Love in Atlanta - William and Ben

I was in Atlanta recently for a conference on culture. I got there a day early and was able to spend time in the downtown area, seeing MLK's memorial (wow). I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the people of Atlanta. They were some of the nicest people I've met.

But I want to share my experience with two people in particular that I met while I was there. Both meetings happened late at night near the Tabernacle. After the first night of the conference I left a little early to go back to my room and sleep. I had to take the train and asked for direction from a guy named Ben. He was more than happy to help me and then proceeded to walk me to the train station. As we talked, it was obvious that he was homeless and was "escorting" me. I was in his neighborhood and he was protecting me. He was my friend. As we walked, something in side of me said to trust Ben with the direction he was taking me. We walked through several areas that put me at risk and to be honest I had my moments of fear inside. But along the way I began to see that Ben really was protecting me. This was his world and he was respected. We had one of the best conversations I had while in Atlanta.

As we arrived at the train station Ben guided me past the entrance and to a side street. I chose to follow him and just keep walking. We turned left and down a street towards a group of homeless people who were gathered on the sidewalk. I knew that if something was going to happen this was it. But something inside said, "trust him." I'm not gonna lie. My sense of fear was palpable. But I continued to walk with him. We passed through the group and again, they were all of his friends, and he was my guide. I began to realize that he was actually my protection.

We turned the final corner to a second entrance to the station. I realized that Ben had become Jesus for me. He smiled and asked for some help. I grabbed whatever bill was in my pocket and handed it to him. I looked at him and smiled knowing that I was standing with Jesus at that moment.

The next night I took a different station back to my room and ran into William. He also was homeless and was sitting in a wheelchair. He had no legs. I stopped to talk with him simply because something in me said to. I grabbed what paper was in my wallet and stuffed it into the bucket he had. Something in me said to simply talk with him. I then spent 20 minutes just listening to him. He did most of the talking and was surprisingly animated. And then it hit me.

I need these conversations. I need people like William and Ben in my life who remind me of love, who show me Jesus. I need people who take me out of my comfort zone and stretch me into a different life, one that is not stuck in complacency. I need moments to be reminded that my greatest ability to love is simply to listen and recognize the value of individuals that are put in my life. I got to see Jesus in Atlanta and he was awesome.

Thank you William and Ben.

Q Conference Afterthoughts - 2

Thursday

I recognize that on Thursday I was somewhat hung over from thinking so much. I was still on California time so getting up at what was 5 AM for me made it harder to be in the moment. But I gave it my best shot. The following are what stood out to me.

David Kinnaman, who is President of the Barna Group shared with the audience the initial findings about how the world sees Christianity. It was honestly sad to hear how we show up to people. They don't see us as people who are defined by love, but as people who are defined by judgment. That made me sad.

Andy Stanley shared about the value of impacting culture. I've never seen Andy before, but I loved his simplicity and style.

Shayne Wheeler, from All Souls Fellowship, and Chris Seay presented a great conversation on homosexuality. And this is when I got sad. Why is it so hard for people to love people who are homosexuals? Yesterday I was reading the verse in John 8 about the adulterous woman, and if Jesus showed up today, I think he'd probably choose someone who is homosexual. What are we afraid of? This conversation dominated the afternoon breakouts, and there was serious arguments that happened in the Q&A session afterwords. I don't get it. Are we going to change people's hearts with condemnation or love?

Sadly, at this point I was almost done thinking. The next three presenters spoke on the environment and I was not all there. I was worn down but liked what they said. I firmly believe in the stewardship of the environment, but nothing new hit me.

Jon Passavant from Model Home Project was really cool. He connected his friends in the modeling world to the simple act of love and this caught my attention. I met Jon afterwards and he was very genuine. I appreciated his honesty and love for God.

I ended up taking the trip to CNN, which was interesting but nothing special. I had assumed we would be meeting with people from CNN, but it was just a tour. Had I known this I would probably have taken the tour through the High Museum.

Rob Bell spoke that evening on the Eucharist. I've heard this idea from Rob at the Isn't She Beautiful conference and it was nice to hear him reiterate it. He was in such a sassy mood and I love that about him.

I went to bed and exhausted.

Friday

Today was held in the Fox Theater. I love Gabe's choices for sites. Both were very artistic and gave the gatherings an art feel to them. Nicely done.

Sadly, I just didn't get James Emory White or Clint Kemp. Nothing hit me and I found myself wandering. This may have been from my lack of sleep or being worn out. I also felt that the 3 minutes segment, where people shared their ideas was anticlimactic. Nothing hit me.

And then Rick McKinley spoke. I have to say that I love Rick for a lot of reasons. One is that he had helped me to understand what repentance can truly be through various methods and sermons. I love his simplicity and humility. He's a rock star that doesn't care that he's a rock star. He's rather be hanging with the homeless than sharing the spotlight. His message was simply to give away power, that within congregations are people who want to love and need to be released. He asked some really great "what if..." questions.

I said earlier that I think it was divine providence that he got bumped to Friday and I'll share why. I met a friend, Dr. David, at the conference and we were lamenting that it was sad that we all got together in this one place and weren't taking away or participating in some shared initiative together. There was a tremendous amount of influence in that room. Perhaps the ability to influence 100,000 or more and yet we were leaving disconnected. We had idea but there was no initiative. Rick perhaps provided that initiative. He shared how he was working on the Advent Conspiracy. It's a project to take the vast amount of money we waste on Christmas and solve the world's clean water problem. I instantly knew that I was on board.

I left Q knowing I'm coming back next year. Gabe said it would likely be in New York, which would give me a great reason to come back to NY. Love that city.

Q Conference

I am at Fermiproject's Q conference right now. It has been an absolutely engaging experience listening to everyone present. The list of people is a whose who of speakers. (Andy Stanley, Rick McKinley, Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Chris Seay, Mike Foster, and more) It's been awesome. I'm in the CNN building right now waiting to tour the media giant.

The most interesting thing coming out of the conference is this idea of asking better questions, which the speakers are engaging us to do. I love it. I told my wife over the phone that this is the conversation that I need. I need people engaging my mind with new ideas and new thoughts. I'm an artist at heart, like my Father and I need new ideas.

More to come tonight after the tour.