Pensees: Sleepless in Lansdale

Sleepless in Lansdale

I really want to be candid. Blunt. Part of the difficulty, however, of making friends is that you might lose them. This happened to me last year at the Shepherds Conference. I wrote glowing reports on day one and two and then when the college choir sang a Michael W. Smith song that bugged the living daylights out of me, I didn’t say anything. I wimped out. Or — and I really think there is truth in this, not just self-justifying excuse — I was pooped by that time in the conference. One thing about these conferences is that you don’t sleep. I don’t anyway.

Sleep is especially difficult when you are driving home on dark Pennsylvanian roads with Joel Tetreau and Tom Pryde. Somehow we got lost. I am not sure who to blame, but I am almost certain it wasn’t me. For the longest time we didn’t know we were lost. Tom Pryde and I recognized everything we saw on a road that we had never been on before. In the dark of night, after only four hours of sleep the previous night, Pennsylvania looks the same everywhere. We eventually made it to our destination and I turned out the light shortly before 3 AM. Joel Tetreau was so tired that the next day he complimented our hostess by saying that she and her husband reminded him of Ananias and Saphira because of their commitment as a couple to ministry. I winced. Joel is a Ph.D which stands for know-Bible-better-than-bob, but I thought God killed A and S. So I ever so humbly wondered out loud if Joel was thinking of Priscilla and Aquila. He was. Phew! And the sweet hostess lost the confused is-there-some-deeper-meaning? look on her face.

That aside, one hesitates to be critical of a conference because one is more inclined to remember the good things and celebrate them, reserving his criticisms for behind the backs of the people he is kissing up to. But I must say what I liked about the conference first. I will say what I disliked later unless providentially I am moved to listen to my wife’s counsel.

Nah.

Part of the blessing of going to a conference is the interaction with men who are in other ministries. Conversation with other leaders is always sharpening. Jason Janz is always on the prowl for interviews and he roped Greg Linscott, Tom Pryde, Joel Tetreau, and myself to join him in Sam Harbin’s office for an interview of the new President of Calvary Baptist Seminary (Harbin) and the new VP of Spiritual Formation at Clearwater Christian College (David Burggraff).

I won’t tell you anything about the interview (that’s Jason’s scoop), but I will say that I enjoyed hearing both these men knock all the soft-ball questions we lobbed at them out of the park. (I only asked one question that probably was a waste of time, but it was on my mind anyway.) I thoroughly enjoyed hearing these men share their heart and vision for their respective ministries. I do not know Sam Harbin, but I have known Dave Burggraff for some time and I have always enjoyed his enthusiasm for ministry and his heart for promoting the Kingdom (which he says is not here yet, but I am more inclined to think that it is). We share a passion for WWII history and have traveled Normandy together in the past. We want to do it again.

Hanging around, sitting in the pews, and chatting, going to restaurants, and solving all of the world’s problems proves to be a real source of refreshment for any pastor. (Reality strikes when you board the plane to head home).

Late in the evening, or the early morning, we prayed together. Each one of us has a different set of circumstances. Some are in the thick of conflict, others are enjoying the happiest moments of ministry, all are brothers-in-arms.

Truly, it is good to hear about the work of the Lord in other places, visit booths, meet new faces, hear about God’s work in His Church, and share one’s own burden. One of my purposes for going to the conference was to promote Global Grace. It was my pleasure to meet Jan Milton of Operation Renewed Hope and to share our passion for compassionate and confronational evangelism. I’ll do a separate post about that.

I wish that I had taken more time to talk with the aged black pastor William L. Banks. A commenter on my blog recommended his autobiography and as I was running out to meet Paul Auckland who was taking me to the airport, I hurridly purchased the book and rushed away. I devoured it on the plane home and now feel the sharpest pangs of regret that I did not take time to sit a few minutes at his feet.

For more pictures* and comments about my halo which nobody but my wife knew that I had, read this thread at SharperIron.