Next 2012: Day 1

May 26, 2012

4:30 AM and my alarms (yes I set several) went off. Lindsay and I rolled out of our beds sleepily, but excitedly in order to get ready, eat breakfast, pray, and be ready to leave for the airport by 5:30. Lindsay had spent the night the night before so that both of our families did not have to have a member get up at the same crazy hour. Around 7:00 AM our plane took off, and after a layover in Atlanta (during which we met up with Suzanne who had the same connecting flight as us, we finally landed in Orlando, Florida! We met Mrs. Reinicke, one of our other roommates, and spent some time in the airport getting lunch at Chick-fil-a and exploring some of the shops.

 There were several neat shops in the Orlando airport including a Harley Davidson which had a motorcycle in the front on which you could take pictures. We had some fun with this, and a nice man offered to take a picture of all three of us (Mrs. Reinicke was reading and watching the luggage).

Then we found the shuttle, purchased our shuttle tickets, and headed for our hotel. Rosen Shingle Creek. It was nice that we arrived so early since we had plenty of time to get checked in to both the hotel and the conference, relax, explore, and eat dinner. Finally the first session began! It started with worship led by Bob and Devon Kauflin and the Na Band (they all led worship the whole weekend, and did an awesome job). Jeff Purswell gave the first message of the conference. It was titled "The Church + The Purpose of God", and his main point was that, "God's Eternal purpose is to dwell among a people He has made His own." One of the main things that stuck out to me in this sermon was when he talked about how, "He longs to fellowship with you. Do you think of God that way?" The rest of the night included checking out the nice hot tub and pool, and a late-night snack at the 24 hr shop inside the hotel/convention center. By the time we went to by the time I went to bed I had been awake (except for perhaps a little dozing on the plane) for over twenty hours!

Note: All the messages from Next 2012 (as well as previous years) are available for free at www.thisisnext.org/resources

This and That

I have finally finished my practicum hours! I would have been done a little bit earlier if not for SOL testing at the school taking up quite a bit of time on the schedule. It feels good to have that behind me and done! It was a pretty stressful semester, but it is basically done now;  I just have to copy and submit the papers and such for the practicum and write a short journal sort of thing, but none of that takes very long and I will probably be turning everything in tomorrow or Friday.

This Saturday, bright and early, I will be leaving VA and heading to Orlando for the Next conference (used to be called New Attitude until a couple years ago). This is the last year they will be doing this conference! I am really excited for the conference though sad it will not be held again. Every year I have gone (this will be my 5th year!) has been simply amazing, and I hope that this year is the same. If you think of it, please be praying for this conference, that the Lord would touch each and every heart there.