Flashback, Dude!

I was able to attend (along with Neil, Nancy & Debbie - three members of our church council) a conference over in the Bay Area entitled Doing Ministry In A World Growing Younger. They managed to pack a bunch into 24 hours... so you're likely to see odd posts related to this conference all week.

I had a major flashback moment when Rebecca Manley Pippert spoke... her book, Out of the Saltshaker and Into The World, played a major part in my faith development during college. I remember going to an IVCF meeting (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) and watching video teaching tapes that she'd done - I'm guessing I was a junior, which makes this 1984-85. That's right: 20 years ago. Sheesh.

Anyway, she spoke about incarnational evangelism... maybe I'll tell y'all more about that later. (Maybe not: I'm making a lot of promises about posts that I'm going to have difficulty keeping if I don't turn off my Promiser.) In the midst of that, she asked a question that's haunting me (in a good way):

The good news of Jesus Christ is the most beautiful, incredible thing there is. The question in evangelism (sharing what we believe) is how do we get the style of the way we share as beautiful as the message itself? (paraphrased from memory & my scratchy notes)

Wow. Oh, for a personal style that is as beautiful as the Gospel. Now that's a quest worth going on.