After watching the ball drop with some lovely friends from camp (let's just say one of them juggles fire...), I headed to Montreat for College Conference. Technically my intern self isn't in college anymore, but the theme for this year was Wondering Wanderers...which I've gotta say, fits me pretty well. Having thought a lot about the topic over the few days we were there, I think the title can fit just about anybody. We're all somewhere on the journey, you know?
All in all, there were about 1,000 people there. Some were college students, some ministers, and others Montreat staff. Plenty of Presbyterians, but certainly not everyone was. At any rate...that is a LOT of people. Maybe not in the grand scope of the world, but for a three day conference in the mountains North Carolina? At Tuesday night's worship service they played a clip from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? during which the movie's three main characters see a group of white-clad people walking towards a pond to be baptized, singing "Down to the River to Pray." (For your aural pleasure, here's the movie's version of the song on YouTube.) The three men are some combination of mesmerized and confused at the whole situation, and one of them eventually rushes into the water to be baptized himself. The point of this little story though, is that, without any instruction to do so, the entire auditorium started singing along. There we were, almost 1000 strong, sitting together singing. No words on the screen, so music leader up front, just singing because we could. It was haunting, in the best of ways. God was so in that place and in that time that it literally gave me chills.
In addition to keynote speaker Brian McLaren and the other conference/worship leaders, the Resurrection Dance Theater was there. Based out of St. Joseph's Home for Boys in Haiti, these inspiring people have been spending time traveling the US and Canada in hopes of raising money to rebuild two of their three homes (which were destroyed in the earthquake that shook Haiti country almost exactly a year ago), and for continuing support of their mission. Find more info about them here. In addition to a keynote Q & A session during which a few members shared their experiences in Haiti and with St. Joseph's, there was a spectacular dance performance after worship one night...and that was definitely a highlight of the conference. Here's a group of men, all of whom were once orphaned on the street and have since been touched by St. Joseph's, dancing to glorify God. I mean, of course they share their dancing with different people in part to raise awareness and funding, but that's not why they do it. You could see it in their faces...the sheer joy as they moved to the drums and soaked in the thunderous applause. The fact that their faith is so strong despite having gone through far more than I probably ever will: it's incredible. One night at worship an offering was collected and dedicated to St. Joseph's. The wonderful part: it was $4,000. Combined with the proceeds from crafts and tshirts the Resurrection folks had brought with them, college conference attendees raised around $8,000 for St. Joseph's, Wings of Hope, and Trinity House. If you ask me, the fact that a bunch of college students gave that much over the course of a day and a half is pretty awe inspiring.
All in all it was a fantastic few days full of really great conversation, worship, and fellowship. The tricky part will be to pay as much attention to God out here in the real world as I could with a thousand other wondering wanderers at Montreat.
Brian McLaren wrote about us on his blog, and the conference co-directors read this at closing worship:
Presbyterians love to make jokes about themselves (God's frozen chosen, declining in a decent and orderly way, etc.). But the 900+ young adults I met this week in Montreat, NC, exemplify an inspiring future for the Presbyterian church ... if they're taken seriously and listened to and encouraged. The quality of conversation and interaction was at the "wow" level. My level of hope and enthusiasm about new things breaking forth in Mainline Protestantism continues to rise. What a great way to start the year - with tremendous young disciples like these!
Love,
Allison.
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