This weekend we take a small team of students to the DC Festival. It should be a lot of fun, and will be interesting to see the students perspective on a large Christian festival specifically designed for outreach. I think it's going to be neat to see how its done and how people react to it. However, I do have this funny sense in the back of my mind dealing with attractional vs. incarnational ministry (see this good concise writeup here) and how we do the latter in the suburban world where I and all the students I work with live.
On a somewhat related but hopefully not overdramatic note, I am concerned a little bit about going to DC with students for a big event. Having lived around DC for all of my life, seeing the authorities react to potential threats usually isn't a very big deal. The shutdown of the road in front of the White House, the sharpshooters on the roofs of Congress buildings during the first Iraq war, the recent bomb scare on Wednesday, the recent bioterroism sensor incident. Usually, its just part of the news.
But I don't think it can be just information. Our world is more dangerous than ever. And we must take that into consideration when we take students anywhere anymore. We must be aware, engaged, vigilant. The events in NOLA should teach us that we own the responsibility to best prepare our families in the event of a disaster. Therefore, one of the things I'm thinking about in the next two days is a disaster scenario. Best way out of the city? Where do we meet if kids get separated? How to contact parents to let them know the latest info? Stuff like that. Hopefully, we won't ever need to act on those plans.
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