Tulsa Workshop--2009

I returned from the Tulsa Workshop Saturday evening. We drove through torrential downpours, slushy sleet, hard sleet, snow...combine this with a horrible, stiff 30-40 mph wind and the driving was horrible. Once we got about a half an hour past St. Joseph, MO, the roads were dry, the temperature started to rise, and the sun came out. I felt like an employee of the postal service. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of the night shall keep these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Well, we didn't have heat, but everything else was there.
I always come back from Tulsa wanting to be more like Jesus. The messages I hear move me and I look forward to hearing them. But the biggest benefit I gain from the workshop is seeing so many friends from years past. My meals were taken up with just three examples. One a former youth minister I met many, many years ago when I was the director of admissions at Harding. He helped with Uplift and I quickly learned to like him and appreciate his many skills. He has sense received his doctorate and works with training youth ministers at one of our Christian universities. Another meal was take up with a family who lost their first child at the age of 4 months. She was a Downs syndrome baby and her heart was just not formed enough for her to survive. I preached their baby's funeral and it was an honor to do so. They are presently trying to raise funds to go on the mission field. Another was a lady who I've known since college. We've been together at camp as co-workers for many years. She and her husband have three sons of which the middle son was a close friend of my daughter's as they were going through the junior high angst years. She drove over to have lunch with Martha and me. I haven't even mentioned former co-worker preachers, former colleagues at Christian schools where I've worked, there was even a gentleman I went to camp with even more and more years ago than I care to think about. What good and precious times.
My one sadness is when I see the coliseum and observe the crowds. My mind goes back to the 70s and 80s when the place was full. You had to get there early to get a seat. There was an excitement and anticipation that God was moving. You still get that feeling when you see the crowd. But the coliseum isn't full anymore. Why is that? I don't know. Our culture seems to have gotten so busy. We have gotten so divisive. In some ways we have lost of desire to see the world hear His name. But we'll keep plugging. Maybe someday we'll get it even larger than before. I guess I would rather have fewer numbers of people who are truly excited and moved to serve God and a lot of numbers of people who are just there to be seen. God is alive and active. Good things are happening in His church! I thank God for Terry Rush, Shane Coffman, and others on the staff of Memorial Drive who take this thankless task on every year. They are good, godly men who want to see the workshop grow. And I intend to help them to that very thing. I hope your day is good. JW