conclave 2008 in Chattanooga

Been here in Chattanooga at Conclave 2008...(http://www.southeastconclave.0rg/) thinking and dreaming about student ministry. In my new role at GCC I work with our team to minister to kids from preschool to High School, wow...it has been good to narrow the focus and just dream about student ministry. Conclave moves to Atlanta next year for 2009, great conference and one I will bring some of our team back to next year. With that said the picture here is Charlie Hall leading us in the session tonight. I want to say thanks to the people at Grace Community for allowing us to create an environment in Clarksville that moves beyond "contemporary" (what is that anyway) TO an atmosphere of creativity that allows people to get beyond distraction and focus on the love of Jesus Christ for humanity. I used to go to conference and wonder why I had to go back to worship gatherings that made were founded in traditions of years past. Why could the gathering not be today? Why could it not make sense? Thanks Grace for allowing us to create a place like this. All of you would have felt right at home here at the conference. Hope Charlie gets to lead us in song at GCC sometime. Thanks Daniel D and Michael H for leading us each week. I appreciate it and how you strive to lead us to see Jesus clearly in the songs we sing.

Tonight Erwin McManus said this about the church today...
"We have loved traditions more than our children...we have been willing to lose a generation of our children to protect our traditions inside the church" WOW...chew on that a little. Thank God teens and college students are finding community each week in our Sunday morning gatherings at Grace. When our gatherings become foreign to teens and college kids we might need to evaluate our traditions. It is amazing to create student environments not to supplement the CHURCH or create a separate teen church but rather to simply help teens become fully devoted followers of Christ (this gathering is what we call ReMIX at GCC). That is what I do now because on Sunday mornings our services are making sense to today’s generation. Our traditions are not sacred. Methods are not holy. Our Savior Jesus Christ is sacred and this is all for Him.