One of the things I most appreciate about conferences such as Celebrate is the opportunity to make connections with so many different types of people. It is more than just networking and it is even more than finding lifelong friends. As we all grow in our leadership roles in the church it is invaluable to know that one has friends who are by their side through all the struggles, triumphs, challenges, and joys that will inevitably come our way. We are never alone in this, rather we are all walking together, standing on the shoulders of those who came before us and moving towards a future we can be proud to hand to our children.

Celebrate took place over the course of five days, and each day had its own focus. The first day, we celebrated. We celebrated that we were in New Orleans, together and about to experience something. Though we didn't know what it would be, we knew that it would somehow change us. And we entered into that change enthusiastically. The second day we experienced New Orleans and the devastation that occurred there as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Several hundred Celebrate participants boarded many different tour buses and set out to see for ourselves what we knew watching all the news clips in the world couldn't adequately show us. We took pictures and watched in awe at the infinite possibilities of nature, while also gasping in horror realizing just how seemingly little had been done in many months that has followed Katrina. Sitting on the tour bus, I still remember thinking just how surreal it all was. Even though the devastation was only a matter of feet from me, I still felt entirely too far removed from it. I was still behind the window of the bus, both in mind and body, unable to really reach out and touch the land, the people…everything.

The third day, our day of service, provided me with the opportunity and experience I had been longing for. This day, during the day of service, is where I most vividly saw God. I saw God in the laughing faces of those around me, overcome with joy at the opportunity to serve in such a way. I saw God in the face of the homeowner whose house we "gutted," expressing her gratitude in prayer, knowing that we could never pay her back for the work we did that day. Meanwhile we were thinking the same thing about her, that we could never repay her for what we learned and experienced. Nearly every time I participate in an act of service, be it a small act that may have gone unnoticed or a large scale service project, I always stand in awe at this notion of those around me being enthusiastic to participate in such service. I think the people of the church, as well as all spiritual people, understand this as well as anyone. Most of us participate regularly in such service and doing so almost seems like an inherent reaction, at times. It's just what we do. We get off the "tour bus" of our minds, enter into a home that has water lines up the ceiling and immediately begin doing things most of us had absolutely no experience in, but doing it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, helping one another has if we had known each other for years and not just met a few hours earlier. In large part, I think this has to do with an understanding that, as Dr. King said, "You will never be who you ought to be until they are who they ought to be."

One of the particularly poignant times I experienced while doing the service work was when I, upon entering the house, saw a Sheriff Woody doll, a character from the popular animated movie Toy Story, stuck in the railing of the stairs. He was discolored and consumed with mildew, and looked up at me with his big plastic eyes, as if he were trying to say, "What took you so long?"

Reflection came in the fourth day. It was a welcome chance to try and quiet the wheels of our mind and remember what we saw and experienced. We talked with our new friends, confirming that such experiences and the subsequent thoughts that followed, were not just those of a few, but rather of many.

The fifth, and final, day was appropriately themed, "Go forth." We all knew that we had not done near enough to restore New Orleans. At the same time, I have no doubt that the work we did in the house, while it didn't change all of New Orleans, did change the life of a few people, both those who called that place home, as well as those who tried to bring it back. Ironically, such small changes is what will change New Orleans.

We also grew to accept that the point of a week long conference, such as Celebrate, was not to change the world, but to change ourselves. When we return home, such changes will be evident because we will be unable to keep to ourselves about what we experienced and will have a need to tell anyone who will listen.