boring session.......i think i'll blog

here i am in Chicago at Willow Creek's Arts Conference and i am having a great time (even though you wouldn't think so from my title). we have 4 sessions todat on various topics i was just in one that wasn't at all what i thohught it was going to be, so why just sit there for an hour and a half when they have wi-fi in the atrium; so, here i am. to be honest, when i was asked to join Ben and Wendy on this trip to Willow Creek, i was like, "well, i think that'd be ok, but i don't really get into the whole 'mega-church' thing that Willow Creek seems to be the leader of", i must say i have been quite surprised and impressed with the things i've seen and heard so far. in the opening session yesterday, one of the church's main teaching pastors spoke about the church being authentic in both our worship and in our lives; it was totally right on. i found i quite surprising that a lot of the things that i and some of my friends have been talking about in reference to authenticity in the church was said. also, they have a ministry/service for my generation called Axis which seems to be a lot of, not all, but a lot of what we see for the Cave (esp. in reference to the arts/media and storytelling approach to a worship service). in fact, the session i attended before lunch today was led by one of the Axis' teachers and was about the art of teaching today, it was quite cleverly called "Some of my Favorite Teachers are DJs"; in case you were wndering, he actually is an amateur DJ.....it was pretty cool. also, its just been cool to talk real with ben and Wendy about the direction of our church and i am surprised to hear that Wendy seems to be on-board with the things we have been talking about, even about moving things out of our church and into a place in the community. it turns out i may have misjudged quite a few things that my time here at Willow Creek has corrected me on. a big plus about being here is that my sister and brother-in-law are here at the conference also; i even have 3 out of the 4 sessions with her. my parents were here also, taking care of my two nephews while my sister and her husband are at the seminars. so, since we all were in town and basically a few miles from each other, we all, plus Ben and Wendy, went into downtown Chicago last night and ate at Ed Debevic's (quite a freakin funny and hilarious experience). its pretty dang cool how this week has worked out....... it sure freakin beats work.