... Day... Uh, What day is it anyhow?

Blur. Friends. Rob. Charissa. CJ. Eric. Ted. Food. Sleep. Conversations. Prayer. Worship. Conviction.

Justin Taylors session on the Emerging Church was my breakout of choice. I wasn't disappointed. I now own a vague understanding of what the movement is and a few of the beliefs it holds to. I saw these beliefs as challenges to the evangelical faith. Especially in the area of evangelism "I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it" -Some emerging church leader whose name I neglected to write down.
Speaking with Eric Hughes afterward we agreed our church should strive toward Relevants- taking the old story and asking new questions. Retaining the essentials but being willing to adapt the nonessentials. I saw this idea pop up surprisingly often in a conference tagged with an 'avoid reinvention' theme, however, even more prevalent was the term Humble Orthodoxy; the reminder to keep Truth sacred and always submit ourselves to Gods Authority. Justin pointed out that the first thing out of Satans mouth was not a lie, it was question planting a seed of doubt about Gods Authority. "A half truth masquerading as a whole truth becomes a complete untruth" -JI Packer.



Eric Simmons finished the night with a fresh message on Evangelism. I found afterward that I was actually provoked vs. that yucky guilty feeling I usually get after messages on this topic. Perhaps it is because of the leading I'd already felt in Justins breakout, or perhaps it met me where God has already been convicting me.
Encouraging us to 1-Think Globally and 2-Act Locally, Eric pointed out that as Paul is addressing us from prison in Col 4:3-6 he is assuming we live among people who don't know Jesus. Eric pointed out what should already be obvious - we are to be friends with non-believers, we are to live among them. "Don't just make them your mission. Make them your friend" -Eric Simmons. Whew. Am I glad he said that. I've gotten hints of just the opposite in past messages and I must agree with Eric in that we are called to love people of the world. He followed with a caution to retain conduct that matches the message we are preaching and living, but also gave a very practical tip to ditch the trendy Christian talk. To leave the words behind that are not understandable to a non-believer. He exhorted us to be bold, humble, and gracious in our conversations. To be more aware of how we say things than what we say. Attitude > Apologetics.

All of the messages from the conference should be downloadable on the website. I now leave to prepare myself for a day of travel where I hope to earn more free airline tickets to support my unsatiable appetite to travel.