This Wednesday Paula and I drove up to Sparks, NV to preach at Crosswinds Assembly of God, which was a great experience.
First, Sparks is adjacent to Reno–and that is an incredibly beautiful area, sporting snow-capped mountains in virtually every direction.
Second, the church itself was very cool–the people were friendly, the worship was great, and I got to use one of those cool little professional wireless mikes that fits like a headset (the kind Britney and those boy bands use). I love gadgets, and that was just plain neat.
Third, Paula and I were able to meet with five other pastors for face-to-face presentations of our ministry on Wednesday and Thursday: Rodney Waters (Lighthouse of Natomas), David Hoskins (Valley View Christian Fellowship), Brent Johnson (Reno Assembly of God), Terry and Rita Fred (Sierra Church), Stan Friend (Capital Christian Center in Carson City), and John Peterson (South Shore Christian Assembly).
Fourth, Dennis Gaylor (the national Chi Alpha director) happened to be in Reno and we got to meet him for lunch along with Terry and Rita Fred.
Fifth, the last pastor we met with (John Peterson) used to pastor here in Palo Alto. He and his wife pioneered a church here around 1989 and over a decade grew it to around 350 people, including several Stanford students. He got involved with ministry on campus and things were going well, and then he went to join the district denominational leadership team. The church dwindled and doesn’t exist anymore. Still, it was great talking to him!
Sixth, we drove back through Lake Tahoe–simply stunning!
In other words, this trip was fabulous any way you count it. Sorry if you’ve sent me an email I haven’t responded to yet, we just put over 600 miles on our car in two days and haven’t been near a computer for that whole time. I’ll begin processing the backlog today and get it cleared out by tomorrow.