“One of the greatest weekends of ministry ever.”

That’s how I would describe the trip I just returned from. Truly. I left on Friday for a weekend ministering at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Bloomington, MN. I have been there a few times over the last four years and I’m going back there at the end of September. But this weekend was different. To really get a feel for how amazing it actually was, let me take you back to the beginning. (Not the beginning of time…just the beginning of my relationship with St. Mike’s.)

Five years ago I was asked to speak to a group of Children’s Ministry workers from the greater Minneapolis area. The host church was St. Mike’s. Jane Horn is the Minister of Music and Worship Arts and was helping with facilities that day, so she sat in the back as I presented some of the principles of internalization and falling in love with God’s Word. Afterward, she came up to me and said, “You’ve got to come back and teach the full version to the folks in our congregation.” So I came back the next February.

Now, I’ve got to tell you that most of the experiences I have had with churches that schedule a workshop before having me do a Sunday presentation have not been good. Attendance has typically been pretty poor. So when I showed up that Saturday morning and had 68 people there, I knew that there was something different going on here. The workshop went wonderfully, I shared in the Saturday evening service, both the Sunday morning services, and flew home.

In the months that followed I would hear from various staff people at St. Mike’s who said that people were really taking internalization to heart and it was impacting individuals, small groups, and the church at large. I was invited back, did two more workshops (Saturday and Monday), shared in the weekend services, and flew home.

Then came the phone conversation (last fall) that blew me away. It went something like this…

Hey Keith, this is Jane Horn.

Hey Jane! How’s it going?

Terrific! You wouldn’t believe what’s happening at St. Mike’s.

Tell me more.

Well, Pastor Dodge is going to do a year-long sermon series in 2009 that looks at the 57 most influential chapters in the Bible. We decided to see if different people would take a chapter and internalize and present the chapter being preached on. Everyone thought I was crazy and that we’d never get enough people to get up in front of 1500 people. But we’re doing it anyway. (Note: The drama team has 12 people.)

That is so sweet! I hope people sign up.

Oh, they’ll sign up. And we’d love to have you come back and do one of the chapters.

Count me in!

Fast forward to this weekend. Instead of doing my typical workshop, they wanted to have a special gathering for all the people sharing various chapters. So that’s what we did on Saturday. Jane (and a few others) told the story of how this came to be and I taught a bit about storytelling. But then came the most exciting part.

About nine of the people shared their chapters. A middle-aged man presented God’s plan and design for the temple. A 14-year-old boy told the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. An 11-year-old girl stood alongside one of the preschool teachers and blew me away with God’s words through the prophet Jeremiah. And it all wrapped up with a woman in her 80’s bringing one of the Psalms to life.

And I was amazed. Inspired. Challenged. And several times…nearly brought to tears. My heart has always yearned for people to move beyond seeing a presentation and saying, “That was cool…and I could never do that.” I long for people to know that internalization is possible…and life-changing.

Time after time throughout the weekend I had various people in the congregation come up to me and tell me how much they have loved hearing God’s Word presented by their friends and family members. Never was that more exemplified than when I stood in front of the church Sunday morning, asked how they have enjoyed these last 30 weeks, and had everyone in the church spontaneously break into thunderous applause and cheering. For the Bible! God’s Word! Internalized and presented by God’s children. You have heard me say it before (and you’ll hear me say it again) – The living Word of God is a reality, not a phrase!

Even as I type this, I am inspired anew. By the way, I didn’t even mention that not only did they get people to fill all 57 slots, but they have a waiting list in case people drop out! And they are already talking about what they’re going to do for 2010!

I am so excited to see what God does in and through That You May Know Ministries in the next year. I can honestly say that I am as excited about TYMK as I have ever been. I thank you deeply for joining me on the journey!