Random thoughts from the National Pastor's Convention

I have about 20 pages from my written journal, and haven't had a chance to re-read or think through things yet, but I wanted to get some thoughts down from the week in San Diego.

It was a good week in spite of the stomach virus and travel problems. Just the normal noises for someone who does this all the time, I suppose. I didn't really get to hobnob too much, and didn't get any pictures of bloggers, presenters, or otherwise "known" folks. I did spot several people I knew "of." Brian McLaren and I exchanged "hi's" and waves; Eugene Peterson looked at me when he walked in the door once; I was going to chat with Todd Agnew, but he had some female attention and I didn't want to interfere; I should have opened the door for Josh Fox when he was carrying this big ...something, but I wasn't thinking; and I did actually chat with blogger/author John Frye a bit on Wednesday. He was a super nice guy.

For a really good bunch of pictures from the event I found this guys blog: HERE. There is actually a picture of the back of my head on like the 5th from the last shot. I remember when he took it because he was annoying me with the sound of his camera. But since he included the shot of my balding head on his blog... I guess it's okay.

Awright... a brief, random rundown of some of the highlights I can recall at the moment:

• Fernando Ortega and Todd Agnew were probably the best parts for me. It was just Fernando and his piano, and Todd and an acoustic guitar. Their humble spirits were as awesome as their music. The first thing Todd did was thank all the pastors there (estimated at 3500), and the way he did it was just really moving. Can't explain.
• Bible Study at 7:30 am Thursday with Eugene Peterson was a close second. He wrote the Bible, you know (well, at least "The Message"). Skye Jethani wrote a nice piece about it HERE. He summed it up better than I can. We missed the BS with Stuart Briscoe, but I'm sure it would have been good too.
  
• My favorite main speaker was a guy I had never heard of before: Mark Labberton. His was the only book I bought (though I got a TON of free ones). It's called "The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God's Call to Justice." He asked, "Does our worship of God lead us to reach out to the poor, the oppressed, the needy, the forgotten? If not, maybe we're not worshiping God."
• I'm not really into all the cutesy skits and comedy stuff, but they were okay. One group - I think they were called "the skit guys" - did one one day and they said, "We can't let God down... because we don't hold God up. He holds us up." Perhaps the best line I heard all week.
• A thought I had at one point, and I'm not sure what triggered it, but I wrote it down: "Could it be that the greatest step of faith we take is when we are honest enough to question our faith?"
• The Jesus Painter. Nothing to say but... cool.
  

Well, there is PLENTY more, but that's probably good enough for now. I've got a big pile of books to read.

Peace, friends (and enemies).