Well, the Convention was extraordinary. Some 3500 people came through, and hundreds more came to the Friday night concert. You can read more than you will ever want at Kendall Harmon’s website here. Note the links to lots of photos on his website, too.
I spent most of my time
around the edges of the Conference. I
picked up Rick Warren in the middle of the night early Friday, and hosted him
throughout the long day. It was good to
spend a day with Rick, and to get a better measure of the man for it. My impressions of him didn’t change. He seems to be the same up close as he seems
at a distance. Genuine, a LARGE thinker,
a great gift for strategy and communications, hugs everyone in sight (I had to schedule 10 extra minutes every time I tried to escort him between his room and anywhere; when we were LATE for his talk, I finally said, 'OK, Rick, we are now on a new spiritual discipline - No more hugging for the next 10 minutes!"),
absolutely sold out to the Gospel, and quickly able to grasp the measure of the
moment. By the end of the weekend there
was a significant friendship between his Purpose Driven movement and
evangelical Anglicanism. Another
friendship between Rick and a few of the Primates at
a long late night Friday meeting formed before my eyes. He
makes friends quickly. You can get the
substance of his talk here.
People have asked me my ‘takeaway’. All positive. The movement is far deeper now that it was just three years ago. That is perhaps because some with no more
heart for this fight have peeled off, and perhaps because too many with lots of
heart have suffered. Perhaps most of
all, though, God has been shaping us. Resetting
our DNA for what inevitably lies ahead.
Here are some phrases from Bp
Duncan’s summary at the end of the Conference…
“It has all been about
choosing Jesus Christ…
About leadership that comes
from below and is blessed by above rather than leadership that comes from above
and is blessed by below...
The choice is for exile…
The choice is for the new
day and the new thing that God is doing…
The choice for one another
in the battle…
The choice for truth over
accommodation, for accountability over autonomy… for courage…
The choice for worship and
scripture and for God’s plan for us… wait on the cloud and the pillar…“
He brought a prophecy from
one of our intercessors that summed it up best for me…
“This is what the Lord
says… [After General Convention] Dallas
was our Palm Sunday. ‘Hope and a Future’ is our Maundy Thursday. Next is Good
Friday. Be watchful and be ready. But after that comes the Resurrection and the
release of mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
I posted your video interview on www.ctsix.org
Posted by: Kevin | November 15, 2005 at 11:25 PM