Applesauce -or- things i'm learning

Right now I have a craving for applesauce. I don't know why. It's 1 AM. I'm 23 years old. I am male. I have no valid reason for wanting applesauce. I am not a baby. I am not pregnant. That means I should not want applesauce, and I should not have random cravings.

On a more serious note, I've been learning a lot of cool stuff lately. 2 weeks ago now, I had the chance to go to the Thrive Conference in Roseville at Bayside Church. Bayside is a pretty big church (around 10,000 people), and Lincoln Brewster is the worship leader there. The conference had a bunch of great speakers (Miles McPherson, Brennan Manning, and my hero--Francis Chan), and some stuff I wasn't as big a fan of, like beach ball volleyball during a general session and a concert by Israel Houghton (which I skipped). Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen's sermons and books are Christianity Lite (in my opinion). In fact, they're misleading and false.

But anyway, I went to some great seminars, like 2 on how to be a more creative person. This was not just dealing with artsy stuff, but on how to be creative in ministry leadership and conveying that vision to other less visionary people. I felt very affirmed in the ways in which I think and the ways in which I convey that. Also, I learned that I can do some things better.

Another seminar I went to was by Francis Chan about how he preaches. I don't preach currently, but I know I will be in the near future, and I do teach in other ways. So that stuff is good to think about.

At one point he said, "At some point, every preacher has to decide if he wants to be a good preacher or a powerful preacher." He mentioned that Billy Graham is a powerful preacher. I love that. Either we can try to be good at what we do or ask to be powerful through the Holy Spirit.

That is true for worship leading. Most people who are easy to follow in worship aren't great singers or great musicians, but simply have a real spiritual gifting (the emphasis being on the Spirit, not the gifting, as my friend Clurie recently pointed out).

Also, they gave us a free book called The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham. I have only read a few pages, but so far, it's great. Billy Graham mentions that he was not a very good communicator. His teachers in school said he was so shy he wouldn't give answers, even when the teacher sent him to the principal's office because he wouldn't talk. It's cool to see how he acknowledges that he was a powerful communicator and not a good one. (The book is written by other people, but contains quotes from him and others who know/knew him).

The last seminar I went to was about how churches can develop strategic partnerships with community organizations such as public schools, Child Protective Services, and secular non-profits. The guy who spoke was from Capitol Christian Center.

I disliked Capitol Christian before that. Their youth leaders were really rude at Alliance Redwoods last year, and they rolled up in 2 hummers with their church's name on the side. I thought that was a huge waste of money and really unjust.

At the conference I learned that the hummers have video games and flat-screen tvs, and the purpose is to take them to inner city high schools in Sacramento so that the kids have something to do other than get in fights.

So my understanding of Capitol Christian's hummers was changed. I still think it's lame that they were so awful to the ARCG staff last summer.

The general sessions were also great, especially Francis Chan's. Of course, I love all things Francis Chan. If you want to know what he talked about, buy his new book Crazy Love. We're going to use it for our Young Adults Group this summer at church. Or check out his podcast (Cornerstone Simi Valley).