Just before 11pm last night, I pulled into the driveway after being in @lanta, …er… NOT-HOTlanta (whatever it’s called now) from a conference put on by churchplanters.com.  Typically, I’m pretty skeptical of “do this” conferences where people (i.e. pastors) come together and watch/learn and 99% of them take it home and try to “cookie cutter”, I mean implement, what they saw onto their church communities back home.  It never works that way.  Every community is different.  We’re not supposed to look like each other.  Even from pew to pew, seat to seat… we’re SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT.

Stepping down now from my soap box, there was a TON of fascinating conversations and teaching that came out this weekend.  But, perhaps the most positive enriching part of the trip came from just watching what came out of some VERY genuine hearts.  The worship was excellent, and for one of (if not the) first time in my life I wasn’t distracted by my critique of the service/production/sound/everything.  There were definitely things I would do differently, but there were definitely things to learn as well.  It was fantastic to sit back and feel so incredibly thankful for Crosspoint, our community, and my job.  I can think of no better vocation than one that allows for me to create nearly every waking moment of my days.  Just today, I’ve played guitars and learned a few new things, written music, edited videos, scripted a service, and now I’m writing.  These are the moments that make me feel alive… and I have so much more to do today!

But, it can come with a cost.  As the 8 of us sat in the ATL INT airport last night debriefing the quick trip (while I ate the best freakin’ bourbon chicken I’ve ever had), it hit me how burned out I had been before I left.  Then after a very quick 36 hour trip, and sitting on my arse the whole time, I was feeling completely jacked about coming back and getting back to it.  I guess I just need to get out of my routine sometimes to feel good about it again.  GOD does work strangely “sometimes.”