I started off the morning with a class with an intriguing title "Is the Lords Supper a Waste of Service time?" with David Manner (not to be confused with David Banner - you wouldn't like him when he's angry.). It dealt with how The Lord Supper has become ritual for many churches and has lost its meaning. I was really hoping to gain some practical ideas about how to help folks to truly see the significance of what this ordinance represents, and I did gain a few insights, but all-in-all this class dealt with more general and philosophical ideas about the Lords Supper. Good reminders and some food for thought, though.
Worship this morning continued the hard-hitting between the eyes preaching from Michael Catt. Today's message dealt with how to abide in God, and what that truly means. It also dealt with the work of the Holy Spirit on the church today, and how we try to "do church" without Him. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the message today (paraphrased):
"The Holy Spirit could lead the SBC for ten years, and we wouldn't know it because were so programmed up."
"The last time God put together a committee, it was to discover if the Israelites should go into the promised land. The result was that they wondered In the wilderness for forty years and did funerals"
"Churches spend too much money on things that just entertain their Christian friends" (Referring to concerts and pageants - ouch)
"A lost person can easily detect when you are just doing religion and if the Spirit is not present"
"A church never rises above the level of her leadership. Individuals may rise above it, but the church as a whole won't."
My next class was led by Mark Willard, who is Michael Catt's worship leader at Sherwood. It dealt with what happens when the Holy Spirit changes direction mid-service and you need to deviate from "the plan." He talked about the importance for good communication between Pastor, Worship Pastor, and musicians ahead of time to be prepared to transition easier.
My last class of the day was with Kenny Lamm again, and dealt with one of my favorite areas of interest - Social Media. Loved this class. Learned a few tips I had not though about and was reminded about a few tools that I haven't explored in a while. I liked especially how he reiterated about how important a tool Facebook really is in promoting your church and building relationships with people, something I've been preaching at folks for a while now.
As has become the norm the last few years, LifeWay did not have a major structured schedule for Wednesday evening, except for an optional look at a new Christian movie that was coming out soon. We decided to head towards Asheville and met up with a dear college friend of mine, Julianne Kuykendall, and had a good time hanging out, looking at pictures, and reminiscing. It was super fun. 
Last full day tomorrow!
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