This past weekend I was invited to speak to a bunch of students at Riverbend Retreat Center. The camp is located in Glen Rose, TX which is famous for things like The Promise, homemade pies, and Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. We did not experience any of those, but it’s not too far from home, so Abby and I may be able to jet over there at some point. We did stay at the Glen Hotel which is a pretty cool building that was built in 1929. They have undergone some renovations since then… thankfully.
We were joined with Vendetta Black a.k.a. Cody Jones Band. They do a great job of leading youth in worship and have an incredible heart to see students worship authentically. It was a hard weekend for me… mostly because it had been a while (I really can’t remember) since I’ve had to preach two messages back to back that were different. Usually there is a break of 4-7 hours inbetween talks, but this weekend there wasn’t that kind of break. This made for a difficult mentally and physically for me. But – it still was fun.
For some reason at speaking events I get really insecure. Mostly beacause I’m insecure by nature, but I also have this sense that I want to please people (this is directly in error to what Paul has to say about pleasing man – Galatians 1:10- but it’s a legit struggle I have). I want students to understand what I’m trying to say; I want them to maintain attention and then take action; I want to see God move and change people as they surrender to His Lordship. But for some reason, this weekend, I wasn’t worried. Some of that was leved by the fact that students were responding in small ways: to me, to their leaders, to one another.
But I had one of my favorite conversations with a student that I’ve had in a long time. We’ll just call him Student… here is our conversation:
Student (4′ 6″ 155lbs): Hey!
proceeds to try to hug me
Me (5′ 11″ 185lbs): Whoa little guy! What’s up?
backing away
Student: I like you!
Me: Okay, thanks.
awkward pause
Me:Why’s that?
Student: You’re my favorite speaker ever.
now, this kid is in the 8th grade so mentally I’m thinking, “this kid probably hasn’t heard that many speakers before, but I’ll take what I can get!”
Me: Yeah? Well, how how many speakers have you heard? What gives you that kind of impression?
Student: Well, I’ve heard about 11 speakers before and you’re by far my favorite.
Me: Well, that’s cool. Thanks man.
Student: Yeah – you’re way better than Joyce Myer. You’re also better than Oprah.
Me: Thanks man. I’ll keep that in mind next time I get really depressed.
We hugged and he ran off to rec.
All in all, it was a great weekend seeing some good ole’ friends and trying to make much of Jesus. I’m still learning not to rely on self during retreats like this, and Abby really helped me see the folly of my thinking. She is such a blessing. She and I really connected again which is needed so often… we also got to dream together, that was fun too.