NYWC revisited

sunday at NYWC in anaheim...
shane claiborne blew us away with his stories of living out God's kingdom. many of these can be found in his book
the irresisitable revolution:living as an ordinary radical
he told of putting his faith in action by standing up for homeless families in philadelphia, going to work with mother theresa, and worshipping with christians in iraq in the midst of the "shock and awe" bombing of bagdad. he even cashed out his YS speakers check into one dollar bills and stamped them all with the word LOVE. he invited us to come down front and take a dollar as a symbol that we would live lives of love, and give away to those who need love in our worlds.

i remember the first time i heard tony campolo speak. the gift of a prophet who moves one to action. i believe shane is the tony c. for this generation. just so happens that shane studied with tony and duffy robbins at eastern univ. and when i got to see tony after shane's talk, he agreed that the torch is passed and he was so excited by what God is doing in and through one of his former students!

i got to attend shane's afternoon workshop/seminar and he packed out a huge ballroom!
he challenged us to take what jesus did seriously. not just the being born again, saved for the future bit. but living out the kingdom now, today too. i got a chance to walk with him to his next meeting and talk to him about how we shared the wealth in our suburban youth ministry. i also shared how rob and i are simplifying and seeking to live out the kingdom in a new way...God's dream verses the American dream. he was excited that a couple of over 40 suburban types might consider being revolutionaries for the kingdom.

shane will be a part of at least one emergent village gathering in 07, so i can't wait to hear more!

sunday afternoon was spent getting the worship gear organized for my 9am workshop (held in the same huge room as shane's ) sunday dinner was spent in the disney village with some great folks from asbury methodist church in tulsa. thanks for the great meal and the fun conversation. and thanks kerry for our new sunday night tradition.

up early on monday setting up for the "creating sacred spaces" seminar. i have several prayer stations on advent and epiphany for folks to try as they come in. i am always grateful that anyone shows up for this class. it is 9am on the last day and folks are checking out and getting ready to go home. i always tell the crew that it is the workshop that i slept through as a participant! meaning i never got up to go.
we definitely didnt' pack it out like shane, but it was nice to see several other episcopalians in the
audience and make some new friends. i try to encourage folks that are in small churches and with small youth groups that they can do experiential worship...they don't have to have a worship band and all the expensive technology...so many seminars seem to be from the "big/mega" youth ministry perspective and i'm glad to provide an alternative view. i like to remind folks that experiential worship can be done in a group of 12 or 1200 it just takes thinking differently for each type of gathering. looking forward to next week in cincinnati when i'll be doing an early bird session on friday, not the final workshop on monday!

probably the only negative about experiential worship is packing up the gear to go to the next city.
the fun part is hanging out with shelly's team. you just would not believe the hours of labor that go on behind the scenes and the great volunteers who work tirelessly to make the convention run smoothly.
thanks to michelle, and all her great staff and volunteers for all they do!

tues. flight back from anaheim... up at 4:30am, ride to airport at 5:30am, flight 6:45am.
took off really late due to the weight of the plane and noise ordinances in OC.
got into minneapolis at 12:50 for a 1:08pm connecting flight to grand rapids. thankfully the
connecting flight was delayed til 1:30pm, then 2:00pm and we finally took off sometime
around 2: 45pm. made into grand rapids at 5pm grabbed my luggage, found the shuttle bus
and remembered where my car was parked and then drove to smokeybones restaurant for
the journey group meeting scheduled for 5:30pm!

since i basically don't get much sleep at NYWC conventions, i decided to camp out another day with
denise van eck and head home thurs. morning. still no cell, but i was able to check my messages and denise gave me the gift of a beautiful place with internet access and total quiet for the day.

wed. night, my mars hill friends celebrated the adoption of baby selah! so i joined my friend nate and his lovely bride, and others from the community life team to celebrate their beautiful daughter selah now that all the official paperwork is over! yeah God!

now it's on the road again...home to do laundry unpack and get ready for YS cincinnati. the team heads in over the weekend and youth workers will arrive on thursday.
so if you're coming to NYWC cincinnati, please send me an email and let me know.
i'd love to say hey to you while your there.
and make sure you try graeter's ice cream while you're in town! chocolate chips the size of quarters.
try rasberry chip or mocha chip(my fav).

and prayerfully i'll have a new phone by the weekend so my cell number will still work and i won't feel like an outcast anymore : )

Comments

[bobbie]

we'll be there volunteering!!

i get to finally meet tammy jo too!! yippee!

[Makeesha]

My hubby was at YS in Anaheim manning the Group Publishing booth, he enjoyed the stuff he got a chance to attend. :)

[Andrew Seely]

lilly an outcast??? never.

As always it was a pleasure to get to hang with you. And yes, you are the prophet in my ear as well as spiritual director.

Thanks again for all your encouragement and challenge.

[Patti Hollis]

Hi Lilly,
I was at that Monday morning seminar in Anaheim and soooooooooo appreciated what you had to share!! God has gifted me as a painter and graphic artist and one who learns by "doing" - I'm so excited about the doors you have opened for me! I have an entirely new way to read scripture now!! How awesome is that?? !! thanks!