This weekend, our church had the privelege of having Earl Creps speak on Sunday morning. Since he was already on the east coast, he dropped down to Delaware to speak before continueing in his travels. A few things alwasy stand out to me about Earl. As my professor, he has made me read more than possibly any other person ever should–I think my eyeballs are calloused! The ever expanding stacks of books that won’t even fit in my book cases attest to that. While this might incline some to avoid him as a professor, it encourages me. I am encouraged by his keen interest in our rapidly changing culture and the ways pastors (especially younger ones) try to engage culture. I am also encouraged that someone with great academic credentials still communicates/preaches in a way that anyone listening can understand him. If you want to hear some of his messages, check out his podcast.

For the past couple of months, we’ve been concentrating our energy on beginning our new, weekly young adult event–the Gathering. (For more information, check out our young adult website or myspace.) There hasn’t been much time to blog, review resources, etc. Since I’ll be even busier with our weekly gathering, we went for a road trip to Washington DC to check out hangout and check out some museums, monuments, etc. Before going to the Museum of Natural History and spending a lot of time looking at rocks and bones (We saw dinosaurs on the iMax, but never found the bones. We ended up seeing a lot of birds and butterflys and ran out of time…), we started at the National Portraiture Museum to see Steve Colbert’s Portrait and the Hip Hop Portraiture exhibit. Both were well worth the admission price. (OK, this is a joke, these Smithsonian galleries are free…except for the iMax and incredibly overpriced food–come on, $4 for a cookie? That had better be one incredible cookie!) It was nice to see that the Federal government has a sense of humor with Stephen Colbert’s portrait. The picture itself was funny, but the fact that they hung it near the Presidential Gallery–over the water fountain as you enter the restrooms, made me laugh. The funny thing is, people were taking pictures of themselves by his portrait the whole time we were there. But, I saw very few cameras in the Presidental Gallery…kinda makes you wonder about our culture…of course, I got a picture of me next to it…

At night we visited Ebeneezers coffeehouse and checked out the worship gathering that National Community Church (NCC) hosts there on the lower level/basement. Every one of us loved the whole experience. Not only was the coffee excellent, but the worship was genuine and the message was authentic. (Chris Jarrell, the campus pastor spoke. Check out the message.) As for churches engaging culture, NCC is on the forefront. They are a model of how to reach out and connect with the community–and especially young adults, who are often resistant to churches’ outreach efforts. I’m looking forward to hearing Mark Batterson, the lead pastor at NCC, speak on creativity in ministy this May at a confernce for pastors. If you’re doing ministry to young adults or even thinking about it, definitely check out what NCC is doing because they are definitely doing something right. And, they run possibly the coolest place in DC–Ebeneezers!