Brown Bag in Glen Ellyn

      In several cities around the country, worship/arts leaders are beginning to gather periodically from various churches in a local community.  For some it's a monthly breakfast, for others a quarterly lunch.  What gets me so excited is that these little communities are forming to encourage church arts leaders and create a strong sense that we are not as alone as we might think in the ministry, that others might be able to help us with solutions, that we can exchange creative ideas, that we can actually talk about the hard parts of leading artists and learn from one another's wisdom and experience.  That vision pumps me up!
      Here in the Chicago area, we have begun this kind of gathering, one that we call a Brown Bag Lunch.  Each person brings their own lunch and we move around from church to church so we can see one another's environment and change up who has to drive the greater distances.  We spend about 90 minutes together, eating our lunches and then focusing on a subject or theme that is relevant to us all.  Next Thursday, February 19, we'll be gathering at Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn.  Steve King is the Worship Pastor there, and I  had the privilege of teaching at their church back in January.  It's not far off the expressway, and easy to find.  So how about it?  If you are a worship/arts leader (or Creative Arts Pastor or Tech Director or any other leader in this arena!), we'd love to have you join us.  Details are available on our website at towardwonder.com.
      For those of you who live elsewhere, if you don't know of such a community in your area...why not be the catalyst to start one?  We'd love to talk to you further about that...