The good, the bad and the … untamed?
Thanks to staying overnight at the hotel, we arrived at the Vineyard Midwest Regional Conference early, rested and without much stress. This was brought home later in the day when one of our group (that met at 6am and travelled up the first day of the conference) ended up falling asleep and was a little late to dinner! After I’d spent all that time searching for a hotel that was both close and had free continental breakfast, it was a real disapointment to see the paltry offering that was meant to start our day. At least the hotel was less than 10 minutes from the Wheaton College campus, the location of the conference.
Last year I told the story of meeting another Blogger at the national conference. I was sure that she’d be there, and she “just happened” to sit next to me in the first of the workshops. Totally awesome “God moment” there. A similar expectation was in me this time around: I’ve been reading a joint blog by Sara & Lightning Atkinson (”Church Brew”) and had the came conviction that I would meet them at this years (regional) conference. Based on what happened last year I had an eye open for them walking in the door [picture to come - random conference pic 1 and 2] but didnt see them, only to turn around and find them sitting right across the aisle from me in the first session! I think it might have blown their minds when I waled up and before there was time to have seen their conference name tags, I greeted them by name and said, “Ive been reading your blog for a while now”. Fun. Gotta love the way God moves!
The Vineyard movement is like a big family. Having met a few pastors and gone through the Vineyard Leadership Institute training program I feel a part of things. These first couple of days at the conference have helped underscore (a) how much I like some of these people and (2) that the more I learn of the movement, the more I like it and want to go deeper. The Vineyard community of faith is alive and vibrant with energy, coming to a conference like this puts into perspective any little issues we (that is, I) have about the local church. The movement, to the core, is solid and grounded … health is flowing … and it gives me so much hope that at the local level, as we walk the walk, we’ll see health too.
Rick Olmstead spoke in the afternoon yesterday, with Don Williams giving the first main evening address. Rick’s talk - “Unleashing the untamed faith within” - was inspirational, and a separate blog entry will follow on that. Don spoke on what it meant to be a “Jesus Centric” church - answering the question, what is ‘uniquely Vineyard’ - which “Jesus” are we centered on. That is, drawing on Brian D. McLaren’s “The Seven Jesuses I Have Known”. Many preachers will ask for some sort of response - raise a hand, nod in their general direction - the brave ones might even ask people to get out of their seat and move to the front. Don blew me away - “come to the front and KNEEL across in front of the stage…” What was fantastic to see was the humility of so many leaders streaming to the front, kneeling, re-centering themselves on the distinctives that they’ve missed.
Today, Dan Paxton taught a workshop on team building and Jon & Sue Marsden taught a workshop on “Couples in Ministry” which actually turned out to be a discussion of the egalitarian movement within the church, where Vineyard sits on the issue of women in leadership, women pastors. Amazing stuff, and a tape/CD from that session needs to wing its way down to Nashville methinks!