LA for a Week

Well Jen and I took the trip to LA yesterday. At the end of the day the total travel time was about 15 hours….we got into the hotel at 1am LA time and that felt like 4am Eastern time. That’s not fun in case you haven’t done it.

But we aren’t complaining we definitely are happy to be here. I guess words like potential and catalyst come to mind.

We are here to take part in Origins…an international gathering to discuss global evangelism and how God wants us to do it at William Carey University in Pasadena. Today we sat with the author of “The Celtic Way of Evangelism”, George Hunter. I could give you a transcript of what he said but let me just sum it up to say that it was inspiring to hear such wisdom about the apostolic way to reach this world. The most poignant was when he discussed the composer who spent much of his career performing a certain piece of sacred music. His conclusion before his death was that whenever he performs a piece he performs it for two types of people….those who are hearing it for the first time and those who are hearing it for the last. Maybe that is how we should present the gospel.

But that is not the most striking thing about the day…these things are….

….the genuine look of joy and love in the eyes of friends.
….the extension of true hospitality, the kind you don’t feel embarrassed to enjoy.
….the incredible gift of friendship, old and new.
….the feelings of being incited to follow Jesus with all we’ve been given.

Those are the things that are priceless.