Pastor Convocation and other adventures

Right now I'm at the Pastor Convocation in Columbus, IN.  It has been rather interesting- going to worships, sitting in a workshop, and "shmoozing" (did I spell that right?) with other pastors and District Superintendents.  I realize that some of these things are supposed to be relaxing, but they wear me out.  Being chit chatty and talking to the "important" people in the conference just wears on me.  And the weird thing is that overall, people have not been very friendly.  The people I already know have been fine, but there are so many people I don't know yet, and they have not been the most welcoming bunch.  You would think that a group of pastors would be more welcoming and supportive of us newbies coming into the conference and would want the chance to give us all the advice they can offer- but apparently not.  I wonder why that is....?

Anyway, it's been good overall.  We are being led mostly by this woman who reminds me of a younger and more modern BDM (for all you Candler folks!).  I really do think this woman is brilliant and hope to hear more from her about all of her work on worship and leadership, etc.  I'm heading home tomorrow luckily- I miss Corey and the dog!  

It's been an interesting few days- our good friend Karney came up to visit us this past weekend and we had a blast with her!  We took her to eat at a place in Indy, and then we spent the day in Terre Haute on Saturday shopping and watching football, and she came to church with me on Sunday, which was great because she was able to give me some feedback on the casual worship service, which I really needed.  By the way, that's not going so well on the music front- I thought we had worked some things out, but then the music director was really passive-aggressive the other night at practice about what we were doing and what we were singing, and some of the singers were complaining about some of the songs.  So this will be an uphill climb...but I'm going to keep pushing because I know I'm doing the right thing.  However, the outcome on Sunday ended up being fine- the new songs went over well, the video clip I picked out seemed to really affect people and fit the sermon, and we even fit in a short skit into the service.  I'm getting more comfortable talking in between songs and facilitating the flow of the service, and I'm getting positive feedback from some people.  I still have a lot to do.  Prayers, please.  This conference has been mostly about discernment- as in, discerning God's will for our lives and for the church.  It has me thinking about what discernment really is, how we know if it is from God, and what we do with it.  Maybe I'll blog more about my thoughts later when I've had some time for them to sink in...but for now I'm tired and have another morning ahead of me!  And I'm looking forward to getting back home and back to normal life...would I expect anything else of myself?  ;)