Today I enjoyed another sunny Florida day at the Exponential conference. It was again packed with a full day of teaching and worship. My mind is pretty full with thoughts about my church family and the context of the Northland. I am going to have to take some time to unpack those thoughts and allow the Holy Spirit to do some speaking into my heart.
The thrust of today's teaching was discipleship through relationships and leading by example. As I absorbed and tweeted all day, the thought occurred to me that I am actively working on developing my skills as a leader and follower of Jesus Christ. Then I looked around at the 5,300 plus in main sanctuary. Then I imaged the 20,000 plus watching the webcast and also received several tweets from the online attenders. We all had 2 things in common: developing leadership skills as followers of Christ and our diversity.
God will develop His followers if we have the heart to be molded by our Father. As I looked around and talked with leaders, I heard that heart and passion for the people of their communities. But the amazing thought was the complex diversity that was present. The only reason we are all here and online is because of Christ.
As I walked around, I saw such a diverse group of church planting pastors that my soul was amazed and in awe. At every turn you hear people speaking different languages and different people groups represented. I saw different types for pastors from hipsters, to hip hop, to Southern rural, and to Northerns like me. Flannel shirts, tattoos, and bald heads were on full display, with skinny jeans to a minimum. Praise God! I spoke with pastors from Canada and Brazil.
God takes delight in His diversity. He created us diverse and He works in our diverse contexts. During our times of worship, we heard diverse voices together praising our Father in heaven. It was such a sound of diversity and praise, of which I could only imagine how heaven will be. But even through the voices of praise, a heart of learning was ever present. I don't know how God manages to keep a diverse group of people growing, but I praise the Father that through the diversity we are united together with the purpose of being followers of Jesus Christ.
I am looking forward to tomorrow's lessons. May it be filling and useful to my life and my context of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. I am also looking towards spending the afternoon with my sister, brother-in-law, and their kids at the beach. May it be a time of rest and relaxation before I return to the spring snow of the Northland.
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