General Conference 2010 – Online community

Perhaps we need to have a moment at GenCon whereby we have a Builder, Baby Boomer, Gen Xer and Millennial leader stand up on stage and talk about what they are insecure about. They may not be able to be a spokesperson for their whole generation but we might have some clearer ideas of what we are afraid of and once we name those fears we'll realize that we are actually a safer place than we realize and that we can accept each other without fear...because perfect love drives out all fear.

So if you are brave enough why don't you tell us what your insecurities are, especially about leadership, church and ministry....

There are a few types of people in this world, especially in ministry: people you don't know, people you've heard of, people you've met, people you know, people you like, people you work with and people you do battle with. The last group are the ones who share life with you, beyond a coffee or two at Starbucks. These are the ones who go into the trenches with you and want you to succeed even more than they want to succeed. I think these are the type of people that I would put on my list.

So, role-play time. If you were Paul and you were writing a final letter...who would you put on your list?

This is an interactive question. We want people to answer the question on this blog. So go for it, even anonymously, write your list today:

Being at the Con. you are inevitably catching up with a lot of people. There are SO many people here that I haven't seen in 10+ years (unless you count Facebook). This week has been, for me, the relational equivalent of drinking from a fire-hose. Almost without exception, the journeys of my long lost friends have been marked by intense pain.

I love seeing God's people honestly acknowledge their pain and let that pain shape who they are in a good way. I've seen intense brokenness since I've been here. I'd never wish ill on my brothers and sister in Christ but I've gotta think that the humility, desperation, spiritual tenacity, radical trust, and deep hope I see through them is beautiful.

I hope I can tap on a few cages today. I want to start walking out that Word before I even leave this place. Let's finish strong at the Con. my friends. Have a great day.

For those of you without kids you need to understand that shopping by yourself, knowing your kids are having a whale of a time in kids club and that you have a three hour window is a rare and dare I say, blissful experience. You also tend to spend more money than you should because you take your time looking at stuff instead of grabbing what you need and hauling your kids out of Winners or Walmart.

Anyways, we did attend some GenCon stuff and here are a few Wednesday observations:

- Yay for the Kids Program! Our girls love their time there and we love their time there...the group is doing an amazing job! Kudos to all of you orange shirted heroes

- read @paulmoores play-by-play from the business sessions...his tweets go from hilarious to gut-splitting to "clean up on aisle 5" funny...

- everyone has a video to show, especially during their annual reports...for the most part they are effective and entertaining though it might be pretty cool if someone did it in Japanese Anime style or like an old time silent movie...

- Shoubert David (yes that's the right way around) is the greatest (and probably only) Assyrian you'll ever meet... he's not at all like the Assyrians you read about in the Bible which is especially good if you're Jewish, Lebanese, Egyptian, Midianite or Hittite. He's the main media/design/chief awesome officer for the PAOC and does a great job making all of us look good.

- Greek food in Edmonton is incredibly expensive...we overpaid for souvlaki because the Sherlock Holmes pub (where a lot of PAOCers were having dinner) wouldn't allow us to bring our kids in...

- at the risk of sounding sexist I'll say this: women worship leaders who rock out with guitars are pretty cool. Well done worship band! As a global worker to Slovakia I can't say I recognize all the songs but I'm just glad to be singing in English!

- I joked with Thomas from Next Level International that Wayne Cordeiro would come onto stage and say, "ALOOOOOOOOOOHA!" to start his session...needless to say I was proven to be a prophet.

- Wayne Cordeiro was good tonight. I like how he could imitate Japanese people (he's Hawaiian but lived in Japan and speaks Japanese) without it sounding racist...He gave a great encouragement to tap open the cages of leaders around us (you had to hear the story to understand that analogy) and encouraged the Baby Boomers to be the champions of the emerging generations.

- David Wells is like Dennis Eckersley or Mariano Rivera...he's the ultimate closer. In closing off the service he brought in deep theology, a call to repentance, corporate prayer and ministry and all sorts of spiritual fastballs...

- I had my first slurpee in about 8 years and within 30 seconds I had my first brain freeze. Unfortunately it occurred while I was driving down 97Ave.

- We're anticipaing some good stuff tomorrow. We are hoping to show up on time.

- The first ever GenCon Tweet Up will be happening around 2pm. Keep checking @armitagecafe or @paulmoores for more information.

