Brian McLaren

Ok, so I decided to finally go into detail about what was probably my favorite part of Cornerstone: meeting Brian McLaren. To really get the full effect of how cool this was to me, you really do have to know the whole story.

If you haven't read Brian's book (and yes, I'm calling him Brian. I met the guy, talked to him at length, he introduced himself as Brian... so I'm calling him that.) A New Kind of Christian, I highly recommend it. I first heard about it from Maurice, who was doing a book study on it a few months ago. I had heard of the book, but didn't really know much about it until I started attending the book study. So I got a copy of the book from Maurice and started reading it. It was really easy to read, hard to put down, and a lot of the ideas in the book really hit me because they were things that I had thought for a long time but never really knew how to put into words. After talking with others who have read it, I think that's the case for a lot of them as well.

Maybe to really get a better understanding, you have to know where I was when I started reading A New Kind of Christian. I was at an interesting place in my spiritual walk, a place where I had never really felt the need to venture before. I had started to become closer to a friend of mine who is an atheist, and we'd had some interesting discussions. He'd had so many debates with other Christian friends of his that I really felt no need to get into apologetics or anything like that with him, but we did have some interesting discussions. And he really got me to thinking about my faith and why I believed what I believed and lived what I lived. For the first time since becoming a Christian, I got to the place where I honestly considered what it would be like to NOT be one. I was questioning and digging into and under my faith more than I ever had before. I stripped back layer after layer of religion and church beliefs and got all the way down to myself and why I believed, and whether or not I should believe. And in the end... I still chose to believe. [NOTE: I won't go into the whole process of this, because it's not what this post is about and not really pertinent to the story. If you want to know more, engage me in conversation about it sometime.]

And somewhere around this time was when I started taking part in the book study and reading A New Kind of Christian. This book really clicked with the whole process I had went through of breaking down my faith. It encouraged me, as well as being a stepping stone to a level of spiritual community that I hadn't had in quite a while.

So then we get back to Cornerstone and Brian McLaren. This was my fifth year there, and I don't know that I was even that excited about going. I think I go through phases with Cornerstone, of being excited about it and then not being excited about it. In the end though, it's usually all good. So a few weeks or months or so before the time for it rolled around, I decided I had better take a look at the bands that were playing and try to get some sort of tentative schedule together. I also decided to check out the seminars. And I saw that Brian was speaking, which I got pretty excited about. I had really liked his book and thought he'd be interesting to hear, and Maurice and Shane had heard him speak earlier this year, and I knew they liked the guy. So I started looking forward to Cornerstone a bit more in light of this.

This was my third year to volunteer at Cornerstone as well, and the first year I was able to volunteer for transportation (you have to be 25). I wasn't exactly sure what all that entailed, but gRegor said it was fun and easy, so I was all for it. Turns out it usually consists of one of two things: 1) driving passengers back and forth from the grounds to the hotel (half hour away) or 2) picking up or dropping passengers off at the airport (hour and a half away). My first day of volunteering I only went to the hotel and back. Interesting note... for some reason I started thinking later that day about how it would be really cool if I got to drive Brian McLaren at some point during the fest. And very strangely... the next morning I woke up basically knowing that I would get to drive him that day. I just knew it would happen. So anyway, I'm in the volunteer trailer that morning talking to the other two ladies working during my shift, and we're talking about getting to drive popular bands around. I happened to mention that there was one of the speakers that I would really love to get the chance to talk to, and told them who it was. A bit later we were deciding that this one lady was going to be making a trip to the airport that morning. She happened to remember what I had said about how I would like the opportunity to drive one of the speakers and mentioned that to our crew chief. He's like "that's who you're picking up at the airport". Since I'd never been to the airport yet, they ended up letting me tag along. And that's how that all ended up happening.

So I met him at the Peoria airport, and Sue (other driver) and I got the chance to have a really good conversation with each other on the way there that really just turned into a continuation of the same conversation joined by Brian on the way back. Later on that day, I attended his seminar, as well as a few others before the festival was over. The last day of the fest, after his morning seminar, he had a bunch of people that came up and wanted to talk to him. There was another speaker up next in the tent he'd been in, so we moved out to a hill nearby overlooking the lake. (There were, of course, some "sermon on the mount" jokes regarding this.) Everyone just hung out and talked. Sometimes the questions were directed for Brian, but other times he listened while we answered each others' questions. It really was similar to how I would imagine Jesus and the disciples hanging out and talking.

I'm not putting Brian on a pedestal, enlikening him to Jesus or anything like that. But the man really did make an impact on me. He has a really gentle spirit about him, very humble, and seems very wise. He was enjoyable to be around, to listen to, and to converse with. I respect him a lot more after spending time with him, and I look forward to hopefully talking to him again soon (although probably not at length this time). He's speaking in Indianapolis in September, and you can bet I plan on being there. I also got the opportunity to drive him back to the airport along with two other speakers. It was fun listening to their conversations on the way there, and I was a bit lonely without them on the drive back.

Heh... it's kind of sad when you meet someone, well, famous, and you know that you really can't have like a normal friendship with them exactly. But the experience was good and one that I appreciated God allowing me to have (because I do believe this experience was a gift from God, not just coincidence). I have so many blessings in my life that to believe they're just coincidences seems a bit absurd to me. So instead... I'll just give the glory to my Maker.

Sorry this post is so long. Just wanted to tell the story, and I know I'm a bit wordy. But, if you made it this far, here's the visual aid (click it for a bigger picture):