Awesome

So last night's event was spectacular. We had a packed house at 5:00 and a packed house and some in the live-feed overflow at 8:00--somewhere between 850-900 students attended the sessions last night.

Dr. Timothy Paul Jones did a fantastic job of discussing the issues of variations in the New Testament documents and who changed what and why from a very orthodox Christian viewpoint without attacking or demeaning anyone. He built a strong case for why the Scriptures as we have them are reliable and trustworthy. He was willing to admit where there were guesses or suppositions along the way that could be disagreed with.

If you're someone who struggles at all with trusting the Bible, I'd really encourage you to check out his web site, read his book(s).

As we wrapped up the second presentation, I couldn't help but be proud and overwhelmed with the gifts and commitment and work of my student leaders. Liz worked hard and did fantastic , strategic p.r. to get the word out all over campus. Kelsey worked hard to get us great spaces for the two presentations and to get us the overflow room at the very last minute. Jenny stepped up and emceed in front a huge crowd with poise and graciousness. My students took risks and invited friends.

As I was praying in the car on the way home, I had this unique moment of clarity. This was my first time pulling something of this magnitude together. I made lots of small mistakes along the way. But none of them de-railed the event like they could have. As I was reflecting on how it came together, I had this thought: last night was most definitely a unique work that God had prepared in advance for us to do. It was his work. And he worked through my students and me and Timothy Paul Jones to make it happen. But it was his work. He made sure it happened. And we got to be a part of it.

Awesome.