Tuesday

Tuesday was really good here at the Vineyard Conference. In the morning session there was a discussion panel composed of some of the Vineyard's pastors who have been in the movement a long time. It was insightful to hear their perspective on the Vineyard's past, its challenges, and the way forward. When I have time to write more I'll includes some quotes.

In the afternoon there was a picnic for everyone on the soccer fields. It was almost 100 degrees! That's crazy! Anyway, it was fun to talk to old friends and meet some new ones. Then, I went to the Ampelon Press information meeting.

Last night Lance Pittlock, pastor of Anaheim Vineyard, spoke about the presence of God. Again, I'll share some quotes later, but it was right on. It challenged me to remember that the distinguishing mark of God's people is His presence. I can certainly get drawn into just doing my thing or running programs for the church. Thanks Lance for the reminder.

I'll write later, but have to get going to the first session for Wednesday. See ya!

We're Here!

We made it safely to the Vineyard National Conference. Our flight left out of Indy at 6:50 a.m., so we got up at 3:15 a.m. and left Batesville at 4:30 a.m. Anaheim is beautiful! It was over 90 degrees yesterday. I thought I would keep you updated about the conference by taking notes and sharing a little after each session. Here's what went on last night during the opening session:

Monday evening was an time of worship. The speakers will come later, but they wanted to start out by simply singing to the Lord. Jeremy Riddle, Tony Sanchez, Nigel Briggs, and Sheri Carr led us in worship. It was a really sweet time. They also handed us a program that contained an articles by John Wimber, "Worship: Intimacy with God". Here are a few quotes from it:

• "Worship, the act of freely giving love to God, forms and informs every activity of the Christian's life."
• "We noticed that as our individual worship life deepened, when we came together there was a greater hunger toward God. So we learned that what happens when we are alone with the Lord determines how intimate and deep the worship will be when we come together."
• "About that time we realized our worship blessed God, that it was for God alone and not just a vehicle of preparation for the pastor's sermon."
• "A result of our worshiping and blessing God is being blessed by Him. We don't worship God in order to get blessed, but we are blessed as we worship Him. He visits His people with manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Thus worship has a twofold aspect: communication with God through the basic means of singing and praying, and communication from God through teaching and preaching the word, prophecy exhortation, etc. We lift Him up and exalt Him, and as a result are drawn into His presence where He speaks to us."
• "But how should we worship God? There are various ways described in the Old and New Testaments: 1) Adoration: praising God simply for who He is - Lord of the universe; 2) Thanksgiving: giving thanks to God for what He has done, especially for His works of creation and salvation; 3) Confession: the acknowledgment of sin and guilt to a holy and righteous God."
  
• "As Carol pointed out, worship involves not only our thought and intellect, but also our body."
• "So we should always come to worship prepared for an audience with the King."
• "The church must be quickened to the fact that the God of the universe will visit us if we but worship Him in spirit and in truth. Much of the time when Christians come together they don't expect God to do much But God is like an anxious bridegroom outside the bride's door. And we, as the bride, frequently forget what we are there for because we are scattered in our thoughts or preoccupied with concerns."

We'll that's about it for now. Last night was also a good time to see some folks we haven't seen for a while. Thanks to all who are praying for us on this trip. I'll write more soon.

See ya!