Youth Specialties Pittsburgh - Saturday

Today was a good day. I spent most of it in and around the various prayer spaces provided by YS. Andy and I are working as volunteers in the Labyrinth this weekend. I had two shifts today, and it was an amazing experience. My first shift was during the morning's general session. Yesterday was not very busy. There was never any kind of a backlog. Since it was a general session, I figured most people would be in listening to Francis Chan speak, so I guess that it would be more of the same. Acutally, it was busier than either of the sessions I worked on Friday.

But that was nothing compared to my afternoon shift, which was during the time between the afternoon seminars and the evening general session. When I walked in, the labyrinth was full. There were two people at most of the stations and three at at least one or two. There were 6 people waiting to start, and there were 4 people on the sign up sheet to start in the next 15 minutes. It was crazy.

What I learned pretty quickly is that busy is better. And not just because it makes time go by faster. It is incredible to watch the people who go through the labyrinth. I don't think that I have ever been a part of something where people have so consistently had incredible experiences with God. I get to watch people from the time they walk into the door, through the time they are at the prayer stations, up to the time that they leave. I get to see countenances lifted. I get to see people lift their hands in worship. I get to see them shed tears as they work with God. I get to watch as burdens are lifted. I literally get to watch as people are changed because of their experience with God. It's just incredible. Thanks YS for the opportunity to be a part of it.

Between the my two shifts in the labyrinth, I spent some time on my own in the Prayer Chapel. One of the things I spent a lot of time praying about before coming to Pittsburgh is that God would provide some guidance for Quest for the coming year. I certainly don't know everything yet, after after my time in prayer today, I feel like I have a lot more clarity. Keep watching here for details.

Phyllis Tickle was the general session speaker today. I was fortunate enough to see her in Atlanta last year and was blown away. I blogged about that session here, and I was part of a discussion of her talk here. I also read her book The Great Emergence. I think she's fantastic, but I wasn't quite as blown away this time around. However, let's be honest, a big part of that is because it wasn't a new idea to me this time. While there was a bunch that was new (or at least different) from her talk in Atlanta last year, it is very similar to her book. Still, it was good stuff to think about.

Tomorrow I don't have any shifts in the labyrinth. I get to be a participant all day. I'm not sure I'm excited about that...