The first Born Again Church Tour (the Off The Map tribal gathering which used to happen ONLY in Seattle, but which is going to happen this year also in Denver…next weekend) is over.  As has become my custom, I would like to give my own report on th event to those of you faithful members of the DE Nation.  It will be a few days before this all settles into my life, but let me give you a quick snapshot.

For some reason this event seemed to fly by.  I didn’t get to spend much time (let alone a cigar) with my new brilliant young friend, David Kinnaman, but I did get to listen to him present some really interesting data about the 16-29 year old demographic.  I actually took notes (and if you know me, that’s a very rare occurrence).  If you work with high school or college students, “UnChristian” by David Kinnaman is a MUST READ.  Just stop reading this drivel and go to Amazon.com and buy it.  Now. 

I did get to meet newcomer (first time presenter) Christine Wicker, former religion reporter for the Dallas Morning News and author of “The Fall of the Evangelical Nation.”  She presented her stunning research on evangelicals and managed to befuddle most of the crowd as she shared her own faith journey and current confusion about what it means to be a Christian.  I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with her, either, but she is a really fascinating woman.

Rose Swetman joined us as a featured presenter this time.  Rose pastors a church in Seattle (with her very cool and brilliant husband, Rich) that has become a poster church for what it means to be “missional” in an urban setting.  I’ve heard Rose speak before in various other settings, but she just seemed more at ease and very powerful in this setting.  She also led us in a lectio divina to open the day on Saturday, which was very powerful for me, personally.  Oh yeah…her church (the coolest church I’ve ever been to) hosted an “after hours” party that featured music from the Bridge PDX music team, Agents of Future (who also provided worship music, along with Jeff Greer at various other times during the event and wowed me, personally) and a really interesting conversation between a panel of charismatic leaders who are exploring  the paradox of missional and charisma.  Being a “non-speaking” charismatic myself, I was intrigued by the honesty and humility of this discussion.  Could have been the Spirit.  Could have been the wine.  Or both. 

Most touching moment for me:  Watching the crew from The Purple Door cheer on, celebrate, weep over and generally glow with pride and affection over their “guy” on the Outsiders Interview Panel Friday night.  Their guy was an agnostic who actually lives with these folks in the Christian community called The Purple Door (a ministry and community run by another one of my brilliant young friends, Steve Lewis, who ministers to students at the University of Washington, right across the street).  I was moved to tears myself just watching the affection these folks have for their friend, and impressed that this guy felt like part of their family even though he doesn’t believe what they do.  Clearly this has had an amazing affect on him.  And it was a window into what Jesus is doing among the young…something we need to pay close attention to. 

The ride to the airport was also a “moment” for me.  Christine Wicker, Matt Casper and me.  (Did you hear the one about the agnostic, the athiest and the evangelist who were riding to the airport?)  I got to spend thirty minutes or so in a car listening to these really bright and wonderful people talk about a variety of concerns and convictions.  I never felt like I needed to say anything, except to comment to Matt that his argument against the creationists sounded a lot like my own argument in favor of creation (he was actually arguing against a literal six-day creation, which he assumed was the only position Christians believed in…and was surprised when I said I didn’t have any real issues with creation taking a bit longer).  Anyway…very precious time for me. 

WE must be born again.  And again.  And again.  Our own view of God and ourselves and others must constantly change and grow and enlarge.  As Jim Henderson so beautifully commented at the end of the event, “It is our job to make sure that everyone who comes to these events experiences at least one moment of discomfort while they’re here.  I don’t think anyone really grows until they become uncomfortable.”  Amen to that.  I felt like I was challenged, discomforted, and surprised by in ways I never expected this past weekend by the God who is always bigger than I thought.  Very powerful, this being born again stuff. 

I hope you can join us this weekend in Denver (Oct. 17-18, 08).