October 04, 2007

All I can say is, "wow!"

An open letter to all Fall 2007 Church IT RoundTable attendees:

When people started responding to my RoundTable invitation, it wasn't long before I realized it was going to be "off the hook!" Little did I know.

My friends, the last three days go down as the #1 highlight of my ministry at Resurrection so far. And YOU did it. All it took was for you to gather at our place. That's it. I honestly believe the planning doesn't matter much because the Holy Spirit shows up, is evident in your lives and on your faces, and gets everyone else fired up. It's a positive feedback loop. The more pumped you are, the more pumped everyone else is. Wow!

Remember when I said one of our three main purposes for this RoundTable was inspiration? In the planning for this event, I was very conscious that we needed to create opportunities for inspiration to happen. I hoped, planned, and prayed that YOU would be inspired, but oddly, I didn't expect ME to be the one inspired. Our great God had other ideas in mind. I ended up being inspired - not by any particular content, session, or moment - just by being with all of you.

Only upon reflection this evening did I fully confront the fact that I've been considering quitting. I don't know how long God will continue to call me to serve in my current capacity, but I'll tell you right now that I'm not quitting. Tonight I have rededicated myself to the work God has set before me. Why? Because the Holy Spirit, working through you in some kind of mysterious way that none of us can understand or articulate, has reignited my passion for this work. Thank you. You have been an immeasurable blessing to me.

MinistryTECH won't come soon enough ...

3 comments:

The Cybernetic Entomologist said...

What an awesome event it was. It's almost 2 am and I'm still wide awake despite being exhausted because my brain is still pumped from the event. LI is going to seem downright tame.

Can't blame you for pondering jumping ship... Doing the same job in IT for a while makes it easy to burn out, I've been there too many times before. In many cases, it took less time than I've been at Resurrection so far, and I feel like I'm just starting to get a good groove going. The RT event has been very helpful for me in that regard, helping me realize that yes, this *is* fun and cool stuff, despite the long hours and low pay.

More on my blog in a bit.

Unknown said...

Clif, you and your team (and we know it wasn't quite all just Amy) did a fantastic job. Great ideas, great wilingness to try things (even those that failed wonderfully :-), and on top of that wonderful social times, great food, and some very needed spiritual input for all ofus. WAY TO GO!!

Mike Mayfield said...

Clif, the Roundtable was awesome and your idea of smaller groups was just brilliant! The smaller setting was great for additional dialogue and yet there was still a lot of time for interracting with those not in your group. Like you, I cannot wait for April for the next gathering.