Breakfast with the World

Well just got back from four days of amazing people, meaningful conversations, little sleep, and poignant memories. It started out with the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning (always the first Thurs in February). Again this year I was leading the dignitary support team for the head tables. It is actually somewhat of a glamorous job in the fact that I end up meeting and escorting certain people like Admiral Mullen, my boss the Chief of Staff, and of course Hilary Clinton. But if you know me then you realize I am in little danger of being overly impressed by all those “important” people. However, it was very enlightening to hear Tony Blair speak. He had some great thoughts on how faith and following the model of Jesus of Nazareth can work to unite cultures throughout the world, I had not realized how much of a role that played in his own time as a world leader (he did speak to the differences in our two countries and his inability to acknowledge such a thing as a British leader). Also, our new Pres. Obama gave the most revealing look into his own personal testimony as a follower of Christ that I have heard publically.
I was most excited by the encouragement I received from hearing these men and women who are in such influential positions express in as politically neutral an event as you can create in that city the importance of their faith in the decisions they make; decisions which ultimately determine the path our country follows.
This event was followed by a weekend spent with about a hundred college students from all over the country who had been identified as leaders by their schools and invited to participate in the Student Leadership Forum. This was a time for them to learn, through experience, the depth of community that can exist among those who are willing to pursue it. I’m talking about relationships between people who are listening for God’s voice, fully transparent, and walking in the light and freedom of being reconciled to each other. They were very energized by and receptive to idea. I came away truly convinced of the power for positive change both in individual lives and the course of the world that these communities can have.