salt the planet

Nick and I ate with my peg-legged sister (ask me the story later) and her boyfriend today at the American Cafe. It is crazy how many times I have had to squeeze into a parking place this weekend because apparently Nash-villains (that isn't a typo) have no sense of parking straight or even keeping equidistant between the lines. Today I even had to climb out of the car window just to get out. It made me think of the Dukes of Hazzard, but without Daisy.

After lunch, Nick and I hurried back to the convention center. I was looking forward to hearing from Dave Livermore and Steve Argue after reading Steve's blog just a few nights ago. However, since we were late, I missed the first 30 minutes in which they basically outlined the redemptive meta-narrative of scripture. Nothing major really. I did however get to fill in the blanks on the really cool diagram they had. Truthfully though, it was helpful and I look forward to dialoguing with them about their journey toward this.

The second part was transformative as it truly connected with many of the theologissues I have been wrestling with, especially in connecting these grand ideas and thoughts to the up close and personal everyday. The primary tool given was a matrix that helped to implicate us and our students in the meta-narrative of God's redemptive work.

The guys used a clip from the movie Thirteen (props to Chuckie P.) to allow us to begin understanding how to use this matrix in a practical sense in ministry (By the way, if you haven't seen this movie I would highly recommend that anyone in ministry with students watch this). It was a fantastic exercise to examine how we would minister to Tracy (the girl in the movie) in light of the following four categories: theological reflections, personal formation, missional expression, and contextual awareness. Without giving away too much of the info, I would challenge you gals and guys to check out Argue and Livermore's website. It was enlightening to ensure that we balance our ministry approaches along each of these categories, which helps me not to focus more heavily on the aspects I tend toward, which are typically the theological and personal.