I just arrived back from the Radical Sonship Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, which was hosted by Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries and Paul Anderson-Walsh of The Grace Project / Grace London. In this week's Special Edition of Growing in Grace, I chat with Mike about my experience at the conference. It was a weekend full of beautiful friendship and wonderful teaching about what the love and grace of God looks like as we not only soak and marvel and revel in it ourselves, but also as we actually partake in the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4), and God's love and grace is poured out of us into the lives of others.
Throughout the weekend, Steve and Paul said that they had far more material than they had time to present, so you can imagine that we barely even touch the tip of the iceberg with this short program! But we hope this program will at least provide somewhat of a glimpse into the radical nature of our lives as adopted sons of God (see Gal 4:5, Eph 1:5).
Just time for a quick update on the Radical Sonship conference with Steve McVey and Paul Anderson-Walsh. I arrived in Atlanta yesterday and was promptly greeted by John Fincher, and I fully appreciate all the hospitality he and his wife have shown me! Later in the day I got to meet Ryan and Jamie, Matthew and Gary!!! It's been a long time coming!!! Last night's session was wonderful, and we're looking forward to a full day today. I'll try to post some pics later.
I'm not hopping "in my Chrysler that's as big as a whale" (see video below) but I'll be hopping on a couple of big jet airplanes (thanks Ryan and Jamie for making that happen!!) on Friday morning and heading down to Hotlanta for the Radical Sonship Conference with Steve McVey and Paul Anderson-Walsh! I exchanged a couple of emails with Paul a couple of weeks ago, and I'm excited about what's on his and Steve's hearts regarding this weekend.
I'm also excited to be meeting some friends that I've known only online up to this point! Ryan and Jamie, Matthew Campbell, John Fincher and Gary Kirkham are among those who I've enjoyed "blog" fellowship with, but now will be meeting live and in person! I'm very excited about all of this!
Did I mention I'm excited!
Many of us have come to know each other by a means that we never would've thought of, even as little as 1 to 3 years ago! The blogging world has truly opened up a whole new realm of relationships for so many of us! We all have our "real life" (in the flesh) relationships, but through blogging and commenting God has brought some of us together in a very wonderful way. Check out what nAncY said in this short post yesterday on the subject of blogging and commenting. Among other things, this sticks out to me: "...making it a place of relationship, communion, sharing." Yeah!
When the Lord whispered 'graceroots.org' in my ear 5 years ago, in answer to a question I asked Him, He didn't fill me in on whole lot of details. Some of the details have been filled in since that time, but at first I thought it was primarily going to be a place for me to share my writings about grace. I had no idea what a blog was, so I simply typed up a couple of "articles" and posted them on the website, having no idea who would read them, or if anybody would at all. Then in June of 2006, Dave Lesniak asked in the Grace Walk Forum if anyone had a blog. I didn't have one, but if I remember correctly it was within 24 hours of his asking that question that I started this blog. Again, at first I thought of it primarily as a place for me to write about grace, and I had NO IDEA how all these friendships would come out of it!!! I'm so thankful to the Lord for joining so many of us together through our various blogs. Life has never been the same since, and will never be again!
Unfortunately I'm in a season in life in which I'm not able to spend as much time blogging or commenting as I have in the past. I hope this changes, but for now I'm simply enjoying the simplicity and beauty of the friendships that have evolved in the past 2 or 3 years!
"Headin' down the Atlanta highway..."
(P.S. I think this live version needs more cowbell!)
Heads up on what looks to be a great conference in Atlanta in March! Paul Anderson-Walsh and Steve McVey are joining together for the Radical Sonship Conference, to be held Friday evening and all day Saturday, March 27-28. For details and registration information, click here. The conference is free, with an offering received to cover expenses. I'll be there, thanks to the help of some of my great friends!
It may be a surprise to some, but this will only bee the second time ever that I've attended any type of grace/exchanged-life conference or seminar! I suppose the reason is simply because there hasn't been much of that type of thing around here that I know of. In the past, Steve McVey has held Grace Walk Conferences at the Vineyard church here in town (before I knew of the church), and he's been here a couple of times since then, once for what I'd call 'weekend preaching' and once for a conference other than an actual Grace Walk Conference.
I've actually had thoughts in passing, but never impressed all that heavily upon my heart, to host this sort of thing myself. I think it would be hard work, but well worth it! I've got plenty to keep me busy for now, so we'll see. :) Maybe I should open up an exchanged life Midwest chapter. LOL... Anyway, I just wanted to pass on the info about the Radical Sonship Conference.
