sacramento!

Day One of the National Youth Workers Convention in Sacramento, CA: awesome. And that’s not just because we got free cotton candy, awesome green ‘freeset’ bags that were fair traded from India, and all the candy and resources for youth ministry one could fit into a sweet new bag. Even better than that were the guest artists: Mercy Me, Lincoln Brewster, Shane Claiborne, & Andrew Marin. Many more will come in the next few days!

One of the most meaningful messages of the day came from Bishop Sherwood Carthen who gave a fiery message about church workers. He said, “If you throw in the towel, who will do the work of God?” For those of you who know me well, you know that these last few years of seminary have had me questioning my vocation, and sense of God’s call. Sherwood’s message affirmed for me that I cannot give up. Matthew 4: 1-2a says “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” I’ve been in the wilderness known as Luther Seminary for the last 2 years, and yes, the devil has found me there multiple times. We have to go through a time of brokenness (wilderness time) before we can go through a time of blessing. Through that blessing, we are washed of our self-confidence (meaning, thoughts of how great we are), and then brought to a place where we can lead out of our brokenness. You cannot lead until you’re broken—because then all the glory naturally goes to God. I honestly feel that through my time at Luther, I am being used as a better leader in CA. Thanks be to God for bringing me to that time of challenge and then piecing me together for God’s glory in the end.

There are nine Good Shepherd leaders here spending four days with God, and learning how God can us more fully in our relationships with people, young and old, inside and outside the church.

I wish Kevin was here. I see many ministry couples here and get so excited about how God is going to use us together in the future to better the kingdom. We got a great piece of news this week from Shoshone Base Camp in Prichard, Idaho. After our trip there this summer, they asked Kevin and I to come out and be the guest speakers for a week in July next summer. We gladly accepted!

Highlights of today:
Praying with cell phones.
Bumping into an old friend, Erik Gravrock
Being handed a $25 gift certificate
Cameras permitted!
Getting to see Northern CA
Hawaiian pizza!