Well the intention to post every day was wishful thinking! But the festival was an amazing week, it just got a little busy. Its taken a good couple of days to recover from the festival, ive done nothing but sleep and mooch around since Wednesday. Gone are the days of bouncing back from that sort of thing... sigh.
Anyway, im out of the cave. : )

There are a whole bunch of highlights from the week, having so many friends in one spot was very cool, and the guys that came for the event were amazing. Here are my old bible college flatmates who were at the event. Its bitter sweet having a whole bunch of mates that you can only spend a limited amount of time with due to the busyness of the event, but with whom you could spend weeks and weeks swapping yarns and still not be done!

One of the highlights would have to be the two afternoons that were spent in acts of service in the local community where we hold the festival. Below is the front page photo from the Manawatu Standard. Is what was deeply moving to drive around the different projects and see hundreds of young people serving this town. It was a picture of the kingdom breaking in.

I was chatting to Andy (our worship leader for the event) at the end of the festival, and he said "it feels like we have taken root". This festival, and perhaps our next festival are probably some of the most important in terms of sussing out whether we are on the right track or not. With numbers doubling this year, and a great atmosphere, clear values and vision, and a great team, there is much to be grateful for.
On a personal note, I came out of the week with a renewed self confidence. For whatever reason there had being a couple of weeks leading up to the event where I was on shaky ground. It was good to get over that stuff thanks to a couple of helpful conversations and some good times of reflection.
Im looking forward to the debrief stage, there are a lot of people that were at the event who have their heads screwed on, and I am sure there will be some very helpful observations made over the next couple of weeks.

Will post some photos once we get our mittens on them, and may add some more reflections... (no promises though!)

And now its time to gear up for 2008! Church kicks off in a week, it looks set to be a good year.

Thanks to all who came, those who served, and those who inspired! Im deeply grateful for the support of many friends from around the country. Chur!

This entry was posted by Sam, on Saturday, January 12, 2008. You can leave your response.