l'abri conference

The conference this weekend went very well. It was a great time of being encouraged to live faithfully in the midst of a changing culture and world. I think there were somewhere around 700 people who attended. One of the exciting things was the number of younger people at this year's conference. I recognixed several college students from last year and many of these students brought friends along with them this year. I say this is exciting because I'm sure there were plenty of other things these young Christians could have been doing this weekend and yet they chose to to attend a conference. It's also exciting because there are plenty of conferences out there with, uh... not so good teaching, and they chose to come to a place where they could hear balanced and biblically solid teaching.

In addition to the plenary sessions there were tons of workshops for attendees to chose from. On Friday morning I led a workshop with Denis Haack on the subject of popular music. We did a similar workshop last year discussing how music funtions as a form of cultural dialogue. This year we focused on how musicians express deep yearnings and longings of the heart. Our goal was to keep the the time fairly informal and discussion oriented. We played several songs and had the audience share what they thought of the songs. The songs were ones that expressed a longing for purpose, hope, meaning and truth. It seems to me that good musicians have the ability to communicate in ways more profound and moving than mere words.

We played songs by Snow Patrol, Zero 7, The Avett Brothers, and Beck. It was a privilege to share our thoughts on these songs and how they may unintentionally mirror a biblical worldview. It was also very interesting to listen to some of the thoughts of those who chose to come to our workshop. Many people shared their insights on the songs as well as their own personal life experience. Overall, I think the workshop went well. If you'd like to get a copy of the workshop (or of last year's) you can order one at this site: http://www.soundword.com/haackdscottt.html. Sound Word also has the other workshops and plenary sessions most of which are worth listening to if you're interested.

One of the things I appreciate about doing this workshop with Denis is the opportunity to demonstrate intergenerational interaction. I think it's a sad fact that this type of interaction is so rare in our culture and in the church. It seems to me that many in the older generations aren't willing to listen to the thoughts of the younger ones thinking that they are all just kinda whiny. The younger generations in turn tend to dismiss the older ones assuming that anything they might say is completely irrelevant to the real world. Denis and I are able to stand in front of people from these various generations and show them that we can talk and learn from one another with respect. It's not like we do this perfectly but I wish there were more people in the church having these kind of conversations that cross age barriers.