National Vineyard Church pastors conference

Pictured here is Rich Nathan, the senior pastor the Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio.  This week most of our staff and several interns have been at the national pastors conference being held at the Columbus, OH, Vineyard.

What a place this is.  It is a congregation of about 7,000, and the building is fantastic. Just to give you some idea… I’m using one of the computers set up for general use during the conference.  The assistant Information Technology guy told me the church has more than 200 computers in use.   

The focus of the conference is "Missio Dei:  Joining God’s Mission in the World."  Each morning the great scholar Dr. Gordon Fee from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbus, has given a 45-minute Bible lesson from the book of Philippians.  Superb!

Rich Nathan gave the keynote address Wednesday night.  He’s clearly a great leader and a funny and gifted communicator, having once served as a law school professor at Ohio State University.   

But Wednesday morning Julia Pickerill gave the keynote talk on reaching the next generation of today’s youth.  Wow… She stole the show.  Pickerill, along with her husband, head up the ministry to young adults here at the Columbus Vineyard.  There ministry is called Joshua House, and they have about 800 young adults at their weekly young adult service here at the church building. 

Pickerill, age 32 and a young mother of two children (soon to be three), gave one of the most riveting talks I have heard in a very long time.  She spoke for about an hour and 10 minutes, and it was gripping.  Her use of pictures and video clips was the best I’ve ever seen.  I was utterly inspired and would say that her talk really renewed my love for young adults.

In general, its been a great week.  Back to Champaign-Urbana later today…