Renewal From the Inside Out

Hello, friends! I hope your week has been just as delightful but not quite as tiring as mine. Monday through today Katie, Pastor Jay and I were in Orlando for the FL-GA District Presidential Convocation. But before I get into that, a brief summary of last week:

• Thursday: I did a lot of reading, had lunch with Ana and coffee with Corey, and volunteered at the community garden. Our task of the day was tearing down an old garden fence and weeding, weeding, weeding. I really enjoyed working in the dirt with my friend Elm and some of the kids from the community center.
• Friday: I didn't sleep at all well Thursday night, so I ended up being too physically exhausted to do very much. I did some more reading and had my one-on-one meeting with Pastor Jay.
• Saturday: It rained, sadly, so we did not go to the beach. However, I did get to hang out with a Bear, witness a Quidditch match, and rollerblade at Lake Ella, so it worked out.
• Sunday: Bible study and worship began the day, with my new student friend Zane in attendance for the first time, which was exciting. We went to Moe's Grill after church and then I spent the afternoon doing last-minute preparation for our trip. (I also watched the Once Upon a Time premiere with Liz, PJ and Bear.)

 That brings us to Monday. We left Tallahassee around 8 AM and arrived in Orlando at about 12:30. The conference began at 1 o'clock. The Presidential Convocation is an annual gathering of all kinds of church workers from the FL-GA district. This year, the theme was "Renewal From the Inside Out." Rather than giving you the play-by-play, which would probably take days and thousands of words, I'll try to stick with the highlights.

• LCMS-U had a table at the "Renewal Mall," otherwise known as the exhibitor hall with tons of different booths. We got to man it during breaks and discuss campus ministry with a variety of different people.
• The first person I met was Joshua Brown, who just so happened to graduate from Urbandale High School and attend Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in West Des Moines and whose younger sister Bethany is one of my brother's good friends. I love our small Lutheran world!
• I attended several informational and inspirational sessions led by people such as Dr. John Eckrich (the President and CEO of Grace Place ministries), Dr. Lynn and Michael Wilder (from Ex-Mormon Christians United for Jesus), Rhonda Betteridge (the Director of Family Life Ministry from St. Luke's Oviedo), and Sanya Parson (Director of Rebecca's Garden of Hope). All of these people have a wealth of life and ministry experience that they shared with us; it was such a blessing to learn from them!
• Monday night, I got to go on stage and introduce myself to the entire convocation, along with all the other new members to the district. They also honored those celebrating ministry anniversaries, from 10 years all the way up to 55 years.
• On Tuesday, Katie and I were privileged to have lunch with the Youth and Family Ministry Association. It was wonderful to have fellowship with people who are in the positions we would like to be in someday! I especially enjoyed meeting fellow lay minister Joe Guagliardo.
• Monday and Tuesday night it was a joy to be able to just hang out and get to know my fellow church workers. Unsurprisingly, Josh beat me at foosball, but I've challenged him to ping-pong the next time we meet.
• Tuesday morning I did NOT run a 5k. However, many awesome people did, including Katie. Way to represent!
• This morning, we ended our time together with worship. I was glad to have the opportunity to worship with such a great cloud of witnesses a la Hebrews 12:1. 

Although my body is tired, I am renewed in mind and spirit. This convocation was a reminder to me of why I do what I do. The stories I heard, the information I gathered, the people I met... it all brought me back to my purpose and my place in the body of Christ.

Speaking of bringing back, after having lunch at Fudrucker's, Katie, PJ and I drove back to Tallahassee just in time for Vespers. I led tonight, and I think we had some really great discussion. Our task was to look throughout the book of Luke and find examples of relationship with God and with fellow believers. My table family really enjoyed finding those stories that we have read before but had forgotten about. It was great just to dive into the Word and find what it had to share with us.

After giving Caroline a ride home, I finished my dinner and took a break to breathe before starting up on my blog. Before I stop writing in order to watch the season premiere of Castle, I should mention that PJ and Liz are going to have their baby... sometime soon. She had been in a breech position, hence the C-section, but last week she decided to turn around. It's driving her schedule-oriented father crazy. Speaking of her father, I decided we should have made a drinking game out of how many times PJ got asked about his baby during the convocation. I stood with him for five minutes on Monday afternoon and he got that question three times.

I wish I had taken more pictures this week, but sadly I have none for you. (If at some point I find the picture Josh took of us, I'll add it!) Go and be renewed, friends! :)