God's touch through others

Lately I've noticed two tangible occurences in which I feel the touch of God through friends: being prayed for (or over), and being given "God's peace" in a handshake at departing.

I felt an amazing sense of God's provision when Darlene Zschech, longtime worship leader and pastor at Hillsong Church, Australia, prayed over our entire group (a few thousand) at the Wonder conference.

And I again felt God's hand when Ian Morgan Cron and I said goodbye after meeting in person, and Ian wish me "God's peace."

These are tangible evidences of God's Spirit reaching directly to us through the person of another. What a gift.

Wonder 09 - post conference thoughts

Just returned to my inlaws' after the fantastic Willow Creek "Wonder 09" Arts Conference. As often happens, I had every intention of blogging throughout the event, but the firehose of input was too great! I did twitter regularly, and those feeds appeared in my Facebook page as well. I will blog my impressions and experiences over the next few days, but in the meantime, I've uploaded a public photo album to Facebook which you can view here.

Wonder 09 - Opening Session

As always, Willow doesn't disappoint when it comes to worship, wonder, emotion, and spectacle. There was so much talent on that stage, from the band (and esp. Chris Siebold on Guitar) to the great singers, Matt Lundgren's leadership; the dancers, readers and actors; world-class lighting, video and sound; and of course, Nancy Beach's vision and clarity of presentation running like a thread throughout the entire proceeding.

I've been listening to Nancy for over 10 years now, and it's fun to watch her life grow and change, and see how she incorporates that transparency into her talks. She is a masterful presenter. What a joy.

What a great opening to what promises to be an incredible Conference. It's the one I try not to miss every year!

Great thoughts from Purpose Driven Life

I'm in the home stretch (2 chapters to go) of reading Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life." There are some simple but very profound thoughts throughout the book. Here's one from Chapter 38:

"People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers."

One discipline I added during the study was to go ahead and type out all the scriptures referenced each chapter. It's quite an amazing collection. Now and then a verse will pop out, even though I might have read it many times before. This one hit me today:

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26-27 ESV

It's just some great stuff for thought and meditation.

Heading to Willow Creek

John Ortberg speaks of the benefits of, among other spiritual practices involving our time, taking an annual "pilgrimage," where we leave daily life and go to a place where we can connect more deeply with God for an extended period of time. For me, this annual trip finds its depth in the Willow Creek Arts Conference outside of Chicago each June, and next week I will once again make the trek to South Barrington for "Wonder 09."

I have attended a few Willow Arts conferences, and never been disappointed. The worship is wonderful, and it's always a bonus for those who lead worship on a weekly basis to stand under the leadership of others and simply worship, without having to do the heavy lifting. And worship at Willow has NEVER disappointed. This summer promises to be great with Hillsong United's team from Australia leading worship on Wednesday and Charlie Hall on Thursday night. Darlene Zschech and Joel Houston from Hillsong will also share learning experiences with us.

In addition, some exceptional folks will be presenting in other sessions: Phil Vischer of Veggie Tales fame; Chip Heath and Dan Heath, of the great "Made to Stick" book and contributors to Fast Company magazine; and of course Nancy Beach, who always inspires and motivates me!

At this conference I will be leading a Conversation entitled "Reclaiming the Mystery: Liturgy in Contemporary Worship" that I am very excited about. I've been thinking hard on this topic for these past two years while working at a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, and even trying out many of these ideas in worship services. It will be great to hear from other likeminded folks.

I'll be Twittering throughout the conference (Twitter: @johncomposer) and blogging as much as I can.