Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of God.

Here are some pictures of the kids taken earlier this week while visiting their Grandparents in Montgomery (Texas, that is…)

(Above: Anson could not stop giggling at my request for him to kiss his sister)

(Below: A couple of shots in front of my in-laws home)

During Annual Conference I went to a meeting where the discussion was based around the question of preparing young clergy for future leadership in the Conference. People saw preparation for future leadership in many different ways – some based on personal practices, other based on knowledge, others based on skills. In other words, do we teach these clergy skills they will need (running a capital campaign, preaching, etc…), do we fill them with knowledge (wisdom and insights into the practice of ministry), or do we help them understand self care and practices of personal piety.

Since I am very pious and full of knowledge, I vote for skill. J

Anyway, at the end of the discussion one pastor from a very large church in Houston said, “I hate to throw the fat in the fire at this point in the conversation, BUT…” Then he went on to ask the question of how you tap certain clergy for this training without creating a hierarchal system that leaves many people out. Basically, what signal does that send to those who are on the outside?

For me, it was the very best question. I had not begun to think in that direction, but I have thought about it ever since. I have not come to a resolution on the question and am unsure how it would work without creating as many problems within our Methodist Covenant as solutions.

We are wrapping up the final day of Annual Conference this morning, then I am heading back home to see the family. I missed my daughter’s first piano recital last night. I felt really guilty, but I am so proud of her. She is a wonderful, lovely, and imaginative girl.

I received the Eric Anderson Award for Evangelism in the church this year. My parents came in for the dinner and banquet. Here are some pictures.

Here is a picture I just took in the balcony at Annual Conference. We are in a general business session. Sorry for the spotty and dark photo.

Today’s service was great. I am having one of these days where I cherish being the pastor of this church called Dayspring. I offer membership every four or five weeks. My hope is to have 5 people join when we offer membership which means we would average about 1 person a week joining our church. Today we had 12 adults and two children join – spectacular.

On this Memorial Day Weekend, we honored those serving our Country – both in remembrance of those who gave their lives serving in the military and those currently serving.

We also honored all of the people who serve at Dayspring by giving them a free “Live Different” t-shirt. I wore mine today. Apparently, I said something like “today I am wearing a shirt…” to which someone replied thank God or something like that. It caused a few good laughs.

I am leaving in a few minutes to attend “Annual Conference” in the Woodlands. Annual Conference is the yearly gathering of preachers and representatives from each local church in our Conference (territory). During our time we will take care of the business of the Conference, vote, worship, connect, and enjoy the oneness we share in Christ and through our connectional system.

I have been thinking that I would like to have a pulpit panel discussion that is interactive with the congregation one Sunday. I am just in the beginning stages of thinking about this so there are a lot of details to work out, but maybe sometime in the fall it will all come together. What I envision is moderating a conversation between the congregation and a pulpit panelist. The biggest piece is to find a person who will draw interest and bring a holy conversation to a point of application in the congregation’s lives.

On June 1^st Dayspring will hold a combined worship service for adults and kids. We are going to incorporate elements of both services and allow the adults to catch a peak at what the kids are doing and the kids catch a glimpse of what the adults are doing.

We have worked hard to put together a fast paced, fun, and theme oriented service over the topic of forgiveness. I believe that we have produced a service that will seem natural and not as if two different styles were stuck together.

If it works, I would like to do this a couple times a year.

One of the big challenges of starting a portable church is the sheer number of people you need to volunteer each week. Dayspring is fortunate to have a very high percentage of volunteers. We actually have more volunteers than members though not all of our members are volunteering…yet.

This Sunday is our last in the live different series and we are going to honor our volunteers, not by having them stand so we can stare at them and making funny clapping noises, but with something tangible that they can take home and remember.

During the month of June we will join with over “one-thousand” churches who will be exploring together the question: “What would you pray if God would answer One Prayer for the Church at large?”

During this four-week series you will hear four different pastors preach on their “One Prayer” for the church of Jesus Christ. Two Methodist preachers and two non-Methodist, two live and two through video feed.

Specifically, we will…

• Promote unity in the body of Christ.
• Expose Dayspring to other great teachers and ministries.
• Take an offering and combine it with a thousand other church offerings to raise money to plant 500 new churches in Cambodia, India, Sudan, and China!
• Fast, pray, and seek God in concert with thousands of other believers.
• Participate in the larger work of God in His church.
• Mobilize our church to do ministry outreach in our local community.