my roommate at the New Baptist Covenant gave a short synopsis in numbers the first night of the NBC. I found it helpful and quick, so i'm re=posting it with my own answers. truth be told, i'm really tired, depressed and feeling guilty about not blogging. So this is my quick-fix way of blogging. love to all anyway...
"the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant by the numbers,"
MLK references by major speakers: 9 day one (but stay tuned to Tx in Africa for the full count)
Exes run into: 1
Number of times semi-acosted by members of the Secret Service who were escorting Jimmy Carter through: none - i wish i'd been accosted by Carter's secret service. that means i would have perhaps been able to shake his hand. i was about 20 rows behind him for one of the sessions though and it was awesome!
Level of fanhood of Al Gore: higher than before
Total number of sermons that Tony Campolo still has: 1 (according to Tx in Africa)
Quality of Tony Campolo's one sermon: skipped it to sleep in - knew i had heard it before :)
Best sermon: aw man... um... james forbes/joel gregory/charles adams - that's cheating, i know.
New hero: Julie Pennington Russell - i want to be her someday - except i want to be me being her.
Number of times I grabbed my neighbor's arm and whispered, "Can you believe we're about to hear Clinton? Where IS he!?": 3
Number of times I called Jimmy Carter "cute": innumerable
Number of welcoming and affirming Baptist groups allowed to sponsor the NBC: 0
Number of welcoming and affirming Baptist groups that have a booth at the NBC: 1
Number of buttons I wore to protest the welcoming and affirming Baptist groups not being allowed to sponsor the NBC: 1 (thank you Alan)
Number of buttons I had supporting welcoming and affirming Baptist groups: 2
Most ridiculously over-the-top displays in the entryway to the plenary hall that can apparently be bought when your president plans the event: Mercer University. (I didn't even find Truett's booth until the last day!)
Number of times our alarm clock made a funny, inexplicable sound all night long every hour on the half hour: 6
Amount of REM sleep I got, even with earplugs: 0 - plenty of nightmares though
Parts of my life from which I have run into people associated with those times and places: Truett, William Jewell, Mosaic, Current, IME, SWBYC, Austin, CBF...
So that's her quiz with some of my answers. It was such a beautiful experience. I will try to write more when I'm feeling better. Unity is amazing.
And these three remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.
3 comments:
(first, I'm glad to find your blog, enjoyed hanging and chatting on Tuesday night at the Brick Store)...
So I'm hanging out at the hotel bar following Friday night trying to get my head around this week I just experienced...very difficult to do (even before my beer). A couple I know come up, minds reeling as they accumulated "what-now" ideas. one of them goes over and strikes up a conversation with a couple of african american strangers at a nearby table (they had New Baptist Covenant programs) to ask them about their thoughts on one particular idea. The conversation ended in 1)a preaching gig for her at the guys church in NYC 2) hugs, thanks, friendship, yada, yada, 3) a vision of what might be. I sound like a kid returning home from a particularly manipulative Friday night youth camp invitation but I'm sort of hooked on this whole thing. (Call me idealistic)
One more note, I was sorry for the lack of official "open and affirming" groups, but I know there were a whole lot of OandA folk in attendance. For once, I've left a large public meeting of baptists hopeful and unashamed. That in itself makes for a pretty good meeting for a cynic like me.
Heh-heh. Amen to the love thing.
I've always wanted to read The Bell Jar. You like...but it is a bit of a downer?
Cheers.
(PS - Found you on Kester's blogroll and he has some really good blog friends...Austin must have some good folks!)
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