In Stereo

This is a quick hitter because I've been away for a few days and realize it's been a week since I've posted.

First, I finally experienced XM radio for the first time. This may be better than cable tv. The background is that our car was hit in the parking lot in October by a car dealer who never heard the 4 horn blasts of my wife blared as he backed into us. His insurance paid for a rental - which had XM radio. We happen to live in the largest market in Ohio, the outskirts of Columbus, but at night, there's only 1 AM radio station that you can hear and it's not ESPN. Couple that with the fact that we travel a lot by car and I HATE how station's fade in and out and I think the appeal of Satelite radio (XM or Sirius, or whatever) is huge. Down the road, if it becomes more affordable, I think it's something I'm going to get.

Second, I've been luck enough to take over administrating the New Member class here at Liberty. I wasn't entirely sure about it when I began, but after 2 sessions totaling 37 New Members in 6 months, it's easily been a highlight. What was especially neat about last night, the 4th and final class, was the sharing of Faith Journeys. The class has heard 4-5 of us pastors & leaders share ours already and then they have the opportunity to share their own. We broke the class into 3 groups and went around sharing. On two separate occasions, the person in my group was sharing their journey at the same time as their spouse was sharing their own in the group next to us. You'd catch a couple words here or there of the other one, and it was so neat to see how you got bits and pieces "in stereo."

Certainly, getting to hear people's faith journeys and getting to share my own in a VERY non-threatening environment has been an awesome experience so far at Liberty. I can easily say that it is a foundation for sharing your faith in a less forgiving situation - and probably preparing me for doing that down the road. It is certainly not an excuse or a substitute for sharing the gospel with those who have not heard the good news of Christ, but when you look at it as part of a longer-term process it is great. Now, if I can only figure out the back end of that "longer-term process"...