O.k., I'll finally try to recapture some thoughts from this past weekend. First, Todd is smart. No surprise there, really . . . I just had to say it, because I predicted that I would say it before the weekend began. I was right.

It was cool to hang out with a bunch of people again. Interestingly, there wasn't an overwhelming overlap of people from the last gathering we had back in September. Let's see, how about some name dropping? Naw, Jason covered it already, better than I could, anyway.

We talked Kingdom. Over and over it came back to just that. Spirit, leadership, labeling ourselves and others, community, o.k. But Kingdom is what makes all of this stuff we do what it is. Jesus' words about the inbreaking of a new way of life are no less revolutionary or all-encompassing now than they were when he spoke them. And we still haven't figured out how to fully embrace them. This is both frustrating and exciting.

One thing that was said several times was that when we struggle with concepts about incorporating Kingdom living into a pragmatic set of behaviors for the community, we need to back off and first "make it personal." What am I personally doing to live concretely in reference to the Kingdom? It is only after I have responded well to that question that I'm able to think in terms of announcing the Kingdom to others.

That's the main thing. Leadership? Not bad - read it again, NOT BAD. Get over it already. Todd said some things related to the Holy Spirit, and the working of the ecstatic spritual gifts, but they apply equally as well to leadership principles. "The answer to misuse of something is not 'no use.' The real answer to misuse is correct use." We are reactionary. We see poor examples of good things, and call the good things bad. That's immature.

O.k., enough for today. I'll randomly hit some other things later. Fair warning: By the time I write about them, I will forget that the thoughts came from someone else smarter than me, and I will write as though I have come up with these things out of my own cleverness. I like taking credit for other peoples' stuff.