...but it's a good tired.

My family and I spent Friday and Saturday attending the ZOE Group worship conference in Fresno. We got back home at 1:00 Sunday morning, very tired, but very blessed. I just wanted to note a few of the blessings here.

We got to the College Church of Christ a bit late Friday morning. Nina and I, with John and Natalie in tow, greeted Eric Noah-Wilson, the guy who keeps the ZOE ministry ticking, in the foyer, and then walked over to the chapel, where worship was already starting. Walking in, Brandon was the first person I saw, and his smile greeted us warmly. He's a good guy, and such a gifted servant of God. We found space in the back, and and joined in the worship. Despite knowing only about a dozen people in the room of nearly a hundred people, it felt comfortable and welcoming to lift our voices and hearts with these other Jesus-followers.

In the Worship Minister's track, we found a corner in the back of the room with a sofa in it, and got the kids settled. Now I know what you're thinking. Taking kids into a conference, with all the talking to bore them, and continually having to shush them and get them to settle down. After all, they're only 8 and 5 years old! But the kids did great. We did have to shush them occasionally, and try to keep them from moving around too much. But for the most part, they were fine. It helped that the air of the session was very informal. I was struck by how blessed Nina and I are to have kids that we can trust to behave themselves in such situations.

Later, we had a quiet worship time, with three stations to participate in various activities, and quiet music playing, with readings showing on the screen. Great blessings in this time. First, my son, John was dragging me away from the folks I was talking with in the hallway beforehand, because he wanted to go in and do the different stations. He and Natalie were both excited about doing these things. I didn't know they'd even been listening to Brandon's explanation of the stations. The one that he and Natalie both enjoyed was the one with modeling clay, where the task was to sculpt something that represented your heart, given to God. John's first (of 11!) sculpture depicted the recent Indonesian tsunami. That's something which has been on his mind a lot lately. He really hurts for those affected. Natalie's creation depicted Jesus on the cross. It was so great to see them getting the point of the activity. At the prayer station, we were to write the names of people who needed God's touch on post-it notes and put them on the wall; then we were to pray over all the names as we looked over them. Natalie made sure to add my wife's grandmother, who has just gone from a 3-month hospital stay into a nursing home. At the meditation station, the scripture to read and meditate on was Psalm 51, which I had just read that morning. It has been on my mind ever since.

It was great to see our kids participating in these simple worship exercises. Brandon talked about how his Maddie still talks about a worship activity that they did several months ago at their church. The hands-on, tactical, illustrative things that have a lesson can be so powerful for children, helping them connect to God in meaningful ways that will secure their hearts to Him.

During the worship time, music was playing; Brandon had chosen some songs by Fernando Ortega, including two of my all-time favorites: "Jesus, King of Angels" and "Give Me Jesus." The latter always reminds me of Dr. Paul Piersall, who was the director of the Seaver College Singers when I was at Pepperdine. "Doc" was a great teacher, a gifted director, and a godly man who helped us see how what we were doing had an impact on the listeners, as well as on ourselves. We always ended our concerts with "Give Me Jesus," and I'll never forget the last concert we did with Doc, in Camarillo, CA in May of 1986. None of us got through that song without a few tears, and Doc himself broke down with us. He's now the chair of the Music Department at Abilene Christian University.

In the afternoon session, we made a new friend. Jack Weldon, a new member at the College Church, who asked if our kids might like to play with his son, Dakota, who was at home a few blocks away, and BORED! A little later, Dakota came in, and John and Natalie had a new buddy! They played the rest of the afternoon, and again on Saturday. Saturday evening, Jack and his wife Carrie invited the our kids to spend the evening at their house, watching movies and playing with their kids, while we went to the conference. It was such a blessing to meet some great people, and make new friends. Jack and Carrie own the Koffeeheads coffeehouse in Fresno, which, I understand, is quite popular there. I'll have to check it out the next time we're down there!

It was good to meet Chris "Sweet Tea" Lockhart, from Mobile, AL. He's the youth and family minister at the Port City Church of Christ, and we had met via WorshipForum.com, but it was good to share a few meals with him, and get to know him better.

It was also good to spend time with Owen and Dorothy Burgess from Bakersfield. They are dear friend whom we have known only about four years, but it seems as if we've been friends forever. They're very musically gifted, and approach and life with such genuine love for God. We've shared many meals with them -- most of them at Cracker Barrel in Nashville!

It was a great blessing to me to have so many people come up and say hello, after having seen my name and face on WorshipForum.com It's good to make connections with other people who are interested in studying and discussing worship. I met Ken McAlpin, the new music minister at the Campbell Church of Christ, former member of Acappella, and a really neat guy. I finally put the name with the face of Allen Gillespie, another WorshipForum friend. Chris Lindsey, of Watershed Worship and MediaShout was good to talk to about both of those endeavors.

As we left Saturday night, we were touched by all those who were concerned for our late-night drive home, with the possibility of fog, and knowing how tired we'd be. We made it home safely, with not too much fog, and with a strong sense of God's blessings on us.