Done at Dunn (Bros)

Well, just sitting at a Dunn Bros in Plymouth, MN after working the weekend at the Minneapolis Weekend to Remember. Another GREAT weekend to see God work in the lives of individuals and marriages. About 960 people attended the conference at the Marriott City Center. 56 gave their life to Christ for the first time and over 200 made recommitments to their faith and their marriages. It's mind blowing to think about the ripple effect that a single conference like this can have. At least ten couples indicated that a marriage disaster was averted by attending this conference!! I also had a chance to see some old friends from our home church and a husband and wife introduced themselves to me after they heard I graduated from Richfield High School. Was good to see God working in my hometown!!

The main speaker, Tim Muehlhoff was excellent as usual. He was in Minneapolis a couple of years ago and was very funny. He's a professor at Biola University in LA and is one of our better Weekend to Remember speakers. In fact, someone came up to me during the conference and wondered how he could get Tim to speak at one of his church functions!

It's been a good trip for me but I DO MISS my family. I had a chance to connect with a lifetime friend. Chris and I were inseparable for a couple of years during our childhood. He lived down the street growing up and we had a lot of fun without getting into trouble. We recalled some of the things that we did together. Like the time we took a 30+ mile bike ride when we were in junior high. Or the time I was riding right behind him along a busy street and BAM...all of a sudden I was gone...face first on the ground as the front wheel of my bike fit nicely into a grate along the curb of the street. Then we laughed as we recalled the evenings of staying up late into the wee hours of the morning, playing Sports Illustrated baseball and eating as much sugar as we could stuff into our youthful bodies in one evening and not get sick (though we often got close). Ironically, we met for breakfast at a fun place called, Hell's Kitchen!! A nice place for a Campus Crusade staff and friend to meet :-).

Today I had the chance to meet with a pastor who is trying to get a young marrieds ministry off the ground at her church. It was really fun to share the resources of FamilyLife with her and give her some ideas about how to begin to structure a ministry to reach the 20's-30's in her growing church with God's plan for marriages. She cited many that are struggling and having difficulty so early in their marriages, ready to call it quits. It will be fun to work with her on developing a model that she can implement to provide hope for those couples and practical help with specific issues that they are experiencing. Though it sometimes sounds trite, it truly is help for today's marriages and hope that they can be life giving tomorrow!

Well, time to sign off, head over to my sister in-laws house and enjoy the evening with them before I go back home to Little Rock tomorrow morning. Sue has been entertaining three of Bryan's friends from John Brown who are staying with us during their spring break. FINALLY....boys outnumbering girls in our house. HALLELUJAH! Until next time