I was in the DC area (Arlington, VA) Thursday night through Saturday of this past week for
The Idea Camp DC – Justice Edition. From the workshop facilitators gathering at the home of a staff member of
International Justice Mission on Thursday night… to the closing session on Saturday afternoon it was a great event to be a part of.
Here are some highlights:
- Driving to DC and sharing some great conversation with my soon-to-be neighbor, Chris Marlow of H.E.L.P. and Randy Lawson of Agathos Foundation.
- Meeting Eric Stowe, of A Child’s Right, in person. Eric, while working for Faith International, was our primary contact person through the adoption process of our daughter, Miyah, from Nepal. Our family considers Eric to be a special person because he was our lifeline to Miyah while we waited… and waited for the adoption process to be completed. He helped to keep us sane. What a crazy coincidence that Eric and I ended up at the same event in DC (especially since he lives in the Seattle are)! It was very cool to see him and to learn about the new work he is involved in with A Child’s Right. You just have to take their Clean Water Challenge!
- Meeting Scott Page of Fellowship Church of NW Arkansas. Scott and I realized we have a mutual friend whom we work with in Guatemala. It was great to hear about the passion that the Fellowship community has for La Limonada. I’m looking forward to staying in touch with him.
- Spending some quality time with Donnie Long, a fellow Lemonade International team member and my good friend, Damon Reiss, who is with Thomas Nelson Publishers. Good times!
- Spending time with Ray (Lemonade Int’l board member) and Carole Strecker and sharing some meals together… enjoying some of the workshops together... and walking several blocks together through Arlington.
- Seeing and talking with others from the church community we are a part of in Raleigh, Visio Dei. They have a huge heart for human traficking issues!
- The “Guerrilla Warefare” (not what it sounds like) session with Hyepin Im of Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD). Hyepin shared some powerful tools for effective fundraising from her experience with KCCD.
- The "Open Source Influence" session with JR Kerr of Park Community Church in Chicago. JR vulnerably shared from his years of experience as a “Task Force Leader” and how God has reshaped his views on leadership from being more of a dictator to being a facilitator... or what he calls an "Open Source Leader". I loved his passion and transparency!
- Sharing a discussion in a workshop with a great group of people on "Micro and Macro Views of Compassion & Justice". I loved the passionate exchange!
- Listening to Leroy Barber of Mission Year talk about his passion for “neighboring” (yes… he turned “neighbor” into a verb!). That’s a guy I would like to get to know more!
- Meeting Todd Hiestand of The Well, outside of Philadelphia, and getting to learn about his heart for Guatemala.
The Idea Camp was the most unique conference I’ve ever been a part of. There was no “show”. It was simply people… gathering together to share their common passion for issues of compassion and justice… sharing thoughts and ideas on how to live out the Gospel in a substantive way in our cities and in our world.
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