Bennett..... OK, I heed your request and shall break the absence of not writing anything for almost a month here and do a quick catch up.
Maui was wonderful - getting to read, and family hang out all together....
Then went to Portland, and spoke at a "They Like Jesus But not the Church" seminar at George Fox Evangelical Seminary which was sold out and very encouraging to see the interest in the topic and the mission of the church. Then taught 2 days at the seminary for a graduate class I am teaching on the theology and practice of worship.
While in Portland I got to hang out with Kevin Rogers and Rick McKinley from Imago Dei church. Very fun connecting and we share so many of the same values of what church is and the mission of Jesus.
Hung out with my brother Tommy, who lives in Portland.
Visited with Dan Lockwood, the president of Multnomah Bible College and Seminary. Becky and I went to Multnomah and I took a remembering walk around the campus and went and prayed in the same prayer closet (a literal closet) that I used to pray in the little white chapel on campus.
Then it was back to Santa Cruz. Wonderful to reconnect with Vintage Faith and what is happening.
Next week, some folks and friends from Zondervan are coming to Santa Cruz where we are filming a DVD project for the They Like Jesus but not the Church book. In prep for that, I spent a couple hours today with my friend Gary, who is in the band The Chop Tops and is in the book and going to be interviewed next week for the video. Met with Penny yesterday for a couple of hours, who is also being interviewed next week and in the book. We will be interviewing the various people in the book who aren't part of any church and express their impressions of Christians and Christianity, yet they respect Jesus. So lots to do in prep for that next week. It is filming every day all day, and every night Tuesday through Saturday. So will be very interesting. I have not done one of these things before.
Tomorrow night is our monthly Vintage Faith Church Palette Meeting where we plan out the next teaching series and the creative worship expression - we are starting a series on Easter Sunday going through the seven "I Am" statements of Jesus in the book of John. The Palette Meeting is my absolute favorite meeting of the month and love being there with everyone. We meet at a coffee house up in Scotts Valley called the Coffee Cat.
So, Bennett - I have obeyed your request and blogged again. That is a month of catch up. Thank you for picking me up from the airport.
