Unveiled potential

For some reason I've been dreading writing about Christmas Conference. Sometimes it a challenge to put into words what you see God do. Sure, I call myself a writer, but some things are beyond the beauty of words. They move you to be engaged with the hearts of people, emotions, and it seems impossible to draw a picture that even dully demonstrates what you see.

Welcome to my best effort that is a dull picture. Know that Unveiled (Christmas Conference) was deepening, wonderful, fun, challenging, hard, restful but without sleep, and full of pursuit. 

Unveiled marked my one year mark of being on staff at Alabama. I didn't give that much attention at conference, until I was able to step back and really see the hand of God. 30 students from Bama came and by far the most significant thing about the week can be summed up quite simply--they wanted to hangout with each other. The students that came could hardly get enough and stayed up in the late hours of the night hanging, playing games and talking. For me, the joy was that they wanted me to be a part of it all. If I wasn't right there with them, I was getting text messages or calls asking to come find them. They wanted me there--they consider me to be a part of the group. Now, you might think thats not a big deal, and maybe you're right, but in my eyes, its HUGE. 

I've been on the listening end of a lot of conversations to hear the history of this ministry at Alabama. One thing that has not been true for a while is true community, specifically that involves staff. Thats not at all to say that the students haven't loved the staff or being around them, but it hasn't transfered much farther than from the 'events' of Crusade to life. Thats what I saw at conference. Once you transfer you really can't go back either. I'm better off not trying to describe it, so just trust me that it was wonderful. Something radical happened and it clicked that there is more than just a weekly meeting and coffee date. Its life on life I call it and they want that. It was a blast to have that with these students at Unveiled. 

So that was no doubt a highlight. Even in getting back to see that continue to play out. Once you have something great you are no longer satisfied with good. 

The other thing that was wonderful for me at Unveiled was being pursued. One thing that you often hear staff say is they are pursuing others, all true. But at conference, I felt pursued on so many levels. I felt the Lord intentionally and individually pursue me, other staff were pouring into me, students for sure, and D. I felt cared for and loved and important. The thing that stood out in all that (well really all of it stood out) was how personally God pursued me. When you're at this big conference with 1000 people, its easy to hear a corporate message. There is nothing wrong with those messages but it doesn't always feel personal or directed at what you're going through. I came into Unveiled with two issues on my mind and left feeling a peace about both of them. God spoke through two staff to really let me hear truth and let me hear something I needed to hear. It was special. 

 So that was that. Conference was super rad. Should I have ever expected anything less?