Thoughts on the eve of Nazarene General Assembly 2013

I was only 12 years old when I attended my first General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene in 1976, held in Dallas, Texas. We attended because my older brother, Mark, made the Easter (ENC) regional team representing us at the teen Bible Quiz. On the trip there, we discovered a wonderful up-and-coming hamburger restaurant around Lousiville, Kentucky. You may have heard of them.  They were called Wendy’s.

The other memory from that Assembly involved my two littlest brothers, Jay and Chad, only 6 and 5 years old. Somehow, they slipped away from their mom in the big Saturday crowd milling about the exhibits. Like Mary and Joseph frantically searching for the boy Jesus, we scoured every venue. No, they didn’t turn up in the Temple talking with the teachers of the Law, nor were they chatting with the General Superintendents. But a friend found them gleefully riding the elevator of the famed 18 story Baker Hotel where we were staying.

Now the General Assembly is in Indianapolis. For my brothers’ sake (and for my own enjoyment), Amy and I already rode the glorious glass elevator of the Hyatt Regency all the way to the top. Willie Wonka was nowhere in sight, and the elevator didn’t pop through the roof, but it was still lots of fun. I can’t wait to initiate some of our African delegates to this breathtaking experience.

Who says General Assembly has to be all so serious?

But on the other hand…

I do hunger for a movement of God’s Holy Spirit upon our church! If we can just set aside for a moment all the little things and get a glimpse of His perspective and His plans for us, then this time in Indianapolis will have been worth all the effort.

“Come, Holy Spirit, I need thee!

Come, sweet Spirit, I pray.

Come, in Thy strength and Thy power,

Come, in Thy own gentle way.”