Well, I'm not going to admit to being "gray" - just hits too close to home for me! However, I will say it was refreshing to this woman, well into her 50s, to be in a crowd that was full of people in all age ranges, and to be learning from leaders who have been spiritually formative to me for years. Don't get us wrong though, this was a conference [Renovare Conference] for all ages. I sat next to a young woman in one of my breakout sessions who is still in college and was loving every moment of soaking in the teaching and the fellowship with others on "The Jesus Way".
We got to slow our pace, see through a lens that is different from most of the conferences I've attended in the past and be refreshed by the depth and truth of the message and the full out focus on God the Father and His holiness, Jesus the God/man that took on the flesh and pain of humanity to show us the Way, and on the Holy Spirit who leads us into that Way and resides in us to give us counsel, and wisdom, and power for living this Way in this world. We worshipped in different styles from ancient and traditional to rock and roll. Because of the focus on coming into the presence of our Holy God, every style was beautiful and refreshing.
It was inspiring to see these "spiritual giants" (John Ortberg, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson) and hear clearly: these are flawed, ordinary men who've done extraordinary things and had extraordinary influence for the Lord in their time because they have been faithful and obedient. They are riddled with the same insecurities, the same sin-tendencies that you and I have.
My heart for myself and for our church? To grow in this Jesus Way. It's not complicated, but it is hard. It's hard to make the quiet, inward, choices daily that grow us in The Way, when all of the world around us shouts so insistently that there are many ways, that the way to happiness and fulfillment is fast, can be purchased, or earned. I look forward to seeing what the Lord does in us and through us as we grow in our desire and our practice of prayer, solitude, soaking in the Word, encouraging one another in the disciplines, and then go out as Christ into the world, changed from the inside out, to serve and love as people aware of our great need for Jesus and desiring to share the "ministry of reconciliation" with those in our immediate circles and to those in places of despair and great need.
Love being on the Jesus Way with you! I need you! I am as easily distracted and swayed by way of this world as anyone. God gave us community to encourage one another! It's an exciting journey, let's help each other on The Way.
Corinne Kologe
Connections Ministry
Lake Forest Church
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