AC2010 Plog Part 3

Time for part 3. It took me 2 days to recap day 1. This one should not be as long. I hope. In the words of the venerable Perry Farrell, “Here we go!” Once again, my hand-written notes are in black. My commentary on said notes is in red italics.

And so begins day 2. I wrote this first part at the hotel just after eating breakfast. It’s almost time to check out and head back to Clearbranch. I enjoyed yesterday. I’m really looking forward to today. I’m excited about hearing Adam Hamilton.

Went to Villa Fiesta with Heath last night. It’s an Annual Conference tradition. Good food. Good company. We had a really good dinner. After eating we sat and talked for a while. Wish we’d had more time for a movie or something, but we had a nice visit nonetheless. I always enjoy getting to visit with Heath.

This morning I actually over heard these words spoken by an AC attendee at breakfast, “I hope I’m not embarrassing you guys dressed casually like this.” The guy looked to be in his mid-50s. He was wearing khaki shorts and a t-shirt. Which is my uniform when I’m not at work. And at works sometimes, too. In other words, it’s exactly what I was wearing at the time. I was embarrassed for him asking the question.

Well, here we are. Day 2. I’m about an hour early. Before I forget to write it out, I need to say that I love the background set. Actually I guess it was more of a backdrop than a set. It was really cool, though. It looks like 20-30 pieces of 1½” PVC staggered in parallel lines with colored lights shining up on them. The lights would change colors (all the same or alternating colors) and intensity. It looks really good. Here’s a diagram:

Time to get some water. Something else overheard this AM: “We can’t sit here. These are all handicapped seats.” Really? Are there fines for sitting there?

Had a brief moment of panic. I went to get some water and left my stuff in my seat as I went. When I got back, I could not find my notebook. After a few panicked moments of searching I found it buried in my backpack. It had fallen in there.

Potty break. Hopefully it (my notebook) won’t attempt another daring escape.

Looks like our cell phone count stands at 3 following day 1. I expect that to triple today. I predict 6 rings between 9 am and 3 pm.

I like this worship leader, but he’s starting to remind me of Bill Murray’s lounge singer character from SNL. I half expect him to start singing, “Star wars. Those near and far wars…” He’s got passion though. He’s also not afraid to use guilt to get us involved.

Bishop Willimon asked for prayers for the Conference’s prison ministry. Especially with Tom Duley’s ministry to Death Row inmates. And especially with John Parker. He is scheduled to be executed this Thursday. Pray for John and Pray for Tom. That was yesterday. John was executed yesterday at 6:41 PM.

Visit cokesbury.com – improvements have been made. “Now it looks like everyone else’s.” Hmm… It’s not often that a speaker introduction becomes a commercial. This one started out that way.

We have a notes sheet, so I guess I’ll move over to that for a little bit. Maybe I’ll keep using this for commentary notes. Here comes Adam Hamilton…

I’m trying to figure out how to best share my notes from this part of the day. I scanned the notes sheet I used, so I think I’ll put those images here. They are small and difficult to read, but if you click the image, it will bring up a larger version. I will scatter my other notes along with the images. And I will, of course continue my commentary.

Also, I should say, there are several people who read this blog who also heard Rev. Hamilton speak. I know I will leave stuff out. Feel free to add to my remembrances and commentary with your own.

Adam is speaking to 6 other Annual Conferences this year. That makes me feel somehow less special…

But… he has his church praying for every church in every Conference to which he is speaking. One person praying for each church… Cool. I really like the emphasis on prayer that COR has. He mentioned praying and asking his congregants to pray several times. Nice.

COR started in a funeral home. That is a cool story. In 1990, 1 member. Today, 12,000 members. $16 million budget.

Adam Hamilton just quoted me à “My best sermons are preached to me.” All of my sermons are preached to me. The rare times that I get to preach, I speak to me first. Usually whatever comes out on paper and out of my mouth is directed toward myself first.

I like the fact that ClearBranch’s ceiling pops just like Edgemont’s. Didn’t I mention this yesterday?

The baptism video was great. “Bless this food.” I guess I should explain the video. It was a video of AH doing a baptism. Following the baptism he places his hand on the baby’s head and starts to pray. Here’s how he starts, “God, bless this food which we are about to eat…”

Hamilton used Captain Kirk as a great example of leadership. AWESOME! Now he has an Elvis record. I really like this guy. Star Trek and Elvis in the same presentation. I knew I liked this guy, but this made me REALLY like him.

Stupid Hallmark commercial. Made my vision all blurry.

Ring #1 at 10:28 am. (#4 overall) We are not on pace to meet my prediction.

I really enjoyed session 1 with Adam Hamilton. Here are the notes I made on the notes sheet. I can’t really remember what the diagrams on the top of page 1 were. I think it was something to the effect of “leaders should radiate positive ideas instead of leading on a downward spiral.

Ring #2 at 11:23 am (#5 overall) I think I will be wrong.

We got back from lunch late and missed the first 10 minutes or so of AH’s afternoon session. Went to lunch with Jamie & Becky J. and Nancy B. We went to Pizza Hut (Slut). Yum! (Literally, since YUM! is their parent company. Good food. Good company.

COR sponsored a 5K to raise money for AIDS/HIV children in Africa. Sounds like a good idea.

Neighborhood food drive: Take bags to houses with a flier. Ask to fill with food and leave outside on a certain day. I have to admit, I co-opted this idea for Edgemont. We are planning a “neighborhood food drive” for the first week in August. If you’re in Florence, watch for a bag/flyer on your door soon.

Some theological views make God a criminal. If God is in complete control of everything then he causes murders. He causes rapes. He causes crime and devastation and disaster. I think this idea started with AH. He said something similar to the first sentence. Then my mind took it from there. A little too far?

I’m really enjoying AH but I’ve realized something. I need to write a couple of books and then become a paid speaker. Because you can just “tell” your books when you do speaking engagements.

3 Things

1) Leadership

2) Preaching

3) Evangelism – Turn inside out. Focus on community.