapter 2 had no ‘model’ or ‘idea’ of what church should look/feel/taste like. They had only three things: 1. The teachings of Jesus. 2. Eyewitness accounts of the Resurrection. and 3. The Power of the Holy Spirit.
Praise the Lord – we have the same three things! (eyewitness testimony to the ‘dead’ being ‘born again’!) My personal prayer was echoed in Giglio’s words: “Lord, free me from walking by sight!”
After the main session we were able to attend two more “work shops” in the afternoon.
My first workshop was with Kem Meyer – she is the Communications Director at Granger Community Church in Northern Indiana. She gave a great workshop on using Social Media in Ministry. I didn’t learn anything “new” per se, but I did gather some powerful statements that should encourage church leadership to understand the power and influence of Social Media in ministry settings. She posted her PowerPoint slides from her workshop on her website here. My favorite Kem-quote was, “What you put online should be an extension of who you are!” – to me, this meant to be the same guy in real-life that I am on Twitter, Facebook, etc. – not to try and be something different in my offline/online worlds – but to allow my online interactions to be an extension of the real-me. I think I already do this – I just was reminded to continue keeping that as my standard.
After Kem’s workshop we ran across campus to Tim Stevens’ workshop, “Pop Goes the Church” where he encouraged the use of popular culture in media-settings. This idea has polarizing opinions so it was fun to work through some of the issues associated with the opinion.
Tim reminded us that the Apostle Paul used “popular culture” of the day in a few instances to influence the culture and share the Gospel. While I respect the desire to not be influenced negatively by all-aspects of our culture, I also acknowledge the ability we have to re-interpret some of what our popular culture has to offer and use it for furthering the Gospel! I want to be guilty of doing this in wise, relevant, and outside-of-the-box ways.
After our workshops I hit up as many vendors as possible, signing up for numerous freebies and iPad drawings. I also gathered the free resources that were available. I also joined a few dozen Wesleyan Church planters and staff for a relaxing dinner together thanks to Chris Conrad.
I’m looking very much forward to what tomorrow holds for me and my already-overwhelmed brain!
For the next couple of days, I am embedding myself in the church-planting/multiplication world through the Exponential Conference down here in Orlando, FL. So far, so good! To get a bit of background of what I’ll be experiencing and learning (as well as “who” is doing much of the teaching at the conference) visit http://exponentialconference.org
