My K.C. Masterpiece

So last night and today I was in Kansas City. I went there for a college expo for work. After arriving into K.C. around 8:30, we (my co-worker and myself) decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat for some dinner. That was until we noticed a KC Masterpiece. We thought, hey, in K.C. why not eat some of it's Masterpiece...So we enter this eating establishment only to realize how dead it was inside. We sat down, ordered our drinks, took one sip of that Mt. Dew and walked straight out. It was time to live it up on a Friday night & BW's is where it was going to be. So we head to BW3's where it was exactly that...lively. We sat in the area with most TV's visible and ended up having this huge guy that had a shaved head as our waiter...He was a jerk, just flat out a jerk. As we ate our delicious wings...i noticed Mr. Clean start to carry out these kegs that were lined up against the wall. Cory and I just looked at each other and were thinking that they had to be empty cause he just picked up two of them up at a time. He then came back and grabbed the last one and tossed it over his head. Now, i understand Mr. Clean is a strong guy, but we knew the truth, those were empty and he was showing off. So after eating our wings, we sat there for an hour, watching NCAA ball and also waiting on Mr. Clean to bring us our check, who just happened to disappear...so we were like...hey, free meal...but being the honest guys we are, we went to the front and were like, hey, is it free friday? and the girl looked at me weird and so i explained and we had to go back to the bar area and find some girl who finally gave me our check, who later said we could have just walked right out...

so we head back towards the hotel where a comedy club was located at that we noticed on our way out. Come to find out, it was closed, so we are sitting there in the car and the question is asked 'well, what now?' and i replied, 'i didn't come to kansas city to go to bed at 10:30 on a friday night...so we headed towards the general direction of downtown K.C. After finally reaching a place to see the sky-line, we noticed a huge hotel w/ color changing lights across the entire building...quite a sight to see...so we said, let's go in it...as we get close to it, we notice another hotel...the Radison...on the top floor it looked like a giant circle coming out of the building like as if something was special up there...so we said, let's go there instead...so we did. After parking, legally, i dunno, it was downtown K.C. we walked in. Cory looked over at me and said, oh yeah, PBR is in town this weekend. I found it odd that if this wasn't the case, because about 20 cowboys were in the lobby of the hotel...we made it to the elevators and found the top floor...number 24...would Jack Bauer be there to greet us? who knows....

As the doors opened to the 24th floor, there was a red carpet awaiting us, as well as loud music, giant PBR signs and a guy behind a red rope ready to greet us and check our ID's...with about 1/2 a second of hesitation, we proceeded into the arena of lights and the sweet sound of a country/techno remix dancing it's way into my ears...All i needed was about 2 seconds to realize that i wish I would have packed my cowboy hat and button down shirt to K.C. We were the only non-cowboy dressed in the entire downtown area i think.

All i could think of was the country song running through my head "Should have been a cowboy" and although i wasn't there, "God Blessed Texas" cause there were cowgirls there too...

Basically we walked in on the PBR after-party in the top of the Radison. All we wanted to do was to look out the big cirlce from the top floor cause it looked cool from the ground...so we did just that and turned around and walked right out. On our way down, we got to experience a tipsy cowboy...oh i don't miss those days of drunk cowboys and country/western line dancing...

We made our trip to the downtown so we returned to our hotel, where a bed made of angel's wings was there. Oh how i miss sleeping on a queen size bed...it was amazing!

So then at the college expo in the morning, we get to our table and get placed next to a lady who was anit-public schools...oh what a sight...she actually had posters to give to people that said "public schools harm children"...oh what a sight to see..

So we survived through the expo without getting crucified from the lady...then time to fill up the school's car...a '96 Lumina...green at that! and hit the road...

After filling up for gas, we joke about how ghetto the area looked, just then, as I get to start the car and leave...we heard it. It was a gun shot! Cory and i just looked at each other, looked around to see where it came from, then i checked myself to make sure i wasn't shot and we sped out of Dodge....well, K.C. I then made it back to the beautiful Lou with a speedy time of 3 hours...oh, Home Sweet Home...

my windy city conference pt 2: My IKEA

Well, where to start?

This morning as we walked into the auditorium, we were handed a small glow stick and told not to break them till we were instructed to do so. Worship was led by Willow's Jr. High Student Ministry Band. All Jr. Highers. Honestly, they were better musically, and had better stage presence than most college level bands i've seen...

There was a brake in the music and then we were instructed to brake our glow sticks. As the lights dimmed, and Marvelous Light began...we worshipped.




Never had an experience quite like it...

We then continued to have a main session about Technology in ministry. Live blogging took place today and I actually got a prize. Have some very interesting conversations and points brought up about technology/teens/parents/ministry....very good in depth stuff...you can check it out here Shift Conference. Most of the sessions had people taking live notes through it. Very cool!

Breakout sessions took place later on. First one was about getting students to evangelize in their high schools. it was okay, nothing amazing that i didn't already have in mind. Informative, yes! The second breaktout session was about Growing Small at Mars Hill: Small Groups. Let's just say, Joe Hays, Student Minister at Mars Hill, who also just happens to look just like Dane Cook, was an amazing session leader. I learned so much about what they do at Mars Hill as well as why to have small groups and why not to have small groups. Simply amazing! Again, we talked about how students want to belong and how they want to be in a story greater than what they already are. Simply a great session!

Then more fun began! A trip to Giordanos for some Chicago style pizza! Then a trip to IKEA...now, this was my first experience to IKEA...i did, i rededicated! it was amazing! My life has been changed.

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. Pray for no snow so we can make it back to the Lou. Big plans for tomorrow night!!!

my windy city conference pt 1: My story

Well, I'm here in the Windy City. Today was the first day of the Willow Creek Student Ministry Conference.

I got to hear Darren Whitehead, Donald Miller (writer of Blue Like Jazz), & Bo Boshers (student minister at Willow) speak today! Let's just say, i got my world rocked!

For starters, I was told before i left that a friend hoped Chicago would be refreshing, informing, and inspiring...

Today was very refreshing! I actually got a chance to worship without any part of thinking about the sound, video, lighting....it was just amazing, nothing in charge of, and just able to kick back and worship God!

Today we talked a lot about how everyone wants to be a part of a good story. Everyone wants to be included in something more than where they are currently at in their life. I know that I have been included in one of the most amazing stories ever. I don't know what you'd call it, but I know that the story i've been a part of has been so amazing! Words can't describe the part of the story that I am currently in right now.


More to come tomorrow after some sleep!

Oh, I also went to a Brazilian Steak House tonight! 16 different types of meats were brought around to the table and you could ask for as much as you wanted...it was by the grace of God that I ate as much as I did...