I am spending this week out in the great city of Seattle. The home of major operations of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, and my very favorite little friend which feeds my habits - Amazon.com. I am out here connecting with some old friends, making some new, and attending a couple of conferences.

The first conference was a boot camp training (love that they call it boot camp) for church planters put on by the Acts 29 Network. It was good to hear from guys who are doing it around the country and receive some training about things we are praying about for the future. The second conference is one that the Resurgence is putting on entitled - The Hands of God and the Hands of Men - Many Modes of Divine Providence. That is one sweet title for a conference. The speaker is Bruce Ware, one of my profs and theological mentors at Southern Seminary. The audio and video from the conference will be posted free at the Resurgence sometime next week. There were three messages: 1) Providence in Process and Open Theism 2) Providence in Classical Arminianism 3) Providence in the Reformed Tradition. Very helpful stuff...

All this jazz is being hosted by Mars Hill Church in Seattle - which is a cool place to hang. It has been fun being out in Seattle, a different place than Nashville, TN. You think?

Some of the interesting things I have seen:

The Erotic Bakery - I passed this on my way in to the church here. God only knows what sorts of things are inside - I am staying away.
The High Maintenance Bitch - From the looks of the shop, I am guessing this is a store/boutique for women who have stylish tastes.
A huge Statue of Lenin (yes, the Russian communist dude, not John Lenin) right in the middle of a section of town. To read the story of this wonderful tribute, see the following for history and pictures.

Some Seattle Trivia

USA Today - It seems some Seattle dudes are taking their wives last names - how sweet of them. Here is a great quote where a guy is explaining why he took his wives last name: "because I'm a big ole granola liberal and I wanted to tweak the tradition while showing my wife I love her." I'll say it again...how sweet of the boys to do that.
Seattle people love books and have a big freakin library
As any town on the water, Seattle has some good seafood joints. I did partake a couple of nights ago...very nice.

The city is really cool, right on the Puget sound, a great waterfront and good food. Also, they Seattle Seahawks and their cool new stadium live right in the downtown area. It is no wonder the city is a growing place where many young adults are moving in. Lots of culture, lots of fun stuff, lots of beauty of God's creation, and lots of Starbucks coffee.

More than anything there is a huge, immense, need for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for our good friends at Mars Hill Seattle and other brothers and sisters in this great city.

I am thinking much about the great unreached urban centers of America with the words of God to job on my mind:

11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Yes, there are many people in this city who need the gospel of Jesus and the grace of following him in our earthly sojourn to his heavenly kingdom.