Breaking Forth

"Whoo Hoo, all right, lets give Jesus a round of applause."

And. . . those are the words that kicked off Breakforth 2007. Now you all know me so you're probably waiting for the sarcasm and rest assured it will be there but before it comes just let me say that I think its pretty cool to give Jesus his props through various forms of worship, in fact I think its crucial to our faith development but the thing I've never understood is why Jesus needs a huge ovation after the BAND rocks the house. Its like the worship leader is trying so hard to make sure we're all aware that the clapping is for God, right? Well good leader, it is for God, but the way you configured that last song the clapping was inevitable so perhaps it was also for you. Which, by the way, doesn't have to be a totally bad thing but lets at least be honest. Call a spade a spade. "Man we KILLED that last song. Yeah dude. But God, now there's someone who deserves a clap or two. He made these guitars. . ." Or something like that. I just think sometimes worship leaders try so hard not to draw attention to themselves that that's exactly what happens. That being said, Robin Mark seems to be a new kind of worship leader, one that has incredible talent, writes incredible lyrics, yet in spite of those things he leads me to the throne of God each time. He ended off the Conference and it was a great note (giggle) to end on. Very powerful.

It would take to long to tell you everything so I'll just some up some of the highlights in the form of quotes.

- "If your church forces you into a role that doesn't match your call from God, you have my permission to tell them to go to hell." (Bill Easum) - Thankfullly Calgary CofC has never done that to me. Although I wish they would cause it sounds kinda fun. Just kidding everyone who reads this and might tell thus getting me fired.

- "You know you're old when your wife comes to you and say "Let's go upstairs and have sex" and you respond "I can't do both." (Tony Campolo)

- Adopted Child talking to other siblings "Mom and Dad love me more then you guys. They specifically chose me, filled out the paper work and made it happen, you on the other hand are only here because the condemn broke." (Josh McDowell telling a story about his own children. Btw - this flaming religious righty surprised me. I had already prepared myself for a legalistic rendering of all his evidence but he spoke the entire time on the importance of fathers being there for their kids. Pretty convicting actually. Although, he did put a picture up on the powerpoint of him and George W fishing then went on to brag about what a great father George is. Joshy also revealed that he writes many of his speeches. Sigh)

- I walked out on Kay Arthur. She has spunk for a 73 yr old, I gotta give her that and milions have been postively impacted by her books but her message was. . .grrrrrrr. Actually Kay, I don't think its obvious from the book of Revelation that the world is going to end soon. So no, I'm not going to coerce every single bloke I come across to "Repent cuz God's coming any day and you don't want to go to hell, DO YOU?" I think the Kingdom of God is SO much more then coersion for the sake of fire insurance but I could be wrong Kay.
Btw - I know how it sounds "I walked out in the middle of a session" but honestly it was either that or continue to sit there fidgeting, twitching, and shaking my head.

- Tony was the highlight for me. Although he is very conservative theologically he's very very progressive socially which is something I can really get behind. Plus, he's just so darn likeable and funny - even if I totally disagreed with him I'd just laugh and say "Ha Ha, that Tony, so narrowminded." Just kidding.

All in all, I had a good time and was glad I went. Would I recommend you go? Yeah, I think I would. Just bring your sense of humor.

John