Great second day here in Louisville.  I have to confess that years of military training events and many of the conferences I've attended in the past had me suffering from dimished expectations in the days leading up to this trip.  That said this is turning out to be a great experience.  I'm meeting some amazing brothers and sisters and being encouraged and sharpened just by spending time with them.  Besides there being people here from all over the US, I've met chaplains in attendance here from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and New Zealand. Our worship time together has been amazing.  The Australian chaplain is preaching in our morning worship services and tonight the Chilean brother spoke (more about that later).

Sessions today on Time Management (gotta have a time management seminar at a ministry conference these days), Grief Counseling, and a series of "just plain good advice" talks by the more senior chaplains and some other key folks.

There's no doubt that the Grief Counseling session was the highest impact all around.  Scary humbling stat: 60% of folks who experience a loss will lose faith in organized religion as a result of their church's support to them as they're grieving. Key quote: "When was the last time you heard a sermon on what the Bible teaches about death, dying, or grieving?"

Evening worship was amazing. We sang in Spanish and English (so there was interpretation for those of you who were worried.) and it was extremely cool.  Not only that but God was there.  The prayer time together was the most intense congregational prayer I've experienced in years.  And the message, well, that's going to take another post...