One was a conference call with Doug Foster and Robert Welch to plan details for the Stone-Campbell Dialogue that will meet in Dallas this November. The Dialogue has been meeting for several years now, long before I was associated with it. It is an effort to acquaint leaders from all three streams of the Stone-Campbell movement in discussions to help them see where they agree and to foster Christian unity among the three groups.
The cynical side of me says, "Dialogue. Talk. Discussion. That's great, but what is accomplished in all of this? And are we experiencing unity richer, fuller, or more obvious now than before all the talk began?"
I'm still not sure I have an answer for all those questions, but I do believe the meeting we'll experience in Dallas this November will be worth the time of all who attend. We are planning a spiritual disciplines retreat, led by a lady from the churches of Christ and attended not only by the Dialogue team members, but also by 14 or 15 "young leaders," 5 from each of the streams, who minister in the Metroplex area. It will be a way to broaden the acquaintance of others with the goals and people in the Dialogue. And I believe it will be a worthwhile event just for itself, regardless of any future implications or lack of them.
Late this afternoon I sat in with the VBS production team to talk about an article about Standard Publishing's 2013 VBS in the January issue of Christian Standard.
At first I was skeptical and critical of the decision to introduce a VBS theme based so closely on a previous course. ("God's Big Backyard" was Standard's 2008 VBS.) But after talking with Matt Lockhart and the VBS team, I can see all the reasons for doing this, all the ways next year's course will be different and better than the previous one, and all the creative and new features users will enjoy in "God's Backyard Bible Camp." I'm looking forward to laying this all out there in an interview-format article that will appear in our January issue.
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