Nostalgia

During the past several days the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention has been going on in San Diego.  There is another one in Nashville later this year.  This was an event that I attended 17 times between 1982 and 2006.  In 2004 I was honored to be one of the seminar presenters in Atlanta.  No class, seminar, workshop or event ever had the impact on my life and ministry as the NYWC.  This past weekend I connected with a number of old friends and convention attenders through Twitter- and it has left me feeling a bit nostalgic...

I found myself missing the "Big Room" where great artists like Yohann Anderson, James Ward, Bob Stromberg, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder and Starfield led worship, and great speakers like Louie Giglio, Tony Campolo, Brennan Manning, Philip Yancey and Mike Yaconelli inspired me.  I miss the interaction with all of the great names in contemporary Christian music.  I miss the great workshops and seminars. I miss the Late Night Live sessions with Lost And Found, CPR and others.  And I miss hanging out with thousands of other youth workers, worshipping, playing and sharing.  I miss it all so much- and it hurts because it is due to my own failures that I am no longer there.

One of the dangers of writing this blog everyday is that it tempts me to live in the past.  I have lived an amazing life filled with incredible people, and these daily posts allow me to remember all of that.  And remembering is fine.  Nostalgia, in small doses, helps us to remember who we are.  But I must guard- we all must guard- against being so enamoured of our pasts that we miss out on the present and the future.  As I have reflected this past weekend on some of the best moments of my professional career at the NYWC, I am reminded that God still has work for me to do.  I will never again be a youth pastor.  I will never again attend a NYWC.  But there is still much left for me to do in the name of Jesus.  My primary focus now is to be the husband and father God wants me to be.  I think part of my ministry may be serving as an encouragement to (and prayer partner with) youth pastors.  Much of my new ministry is still being discovered.  I believe this blog is part of that ministry, and I thank my readers for allowing me into your lives in this way.

The past was wonderful, but only because Jesus was there.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Together with Jesus, we all still have much to do.  In the immortal words of the great Bill Murray at the end of the movie Meatballs-  "FORWARD HOOOOOOOOO!!!"   Join me tomorrow as I look at a web of ministry that includes the past, present and future...

Because of Jesus,