Here are my first day observations from my first ever General Conference:

- There was a lot of handshaking and hugging today in the conference room, not as much pastosterone as I anticipated though

- The trip between the kid's room and the conference room is really long

- The elevator reminds me of something from Expo '86 (very 80s Sci Fi...Thanks for the observation Paul Moores)

- I overheard someone say that their hotel room was "very bling"...it didn't quite fit this person's um...vintage...so it made me chuckle

- you need to meet Matt Janes and Mark Crocker from the STM Network, they are both good guys

- It's great to see the colour, gender and generational mix, though it's still pretty white and male

- The food court is too small

- If you park at Canada Place don't leave and come back...you'll end up paying $20 twice instead of $25 for the whole day

- I'm not sure why I expected the Business Meeting to be livelier than it was...however there were a lot of videos....

- BLUE BALLOTS! YELLOW BALLOTS! Does anyone know what is happening?

- Hurray for Murray!

- The spread at the Missions Reception was awesome...the chocolate dipped strawberries were the size of my daughter's head

- I love being a Pentecostal: there was an utterance in tongues, interpretation and a prophetic word...all before 10:30am

- There is a lot of free candy and coffee being given out. Someone needs to figure out a way to distinguish themselves with their giveaways. What if they gave away packets of instant noodles or prune juice?

- Honor the past and bless the future...well done David Wells...

- Kids can stay up and active for a long time (way past their bedtime) especially missionary kids!

- I love my friends...

- I don't think anyone actually reads this blog...but if you do and want a play by play analysis from the day then follow @armitagecafe or @paulmoores on twitter

What were some of your observations from today?

This will be the endearing memories of this night for me. As my "Glee-der" (because he's apt to burst into song) is honoring those that have shaped his life and ministry, my province mourns another season of their hockey hopes dashed.

Can't put your faith in hockey people, but on the other hand, you can put your faith in the children of God.

Maybe all the Canucks needed was a good chaplain?

I wrote my own "Hall of Faith" tonight. I included the 83-84 Oilers and them some real men and women of faith.

Who makes your "Hall of Faith"? What will fix the Canucks?

- he's got a dry sense of humor

- he's almost always cries at some point in his sermons

- he honors the past

- he blesses the future

- he makes obscure references about Canadian towns, streets and places

- he knows everybody

- he challenges the status quo

- he upholds what is sacred

- he wants the Church in Canada to love Jesus and people more...

there's probably more reasons to love Dave Well but considering we got home at 11:15pm and our girls are usually asleep by 7:00pm and they were pretty jacked up on sugar and all the kidosterone they experienced on the first day of the conference, it's time to go to sleep....

p.s. the Canucks lost so I'm glad I didn't stay home to watch them.

But at least there's wifi...

However, I have a bit of a dilemma. You see it's Tuesday night which means it's Lost night. Now I know you might think that a TV show is a bit trivial but after having invested myself into the past 6 seasons AND I've put up with all the antics of the writers AND we're down to the final few episodes, I am a bit torn about what to do.

The other HUGE consideration is the fact that the Canucks are also playing and it could be their last game of the season. If you think I'm invested into Lost then you should see my devotion to the Canucks. Being a Global Worker with a 9 hour time difference I have to wait until the morning after the game is played and check the results on-line. I know, I know, "boo hoo for the poor missionary" but I've put up with 30+ years of emotional abuse from these guys and after 8 years of being away from playoff hockey I have the chance to watch what could be the greatest game of the season.

Wow, do I ever sound carnal right now...

So in the end I'm hoping that my own maturity and sense of expectancy win out...I could be glued to the TV and scream at the Canucks as they try to put a small rubber disk into a net or I could come listen to David Wells paint an incredible picture of what it truly means to be "Rooted in Relationship." I could sit for an hour and try to figure out what the heck the Island represents or I could be a part of an amazing and prophetically charged moment in our history; listening to David as he shares the heart of God for our movement, nation and world and be reminded that none of the other things really matter and why this gathering, this General Conference is more than just a few meetings, workshops, sermons and Pentecostal shmoozing. It's about all of us coming together to do celebrate the fact that we are more than just fans and an audience but fellow workers, servants and dare I say, family?

I think I'm writing this more for myself than for anyone reading it.

I just hope they don't have wifi or I may be tempted to check the score...

Thoughts?