An Evening Celebrating God’s Very Good Idea
Last Wednesday evening was a night I’ll never forget and I’m excited to share with you about it.
The evening started with worship and then I had the opportunity to read God’s Very Good Idea to a swarm of attentive, inquisitive, wiggly kids ranging in age from 2 months to 12 years old. The parents and attendees listened in as I read, and then everyone had a chance to learn about Barefoot Republic, a ministry to kids in the Nashville area.
The night continued with an insightful and helpful panel discussion and included Ray Ortlund, Isaac Adams, Catherine Parks, and myself. In our conversation, we tackled topics ranging from learning to have deeper empathy to history. It was an honest, heartfelt, and oh so hopeful discussion.
I’d do an evening like this over and over again if the Lord allowed. It was a real joy.
You can watch the whole night here:
Duplicating the Evening
Since the evening last week, I was asked to duplicate the event the night before a women’s retreat that I’ll be speaking at in central Missouri this spring. I’m honored to do this and thought that you might be interested in learning more about how to duplicate a night like this at your church.
First, all of the details of the event can be found at godsverygoodidea.com. While the flow of the evening was simple, the time would not at all have been possible without the great staff and volunteers of the church.
The night included:
Worship (two songs)
A reading of God’s Very Good Idea
A panel discussion
If you’d like to find out more about how I might visit your church for a God’s Very Good Idea event or if it’s something you’d like to do on your own in your church and you’d be interested in purchasing bulk copies of God’s Very Good Idea, please contact me via my contact page here: http://www.trillianewbell.com/contact/
Special Thank You to:
The Good Book Company, who sponsored the event and are the awesome publishers of God’s Very Good Idea. I’m forever grateful for and to you. Thank you specifically to Brad Byrd who organized the event, handled so many of the details and came out to make sure everything ran smoothly. You are a gift!
Barefoot Republic: Thank you for your presence at the event and for helping us learn more about your wonderful ministry to kids of all backgrounds.
The Panelists and Worship Leaders: Isaac Adams, Catherine Parks, and Taylor Agan. Thank you for making the night so special, for sharing your gifts with us, and for your wisdom and insight. You are a humble bunch for which I am grateful.
Ray Ortlund and Immanuel Nashville: Ray, you are incredibly kind and generous. That would be enough, but you are also a gospel ninja and you love (love!!) people so well. It shines through your every word and action. Thank you! And Immanuel Nashville—wow, just wow! Thank you for organizing volunteers, staffing, hosting, and blessing all who came. I’m overwhelmed by your generosity!!
Megan and Michael Harrington for capturing the evening and using your gift of photography to bless me and others!
RELATED CONTENT
Often American-focused discussion about ethnic differences gets narrowed to just Black or African Americans and White Americans. It is fairly understandable, given US history, that we’d focus so much attention on black and white relations. My hope for God’s Very Good Idea, however, is that it would encourage all people made in the image of God to celebrate the differences in each other.