Off To Chicago

This afternoon I'm heading to Chicago with Larry. He's leading a workshop (Session A on Thursday) at Willow Creek's Conspire Children's Ministry Conference. To speak at Willow is a great and well-deserved honor for him and for Grace. He has had an impact on Children's ministry in America over the last number of years and I'm very proud of the role he's played in furthering the cause of Christ by challenging, and encouraging, innovating with Children's Leaders from around the country through his writing.

I will be there for support and mutual learning. I will also be working from there just for a change of scenery. I'll be in on his session and will probably catch another session or two at the conference - but once the puppets and hand-motions-to-all-the-worship-songs starts... I'm out. We're leaving today at about 1:00 and driving out to Chicago together will be back on Friday evening sometime. It will be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my friend and colleague. Last time we ventured out like this (driving to Erie from State College) - we had to pull over a couple of times because the laughter got so raucus and the driver could no longer see clearly enough to stay on the road. I think we're more mature now so that shouldn't be a problem (yeah right).

Anyway - I'll be blogging from Chicago this week - I'm bringing my camera to keep you updated on the happenings - I'll try to get some shots of the dark underbelly of the Progressive Protestant Mecca known as Willow Creek.

By the way - I need to include a quote from an email that Larry sent to our spouses and secretaries about some details of our trip that really offended me seeing how I'm a law-abiding and slow-driving citizen. He said..."Here's where Derek and I will be staying. We're driving so no flight numbers to track. The downside of driving is that there's a 75% chance Derek will return with a suspended licence. "

More on that later. Adios.