So I guess since so many folks here at Off the Map will be blogging on their comments and feedback, I might as well go for it and join the norm. After all this blogging I have done, I finally get to join the Emergent crowd and blog through a conference. NICE!! You can see other folks’ comments on their own site blog here.

So far, there’s been some good times. Great opportunities to meet folks. I have met some from Nevada, Portland, California…. saw Karen Sloan again, got a big hug from Bill Dahl, met Spencer Burke, Brian McLaren, found out Todd Hunter (who I’ve actually talked to on the phone before) is here, as well. My hope is to continue these conversations at a much more informal level. I suppose I don’t have to worry about Bill as Mr. Porpoise-diving is like a second dad for me.

The thing that I am most impressed with so far is the wide variety of voices present. Not that they are wide by any broad sense of the term, but there is a good variety of people here representing different view points. I prefer to do much listening these next few days, as no doubt it will be more challenging to come in with an open mind… ready to learn. I do always find it interesting when we spend a lot of time hypothesizing about strategy and theory with a lot of folks who are pretty similar to us. Our ministry then is often with people who are very different then us… so perhaps, let’s talk about who we are and what we bring to the table. I hope for these opportunities.

But then again, after our conversation over a few beers last night, I should supposedly affirm that “I don’t have anything to do with it… and then again neither do you…. and neither does the conversation…” I know that doesn’t make sense….