The Q Conference 2010 hasn’t even begun yet and already I’m remembering why it’s such a unique opportunity. Just a few highlights:
- Chicago is a town I grew to love when I went to Wheaton College, not far from here. David and I have rarely been back, so it’s special that Q is taking place here this year. Returning to old haunts is such a mile marker in life, don’t you think?
- The cab ride from the airport alone was entertaining. We shared a very adventurous cab ride with our City Place campus pastor, John Poitevent. The driver had anger issues. That’s all I’m saying.
- We met up with JR Kerr, a friend from our last Q experience in NYC, almost immediately. JR has the ability to pack more words into a five minute conversation than anyone I know. He is also one of those natural-born connectors, a person who introduces you to just the person you were wanting to meet. This makes him the guy you want to know at a conference like this!
- Buddy and Jody Hoffman and the gang from Grace Fellowship are here with us this week. Buddy will be speaking tomorrow on the topic of Muslim Christians. Their son Gabe is traveling with them. Gabe is one of the few guys I know who speaks David’s brand of techy Christianity. I don’t understand half of what they say, but that’s OK. They’re happy; I’m happy. Jody is deeply involved in “listening prayer” so we are already deep into three conversations that I’m sure we’ll pick up again in the morning. Love that!
- After an amazing dinner of deep dish pizza at Giordano’s (welcome to Chicago, baby!) we returned to find our hotel lobby full of Q presenters and participants. It was a meet and greet Q style. I was excited to get to meet Chris Heuretz, the author of Simple Spirituality. (See my last blog post for a story from Simple Spirituality). It was a great book, and I was happy to connect the face of the author with his words. In addition, we sat and watched Peter Greer, the author of The Poor Will Be Glad, eat some leftover pizza. Turns out he is a good friend of Buddy’s. I read that book for most of the past fall, and really credit it with refining my views on missions, investing and microfinance. Loved the conversation, the stories, the instant fellowship. I even spied Tim Keller slipping through the lobby and heading upstairs.
- I’m so excited to meet some friends I made through the process of attending Q two years ago, Duncan and Kathy McFadzean. They are from Scotland, and together with Laura Ann (aka koalainscotland or Brunette Koala) are members of what I only half-jokingly refer to as my “Scottish Small Group.” Can’t wait to meet them in person tomorrow! Tonight I sat in the lobby with Duncan’s facebook picture on my phone and compared him to everyone I saw passing through…a fun game, that.
So now here it is, one in the morning according to my body clock, with a super early call time in the morning. I’m so excited to see what God has in store, and I can already feel it buzzing around in the air!
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hee hee.