Lausanne Congress Update

Internet here in Cape town has been spotty and expensive, but here’s a few tid bits from our first few days here.

I have spent most of my time at pastors conferences.  This is an entirely different feel.  To be honest, it feels weightier, more significant.  This probably has something to do with the fact that the bulk of the people here have made unspeakably greater sacrifices to follow God than the average pastor in the US.  It should also be noted that you would never get this sense in talking to the people here – which probably stems from another difference – no one is grumbling or complaining about how no one will follow them or get on board with their vision. They are too busy doing some of the most significant Kingdom work around the world to worry about stuff like that.

As this conference is being touted as one of, if not the most, diverse gatherings of Christian leaders in the history of the world, the vibe of it just defies explanation.  Rubbing shoulders and having conversations with people in contexts that I can scarcely imagine will certainly be one of my highlight coming home.

As someone put it yesterday, there is something “interesting” about being part of a gathering where there are “a lot of chiefs and not all that many Indians.”  (There were actually a handful of Native Americans sitting right behind us when that got said – thankfully they had a sense of humor.)  Basically every other person I meet is President of something, author of a book, or Archbishop of some diocese somewhere.  Oh, Rene Padilla just passed me and there goes the wife of Bill Bright – no kidding.  It’s encouraging to see so many people who are used to being treated as a VIP engage as part of the “common folk.”  Easy, I suppose, when you just don’t think in those terms.

OK, hopefully more later.  Be sure to check out blog posts from Andrew Jones and Skye Jethani.

Related posts:

Lausanne Congress Update 2 Post-Lausanne Congress Reflection #1 – Truth