A whole bunch of Christians in one place.

There is a conference in our fair city that happens once a year. It is held in the largest conference centre in town and has a missions focus. Which basically means that nearly every Christian organization/school/non profit has a booth there and they try and convince you that what they are doing is what you should be supporting.

In the beginning years of that little ministry that Hubby and I started with another friend, we would often bring our little 'ghetto' booth there. It was 16 hour days, handing out pamphlets and pimping our ministry. Needless to say, I hated it and Hubby loved it.

For years we've boycotted this weekend. Mostly because I felt such a disconnect from authentic ministry and what I saw there. And the fact that it was lame. There is youth rallies there and for years they have been consistently horrible. I mean, seriously, you have the opportunity to gather hundreds of youth from this area and you get a speaker that cannot connect to youth? It seems like a tragic waste of an opportunity. I think it all came to a head one evening when I was taking a break from our booth and went to get something to eat. As a booth person, you are required to wear a name tag/badge. So the food court was full of all of us wearing our little tags proclaiming that "We are doing the work of God." While I was waiting in line for my food, I watched a group of name tag wearing folks absolutely berating this poor food court employee for giving them the wrong juice.

Now, I'm the first to admit that I often walk through life looking and acting nothing like the Jesus I proclaim to follow. But really? You are there, representing faith and service and you can't treat the person serving you food with any bit of grace and love??!!??

I know. I'm a judgemental hag. I tried to redeem myself today by taking the girls. It was actually Hubby's idea and we went with one other family. (That is the key I realized. Take someone else with you to dull the pain!) It was fun to watch the girls realize that every booth tries to bribe you with candy; they "trick and treated" with enthusiasm. I felt super popular though, we ran into 40+ people we knew in ministry at various booths. It was good to connect and hear where people are at. We even made a couple connections in preparation for our around the world family trip. The girls enjoyed a kid's time with crafts, stories and movies and we all enjoyed the sky train rides.

Still not my favourite activity to do, but not bad. Plus I got lots of great design ideas for work! I wonder if I can count today as work hours????