Loaded 2008 - Medford, OR and Miscellaneous updates

Medford was great. Whoever missed out, shame on you. Shame! It took place February 14-17th. Anton, Syr, Natalia and myself headed out from Fresno around noonish on Thursday. We arrived in Medford around 8 or 9pm. We were apparently supposed to lead a music set on Thursday night, but were not informed until about 2 hours before it started, and we were still on the road.

What was it about?
The name of the conference was "Loaded". It dealt with the reality of being loaded with something. We are either loaded by God, or we take on our own load (values, responsibilities, etc). When God loads us with something it is a blessing. That blessing is something we should be willing to give to others. I see this as obedience to the greatest commandment.

What did it look like?
There were a lot less people this year. I see a few factors coming into play here. First, the focus of the conference itself is shifting from kids camps ministry to youth ministry and church ministry in general. Second, the flu bug has been going around, so a lot of people were/are sick. Third, some churches did not allow for their youths or any of their members to attend. Fourth, Johannes Reimer was not at the conference this year. He has fell ill and has been on strict doctors orders not to do any traveling. It's a serious circumstance. Reimer is typically the main attraction at this conference because he's such a dynamic speaker - one you could listen to for hours upon hours. And lastly, I believe this year's conference was very poorly advertised. So far most of the people I've asked said they didn't hear about any conference until I mentioned it to them (which was obviously after the conference was long over).
The conference is geared more towards equipping church workers in their ministries. So there were many speakers and lectures going on simultaneously. Most of the speakers were from out-of-country - Russia, Germany, Canada, etc.
The weather was merciful to us. Sunny and mild. There was a different crowd that attended this year - a large group of youth from the ukrainian church in sacramento came, as well as a chunk from Tacoma, WA.

What did I think?
I enjoyed my time at the conference. The effort was evident on the part of the conference organizers, especially in the amount of creative elements in the conference. Postmodern approaches to ministry, worship, and "doing church". What I enjoyed the most was the relationship that I formed and the relationships that were made stronger throughout the conference. I spoke with two fellow band members on separate occasions... good talks. I'm so glad that both of them felt comfortable enough to open up to me. I met a pastor from Moscow who has a passion for youth ministry and is a psychologist. By the end of the conference, we were hugging and wishing we had more time. He really encouraged me.
I learned the importance of the development of leaders in ministry. I know that I need to be taught leadership skills. I know that I need outside sources to give advice, tips, mentor, and critique my "work" as a leader. I know I need a lot of things. It just doesn't seem to be happening... Sorry, I don't mean to sound depressing or anything.

I don't have pictures of the conference, which is one thing you'll notice about this blog... no pictures. I don't have a camera :(

I've started painting randomly. I used to do it in high school, now I have discovered a set of brushes and paints. So far I'm just painting for fun. Nothing that's taking me more than 1 hour to complete. I've grown a strong desire to learn the accordion and perhaps even purchase one, but man they are so expensive. A used, old one will cost around 400 dollars. The new ones range in price from brand name to size and quality. I've been slacking lately. Sleeping in, not showing up to a few classes, etc. The weather isn't helping either. It's been rainy and cloudy and cold recently. Hopefully this is just a stage.
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Heres some of the music I recorded over my Zen from the conference. I played on the electric guitar and the accordion, also some backup vocals (atleast in these recordings). Just click on any one of the files and it should play. Enjoy.