Rest of Friday at YS

Went to Chap Clark's seminar about middle school ministry. Really good stuff. Also a good reminder of some basic things that I have been neglecting and really need to put into practice.

I was really looking forward to the second main session because of this guy who Nicole is crazy about Shane Clairborne (I think that's his name, I'm so dumb.)

Anyway, he took the stage, spat fire, did a back flip, and then said he was honored to share with us the greatest sermon ever.

Then he proceeded to read the Sermon on the Mount and closed by saying a prayer that God would give us the strength to really live it. And that was it.

I was really looking forward to hearing from him. I figured he'd tell some wild stories and I'd want to read his book. then he started reading. And I figured he'd either read it and be done or he'd read it and use it to jump off of for his talk. I figured the latter. but he did the former.

A lot could be said about this. However, I loved it. I thought it was the perfect compliment to Andy Stanley's message earlier in the day where he said, "What do you do when you know you are the most important person in the room? You need to leverage your power to serve others."

So what does this Shane guy do when he realizes he is the most important person in the room, when he could totally just say whatever he wants, use the platform to espouse politica ideas or to sell his book?

No. He humbles himself and lets the Word of God speak. Total humility. I thought it was beautiful!

After the main session I had three things I wanted to do. This is typical of YS. I can't do it all. I wanted to meet Jay Howver, I wanted to say Hi to Andy from Wheaton, and I am a sucker for magic tricks.

Between trips to all three I saw a few lame card tricks from the magicians, met Andy Jack in the elevator and he remembered me from Nashville when Kurt Johnston bought us all dinner, and got to meet Jay finally.

I also got to meet Len Evans, a guy I think a lot of, and totally made an ass of myself. Totally frustrating. I was exhausted and as what often happens, I speak without thinking. So Jay and Len probably think I'm an idiot, which is true sometimes. Hopefully I can make it up to both of them.

So glad to be at YS.