The kingdom of God...

The kingdom of God is like...


The statement was made by Melissa Clodfelter at night, by the pool side table. She had heard it over and over in her mind while sharing the sacred space that this gathering is. YCW, the conference, it's awesome. Truly this is what the kingdom of God is like. (Thank you Melissa for those small words).

Today has been about coaching. About conflict. About owning. About what we bring to the table, and what we can leave behind.


And to top it off some parts of the CCs got to go and not just have fab food but also be cheering on a fellow clergy chick buying a pretty cool mustard yellow wintercoat (yes, despite the heat) just because you need some happy during winter!

conflict

The CC are talking conflict today. Does this have anything to do with the general view that the coffee at the hotel is slightly...so-so? ;)

But seriously, management and leadership will always have to do with conflict, and knowing how to deal with it is very important.

The quote right now: Do not sacrifice yourself for the congregation, the congregation will not sacrifice itself for you.

Any thoughts on that?

pool side spirituality

The day ended. A walk back home through the warm night, surrounded by the songs of cicadas. Conversation about art and creativity, and back at the hotel we sat down among friends at the pool, sharing wine and crackers and stories.
There is something about the intimacy of water that makes conversations thrive.
So we talked about weddings and Holy Eucharist, about the big issues and some silliness. Overhead lightning turned darkness into blazing light, if only for an instance at the time. And the God-given golden strands of communion and fellowship gleamed in the midnight-blue Georgia night.

Qualities of an adaptive leader

Featured speaker Melissa Clodfelter

There has been references to "The Practice of Adaptive Leadership" by Heifetz, Grashow and Linsky.

There will be glitter glueing.

There has been sharing great questions. Like do you behave what you believe as you say you believe?

There is hopefully a few helpful answers.

Communion

Holy moments in places you didn't think could feel that holy.

The story of Hanna giving birth to Samuel and really saying "here I am" long before he is -not in words (thank you Erica for your thoughts!) but in action.

So here we are.

powered by great shoes

Wonderful Atlanta greeted us upon arrival. And after a ride on a Marta train and bus CC could breathe in a sigh of relief at Emory Inn. After traveling for 20 hrs or so, they needed that.


They did get online and found Suzanne and after a nice salad and wine (realizing there would be much hunger in the morning if not) and chat they crashed the Binder Party at room 220. The joy! There was filing and turning boring binders to wonderful conference ones and peeking in goodie bags until it was all time to go to bed.

Sunday morning was a day as good as any. Coffee and a muffin and CC were good to go. They did take a stroll down the road a mile or so to get some groceries. It was hot. Got back and rested for a short while before going to the mall. One has to have great shoes. NBCC did find great shoes. BCC got great other stuff.

Time for registration and the conference can start!