Back from the Midwest....

Sorry it has taken me so long to share about my quick, exciting trip to Kansas City last week. I came down with a terrible cold. (And, since I'm the giving kind, promptly shared the cold with my husband!) So we're both recovering slowly from it...
Lovett set up a great, busy itinerary for us. We had the chance to visit a diverse group of churches in the greater Kansas City area and learned a lot about each community of faith. We began, after having lunch at a prominent BBQ joint in the city, at St. James UMC. St. James is a vibrant congregation in the inner city of Kansas City pastored by Emmanuel Cleaver, who is also a congressman. We met with staff and the District Superintendent and learned about how they lead a church while their pastor works half time on Capitol Hill.
We were then off to meet with Tim Keel. Tim started a church called Jacob's Well. I felt at home in conversation with Tim and in this church. It is an emergent style church, but what felt comfortable to me was their desire to live the way of Jesus as a rule of life-- it is the central core of everything they do. And you can tell. One of my colleagues said later, "Man, Tim kind of scared me, he was a lot like Jesus." There's a guy embodying his faith and living it out in community. We ended the day enjoying a meal with the homeless and learning about Revolution, a church intentional about living out the gospel in the urban context. The leadership really inspired many of the fellows for their conviction to care for the poor and neglected.

The next day we spent at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Church of the Resurrection in United Methodist circles is known as the "church that could." It is at 15,000+ members and talking about building the third phase of their facility to accommodate more folks in worship. They are clear about who they are and what they are about-- and everything about it (and it is a BIG facility) reflects beautifully and efficiently their mission, vision and values. The staff, especially the young adult staff, were so gracious to us and spent a lot of time sharing what they could. (Andrew, if you read this, please thank the others!)

And, our time with Adam Hamilton, lead pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, was helpful. Adam is in the picture with us fellows to the right (thanks to Ann Michel!). Ann and Lovett are also in the picture with us. (Adam is seated in the center).
Our final day we spent meeting with faculty at St. Paul School of Theology and for most, heading home. I got to enjoy a special treat since I had an eight hour wait to get to my plane (which was late!). I spent time with fellow blogger and all-around good guy Andy Bryan. Andy is a pastor in North Kansas City. We met at an event a few years back in Washington, D.C., when they were schooling us young ones on how the General Board of Church and Society works.
In Andy I find a kindred spirit in ministry, so getting to see his church and spend time enjoying lunch and conversation was a gift. Here's a shot of Andy and me. Thanks again, Andy for the hospitality!
I'll blog about some specific things that came up over the week once I've recovered a bit more....what I will say is, the people are super nice, there's a wonderful evangelical drive among the people of Kansas City I appreciate and learned from, and no matter what-- 10 degrees is TEN degrees!!! I was super glad to come back to SoCal and 54!!!