mountains of east tennessee

Well, yesterday after second hour, the executive leadership team headed for knoxville TN for our annual planning meeting. This is a really crucial part of our year where we evaluate how God is working in our congregation and where we try and listen to the Holy Spirit leading for our future. Typically we head to a city where we can visit other churches and other church leaders, but this year we opted for the Smoky Mountains and have found ourselves in a mountain cabin with a spectacular view of God's handiwork. It has been marvelous planning out on the deck as the wind of the mountain blew along with the Spirit's breeze in our souls. I can only say that our prayer time alone was simply inspirational to me. I was moved deeply as my fellow laborers poured out their hearts for our church and for our people. This is preacher nirvana...thank you God for all you're doing. So, pray for our time up here. There are many cool mountain happenings in the Bible...Moses and the burning bush, Elijah listening for the voice of God, Peter/James/and John seeing Jesus in his glory, Elijah defeating the prophets of Baal, Noah's ark rested on a mountain, Jesus' sermon on the mountain, etc... Hopefully, this week the Smoky Mountains will be that holy place for us.