WINTERFEST

Thank you for all of the prayers you lifted up for us while we were in Gatlinburg over the weekend. It was a great experience and I will do my best to give you the rundown. Please comment with any of your memories or takeaways.

We all met at the church around five thirty. All of us but our bus driver that is. He didn't show up until about six forty five. was getting a little worried when the original driver denied any knowledge of meeting me las Wednesday and shaking my hand. I was afraid they had cancelled and just didn't tell me. But he drove in and all was right with the world again as 50 of our 54 member group piled into the bus for a 10 hour bus adventure culmanating (not sure how its spelled but it means "finishing up with") a minor wreck in the hotel parking lot.
We unpacked, had dinner, and then met under the gaze of our rally possum (bet you never thought you'd read that in a sentence) to be herded with the other 6500 of 13000 total teenagers into the convention center. I went in a little early through a side door to take care of a faulty pass and was allowed to go into the convention center a tad early so i saved three rows of seats for us. As I was standing there the flood of humanity swept through the auditorium. I told a few people that we were trying to hold our seats and many were doing the same thing so they were happy to allow us our section. One group however wasn't really excited about it. I asked him if he minded if I kept three rows and he replied, "no, I don't mind" and then proceeded to seat his teens there anyway. I thought I was over that, but I guess not (where is my L-2 today). Anyway, I moved back a couple of rows and we all were together for one of the best opening sessions I can remember.
Chris Seidman open the session up and then Jeff Walling had an interview with him. The stage was designed like a science lab and they broke down the elements of Christianity into two basic parts taken from the greatest command... love. These two parts were L-1 (Love God) and L-2 (Love Others). The opening night focus was L-1. After they spoke, a mad scientist made a coke bottle bomb using aluminum foil and hydrochloric acid and talked about what happened when two elements were mixed together. After a few minutes the bottle expanded and exploded (awesome!!!) and we discussed the power of mixing L-1 with L-2 and the explosive power of the gospel. This message would serve to set the stage for our weekend.
We left the conference hall and returned to our hotel for late night devotional. We had the whole third floor of our hotel so we were able to just meet in the hallway. After some great singing someone with the habit of speaking for a realllllllyyyyy long time spoke for a reallllllly long time and we were off to our beds (or maybe just bedrooms) Ben Goodwin is much more sanitary than any one could imagine him to be. Also he has quite a gag reflex. (I will leave it at that)

Day 2 - Earl Arndt, who is always a servant, practiced some L-2 by driving into Pigeon Forge and picking up 6 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for us so that we could have a healthy breakfast. After eating we had until 12:15 to hang out and get lunch. I'm really interested to hear some of your stories from this time frame. For instance I know some of you had an interesting tram driver in Ober Gatlinburg. My family and I ate at Bubba Gumps and answered trivia about Forrest Gump and Sponge Bob. (they have really intense waiters). All of us gathered beneath the possum beacon and were lost in the throngs of people. We began singing silly songs and I was treated to a shock from an electrified pack of gum Zach Ferguson got me with. I then, of course had to get others. After getting in and finding our seats we were treated to the comedy of Taylor mason (i will have some of his videos on the sidebar of this blog) He is a vintriloquist (once again poorly spelled but i mean to say he talks through puppets without moving his mouth) who has really perfected his art form. i can still feel the beady eyes of Paco as he stared at Wes and joked about his father being an uncatchable UT football. Don't even get me started talking about Romeo. Maddie Bennett really got wrapped up in the act and the worship afterwards. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hold your daughter in your arms as she sings her heart out to God. Jeff walling then spoke and brought up some girls from Tennessee who have started a girl's ministry called "Real Girls" (the link is on the sidebar under links). And a young man who started collecting change at his school and is working to abolish slavery in other countries. Jeff also interviewed a jewish rabbi who converted to christianity. He explained the passover meal in ways that will forever change my understanding of the last supper and communion.
After that we had evening free time where we ate dinner and played lazer-tag. Macy and Emily beat me and rubbed it in pretty harshly I must say. Then I took on all comers in Air hockey. I rule the perferated (hole-filled) fake ice field! Tinsley did come close to beating me and my win did result from some trickery against him. We then rallied beneath the possum once more (who was blessed by Casey Cowart with a new outfit meant to add femininity which was significantly overpowered by the possum's masculine fortitude... and tailwhip action) and made our way into the convention center. Worship was really powerful and the drama team was amazing. The mad scientist worked with fire and Jef Walling brought us another message focusing on L-2 (Love others). We then went back to our hotel for a devotional in which Vint and Edna offered some opportunities and insights. Our guys and girls split because the "Real Girls" ministry agreed to come and speak with our girls. As the girls had their time (which I'd really love to get some comments on) the guys had a really powerful time of confession and discussion. We then went back to our rooms and at two am it began to snow.

A slideshow for our group is on faithout if you want to see all the pics

Day -3 Earl once again delivered the doughnuts and we loaded the bus before going to the convention center. The snow was really falling down and as you would guess we were rapidly picking it back up again in a compacted rounder form. Mo Mcnabb has no mercy. After the white brutality was quelled (quieted... i think. I just put these words in here so Don Cole can understand what I'm writing about) we went to our morning worship. Being a part of the worlds largest Church of Christ service is always cool! We looked at some stories of Christian martyrs (people who have died for the cause of christianity) and Jeff talked about the birth of his son (bloody lizard). Communion was really special. Then we returned to the bus for a group picture and more snow induced violence. 2 meals and 5 movies later we pulled into the church building where the most marvelous thing happened.... Jordan West was baptized. I'd say it was a good trip. Write in and let me know what you thought.