This weekend I returned home from another week of travel that took me to Atlanta and Nashville. My Atlanta trip was built around an invitation by Columbia Theological Seminary to participate in the Emergence NOW conference with Tony Jones, Phyllys Tickle and Phillip Clayton.
My week in Atlanta began with a visit to Central Presbyterian Church where I met with various configurations of the congregation: staff, session and youth. The youth group at Central and I go WAY back . . . all the way to General Assembly in San Jose where they attended as a group. We then ran into each other at the Inauguration and will see each other again in Minneapolis. What a thoughtful and faithful group of folks who just so happen to be young! Thank you!
In terms of the Emergence Now conference, it was a rich time of conversation and learning. There were certainly some diverse perspectives expressed about a great many things, but what a wonderful experience of interaction and exploration as we all discerned what God may have in store for the larger church. You can see some of the conversation from the live twitter feed: #enow and slides from my presentation on denominations and workshop on social media can be found here.
Here are a few other reflections on the event:
- Kimberly Knight
- Mihee Kim-Kort
- let me know of others . . .
I will also give a shout out to the folks who had some challenging words for me concerning a recent decision of mine. I so do appreciate that they came to me with all of passion and grace that I would hope for us to extend to one another when we disagree. The offered me strong words of complaint and disappointment while allowing me the room to listen and, hopefully, offer the same graciousness back. Thank you for the conversation and the glass of wine afterward ;-)
As my term begins to wind down and I continue to spend time with folks, I am still overwhelmed by the privilege it has been to hold this office. Thank you.