Verge Day Two...

Couple thoughts from my second day at Verge…

1. I think the volume of the music has effectively rid me of my heart murmur.
2. I heart George Patterson. http://www.mentorandmultiply.com
3. I wish I had known more about Mosaic in Little Rock.
4. Having lunch with Brent, Steve, our crews, and our new friend Jeff was a blessing.
5. Just to clarify, the food wasn’t…but the fellowship was.
6. Learned to always lock my computer when in a room with Caleb.
7. Getting called out by Ed Stetzer made for a great tweet: http://twitter.com/mhenslee/status/8684110486
8. This conference has encouraged and challenged me in many ways.
9. Having dinner with the Watsons made for conversation I wished would never end.
10. I miss my wife.

En route to picking up some Bean of Great Glory.

Verge Day One...

Few, brief thoughts on day one at Verge…

1. There’s a lot of people here.
2. There’s a lot of fauxhawks here too.
3. There’s a lot of skinny jeans as well.
4. The worship, with a good mix of old and new has been powerful.
5. Aaron Ivey is faster than a gazelle.
6. Brent Thomas is one of the most sincere pastors I know.
7. Joseph Louthan can be seen miles away.
8. Francis Chan is funny.
9. Francis Chan is passionate.
10. Francis Chan is real.
11. Matt Carter’s message was a gut check.
12. We don’t have hotels like these in Little Rock.
13. Caleb and I must be long-lost brothers.
14. There may be things I ultimately love more than Jesus.
15. No one (openly) ridiculed me for wearing an argyle sweater.

Now, where’s my coffee?

2009 Success Story...

In 1769, William Cowper wrote...

Jesus, where’er Thy people meet,

There they behold Thy mercy seat;

Where’ver they seek Thee, Thou art found, 

And every place is hallowed ground.

Three years later he added these well-known lines:

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed Church of God

Be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song

I’ll sing Thy power to save,

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

William Cowper, 1769

That, my friends, is the message of the cross.  God’s wrath stilled.  Our sin removed. And we’re brought rejoicing into God’s presence eternally.